songs of buddy don: For the Duration

as ye know, twuz 60 year ago this verr day that the furst atomick bomb wuz dropped on hiroshima. twuz truly the event that changed everthang.

on that cee dee by them bohemian hillbillies name of once removed thays a song that wuz writ bout how the atomick bomb cum to be. not only did it change everthang in the worl, it also changed part of appalachia ferever by ploppin down the lil town of oak ridge, tennessee, rite smack dab in the middle of it. the idee wuz how twuz too remote to be discuverd n ifn thay wuz a acksident, twernt lackly to kill too minny folk. fack is, twuz a lucky thang fer us on a counta how it meant we gut a better educayshun than we lackly wooda gut otherwise.

but thars also that bomb n whut droppin it meant. agin, twuz a bit of selfish luck fer us on a counta how we probly woodnta been here ifn it hadnt been dropped. corse, thays minny more folks that wuz obliterayted whenever it wuz dropped. so whenever i thank much bout that bomb, tiz hard to know how to feel. bof my daddy n miz bds wuz sined up fer the durayshun of that war. my daddy wuz a marine in the pacifick n part of the force that wuz a'fixin to invade japan. so the chantses wuz good that he woodnt never have cum back. lease thats how he always splained it to us.

whats dun is dun, as the song says.

miz bd cum up with the idee fer a song name of For the Duration. we had us a lil musick we lacked to pick at, so i made up sum wurds n we recorded it. the lank is to the mp3 of that song, witch ifn ye take a noshun, ye kin click the lank n downlode the song n listen toot. ye kin foller along on the wurds:

For the Duration

"Yesterday, September 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy ... " [FDR]

The news about Pearl Harbor sent my brothers off to war
We prayed they'd come home unharmed
Then the men in suits put up the notice on our door
The government was taking the farm
Forty bucks an acre, Ma said they owed us more
We'd just put a new roof on the barn

When we asked why we got no explaination
We all must sacrifice for our nation
The war's begun
And what's done is done
And it won't be undone
For the Duration

"Tragic fate has thrust upon us grave responsibility." [Harry S Truman]

They brought truckloads of houses, built a town they called Oak Ridge
Washington had a plan
Fenced us in from Gallagher out to the Solway Bridge
Built factories on our bottom land
Ma n me got jobs, bought a radio and a fridge
Forty cents an hour, like a man

When we asked why we got no explaination
We all must sacrifice for our nation
The war's begun
And what's done is done
And it won't be undone
For the Duration

"Some people laughed, some people cried." [J. Robert Oppenheimer]

We never knew what it would do
We only did what they told us to ...
Amid the mud and boardwalks we lived like pioneers
A hundred thousand souls, most of us volunteers
Life was pretty good, after them depression years
Living for Saturday dances, drinking 3.2 beers
And making something secret with our blood, sweat and tears ...
When we found out what we'd done
Released the power of a thousand suns
And it won't be undone
For the Duration

"Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds." [J. Robert Oppenheimer]

Dave came home a hero, Tom was lost at sea,
Ma was never quite the same
Cancer took her from us back in 1963
Some say radiation was to blame
When some new country gets the bomb, you see it on TV
Don't know if I'm proud or ashamed.

When we asked why we got no explaination
We all must sacrifice for our nation
The war's begun
And what's done is done
And it won't be undone
For the Duration

"The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base ... " [Harry S. Truman]

miz bd wuz a jurnlist fer minny a year n one of the fellers she innerviewed wuz a surviver frum hiroshima. he taught her a lil japanese that we use a lot round our house. tiz a fraze n it goes lack this: shi kata ga nai. how it happend wuz she ast im ifn he wuz mad bout that bomb bein dropped n he splaind the fraze to her, sed it meant, 'unfortunate thing has happend; we must live on.'

so the bomb wuz bilt n dropped n now its a'spreadin thu the worl. whats dun is dun n twont be undun ... for the durayshun.

shi kata ga nai.

odd wurk of buddy don: back to the ole ballgame

i dun writ bout how i wurk fer one of the biggest cumpnies on wall street, witch i lack to call it 'good bank' on a counta how i used to wurk at a nuther of them big wall street firms that i lack to call 'bad bank'.

one of the minny good thangs bout good bank is how they ast us all to do volunteer wurk. tiz the kinda thang that warms the hart of innybidy frum tennessee (go vols!). one of the thangs ye kin do is hep out with the po-leece athletick leeg (name of PAL) n thar baseball fer yunguns. once ever year they let us all go out to see them pro players in a baseball game.

tiz safe to say, a grate time wuz had fer all. i tuck a slew of pitchers, witch i aint gut time to post that minny of em, but here three to give ye a idee how thangs gut started.

furst, they give us a ticket n sum scrip name of mets money:



corse, thangs always start off with josé kin ye see? :^Þ we wuz up in whut everbidy called them nosebleed seats, witch weerd thang wuz how dint nobidy git no nosebleed. but that ment i had to use a zoom lens to get down to the field n even with a monopod, twuz hard to get thangs a clear as i wood lack. fer instunts, this here purty lady that sung the nashnull anthem:



finely, ye had yer law brought out to keep the game honest:



lack i sed, i gut a passel more pitchers, but i aint gut time to post em at the moment on a counta them folks thay went with me all wonta git ceedees of them pitchers, witch im a'gone burn me up a cuple of em rite now.

oh yeah, them mets lost, 12-9, even tho they tuck a 2 run leed into the 9th inning, witch i dint keer much on a counta how im a fillies fan n they had dun beat them chicago cubs.

pinions of buddy don: aristotles golden mean

mayhap ye dun herd bout the golden mean, witch folks generly give aristotle the credit fer cummin up with that idee. i bet ye tiz oldern that, but that dont make no nevermind on a counta how well he dun splained it fer us all in a book name of the nicomachean ethics.

basick idee is that thay aint hardly nuthin that aint ruined ifn ye take it too far or dont take it far a nuff. ifn ye follerd that furst lank or inny googlin of 'the golden mean' aristotle, ye will find lists of thangs, sum of em tuck too far, sum not far a nuff. a feller name of Gordon Ziniewicz writ a lil eggsplainayshun on the topick:

Each moral virtue is a mean or lies between extremes of pleasure or of action -- doing or feeling too much or too little. The absolute mean is different from the mean as it is relative to the individual. For example, the intermediate between two pounds and ten pounds of food is (absolutely) six pounds, but the mean relative to the individual will be different for the athlete than it is for the non-athlete (e.g., Cal Ripken vs. Dustin Hoffman). Morality, like art-work, requires that one neither under-do nor over-do. One must hit upon the right course (steering between too much and too little). This requires practice. Virtues are good habits or dispositions to do the right thing developed by means of particular virtuous acts. Means themselves do not admit of eggcess and deficiency (one cannot have too much courage, etc.).

Good judgment requires that one find the mean between extremes. In order to do that, one must have both general knowledge and particular experience. Practical wisdom is the intellectual virtue (intellectual virtues are higher than moral virtues) which governs deliberation and action.

heres a few eggzamples fer ye, tuck frum this here site. fer each acktshun, thays the deefeck, the balunts, n the eggcess. so fer courage, witch thats probly the most famus one, ye gut this:

deefeck: cowardiss
balunts: courage
eggcess: rashness

corse thays a slew of them eggzamples, so heres a cuple more:

deefeck: sloth
balunts: ambishun
eggcess: greed

deefeck: apathy
balunts: equanimity
eggcess: irassabillty

deefeck: cronick deepresshun
balants: good humor
eggcess: buffoonery

deefeck: insensibillty (too lil pleashur)
balunts: temprunts
eggcess: self-indulgents

taint no acksident i putt that lastn in. as ye mite coulda dun figgerd out by now, me n miz bd luvs us sum sangle malt scotch. fack is, we take a lil drank most ever evenin, but never morn a shot (1.5 oz) durin the week or up to two of em on the weekend.

so ye mite magine my deelite whenever i red this articull name of Official: drinking improves thinking. mane point is this:

It is guaranteed to raise a cheer among those who enjoy a tipple: moderate drinkers are better thinkers than teetotallers or those who overindulge.

Research by the Australian National University in Canberra suggests drinking in moderation boost your brainpower. But none at all, or too much, can make you a dullard.

A study of 7,000 people in their early 20s, 40s and 60s found that those who drank within safe limits had better verbal skills, memory and speed of thinking than those at the extremes of the drinking spectrum.

tiz a cumfert to know that ifn ye dont overdoot, ye dont half to wurry too much. but tiz also a cumfert to know that ye orta cunsidder doon it a lease a lil bit.

pinions of buddy don: do unto others

most everbidy has dun herd of the golden rule:

do unto others as you have others do unto you.

aint minny folks that bleeves otherwise, lease not that they wood add mitt.

ye kin find how jesus putt thisn in the book of mark, 6th chaptur, 31st verse:

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

i gut to thankin bout thisn as i red the washington posts top articull name of Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs. the tale tole is one of tortchurin a feller to death:

Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was being stubborn with his American captors, and a series of intense beatings and creative interrogation tactics were not enough to break his will. On the morning of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a military guard grabbed a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped him in an electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work. Again.

It was inside the sleeping bag that the 56-year-old detainee took his last breath through broken ribs, lying on the floor beneath a U.S. soldier in Interrogation Room 6 in the western Iraqi desert. Two days before, a secret CIA-sponsored group of Iraqi paramilitaries, working with Army interrogators, had beaten Mowhoush nearly senseless, using fists, a club and a rubber hose, according to classified documents.

The sleeping bag was the idea of a soldier who remembered how his older brother used to force him into one, and how scared and vulnerable it made him feel. Senior officers in charge of the facility near the Syrian border believed that such "claustrophobic techniques" were approved ways to gain information from detainees, part of what military regulations refer to as a "fear up" tactic, according to military court documents.

The circumstances that led up to Mowhoush's death paint a vivid example of how the pressure to produce intelligence for anti-terrorism efforts and the war in Iraq led U.S. military interrogators to improvise and develop abusive measures, not just at Abu Ghraib but in detention centers elsewhere in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mowhoush's ordeal in Qaim, over 16 days in November 2003, also reflects U.S. government secrecy surrounding some abuse cases and gives a glimpse into a covert CIA unit that was set up to foment rebellion before the war and took part in some interrogations during the insurgency.

ifn ye have the stumach fer it, ye kin read the hole thang. taint purty n taint whut i wish we wuz havin amurkins n iraqis do in our behalf.

corse, thays minny that wood claim the feller deserved whut he gut. i caint say fer sartin bein as how thay wuznt no trial, no evidents presented, nuthin lack that. but tiz claimd he wuz one of saddams most trusted n that saddam had dun give the feller 'execution authority'. that means he could kill folks upon seein em ifn he thought twuz needful fer pertecktin saddams gummint.

so ye mite could thank justus wuz dun n everbidy should be happy bout it. ifn ye are, aint no reason to read inny more of this here post.

problem fer me is how whenever i wuz lookin up that verse, i acksidently red a few more that wuz leadin up toot n a few of the ones that cum after (tiz hard to quit readin it whenever jesus gits to talk). made me wunder ifn jesus wooda wonted us (1) to tortchur the feller to death n (2) to be happy bout doin it n (3) to bleeve we wuz rite to doot.

heres the versus that made me wunder:

27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.

30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

i half to add mitt im usin the king james vershun of the bible. mayhap the translayshun is bad? mayhap jesus meant to say how we should beat our enemies to death? charge em double-digit innerst on thar loans? hit them on thar cheek ere they kin hit us on ourn? do good only to them that duz good to us? repay evil with equal evil?

ifn the problem is a bad translayshun known as the king james vershun of the bible, i wish sumbidy wood send me the new improovd translayshun!

till they do, seems to me lack deesciples of jesus everwhar orta be astin the gummint to stop a'doin this kinda thang in thar name.

fer that matter, i my ownself wood lack them that claims jesus as thar save-yer to stop a'doon it in my name.

as fer whut i kin do till sumbidy sends me that new translayshun, i reckun im a'gone stick as close as i kin to the bad translayshun i gut.

pinions of buddy don: the faith that matters

thay wuz a articull in the los angelees times tuther day name of A faith vacuum haunts Europe writ by a feller name of niall ferguson. ye should read the hole articull to deecide whut his point is yerself, but heres the pith of it:

Over the last few weeks, Britons have heard a great deal from Tony Blair and others about the threat posed to their "way of life" by Muslim extremists like Muktar Said Ibrahim. But how far has their own loss of religious faith turned Britain into a soft target — not so much for the superstition Chesterton feared, but for the fanaticism of others?

ye git the idee. whut i caint understand is why he wood thank that whuther folks in united kingdum goes to church wood matter to folks thats angry bout soljers in iraq n the removal of 800,000 palestinians from palestine back in the late 1940s. dont it seem a hole lot more lackly that they wuz attackin the kingdum on a counta bein angerd by thar forn pallicy?

seems to me that the problem is jes the opposit frum whut this feller thanks. taint the evil godless thats causin the problem, but the evil godfilled folks that bleeves dyin (n killin) fer thar god should git em sum kinda free pass into heaven. taint only tuther side that bleeves this. our side bleeves tiz ok fer thousands of innocent bystanders to git killt n mained, fer our folks to stoop to the level of tortchur, to doin thangs we used to thank we wuz above doin.

no, seems to me lack the problem is the moral bankruptsy of a relijun that claims tiz ok to bomb folks to save em frum a evil dicktater, that claims to have faith but dont bleeve god is powerful a nuff to settle the score his ownself, that faithful folks have to rite n even the responsibillty to make atomick bombs n use em on civilyuns, that claims tiz ok to invade a cuntry, bomb it till minny of its basick servuses is deestroyed, all in the name of savin it.

whutever happend to standin up to yer bleefs by refusin to do evil, no matter whut the instigayshun or uther eggscuses? whut happend to our christchun soljers?

reminds me of a statement one of my ants made bout the veetnam war: 'We have to kill those people. They have no respect for human life.'

no, the problem aint the faithless. tiz the eggstreams the faithfull will go to sos they kin force thar pinions on others. yer terrsts are faithful, after all, whuther thar faith is sum misguided brand of islam or sum misguided brand of christchanity.

why caint the faithful of all relijuns have faith in the thangs they claims to bleeve? ifn they did, they wood know thonly thang they gut to do is bleeve god kin handle it. with that faith, we kin resist evil, return evil with luv, turn tuther cheek, leave whut blongs to caeser with caeser, lift no weppon lessn we wonta die by it, treat our naybors lack they wonta be treated, larn to see that all folks is naybors.

god kin handle justus all by his ownself. he dont need us bombin in his behalf, whuther tiz shock n awe or the shock of a terrst attack.

that, fer me, is the faith that matters, the faith to have faith.

pinions of buddy don: whatcha lookin at?

i spend too much of my time fassinated by whut folks is doin in the name of our cuntry or in the name of our citizens better health n welfare. it dont tend to make me happy, witch thats why i druther meditate on them critterrs that duz gods will without fail n without ever compromisin thar eye deals, witch seesm lack we half to compromise with ever step we take. so im studyin these critters:





ifn i kin keep my eye on them animulls that understands gods will fer em bettern folks duz, then i kin turn away frum stuff lack this:

• Toledo Police Allegedly Helped Cover Up Sex Abuse by Priests:

  Police helped the Catholic Diocese of Toledo cover up sex abuse allegations for several decades, refusing to investigate or arrest priests suspected of molesting children, a newspaper reported Sunday.
  
  The Blade, relying on interviews with former officers and a review of court and diocese records, found at least five instances since the 1950s of police covering up allegations of abuse.
  
  Four former officers said Anthony Bosch, a Catholic who was chief of the Toledo department from 1956 to 1970, established an unwritten rule that priests could not be arrested.
  
  "You would have been fired," said Gene Fodor, who served on the force between 1960 and 1981.
  
  In some cases that resulted in charges, authorities blocked the release of files to the public. In others, priests were transferred to different churches or sent away for treatment.

• The Space Between Battlefield and Home; Wounded Veterans Ready Themselves For Altered Lives:

  The packing boxes scattered throughout Room 454 are filling with books, videos, clothes and gifts -- the amazing amount of things that piled up during eight months at the hotel. They will be shipped home first.
  
  A few days later, Trish Autery will gather her suitcases, take some tissues to dry her tears and walk out the door that has a tiny American flag hung near its number.
  And that will leave just Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan Autery, 20, the son she has cared for all these months, to pack what remains, close the door for the final time and catch a plane home, from the District to Nashville.
  
  His luggage will contain an artificial left arm -- a spare to accompany the one with which his body and mind have made peace here.
  
  Nobody ever wants to stay at Mologne House.
  
  Soldiers who escape dying in battle by the narrowest of margins find their way here, to this hotel on the grounds of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington.
  
  The lobby, with illuminated chandeliers and oriental carpet, can be crowded with amputees. Peepholes in most room doors are at wheelchair level. And the snazzy maroon and gray hotel shuttle goes to the hospital around the corner, not the airport.
  
  Mologne House is a place where grievous wounds can heal, where awful recollections can be put in some context and where residents prepare to go back into the world physically and psychologically changed.

• Extraordinary admission to interrogators by London bomb suspect:

  A suspected member of the 21 July bomb cell has told investigators he was motivated by the Iraq war, not religion.
  
  Osman Hussain, suspected of attempting to blow up commuters in Shepherd's Bush, west London, has given an extraordinary account of a plot hatched in a basement gym in Notting Hill, acccording to leaks from his interrogation by Italian investigating magistrates.
  
  The suspected would-be bomber is reported to have denied links to the cell that killed 52 people two weeks earlier. But that outrage acted as a "signal" for the second bang to launch its own attack.
  
  The 27-year-old Ethiopian-born Briton, also known as Isaac Hamdi, was questioned by two judges after being arrested in Rome on Friday.
  
  "Rather than praying, we had discussions about work, politics, the war in Iraq." Hussain said of the gatherings in the gym, according to La Repubblica newspaper and an Italian news agency.
  
  The would-be bombers watched films, "especially those in which you saw women and children killed an exterminated by the English and American soldiers, or widows, mothers and daughters who were crying."

corse, thays plenty more of that kinda thang on almos inny subjeck ye choose. so i druther focus my tenchun on them amung gods critters that jes keep on a'doin thar duty, no matter whut, kindly lack this angelick lookin lil one:

pitchers tuck by buddy don: sacred lotus blossom

songs of buddy don: give me the faith ...

evertime a few weeks slides by without me a'ritin a chaptur, i git nervus bout whuther i kin rite a nuther or whuther twood be inny good or whuther i gut inny idee how to start n yew name it, i wurry over it in my mind in sted of ritin. but thays this song i writ a minny a year ago name of St. Thomas' Blues, witch tiz one of the songs on that Bohemian Hillbillies album name of Once Removed i mentchuned tuther day. i kindly try to cunsidder that line whenever i thank i caint git a'goin agin: give me the faith to have faith. heres the rest of them lyricks:

St. Thomas's Blues

Give me the faith to have faith
Show me the road that leads to the promised land
Give me a map to help me find my way
Won't you help me to understand?
'Cause all I want to do is touch His hand.

A farmer told me that God was like a circus
Told me that you had to have a ticket if you want to get in
Told me that the price was measured out in faith
And you pay for it within
But all I want to do is touch His skin.

So won't you
Give me the faith to have faith
Show me the road that leads to the promised land
Give me a map to help me find my way
Won't you help me to understand?
'Cause all I want to do is touch His hand.

The preacher told me that faith is given blindly
You don't need to see the miracles to believe
And you won't find the Lord by seeking after knowledge
It's your faith that makes you see
But all I need to do is touch His sleeve.

So won't you
Give me the faith to have faith
Show me the road that leads to the promised land
Give me a map to help me find my way
Won't you help me to understand?
I just want to stick my fingers into the holes in His hands.

pinions of buddy don: whut we stand fer

mayhap yall dun seen thisn but tiz wurth repeatin jes in case ye missed it. tiz the statement made by the judge in the case of the millenium bomber, witch ifn ye dun fergut, thats the plot that wuz foiled durin the clinton administrayshun back when folks bleeved twuz importunt to drop everthang n focus on the threat bein suggested by the 'chatter' we git frum our intelligents. twuz coverd in a articull name of Judge gives millennium bomber 22 years. heres whut U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour -- a truly grate amurkin that bleeves in the eye deals to witch we aspire -- heres whut he had to say at the sentencing:

"The message I would hope to convey in today's sentencing is twofold:

“First, that we have the resolve in this country to deal with the subject of terrorism and people who engage in it should be prepared to sacrifice a major portion of their life in confinement.

"Secondly, though, I would like to convey the message that our system works. We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, or detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant, or deny him the right to counsel, or invoke any proceedings beyond those guaranteed by or contrary to the United States Constitution.

"I would suggest that the message to the world from today's sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart. We can deal with the threats to our national security without denying the accused fundamental constitutional protections.

"Despite the fact that Mr. Ressam is not an American citizen and despite the fact that he entered this country intent upon killing American citizens, he received an effective, vigorous defense, and the opportunity to have his guilt or innocence determined by a jury of 12 ordinary citizens.

"Most importantly, all of this occurred in the sunlight of a public trial. There were no secret proceedings, no indefinite detention, no denial of counsel.
“The tragedy of September 11th shook our sense of security and made us realize that we, too, are vulnerable to acts of terrorism.

"Unfortunately, some believe that this threat renders our Constitution obsolete. This is a Constitution for which men and women have died and continue to die and which has made us a model among nations. If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won.

"It is my sworn duty, and as long as there is breath in my body I'll perform it, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We will be in recess."

taint lack we dont have lodes of folks that bleeves in the eye deals of amurka, minny of em in the armed servuses, witch as ye kin see by this articull name of Military's Opposition to Harsh Interrogation Is Outlined, they dint wonta roll over whenever they wuz ast to violate amurkin eye deals:

Senior military lawyers lodged vigorous and detailed dissents in early 2003 as an administration legal task force concluded that President Bush had authority as commander in chief to order harsh interrogations of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, newly disclosed documents show.

Despite the military lawyers' warnings, the task force concluded that military interrogators and their commanders would be immune from prosecution for torture under federal and international law because of the special character of the fight against terrorism.

In memorandums written by several senior uniformed lawyers in each of the military services as the legal review was under way, they had urged a sharply different view and also warned that the position eventually adopted by the task force could endanger American service members.

...

The documents include one written by the deputy judge advocate general of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Jack L. Rives, advising the task force that several of the "more extreme interrogation techniques, on their face, amount to violations of domestic criminal law" as well as military law.

General Rives added that many other countries were likely to disagree with the reasoning used by Justice Department lawyers about immunity from prosecution. Instead, he said, the use of many of the interrogation techniques "puts the interrogators and the chain of command at risk of criminal accusations abroad."

Any such crimes, he said, could be prosecuted in other nations' courts, international courts or the International Criminal Court, a body the United States does not formally participate in or recognize.

Other senior military lawyers warned in tones of sharp concern that aggressive interrogation techniques would endanger American soldiers taken prisoner and also diminish the country's standing as a leader in "the moral high road" approach to the laws of war.

...

Rear Adm. Michael F. Lohr, the Navy's chief lawyer, wrote on Feb. 6, 2003, that while detainees at Guantánamo Bay might not qualify for international protections, "Will the American people find we have missed the forest for the trees by condoning practices that, while technically legal, are inconsistent with our most fundamental values?"

Brig. Gen. Kevin M. Sandkuhler, a senior Marine lawyer, said in a Feb. 27, 2003, memorandum that all the military lawyers believed the harsh interrogation regime could have adverse consequences for American service members. General Sandkuhler said that the Justice Department "does not represent the services; thus, understandably, concern for service members is not reflected in their opinion."

Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Romig, the Army's top-ranking uniformed lawyer, said in a March 3, 2003, memorandum that the approach recommended by the Justice Department "will open us up to criticism that the U.S. is a law unto itself."

are we a nayshun that shines its lite befor the worl, that inspires by its refusal to compromize its eye deals, no matter whut? or do we let the terrsts win by givin up our eye deals?

reminds me of a ole firesign theatre piece, caint member witchn, but a feller sez sumthin lack (pair-a-frazin), 'tiz a power that kin only be used fer good or evil ... n i git to deecide witch.'

tiz whut we all gut, a power that kin only be used fer good or evil ... n we gits to deecide witch. sumbidy else sed sumthin lack, 'by thar fruits ye shall know them.'

do they know us to have the strangth n courage to stick to our eye deals?

revellayshuns of buddy don: brakin the fourth wall

thays been a significunt bit of acktivity bout sum thangs i either writ or reecorded to whar tiz time i let it be knowd that the fourth wall of this here innerprize eggzists n could be broke.

whut do i mean by the fourth wall? ye kin git ye a idee by goin here. ifn ye couldnt git in thar on a counta thar bein a price to pay fer subscripshun (tiz wurth it), then how bout this eggsplainayshun:

fourth wall
n.

The space separating the audience from the action of a theatrical performance, traditionally conceived of as an imaginary wall completing the enclosure of the stage.

this here blogs a theatrickull performunts even ifn the audience is on tuther side of the glass wall of thar montor. the few folks that drops by everday knows that whut they find here bof is n aint real. tiz real in the sense that ye see them wurds i tap out on the keybird everday or them pitchers i uplode, but taint real in the sense that 'buddy don' is a care acketer invented by the author, witch i (buddy don) dont generly let him (the author) git his grubby paws onto the keybird.

but thay is a author behind it all n fack is, the author is deelited to say that miz bd n him is a'gone meet one of his bes bloggin buddies, red molly, witch shes the one that hosts the Blue Page Special. red molly is one of the three of four folks on the planet that has dun red everthang they is so far of life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly (furst part or 101 chapturs here, secunt part or chapturs 102 - 140 here).

as ye mite magine, we made friends over that n i half to add mitt, twuz her innerst in gittin more chapturs that gut me a'goin agin (i need to keep on a'goin, i know).

turns out red molly n her husbin is fixin to take a trip up to man hattan sos mr red molly kin take a oracle class. so we plan to meet up at st andrews n ye kin jes bet i will be bloggin all bout it.

but wait, thays more: same day i gut the email with the good news bout red's visit, i gut a email frum a feller over in sweden name of martin g. i could barely bleeve my eyes whenever i red this in a email name of Hi from Sweden:

I ´ve jes red "life ´n pinions".
I liked it a lot, n look forward to the rest of the story.
When´s the following chapturs coming ?
Being about the same age as you, I recognise a whole lot.
Living in sweden is of course diffrent from the US, but some things seem to be universal.
Here it´s now friday time-to-get-home-from work and grey skies, thunder n raining.
I thought that I had something to say about your writings, but right now it´s gone.
Maybe nex week it´ll be back.

ye kin jes bet twuz good news fer me to read that a feller that dont even have english as a furst langwage could read life n pinions atall, much less all the way thru n ast fer more. so i tride to add the 39 chapturs that wuznt on the novel site only blogger woodnt let me, so i made a new lil site with the secunt part.

meanwhile, i had dun cut out a books wurth of the hole thang (dun writ the endin, so i know i gut a long slog ere i finish ritin it), a book name of 'this one gurl name of darlene,' witch red molly n martin g n deb n miz bd n mayhap a nuther two or three folks gits thatn. thays a publisher innerested n now that its dun been showd to keep a bidys innerested to keep on a readin, mayhap tiz wurth it to git that manuscrip reddy to give to the publisher. (i notice how folks mentchuns tiz easier to read ifn tiz printed out n i bet twood be easier still ifn twuz revised -- tiz still a furst draft, after all -- n published as a lil book ye could hold easy lack in yer hands). so i plan to putt sum time in on that projeck even ifn i caint blog as much, tho i am too much of a ham not to git on my lil bloggin stage everday or so.

but thays even moren that. i gut a email frum a feller who had found wandering hillbilly by searchin fer jaroslav haceks book The Good Soldier Svejk, witch i writ a lil revue of that grate wurk here. turns out this feller has a hole site dedicated to that book and he has writ his own translayshun! i jes orderd me a copy or book one, witch ye kin do the same ifn ye wonta by goin here. i caint hardly wait to read it on a counta tiz one of the worls grate wurks of litterchur n funny a nuff to make yer sides hurt by laffin.

bein as he or his fambly cums frum the land of svejk, witch thar a'callin it the czech republic these days, he knew that the email address buddy don uses could have sumthin to do with bohemia. tiz oh so true. i writ im back n let im know how twuz that i cum to use that address. i tole im my real name (dun the same to a few other folk, witch i grately preciate how they keep my secrets) n add mitted how me n miz bd had dun reecorded n reeleasd a cd name of once removed by our band name of bohemian hillbillies. ifn ye foller that lank, ye kin buy that cd.

mr sadlon (author of the svejk translayshun i mentchuned above) bought hisself a copy of our cd (thankee, sir!) n writ a lil revu of his own bout it:

Well, the CD came today, and I just finished listening to it. I enjoyed it very much, just like one enjoys a gathering of friends having a conversation about life, the good, the bad and the ugly. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit apprehensive. I'm getting too old and tired to be brooding. But your treatment of the subject of death is quite authentic, non-jarring, thoughtful, smile-inducing, and much more. I'm not an artist, musical or otherwise, just a consumer of art. I like what I like and I know why. I like people communicating. The Bohemian ones are some mighty smart hillbillies! I love the subtleties. At one point I chuckled at the emerging thought: Billy Joel meets the Fugs!

Most objects that I have at home have a meaning, a personal story. "Once removed" is already one of the more complex and meaningul objects among them.

tiz also a big brake in the fourth wall on a counta ye kin also figger out who the author is ifn ye go to that thar site. please keep my secret a secret on a counta i dont wont folks to be able to search my real name n find this here site. thays too much draft material on it.

but tiz true bout the author: taint buddy don!

wasted time of buddy don: randum stroll thru the blogosfear

i jes finished up a'postin the rest of the chapturs to life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly, secunt part, witch that means tiz as good as its title n has all chapturs frum 102 to 140. tuck a sprizin bit of time to git that dun on a counta furst i had to find em n then i had to trick it out to whar twood post em in order. i dun that by changin the time of each post to make it a mint or two earlier than the one before it.

innywho, once it gut dun i saw that lil strip on the top of the new blog, the one whar ye kin do a google search or make ye a new blog or go to nex blog. seems lack thay aint no way to git it offn the blog n i noticed how they dun putt it on life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly, furst part.

innywho, that gut me to thankin bout the blogosfear n wundern jes how thangs are out thar. fer the mos part, i spend my time on a few favert blogs, witch ifn ye read me reglar, ye know whut they are. mayhap i kin do a lil tour of them a nuther day. but i figgerd fer fun, twood be innerestin to see whuts a'gone on out thar ifn ye tuck whutever cum to ye. so heres my stroll:

1. Turkish Diary; Every day some news about Turkey, if possible not treated by big media. [writ in english by three cuntributers name of alexis nevil, selene n liriel, the subtitle splains whut tiz about]
2. This is a life like no other ... this is The Great Adventure! [thisns the diary of a young lady name of jaimsie, witch this is how she deescribes herself:'I'm a teenager in the final months of my teen years; I love music, I'm a Manchester United supporter (go Reds!); I'm an avid reader; "Jamesie" is a nickname my friend gave me base on charater role-plays we do; I love RP-ing and icon-making; and ultimately I love God. I'm proud of my Methodist Heritage and I'm striving day by day by God's grace to live out the life He has given to me.']
3. Think About This: Wonderful Days [looks lack a nuther diary of a young lady, thisn anonymus. seems lackly shes in hi skool or mayhap even jr hi.]
4. Cell Phones and Ringtones [at furst glants, thisn looks lack one of them faux blogs thats really jes auto-generated spam ceptn ifn this is one, tiz well-dun on a counta lines lack this:"If you where searching for research motorola cordless phone in the real world, what would you do? I guess in reality you could look through books and magazines , but browsing the net is much easier."]
5. EnnangaL EzhuthukkaL; Welcome! This blog is about the ripples on my mind pool by the impact of life. Your comments would be greatly appreciated. [caint tell much bout thisn on a counta how tiz writ in a lango i caint penetrate. i reckun tiz sumthin frum india on a counta how tiz located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India]
6. The Wicked Truth; LIBERTY IS ALWAYS UNFINISHED BUSINESS [thisn a blog writ by two folks. one of ems a feller name of Mister Hand, witch he deescribes hisself thisaway: "I am a political junkie and a super-duper sci-fi/horror buff (or geek, some might say) and no matter how hard I try I just cannot develop a taste for kael." tutherns a feller name of meatbag. bofem fellers is 34 accordin to thar profile.] heres a lil snippet to let ye know whut thar all bout:

   I don't believe in left or right. I believe in trying to find out the truth. Okay, so no world-shaking revelations there. But we've come to a point in our country's history where the pardigm seems to favor the right. This is mostly because of Fox News' rise to power, and due to the long slow burn of Rush Limbaugh's oft-repeated lies. When Rush was a voice in the wilderness a decade ago, his lies were lies. Now, however, they have been repeated often enough to prove that Goebbels was right: A lie, if repeated often enough, becomes the truth.

7. [truth][thisn writ by a yung 20-year-ole english feller with spiky hair, witch he calls hisself cardboardsword. mayhap hes a poet or jes lacks poeticull thangs. innerestin quote at the top of his sidebar:'[freedom] Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."'
8. HAYL [nuther english poet, thisn a 17-year ole yung lady. her real name is Hayley Terese Pereira n peers to me shes a purty good poet.]
9. Last night an mp3 saved my wife [thisn a blog with sevrul cuntributers, all of em radio djs of sum kind. as ye mite magine, tiz a blog bout musick n these folks know much more bout it than i am ever lackly to. todays post is bout Long John Baldry passin away - Let The Heartaches Begin.]
10. Japon G&M [thisns so new it dont have no moren a sangle post yet. writ in french, looks lack its dedicated to japan.]
11. Jedi Andi [riter of thisn is a 23-year old feller who lacks musick frum lincoln park to sarah maclachlan. looks lack hes a nice guy who has dun been hurt by luv fer bein a nice guy, witch thats one of the oldest stories in the worl]
12. Phillet; Mine Life Through Mine Eyes... [feller that rites thisn goes by the name of Phillet Rohani, witch hes a 22-year old web deeveloper. heres how he deescribes hisself: 'I was born and raised in Lancashire, ended up at university (where I met some great, lifelong buddies, and where my life just began), and now I'm working as a web developer.']
13. Jobal and Maricar's Wedding [odd thang bout this blog is how it dont have a sangle post, but thays dun been 20 comments made. looks lack a blog dedicated to the weddin of a very attractiv yung cuple.]

thars my quick stroll thru sum blogs that i lackly never wooda seen ifn i hadnt tuck a ride on that 'next blog' train blogger has. tiz bettern i eggspeckted on a counta how the furst time i tride it i dint git nuthin but spamblogs n blogs in langos i couldnt figger out.

speakin bout folks that blogs, me n miz bd has a treat cummin up, witch we are a'gone git to meet one of our favert bloggers. but i dont wonta say much more bout it today on a counta tiz wurth a hole entry, witch i plan to post thatn in the mornin.

wurk of buddy don: how i spent my mornin

sorry that i aint gut much to rite this mornin. i been wurkin a lil on gittin the novel name of life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly a lil easier fer folks to find. ifn ye look over on the left side of this here blog, ye mite notice how thays two entries fer the novel now, bof furst part n secunt part. i tride to putt the chapturs thats been writ but aint on that furst part to go on the furst part blog, but all blogger wood give me wuz errs ever time i tride. so i made a new blog name of life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly, secunt part.

ye mite could wunder why wood i do this? well, i gut a email frum a feller up in sweden tuther day, witch he writ to say he had dun red life n pinions. twuz a bit of a sir prize to find out sumbidy besides the few i know has red most of it (red molly, jed, deb, miz bd?) wood git a start n stick with it fer 101 chapturs. i writ im back n ast im did he read the hole thang or jes the furst 101 chapturs, witch he dint know thay wuz more. so i started puttin em up, only i aint gut em all in thar yet.

but ye kin jes magine how grate it felt to find out sumbidy had dun red that much of it. i could jes barly bleeve it.

i wunder ifn ye wood let me know in a comment:

have ye red inny of life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly?

n ifn ye have, how much?

pinions of buddy don: is our gummint larnin?

i been beatin the drum bout how the war name of gwot (rimes with snot) is really one bout cunvintsin folks not to use the tacktick of blowin up innocent folks to try to git yer point across, whutever it mite be.

that last clawz -- whutever it mite be -- is the one that matters. ifn we caint figger out the real reason a bidy wood sacrifice his or her own life in order to kill a bunch of innocent folk, then how kin we cunvints folks not to doot? ye mite say that tiz obveeus how ye orta not kill innocent folk, witch tiz purty clear ye orta not do that.

but folks keeps on a'doin it. seems to me lack we dont even try to understand whut kinda recrootment n motivayshun thar side is a'usin to cunvints folks to use that tacktick.

i red a cuple grate bits of ritin on that topick in the las few days. furstns a letter to the editor of the boston globe name of Heed Osama's specific goals writ by a feller frum knoxvull name of allan morgan (dont fergit that the author of a letter dont git to pick the hedline). mr morgan makes this mane point:

... although Osama bin Laden is undoubtedly offended by the gross materialism and decadence of Western secular capitalism, and although he skillfully uses the moral zealotry of Islam to forward his agenda, his agenda is quite straightforward and is not based on some categorical imperative to stamp out Western civilization and its freedoms.
...
The United States may not like his agenda, but if we are to deal successfully with bin Laden's aggression, we would do well to understand his agenda rather than, in our own self-righteousness, simply brand him as a terrorist wishing to do us all in.

he noted that osamas published agenda includes thangs lack:

• gittin u.s. military forces out of the arabian peninsula
• gittin all westurn armies outta arab cuntries includin iraq n afghanistan
• gittin the u.s. to quit supporting arab regimes that mistreats its own folks, lack we used to do with saddam is ownself whenever raygun wuz presdint or lack we dun with the shah of iran or even with them saudis>
• corse, they wonta destroy israel (thatn should be knowd by all)

mayhap we kin win this thang be pertendin they attack us on a counta how we are free n have demockrussy, but as ye could see on 7/7, folks born n bred to that verr same freedum n demockrussy, citizens of our number one ally, the u.k., even such folks kin be cunvintsed to use the tacktick of terrism.

seems to me lack the centrul frunt in the gwot is a lot biggern iraq!

but i caint say it no better this feller Charley Reese dun in a articull name of Nobody's Fault. heres a bit of whut he writ, witch ye orta read the hole thang:

... to avoid any share of responsibility whatsoever, both Bush and Blair propagate the line that terrorists are complete nut cases acting purely irrationally because of crazy hatred of our wealth and freedom. This is particularly clever political propaganda since it asserts that we are hated, not for our faults, but for our very virtues.

It's pure hogwash, of course. Anyone who knows anything about the Middle East and terrorism knows that nearly all of the terrorist leaders are university-educated and come from middle-class to upper-class families. Why would bin Laden, himself a multimillionaire, hate wealth? Why would a man who freely chose a life of hardship when he could have been a decadent playboy despise freedom? Bin Laden fought for the freedom of Afghanistan. For whose freedom have Bush and Blair ever fought?

Bin Laden is certainly one of terrorism's wordiest leaders, but in all his speeches and messages of which I'm aware, he's never criticized wealth or freedom. He has been quite specific. He wants the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf ended. He criticizes our support for Arab dictators and for Israeli abuses of Palestinians. He wants us out of the Persian Gulf, and he wants an end to Israel.

Now, acknowledging what he believes is not agreeing with him. You can agree or disagree, but it is both stupid and dishonest to deny that bin Laden believes what bin Laden says.

corse, we could jes ignore the reasons thar attackin n putt our soljers into impossibull situwayshuns, witch ye kin read all about that in todays l.a. times articull name of Shots to the Heart of Iraq; Innocent civilians, including people who are considered vital to building democracy, are increasingly being killed by U.S. troops writ by richard c. paddock:

U.S. officials have repeatedly declined requests to disclose the number of civilians killed in such incidents. Police in Baghdad say they have received reports that U.S. forces killed 33 unarmed civilians and injured 45 in the capital between May 1 and July 12 — an average of nearly one fatality every two days. This does not include incidents that occurred elsewhere in the country or were not reported to the police.

The continued shooting of civilians is fueling a growing dislike of the United States and undermining efforts to convince the public that American soldiers are here to help. The victims have included doctors, journalists, a professor — the kind of people the U.S. is counting on to help build an open and democratic society.

"Of course the shootings will increase support for the opposition," said Farraji, 49, who was named a police general with U.S. approval. "The hatred of the Americans has increased. I myself hate them."

Among the biggest threats U.S. forces face are suicide attacks. Soldiers are exposed as they stand watch at checkpoints or ride on patrol in the turrets of their Humvees. The willingness of the assailants to die makes the attacks difficult to guard against. By their nature, the bombings erode the troops' trust of the public; every civilian becomes suspect.

U.S. military officials say the troops must protect themselves by shooting the driver of any suspicious vehicle before it reaches them.

Heavily armed private security contractors, who number in the tens of thousands, also are authorized by the U.S. government to use deadly force to protect themselves.

One contractor who works for the U.S. government and saw a colleague killed in a suicide bombing said it was better to shoot an innocent person than to risk being killed.

"I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by six," said the contractor, who insisted that he not be identified by name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

read the hole articull. tiz a scary place fer our troops to be. looks lack nuthin they kin do is a'gone be cunsidderd rite. taint fair to em.

speakin of unfair to em, heres a cuple more articulls bout the gwot, a war that dont need no sacrifice frum innybidy that dont volunteer fer it:

The Best Army We Can Buy.

Uniform Sacrifice

daytrips of buddy don: brooklyn botanickull gardens

ackshly, thar name is Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but that aint whut near everbidy seems to call em. more lack theyll say, brooklyn botanickull gardens. i dun herd it a minny a time.

innywho, yesterday me n miz bd tuck a lil daytrip over to brooklyn to spend the afternoon with my irish friend name of micky. he lives right on prospect park over thar n has im a grate apartment. ifn ye knew im lack i do, ye wood know hes dun 'kicked around a lot' n dun a lotta differnt thangs. hes a sorta flossofer, so tiz only natcherull that i wood git to hear lil of his bleefs. heres one:

magine ye had jes fell offn a cliff n jes by luck ye had grabbed the branch of sum roses. ye hold on deespite them thorns on a counta down below thays a cuple lions a'pacin back n furth, a'waitin fer ye to fall. ye look up n see thays a nuther cuple lions up thar, trine to suss out how to git to ye. so whut ye a'gone do?

smell the roses.

micky herd thisn sumwhars, mayhap a buddhist munk or sum such, n i member how we laffed whenever he tole it to me the furst time. i tole it to minny a nuther person. corse thye could see the wisdum innit, but dint hardly nobidy do much bout it, me included.

but mickeys differnt. william james -- or wuz it henry? -- writ sumthin bout ifn yer a'wontin to have a good life, ye gut to have a good liver. i wood say mickys one of the bes i know. one of the thangs he n his wife duz is cuntribute to the park n botanickull gardens n museam n i dont know whut all.

but he lacks to git out in all em places n since he lives jes across the street frum the park, he asts us did we wonta cum out, taste a litle sangle malt, n visit them gardens. we did.

im here to tell ye, we dun a lil smellin of them roses yesterdy. on the way home mis bd sed twuz jes lack havin a vacayhsun.

the place wuz jes loded with amazin plants. heres sum pitchers i tuck.

pinions of buddy don: too hot?

it has been verr hot up in here lately, temps in the 90s day after day. tuther day, miz bd sed, 'hal lay loo ya! twill drop to 85 on saturdy!' that wood be grate on a counta how we are visitin micky, our irish frien, over in brooklyn. we plan to take a walk thru the brooklyn botanik garden.

ifn ye aint hot a nuff, heres a few articulls to hep ye warm up:

Senators Struggle to Act on Global Warming:

"Climate change is perhaps the most worrisome global environmental problem confronting human society today," said Molina, a professor at the University of California at San Diego. Molina added that while experts are still uncertain about exactly how global warming will play out in future decades, "not knowing with certainty how the climate system will respond should not be an excuse for inaction."

Several committee Republicans, including some who had questioned climate change predictions in the past, said they agree the world has reached a scientific consensus on global warming.

"I have come to believe, along with many of my colleagues, that there is a substantial human effect on the environment," said Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho), who has opposed mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions and voted against last month's "sense of the Senate" resolution on climate change.

Some GOP senators, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), went further. In an interview, Murkowski said that "there's an emerging consensus we've got to deal" with climate change, adding it would be "tough" to cut greenhouse gases sufficiently through voluntary programs alone.

A Bid to Chill Thinking; Behind Joe Barton's Assault on Climate Scientists:

Barton, an 11-term Republican from Texas, is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and one of the oil lobby's best friends on Capitol Hill. Late last month he fired off letters to professor Michael Mann of the University of Virginia and two other scientists demanding information about what he claimed were "methodological flaws and data errors" in their studies of global warming.

Barton's letters to the scientists had a peremptory, when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife tone. Mann was told that within less than three weeks, he must list "all financial support you have received related to your research," provide "the location of all data archives relating to each published study for which you were an author," "provide all agreements relating to . . . underlying grants or funding," and deliver similarly detailed information in five other categories.

The scientists' offense was that they had authored a controversial study that reported a sharp rise in global temperatures during the 20th century, based on an analysis of tree rings, glacial ice and coral layers. The study was an important source for a 2001 report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that argued the 1990s had been the hottest decade in 1,000 years. A graph summarizing the sharp upturn last century after hundreds of years of flat temperatures became known as the "hockey stick," and it has been derided ever since by skeptics.

Warming Up to a New Task:

For Alaskans, warming is a fact on the ground and in the sea. They see it in things such as the sagging ground above the permafrost — the frozen subsoil on which their homes and water pipes stand — and the breakaway sea ice from which seal and bowhead whale hunters have sometimes had to radio for a rescue.

Average temperatures in Barrow are up 4 degrees over the last 50 years, and as much as 7 degrees in other parts of the Arctic, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. The average rise across the globe is 1.5 degrees.
"There's no question something is going on," says Warren Matumeak, 77, an Inupiat elder.

"Spring is coming earlier. We see birds up here we've never seen before. The Earth is changing around us, and we have to figure out how to adapt," said Matumeak, a former land and wildlife manager for the North Slope Borough, the rough local equivalent of a county, albeit one slightly larger than Minnesota.

As the northern polar region warms, some climate models predict what is dryly called a "positive feedback loop," which could start to warm the Earth much more quickly.

For Barrow, such a loop spells likely doom, a self-reinforcing cycle in which melting ice raises surface temperatures, which in turns melts more ice. That could cause severe coastal erosion and alter the delicate balance that sustains life on the tundra.

In a worst-case scenario, people would be forced to leave Barrow altogether, as residents of Shishmaref and Newtok, two smaller coastal villages in Alaska, have decided to do because of continuing erosion.

Bush: Global warming is just hot air:

When the New York Times quizzed Bush about why his scientists had shifted their positions on what caused global warming, he appeared entirely ignorant that they had. "I don't think we did," he said. When tipped off to the paper's coverage of the report, he added: "Oh, OK, well, that's got to be true." Maybe he really doesn't read the newspapers. His aides then assured reporters that, no, this report wouldn't signal any change in his policies around climate change.

In other words, Bush will continue to delay regulatory action related to global warming, while pledging to invest in more study of the issue in the name of "sound science," before doing anything about it.
"The Bush administration has been playing whack-a-mole trying to beat back its own scientists on global warming; every once in a while they miss one," says Jeremy Symons, who worked at the Environmental Protection Agency in 2001, when the president reneged on his campaign promise to regulate global-warming pollution -- a move, Symons says, done for "no reason other than to appease polluters."

"The strength of the science is overwhelming and it's reflected in this new report," adds Symons, now climate change program manager for the National Wildlife Federation. "It doesn't leave the administration anywhere to hide about the fact that it's not doing anything. The science hasn't changed, but when it comes to policy the Bush administration still has its head in the sand."

It's a repeat of a situation early in Bush's presidency, when he asked the National Academy of Sciences to look into global warming and they found that it is happening and is likely caused by such human activities as burning fossil fuels. The response? The administration just continued to call for further study and even infamously censored mentions of the harmful impact of global warming from a federal environmental report.

whut? me wurry? no way. turn up the a.c., baby, tiz a'gittin too hot in here.

pinions of buddy don: ok then?

i understand how south knox bubba must feel. ever mornin i git up a'wundern whut topick to cuver in this here lil blog. it makes me scan the noosepapers n n read them pundits n check the blogosfear n thank bout why i bleev whut i do n why our cuntry dus whut it duz. sumtimes i dream bout whut the mornins subjeck will be.

tiz wurk. taint pure fun. no doubt about it. but it has made me more informed, made me thank bout thangs more, made me participate more in the grate nashunul dialog, even ifn my lil hillbilly voice dont hardly git into the ears of moren four or five reglar readers.

in my case, tis also a way of gittin a novel writ -- or at lease, part writ. i started out jes wontin to wurk on my hillbilly langwage skills. then, almos by acksident, without meanin to doot, my novel broke out. taint the furst i have writ, but tiz the furst i have writ in publick.

not only that, the blog form has had a shapin effeck on the novel. since everthang in a blog cums in reverse kronologickull order, ye half to make each chaptur a lil episode, ideally cumplete in itself. i aint never writ thataway. i generly try to end a chaptur with a hook that makes the reader wonta read the nex chaptur rite away. i woodnt never have cunsidderd doon it thisaway before.

so i bleeve it has made me a better riter (corse, whenever yer ritin reglar, yer makin yeself better at ritin).

so fer me, tiz wurth it. tiz also a good way to meet folks (howdy jed n red n eric n deb n mountain gurl n otherns i dont hardly know well a nuff to member to menchun).

so tiz almos lack hearin bout sumbidy dyin whenever ye read bout a favert blog a'goin dark. skbs site wuz one of my reglar reads. he innerduced me to lots of grate sorces of infermayshun. he hepped me git near ever lank i gut to this lil blog here.

his wuz a voice that riz above the din, well wurth hearin. he wuz the founder n leader of the lil rocky top brigade cummunty. he wuz inspirayshun fer a passel of other bloggers. sum of ems even a lil mad that he deeserted em.

i reckun im more sad than mad purely on selfish grounds since i caint read im no more n dont ritely know whuts to becum of the rtb.

but tiz his life n i respeck im fer his deecishun. that writ, tiz still my fervent hope he will cum back, mayhap in sum other form. but ifn tiz rest he needs, then so be it.

ok then?

sorry, but not fer me.

tain nowhar near ok.

pinions of buddy don: we aint fitin no army ...

... tiz more lack we gut ourself in a fite with a virus with this here global war on terr or gwot (rimes with snot) fer short. i writ on this a while back in a pinion name of fitin a tacktick.

whuther the tacktick gits used depends on our battle fer harts n minds, witch i writ on thatn a time or two, furst time with a pinion name of ye cant win harts n minds with bullets nuther time on how we keep on a'trine the same thang that dont wurk, witch i writ bout that in a post name of city of rubble to win harts n minds?

my point wuz that levelin a town the size of knoxvull (faluja is bout the same size), even after we tole everbidy to git out, aint no good way to git people to re-cunsidder thar plans to use the tacktick of terr. it almos seems lack playin into thar hands, witch them tackticks wuz discussed in china minny a year ago in a book name of the art of war writ by sun tzu. i writ bout thatn in a pinion name of the art of war.

so twuz nice to see mr blair cum round to my way of thankin (dont ye lack how i take my ownself a lil too seious?) whenever he sed we wuz battlin a 'evil ideology'.

sum lacks to thank bullets kin win agin terrst. i dont bleeve thatns a'gone wurk on a counta we aint fitin a army, aint fitin a forn gummint, aint fitin a organized group of rebels. whut we are fitin is a group of idees n pashuns that kin cunvints sum folks they orta give thar own life to fite in behalf of them idees.

our approach is lack fitin a killer flu by trine to track down everbidy that catches it n eethur lockin em up or killin em. ifn we aint cum up with no innoculayshun or antivenom or antibiotick to kill the germs, then dont matter how minny we catch or kill or chase into the caves twixt afghanistan n paksitan. ifn them germs is loose n ifn folks aint gut the strangth of reason to resist em, then lack as not, otherns is a'gone git infeckted.

corse, it dont hep when ye dont git yer 'typhoid marys' of the disease, yer osama bin ladens n mulla omars n such. ifn ye dont stop them, they git stronger, speshly in the harts n minds of folks that dont much lack us, speshly fer folks that lacks to root fer thar own n gits proud seein one of thar own stick it to us n then git away with it.

even more importunt, ye caint hep the disease spread by creatin the cundishuns that makes it stronger, witch thats whut we dun in the prisons of afghanistan n guantanimo n abu grave. folks seein proof of whut wuz dun thar gits thar fevers up n then the disease has a better chants of takin em.

fack is, them bombers in englund wuz home growd. they wuz born thar. they wuznt the evil enemy frum outside smuggled in to bomb. they wuz born n razed in the freedum of englund. but thar minds n harts wuz infeckted by the bleef that thar folks -- thar forebears -- had been dun rong, had been dun such a terrbull rong that inny ackshun wuz justifide.

i aint sayin thar rite atall. but i am sayin that trine to fix the problem by trine to git rid of em aint the anser. why? on a counta how taint as ifn thay wuz a set number of evil terrsts in the worl sos ye jes had to git em all n be dun.

in sted, thays germs that infecks sum folks. them germs git stronger evertime we do innythang that kin be turnt to the add vantage of them that wonts to attack us. we aint battlin fer earthly territory atall. were battlin fer whut folks bleeves.

ye mite could thank we wood be good at this kinda thang on a counta ifn ye add it all up, tiz a battle to win souls. corse ye caint doot with slogans n simple but false eggsplainayshuns lack 'they hate us cawz were free' or 'cawz we gut democrussy' or even 'cawz were rich'.

ye gut to doot by larnin why folks mite git infecketed with such violent evil idees. witch jes lack when yer larnin to fite a germ, ye caint doot by makin up stories bout them germs. ye gut to study them germs n see how they spread n whut kills em.

taint bullets that kin wipe out them germs.

tiz the antibidies of better, truer idees.

laziness of buddy don: spent the mornin readin ...

... n now i aint gut time to rite much of nuthin. more on whut i wonted to rite tomorrow.

heres a feller that stole the scene. we went out to the pier to watch the qm2 deepart. taint possibull to show ye how huge that thar boat is. heres whut we went out to see:

qm2_head_on.jpg

but this feller stole the show, witch heres a cuple pitchers of im rite after he landed (twuz verr hard to ketch im on a counta he dint sit still fer 10 secunts before he tuck off agin):

gull_jes_landed.jpg

gull_posin_1.jpg

gull_posin_2.jpg

i manely wonted to post sumthin so fambly members checkin in wood know i aint suffern no migraines.

blessings abound!

deals of buddy don: tuck the plunge

well we dun it. me n miz bd went n putt a hole lotta money down sos we kin buy our apartment. they putt us thru the wranger n made us read a bunch of borin documents n rite our names on a slew of papers. one of them papers they made us putt our initials on sed we had been warned bout how tiz dangerus to jump into the hudson. we bout felt lack that n once we finely gut home after 2 n a half hours of that stuff, we tuck a walk.

whut do we see but a feller jumpin into the hudson. furst time ever we seen that. twuz lack he wuz showin us whut we had jes dun: tuck the plunge.



they had us doin backflips to whar we almos wonted to walk out, speshly whenever they tole us we had to pay em 10% of the market valu ruther than 10% of the price they wuz a'sellin it to us fer. so whut do ye know, the feller takin dives spots me takin his pitcher n asts me ifn i wood git sum of him a'doin flips. i knew bout how he felt.





time it wuz all over, we needed to cum up fer air on a counta how we wuz feelin bout as dizzy as the feller wuz a'lookin!

pinions of buddy don: i druther drank sangle malt scotch

fack is, i am sick of the news. taint a'sayin i kin turn away frum thangs lack this or this or this. as ye know, i could go on n on n on. or even on and on. tiz a nuff to drive a man to drankin, witch i kin git thar without even gittin in the car!

n that turns my thoughts to ... sangle malt scotch.

ifn we kin git thru the wurkday ahead, twill be the weekend. me n miz bd caint hardle wait fer the weekend on a counta how we luv drankin sangle malt scotch, witch ifn ye know much bout that most deelishus of all spirits, then ye know ye kin find bottles sellin fer innythang frum $13 to upwards of $5,000. durin the week, we lack to have a wee dram once i git home, but we dont drank the good stuff durin the week: eethur we mite sip a bit of a blend or mayhap a lil bourbon or more lackly sum jack daniels tennessee whiskey.

but whenever we make it to the weekend, we treat ourself to sumthin a lil better. ye gut to real eyes how we dint even know bout sangle malt scotches till early last year, but we been a'studyin up on the subjeck lack crazy ever since. we been goin to tastins n whisky fest n places lack keens chophouse or st andrews, places whar the sangle malt menu is biggern the food menu. n one of the blessins of livin in the nyc metropalltun area is how we git lots of variety at good prices.

one thang that means is how we dun cum up with a passel of faverts. we also dun lots of comparrin of fairly yung whiskys (10 year laphroaig or 15 year ledaig, fer instunts) n older ones (15 year laphroaig or 20 year ledaig). in near ever case, the yungn is bettern the older one. heres a list of sum we thank we always a'gone wonta be able to drank, malts we thank of as 'staples':

• laphroaig 10 year:

  tiz bettern laphroaig 15 -- richer, peatier, more of everthang ye drank a islay malt fer. tiz also much cheaper. over in man hattan, ye kin find it fer $32. purty reglar.

• glenmorangie 10 year:

  in this case, the older glenmorangie is a lil better, a bit more cumplex n innerestin, but not by much, speshly whenever ye cunsidder ye kin git yer 10 year fer bout $24 n ye caint find yer 18 fer lessn $75. tiz a highland malt, taint peaty atall, but tiz sweet n fruity n sumthin ye kin roll round in yer mouth a'tastin everthang that cums out

• talisker 10 year:

  thisn is one of our five faverts. cost ye a lil more, tho lately we been findin it fer as lil as $42. tiz frum the isle of skye, thonly one frum thar. twuz the furst we tride (thankee agin, eric!) n we try to have us a bottle on hand. we did try the 18 year old whenever it cum out n tiz a nuther case whar the older malt is better, only ye kin git yer 18 fer $60 ifn ye shop round.

• ledaig 15 year:

  a nuther fine malt, much bettern the 20 year fer our tungs. ye kin git it fer $45 ifn ye shop round. i dont member how much they ast fer the 20 year but tiz too much.

• lagavulin 16 year:

  tiz our favert of all standurd distiller bottlins. heavy body, massive peat, long warm finish -- tiz a malt with everthang. ye caint git it fer lessn $60 n ye mite see it goin fer a lot more. thays also a 12 year vershun that they dont make no more, witch it costs too much to mentchun, but i wuz lucky a nuff to have a dram on my irish friend micky's nickle over a keens n lord have mercy, twuz bout as good as it kin git.

• other staples we lack a lot n the bes prices we seen up in here:
  • bruichladdich 10 year -- $34
  • maccallen 12 year -- $36
  • glenfiddich 10 year -- $35

    verr poplar n importunt in the histry of sangle malts fer sellin sangles when everbidy wuz wontin to buy blends. bes thang bout this is ifn ye go out, ye kin almos always git eether thisn or ...

  • ... the glenlivet 12 year -- $28
  • ardbeg 10 year -- $32
  • bowmore 12 year -- $20 (!!)
  • dalmore 12 year -- $28
  • springbank 10 year -- $40
  • caol ila 12 year -- $45

this evenin, mayhap me n miz bd will crack the seal on sumthin speshul -- lagavulin? -- on a counta we dun been pre-approovd fer a morgidge on our apartment.

as mountain gurl is fond of sayin, 'blessins abound.'

as mis bd mite anser, 'they duz.'

slainte!