what me worry?

anyone who saw or read the news today caught a glimpse of bush white house shenanigans with all the climate change coverup stuff. this was news a year ago but today major media outlets finally had to cough up the cover-up after democrats brought it to the fore during capitol hill hearings.

below is another little dandy that georgie pulled just a couple days ago. it smacks of fascism, though, of course, the spinmeisters can easily convince you more executive political oversight is in our best interest.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 — President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy.

In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president’s priorities.

This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts. It suggests that the administration still has ways to exert its power after the takeover of Congress by the Democrats.

Peter L. Strauss, a professor at Columbia Law School, said the executive order “achieves a major increase in White House control over domestic government.”

“Having lost control of Congress,” Mr. Strauss said, “the president is doing what he can to increase his control of the executive branch.”

Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said: “The executive order allows the political staff at the White House to dictate decisions on health and safety issues, even if the government’s own impartial experts disagree. This is a terrible way to govern, but great news for special interests.”

and of course the sneaky bastards went ahead and did this even after they got caught with their greedy grubby mitts in the global warming cookie jar.

streets of baghdad 1/27/06

America:

Empire or Republic?

It's our call... at least for a while longer.

LOVE

and a little humility

and the balls to call it the way you see it

is all you need.

Never give an inch... henry stamper

heavy frost

rob frost said:

The poet's material is words that for all we say and feel against them are more manageable than men.

another time he said:

You get a few words alone in a room and plenty of time on your hands you can do almost your will on them.

Rangel on Bush

state of hypocrisy

bush lied and did not smirk even once



while cheney tried to keep from going pee pee in his pants


while condi defecated with enough force to kill 3 sunnis and 2 shias



while laura gave mutumbo a bad hand job



while grandpa mccain slept and some say snored



while hillary... well, while hillary just made us all a little bit sick.

good night, and god bless america.

So the Abbé Pierre died today, and all of France is in mourning. I dont know if you'll hear about him in the US but he was a catholic priest of sorts who created the humanitarian organization Emmaus and became very involved in aiding the cause of the homeless after WWII. I honestly didn't know much about the guy before watching the news tonight but I was taken aback by his compassion over the past 60 years. He was tough yet sincere and got really angry at people in public for not doing more to help the less advantaged. Just consider the headlines of Le Monde today: "Death of the Abbé Pierre : 30 % less hope for people in misery".

Sad and hopefully not true, but a true reflection of reverence.

Ice at Last

Looked out the kitchen window yesterday afternoon, and what did I see? Skaters on the pond. (Note: still no snow, but ice at last.)

It was Mary and Maia on the cutting edge.

Then Sara and Will showed up.

Then Dave and the dogs.

Then everyone was there, making like it was finally winter around here.

Flags for Peace

Here are my Tibetan prayer flags to go with Marg's Peace Pole. Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown upward as offerings to their deities and will bring benefits (such as happiness and good health) to all who hang them, as well as their families, loved ones, neighbors, and all people throughout the world including even enemies. Long may they wave.

Ahh, to post again.

Well, I finally figured out how to post again. I can't wait for the torrent of spam resulting from giving my address to google. How's your winter going? We are freezing our oranges off out here, we even had black ice on the local freeway. Raccoon eyes (Helen at the new to eye makeup stage) sends you her best after just arising due to her first "major" party last night - complete with a DJ playing inappropriate music. One of her friends noted on the way home that the DJ even had "these awesome big black CDs with big pictures on the cover" which, upon further questioning, turned out to vinyl LPs. so it goes....

Vancouver Or Bust

Dave and I traveled across North America this week. We ventured to Vancouver Island, British Columbia to visit a small city called Nanaimo. As some of you may know, we're considering a relocation to this area. Dave has been offered a job practicing architecture there. Unfortunately the weather was not so good, which resulted in bad photos, but we did our best taking a few shots. This part of the world is known for it's panoramic views of the Straight of Georgia, the Coastal Range of mountains and extensive outdoor recreational activities. If you like to hike, bike, swim, sail, practice yoga, walk, run, mingle with the local artists of Nanaimo and sip some of the best coffee I've ever had, then book your flights...

I'll keep you posted on our decision as plans progress.


1. The float plane that takes you from Vancouver to Vancouver Island


2. View from the float plane


3. Nanaimo's inner harbor


4. Downtown Nanaimo at dusk

Bust a Move

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad Bloggers. Where are you? Whats happening? Have you got the escalation blues? Come on! Lets go to Washington, thats right, get ON the peace train, Sat. Jan 27th, assemble at the Mall at 11 am. Be there or be square.

May Peace Prevail on Earth

I received a wonderful birthday gift from my old pal Sandy Lombardo, a peace pole. When we went to Kripalu Yoga Center in November we noticed their peace pole. A little research turned up Peace Pole Makers USA, www.peacepoles.com. The hope is that they will stand as a constant reminder of the necessity to wish for, work for, and live in the spirit of world peace at all times.Mine is printed in English, Italian, Tibetian, and sign, and there are over 300 languages available. Lets take up a collection and send one to our idiot president and he can plant it in the rose garden. I was pretty peaceful until I got to that last sentence, but Georgy could use a constant reminder.

Secured Vs unsecured

Charlie,

Everytime I create a post or a comment, I get a message that I am about to access unsecured objects. What part of the Simpson blog is unsecured? I figured that this is in general a safe family... ;-)

Nanda

Testing

If u cn rd ths msg, I am successfully blogged.

no sweatski

much larger photos when you click on em

I forced our aim address when prompted for Gmail email and it accepted.

So, now Rich is associated with the same old email address with the same blogger login.

Observation

Charlie - looks like to create a new post, you have to have an username associated with gmail a/c.

However I was able to post a comment using Rich's old login to the blog.

Nanda

Had to switch to google email

Charlie,

I am able to post this, only after switching to a gmail a/c.

Nanda

Attention Please: Important Message

Simpson Family Bloggers:

Having trouble logging into the Blog? Here's the story:

Because Blogger kept pestering me, I decided to switch over to their new version. Bad move. It wasn't clear in advance that doing so would require blog members to set up new accounts through Google email (gMail) in order to log into the blog. In fact, I'm still not sure it's necessary because I've been getting differing reports from various blog members. Some have been able to continue logging in as they have in the past; others have had to sign up for new accounts.

So what I'm asking you to do is to try to log in and post. If you have problems, let me know and I'll send you a new invitation.

Thanks for your patience,
Blogmeister

Howdy

This is a test. Hopefully it works, we are enjoying the 60 degree weather here in Maine. Still no snow on the ground, oh well. Ok im going to post to see if this works.

new post

new post...testing, testing

HRH James Barton. Its good to be king.
Heres a lovely item we gave Hunter for Christmas. Its a remote controled
chimp head, something every young lad needs. It makes spookily authentic sounds and moves its lips, eyes , teeth, etc. Hope hid behind the couch and would not come out.

testing...testing

Hi folks. This is a test. We have problems, or are they bloglems? I'm doing some testing and will email you soon with explanation and details.
Blogmeister

Gangs of Four

Here's a lineup for you. I was looking over the posts of the past holiday season and what to my wondering eyes should appear but four fab female foursomes. I thought I'd gather them together for an awe-inspiring retrospective that could only happen in the blogosphere (with the cooperation of all you faithful blog contributors, of course). Thanks for a great year of blogging! Love, Your Blogmeister
P.S. Yes, we need shots of the Jim and Betty 4, the Helen and Ted 4, and who knows how many other combos that lie out there in the vastness of relational relativity.

Hello everyone, it was great to see many of you at Bill+Laura's last week; I hope Jim+Marg's clan is all better now, we missed not seeing you over the holidays. François and I made it back to Paris just in time to celebrate the new year. Let the Eiffel tower beacon show you all the way to visit us in 2007 ! Bonne année à tous!