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Confidants and Liaisons
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
9:05PM - Tweets for Today
over and out6:09PM - MAY 23: Climate Confluence Benefit in BOSTON
MUSIC for LIBERATION!
MAY 23, 2008
6:00pm – 10:00pm
$7-15 sliding scale donation
1486 Dorchester Ave, Boston
RIGHT across from the Fields Corner T-Stop on the Red Line
Featuring the music and the message of:
HUMANWINE (socio-political freak folk)
THE PAPERDOLLS (acoustic gypsy punk on tour from FL)
AMATUL & NATEBOX (radical spoken word from somerville)
EVAN GREER (of the riot-folk! collective)
BAMBUU WAZA (local voice of liberation)
ADELAIDE (puppets and ukeleles. at the same time.)
Proceeds will support The Northeast Climate Confluence – a critical social/environmental justice gathering this summer to strengthen relationships within our region and organize to take care of the needs of our community and decrease our dependency on the institutions and systems that are killing the planet.
We will also be supporting a bail fund for activists who will be protesting the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
11:06AM - Art Shop 2008
Here's something you can check out in the vicinity of Alberta Street on Saturday;
1303 NE Roselawn -- two blocks north of Alberta.
"Bike Farm (1303 NE Roselawn), a bike repair collective that is having its grand opening this Saturday from 11 am-6 pm, a block party with beer, bands, food, and workshops. Operating on membership fees ($50/yr, $20/mo, $5/hr, or $100/lifetime), the space provides easy, cheap access to tools and bike repair education in a relaxed environment—there's a profile of the founders, and their mission. They hope to expand quickly to a more permanent location and more hours (they're only open Sat-Mon at first), so if you're into what they're trying to do, now's the time to show your support."
-- Marjorie Skinner, Mercury Blogtown
I need to turn me phone back on with a quickness..
Thursday, May 15, 2008
9:05PM - Tweets for Today
- 11:04 working on SSR listings...again. There are so many places that sell zines these days! #
1:56PM
thank you, my Harry and David's Darling, for the fabulous cheesecake! you always send me the very best in richness.
and just for the hell of it, i'm throwing out my wishlist link. there's not much on there, just a few books i really really want and the soldering kit i'm always wishing for. what would i solder, you ask? anything metal i can get my hands on. like the hundred or so keys i've been saving, and the computer components i've got stashed away that are obsolete or not functioning.
okay, that's enough.
i have cheesecake to taste (polite term for "go face down in").
1:49PM - Art of Being
( bike yogurt )
11:58AM
let's see, what is going on here . . . . ?
no new cat puke, the hairball remedy is working nicely.
still nothing from tripper
i alienated a best friend
my birthday is on the 19th
i fear turning 39 will be worse than 40
i may just pick an age and start the big lie
i don't look 39
i try to do one thing and another happens
i am self centered (no shock there, you read this drivel)
i'm going to call tripper's last known address
i'm confused about family
everyone around me is so different familywise
no one feels the same ire and rage that i do
or they work through it, something i could never do
i am very mercenary about my family, i was brought up that way
how long do i wait to try to say i'm sorry to my friend?
do i just let her read it in here, that i am so sorry
i'm so confused about people
people were over all afternoon and evening
i didn't know what to do so i just left my show on
i could have put resident evil in, but i forgot
i just don't function well with people.
i'm sorry to my sister for making her avoid me
i'm sorry to my friend for making her think it was all about me
i was just trying to distract her, i didn't do well.
2:43PM - BlogTalkRadio Share Show Widget
Hey, I was interviewed on the ZineCoreRadioShow last night. You should check it out!
I totally forgot I was being interviewed and paul and I rode up to Vancouver, Washington (not Vancouver, Canada as I said while catching my breath at the beginning of the interview) We went to the Salmon Creek Brewpub, where they have a very fine Belgian Ale. At 5 to 6pm I realized I had to get home to call in! So,we scrambled over the I-5 bridge and back to our home in North Portland so I was a bit scattered in the interview.
With that being said, check it out and spread the work. thanks to hannah for letting me be on her show!
9:52AM - Work, Work, Work and... More Work?
The technician told me "Ah, the answer to life, the universe, and everything," upon hearing his confirmation number: 7884242. I told him I'd almost said something but decided not to, and he exclaimed that he had outed me as a nerd.
A few days back, another technician asked me if I liked blond jokes, and then proceeded to tell me one I actually hadn't heard before. The call got a little awkward when he asked if I am "Mormon," and, forgetting my usual half-truth ("Born and raised"), I said "That's a personal question."
Man, I don't quite love my job, but it sure has it's funny and quirky moments.
I haven't been there long enough to get bored or start hating it, and I think they've finally found a happy medium of workers per hour so that we don't go ten minutes without calls (which leads to dying of boredom, because we are not allowed to do ANYTHING other than work; no reading, games, etc.). Things are running pretty smoothly so far. It's kind of like riding a bike... I just know how to do all of this stuff.
I went to the great trouble of cleaning my family's kitchen from top to bottom (essentially, anyway. Sorry, didn't hit the ceilings) and then I went to work... upon arriving home, of course, it was trashed again. I can completely understand why my mother simply gave up years ago.
Today, I tackle the garden in preparation for her famous flowers and possibly some veggies. At least Michael can't cover that in grease, crumbs, and dirty dishes. Justin S. is coming to help me.
Also, starting to practice piano on a daily basis again. I've completely downplayed my progress, because honestly, a year ago (about when I started trying to play) I couldn't do anything, and now I can read music (even if it's still a little new to me and I'm slow at first). I enjoy marks of progress in my life. But of course, progress is relative...
3:00AM - ...
Time sucks! There's never enough of it and it's always getting away from me.
I decided to take the painful option in regard to workout routine... oh yes... week five... after missing most of week four... I'm already feeling it in my back... fortunately... I'm 3/5 through the week... I'll probably be able to recover fairly easily on Saturday... though, mostly because I've lots of chicken sausage (It really is the central staple of my diet right now... that and tobacco... I think I'm turning into an old man)
tomorrow... I will be doing a lot of reading between commutes... by the end of the week I will know so many details of the history of Israel that most people would forget in a month or two... Ah, if only my neurobiology worked that way... go to school... get scarred for life... oh well
amusedWednesday, May 14, 2008
9:04PM - Tweets for Today
over and out10:44PM - We're killing off the polar bear, but don't worry...
we won't let that stop us from destroying more of its habitat for profit!
US lists polar bear as threatened species
By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer
In this Oct. 24, 2007 file photo, Uluu, a 27-year-old polar bear, eats treats as she plays with a pumpkin jack-o'-lantern at the San Francisco Zoo. The Interior Department has decided to protect the polar bear as a threatened species because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
WASHINGTON - The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday because of the loss of Arctic sea ice but also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses, meaning, he said, that the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.
But Kempthorne said it would be "wholly inappropriate" to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change.
The Endangered Species Act "is not the right tool to set U.S. climate policy," said Kempthorne, reflecting a view recently expressed by President Bush.
The department outlined a set of administrative actions and limits to how it planned to protect the bear with its new status so that it would not have wide-ranging adverse impact on economic activities from building power plants to oil and gas exploration.
"This listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting," said Kempthorne. He said he had consulted with the White House on the decision, but "at no time was there ever a suggestion that this was not my decision."
Kempthorne, at a news conference, was armed with slides and charts showing the dramatic decline in sea ice over the last 30 years and projections that the melting of ice — a key habitat for the bear — would continue and may even quicken.
He cited conclusions by department scientists that sea ice loss will likely result in two-thirds of the polar bears disappearing by mid-century. The bear population across the Arctic from Alaska to Greenland doubled from about 12,000 to 25,000 since 1960, but he noted that scientists now predict a significant population decline. Studies last year by the U.S. Geological Survey suggested 15,000 bears would be lost in coming decades with those in the western Hudson Bay area of Alaska and Canada under the greatest stress.
But when asked how the bear will be afforded greater protection, Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, had difficulty coming up with examples.
Better management of bear habitat on shore and making sure bears aren't threatened by people including hunters, more studies on bear population trends and their feeding habits were among the areas mentioned. "I don't want to prejudge recommendations for (bear) management," said Hall whose agency administers the Endangered Species Act.
Environmentalists were already mapping out plans to file lawsuits challenging the restrictive measures outlined by Kempthorne.
"They're trying to make this a threatened listing in name only with no change in today's impacts and that's not going to fly," said Jamie Rappaport Clark of Defenders of Wildlife and a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director.
Members of Congress also were skeptical.
The Bush administration "is forcing the polar bear to sink or swim," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of a House committee on global warming.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called it "a lifeline for our last remaining polar bears" but said the bear's survival won't be assured without limits on oil development in the same Arctic waters where the bears are found.
Despite the new listing, the announcement underscores the need to approve climate legislation that would limit the release of greenhouse gases and avert the future effects on climate change, said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment Committee.
Scientists have blamed global warming for the disappearance of sea ice which is vital for the bear's survival.
Summer ice surrounding the North Pole declined an average of 10 percent per decade since 1979, with a loss of about 28,000 square miles per year, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Last year was the sharpest drop, as the amount of sea ice in September fell to 1.65 million square miles, or 23 percent below the previous low in 2005.
Kempthorne proposed 15 months ago to investigate whether the polar bear should be declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act. That triggered a year of studies into the threats facing the bear and its survival prospects.
A decision had been expected early this year, but the Interior Department said it needed more time to work out many of the details, prompting criticism from members of Congress and environmentalists. Environmentalists filed a lawsuit aimed at forcing a decision and a federal court on April 29 set a May 15 deadline for a decision.
A species is declared "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act if it is found to be at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future. If it does not make progress toward recovery, it can be declared "endangered" meaning it is at risk of extinction and needs even greater protection.
3:40PM - OMGZ!!!!!!
I GOT THE AMERICORPS JOB AT PORTLAND COMMUNITY MEDIA!!!!! I'LL BE WORKING WITH THEIR YOUTH VIDEO PROGRAM!!! I START IN JULY! I'M NOT MOVING AWAY! LIFE RULEZ!
3:17PM - From "Furious Seasons":
http://www.furiousseasons.com/archi
This is an official holy-shit story from the Washington Post:
"The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged."
I first wrote about this phenomenon last October when the Los Angeles Times reported on similar doings in the LA area. I'll be blunt: what's going on here is a major human rights violation, regardless of what one thinks of immigration issues:
"Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees, unless there is a medical justification, is a violation of some international human rights codes. The practice is banned by several countries where, confidential documents make clear, U.S. escorts have been unable to inject deportees with extra doses of drugs during layovers en route to faraway places."
The paper reports that one detainee was given an injection of Haldol, one of the harshest psych meds there is, and Ativan, an anti-anxiety drug. Doping detainees on the Haldol absent a medical indication of schizophrenia is utterly barbaric--and it's pretty damn barbaric even with the proper indication.
This practice, which disgusts me as an American, simply must stop.
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