nitemares of buddy don: fishers of terrsts

i wonted to git a pitcher of a sartin fish name of stripe, witch he is a pseudotropheus zebra that lives in our aquarium n ye mite could thank twood be easy to git his pitcher.

thang is, gittin a good pitcher of inny fish is a challenge.

heres the few keepers i had outta over a hunnert pitchers tuck ...

pseudotropheus tropheops


pesudeotropheus


tiz so hard to git good pitchers of fish on a counta three mane facks. furst, they wont sit still fer a instunt. secunt, they lacks to hide n happens to be eggspurts at hidin.

tuther reason has to do with whut ye gutta do to git sumthin innerestin. i wonted to catch sum shadders on that pseudotropheus zebra i wuz after, witch i dint git nary a pitcher of it, but i did git sum innerrestin shadders by takin the pitcher thru a big mirror with the flash at a 110 deegree angle tords them fish. twuz a lil more innerestin ...

pseudotropheus novembfasciatus name of bidshicka


pseudotropheus tropheops in shadders


pseudotropheus tropheops rite profile


as i dun sed, i never gut the fish i wonted. he jes woodnt cum out of hidin long a nuff. i nearly gut im a time or two, but twuz too distorted to make out. i kept trine to git im but dint git nuthin but lots of bad pitchers n a few gooduns of differnt fish that jes happend to git in the way.

i even gut sum of them fish distorted by bein in a mirror, tho they look better thataway, easier to see.

after i tuck all these pitchers, i had a strange dream. twuz at a confernts of fishers of terrsts, them fedrull wiretappers. i wuz a'wundern how they wuz able to git jes the rite terrist fish. whut did they do with all the pitchers of the good guy fish? how could they tell witchuns wuz witch?

wuz they inny bettern i wuz at gittin the rite fish? at not gittin no distorshun that happend to look good.

then the dream shifted to church n the preacher wuz a'tellin the congregayshun that we had to be fishers of terrists even ifn it did mean a few innocent fish gut caught up in our nets by collaterull acksident.

i had one of them nitemare moments whar i wonted to scream but woodnt nuthin cum outta my mouth.

but i member whut i wonted to say:

jesus never sed nuthin bout no terrsts, people! dont ye recolleck? he tole the disciples to be fishers of men!

then i seen a flash frum sumbidy a'takin my pitcher, witch that woke me up.

pinions of buddy don: top dawgs, bottom dawgs

i couldnt sleep las nite fer thankin bout thangs. sum of em dont matter much lack my frustrayshuns at wurk. but i also couldnt quit wundern bout a idee i been a'havin.

the idee gut back into my mind whenever i red this here story name of Wall Street Bonuses to Hit Record $21.5 Billion in 2005.

i am lucky a nuff to be a'wurkin on wall street, witch i am neether banker nor trader. i jes hep keep the infrustruckshur a'goin sos they kin make thar money:

Alan G. Hevesi, the New York state comptroller, announced today that Wall Street bonuses are estimated to hit a record $21.5 billion for 2005, surpassing the previous record of $19.5 billion of 2000. Those bonuses were driven by record profits at many of Wall Street's major banks, including Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

The Street's munificence will be felt throughout New York: Mr. Hevesi estimated that New York State will collect $1.5 billion in tax revenue and New York City will receive about $500 million from those bonuses.

"Wall Street continues to be critically important to the economies of both the city and the state," he said.

The average bonus of $125,000 was also a record, surpassing the previous peak in 2004, of $114,270. Mr. Hevesi's figures represent bonuses awarded at 220 companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Adjusted for inflation, the 2000 record was $22.3 billion.

as ye mite magine, them amung us that make bankin n tradin possibull but dont do no bankin n dont do no tradin dont git the same reewards as them that duz. tiz lackly that nary a one of us even gut half of the averidge bonus.

dont git me rong: i am great full fer whut i gut on a counta i dint never git no bonus whenever i wuz teachin skool n such, even tho i know i wuz doin the best thang i am capabull of doin fer the worl by bein a teacher. fack is, i dint make as much in a year fer teachin as i kin git in a bonus these days. so tiz grate to git a bonus, even ifn taint but about 1% of the bonus of them i rub shoulders with everday.

but my point is this: shouldnt thay be a maximum wage? ifn we had one, we woodnt need no minimum wage n the economy wood be much stronger.

heres how twood wurk (ye know ifn ye follerd that lank on maximum wage that i dun have writ bout this idee before, but it bears repeatin) – the person in inny cumpny reeceivin the gratest reward (top dawg) couldnt git more than, say, 50 times as much as person makin the lease (bottom dawg).

magine whut the lowly cleanup lady wood half to make sos the biggest earners could git these kinds of rewards:

Wall Street chief executives will be at the top of the heap, reaping the benefits of their banks profits. Henry Paulson, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, earned a compensation package of $38 million for 2005. Richard Fuld, the chief executive of Lehman Brothers was awarded $14.9 million in restricted stock. John Mack, who took over the reins of Morgan Stanley last summer, earned $11.5 million for five months' worth of work.

ifn we had a maximum wage, then the bottom dawg at goldman sachs wood git $760,000. kin ye magine how much the economy wood grow ifn ye had yer averidge folks makin that much money?

corse, the numbers woodnt wurk thataway eggzackly. chantses are, ye wood half to lower the top dawg sos ye could afford the bottom. but even then, ifn the bottom dawg wuz makin only $100,000, then the top dawg wood still git $5,000,000. woodnt most innybidy be able to git by with that much?

corse, they mite not be willin to pay no cleanup lady frum east europe a nuff money to make that possibull, so magine they wood only pay em $30,000. the top dawg wood still git $1.5 million.

that aint no peanuts in my nayborhood!

pinions of buddy don: duz it take a dicktater?

the presdint dont half to obey the law on a counta the cuntry bein at war.

ok.

witch that means to fite the war, the presdint kin wiretap ever conversayshun he wonts to claim mite be suspishus n aint nobidy kin double-check im since twood make it harder fer im to fite the war.

ok.

a presdint at war has to be above the law sos he kin perteck us all.

he duz?

of course! that ole junk bout 'give me liberty or give me death' is way too ole fashiond. that aint whut amurka is all about innymore. nowadays, ye kin take all the liberty frum us ye need so long as we dont half to fear dyin at the hands of sum terrist.

oh. ok.

but the war is agin a tacktick called terror n them that uses it, witch ye caint git nobidy to surrender fer all of em on a counta innybidy innywhar kin deecide to use that tacktick.

ok.

so the war caint have no real end.

ok.

so the presdint dont never half to obey the law on a counta we are in a war that caint never end n that nobidy kin win.

ok.

so the questchun is, to fite n win this war, duz it take a dicktater?

i reckun it must but duz that mean amurkas best hope is to pray that the dicktater is benevolent?

thats rite. so let us pray.

ok.

ramblins of buddy don: cuple of thangs

did ye catch that story bout the irs targetin poor folk n holdin back thar reefunds on a counta suspishun they mite be fraudulant? thar after wum hi-rollers:

Her staff's sample of frozen returns found that the average reported income was about $13,000 and the refund due was about $3,500.

About three-quarters of those affected were employed parents who applied for the earned-income tax credit, under which all income and Social Security taxes can be returned and, in some cases, a payment made.

The credit is a kind of negative income tax, first advocated by Milton Friedman, the Nobel-winning economist, and championed by President Ronald Reagan as the government's best program to encourage the poor to improve their circumstances through work.

Ms. Olson's report noted that in recent years, Congress has given the I.R.S. more than $875 million to investigate suspected fraud in the $32 billion tax credit program. Ms. Olson has repeatedly said that Congressional estimates of rampant fraud appear to have little or no basis in fact.

She said that in cases where frozen refunds were later issued, the delay was typically more than eight months, which she said was a hardship on the poor taxpayers who had filed proper tax returns.

makes sense to go whar the money is, witch ye woodnt wonta bother folk wurkin fer cash by treatin em thisaway:

The advocate, Nina Olson, said the I.R.S. devoted vastly more resources to pursuing questionable refunds sought by the poor - which under the highest estimate is $9 billion - than to the $100 billion in taxes not paid each year by people who work for cash and either fail to file tax returns or understate their income.

then ye mite wunder how much that war in iraq is settin us back. whenever we wuz gittin reddy to go in, we wuz promissd twoodnt cost much. ye kin git a list of quotes on how much twood cost here. heres a small seeleckshun of whut wuz claimed:

• mitch daniels claimed:

  On September 15th 2002, White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsay estimated the high limit on the cost to be 1-2% of GNP, or about $100-$200 billion. Mitch Daniels, Director of the Office of Management and Budget subsequently discounted this estimate as “very, very high” and stated that the costs would be between $50-$60 billion.

• don rumsfeld had this perdickshun:

  “Well, the Office of Management and Budget, has come up come up with a number that's something under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. burden, and how much would be other countries, is an open question.”

• richard armitage:

  “This is not Afghanistan…When we approach the question of Iraq, we realize here is a country which has a resource. And it’s obvious, it’s oil. And it can bring in and does bring in a certain amount of revenue each year…$10, $15, even $18 billion…this is not a broke country.”

• paul wolfowitz:

  “There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”

• glenn hubbard:

  “Costs of any such intervention would be very small.”

we dun figgerd out that taint easy to perdick the futchur jes frum watchin our gummint tell us whuts a'gone happen n then seein that they aint no better than a horrorscope, so taint no sprize that they guessd rong on how much twood cost – Economists say cost of war could top $2 trillion:

The cost of the Iraq war could top $2 trillion after factoring in long-term healthcare for wounded US veterans, rebuilding a worn-down military, and accounting for other unforeseen bills and economic losses, according to a new analysis to be presented today in Boston.

The estimate by Columbia University economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes far exceeds projections made by the Bush administration.
The figure is more than four times what the war was expected to cost through 2006 -- around $500 billion, according to congressional budget data.

The new study is billed as a detailed analysis not only of the potential costs of sustaining the operation in Iraq for at least several more years, but also the expenses likely to be incurred by taxpayers long after US troops withdraw.
The government will have costly obligations to a new class of veterans, be forced to make new investments in stressed military ranks thinned by multiple tours of duty, and withstand the enduring impact of the war on the nation's overall financial outlook.

For example, the study attributes a portion of the increase in oil prices -- $5 per barrel -- to instability in the Middle East caused by the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and sparked a bloody insurgency.

It estimates that the shock to the oil industry has already added at least $25 billion to the price tag of the conflict.

The analysis also attempts to account for the war's impact on the ballooning federal deficit, its ripple effects on overall economic growth and investment, and losses in productivity.

corse, we kin afford it, rite? we gut all that exter revenoo cummin in frum lowerin taxes n gittin the voodoo economicks a'wurkin fer us, so our grandchildren kin probly sholder the burden. heck fire, thar lackly to thank us fer lettin em hep out!

blessins of buddy don: gittin past the flu

bof me n miz bd has been suffern the flu frum at lease saturdy. it cum with a temperchur, a lousy disposishun whar ye felt lack ye wonted to fite over everthang, a lotta nausea n crampin n runs. on top of that, we larnt that the problem we gut with hot water, manely how they aint nun, wont git fixed till fridy at the earliest.

so i went to bed feelin awful after sleepin the hole day n eatin stuff lack white rice or baked taters n soda crackers.

but whenever i woke up, i felt a lot better n dint have no temperchur n such, so i figgerd i wood see ifn i could take a cold shower. much to my grate sprize, i gut hot water out, even ifn twernt far above tepid.

so i tuck my shower n putt on my cloze n will git back to wurk today.

thems sum blessins i dint eggspeck, witch thar the best kinds.

stuff of buddy don: a calendar

miz bd cunvinsted me to make a calendar outta pitchers i tuck frum the waterfrunt durin the last year. we finely gut one n they turnt out ok. ifn ye wonta see em, ye kin click on the pitcher:



we lack to make a calendar ever year to give to the kids n parnts. now ye kin git one too, ifn ye wonta.

quik report of buddy don: offus cold

jes wonted to share a cuple items. furst, mama is spozed to cum home frum the hospitull today, so thankee to everbidy who sent us such good wishes n prayers.

tuthter thang is how thay wuz a new years party give by one of the fellers at wurk. we dint go but everybidy that went gut sick with hi temperchurs. purty soon folks that dint go gut sick. yesterdy me n miz bd wuz ailin n this mornin my temperchur is north of 100.6 deegrees, so im home a'feelin brane dead.

ifn i kin git my brane a'wurkin agin i wood lack to blog, but i caint thank strate at the moment.

sadness of buddy don: mother

this mornin i wuz a'goin thru the same rooteen i go thru most everday: collecktin articulls n idees in hopes i could figger sumthin to blog about. in my own arrogunts, i even thank that whut i have to say bout pallticks n whuts rite n rong in our cuntry wood make inny differnts.

i wuz thankin bout how bush sed that progress in iraq meant we wood be able to brang home sum of our brave soljers.

but ere i could git a wurd of it writ, thay wuz sum indicayshuns that thangs aint progressin as much as everbidy wishes they wood.

i wuz cunsiddern makin a few easy jokes bout the hole abramoff thang n how them publicans is runnin skeerd bout whut to do. or mayhap a menchun of the futher persecushun of mr delay.

i wuz even gittin set to praze one of my favert publicans fer standin up to our presdint.

but the fone rung round 5 am n that dont hardly never mean good news. twuznt so in this case neethur.

my bruther eli wonted to let me know bout mama, witch i druther not say whut kinda sad news twuz ceptn to say i shore do hope n pray she cums thru this ruff patch they way shes dun in the past.

but it putt me back to thankin bout whut am i trine to do with my own life? let my lil hillbilly drawl join the awful bray of talkers n pinionaters n folks that eethur fears or tries to justify wood be dicktaters?

that wont accomplish nuthin. tiz time to real eyes (agin) how whut matters is them ye luv n keer fer.

so today, i figger i orta let eli say whut i feel, witch he dun sed everthang bettern i ever could in a pome he writ:

Mother

I lived there, in that beautiful cave; ate life there:
A wonderful warm place that taught me love.
It's not so unique, they say, but it still amazes everyone...
And everyone smiles when the cave is mentioned.
A little frail girl with a brain razor sharp through suffering:
A brain containing my entire future.
When she heard my first cry she noticed the sunshine outside;
It made her thank God for another son.
Later on when life cut into my soul, she wiped the tears away...
She could kiss the hurt, and it would disappear.
My mother's a miracle, a woman like no other,
A woman who never doubted me.
Her partner, praise him for his lovemaking, smiled when I arrived:
No one can fathom all they did to ensure my existence.
I'm not afraid to say it:
I love her so much!!

pinions of buddy don: the k street address

the battle wuz a bloody one n as is generly the case, them publicans pummeld them dimcrats. ye wood thank them dimcrats could win jes one ever once in a while, but whenever it cum to gittin thar fair share of jack abramoffs bounty, they lost much wurser than usc dun to texas. scores:

number of them publicans givin back abramoff funds = 37 (75.51%)
number of them dimcrats givin back abramoff funds = 12 (24.40%)

amount publicans dun give back = $463,099 (67%)
amount dimcrats dun give back = $228,092 (33%)

as ye kin see, them dimcrats hardly putt up inny fite, witch tiz a tradishun they been a'usin ever since that 2000 landslide eleckshun they lost 5-4 (55% - 44%).

but whut a battle twuz! fack is, even the ghost of abe lincoln's evil twin, knave lincoln, cum out to give a lil address on it. here tiz:

The K Street Address

One decade and a couple of years ago our fathers brought forth on this street, a new notion, conceived in avarice, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created corruptible.

Now we are engaged in a great K Street Project, testing whether that notion, or any notion so conceived and so dedicated, can endure long enough to ensure everlasting single party rule. We are met on a great money field of that war. We have come to dedicate a small portion of the funds gobbled up here, as a final resting gesture for party operatives that sacrificed their honor and honesty that the great project might succeed. It is altogether sly, duplicitous and hopefully effective that we should do this.

But, in a large sense, we can not implicate – we cannot desecrate – we cannot hollow out this money trough. The base men and women, free and under indictment, who fed at this trough, have desecrated it, far about government's poor power to add or detract. The main stream media will little note, nor long remember, what we took here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the unindicted, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who bought and sold votes here have thus far so ignobly advanced. It is rather for us to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these dishonorable plea bargainers we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of their integrity – that we here highly resolve that these indicted (and, heaven forbid, convicted) victims shall not have violated all ethical standards in vain – that this notion, under the radar, shall have a new birth of depravity – that government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations, shall not perish from the beltway.

ramblins of buddy don: gummint in truble?

is our gummint in truble? is our way of life bein threatend? seems lack tiz.

ifn sumbidy wuz to attack us frum outside n try to change the way our gummint wurks, we wood defend it to the death. we are, after all, a cuntry that counts as patriots them that sez thangs lack "Give me liberty or give me death." the idee wuz that we wood die before we wood give up our liberty.

now taint so much thataway since the mere threat that sumbidy mite die is a nuff fer us to let our presdint take away our liberty.

we wuz a gummint of laws, not men, whar even the presdint of the united states wood half to obey the law, whar our legislaters wood half to have hi ethicull standurds.

are we jes a'gone sit by in give all that up?

mayhap tiz no longer possibull fer a document furst writ by a bunch of librulls in the 18th centry to be valid. mayhap it needs changin.

or mayhap we dont even need it no more.

the news mite make ye thank so:

• our gummint aint fer sale – tiz dun been sold! ifn ye half to ast how much it cost, ye caint afford inny fer yerself.


• tiz also clear that constitushun is too confinin fer our latest enemies.


• n all that stuff bout checks n baluntses is jes too clumsy to wurk in the modurn worl.

wunder ifn we will need a constitushun inny more since it jes seems to git in the way of whut mr bush needs to do to perteck us. mayhap we should jes let mr bush be the gummint all by his ownself. seems lack its whut he thanks he wuz eleckted to do.

mayhap nex time we wont even half to go to the truble of votin!

nitemares of buddy don: whut a dream!

i wuz readin all them papers bout how mr bush needs to be allowd to brake the law in order to save us frum them terrist lawbrakers. ye probly dun red sum of em.

thays thatn by arianna huffington on her huffington post name of NSA Wiretaps: Bush's Macho Swagger is Back. But for How Long?.

then thays that story name of Bush Defends Spying Program As 'Necessary' to Protect U.S. this articull is the one that gut me to thankin so hard that whenever i went to sleep last nite, i had me a horrbull nitemare. it cum frum this here quote frum our presdint:

"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America, and I repeat limited," Bush said before flying back to Washington after six days cloistered on his ranch in Crawford, Tex. "I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemy's thinking.

"If somebody from al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why."

magine the truble this could lead to ifn our presdint ever made a miss take, witch i real eyes he aint never made one in his hole life accordin to him. but miss takes has been made here n thar. n even ifn our presdint aint the one ackceptin accountabilty fer em, thays made jes the same.

i wuz thankin bout such thangs whenever i fell asleep. heres the dream i had:

Would We?

"You dialled the wrong number, Sir," said I to the calling man,
But no matter how I yelled it, he couldn't understand.
Instead he kept on mumbling something in his foreign tongue
That sounded like he had severe congestion in his lung.

I finally had to hang up though it was most impolite.
It was way past my bedtime so I turned out every light.
Before I could drift off to sleep, the phone rang out again
And once more came that voice whose source I could not ascertain.

Again I said he had misdialled – since what else could I do? –
I even said it in some French, some German, Spanish too.
And still he did not seem to understand a single word
So I hung up, unplugged the phone, and thought it all absurd.

This pattern was repeated every night for seven days
Till all my sympathy for him extinguished in a blaze
Of anger that he would not simply let the matter rest –
I finally figured it must be some friendly little jest.

But then as I went to the airport, hoping to fly home,
Two men surprised me when they asked me if I was alone.
I asked them who was asking but no answer did they make,
Except to say, "Please come with us. Don't try to make a break."

Before I could have called my lawyer, they blindfolded me –
Secured my hands with plastic cuffs, ignored my every plea
To find out what I might have done to merit such abuse.
Instead they twirled me round till I was dizzy as a goose.

I felt the needle just a moment before I passed out –
And when I woke I asked again what was the fuss about.
It seems I'd been moved to a climate I had never felt:
A tiny cell, no light or heat, and ice that would not melt.

I asked to know where I could be, of what was I suspected?
But I was struck upon the mouth with force most unexpected!
"Al qaeda has been calling you so we will have to learn –
Why would they have your number? Tell us now or you will burn!"

Just then the phone rang once again, and I woke with a scream
In my own bed I found myself and thought, "It's just a dream!"
Such a nightmare isn't real – it couldn't happen here! –
Lest we the people let the rule of law be commandeered.

And we would never do that, would we?
Would we?
Would we?

fishin of buddy don: a fine mess of keepers

yesterdy i ast fer a lil hep in findin sum good idees fer musick. i cum away with the follerin stranger of keepers (witch turns out me n miz bd dun had a cuple of em alreddy):

• Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose
  – chad edwards frum Appalachian Greens n lobbygow frum Dope on the Slope


• Leonard Cohen: Dear Heather
  Lucinda Williams: Live @ the Fillmore
  Neko Case's solo work" try her cover of the Everly Brothers' 'Bowling Green' for a starter
  – lobbygow frum Dope on the Slope


• John Mayer: Heavier Things
  Andy Tubman: Sloe Gin Fizz
  Lee Anne Womack: There's More Where That Came From
  Nora Jones: Come Away With Me
  Tori Amos: The Beekeeper
  – deb from sugarfused


• Neil Young: Prairie Wind 9/5
  – mark


• Cake: Comfort Eagle, Fashion Nugget and Pressure Chief
  – Mountain Girl from Life Is a Comedy for Those Who Think


• Gillian Welch: Revival
  Iris Dement: Infamous Angel or My Life
  Tony Furtado: The Tony Furtado BandMichelle Shocked: Short, Sharp, Shocked or Arkansas Traveler
  Blueground Undergrass: Barnyard Gone Wrong
  Donna the Buffalo: The Ones You Love
  Ry Cooder: Buena Vista Social Club
  Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys: La Toussaint
  Old Crow Medicine Show: OCMS
  Guy Clark: Dublin Blues
  Mike West: Interstate 10 or Redneck Riviera
  Richard Thompson: Strict Tempo
  Los Lobos: Kiko
  – red molly frum Blue Page Special


• good internet radio sources
  www.kgsr.com
  – Fletch


• www.wdvx.com
  – buddy don, tho tiz manely for bluegrass

ifn ye gut inny other idees of good musick fer me n miz bd to try out, please leave em in a comment.

finely jes fer fun ...

buddy don trine to catch a fish:

request of buddy don: lil hep?

tiz the time of year when folks lacks to revue whuts dun happend in the last year. they make lists n try to sum up whuts importunt bout whut went on.

thays a few goodns today. ye gut Eugene Robinson's We're All Going To Die!, David Ignatius' The Year in Bad News n my fevert frum todays paper, Paul Krugman's Heck of a Job, Bushie.

that dont mean that reglar stories aint out thar. ye gut that 16 year old a'goin to iraq to study the situwayshun his ownself (he survived).

then thars that story bout how the CIA is gittin more n more powerful all the time. skeery stuff! mayhap tiz necessairy. i caint say, but taint the kinda thang i wuz taught bout in skool whenever they give us instruckshun bout whut we stand fer.

rosa brooks has a lil punditry claimin that impeachment is lackly to be in george bushs future, witch duz that mean they wood wont cheney to be presdint? or is thar a plan to do a double-impeachment? presdint hastert, innybidy? corse, ifn thay wuz a impeachment or even a double impeachment, ye wood half to thank twood be dimcrats in cuntrol of the house, witch tiz a bit optimistick fer dimcrats to dream of that.

but i wonted to git back in touch with musick, witch is whar i am hopin to git a lil hep. ever since they killt radio as i used to luv it with the telecommunications ack of 1996, i caint hardly listn to no radio. so i have dun lost touch with musick thats current. in sted, i been buyin ole bluegrass n classicks frum the dinosaur rock n roll era.

now that miz bd dun give me that ipod, i been wontin to git sum albums thats current. so i looked up sum of the best albums of 2005. i seen bands i aint never heard of n real eyesed that i am cumpletely out of it.

so heres my request, witch could ye putt yer anser to this questchun in a comment?:

whut are the best albums ye have heard since 1996?

jes to give ye a idee of whar my head is, heres a list of the last few albums me n miz bd has bought our ownself or that sumbidy give us:

• Johnny Cash – Cash Unearthed
• The Cox Family – Everybody's Reaching Out for Someone
• Steve Earle – The Revolution Starts ... Now
• Green Day – American Idiot
• Kanye West – The College Dropout
• John Prine – Fair and Square
• U2 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

as ye kin see, we gut a lot to learn. aint never heard no coldplay, wheezer, bright eyes, white stripes, fiona apple, beck nor a slew of otherns. thays all listed as best of the year, but hurts that i dont know a one of em.

so ifn ye kin spare the time, could ye let me know in a comment whut album(s) ye wood buy to sorta catch up with whuts a'gone on? i wood grately appreciate it!

mizry of buddy don: nuther migraine

whenever i wuz doin yesterdys blog, i wuz feelin poorly n wundern ifn i wuz gittin a migraine, wundern ifn i wuz a'gone be able to git thru the day without takin zomig. i dint wonta thank i could be havin a nuther migraine, so i kept to my daily skedule, includin not makin erbs, witch i been a'takin em ever sundy, tuesdy n thursdy.

but miz bd wuznt fooled a mint. frum the instunt i give in to requests i drank sum vermouth durin our chrismus dinner at jack n vaclavs, she notissd i wuz havin sum of the migraine symptums she has seen in the past.

lessun larnt: i caint even have a sip or two of wine, not even jes to be plite. tiz poison fer me.

innywho, i went on into wurk yesterdy but i dint make it but about a hour befor i knew i wood half to git home to take that zomig or risk vomitin all day long. i hate that stuff fer how it makes me so comatoes, but tiz bettern the alternative.

miz bd gut her ownself on the case, treatin me with aromatherpy shes been a'studyin, rubbin the essential oil of peppermint on my temples n the base of my neck n on my thumbs n big toes n under my nose. if nuthin else, it changed the topick of the internull conversayshun in my mind frum the migraine to all them smells.

then she had me stretch out on the table fer a reiki sesshun. them thangs is magick.

after she wuz dun, i went to bed whar i cuntinued sleepin (ye kin sleep rite thru a reiki sesshun).

i am feelin much better this mornin. i hope fer a hole day a wurk. tiz good news in a way on a counta how the las migraine i had wuz three munths ago n the one befor thatn wuz three munths earlier. besides that, the last one lasted over five days. thisn, not to weauxphf, seems lack its over after jes one day of mizry n a few days of symptums.

meanwhile, whos a'gone win, the partisans or the patriots? heres a list of sum contests twixt em, bof to cum n frum last year:

• will the incredibull story of jack abramoff git buried by them partisans or fully investigated by them patriots?


• as the bush administrayshun tries to retool sos they kin resureck thar mojo, will they deecide to becum patriots n win back the people or stick with bein partisans n add to thar base?


• will we look at whut we kin larn frum veetnam as patriots n improov how we are a'doon in iraq? or as partisans n pertend thay aint nuthin to be larnt thar n that inny menchun of veetnam in the same sentents as iraq is unpatriotick?


• how bout david broder, the dean of pundits ... notice how his misses wuz whenever he wuz prazin the bush administrayshun without good reason (acktin lack a partisan) n his hits wuz when he dint fall fer that kinda thang? (jury is still out on judge roberts since he aint been in fer even one year yet.)


• them publicans: patriots or partisans? how did they do in 2005?


• finely, kin innybidy splain why patriots caint git the news out that the dimcrats has dun proovd to be much better fer the economy than the publicans? or will that git spun by partisans to make folks bleeve jes the opposit?

nite life of buddy don: late chrismus dinner

las nite we had us a real treat: dinner at keens with loretta n her fee-on-say paddy. we had us as fine a evenin as ye could ever magine. miz bd had made gifts fer all them kids n parnts too. seem lack it hit a home run with bof loretta n paddy, speshly the homemade wurry dolls.

corse, dinner wuz grate: paddy had thar world famus mutton chop, loretta the filet minyawn, miz bd a giant piece of cod n i the aged sirloin. we had sum scotch as we generly do: lagavulin 12, unchillfiltered caol ila 11, unchillfiltered glen rothes 12, linkwood 10 n mortlach 12. used to be we could go to keens n never drank nuthin we had dun drunk befor, but we caint hardly say that no more on a counta how we dun tride our bes to try ever one of em.

so twuz one of the bes meals ever: good cumpny, good food, good scotch, a cab that seemed to be a'waitin fer us n a bus at port authorty with no line to stand on (or to stand 'in', ifn ye aint frum places whar ye stand 'on' lines lack ye do up in here).

ifn yer trine to keep a counta them blessins, we jes hit

blessins = infinity + 1

this mornins papers has a lil good cheer too:

1. thay mite be a chants fer sum of them folks that lost big on enron to git sum justus


2. zoos is cummencin to give thought to whut to do with elefants that needs to run free or at lease have a big a nuff place to roam to whar they live a lil more natcherull


3. releaf fer the downtrodden wealthy: mr bushs economy has been verr verr good to them thats alreddy rich


4. mayhapy whut mr bush wonts to do is brang a lil parity – kindly lack the nfl has dun – to that thar war on terr on a counta how his illegal wiretappin of who knows how minny folks has dun give terr suspecks a new line of deefents, witch seems lack mr bush is bein a lil overly genrus with them suspecks


5. witch, that means them deefents lawyers in them terr cases is happy too

have yerself a grate day!

pinions of buddy don: ifn i ever grow up

ifn i wuz to grow up sumday n git to be a pundit, i wood lack to be as good as Eugene Robinson, witch he rites fer the washington post. this mornin, he has dun sed mos everthang i wont to say bout whuther the 'grown ups in charge' should have to obey the law:

Let's assume that George W. Bush's claim of virtually unfettered presidential power is not just an exercise in reclaiming executive perks that Dick Cheney believes were wrongly surrendered after Watergate. Let's assume that Bush genuinely believes he needs the right to blanket the nation with electronic surveillance, detain indefinitely anyone he considers a terrorist suspect, make those detainees disappear into secret, CIA-run prisons, and subject them to "waterboarding" and other degradations. Let's assume for the moment that the president's only desperate motivation is to prevent another day like Sept. 11, 2001.

Let's go even further and assume he decided to invade Iraq for the same reason. Even in a thought experiment, we can't forgive the way he snowed the country into believing there was some connection between Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks; nor can we forget the way he hyped the flawed intelligence about weapons of mass destruction -- we're being generous here, not stupid. But let's assume that however calculated and cynical the machinations, and however wrongheaded the decision to go to war, the underlying motive was purely to avoid another catastrophic terrorist attack.

All right: Given these overly kind assumptions, can this administration's usurpation of power somehow be justified?

Every time I work it through, the answer I come up with is no. The president has no right to ignore the rule of law as if it were a mere nuisance.

i cum up with the verr same anser.

nuther pundit i add mire is H.D.S. Greenway out of the boston globe. he has a goodn today name of How will the Iraq war end?:

It is not that there is no progress being made in Iraq. There is. But the question is, as it was in Vietnam: What does this progress mean for our ultimate goals? In Vietnam it became all to clear that no matter how many wells we dug or schools we built, there would be Vietnamese who might drink from the wells and accept the schools, but remain adamantly opposed to Americans in their country.

The same strikes me as true in Iraq. It is perfectly logical for an Iraqi to have opposed Saddam yesterday and oppose us today. As nationalism became our adversary in Vietnam, more so than communism, so is nationalism in Iraq growing against us.

finely, frum the world of grate pundits, ye gut Frank Rich, witch he writ a articull name of I Saw Jackie Mason Kissing Santa Claus bout that silly war to deefend chrismus agin folk who wuznt makin no war agin it:

THE good news today is that the great 2005 war on Christmas, the conflagration that launched a thousand op-ed pieces and nearly as many battles on Fox News, is now officially over. And yes, Virginia - Christmas won!

Secularists, Jews, mainline Protestants and all the other grinches failed utterly to take Kriss Kringle down. Except at those megachurches that canceled services today rather than impede their flocks' giving and gorging, Christmas is alive and well everywhere in America. Last night NBC even rolled the dice and broadcast "It's a Wonderful Life" in prime time. With courage reminiscent of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's defiance of Stalin, the network steadfastly refused to redub the final scene's cries of "Merry Christmas!" with the godless "Happy holidays!"

As Michelle Goldberg wrote last month in her definitive debunking for Salon, there was in fact no war on Christmas, but rather "a burgeoning myth of a war on Christmas." Most of the grievances cited by Christmas's whiniest protectors - red and green banned from residents' wardrobes in Michigan, "Silent Night" censored in Wisconsin - were either anomalous idiocies or suburban legends. The calls for boycotts against chain stores with heathen holiday trees lost their zing when it turned out that even George and Laura Bush's Christmas card had called for a happy "holiday season."

But like every other chapter of irrational hysteria in America's cultural history, from the burning of "witches" in colonial Salem to the panic induced by Orson Welles's radio broadcast of the fictional "War of the Worlds" on the eve of World War II, the fake war on Christmas was not without its hidden meanings. Or not so hidden. If you worked at Fox News, wouldn't you want to change the subject from the war in Iraq to a war in which victory is a slam-dunk?

ifn i ever grow up, i hope to becum a pundit as good as these three.

revues of buddy don: ipod n itunes – wow

miz bd gut me one of them ipods that most everbidy up in here round new york city had dun alreddy gut em cetptn me. i had tride me a em pee 3 player name of archos, but twuznt verr good on a counta how ye had to rebild its operatin system nigh onto ever week ye used it. so i quit a'usin it.

thang is me n miz bd has notissd how we dont hardly ever listn to no musick no more. we did rip all our musick frum thar cee dees onto my hard drive, witch thay wuz rite near 9 thousund songs on thar, but we still dint listn to much musick on a counta twuz too hard to figger out how to git whut we wonted. we wood make playlists n such, but we couldnt git a random settin on windows media player that we lacked.

so whenever i putt that itunes program on my cumputer, twuz a revalayshun, speshly how all them 9 thousund songs kin be tucked rite inside that lil ipod without makin it bust. the ipod thangy n itunes bof gut em grate ways of organizin yer musick by genre or album or artist or playlist or faverts or recent playd, witch so duz wma, but thisn wurks a hole lot better, sorts quicker n makes it much easier to play random thru inny category.

wow.

whut spooks me is that thar party shuffle they gut. how kin it figger out witch musick me n miz bd lacks to here?

i know thar keepin records on our acktivities, witch thats a feachur of it. tiz rite simple to see witch tunes has been played n witchns hadnt or ye kin check witch songs ye dun listned to the most or witch ye rated highest n such.

but we aint hardly had no chants to listn to much of nuthin yet, so how could that party shuffle figger out whut we wood lack to here?

tiz sum skeery software ... but i lack it!

wow.

we also gut a 5-cd set of johnny cash name of unearthed n we couldnt quit till we had dun herd the hole thang.

wow.

i had herd that the battry wudnt no account on them ipods, witch i used that fer a eggscuse not to git one fer quite a spell. i tested it furst thang. tuck about 2 hours to git it charged up n then i run it till twuz plum tuckerd out, witch that tuck about fifteen hours of steddy playin.

as ye probly know ye charge it at yer cumputer so i plugged it in this mornin whenever i seen twuz about to quit on me. tuck a lil over a hour to git it all charged back up.

tiz amazin how this one lil piece of tecknowlogy changes everthang bout our relayshunship with musick. we kin cart our hole colleckshun with us wharever we go. in the car, at a friends, at home.

wow.

n when i take that ipod to wurk, miz bd kin listn to itunes n have the same servus only not portabull.

i kin see why everbidy had em one. i figgerd twuz a'gone be lack a walkman only with em pee 3s, but turnt out to be much more. i dint have no idee till now. i dont even know ifn i will be cee dees no more on a counta how ye kin downlode whutever ye wont fer a better price n git it rite now.

wow.

thankee, miz bd!

:^Þ

holydays of buddy don: chrismus

we had us a feast n eggschanged presents las nite over to vaclav n jacks, witch jacks miz bds furstborn son n vaclav is our son-out-law. we had us a czech style chrismus on a counta vaclav bein host, witch that meant after we et we had to wait fer baby jesus (jezisek) to show up n brang even more presents.

heres hopin yer chrismus is as nice as ourn has been, witch it has been as rich n sweet as these here czech cookies, witch vaclav baked em n give em to us.

czech cookies:

pinions of buddy don: patriot or partisan?

we are livin in verr innerestin times, gittin a chants to see ifn amurka kin live up to its ideals, them cuntained n the constitushun. jes to reemind ye of sum of the thangs that orta apply to this situwayshun.

furst, here is the oath of offus frum articull 2, seckshun 1 of the constitushun mr bush swore to uphold:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

next, here is the 4th amendment to the constitushun:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

i wood bleeve the uproar over the presdint aproovin nsa eavesdroppin on amurkins wuz partisan (n not the ack of true patriots) ifn:

• the new york times, witch they printed the articull that got this hole scandal a brewin, had printed it last year when it mite could have affected the eleckshun sted of waitin fer a year (dont know the timin of it eggzackly or whuther twood have been before the eleckshun, but twooda been close)


• it dint involve publicans lack arlen spencer gittin upset by it

as the wall street journal reports, this thang has split the presdints own party, witch that makes me thank thays sum patriots amung the publicans that wood putt thar cuntry ahed of thar party:

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's claim that he has a legal right to eavesdrop on some U.S. citizens without court approval has widened an ideological gap within his party.

On one side is the national-security camp, made even more numerous by loyalty to a wartime president. On the other are the small-government civil libertarians who have long held a privileged place within the Republican Party but whose ranks have ebbed since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The surveillance furor, at least among some conservatives, also has heightened worries that the party is straying from many of its core principles the longer it remains in control of both the White House and Congress.

Conservatives have knocked heads in recent months over the administration's detainment and treatment of terrorist suspects, and as recently as yesterday over provisions of the Patriot Act. Strains also have grown among conservatives over government spending and whether to loosen U.S. immigration rules.

But the current debate over using the National Security Agency for domestic surveillance -- which the administration has defended as legal and necessary -- hit a rawer nerve because it pits national-security concerns against a core constitutional right, in this case, the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.

tiz hard to know bout thisn on a counta how we dont know much of nuthin bout top secret programs. ifn twuz a program that captchurs all communicayshuns twixt amurkins n folks usin fones overseas, as the boston globe reported this morning, then tiz sumthin that rubs mos ever amurkin the rong way:

WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency, in carrying out President Bush's order to intercept the international phone calls and e-mails of Americans suspected of links to Al Qaeda, has probably been using computers to monitor all other Americans' international communications as well, according to specialists familiar with the workings of the NSA.

The Bush administration and the NSA have declined to provide details about the program the president authorized in 2001, but specialists said the agency serves as a vast data collection and sorting operation. It captures reams of data from satellites, fiberoptic lines, and Internet switching stations, and then uses a computer to check for names, numbers, and words that have been identified as suspicious.

"The whole idea of the NSA is intercepting huge streams of communications, taking in 2 million pieces of communications an hour," said James Bamford, the author of two books on the NSA, who was the first to reveal the inner workings of the secret agency.

"They have a capacity to listen to every overseas phone call," said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, which has obtained documents about the NSA using Freedom of Information Act requests.
The NSA's system of monitoring e-mails and phone calls to check for search terms has been used for decades overseas, where the Constitution's prohibition on unreasonable searches does not apply, declassified records have shown.

ifn twuz the case, then tiz a skeery thang on a counta the follerin simple but easy possibilities:

• a mama talkin to a child overseas a'studyin on a skolarship could git into a discusshun of whut folks thanks of amurka in the cuntry whar the child is a'studyin n mentchun sum of them terms that wood alert the computer n make folks thank mayhap tiz a suspishus conversayshun


• sumbidy could git a call frum a ackshul agent of al qaeda that wudnt nuthin but a rong number, witch we have dun seen that once ye are a suspeck, seems lack they kin do innythang they wonta with ye.

so these days is the kinda times that tries mens souls.

ye mite have dun herd partisans argue that tiz ok ifn clinton did it. thatn has been debunked, but the plane fack is, it dont matter ifn clinton broke the law the same way – that still dont give nobidy the rite to brake the law. i caint git off a murder charge by sayin other folks has dun it n gut away with it.

sum partisans claim that congress dun give bush the rite to do bout innnythang he wonts to do whenever they approoved his use of force to git osama n them that ackshly attacked us on 9/11, witch as ye mite coulda notissd, he aint been able to catch osama after all these years (tiz a longer time than it tuck us to defeat bof them nazis n japanese durin worl war two). but former sd senator daschle dun proovd that wudnt so:

On the evening of Sept. 12, 2001, the White House proposed that Congress authorize the use of military force to "deter and pre-empt any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States." Believing the scope of this language was too broad and ill defined, Congress chose instead, on Sept. 14, to authorize "all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons [the president] determines planned, authorized, committed or aided" the attacks of Sept. 11. With this language, Congress denied the president the more expansive authority he sought and insisted that his authority be used specifically against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Just before the Senate acted on this compromise resolution, the White House sought one last change. Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words "in the United States and" after "appropriate force" in the agreed-upon text. This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas -- where we all understood he wanted authority to act -- but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused.

tiz time to divide the sheep frum the goats, so to speak, ceptn in this case, tiz the patriots frum the partisans.

the patriots will not sit still fer this without a investigayshun. the partisans is a'gone try to stop it n perteck thar own.

ifn whut mr bush is a'doon is legal, then the investigayshun wont hurt im. ifn taint, then hes in big truble fer failin to uphold the oath he swore to uphold.

tiz that simple.

rite now, usin this simple method, ye kin tell that arlen specter is a patriot on thisn (n i half to add mitt, i aint no big fan of senator specters). them that thanks tiz rong to investigate this cumpletely is folks that putts party above cuntry, witch thar partisans, not patriots.

ye kin tell how subpeenas n investigayshuns is generly partisan by this:

Democrats on the committee said the panel issued 1,052 subpoenas to probe alleged misconduct by the Clinton administration and the Democratic Party between 1997 and 2002, at a cost of more than $35 million. By contrast, the committee under Davis has issued three subpoenas to the Bush administration, two to the Energy Department over nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, and one last week to the Defense Department over Katrina documents.

at this parlus time in our histry, we need leaders of courage that putts cuntry above party, meanin we need patriots not partisans.

pomes of buddy don: They Hate Us For Our Freedoms

They Hate Us For Our Freedoms

They hate us for our freedoms as I'm sure you've heard us say –
So why not make them hate us less by taking some away?
Especially since by doing so, with luck we might detect
The dangerous among the very folks we must protect?
Trust us, we were guided by the very best intentions –
So what if we defied some constitutional conventions?

The fact is we did nothing that should be called "malicious"
By spying on our citizens to see who is suspicious.
We needed to hear what was said whenever someone talked –
We would have asked to change the law but Congress might have balked!
And why should we reveal our hand to some top secret court
Whose judges might not understand this is no easy sport?

Our enemy is not a state – our war can have no end –
If civil rights are in the way, they'll simply have to bend!