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For Some Peaceful Reflection… **Open Thread**

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on July 12, 2009 at 9:01 AM in Current Affairs

And quiet time. I hope the beauty and serenity of the LowCountry helps to take the edge off, and set the tone for a peaceful weekend.

Oh, this was taken from my deck – sunset at high tide during the summer is one of my favorite times. That’s when the sun sets directly across from the house.

So, sit back, breath in, and I’m sure you’ll be able to smell the marshland and the ocean!

So, what’s on your mind today?

  • Linda Anselmi

    Gorgeous picture RRRAmy -

    What a beautiful way to start a Sunday. Thank you.

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Thanks, Linda! And my pleasure…(You can click on it to make it larger, too, if you wish.)

  • Arabella Trefoil

    Rev. Amy, what would we do without you? That is a lovely photograph. It puts me in mind of a poem by Jaques Prevert:

    Our father who art in heaven
    Stay there.
    And we will stay on earth
    Which is sometimes so pretty.

    From my memory. But if you want to check him out:
    http://thinkexist.com/quotes/jacques_prevert/

    I was writing something the other day along the lines of how human beings think they are so important, but in the end, it is nature that remains. It is nature that is eternal and bears witness.

    I find it humbling, frightening and comforting to contemplate our natural world. I find peace and acceptance.

    Rev. Amy, your post hits the sweet spot, comme toujours.

  • mountainaires

    Having spent a lot of time in the Low Country growing up, I can smell the marsh, and it is a lovely thing to me, indeed. Whenever I visit, it’s the first thing that I look for, inhaling deeply of my childhood memories…Crabbing off the dock at my granddad’s house, while he played his banjo…and savoring the crab salad for dinner later…ahh, sweet, sweet memories…

    Thanks RRRAmy…

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Oh, I am so glad, Mountainaires! I love the smell of the marsh – I was out of town for a few days, and as we were driving back home, that first glimpse, that first smell, of the marshland meant one thing: home. I just love it -not to mention the marsh is one of the richest sources of life on the planet.

      I can hear your dad’s banjo-playing, too. And CRABBING – we love to go crabbing, and have the best blue claw crabs here…

      Arabella, LOVE the poem! Thank you! And you’re right – throughout it all, if we are diligent, nature remains…And thank you for the lovely compliment, Arabella. That means a lot to me!

      oowawa – good comments on the issue of Spam filters. The one here DOES learn names, which is why we ask people to NOT re-write their comments a number of times, because we have to delete them, which means the spam filter then thinks that person should not be commenting. If there is ONE, and we release it, it is much better all way ’round (and I might add, there is no one of us who just monitors the Spam filter – we usually find out it’s being all crazy when people complain abt it. Heck, I’ve had my comments go in there, too!

      But you raise an excellent point, oowawa – if the filter makes it so unbearable for people to try and comment, they will stop. A good reminder for us to check the filter as often as time permits.

  • oowawa

    Well, Rev. Amy, this is a sweet idyllic open thread, and I hate to disrupt it with talk of anything as mundane as the spam filter, but . . .

    Inasmuch as the spam filter, to Whom I have always referred as “The Almighty Spam Filter,” seems to be becoming an unbearable nuisance on No Quarter to the point of driving commenters away from the site. In my opinion, the Filter has become increasingly diligent in hijacking comments over the past few weeks, and I doubt it has singled me out for particular retribution. I would like to posit a few common sense observations that should be obvious, almost truisms (or maybe stupidisms, and I’m just imagining things).

    1) There is an internet war going on between spammers and spam-prevention services.

    2) Every time a spam-prevention service thinks up a new way to frustrate the spammers, the spammers are going to try to figure out a way to get around this new device.

    3) Anti-spammers have got to keep their tricks-of-the-trade, their software algorithms (code instructions), as secret as possible, otherwise the spammers will know how to get around them. The anti-spam algorithms must be protected and updated frequently.

    4) One way of keeping anti-spam methodology secret could be to periodically “condemn” perfectly good posts. This “collateral damage” may be the regrettable price of confusing the spammers who are trying to figure out what is going on.

    5) As the anti-spammers become ever more sophisticated in their anti-spamming techniques, and as the spammers become ever more sophisticated in their strategies to get around these techniques, the number of legitimate posts that are destroyed in this crossfire is bound to increase as the war escalates. The legitimate users of a site are like the innocent villagers caught between two warring armies. The site is the contested terrain.

    6) Eventually, a point will be reached where the Almighty Spam Filter becomes so obnoxious that the site it is trying to “protect” from spam is effectively crippled by the Filter’s intrusiveness. At this point, administrative retrieval of good posts caught in the Almighty Spam Filter is likely to become an increasingly onerous chore. In the meantime, faithful commenters eventually throw up their hands in frustration and leave and the site loses traffic.

    7) I don’t have any solutions, but recognizing the nature of the problem seems to be a first step. Does the Filter remember and stalk specific users (repeat “offenders”) and/or their IP addresses? Don’t know. Paranoia strikes deep.

    • NomNomNom

      what you said, oowawa

      • Tess

        Mine is a little better here, but generally my comments have been taking 24 hours to post. Given the nature of the news cycle, my comments are no longer timely.
        I can’t see not posting. Personally, I rely on this blog and I relay on the comments I’ve come to know (and occasionally love). It won’t do.

    • Diana

      I’m to the point I think I’m going to just read and not comment anymore. Just go to some of the writers private blogs and read their article from there. Most the time I just say forget it and don’t bother to ask for it to be retrieved. Then other times when I find an article I think is important and should be shared it frustrates me.

      • http://noquarter foxyladi14

        Diana please keep commenting,i love your comments.

    • Onofre’s arm

      And when the spam filter becomes self-aware……….. Judgement Day!

      • oowawa

        The Almighty Spam Filter IS self-aware, and it laughs at our pitiful puny attempts to understand his ineffable designs . . . He even has the spam service programmers convinced that they are running the show: “Dream On, Pitiful Cheetoh Munchers . . . “

  • AM

    Hillary’s Town Hall Meeting on Diplomacy from Friday.

    She is doing well, looks great!

    http://c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/07/10/HP/A/20649/Sec+of+State+Clinton+Town+Hall+Meeting+on+Diplomacy.aspx

    • Arabella Trefoil

      Hillary is one bright star in our firmament. She is a power of example to us all.

      • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

        Amen to that! She really is the bright spot, isn’t she?

        • http://noquarter foxyladi14

          our shining star.the only adult in the place,,

    • Diana L. C.

      AM,
      Thanks for the link. Hillary is a mature, knowledgeable adult, with much experience to back herself. Wouldn’t it be nice to think of all our leaders that way?

      The first thing about her short introductory comments about the GDDR process she is initiating that struck me was rhat she got the idea for doing so because of her years of experience on the Armed Services Committee.

      I wonder what experience O has that could help him be a better administrator? Most administrators I know can’t just vote “present.” Just asking…..

  • Arabella Trefoil

    Eternal nature has no spam filters.

    • oowawa

      Ideally, this is true, Arabella. But lately I’ve noticed lots more “No Trespassing” signs and barbed-wire fences in my neck of the woods . . . And the fees for State Parks here in NorCal!–if they’re still open, that is . . . (I know, gripe gripe gripe . . . )

      • Arabella Trefoil

        Well, one can always look at the sky.

        • oowawa

          LOL–Looking better and better to me–Swing low, sweet chariot . . .

  • pm317

    Wow, that is a gorgeous picture! and from your deck too.

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Thanks, pm317! I have to say, nature made it mighty easy for it to be a gorgeous picture, if you get my meaning – all I had to do was snap it! :-)

      And yes – this is what I look out and see every day from my living room. I count my blessings every day that I get to live here, and see such beauty on a daily basis. It has been a balm to my soul in the midst of all of the political craziness…

      • pm317

        I live pretty much right smack in the middle of civilization as you know. But we have a small creek behind our house which is mostly empty except for big rains (and I think it feeds into Rock Creek). Lo and behold, what do I see one fine morning on the back patio. A Turtle, the size of a big palm. It had very intricate design with yellow patches. I always get excited to find wild life in my own backyard (which is 5 minutes from the beltway!)

        • pm317

          Here is the turtle pic:

          turtle

          • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

            So cute! Thanks!

          • oowawa

            O my, the turtle is indeed beautiful. I’ve always loved turtles–used to be you could get them at the 5 & dime for 50 cents or less. Then someone found out that they carry salmonella, and they disappeared. Beautiful and fascinating animals. Thanks for the pic!

          • Onofre’s arm

            Cool, an Easten Box Turtle. If you feed it good stuff (they eat just about everything)it will hang around. You’ld be doing it a favor, crossing roads in search for food is often deadly for them.

            • pm317

              It was in the backyard, so away from the street. I didn’t know it was called Box Turtle. Wish I knew to feed it. Found it in the morning but it was gone by later afternoon. I have waited in my car on the street as a much bigger than this turtle crossed the street.

  • Disgusted

    Has anyone been following the cemetery story from the suburbs of Chicago? 4 People at a prominent AA cemetery have been charged with dismembering a human body. The 4 suspects have been selling plots for cash and digging up existing graves to bury these cash customers. Police have found 2 mass graves on the cemetery property and upwards of 100 graves have been disturbed. The cemetery “Burr Oak” is the final resting place for many prominent AA including Emmit Till. I have read everything I can on this story. It is so horrific. How could anyone do such a thing? Here is a link to one article but the story has dominated the Chicago papers for a week.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-grave-robbers-new-12jul12,0,2962026.story

    • tango

      People do such things because they’re motivated by greed. It is a sad story.

      Other things that caught my interest the past few days-

      Obama’s New Science Czar, John Holden, had some radical views on population control in 1977. He hasn’t disavowed those comments in the 30 years since so does he still feel the same?

      http://zombietime.com/john_holdren/

      The Pentagon is considering banning tobacco use by the military. That ought to go over well with front line combat troops who find smoking a cigarette after a being shot at a calming influence.

      http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-07-09-smoking_N.htm

      • Diana

        I found this, this morning also, it’s also on Front Page. That article really bothered me. Zombie Times has scans of the book, but Front Page is a bit more in depth.

        That second article is just plain ignorant. They’re going to tell those grown men and women what to do like they’re children. If they’re not old enough to decide what to put in their body then they’re not old enough to be out there risking their lives. Period.

        Smoking causes illness over time. Now go out there and get shot at, which could kill you today…We’re ding this for your own good, preventing you from getting any long term illnesses. Short term, death, we’re really not concerned about that.

        Yes you could still come home with long term illness, many of our troops have. But hey! Look at the bright side, you won’t be smoking. Oh and BTW, it’s OK for the president to smoke. He doesn’t smoke around other people or his family. BS!!

        If someone had told me that while I was in the military I would have taken my M16 and shoved it up some Pentagon ass, told them fight your own damn war. I’m done.

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      HOLY SMOKES, Disgusted!! Thank you for posting that here. Any more info you can give us would be appreciated…

    • oowawa

      Well, if my wordy “spam” comments didn’t do it, this certainly breaks the bucolic mood of Rev. Amy’s post! And then we can fast forward to Pat Racimora’s ‘toon post featuring hermaphroditic fish and mutant frogs begotten by pollution and what that bodes for our private parts, and, well,

      Mother Nature is up against it! As for the Chicago graveyard–makes me want to opt for a more certain solution: just flush my ashes down the toilet and open a few bottles of wine . . .

    • Jo Chgo

      Supposedly the record-keeping is abominable, raising questions about what Cook County government oversight failed here. Keep your eyes peeled for the name Tom Dart. He rose from a pretty low profile to be elected to the Sherrif position, and he has been impressive here and in the eviction “holiday” issue that also got national press coverage. So he is either really good or has been very fortunate. It is rare that a Cook County politician creates a favorable impression in my mind, accustomed as I am to the major hacks here.

    • Tess

      I keep landing in Spamland, so am writing on Su/7/12/ 8:20 p.m.:
      re the Chicago cemetery story: is there any hope at all that Tombstone Burris’ pre-mausoleum has been grave-robbed?
      No, I didn’t think so.

  • Diana

    Very pretty picture. Thank you for sharing it.

    I have a couple things on my mind today. Everyone remember good ole Joe the Plumber, well seems now the press is off to investigate and dig up dirt on the Fire Fighters even though Sotomayor will be confirmed,they’re trying to destroy these men. One in particular.

    By Michael Doyle and David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers
    WASHINGTON — Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who’s at the center of Sotomayor’s most controversial ruling.

    On the eve of Sotomayor’s Senate confirmation hearing, her advocates have been urging journalists to scrutinize what one called the “troubled and litigious work history” of firefighter Frank Ricci.

    This is opposition research: a constant shadow on Capitol Hill.

    “The whole business of getting Supreme Court nominees through the process has become bloodsport,” said Gary Rose, a government and politics professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

    On Friday, citing in an e-mail “Frank Ricci’s troubled and litigious work history,” the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way drew reporters’ attention to Ricci’s past. Other advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue similar story lines.

    For complete article:
    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/71660.html

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Well, that just figures, doesn’t it? Of course they would attack the PERSON, rather than the problem at hand. That is what “journalists” have become. They might as well all sign on to National Enquirer – oh wait, that might be too good for them after the NE broke the Edwards story…Ahem.

      Thanks for this, though it is disturbing.

      • FranSC

        Rev Amy, I’ve been waiting for an Open Thread or an appropriate topic to put this YouTube on. It is about our esteemed Governor Sanford. I looooove this and have played it over and over. The music is wonderful and the words couldn’t be more descriptive of the Gov’s mess. Hope you enjoy!
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAFeLTchV8c

  • Diana

    Then I found this from an external link on one of the news round-ups. It has the complete page scans, etc…this is unbelievable.

    John Holdren, Obama’s Science Czar, says: Forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save the planet

    Book he authored in 1977 advocates for extreme totalitarian measures to control the population

    Forced abortions. Mass sterilization. A “Planetary Regime” with the power of life and death over American citizens.

    The tyrannical fantasies of a madman? Or merely the opinions of the person now in control of science policy in the United States? Or both?

    These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisor’s on Science and Technology — informally known as the United States’ Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that:

    • Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;
    • The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food;
    • Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;
    • People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
    • A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.

    For complete article:
    http://zombietime.com/john_holdren/

    also found on Front Page Magazine:
    http://tinyurl.com/m2e6od

    I’m not real familiar with either of these magazines/blogs, but the pages are right there to read. Why would Obama appoint anyone like this? It seems he purposely goes out of his way to find the most radical people he can find to surround himself with. This man doesn’t even seem mentally stable.

  • Diana

    Amy, could you please rescue me from the spam filter? I posted the second story which I think is important also into a second post so the spam filter wouldn’t eat it, but it did anyway. I really hate the spam filter here. It eats everything.

  • Maria3

    Major Japanese political monthly, now on the newsstands here in Tokyo, called “VOICE”, published only in Japanese by PHP Publishing House, has a significant article breaking the news of the TRUTH of Barack Obama to the Japanese People, after months of uncritical adoration by nearly 100% of the Japanese Mass Media outlets.

    I hereby synopsize translate some points/subtitles of article, and provide a URL link to the Japanese site. If time permits a synop-translation may be provided on FRs. In the meantime, it is interesting to finally see these critical articles emerge internationally, and they are in line with Mr. Obama’s unpopularity rise in the USA (to to mention a series of failures in critical foreign policy tests the Japanese are picking up, least of which is appeasement/indifference regarding North Korea):

    A World With Superpower Leaving The Stage

    Obama to Beat The Cr*p Out of Asia and Kick Up Chaos

    Arrogance, Lack of Experience and Incomplete Staff of Advisors

    The Shock of (new) US Ambassador Loose to Japan

    Israel/Saudi Cooperation?

    Rising Threat of Nuclear War

    Does Not Grasp The Totality of China

    http://www.newstin.co.uk/tag/uk/132333359

  • TeakWoodKite

    Wonderful sky. Thanks Rev. Amy.

    Just readin through the recently unclassified release IG report.

  • http://noquarter foxyladi14

    what a beautiful picture Amy.thanks for sharing it with us.
    aaaaaaaaaaah.peace and serenity.can’t get too much of that.(hugs all )

  • tillthen

    So what’s on my mind today?

    I’m sitting in my office not far from my kitchen and I can hear my NEW dishwasher humming, pleasantly – it’s a WHIRLPOOL, NOT A GE, AND I LOVE IT.

    boycott general electric products

  • I’m a Linda too

    Great photo. Almost looks magical like Aurora Borealis.

  • Tess

    Hey! Has anyone figured out who was not invited to these major venues? Russia? The Vatican? (Ghana: well, actually, he could’ve sent the cardboard cutout to Ghana…)
    BUT get a grip, folks: he continues to marginalzie the SECoSTATE. How long will she stand for it?
    I’m writing this on Su/7/12/8:20 CST. I’m trying to figure out how long it will be before this relatively innocuous comment sees print.

  • Tess

    In terms of comments relevant to the news cycle, would those commenters consider posting the date, day, and time, using time zones? I’d like SOMEONE to see how ridiculous and shooting-oneself-in-the-toe this practice is: for instance, I’m trying to post at Su/7/12, 8:35 CDT.

  • Mandelay

    I returned to this picture several times today, just to enjoy the good feelings.
    Thanks a bunch!

  • TeakWoodKite

    Rev Amy, a day later it is still in my port window. Thanks. Fair sailing to you .

  • TeakWoodKite

    “Did Otto Reich share his belief that Fulton Armstrong should be removed for his position?” Mr. Kerry said during the hearing on Monday, reading from committee records of interviews its staff had conducted. “The answer is yes.”

    Mr. Bolton was not ruffled. “As I said,” he replied, sticking to the alias, “I had lost confidence in Mr. Smith, and I conveyed that.”

    .

  • TeakWoodKite

    The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel reviewed this information to assess whether there was “a sufficient factual basis demonstrating a threat of terrorist attacks in the United States for it to continue to be reasonable under the standards of the Fourth Amendment for the President to [continue] to authorize the warrantless searches involved” in the program. The Office of Legal Counsel then advised the Attorney General whether the constitutional standard of reasonableness had been met and whether the Presidential Authorization could be certified “as to form and legality.”

    CIA_Unclassified_IGreport_071109-p10
    Question, Does not the Attorney General have the final say instead of the OLC at the 1600? What is considered the histroical practice?

  • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

    Open Thread so…

    Here come the crazies!

    LaToya said MJ was….wait for it…..MURDERED! NO! YES!

    Oh those British tabloids…

    • oowawa

      LOL–I’ve been reading detective novels lately. LaToya is a flake that everybody will say is nuts. LaToya is probably right.

    • Diana

      A woman on Rev. Sharpton’s show said Sarah Palin had something to do with this death!

      Here is the audio.
      http://tinyurl.com/kulc3b

      Then I heard who I believe is Joe Jackson? Not sure I came in on the middle of the interview, but can’t find the audio for it. He said that they had contracted Michael to do 50 shows which Michael didn’t know according to his nurse. Michael thought he only had to do 10 and refused to do the other 40. He said if he’s dead those shows are covered by insurance. If he’s alive they’re not. They loose billions, so he thinks they kept him drugged up to do the 50 shows and caused him to OD. He believes Michael was murdered also.

  • beebop

    In a time of dire unemployment, I am ever so humbled to have found a job working for one of this country’s gifts to her citizen’s — a national park. I drive through some of the most breath taking spaces God saw fit to put on this earth and encounter doe and fawn on a near daily basis. I struggled all of two minutes when I fielded a job offer that might have yielded more money. We all witnessed how transitory money is. Poof. Gone. No one can take your mood or attitude unless you allow it. “Fiddle dee dee,” said Miss Scarlet at a most inappropriate time. But. Fiddlee dee dee indeed. Waking up on a rare cool morning in July with windows open, wrapped like a cocoon in a summer weight blanket with your dog companion snuffling in your face and the day’s turmoil still outside your door … that is my idea of priceless.

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