treetments of buddy don: sleepin over

so i went thru that sleep study on sundy nite. a feller frum ecuador name of eric cum in n hooked me up to a slew of wires. tiz a wunder he could git em untangled. thay wuz a cuple on each calf, rite whar the ackunpunkchurist sticks in her needles. thay wuz a cuple of straps, one round my chest, one round my belly. thay wuz attachments a nuff to git ye a ekg n a eeg, witch that meant a tangle of them thangs on my hed, so minny eric had to putt a mesh cap on my hed once he had glued em all to me. thay was also a cuple of thangs a'goin up my nose n one stuck to my left forefanger.

the room i wuz sleepin in wuz a lil on the cold side. thay wuz a camera in thar so eric could watch me sleep. ifn i needed to pee, all i had to do wuz say, 'hello, eric?' n he wood anser rite away, astin whut i needed. then he cum in n deetached the main wire bord n handed it to me sos i could go pee. then he hooked it back up n putt me to bed.

round 4:15 am, i woke up n calld him sos i could pee n git up. he wood let me pee, but not git up. in sted, he tole me that taint natcherull to wonta git up that early n thonly reason i wuz a'doon it wuz sos i could rest on a counta i wuznt gittin no restful sleep due to sleep apnea. so he sed i wuz wakin up to take a rest frum trine to sleep when i caint breathe verr well.

he finely let me git up around 6:30, witch by then i wuz feelin as woozy as could be. he tole me thay wuznt no doubt bout me havin a bad case of sleep apnea. he sed my life wuz a'gone change fer the better once i but me my cpap. he ast me why i waited so long. i wunderd fer whut? he sed why dint i git a sleep study whenever i furst started havin my trubles. i tole im twuz on a counta nobidy sugjestin it till miz bd sed she thought it mite be a problem.

thays still a ways fer me to go. i half to see the new neurologist today, make a pointment with a ear nose n throat docter, see them sleep folks agin, n deecide on a treement. i had my annual fizzicull yesterdy n my primary keer docter tole me twood be the usual fite to git the cpap. he sed the insurants cumpny wood deny it n i wood half to gather sum testimonyalls frum my docters n in the end, i wood git it.

i kin hardly wait. i wuz sick as a dog yesterdy mornin, but i reackted a lil differnt. everybidy at wurk could see i wuz fixin to git sick, so i went home, but i dint take no zomig. miz bd had gut a book by teri robert name of Living Well with Migraine Disease and Headaches. i larnt more bout migraines a'readin the furst few chapturs of that book than i had known in all my life befor. i dint real eyes how much thay wuz to be known bout it.

fer instunts, i dint know twuz so dedly: more folks dies frum migraine strokes than frum gun shots in the usa! i dint even know thay wuz sumthin name of migraine stroke, witch ifn ye have a migraine that keeps on past 72 hours, ye mite jes git one!

i also dint know thay wuz so minny differnt kinds of migraines n that them that suffers frum sum of em should not git inny triptans, period! that means no zomig.

i also dint know that ye could git 'rebound hedaches' frum takin yer medicin too often. after a while, the verr medicin thats spozed to make ye well makes ye sicker! that splains a lot of whut has gone on with me. so whenever i cum home feelin so bad yesterdy, i dint take no zomig but cleaned my nose with a rhino horn n putt on a Breathe Right strip, tuck a cuple of reglar ole bayer asspurn n went to bed, sleepin lack the ded till twuz time to leave for the docters offus whar i wood git my annual fizzicull.

so in sum ways, i know moren i did befor, but in otherns, i am jes as puzzled by whuts a'gone on. i will definitely finish readin that book on migraines n lackly try to git myself a bit better educated.

at sum point, i wonta rite bout whut all this has larnt me bout our strange health keer systum. it appears to be dedicated more to the health of the medicull industrial complex, not the health of the individual.

but good news: AstraZenica is makin a lot of money offn zomig!

ifn ye wonta make a comment on this self-centerd post, jes click on link below n ye will see how.

pall gies of buddy don: sleepin out

i wont be bloggin on mundy febuwary 27 on a counta i will be sleepin over at the new york sleep institute n goin strate to wurk, assumin i am well. ifn i aint well, i caint blog innywho.

have a grate week, all. i am off to get them wires attached to me fer a good nites sleep.

pitchers tuck by buddy don: frum the hip

twuz nice to be well a nuff to go to the ackupunkchurist yesterdy so i tuck along the camera. i lack to take pitchers 'frum the hip', witch by that i mean i kindly leave the camera danglin n take pitchers without bein too obveeus.

tipicull new york city on 42nd street with bildins refleckted in a nuther bildins glass:



third avenue n everbidys in a big hurry:



outside grand centrull folks is wundern whut to do nex:



smith street in brooklyn, 4 faces, one refleckted:

mizry middlin state of buddy don: ok fer the moment

i am hopefull that i wont have to take no zomig today. i am alreddy in its fog frum yesterdy, witch i tuck two to git me thru, furstn a lil after midnite, witch thats howcum i couldnt rite nuthin yesterdy.

day befor that (thursdy? tiz all a zomig blur at the moment) miz bd tuck me to the new york sleep institute whar we wuz innervued by dr rodriguez, witch turnt out he wuz a neurologist on top of bein a sleep eggspurt. innywho, i am skeduled to go sleep with wires glued onto me over at thar place sundy nite, witch i pray i will be able to wurk the nex day.

thays one thang i wonted to menchun that i dint know bout ere miz bd showed me the bill: them zomig canisters (one per treatmint) run $182 fer six or $30.67 a piece. the cumpny that makes it – AstraZeneca? – mus be makin a forchun offn us migraneurs (kindly rhymes with manures).

ifn ye bin a'readin this here blog, ye know that gittin releaf frum the simptums once the migraine has cummenced is a blessin ... but tiz also a curse on a counta once ye take yer zomig, ye aint a'gone be able to wurk nun. only thang i kin do is lay down in the bed with pillers a'cuvern my hed n sleep or sit dedhedded with miz bd a'takin keer of me.

so i wish they could find a cure fer them thangs to whar ye dont git em in the furst place. as ye know, i dun been to lots of docters includin practishuners of tradishunull chinese medicine, witch they bleeves migraines is a disease that kin be cured, so they treat ye with erbs n ackupunkchur n massage n such, witch it wurks purty good durin my migraines off season, witch rite now – januwary, feberwary n march – is the time of year they kill me.

n rite now is when even them treatmints dont wurk.

miz bd notissd i wuz havin truble breathin on a counta her bein awake whilst i been sleepin so much lately n thats how cum we went to the sleep institute. dr rodriguez wuz grate n understood whut we been a'goin thru n thanks it lackly that sleep apnea could be at the hart of the migraine complex, witch thats his term fer it.

ifn thats it or ifn i git my tonsils cut out or whutever – ifn tiz cured, then twood be wonderful.

but whut i caint figger is why them folks a'sellin me zomig wood wonta cure it? mos profitabull thang fer AstaZeneca is fer me to keep on sniffin up them canisters as quick as i kin. seems to me that rite thar in terms of motivayshun is why profit caint be trusted to deetermine health keer.

i am prayin thays a nuther way.

thankee agin to all them thats wished me well. i caint tell ye how much i preciate it.

mizry of buddy don: reducks

i am trine as hard as i kin to git over this thang. i am dressd n reddy to go n jes about made it till miz bd forced me to look her in the eye, witch she kin see when i am sick even when i am trine to hide it. i git to feelin ok after a day of sleepin off zomig n thank i will be reddy the nex day but i wake up in the middle of the nite with the same urge to vomit. no matter whut i do (ceptn zomig), it keeps risin till i caint stand it.

i wonted to rite a thankee to all them verr kind folk thats been lettin me know they keer fer me: deb at sugarfused, margot100 (witch she points out whut is probly sumthin ima doon rong -- waitin till the last mint to take the ant-migraine drug -- it has been pointed out how ye gut to take it furst simptum, but i keep hopin that furst simptum is jes a sugjestchun of whut mite happen, not a promiss of whut will), tennessee jed, red molly, anne johnson n minny a nuthern that druther be anonymuss. i caint tell ye how much i preciate the kind wurds n minny prayers.

now i go back into the black hole name of zomig.

pallgies to them i tagged n then dint splain whut i had tagged ye to do. heres a reeminder. furst, ye putt yer blog at the bottom of the furst list n knock off the topn.

furst is the list:

1. Rex L.
2. Aunt B.
3. Newscoma
4. Tennessee Jed
5. wandering hillbilly

nex, check this list to see ifn i tagged ye, witch i dint hardly know who to pick:

1. deb at sugarfused
2. eric at straight white guy
3. omni at omniverse
4. anne johnson at the gods are bored
5. steve at whites creek

now fer whut yer spozed to do, witch yer eggspeckted to anser the follerin questchuns, listed below with my ansers.

What were you doing ten years ago?
i wuz a'livin over in man hattan. i had jes moved frum 9th ave n 58th street to 56th street twixt park n lexington. twuz the secunt time i had ever moved my fish tank, witch i gut a catfish name of felix jes after movin n i still gut im.

twuz a year of moves on a counta i wuz wurkin as a vice presdint fer a wall street firm name of oldbank. they wuz movin frum one part of midtown to a nuthern. twuz a big job n meant wurkin verr long hours, speshly on the weekend. we wood wurk fridy, go home n take a nap, cum back at midnite n then wurk till we wuz dun checkin everthang, witch twuz sumtime in the afternoon of the nex day.

What were you doing one year ago?
last year at this time, i wuz in the midst of a long strang of migraine attacks. this time of year is verr hard fer me n i been strugglin not to be sick all the time. but last year, thonly thang i could thank bout wuz whuther i wuz a'gone lose my job on a counta bein sick, witch i wurry bout the same thang this verr day n hope i kin git sumthin that will make thangs better (i go see sumbidy at the new york sleep institute this afternoon sos i kin have a sleep study dun to find out ifn the problem is sleep apnea).

Five snacks you enjoy:
avocados, whuther jes sliced with a lil dressin on em or putt into guacamole
pistachios
soft cheeses n crackers (brie or st andre or camembert n such)
walker shortbread cookies
pizza

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
you've got to be carefully taught (from south pacific n speshly useful at the moment on a counta the portgate thang going on: we amurkins has dun been carefully taught to be suspishus of all thangs arab n muslim, witch that splains the feedin frenzy on thisn frum bof sides)
it's all right, ma (i'm only bleeding) by bob dylan (n minny a nuther dylan song)
the boxer by simon & garfunkel (n near ever other paul simon song)
hard times (stephen foster classick)
one by u2

Five Bad Habits
eatin too much on weekends
gittin migraines
whinin about gittin migraines
eatin by duty, not desire (same thang fer brakefuss or whutever, ever sangle day)
ritin punditry in sted of fictshun

Five Things You Like Doing
bein with miz bd doin innythang
ritin
readin
playin guitar (or piano or mandolin)
listnin to musick

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again
leishure suit
long hair (aint gut nun)
clean shaved face (caint stand scrapin it everday, so i wear a beard)
basketball uniform
softball uniform (last two on a counta havin back surgery n bein forbid to play either game)

Five favert toys
guitar
mandolin
piano
computer keybird
bookworm

ackshly, i lack whut jed had to say bout thisn: 'All of life is a toy if you look at it right. I have been looking at it wrong for too long.' thisn wurks purrfeck fer me.

have a grate day. to make a comment, ye gut to click on 'link' below.

mizry of buddy don: new simptum

i am dressd fer wurk n wishin i could go, but miz bd is trine to hold me off on a counta a new simptum i gut yesterdy, witch thats how i caint see everthang outta my left eye. i caint splain it, but tiz kindly lack when yer tv pixelates. i reckun thats whar them halos n other effecks cums frum, but i aint never had it so strong befor. tiz a reglar simptum of migraines, but i aint ever had thisn n tiz a verr bothersum thang.

but i aint gonna go that easy. furst i am a'gone try to finish whut i promissd yesterdy, witch is how tennessee jed tagged me.

furst is the list:

1. Rex L.
2. Aunt B.
3. Newscoma
4. Tennessee Jed
5. wandering hillbilly

nex is who i am taggin to git this, witch i hardly know who to pick, but heres my lil list with pallgies to innybidy that dont wonta do em:

1. deb at sugarfused
2. eric at straight white guy
3. omni at omniverse
4. anne johnson at the gods are bored
5. steve at whites creek

i wish i could keep up with this, but the lite show is makin me feel sick to my stumach, so i reckun im gone half to quit fer a while. i will try to do tuther half of thisn tomorrow.

ifn ye wonta make comments, such as tellin me i shouldnta tagged ye, jes click the wurd 'link' below n ye will see how to doot.

mizry of buddy don?: ruff start

i am hopin i aint sick, but this mornin has been tuff. i am so skeerd of vomitin that i mite be spookin my ownself, makin sumthin outta nuthin. i reckon i will know whenever i try to go out n git on the bus. sumtimes i feel ok till i git out in the lite n noise. i am prayin today aint such a day! i dun wasted my mornin trine not to feel whut im a'feelin.

nuff fer now.

i been tagged by tennessee jed, witch i hope to anser it purty soon.

pinions of buddy don: our cowardly addministrayshun

i been contemplatin whut bothers me most bout the bush addministrayshun. thays plenty to choose frum, as ye know: (1) arrogunt? (2) corrupt? (3) incompetunt? (4) polar-eyesin? (5) criminal? (6) deceitful? (7) dangeruss (8) gummint-growin? (9) deficit-eggsplodin? (10) reality-challenged? (11) etc?

but as i watchd em goin thru damage cuntrol over dick cheneys acksident i finely real eyesed whut rilly bothers me bout em the most: thar a cowardly addministrayshun.

bof mr bush n mr cheney wuz skeerd to go to veetnam n cum up with ways to git out of it.

cowardly.

mr bush dun it by hidin in the texas air nashnull guard, witch he add mitts that wuz bettern dischargin a shotgun nex to his ear n gittin out of it thataway.

cowardly.

mr cheney gut hisself five strate deeferments frum veetnam on a counta havin other priorties ... includin one mane one that mos everbidy sharrd with im: not cummin home in a box.

cowardly.

then whenever 9/11 happend, furst thang bush dun once he woke up frum readin bout that goat wuz to start runnin around the cuntry trine to find a safe place to hide.

cowardly.

mr cheney gut hisself into a safe hidin place n has been mosly hidin frum us ever since.

cowardly.

mr bush is skeerd to speak befor a audients that aint been culld of inny possibull critick. he spends his time wurkin fer us by goin to one staged event after a nuther. he avoids press conferentses that he caint cuntrol. he stays inside his lil bubble.

cowardly.

n ye dont even speck mr cheney to half to putt up with the feedin frenzy of a open press confernts whar ackshul jurnlists could ast im unfilterd questchuns. in sted, when he aint in his undisclozed locayshun, he is speakin to friendly audientses -- rallys fer the troops or frontiers of freedum funkshuns (check the list here) -- or bein innerviewd by laura ingraham, rush limbaugh, sean hannity, tony snow or brit hume. mosly, he avoids tuff questchuns or unscripted events.

cowardly.

taint lack they aint generus with thar cowardiss. ever chants they git, they do thar level bes to cunvints ever one of us murkins that a scatterd netwurk of criminulls n terrsts is a threat equal to ww2 japan n germany or even the ole nuclear power name of ussr with thar icbms pointed rite at us n pallsy of brinkmunship n moochoowally assurd deestruckshun -- mad. that wuz dangerus, a superpower a'goin up agin us!

the way they been reacktin to the 9/11 terrst attack is lack chicken little gittin hit in the hed by a walnut n claimin the sky is a'fallin. i aint sayin that 9/11 wuz a walnut. twuz a tragedy. i live rite up in here n did then n that event wuz awful. tiz terrbull when innocent folks gits killt n thats why they call it terrism. but twuznt as dangerus as pearl harbor or sum of the cold war foolishess.

fack is, the threat of terrism only wurks ifn we let ourselves git skeerd, too skeerd to make good deecishuns, so skeerd we caint tell who is our real enemies frum who aint, so skeerd we wood give up the liberty that this cuntry is all about fer securty, witch we wood half to be purty skeerd to make such a bad bargain.

cowardly.

whutever happend to the only thang we have to fear bein fear itself? them terrists caint change our life ifn we dont let em. they caint take our freedum away frum us. only we kin do that. n thats whut bothers me mos of all bout the addministrayshun bein so cowardly: thar willin to swup our liberty fer so-calld securty, whuther with the patriot ack or warrantless wiretaps or whutever else they mite could be a'doin that we wont know bout lessn sumbidy leaks it.

cowardly.

even when mr cheney goes out huntin, taint a real hunt. tiz a staged event, witch i bet he figgerd twuz safe as could be, lease till he pulled the trigger that shot the bullet that felld feller hunter harry whittington.

whenever he dint go to the hospitull with mr whittington or call 911 to git the sherrf out thar n face the musick when it matterd, i started gittin the idee. hes skeerd. he caint face the musick, not without gittin reddy fer it overnite n fer a cuple daze after that.

cowardly.

he dint have the guts to call mr bush to splain whut had happend.

cowardly.

then whenever he went on the 'f-wurd netwurk' to speak with brit hume, to git thru his scripted moment, to face the musick of softball questchuns without no uneggspeckted hard foller up questhuns, i knew fer a fack twuz true. hes skeerd n fack is, he *is* the addministrayshun cumplete with power to declassify n order planes shot down n stay hid in a undisclozed locayshun.

tiz ourn, this addministrayshun, our addministrayshun.

our cowardly addministrayshun.

pitchers tuck by buddy don: the picket

walkin the picket line

pomes of buddy don: repeatin one that i wish warnt topicull

this mornins papers made me thank bout this here pome i writ last october. i wuz kindly wishin thisn woodnt be topicull fer long, but that wuz jes a lil fantasy that dangerus thangs wood be addressd. taint lackly. ye mite coulda seen these articulls:

• Ice Dumped by Greenland's Glaciers Triples in 10 Years:

  Greenland's vast glaciers are dumping ice into the ocean three times faster than they did 10 years ago because of increasing temperatures, suggesting that sea level could rise even more quickly than current projections.
  
  The study, published today in the journal Science, found that the glaciers contributed 53 cubic miles of water to the Atlantic Ocean in 2005, resulting in about a 0.02-inch rise in sea level.
  
  "The models we had were not terribly alarming about Greenland," said Richard Alley, a glaciologist at Penn State University who was not involved in the research. "This paper is a real wake-up call."

• Glacier Melt Could Signal Faster Rise in Ocean Levels:

  Greenland's glaciers are melting into the sea twice as fast as previously believed, the result of a warming trend that renders obsolete predictions of how quickly Earth's oceans will rise over the next century, scientists said yesterday.
  
  The new data come from satellite imagery and give fresh urgency to worries about the role of human activity in global warming. The Greenland data are mirrored by findings from Bolivia to the Himalayas, scientists said, noting that rising sea levels threaten widespread flooding and severe storm damage in low-lying areas worldwide.
  
  The scientists said they do not yet understand the precise mechanism causing glaciers to flow and melt more rapidly, but they said the changes in Greenland were unambiguous -- and accelerating: In 1996, the amount of water produced by melting ice in Greenland was about 90 times the amount consumed by Los Angeles in a year. Last year, the melted ice amounted to 225 times the volume of water that city uses annually.

so heres the pome i writ on this topick, witch the situwayshun aint a'gittin no better, is it?

it's just a natural coincidence

it's just a natural coincidence
of earthly cycles boundless and immense
that so-called global warming could create
the hottest year since 1998

and do not think releasing CO2
as proved by analytical review
should lead us to admit we are to blame
for heating up the world as with a flame

and surely we should not accept as true
a fifty percent hike in CO2
in just one hundred years would heat our seas
in terms of fahrenheit by 2 degrees

we will not change! we'll do just as we please,
as easter islanders might fell their trees

diss traskchuns of buddy don: grate book n other news

i caint seem to git my nose out frum a book name of the beatles by bob spitz that my step daughter give me. ifn ye lack the beatles or jes wonta know a lil more bout em, this is a grate book to read. ye larn lots of new thangs, lack how lennon n mccartneys grandparnts cum over to liverpool frum ireland durin the irish tater famine.

in other news, i almos wonted to say, 'et tu, george?' whenever i red the beginnin of a bit o'punditry writ by george f. will. in a articull name of No Checks, Many Imbalances, mr will sez thangs lack this:

Besides, terrorism is not the only new danger of this era. Another is the administration's argument that because the president is commander in chief, he is the "sole organ for the nation in foreign affairs." That non sequitur is refuted by the Constitution's plain language, which empowers Congress to ratify treaties, declare war, fund and regulate military forces, and make laws "necessary and proper" for the execution of all presidential powers . Those powers do not include deciding that a law -- FISA, for example -- is somehow exempted from the presidential duty to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

lack mos folks that kin read n understand plane english, tiz obveeus that mr bush dint foller ('broke') the law. he makes a purty good case usin lots of hi-falutin wurds. then, to make shore ye know whose side hes on, he ends thisaway:

Immediately after Sept. 11, the president rightly did what he thought the emergency required, and rightly thought that the 1978 law was inadequate to new threats posed by a new kind of enemy using new technologies of communication. Arguably he should have begun surveillance of domestic-to-domestic calls -- the kind the Sept. 11 terrorists made.

But 53 months later, Congress should make all necessary actions lawful by authorizing the president to take those actions, with suitable supervision. It should do so with language that does not stigmatize what he has been doing, but that implicitly refutes the doctrine that the authorization is superfluous.

i bolded the part that sticks in my craw: we know he broke the law, but were jes spozed to sit by n change it but never questchun whuther we spozed to make laws by havin the presdint disobey em n then after the fack, change the law? n do it without 'stigmatizin' the brakin of the law in the furst place?

that dont add up. it also ignores how if mr bush thanks he kin brake that law without no stigma, how minny otherns is he a'brakin without our knowin bout it?

ramblins of buddy don: hip note eyesed

i caint hep but be fassinated by the story bout our vice presdint shootin one of his friends by acksident. i know i orta keer bout other thangs such as these stories:

• Abramoff Bragged of Ties to Rove:

  WASHINGTON — When the government of Malaysia sought to repair its tarnished image in the U.S. by arranging a meeting between President Bush and its controversial prime minister in 2002, it followed the same strategy as many other well-heeled interests in Washington: It called on lobbyist Jack Abramoff for help.
  
  It was a tall order. The then-prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had been chastised by the Clinton administration for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing political opponents. But it was important to the Malaysians, according to a former Abramoff associate who attended meetings with the Malaysian ambassador and the lobbyist.
  
  Abramoff contacted presidential advisor Karl Rove on at least four occasions to help arrange a meeting, the witness said.
  
  Finally, the former associate said, Rove's office called to tell Abramoff that the Malaysian leader soon would be getting an official White House invitation.
  
  Neither the former Abramoff associate nor any others who spoke about the Malaysian contacts wanted their names used, out of fear they might damage future business opportunities.
  
  In May 2002, Mahathir met with Bush in the Oval Office; his photograph with the president was beamed around the world.

• Quick Rise for Purveyors of Propaganda in Iraq:

  Two years ago, Christian Bailey and Paige Craig were living in a half-renovated Washington group house, with a string of failed startup companies behind them.
  
  Mr. Bailey, a boyish-looking Briton, and Mr. Craig, a chain-smoking former Marine sergeant, then began winning multimillion-dollar contracts with the United States military to produce propaganda in Iraq.
  
  Now their company, Lincoln Group, works out of elegant offices along Pennsylvania Avenue and sponsors polo matches in Virginia horse country. Mr. Bailey recently bought a million-dollar Georgetown row house. Mr. Craig drives a Jaguar and shows up for interviews accompanied by his "director of security," a beefy bodyguard.
  
  The company's rise, though, has been built in part by exaggerated claims about its abilities and connections, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former Lincoln Group employees and associates, and a review of company documents.

• Senate Scrubs Hearings as Politics Trump Policy in an Election Year:

  The Senate has never been a bastion of managerial efficiency. But as the campaign season gets into full swing, lawmakers say things are clearly getting worse.
  
  Four cabinet secretaries, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an Army general and the secretary of the Army were supposed to testify Tuesday morning at hearings on matters including Hurricane Katrina and the Bush administration's proposed budget for foreign affairs.
  
  But their invitations were rescinded and the hearings canceled when the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, scheduled a marathon series of 16 votes on amendments to a pending tax bill — all of them, both parties agree, intended more to score political points than to make policy.
  Ultimately, most of those votes were canceled.
  
  They could have been held Monday night, but that did not work for Mr. Frist. He was holding a fund-raiser at his Washington home, with President Bush as the featured guest and some of his Republican colleagues on the guest list, including the Senate whip, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The event raised $3.5 million for Republican Senate candidates.
  
  So Mr. Frist put the votes off until Tuesday.

• Afghan Suicide Bombings, Tied to Taliban, Point to Pakistan:

  Arrests and interrogations of suspects in a recent series of suicide bombings in Afghanistan show that the attacks have been orchestrated from Pakistan by members of the ousted Taliban government with little interference by the Pakistani authorities, Afghan officials say.
  
  In taped interviews by an Afghan interrogator, two Afghans and three Pakistanis who were among 21 people arrested in recent weeks described their roles in the attacks, which have killed at least 70 people in the last three months, most of them Afghan civilians but also international peacekeepers, a Canadian diplomat and a dozen Afghan police officers and soldiers.
  
  In the tape, the men described a fairly low-budget network that begins with the recruitment of young bombers in the sprawling Pakistani port city of Karachi. The bombers are moved to safe houses in the border towns of Quetta and Chaman, and then transferred into Afghanistan, where they are provided with cars and explosives and sent out to find a target.
  
  The tape appears to confirm Afghan officials' suspicions that the suicide bombings, which are largely a recent phenomenon in Afghanistan, were generated outside Afghanistan, and in particular from neighboring Pakistan. It was shown to The New York Times by an Afghan official who asked not to be identified because of the diplomatic implications of the contents.

  325,000 Names on Terrorism List; Rights Groups Say Database May Include Innocent People:

  The National Counterterrorism Center maintains a central repository of 325,000 names of international terrorism suspects or people who allegedly aid them, a number that has more than quadrupled since the fall of 2003, according to counterterrorism officials.
  
  The list kept by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) -- created in 2004 to be the primary U.S. terrorism intelligence agency -- contains a far greater number of international terrorism suspects and associated names in a single government database than has previously been disclosed. Because the same person may appear under different spellings or aliases, the true number of people is estimated to be more than 200,000, according to NCTC officials.
  
  U.S. citizens make up "only a very, very small fraction" of that number, said an administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his agency's policies. "The vast majority are non-U.S. persons and do not live in the U.S.," he added. An NCTC official refused to say how many on the list -- put together from reports supplied by the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA) and other agencies -- are U.S. citizens.
  
  The NSA is a key provider of information for the NCTC database, although officials refused to say how many names on the list are linked to the agency's controversial domestic eavesdropping effort. Under the program, the NSA has conducted wiretaps on an unknown number of U.S. citizens without warrants.

but heres whut gits my blood a'goin this mornin:

• Cheney's Response A Concern In GOP; Public Statement On Shooting Urged:

  Vice President Cheney's slow and unapologetic public response to the accidental shooting of a 78-year-old Texas lawyer is turning the quail-hunting mishap into a political liability for the Bush administration and is prompting senior White House officials to press Cheney to publicly address the issue as early as today, several prominent Republicans said yesterday.
  
  The Republicans said Cheney should have immediately disclosed the shooting Saturday night to avoid even the suggestion of a coverup and should have offered a public apology for his role in accidentally shooting Harry Whittington, a GOP lawyer from Austin. Whittington was hospitalized Saturday night in Corpus Christi, Tex., and was moved back into the intensive-care unit after suffering an abnormal heart rhythm yesterday morning.
  
  "I cannot believe he does not look back and say this should have been handled differently," said Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota who is close to the White House. Weber said Cheney "made it a much bigger issue than it needed to be."
  
  Marlin Fitzwater, a former Republican White House spokesman, told Editor & Publisher magazine that Cheney "ignored his responsibility to the American people."
  The episode is turning into a defining moment for Cheney, a vice president who has operated with enormous clout to shape White House policy while avoiding public scrutiny over the past five years.

• Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt:

  Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.
  
  The Senate intelligence committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a Democratic-sponsored motion to start an inquiry into the recently revealed program in which the National Security Agency eavesdrops on an undisclosed number of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents without obtaining warrants from a secret court. Two committee Democrats said the panel -- made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats -- was clearly leaning in favor of the motion last week but now is closely divided and possibly inclined against it.
  
  They attributed the shift to last week's closed briefings given by top administration officials to the full House and Senate intelligence committees, and to private appeals to wavering GOP senators by officials, including Vice President Cheney. "It's been a full-court press," said a top Senate Republican aide who asked to speak only on background -- as did several others for this story -- because of the classified nature of the intelligence committees' work.
  
  Lawmakers cite senators such as Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) to illustrate the administration's success in cooling congressional zeal for an investigation. On Dec. 20, she was among two Republicans and two Democrats who signed a letter expressing "our profound concern about recent revelations that the United States Government may have engaged in domestic electronic surveillance without appropriate legal authority." The letter urged the Senate's intelligence and judiciary committees to "jointly undertake an inquiry into the facts and law surrounding these allegations."
  
  In an interview yesterday, Snowe said, "I'm not sure it's going to be essential or necessary" to conduct an inquiry "if we can address the legislative standpoint" that would provide oversight of the surveillance program. "We're learning a lot and we're going to learn more," she said.

• Orange Morning Gives Way to a Darker Afternoon:

  White House press secretary Scott McClellan was in fine fettle yesterday morning when he strode smiling into the briefing room and made a joke about Vice President Cheney's hunting accident.
  President Bush, he announced, would be on the South Lawn to honor the national champion University of Texas Longhorns, whose football jerseys are burnt orange and white. "The orange they're wearing is not because they are concerned that the vice president will be there," the spokesman deadpanned.
  
  The reporters, who had tormented a stone-faced McClellan about the episode on Monday, guffawed at his newfound levity. "Although," McClellan continued, pointing to his orange tie and eyeing the loaded-for-bear reporters, "that's why I'm wearing it."
  
  But the stand-up routine ended abruptly when McClellan returned two hours later for the afternoon briefing. The joking spokesman had been replaced by flack in full scandal mode, informing the questioners that he would indulge the silliness no more and was, instead, pressing on with the people's business.
  
  "If you all want to continue focus on this, you all can spend your time on it," he said icily. "We're going to keep focusing on the pressing priorities of the American people. . . . You're welcome to continue to focus on these issues. I'm moving on." Nine times the press secretary announced to the cameras that he was going ahead with the people's "priorities," regardless of what the feckless journalists were asking about.
  
  Why the quick switch in tone? Unbeknownst to the reporters -- but well beknownst to McClellan -- the White House had been informed before the second briefing that the shooting victim, Harry Whittington, had suffered a heart attack and had undergone a cardiac procedure because a pellet from the vice presidential shotgun was in his heart. Suddenly, the White House had more than an embarrassment on its hands.

• Loose Cannon:

  Who's calling the shots at the White House? Dick Cheney, of course.
  
  There are lots of lessons to be learned from Vice President Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting buddy on Saturday, and the ensuing press blackout.
  
  But the evidence suggests that Cheney isn't interested in learning any of them. Instead, the public is getting an opportunity to learn some lessons about Cheney.
  
  And lesson number one is that Cheney gets his way.

• An Arrogance of Power:

  There is a temptation that seeps into the souls of even the most righteous politicians and leads them to bend the rules, and eventually the truth, to suit the political needs of the moment. That arrogance of power is on display with the Bush administration.
  
  The most vivid example is the long delay in informing the country that Vice President Cheney had accidentally shot a man last Saturday while hunting in Texas. For a White House that informs us about the smallest bumps and scrapes suffered by the president and vice president, the lag is inexplicable. But let us assume the obvious: It was an attempt to delay and perhaps suppress embarrassing news. We will never know whether the vice president's office would have announced the incident at all if the host of the hunting party, Katharine Armstrong, hadn't made her own decision Sunday morning to inform her local paper.
  
  Nobody died at Armstrong Ranch, but this incident reminds me a bit of Sen. Edward Kennedy's delay in informing Massachusetts authorities about his role in the fatal automobile accident at Chappaquiddick in 1969. That story, and dozens of others about the Kennedy family, illustrates how wealthy, powerful people can behave as if they are above the law. For my generation, the fall of Richard Nixon is the ultimate allegory about how power can corrupt and destroy. It begins not with venality but with a sense of God-given mission.
  
  I would be inclined to leave Cheney to the mercy of Jon Stewart and Jay Leno if it weren't for other signs that this administration has jumped the tracks. What worries me most is the administration's misuse of intelligence information to advance its political agenda. For a country at war, this is truly dangerous.

• Fellow Hunter Shot by Cheney Suffers Setback:

  The 78-year-old lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident over the weekend suffered a minor heart attack early Tuesday caused by birdshot lodged in his heart, hospital officials in Texas said.
  
  The lawyer, Harry M. Whittington, was moved back into the intensive care unit at Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Tex., to be monitored for up to a week in case the birdshot shifted or additional pellets in his body moved into other organs, the officials said at a televised news conference. Dr. David Blanchard, the emergency room chief, estimated that Mr. Whittington had more than 5 but "probably less than 150 to 200" pellets lodged in his body.

• Account of Doctors Raises Questions on Heart Injury:

  The account given yesterday by doctors caring for the Texas lawyer accidentally shot by Vice President Dick Cheney last weekend raises serious questions about how and when a pellet entered his heart and what tests were done to establish where the pellet was lodged, doctors not connected with his case said.
  
  Although the public was told for the first time yesterday that a shotgun pellet from a hunting accident had lodged in the lawyer's heart, one of his doctors said that "we knew that he had some birdshot very close to the heart from the get-go," but not its precise location.
  
  Such evidence would have come from standard chest X-rays and a CT scan if one was performed shortly after his admission to a hospital in Corpus Christi, Tex.
  
  Earlier accounts described as minor the pellet wounds that the lawyer, Harry M. Whittington, suffered in the face, neck, chest and ribs.

• Shooter Slips on a Silencer:

  Who did this old guy think he was, coming between Dick Cheney and his helpless prey?
  
  The luckless 78-year-old Texas lawyer, Harry Whittington, is in intensive care after a heart attack, with up to 200 pellets riddling his face and body — one stuck in his heart — from Dick Cheney's designer Perazzi Brescia shotgun. And still his friend, the vice president, is Swift-BB-ing him.
  
  Private citizens have been enlisted to blame the victim. Maybe poor Mr. Whittington put himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. But he was, after all, behind Vice, not in front of him. And the hunter pulling the trigger is supposed to make sure he has a clear shot. Wouldn't it be, well, classy for Shooter to express just a bit of contrition and humility?
  
  Instead, the usual sliming has begun, with the Cheney camp trying to protect the vice president by casting a veteran hunter as Elmer Dud.
  
  Scott McClellan told the White House press corps that Katharine Armstrong, a lobbyist with government ties who owns the Texas ranch (and whose mother, Anne, was on the Halliburton board that hired Mr. Cheney as C.E.O.), "pointed out that the protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington when it came to notifying the others that he was there."
  
  As the story of the weekend's bizarre hunting accident is wrenched out of the White House, the picture isn't pretty: With American soldiers dying in Iraq, Five-Deferment Dick "I Had Other Priorities in the 60's Than Military Service" Cheney gets his macho kicks gunning down little birds and the occasional old man while W. rides his bike, blissfully oblivious to any collateral damage. Shouldn't these guys work on weekends until we figure out how to fix Iraq, New Orleans, Medicare and gas prices?

• Prosecutor: Cheney could face grand jury investigation if victim dies:

  The heart troubles facing Harry Whittington are said not to be life-threatening, but what if they are? If the 78-year-old lawyer dies of the wounds he suffered when he was shot by Dick Cheney, the vice president would likely face a greater degree of legal scrutiny than that to which he has been subjected so far, the New York Times is reporting.
  
  Kleberg County District Attorney Carlos Valdez tells the Times that the death of Cheney's victim would prompt a new report from the local sheriff and, probably, a grand jury investigation. "The victim probably told the sheriff's department it was an accident," Valdez says. "Now, if the worst happens and the man happens to die, we would take an additional step."
  
  As the Times explains, "even an accidental hunting fatality" can lead to criminal charges if prosecutors or a grand jury believed that Cheney acted negligently in turning to shoot at a bird in flight without noticing first that Whittington was in his line of fire.

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pomes of buddy don: The Man Who Pulled The Trigger

The Man Who Pulled The Trigger

Let's not be too quick to blame the man who pulled the trigger
That sprayed the aging lawyer in the shoulders and the face –
The fact is, if you will, the victim's blame is much bigger
Since he failed to explain he was no quail with human face.

Let's not judge the judgment of the man who pulled the trigger
Before he could determine if the bush held quail or friend –
For he is known for making quick decisions with great vigor
And letting others take the heat, his actions to defend.

Let's not time the timing of the man who pulled the trigger
Not letting people know he'd bagged a lawyer not a quail –
Since bragging by the hunter is accepted, not de rigeur,
And modesty demands delay in telling this great tale.

No let's not blame the man who pulled the trigger Saturday –
In fact, the victim is to blame for getting in the way.


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return of buddy don: hole lotta docterin

as sum of ye know, i have been rather sick of late. i have truble with whut reglar medicin calls 'migraines' n alternative medicin calls 'liver invadin spleen.' whutever tiz, the result is that i wake up with a horribull urge to vomit, witch ifn i start, i caint stop it in under 12 hours n have vomited ever twenty mints fer 16 hours.

i wont bore ye with all the differnt treetments i been thru, including three years when nobidy thunk it coulda been a migraine.

innywho, miz bd sprung into ackshun last week n gut me lots of appointments with medicull folks. furst, i had a long sesshun with a practishuner of ayuveda. she wuz purty amazin in how without bein told nuthin she knew i had a histry of asthma. her kinda medicin concentrates on gettin all the centers of a person in proper balants (same as tradishnull chinese medicine), witch she sed my problem is one of eggspreshun, that i wuznt able to eggspress sumthin that i needed to git sed ifn i wonted to git well. she wuz purty shore twuz grief n lickedy split, she cum to me not grievin proper lack over daddys dyin back in 1996. she give me sum breathin extersizes to do n had miz bd give me a aroma therpy raindrop treetment, witch twuz wunderfull.

thang is, befor i gut that, i had whut me n miz bd calls the 'click'. thats whar after bein sick fer a while, i notiss how that horribull feelin in my diafram is finely gone. this happend on fridy. i had been feelin sick n wuz thankin bout whuther i wonted to take a nuther zomig, witch i hate them thangs ceptn i hate vomitin wurser. she went out n gut me a roast beef sandwitch on a counta my last ackupunkchurist tellin me i had to eat beef n lamb. as i wuz eatin that sandwitch i wuz happly amazed to notiss whar that 'click' had finely happend.

but she also had appointments with a new pracitshuner of tradishunull chinese medicin, witch thats a young lady frum east tennessee, witch i ast her wuz she a fan of thar teams n she sed she wuznt much of one ceptn she had gone to skool with chamique holdsclaw n even tuck sum classes with her, includin givin chamique rides in her tiny car. she is a fantastick ackupunkchurist n she gut me a'goin on a new formula of erbs, witch mayhap thats whut broke the latest n wurst attack of that awful mizry.

today i am a'gone see my primary keer physishun. i plan to ast im to have me checked fer sleep apnea, witch miz bd has notissd how i caint hardly breathe whenever im sleepin n she thanks mayhap the reason i feel so tired n deadheaded after sleepin is that i aint sleepin verr well. she also notissd how the diafram is whut is feelin bad n that could be on a counta it wuz trine so hard to git me breathin to whar that feelin is kindly lack a muscle cramp.

finely, she gut me a cuple more pointments, a nuthern with my primary keer physishun sos i kin git a full physicull n a pointment with a new neurologist, witch tiz one that takes our insurants.

dont mess with miz bd: she will use ever means shes gut to uphold fer herself n her own, witch tiz eggzackly whut i am, her own.

that reminds me how twuz on this day a number of years ago that i ast her wood she marr me, witch she agreed she wood n twuz by far the best thang that ever happend to me.

i also wonted to say a big thank yew to all them fine folks that writ me to wish me well. amung otherns, thay wuz red molly frum blue page speshul, tennessee jed, anne johnson n chad edwards frum appalachian greens (ye orta make thar site a reglar stop!), mark conrath, eric over at straight white guy, n margot100, amung sum otherns that druther not be named.

i caint thank ye all a nuff fer yer kind wurds. tiz a grate blessin that folks kin be so kind. tiz futher proof that god continues to bless the undeservin (me).

nuff sed. ifn ye wonta make a comment, click on link n ye will see how ye kin.

mizry of buddy don: hopin fer the best

i gut to wurk yesterdy ok, but i wuz fitin the urge to vomit till around 1:30 folks gut to tellin me i wuz lookin awe full, witch taint no wunder on a counta i had dun started dry heavin. so i tole my boss i had to go, witch she sed she could see it by lookin at me. whenever i gut home, i dun everthang i could to keep from vomitin ceptn fer takin zomig, witch i am so sick of the zomig feelin that i almost druther vomit. miz bd dun sum reiki on me n used sum aromatherpy, witch it wurked good a nuff to keep me frum upchuckin.

this mornin i woke hopin fer the best, witch thats my mantra these days -- hopin fer the best -- but i am sick n caint pertend otherwise. miz bd has kindly agreed she wood fite the fone battle to try to git me in to see my primary keer docter.

i shore do wish i could thank bout sumthin else fer a change ... i used to luv life n wurk, but now it seems lack thay aint a sangle good opshun lef (caint even drank no sip of sangle malt scotch whenever i am sick lack this).

here is hopin i am better a nuff be tomorrow to make a reglar entry, witch in other words, heres hopin fer the best.

ole friends of buddy don: connecktin with a long lost pal

i aint hardly gut no time to rite this mornin, but i wonted to menchun how i herd frum a long lost friend name of arnold 'golden throated mockinbird' goode, witch me n him n his brother lawrence goode writ a musickull play together whenever i furst cum up to new york. i will git to tellin bout that in life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly, but fer now i jes wonta say thay aint hardly nuthin so good as gittin back in touch with a fine old frien.

he is a eggspurt in the black west, witch whuther ye know it or not, eggscaped slaves joined indian tribes on a reglar basis ceptn taint tole about since whenever they wuz eggscapin, nobidy dint wonta add mitt slaves could eggscape. ye kin read all bout the black west in books by a mr bill katz, witch hes a close buddy with arnold. by the way, arnold has a indian name as well as his given name, witch tiz golden throated mockinbird, with thank bout arnold is how he n his bruther writ a slew of grate songs, sung in sum grate bands n dun a lode of thangs innybidy wood be proud of.

corse, i aint a'usin his real name on a counta as ye mite coulda dun notissd:

buddy don n everthang he ever rites is all made up stuff

inny resemblunts to reel peeple is jes blind luck on the part of the author

in other news, i tride to git a pointment with dr mauskop, but thay dont take our insurants no more. corse, since competishun is spozed to brang down prices, i reckun tiz time to change cumpnies (since i am payin em near $200 a munth fer the insurants), ceptn ye caint change till open registrayshun is called. in other words, ye caint use competishun n the market place to fix our helth keer problems, witch i hope to rite more bout that topick soon.

but fer now, let me jes say how tiz such a joy to reconneck with one of the best friends i ever had in this lifetime.

treetments of buddy don: new practishuner

good mornin, all. seems to me lack i jes lost a week of my life, spent in the thick fog of zomig. dont git me rong: tiz a real blessin to have sumthin that stops the nausea befor i git to vomittin. on tuther hand, tiz awe full that once ye take it, ye dont have nuthin ye kin do but wait till the fog lifts.

meanwhile, miz bd wuz my real hero agin. she writ letters n made fone calls n called in favers till she finely gut my erbs back. she also found me a new practishuner of tradishunull chinese medicine on a counta how i couldnt git no erbs till i had me a new guide.

the new person cums frum east tennesse, athens to be eggzack. ye kin read a lil bit about her on the website of her bizness, element healing. her name is christina n i have hi hopes that she kin hep move me closer to findin a solushun to this mizry that gits rid of me ever takin that zomig stuff.

meanwhile, i have appointments with my primary keer docter fer this my annual physicull. i plan to ast im whuther sleep apnia could be part of the problem, witch even tho i aint eager to have it tested, seems lack if thats the problem, twood be good to find it out. me n miz bd has been wunderin if the zomig makes it wurser so that once i take it, then i git sicker the nex mornin. that wuz the case last week till on thursdy i had to take two doses of zomig.

corse, once i gut them erbs, i started feelin better.

jes to make shore i cuver all them bases, i will be visitin dr mauskopf agin (hes the neurologist at the new york headache center). if nuthin else, i half to make shore i still have zomig, jes in case. i also wonta splain everthang thats happend since last time i seen im.

thays a few other theories bout whuts the problem. one of em is a cist on the pineal gland, witch the symptums of that problem fits a lot bout whut happens to me whenever i git sick. so mayhap we kin git that checked.

meanwhile, my furst appointment with christina was saturdy, witch one nice thang bout her place is how it has saturdy appointments. on sundy, i went over to the open center in man hattan fer a reiki treement that miz bd set up fer me. twuz a verr nice eggsperients, witch tiz spooky how that stuff wurks. but it wurks: i cum out feelin ok fer the furst time in 8 days.

thankee to all who writ to eggspress thar kind cuncern. i do preciate it.

ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on link to git to the comment page. ifn i git sum time with a clear hed, i will git that fixed.

mizry of buddy don: innerupted by hopes

i been sick all week even ifn i could do a chaptur yesterdy n copy n paste the day befor that. my sickness wuz innerupted by my hopes. i thought sumhow i could will power my way thru, but once i gut outside in the lite n loud noizes, i wuz reduced to dry heavin. twuz one of my wurst days ever. tuck zomig twice, witch im in its nest day fog frum them two doses now n hope i dont upchuck befor miz bd kin git sum more fer me, witch thatll be by 11, mayhap earlier.

fer this kinda thang ye gut to have ye a bulldog, witch miz bd is that. she gut me a new practishuner n gut my erbs fer me, witch twuz a struggle fer her i reckun. i wuz asleep. i tuck them erbs with lots of hope.

life of buddy don, chapter 146: the strange summer of 1983

the summer of 1983 wuz one of the strangest of my life. fer one thang, i dint half to wurk or attend skool all summer long, witch that give me plenty of time to rite n read a lot of novels n do all them other thangs i kept tellin myself wuz whut i wonted to do with my life. as it happens, i hardly writ a wurd innywhar, even in my diary. tiz sumthin i have notissd bout myself, witch i only kin git myself to rite whenever i barely have time to do innythang atall. but i did git a lot of readin dun n watched a lot of baseball on tv.

but that wudnt whut made it strange. nor wuz it the fack that twuz a time of relativ prosperty fer us on a counta how me n brew sold our share of the farm to virgil n mj. i wont bore ye with all the fussn n fitin we had to get thru before me n emily had our share. tiz a nuff to say that mj suspected us of cheatin her ever step of the way till the deal wuz dun, witch she felt she beat us then only we dint keer much. twuz a nuff to have it over with n to be dun with all the trubles ownin land together brung us.

corse havin a lil more money than emily figgerd on us gittin wuz a lil strange. we bought us one of them money market cds at 10.09% intrest n agreed to spend a exter $500 frum the deal as 'mad money', witch the mane thang we dun wuz git us a stereo that wurked after having a mono thang emily had gut fer christmus whenever she wuz in jr hi skool. we had cumpletely missd groups lack the police n the talking heads n the eurhythmics n even prince and michael jackson, witch we started catchin up rite away. that summer we musta listend to thriller n synchronicity n sweet dreams a million times.

in them days we wuz big baseball fans, witch emily rooted fer them houston astros on a counta bein sweet on alan ashby n i wuz a lifelong philadelphia phillies fan. in them days, ye could see ever braves game on tv thanks to the superstayshun n ye could see them cubs playin ever afternoon on a counta wgn bein broadcast everwhar n them cubs not playin nite games at home. so we spent minny a afternoon readin books n watchin baseball, witch ye could cumbine em by readin till the big plays cum up.

but that dint make thangs strange, jes nice. nor wuz it the fack that we house sat fer the morgans fer about a munth, tho twuz a lil odd to be livin over in west knoxvull in a fine house with a verr shy cat.

nor wuz it the fack that so minny of the old friends we had in graduwait skool wuz slippin away. frum that class i furst had in 1980 thay wuznt but a handfull left in town n i dint even notiss when most of em slipped away.

but everbidy notissd whenever johnny mayhew tuck it into his hed to move on up to new york city, witch we all kindly wonted to do sumthin lack that, lease me n bud rankin talked a lot bout a'doin it. problem fer me wuz how emily wuz still in the early phases of her docterutt n she wudnt about to transfer to no other skool, even ifn bof her majer perfessers sed she orta not git all three of her deegrees frum ut. we had us a lil party fer johnny whenever he lef n martha townsend give im a big sendoff that almost made im wonta stay when she spent the nite with im fer the furst time in munths.

i hated to see johnny go on a counta he wuz gittin to be my bes friend. he wuz verr good fer me on a counta how he lacked to wurk out n woodnt let me skip nun. after he wuz gone i wurked out with bud rankin ceptn bud wuz jes as lackly to wonta burn a number as lift weights.

n speakin of bud rankin, twuz along in this time that the two of us gut closer on a counta how he wuz brakin up with his wife. i wuz thonly person he knew that had dun been thru a deevorce, so he wonted me to splain everthang bout em, witch i tole im as far as i could tell each one wuz differnt, but we deevoted minny a walk all over the ut campus n downtown knoxvull n the smokey mountains jes goin over all the feelins n plans n cuncerns n fears he had. i tole im i wuz no eggspurt, but he wudnt lookin to hear whut i had to say as much as to have sumbidy to tell his world of woes to, witch that wuz fine by me.

in sum ways it seemd to me that bud wuznt bein fair with ginny on a counta he dint give her much attenchun n dint seem to preciate the fack that she wuz the one puttin im thru skool. corse, thays at lease two sides to ever story n thay wuz one thang i never tole im, witch twuz how randy fox had been seein ginny on the sly fer a while. he claimd she wuz verr hot n verr frustrated. twuz odd knowin how this whenever we wood have a group meetin the two of them wood step outside sos they could smoke, witch nobidy dint thank nuthin of it since dint innybidy else smoke much. but i figgerd whuther he knew it or not, bud had reason to be upset.

but whut made that summer so strange wuz how ever time ye turnt around, thar wuz cassandra worthy. seems lack emily n cassandra had plenty to talk bout, but twernt only that. me n emily lacked to go to flea markets to look fer used books n purty soon twuz normal fer us to have cassandra along with us. cassandra wood find a way to see me or us near everday. she mite call n ast wood i git her a notebook sos she could keep a diary of her own, witch i wood do that fer most inny student, so i dun it fer her n whenever i drove over to kc to drop it off, we wood 'conversate' fer as long as she could stay away frum her job, generly standin out in the hall of the add ministrayshun bildin.

but that wernt all. she wood arrange with emily to git me to take her n sharon worth to the movies. i member how we seen flashdance that summer with cassandra sittin twixt me n sharon. she had a teasin way of grabbin my hand or slappin my thigh n i half to add mitt, twuz as well played a dance of seduckshun as ever i seen or herd tell of.

then whenever cassandras grandma died n her daddy daniel turner gut out fer the funerull of his mama, she ast emily wood we or i be willin to drive her down to atlanta sos she could be thar. emily wuz too busy to go her ownself, but she agreed that i could do the drivin n cassandra made a point of brangin along her roommate milagros.

twuz a verr long hard day with almost nuthin to show fer it. i couldnt figger out whut cassandra wuz trine to pull with me. she dint seem to go a sangle day without findin a way fer us to be in the same place at the same time, but thay wuznt never no time that we wuz alone together ceptn when i had tuck her home a cuple times befor i wuz hardly add mittin i had a crush on er. so twuz hard to figger why she made milagros cum along on this trip, witch i wuz hopin mayhap we wood talk bout thangs durin that trip. but we dint. we jes gut in the car verr early in the mornin, had us a lil fuss n fite bout me not lettin her drive n then a sullen silents fer the hole trip.

once we gut thar, a swarm of her half sisters cum out n tole her she better not let daniel see 'that white man' with her, witch that jes meant me n milagros had to go sum place else to spend the time of the funerull, witch we went to the mall n then to git sum coffee at a mack donalds. then we rode back with a verr angry cassandra, witch turnt out her daddy dint even notiss her or say a wurd to her. meanwhile thay wuz minny a nuther slite give her by other members of the fambly, speshly hanna her stepmamma. it made fer a verr tiresum trip fer bof me n milagros.

twuz strange to git home after bein on the rode n sittin behind the wheel frum 5:30 am till near midnite on a trip that emily setup only to find emily waitin up to let me know she wuz as mad as a wet hen. i wuz too tired to do innythang but let her fuss at me befor i ast her why had she let me go? her anser wuz a nuther bit of a sprize: she had eggspeckted me to say no, to know twernt sumthin i orta do but she shouldnt have to be the one to say 'no' to cassandra. thang wuz, twernt but a few days after this till we wuz over at cassandras fer dinner. agin, twuz sumthin emily set up or mayhap i should say twuz sumthin cassandra ast emily to attend n emily agreed.

that hole summer i never could be shore whar emily stood on the topick of cassandra worthy. as ye mite coulda notissd, emily wuz sweet on martha townsend n had fantasies bout thar bein a threesum with her. twuz a topick of stories i wood whisper into emilys ear whenever we wuz sparkin back in the bedroom. so twuz only natcherull that we wood discuss the topick of cassandra as the third party, witch thay wudnt no way eethur one of us figgerd cassandra would stand such a thang. i member how we wuz discussin this one time out at the alcoa hiway flea market. i looked across the way to see cassandra lookin thru a pile of books n wundern whut twuz about her that attrackted me so much. i couldnt splain it atall since she wudnt the type that had ever attracted me, not even amung black women, witch i had only jes begun to larn how to see em n see how purty they kin be. but emily dint feel no sexual attrackshun to her atall even ifn she did find her a cumpellin personalty.

a nuther odd thang bout all this wuz how emily reackted to the hole thang whenever it cum to sex. one of the issues twixt us regardin sex (besides me wontin more of it than she did) wuz how i wished i could git her to wear sumthin to bed besides her flannel shirt n knee socks n such. why couldnt she git sum stockins? or a sexy nitegown? or even a skirt? but that always led to a fuss n fite that tuck us cumpletely away frum sex, so after a while i quit trine.

so twuz odd how the nex day after i had tuck cassandra n milagros down to atlanta, i cum back frum a wurkout follerd by a number with bud rankin to find her wearin that same see-thru blouse she had wonted to wear to see her grad stoodent countsler carroll brightman ... with no bra ... n a skirt with sum short white socks n a pair of sandals with two inch heels ... n she had a few lengths of rope that she wonted me to use. twuz one of them afternoons that ye dont never fergit, that wood turn frum memry into fantasy as it grew older n gut shined up by my maginayshun.

i member how the next day i gut a call frum cassandra astin wood i brang her a book of poetry by sylvia plath, witch that wuz emilys favert n cassandra knew it. i wonted to tell her i wuz busy n even gut started whenever i seen emily lookin thru the books n befor i could say much of nuthin, she had found an exter copy of ariel, witch she tole me i could give it to cassandra to keep.

n that rite thar wuz whut wuz so strange bout that summer: i couldnt never figger out whuther emily hated cassandra or me or neethur or jes whut she felt, witch not knowin eggzackly whut yer wife is thankin aint all that strange. knowin shes thankin so minny cunflickin thangs, speshly bout a nuther woman that she knows her husbin has a crush on, thats whut wuz so strange.

ramblins of buddy don: catchin up

i aint been able to do nuthin much besides sleepin all day, but this mornin i woke feelin purty good n tried to catch up with sum stories. i caint do much more since i am distracted by the holler feelin i git the day after takin zomig, but heres sum stories i wooda writ about ...

• furst up is a nuther report bout how them biased facks keep gittin in the way of our fantasy land gummint pallsies, witch tiz discussed in this articull name of Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him:

  The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
  
  ...
  
  Dean Acosta, deputy assistant administrator for public affairs at the space agency, said there was no effort to silence Dr. Hansen. "That's not the way we operate here at NASA," Mr. Acosta said. "We promote openness and we speak with the facts."
  
  He said the restrictions on Dr. Hansen applied to all National Aeronautics and Space Administration personnel. He added that government scientists were free to discuss scientific findings, but that policy statements should be left to policy makers and appointed spokesmen.
  
  Mr. Acosta said other reasons for requiring press officers to review interview requests were to have an orderly flow of information out of a sprawling agency and to avoid surprises. "This is not about any individual or any issue like global warming," he said. "It's about coordination."
  
  Dr. Hansen strongly disagreed with this characterization, saying such procedures had already prevented the public from fully grasping recent findings about climate change that point to risks ahead.
  
  "Communicating with the public seems to be essential," he said, "because public concern is probably the only thing capable of overcoming the special interests that have obfuscated the topic."

• then thays how sumbidy is verr upset by the idee of the presdint violatin the law hes dun been sworn to uphold, witch ye kin read bout the eggscuses the administrayshun has been a'givin in this lil editorial name of Spies, Lies and Wiretaps, whar they go thru each of the eggscuses given n takes em apart:

  A bit over a week ago, President Bush and his men promised to provide the legal, constitutional and moral justifications for the sort of warrantless spying on Americans that has been illegal for nearly 30 years. Instead, we got the familiar mix of political spin, clumsy historical misinformation, contemptuous dismissals of civil liberties concerns, cynical attempts to paint dissents as anti-American and pro-terrorist, and a couple of big, dangerous lies.
  
  The first was that the domestic spying program is carefully aimed only at people who are actively working with Al Qaeda, when actually it has violated the rights of countless innocent Americans. And the second was that the Bush team could have prevented the 9/11 attacks if only they had thought of eavesdropping without a warrant.

• mr krugman takes up the theme of how fairly the news is reported in a articull name of A False Balance (ye orta read the hole thang ifn ye kin git in, witch thar charin fer it these days):

  "How does one report the facts," asked Rob Corddry on "The Daily Show," "when the facts themselves are biased?" He explained to Jon Stewart, who played straight man, that "facts in Iraq have an anti-Bush agenda," and therefore can't be reported.
  
  Mr. Corddry's parody of journalists who believe they must be "balanced" even when the truth isn't balanced continues, alas, to ring true. The most recent example is the peculiar determination of some news organizations to cast the scandal surrounding Jack Abramoff as "bipartisan."

• james carroll of the boston globe takes up the questchun of whuther whut we are in is a real state of war in a articull name of Is America actually in a state of war?:

  Here is the embarrassing question: Is America actually at war? We have a war president, war hawks, war planes, war correspondents, war cries, even war crimes -- but do we have war? We have war dead, but the question remains. With young US soldiers being blown up almost daily, it can seem an absurd question, an offensive one. With thousands of Iraqis killed by American firepower, it can seem a heartless question, as if the dead care whether strict definitions of ''war" are fulfilled. There can be no question that Iraq is in a state of war, and that, whatever its elements of post-Saddam sectarian conflict, the warfare is being driven from the Pentagon.
  
  But, regarding the Iraq conflict as it involves the United States, something essential is lacking that would make it a war -- and that is an enemy.
  
  The so-called ''insurgents," who wreak such havoc, are not America's enemy. They are not our rivals for territory. They are not our ideological antagonists. Abstracting from the present confrontation, they have no reason to wish us ill.
  
  Americans who bother to imagine the situation from the Iraqi point of view -- a massive foreign invasion, launched on false pretenses; a brutal occupation, with control of local oil reserves surely part of the motivation; the heartbreaking deaths of brothers, cousins, children, parents -- naturally understand that an ''insurgency" is the appropriate response. Its goal is simply to force the invaders and occupiers to leave. Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Kurds have intrinsic reasons to regard each other as enemies, from competition over land and oil, to ethnic hatreds, to unsettled scores. No equivalent sources of inbuilt contempt exist among these people toward America. Taken as a whole, or in its parts, Iraq is not an enemy.

• then thays the questchun of why the presdint dont half to obey the law, witch abner j mikva cuvers thisn in a articull name of Why Bush needs a new lawyer:

  OUR COUNTRY has always struggled to find the correct balance between liberty and security. What can the government do legitimately and constitutionally to protect us from dangers while preserving our freedoms? That tension is greatest in times of crisis, whether during hot wars, cold wars, or terrorist attacks.
  
  President Bush now argues that in the post-9/11 world there is no such tension. A president need not obey some laws because the president's ''inherent" powers trump the Congress. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the McCain Amendment to ban torture are only advisory because Congress cannot encroach on a president's inherent constitutional authority in matters of national security.
  
  This has never been the law. A president who defies acts of Congress for professed reasons of national security is ''breaking the law repeatedly and persistently," as former Vice President Al Gore recently charged.
  
  President Bush now campaigns that Congress cannot impede his inherent powers to protect Americans. Bush asserts an unrestricted right to conduct warrantless domestic spying, even though the surveillance act forbids this. Likewise, the administration brazenly asserts that the president possesses the authority to mistreat detainees, even after signing a law banning torture.
  
  As criticism of this scofflaw behavior has mounted, Bush's lawyers have come up with fatuous defenses. First they argue Congress authorized the president's use of the National Security Agency for domestic spying through the 9/11 Resolution, which was passed after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Then the president argues that he wasn't defying Congress because he told a few of them what he was doing. The administration needs some new lawyers. The claim that Congress authorized spying on Americans when it voted for the use of force after 9/11 is preposterous. Constitutional scholars from both the left and right agree that it cannot remotely be so interpreted.

• then ye gut to wunder why thar settin folks lack abdallah tabarak free, witch ye kin read n wunder bout it in a articull name of Al Qaeda Detainee's Mysterious Release; Moroccan Spoke Of Aiding Bin Laden During 2001 Escape:

  RABAT, Morocco -- For more than a decade, Osama bin Laden had few soldiers more devoted than Abdallah Tabarak. A former Moroccan transit worker, Tabarak served as a bodyguard for the al Qaeda leader, worked on his farm in Sudan and helped run a gemstone smuggling racket in Afghanistan, court records here show.
  
  During the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, when al Qaeda leaders were pinned down by U.S. forces, Tabarak sacrificed himself to engineer their escape. He headed toward the Pakistani border while making calls on Osama bin Laden's satellite phone as bin Laden and the others fled in the other direction.
  
  Tabarak was captured and taken to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was classified as such a high-value prisoner that the Pentagon repeatedly denied requests by the International Committee of the Red Cross to see him. Then, after spending almost three years at the base, he was suddenly released.
  
  Today, the al Qaeda loyalist known locally as the "emir" of Guantanamo walks the streets of his old neighborhood near Casablanca, more or less a free man. In a decision that neither the Pentagon nor Moroccan officials will explain publicly, Tabarak was transferred to Morocco in August 2004 and released from police custody four months later.

• finely, ye kin read bout the trutch stretchin in last nites state of the union speech in a articull by peter wallsten and maura reynolds name of Bush Stretches to Defend Surveillance; The president's justification for his spy program has disputable roots, as do some of the facts and figures he put forth in his speech:

  WASHINGTON — President Bush received a roaring ovation Tuesday for his prime-time defense of wiretapping phone calls without warrants. But Bush's explanation relied on assumptions that have been widely questioned by experts who say the president offers a debatable interpretation of history.
  
  Defending the surveillance program as crucial in a time of war, Bush said that "previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority" that he did. "And," he added, "federal courts have approved the use of that authority."
  Bush did not name names, but was apparently reiterating the argument offered earlier this month by Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, who invoked Presidents Lincoln, Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt for their use of executive authority.
  
  However, warrantless surveillance within the United States for national security purposes was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 — long after Lincoln, Wilson and Roosevelt stopped issuing orders. That led to the 1978 passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that Bush essentially bypassed in authorizing the program after the Sept. 11 attacks.
  
  Since the surveillance law was enacted, establishing secret courts to approve surveillance, "the Supreme Court has not touched this issue in the area of national security," said William Banks, a national security expert at Syracuse Law School.
  
  "He might be speaking in the broadest possible sense about the president exercising his authority as commander-in-chief to conduct a war, which of course federal courts have upheld since the beginning of the nation," Banks said. "If he was talking more particularly about the use of warrantless surveillance, then he is wrong."
  
  Bush's historical reference on domestic spying marked one of several points in his speech in which he backed up assertions with selective uses of fact, or seemed to place a positive spin on his own interpretation.

heres hopin i feel better tomorrow, witch ifn i do i will try to putt up a nuther chaptur to life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly.

thankee fer droppin by. ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye half to click on the wurd 'link' below sos ye kin see the comment lank.