August 2004 Archives

I have had a total of 121 hits from the following countries:

• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Turkey
• Australia
• Hungary

I seem to be a “big hit” in the UK and Austria.  Hi!  Whoever you are.  Would love to come visit!  :o)

Most visitors to my site stay between 5 and 15 minutes and use Windows.  However, I have a healthy number of Safari browsers hitting my site.  Go Mac!!

Many people know of my admiration for Ronald Reagan, who, in his farewell address, said:

“and whatever else history may say about me when I am gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes and not your worst fears.”

How will history remember the Republican Party of George W. Bush?!

What?!

You're kidding!  Right?!

This party has done nothing but disenfranchise the whole confounded world, and now they want unity?!

Good God!

How can you:

• ignore millions of people,
• fail to represent their needs, their hopes, desires and aspirations,
• refuse to listen to their voices,
• claim all is well when millions suffer (unemployment up and poverty up according to the Census Bureau)
• bomb and kill thousands of innocent people
• fail to keep the nation secure
• slap the constitution in face with thousands illegally imprisoned
• disgracefully abuse the basic human rights of prisoners as a matter of practice
• attend to the prosperity of the most wealthy while dancing all around “conflict of interest”  (Clinton would have been crucified over Halliburton!)

and then expect anything but a divided country? How? How can you do that?!

Oh, and let's add a heap of lies to the American public and the world!  And just in case anyone might notice that the last four years of this administration's work have been an utter disgrace to the United States of America, let's keep the nation pre-occupied with meaningless banter about Vietnam and the mindless babbling of catch phrases like “flip-flop.”

This is perhaps the most brilliant marketing campaign ever, and they are selling sheer incompetence!  See how it glistens! 

What happened was, Lauren was away during the Democratic Convention, and as a politics junkie, I wanted to watch some of it, so the kid (just turned five) ended up watching a couple of the big speeches with me. (All on webcast, our TV is a movie box, doesn’t get any channels).

He’s full of questions so I tried to explain, and as a result the candidate is the only public figure in the world whose face he knows, when we’re somewhere that there’s a TV showing news he’s apt to pipe up “There’s John Kerry.” This is a little embarrassing, especially considering he’s a Canadian.

This morning I was reading news and made some remark about George Bush and he asked “who’s he?” so I tried to explain the big picture around the election and I went looking for some Dubya pix to show him.  So I went to  the bio page at the official Bush re-election site, and clicked on “View George W. Bush Photo Gallery”... busted link, a peek inside the source reveals href=“\News\PhotoAlbum.aspx”... if I were mean-spirited I’d suggest that something about either being Republican or using Windows makes you stupid, but seriously, have to wonder about an organization that claims it can run America not being clueful enough to use a link-checker.

Back to our story... I went to Google and looked for pictures of George Bush.  This turns out to be a bad idea; the top-ranked pictures are by and large, shall we say, not Republican-friendly.  Wanted posters, deranged-monster morphs, things that have just  gotta be PhotoShopped.  “Why are you laughing, Daddy?” said the kid, and I couldn’t really explain.  (PS: Lots of nice pictures of George over at the White House site if you want ’em).

[Source: ongoing]

Ben Barnes, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas speaks about his getting George W Bush and a lot of other wealthy Texans into the National Guard so they could avoid service in Vietnam.  This link has several short video clips of Ben Barnes speaking about George W. Bush and John Kerry.  It's worth taking a couple minutes to watch.

This is an interesting article by Ted Turner: My Beef With Big Media with the subtitle:  How government protects big media--and shuts out upstarts like me.

I have expressed less specific but similar concerns about this very topic in my blog.

Read the article by clicking here. 

Many websites, particularly media sites, now require registration, usually to gather demographic data about users. If for any reason you don't want to register but still want to view the site, go to Bug Me Not, which offers valid logins and passwords for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sites.  Free!

I especially get agitated when someone sites a news article through a link which I can not read because I am not a registered user even when the registration is free. 

I have enjoyed taking pictures with my digital camera.  On my last vacation I took over 2,000 of them believing that I would get at least a few good ones.  I did!  :o)

But when I see work like this, I feel that I need to just toss my camera in the trash.  Our world is such a gorgeous place.  I appreciate those who have the skill to bring it to us, as I will certainly not get to see but the smallest fraction of it.

Jim Brandenburg's work is astounding.  May I humbly suggest his North Woods collection.

We are so hated for our invasion of Iraq--which hasn't been helped by the fact George lied about the Weapons of Mass Destruction.

ATHENS, Greece -- U.S-- has pulled out of a visit to Athens to attend Sunday's closing ceremonies for the Olympic Games, U.S. officials said.

Washington denied Powell changed plans because of anti-U.S. protests which saw police hurl tear gas Friday at about 1,000 demonstrators heading for the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

On Saturday Greek activists hoisted a massive banner saying “Powell Killer Go Home” on the Acropolis hillside towering over Athens to protest against his planned 24-hour visit. A Greek government source described the use of the site as deplorable.

For the full CNN article, click here.

I'm only going to live to be 84--which is the average age men live to be.

Want to find out how old you will live to be?  Click here for the 23 question test.  The research presented after your test is of some interest.

LONDON, England (AP) -- A German who had his lower jaw cut out because of cancer has enjoyed his first meal in nine years -- a bratwurst sandwich -- after surgeons grew a new jaw bone in his back muscle and transplanted it to his mouth in what experts call an “ambitious'' experiment.

According to this week's issue of The Lancet medical journal, the German doctors used a mesh cage, a growth chemical and the patient's own bone marrow, containing stem cells, to create a new jaw bone that fit exactly into the gap left by the cancer surgery.

Source, picture, and complete article at CNN... Click Here. 

Tonight the weather was really nice; so, I had my windows down and the sunroof open as I enjoyed the cooler dry night air coming into the car as I drove home from dinner--almost piddling down the road in no hurry at all.  Unexpectedly I came upon an eerie scene.

The small number of cars in front of me began slowing--really slowing.  They stopped.  In the darkness ahead was a horrible accident difficult to see because none of the vehicles involved were facing the correct way.  One was on its side in the woods.  I only noticed it because a lone headlight, the only one remaining on any of the vehicles involved, was shining up into the trees. In the darkness, it looked like a gas tanker.  The smell of propane (or some such gas) was suddenly thick in the air.  The sound of the night breeze entering my open window was replaced with the sound of leaking gas.

A man jumped out of his car in front of me, cell phone in hand, giving the location of the accident to emergency services.  He walked over to an SUV and looked inside as he spoke on the phone.  No one was visible in the vehicle.

Very large parts of vehicles (including headlight assemblies, an entire hood, complete bumpers) were strewn across a wide area of the road.  Other than the man talking on the phone and the spewing gas sound, the silence seemed heavy and pervasive.

I thought about stopping, but the increasingly thick smell of gas choked the air out from my lungs.  As I navigated my way around the debris, I avoided running over a shiny patent leather black purse sitting upright as if it were placed on the double yellow lines.  How did this accident happen?

Despite Bush's campaign claim that the economy has turned a corner, the number of poor in America and the number of Americans without health insurance continues to increase.

New Census Bureau figures indicate that the number of Americans living in poverty grew by 1,300,000 last year, bringing the total to 35,800,000 Americans, or about 12.5% of the population.

The increase in the number of American children living in poverty is even more dramatic: an increase of about 800,000 from the previous year.

The number of Americans without health insurance grew by 1,400,000.

More Info:

Download the just-released report  Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States: 2003.

Or, download Chapter 8 of The Great Divide:  Women, Children, and the Poor in Metro America

Source 

Well.  Mother is over it.  She told me today that she thinks I've “gone off the deep end,” [I love that southern coastal expression.]  that I'm “on a rampage” and have just “become too fanatical, way too fanatical.”  She is much too polite and loving to ever post such a thing on my blog, but that's how she feels about my “obsession” with politics of late.

Granted, I've lived under my rock for years.  As a family we never really talked about politics very much.  I'm sure this has been quite a shock to her.  It has been to me as well, actually.  This has been sort of a self-discovery process.

Reflecting on all of this, I have noticed through the years that I tend to act as a counterbalance to what is going on around me.  For example:  when the nation leaned way to the left in the 60's and 70's, I was busy working for Ronald Reagan.  Now that the nation is leaning way to the right, I tend to be far more liberal minded:  let's take care of people.  But I have always believed that opposing views need to be heard and honestly considered, even when the conclusion of the matter results in our continued disagreement.

And another good friend bites her tongue a lot too.  She recently sent me this very conservative link that's sort of raunchy but certainly funny.  I post it as a celebration of good people who, though we disagree, will continue to be good people who care, just in a different way.  You see, I believe that this world is big enough for good people to have ideas that clash.  Time will not end.  And one day, sometime in the future, I will swing back to counterbalance the left, who will be running the nation amuck.

Here's the link. 

Compassionate Conservatism...

Hmmm, now let me see:  was it somewhere between 600,000 and a few million?  Now, these are people who will lose access, because of the new federal law, to overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a week.  Perhaps, if it's just 600,000 people it is “compassionate conservatism?”  If it approaches a million is it just “plain conservatism?”  If it exceeds 3 million is it just “really mean?”  Or is there really a difference between any of them?

I don't think we are really discussing conspicuous consumption.  I think we are probably talking about feeding the family and paying the basic bills.  A single hungry child is one too many.

We can't blame this on the workers like we did welfare reform during the Reagan presidency–some of which may well have been justified.  But these people want to work.  They probably need to work.  I mean, for goodness sake, they are working.  Now they will just be working for less–a good bit less.

My government is not doing a very good job or representing my social conscience.

I'm sorry.  I really am. 

Since when did Vietnam, which was 30+ years ago, become the dominant issue of this election?  I think that just perhaps maybe it should be Iraq, which is going on now?!  How clever those media moguls: displace a non-issue for the real and significant issues of the last 4 years.

And even if Kerry did lie about Vietnam (which I doubt), who cares?!  He didn't start the war in Vietnam based on a lie like George W did in Iraq.  Hmmm, now which is more serious?!

Is anybody paying attention?!

Instant Messenger services to join in one big happy family?  Click here for details.

If you follow my blog or know me personally, you know that I frequently take walks in the Emory Forest. In fact, several Emory Forest posts exist on my blog. I decided to bring the forest to you. Clicking on a picture enlarges it.

I love this time of the year. The angle of the sunlight has changed. In just a few weeks the temperature will drop and Fall will be in the air! I can't wait!!

 
 

...a lot, actually.

It has changed

...a lot actually.

Melanie Matson at Just a Bump in the Beltway presents an interesting point/counterpoint: two articles about campaign appearances by the two candidates:

John Kerry: has hecklers in his audience; Kerry and his wife (introducing her husband) actually trade barbs with the pro-Bush hecklers.

George W. Bush: restricts attendance at his rallies to his own supporters, and herds protesters into “free speech zones” located as far away as he can arrange.

There's only one conclusion you can make, and you can make it either by comparing these campaign vignettes, or by comparing their military service (or in Bush's case, his “military service”).

John Kerry has balls. George W. Bush is a craven coward.

Or to borrow a turn of phrase from Ahnuld, George W. Bush is a girlie man.

In fact, because I'm a glutton for punishment who wants to wallow in his own insignificance for a bit, I'm going to propose a new Google-bomb. You can guess where that link to girlie man goes. Let's see if anyone else picks up on it. I'm betting not....

But I'm used to being a nobody.

A little Google tomfoolery never hurt anyone.... 

Kerry vs. Bush on the WWW

Candidate	Web Site	Webserver information
John Kerry	JohnKerry.com	Server: Apache/1.3.27 (Unix) (Red-Hat/Linux) PHP/4.1.2 mod_perl/1.29 mod_ssl/2.8.12 OpenSSL/0.9.6b X-Powered-By: PHP/4.1.2
George W. Bush	GeogeWBush.com	Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0 X-Powered-By: ASP.NET X-AspNet-Version: 1.1.4322

No suprise that W.'s campaign is hosted on a expensive, buggy, and relatively insecure web server.

I want to say thanks to Doug (wherever he is out there in cyberspace) for showing me how to put a “live” link on my blog that lets you, the reader, know if I'm logged on to AIM or iChat while you are visiting my site.  It's cool.  It was easy.

Now, by checking the permanent indicator on the left-hand side of my blog, you can see if I'm online.  If I am, simply click the little smiley face and say hi!

Green dot = I'm online
Red dot = I'm offline 

Why are people so loyal to this man?!  As a dear friend of mine said last Friday night over pizza:  “The reason I'm not voting for Bush is his record, his horrible, horrible record.  All the arguments about Vietnam are the Republicans way of obscuring the fact that the man's record is a horror!  Good God!  The man is just incompetent!”

A little evidence:
On Sept. 11, 2001, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to outline a Bush administration policy that would address “the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of yesterday” -- but the focus was largely on missile defense, not terrorism from Islamic radicals.

The speech provides telling insight into the administration's thinking on the very day that the United States suffered the most devastating attack since the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. The address was designed to promote missile defense as the cornerstone of a new national security strategy, and contained no mention of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or Islamic extremist groups, according to former U.S. officials who have seen the text [...]

The text also implicitly challenged the Clinton administration's policy, saying it did not do enough about the real threat -- long-range missiles.

from:  daily KOS

The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure. We are to-day not far from a disaster.

-- Ex.-Lieut.-Col. T.E. Lawrence (The Sunday Times, 22 August 1920)

And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?

-- Homer J. Simpson

Just an FYI:  I finally got around to plugging in the links under My Links on the right-hand side of my blog.  Most of them take you to my .Mac account links.  I will add more in time.  Time, time, time.  Tim needs more time.  As it is I don't sleep!

Way cool. He falls into that group of people who are willing to share their smarts with the rest of us. Generosity always impresses me!

If you use iTunes (and you should! Windows or Mac), then you need to know Doug Adams. He started writing AppleScripts for iTunes several years ago and has amassed quite a large collection of special scripts that will enable Mac users (not sure about you Windows people) to do some cool things in iTunes.

He also wrote this cool little link that I am adding to my collection of Must-See HTTP:// on the permanent right-hand column of my blog. I simply must learn to write php and xml, and take out the trash, and do the laundry, and cut the yard, and show up for work...but here I sit: what a geek.

Any way, this link will pop up a window that features the last 10 items added to the iTunes Store, New Releases, Top 10 Albums, Top 10 Songs, and Features and Exclusives. He also has a link on the little pop up from which you can build your own rss feed based on the store of your choosing (USA, UK, Germany, or France), genre, explicit included or excluded, etc. See what I mean. I need to learn how to write this stuff.

It's cool. Check it out. [And for the unwashed masses, of which I was a member until this morning, iTMS stands for iTunes Music Store.] Click the button below.

In his memoirs, A World Transformed, written five years ago, George Bush Sr. wrote the following to explain why he didn't go after Saddam Hussein at the end of the Gulf War:

“Trying to eliminate Saddam... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible...We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq...There was no visible ”exit strategy“ we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world.  Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”

Earlier this week I posted about integrity in the media.  I find this short video clip of interest.  Click here to view.

This is a quick, quiet, relaxing 1 minute break from your day.  Close your after you click this link and enjoy.  It's really nice.

Now I can rest in peace...for less!  Check it out.  Order now while supplies last! 

Internet is now no longer capitalized!  Check out why.

I just got back from seeing the movie, The Corporation.  Lot's to think about.  I'll write more when it's not so late.  It's certainly worth seeing.

It's time to have another poll. So far, the toilet paper poll was by far the poll in which the most people participated. As I said in that post, these are the important things in life.

And, as of this writing, the “over the top” people have it by a land slide. As the toilet paper poll will not appear in the “main reading room” (here) much longer, if you feel so moved, you can add your 2 cents to the poll by clicking on the link under the section Categories: Your Polling Place on the right hand side of this page. In fact, all of the polls on my blog appear at that link.

Today, inquiring minds want to know why you choose the perfume or cologne you wear. Do you wear it for yourself? Do you wear it because other people like it, maybe someone special? Do you dislike wearing fragrances? Inquiring minds want to know!

I recently reconnected with some old college roommates.  What better way to get up to speed with the man I have grown into than to read my blog.  Well sorta...

Based on some questions that have been raised from various readers which indicated some misunderstandings that could too easily be taken from the 100 Things list, I upgraded it.  For example: No, I don't really believe that bacteria and viruses are really alien life forms attempting to dominate the genetic pool of the human race.  (See v 1.1 for clarification.)

As I said in my “preamble” to the list, making it was hard.  Capturing things of varying levels of significance to and about you that give some level of insight into who you are is not easy.  I highly recommend everyone do it.  Reading the lists from various bloggers is always fascinating.

The more important things, to me anyway, tend to not want to be “listed.”  They demand elaboration.  Without elaboration they can easily be misunderstood.  Even with elaboration they probably still can easily be misunderstood.  Context and perspective are so important.

Communicating effectively in print is a challenge, and putting things in print seems so permanent.  But remember, I believe we are all on a journey from the moment we first open our eyes until we close them to join our ancestors.  I would like to think that, while my body has stopped growing taller, who I am will not.  Less “I am” and more “I am becoming...”

It's a glimpse, only a glimpse.

I really have been rather surprised at how intensely I feel about this political election.  I usually live under a rock when it comes to the news and politics.  I just have seldom wanted to know what is going on unless I can effect a positive change.  I have to matter.  I have to be a positive influence.  I have to bring at least a little bit more good into this world.  Hmm.  I guess I should add that to my 100 Things list.

The more I hear, the more I read, the more I see, the more upset I have become.  Our society, our way of life, has become so fast paced, so self-absorbed, so dog eat dog.  We have to make more money faster (now just to hold on to what we have).  We have to have more things.  The bogus concept of “compassionate conservatism” indicates that the right sees vulnerability to attack on this very point.  Our society, our leadership, is more concerned with money and power than with people.  We as a nation are losing our soul.

Rather than trying to sincerely and substantively help people, bring people together, put people first, attend to the very real needs of people, our society seems to be more and more preoccupied what I am calling “dismissive condemnation.”  Dismissive condemnation is the perfect diet for the soul:  You can have or do what ever you want without feeling guilty about it in the least!  I see dismissive condemnation at so many levels.

Here's a simple example from my little world:  When a child repeatedly fails to do his/her homework, it is much easier for a teacher to say the child is lazy, which is a moral issue for which the teacher then has no responsibility.  It's far more difficult to set aside the time to understand the child, to know the child, to comprehend the multitude of reasons why the child appears lazy, when laziness may in fact be the farthest thing from the truth.

Perhaps the child comes home to an empty house and has to prepare dinner, feed the younger children, clean up, wash the clothes, and tend to a bed-ridden dying uncle in the basement because the single parent has to work 2 jobs to come any where near paying the mounting health care bills.  (I didn't just make that up.)

In other words...

I saw this bumper sticker on a car at the gym today:

“What schools need is a moment of science”

For those outside the state of Georgia or not informed as to what goes on in our public schools, all public schools, by state law, begin the day with a “moment of silence.”  The bumper sticker is a take off on that law.

Well, I am happy to report that, at my school, we begin the day with a moment of silence and then about 70 minutes of stunning science instruction follow sometime throughout the day.  We have very bright, capable, and dedicated science teachers who aggressively engage students in the doing and learning of science.  I am very proud of their work.

Today is my sister's birthday.  All things considered, I wouldn't want anyone else to have been my sister growing up, except for the time she hit me over the head with a baseball bat.  She really didn't hit me very hard.  She really couldn't.  The bat was as big as she was.  But I told her that she had given me a brain tumor and that I was now going to die.  I made her go get mother and tell her she had given me a brain tumor.

We were wild.  We were crazy.  We were 6 and 4 years old.

As an educator, I would naturally think this important.  Atlanta is the 15th most literate city in the nation.  Check out the results here.

“I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.”

-- President Bush, quoted on July 16, 2004, in the Lancaster New Era, during a private meeting with an Amish group.

A great evening.

Good company.

Getting stuff off my chest.

Good food (Aprés Diem).

Eating outside.

A gentle cool breeze.

A fun couple sitting next to us.

He looked exactly like Tommy Lee Jones, the actor.

They said he hears that all the time.

She was great fun.

They wanted a bite of our dessert.

A leisurely stroll in the park afterward.

Life is good.

Technology is all so strange.  Here I sit typing on my wireless computer keyboard (bluetooth) into my computer that is connected wirelessly to a server down in Texas someplace that you are connected to (wirelessly perhaps?) and reading what leaped invisibly through the air at least twice to get to you.  So anyone anywhere in the world can read what I write.

If King Solomon only had it this good.

But I bet it causes cancer...

:o)

Oh, so, why am I thinking about this?  My keyboard batteries “ran dead.”  It all came to a stop.  I was cut off from the world!  But not any more.

You can tell them by the color of their wires–white.  Being an Apple-phile, I can spot them anywhere, before I see the whites of their eyes.

I was standing in the checkout aisle at Publix.  Grocery stores confuse me, but I know right where the chocolate section is.  The guy behind me in the checkout aisle had white wires.  I asked him, “How do you like it?”  He, like anyone bitten by the Apple bug, immediate went crazy about his geek toy, his iPod.

He suddenly was all animated and excited as he talked about listening to books on his iPod while he worked out at the gym.

“Really?  So do I.”

“Yeah, I'm listening to this one that's really upsetting me right now though,” he said while pausing his iPod.

“Why's that?”

“Well, I'm just having a hard time getting through it because it makes me angry.”

“That's amazing.  I'm having the same problem!  I can only listen to the book I'm listening to in really short doses, and then I have to wait several days to calm down before I can listen again.”

“What are you listening to?”

“The Republican Noise Machine.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah”

“That's the one I'm listening to!”

“You've got to be kidding!”

The cashier got a little annoyed with us I think because we clogged up her line as we detached from the world around us while engaging in our conversation about the book, the iPod, iTunes, Audible.  But no one is perfect.  Who ever this stranger was, he uses a Windows machine!

I'm going to bed now!  (Earliest in weeks and weeks!!)

This weekend was gorgeous!  In the early morning coolness (60s), I walked in the Emory forest and reflected on one of my university professors from the mid 80s:

A small, thin, bearded man who jogged all over the University of Illinois and just seemed to float into the classroom every day, Dr. Clause Witz, who taught me Advanced Statistical Analysis, and Qualitative Behavioral Analysis, had to be one of the most extraordinary professors I had in my long academic career—and I was most fortunate to have had brilliant and colorful teachers and professors throughout my education.

Dr. Witz taught my young mind and heart that we are our most powerful selves when our words and our behaviors are in alignment, when what we say is what we do, and what we do is what we say. Our feelingful selves flow from what we think, say and do. When these aspects of our being are lined up in a straight line, are all in sync, then we are living at the pinnacle of our being. And when all of our mental, physical, and emotional energies, and all of our resources are actively pursuing truth, Dr. Witz believed we were destined to come to know God, to know Truth, to know The Way.

He believed that all thinking people should rigorously pursue Truth, that such pursuit was indeed the very purpose of education. I was fascinated by his notion that all of the great spiritual writings directed our journeys to the same place, as this idea found sympathetic vibration in my soul.

He believed that our life journey, if honest, could not help but lead us to what our present reality merely dimly reflects—Truth. In fact, completely contrary to how I had been raised to think in my conservative religious training, he suggested that, if we disagreeded with his premise, if we believed something other than God was Truth, we should commit all of our energies and resources and pursue with all of hearts, minds, and assets what we believed Truth to be so that we would quickly exhaust that journey and come to realize we were wrong and be able to redirect our search and thereby come to Truth all the sooner. He did not want any of his students to only halfheartedly pursue our journeys, as this would only slow the unfolding of Truth in our lives.

Then there were his discussions on form versus substance, and how we so easily become addicted to form and not substance. He spoke brilliantly of how, for many people, form actually came to supplant substance and with its replacement hollow out the very nature of the human soul with selfishness and materialism.

He tortured our minds with abstractions like: is mathematics Truth or does it merely describe Truth. How well does it describe Truth if indeed it does so at all?

Oh, and I should mention Qualitative Behavioral Analysis. His goal was to train us to get inside a person's mind to learn their thinking patterns and processes, to study every nuance of meaning they communicate consciously and subconsciously.

Brilliant, quiet, unassuming, always smiling with eyes glinting deeply, Dr. Witz had a profound impact on my life.  Let the power and depth of these, his ideas, find rich soil in your heart and mind.

P.S.  I am excited to say that a quick web search yielded Dr. Witz' homepage at the University of Illinois.  I have included the link with his name throughout this reflection.

This came across my desk in 2000. The world is such a large and difficult place to understand. Dr. Harter's information helps frame it in a comprehensible perspective:

“Life shrinks or expands  in proportion to one's courage.” -Anais Nin

This site, Talking Presidents, sells talking dolls fashioned to look like various presidents and well-known personalities.  The dolls play the actual quotations made by the person.  What fun!  If they make a Dick Cheney doll, it will have to be “R” rated and considered unsuitable for younger children!

Yeah!  Yesterday I posted my 100th Blog entry!  I've actually written 115 entries but only posted 100 of them.  Now aren't you just curious!

By the way, I just can't take it!  I'm off to forage for chocolate!  [Well, no wonder I'm craving chocolate...I'm starving.  I got out of the office and therefore the gym also, late...very late!  I was so full of endorphins and it was so dark outside, I forgot food!  No, no, no.  This can not be!]

I promised myself I was going to bed at a decent hour tonight, and here I sit!  One more quick post and then it's bedtime.

On the way home I passed 2 cars pulled over, side by side in a rather poorly lit parking area.  Because of the lighting and the short visual of the cars, I couldn't tell what the exact make of the cars was.  But this is what caught my attention:  both cars were identical and had their emergency flashers flashing exactly, and I mean precisely, in sync!

What are the odds?!  (Better than my getting to bed before midnight it seems!)

A comment posted to one of my entries included a link in which we Americans can pick on our President until we pick our new President in November. Check it out by clicking here.

Here is one of the versions I created. Think I am evil? You should have seen what I could have done!

It's a blast. Give it a whirl!

I had to get my blood sugar and weight down, my metabolism and energy up. I broke down and joined a gym. It's really nice! (and expensive!!) It's starting to work for me. I've worked out almost every day since I started. I'm up to burning about 750 calories in a workout. Let's see, that's 3 Reece's Peanut Buttercups I can add to my diet! (My name is Tim. I'm a chocoholic.)

Intelligence about the newly announced attacks is years old. The basis of the orange alert was found before 9/11. Good to know our alert status is being used as an election tool.  Story at this New York Times link.

The GOP wants to eliminate the IRS during Bush's second term in office.  He will replace it with a national sales tax.  [Oh!  In that case, forget it!]

What a kook...I mean hoot!  Like that's going to happen!  I think the citizenry would revolt if they really understood how much money we pay in taxation.

Here's the story link.

In an unprecedented series of concerts in nine swing states, more than 20 musical acts - including Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and the Dixie Chicks - will perform fund-raising concerts one month before the Nov. 2 election in an effort to unseat President Bush.

The shows, which will begin Oct. 1 in Pennsylvania, will take an unusual approach: as many as six concerts on a single day in cities across the states expected to decide the November presidential race. Other stops on the tour are North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin and the key state in 2000, Florida.

“We're trying to put forward a group of progressive ideals and change the administration in the White House,'' Springsteen told The Associated Press in the most overtly political statements of his 30-year career. ”That's the success or failure, very clear cut and very simple.''

The artists of different generations and genres will tour under the name “Vote For Change,'' with shows Oct. 1-8. But the money generated will go to America Coming Together, which promises on its Web site to ”derail the right-wing Republican agenda by defeating George W. Bush.''

Natalie Maines, of the Dixie Chicks, who memorably told a London audience last year that she was ashamed to share her home state of Texas with Bush, echoed a Springsteen comment that this was the most important election of their lives.

Artist Lineup
· Pearl Jam
· Bruce Springsteen
· R.E.M.
· Dave Matthews
· Jurassic 5
· Dixie Chicks
· Death Cab for Cutie
· James Taylor
· Ben Harper
· My Morning Jacket
· Jackson Browne
· Babyface
· Bonnie Raitt
· John Fogerty
· Keb' Mo'
· Bright Eyes
· John Mellencamp

Source: MoveOn PAC

Once again Audible and iTunes are beyond awesome!  As a public service, they are providing the world with free downloads of all of the speeches presented at the Democratic National Convention. I suspect they will also provide this free service for the RNC too.  This public service is an excellent example of corporate America making a real and meaningful contribution to the democratic process.

Thank you Audible and iTunes!

Day One Democratic National Convention Speeches Link
Day Two Democratic National Convention Speeches Link
Day Three Democratic National Convention Speeches Link

Former President Jimmy Carter's Democratic National Convention Speech Link
Former President Bill Clinton's Democratic National Convention Speech Link
Former Vice President Al Gore's Democratic National Convention Speech Link

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's Democratic National Convention Speech Link
State Senator Barack Obama's Democratic National Convention Speech Link
Teresa Heinz Kerry's Democratic National Convention Speech Link

Senator John Edwards's Democratic National Convention Speech Link
Senator John Kerry's Democratic National Convention Speech Link

I don't really know what it is–what it is made of, as  I have never seen it firsthand.  But soon!  Very, very soon.  Not only will I see it first hand, I will take pictures of the ectoplasm of a female ghost and share it with my readers!

Yes!  I have attained celebrity status!  I actually know someone who has been slimed while staying in a haunted house in Savannah!  The stories of the “summer stay” were captivating if nothing else.  When the slimed CD is produced for the photographic shoot, I will tell the tales of the haunted summer stay.  Stay tuned!

I have been a long-time fan of Sandi Patty.  Her voice transcends me.  Her music makes my heart soar while at the same time providing a vehicle for my faith to find a depth of expression I would otherwise not experience in this life.

Thank you Sandi!  And thank you to your new web designers!  The web site is awesome!  They are doing awesome work!  The new CD project is due out mid September.  I can't wait!!

Today Steve Jobs, 49, (Steve Wozniak and he co-founded Apple Computer in 1976) announced he underwent surgery today for cancer.  The news release was positive, stating he expected a full recovery without chemotherapy or radiation.

For the full article, click here.

I enjoyed reading, or hearing really, as I do Audible Books, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, by Alan Deutschman.  I always liked the “media version” of Steve, thinking that the inventor of the Mac would just have to be a cool guy.  Well, he is.  After reading about his career and personal life, he's also many other things too.  I recommend the book.  You can purchase and download the Audible version from iTunes by clicking here.

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology has a really nice web site featuring Africa, Buddism, Canaan, China, Egypt, Etrucsan, Greece, Mesoamerica, The Near East, North America, Polonesia, Rome, and the Southwest.

I was attending the domicile cleansing rituals today, a much needed task. I was faced with the important question below: how should the toilet paper be affixed to the toilet paper rack? These are the important issues of life. I decided to ask those who choose to share.

I just don't understand why my employer doesn't agree!  If I were to be sold right now, as is, slightly used...well, ok, well worn (shall we say), I would fetch a tidy sum.  According to Human for Sale, I am “worth exactly: $2,349,970.00.”  Understand that price is “as is,” no implied or expressed warranties.  Void where prohibited by law.

I felt rather good about my tagged value as only one other man who was up for sale today was valued higher than I was!  He was worth about $230,000 more and claimed to have an IQ of 175!  Good grief!  He should have been smart enough not to take the survey!

Furthermore, the average male is valued at $1,814,988.00.  So I can't complain too much.  I notice that the average value of women is slightly less, coming in at $1,656,797.00.  However, the priciest woman was valued at $2,806,726.00, considerably more than I and the most valued man of the day.

Who thinks up these things?  And who is crazy enough to price themselves!  :o)

Some great lines: “Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so.”

“I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a Secretary of Defense who will listen to the best advice of our military leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States.”

For the text of John Kerry's speech at the Democratic National Convention this past week, click here.

Donating frequent flier miles to support our troops and their families!  Click here

In His Own Words, from George Bush's State of the Union Address, is a video clip that will make you stop and think. Stopping to think is a good thing, isn't it?

Click here to see it.