Fear Itself - Fear Itself
[Dot DLP 25942, 1969]

Hard blues/psych band Fear Itself's 1969 release of the same name, is going to be re-issued by a company in Germany soon called World In Sound. (Site contains a song from the lp)

Crawling Kingsnake/Underground River/Bow'd Up/For Suki/In My Time of Dying/ Letter/ Lazarus/Mossy Dream/Silly Gene/Born Under a Bad Sign/

Fear Itself's lead singer and slide guitar bluesmaster, Ellen McIlwaine, who's played with everybody (she is probably the only guitar player in the world who has played with Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Taj Mahal and Jack Bruce) has been contacted by Wolfgang Reuther, who has mastered it from a vinyl (i am sure the original no longer exists) and will put it out on cd AND lp. Ellen found some old pictures and posters and is writing a bio of how they all got started together and he is making a booklet to go with it.

Dearest husband played guitar on this album (he's on the horse on the right) so we're looking to buy a copy. Cheap. But everytime I bid on the lp when I'm able to find it, I always get outbid. Fuckers. It would be very cool to see this old record come around again....and the search continues.

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Green Helll - "I am trying to kill my lawn. All 7000 square feet of it. Few things are as stupid as being enslaved to the idea of having your yard look like the top of a billiard table. Perhaps the same sadists that invented the contemporary suburb also invented the lawn. Like the suburbs, where it proliferates like a noxious weed, the lawn serves no purpose, looks sterile, wastes labour and pollutes."

"I am attempting to eliminate the monstrosity that I have inherited when I bought my house and replace it with wild flowers, herbs, and fruit-bearing shrubs. But I am not alone in this endeavor."

link

Eat Your Lawn - Of the 30 most commonly used lawn pesticides, 29 are toxic to birds, fish, amphibians and/or bees. Environmental groups have raised the biggest clamor over the herbicide 2,4-D, which a growing number of studies show to be a possible contributor to non-Hodgkins lymphoma and other cancers.

link

Edible Landscapes
"Last summer, my family and I removed our front lawn and replaced it with an edible landscape of fruit trees, berry bushes, herbs and other plants as part of a project by our local art center and Los Angeles artist/architect Fritz Haeg."

"We've been asked plenty of questions about this move, the two most common being,"

'What do your neighbors say?' and 'Has the city fined you?'

"Our answers: 'They like it' and 'No.'"

link

Can I get an amen?

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Joan Baez, Others Tree-Sitting

Tree-sitting protesters vowed Thursday to peacefully resist eviction from a 14-acre urban garden on which the landowner wants to build a warehouse.

The inner-city site is "a place of safety and respite from the harshness of the concrete jungle. . . We just have to save it," actress Darryl Hannah said from the branches of an old walnut tree where she perched for the day despite her vertigo.

Below her, supporters had created a tent city in the midst of the flowers, bananas, edible cacti, sunflowers and other produce that is farmed by about 350 mainly poor, Latino families. (Altar picture at the base of one of the trees - link)

Hannah is among celebrities supporting the farmers and their effort to preserve the garden, a green swath in an industrial area southeast of downtown. Folk singer Joan Baez sat in the tree Wednesday, and musician Ben Harper and his wife, actress Laura Dern, Julia Butterfly Hill gave speeches.

link

Why can't we have some decent live news coverage of this and other events like it?

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Babblin' Friday

Greetings, everyone! Got any big plans this weekend? I just returned to the Casa de Doublewide.

Driving back this morning through 3 states in the pouring rain (after attending the annual Assless Chaps Marshmallow Drop) was nerve wracking so I stopped and bought a scented candle in a glass jar that fit perfectly in my drink holder, after removing the fits and burnt spoons. (Mother always leaves a mess.)

But it honestly had a calming effect. The candle. And I'm definitely going to keep a candle in the car from now on to help me relax on the road. It's not like you can actually meditate while driving.

xoxo

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Forget the Haight and Woodstock

A new book makes a compelling case that Laurel Canyon, home to Joni, Zappa, Mama Cass and many more, was the true center of '60s rock.

The '60s were all about neighborhoods. Haight-Ashbury, Greenwich Village, Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue, Watts, Tu Do Street, Harlem, Woodstock -- for Americans, at least, the decade was divided into a series of remarkable communities, some utopian and others nightmarish, each with a strong claim to being the epicenter of that turbulent epoch.

link

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For the first time that fresh out of the can, eau de PLAY-DOH scent is available for highly creative people who seek a fun scent reminiscent of their childhood. [via]

I'd like to try it out. Inna "hey, do ya like the cologne I'm wearing?" kind of way.

link

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2 Of My Favorites

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has returned to his home in the United States after receiving brain surgery in a hospital in New Zealand. His wife Patti Hansen accompanied him on the journey.

Richards was hoping to be "getting back on the road with the Rolling Stones next month", his spokesman added.

Poor guy. I wonder if his life-threatening surgery may make him think about putting up his rock and roll shoes after this current tour is over?

link

Robert Plant recently returned to Wales' Rockfield Studios -- where he recorded his first solo album -- to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the launch of his post-Zep career.

Plant, 57, recalled how he arrived at Rockfield 25 years ago this week, in the wake of Zeppelin's split following the death of the band's drummer John Bonham.

He said, "As far as expectation went, I mean at the age of 32 when your career is finished, anything that came after that was a bonus really."

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You may have read about some of these items before and I feel they're important enough to be dusted off and hauled out again. See what you can do as a consumer to help our planet and global family.

Buy Blue has responsible consumerism and invites you to vote with your wallet. Lists political contributions and ratings. Toyota, Home Depot, Campbell's Soup -- where do they stand?

Free Cycle is where you give things away you no longer need for free. Many countries are involved now. Take a look. You'll probably find your town listed.

Responsible Shopper supports global research & action to stop corporate abuse. The parent site, Co-op America has many more ideas for a just planet.

Bloggers For Darfur
A Global Online Community Calling for Action to Stop the Genocide in Darfur - Created by Marilyn and Jill.
link

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NRA, Family Style
The flyer for the 135th annual National Rifle Association said to "bring your whole family" to see "acres of the latest guns." A man at the exhibition hall guaranteed this was no exaggeration. "You won't believe it!"

Hope you're packin' heat and lookin' for fun - cuz we're all about playing with high-caliber guns.

Most of us in the US see how ridiculous this looks, but can you imagine what other people in the world think about the NRA targeting (pardon the pun) kids for gun sales?

link

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Meet other cool people like you! says Zaadz. Site is still in beta but it looks cruise worthy.

I'm going to join them and have a look around, even though I already feel I'm spreading my webself too thin. Knowhaddamean?

-- FWG [found while googling]

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Save Nazanin

18-year old Iranian girl Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi, has been sentenced to death by hanging. Nazanin's "crime" was killing a man who ambushed and tried to rape her and her neice. Please take a few moments to read about her case and what you can do to stop the execution and save Nazanin's life.

According to the Iranian daily Etemaad, then 17-year-old Nazanin and her niece had been spending some time in a park west of Tehran with their boyfriends, when three men started harassing them.
The girls` boyfriends fled from the scene, leaving them helpless behind. The men pushed Nazanin and her niece down on the ground and tried to rape them, and to protect herself, she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.

The girls tried to escape, but the men overtook them, and at this point, Nazanin stabbed one of the other men in the chest, which eventually killed him. According to the newspaper, she broke down in tears when she told the court: "I wanted to defend myself and my niece. I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help." Nevertheless, the court sentenced her to death by hanging. [via]


Read this site to see what you can do to get the word out. And you can also sign this petition.

link

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Casual Friday Blogging

Meet Buddy. He's a chow mix and was one in a litter of 9 puppies from a pregnant mother dog we rescued about 5 years ago. I walk him several times a day now since he's lost most of his sight. He sleeps with me and is my favorite furry little freak.


And this is Sugar. I call her Sug Avery (from the The Color Purple). She's a feisty black cocker spaniel I inherited after my sister passed and she's 2 years old. She's wearing her Halloween kerchief. On her ass.

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Today's Quote

If we could sniff or swallow something that would, for five or six hours each day, abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing exaltation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, world-transfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up next morning with a clear head and an undamaged constitution-then, it seems to me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and earth would become paradise."

--ALDOUS HUXLEY

Oh how hard I tried to get there.

link

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So she's been on her back for 3 months. That's not really special. I've been on my back for much longer than that.

What's that? She was suspended on her back for 3 whole months during an experiment for NASA? And she got paid to do so? Well, that's different.

Erin documents her recently completed experiment on her blog. Nicely done!

Link

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The FBI is keeping tabs on SOA Watch, the human rights group that monitors the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.

On April 24 and 25, torture survivors, students, nuns, veterans and other SOA Watch activists flooded the halls of Congress in Washington, DC to knock on doors for hundreds of meetings with staffers, Representatives and Senators.

On May 4, the FBI elevated its concern of SOA Watch to "priority" level, claiming that the group is subject to "counterterrorism" monitoring, according to documents by the ACLU and its Georgia chapter.

For almost 60 years, the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in tactics that are used to wage war against their own people. Courses taught at the school include counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. Among those targeted by SOA/ WHINSEC graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders and others who work for human rights.

What it boils down to is the FBI is concerned about a peaceful human rights group of mostly nuns that monitors a camp that trains asassins at the School Of The Americas. Don't you love that the more sanguid the name, the more nefarious the group? In a perfect world, the FBI wouldn't even allow the killing camp to operate, let alone fund them.

link

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Lots of editing going on today. I've been changing back over from the grey template to the beige template.

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Greg Palast on His New Book "Armed Madhouse : Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08…"

When Greg Palast speaks, I listen. This investigative journalist is a voracious researcher with a thirst for the truth.

Link

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KIKI SMITH - One of the TIME 100: The People Who Shape Our World

In the face of an era (now more than 25 years in duration) dominated by appropriation over invention and innovation, what are we to make of the career of Kiki Smith? Her work is the epitome of innovation, invention and unique personal vision. While many artists, especially sculptors and installation artists, are steadfast members of a "slacker" generation, Kiki, 52, embraces craft, the dreaded C word of the art world.

In myriad materials such as glass, fiber and beads (some associated more with amateurs and craft-show practitioners than with professional artists), she has embraced a dizzyingly diverse vocabulary of the demoted, debased and despised—and she makes you like it. All this she does while putting her unique and personal stamp on everything—thrilling audiences from the most sophisticated art-world insiders to the casual gallery goer. She is one of our greatest artists.

Link

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Puppetry Of The Genius

Of the Cinnamon Roll Gang, he claims, "It’s not high art; it’s nonsensical goofy-assed shit."

Marcel deJure, filmmaker, puppet master, and designer, was pleased when they resumed performing after a year-long hiatus. "It’s fun to be offensive and loud and vulgar and not make sense sometimes. I like freaking people out and making them laugh."

He also makes unique and functional handbags that would be fun to carry, although I can see my kids rolling their eyes this very moment.

[via LA Alternative]

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The Yes Men Strike Again: Group Poses As Halliburton Reps At "Catastrophic Loss" Conference

The Yes Men have struck again. On Tuesday, a man claiming to be a representative of Halliburton gave a presentation at the "Catastrophic Loss" conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. Conference attendees include leaders from the insurance industry. We speak with the Yes Men's Andy Bichlbaum, who took part in the hoax.

They initially got the real Halliburton's attention from their Halliburton Contracts website where they proclaim "Halliburton Solves Global Warming!". Their SurvivaBall must be witnessed. It's hysterical. Corporate bigs can wear the SurvivaBall suit while the rest of the world perishes from Global Warming. [/tounge in cheek]

More on the SurviaBall at Halliburton Contracts. See the following link to listen to or watch the show on Democracy Now. Can you say muy grande cajones? Link

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The Shape Of Song - Philip Glass, Candyman 2

These images show two different tracks of the same piece, and reflect the underlying elegance and simplicity of the music.

What does music look like? The Shape of Song is an attempt to answer this seemingly paradoxical question. The custom software in this work draws musical patterns in the form of translucent arches, allowing viewers to see--literally--the shape of any composition available on the Web. The resulting images reflect the full range of musical forms, from the deep structure of Bach to the crystalline beauty of Philip Glass. Graphic

Take a look at the repertoire of songs. Fascinating! [via]

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saturday morning me//
vanilla chai/banana & 3 strawberries/
long skirt/tights/sweater/lap quilt/
listening to vessel by michael hewett/
just back from dogs' routine vet appt/
so how about you?/


Definition of Writing - Trivial personalities decomposing in the eternity of print. --Virginia Woolf

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Friday Random Ten - Shuffle 'em up and show us your ten. I'll show you mine...

NEXT RANDOM
1. Creo - Monica Ramos
2. Monterey - Eric Burdon & The Animals
3. Sing - Dresden Dolls
4. Leaf House - Animal Collective
5. I've Seen It All - Bjork
6. Heard Somebody Say - Devendra Banhart
7. Buckie High - Boards of Canada
8. Season Of The Witch - Donovan
9. Space Age Ballad - Acid Mothers Temple
10. Happy - Rolling Stones

Music Quote
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
- Hunter S. Thompson

Funky, free-spirited, fortifed Friday. Full of expectations Friday. Hope yours is Fantastic.

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From the INBOX

GreyLodge Podcasting Company is pleased to announce our new alliance with the incredible avant-garde resource UbuWeb.

2nd Amazonian Shamanism Conference in Peru in June. A gathering of scientists and healers. Link

The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of our Collective Psychosis by Paul Levy is now available for purchase online. Link

Ovi Magazine - 'Promises' is the theme of Ovi 14 and has all the usual cartoons, illustrations, poems, fiction and radio shows, along with a few extra Ovi peculiarities.

Alternative Press Review - Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream - www.altpr.org. In my opinion the absolute best snapshot into the daily news.

Tons of good links in the Gaia Media Newsletter.

* The Church of Reality is a religion based on the practice of Realism, believing in everything that is real. Their motto is, "If it's real, we believe in it."

* Adventurer and writer Kira Salak reports about her ayuahuasca experiences for National Geographic. Read her story and see a short video clip.

* Starhawk and Donna Read, the makers of the film Signs of the Times, about the life and work of Marija Gimbutas, have organized a series of Goddess Salons.

* The German group LightRiders are working hard on a 2 to 3 hour DVD project "The Spirit of Basel", featuring the Saturday night concert with "Akasha Project", "Stars Sounds Orchestra", and "Guru Guru", including short excerpts from the major spoken presentations. Have a first glimpse with their Teaser.

* The Vernal Equinox 2006 issue of The Entheogen Review contains "Reflections on Basel" by Jon Hanna and João Serro, but also an article entitled "Halperngate" by Jon Hanna.

* Surrealartforum is the largest Surreal, Fantastic, Psychedelic & Visionary Artist Links Gallery on the Internet. An incredible collection.

And more...

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Buddha Moon & Scorpio Full Moon Celebration
3rd Annual Scorpio Full Moon & Buddha Moon - May 12-14 at Harmony Works in East Tennessee. Just across the NC line; a leave no trace gathering. [More]

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"We have no better friend than Japan," Ms Rice said at the State Department Monday. It was a familiar refrain. As secretary of state, Ms Rice has said that the US had "no better friend" than Jordan, Greece, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Britain, and separately, the United Kingdom.

What a robot. She travels the globe with talking points memorized and spews them out like a machine. It's the political equivalent of the US courting different guys and telling them all that there's no better friend than them.

"Honest, Greece, there's no better friend than you."

"I bet you say that to all the countries, Condie."

Click For Graphic

[via] - Link

Edited: removed long loading graphic from front page and added the "Click for Graphic" link instead.

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Nice gig if you can get it.

Reason in Amsterdam, 2006
The Grand Amsterdam Hotel
August 23-26, 2006

With Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the hit show South Park, Time magazine's Andrew Sullivan, Reason magazine Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie, and Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum Link

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The Best Little Whorehouse in Washington --Molly Ivins

Of course I am above sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. So serious a servant of the public interest am I, I can fogey with the best: On my better days, I make David Broder look like Page Six.

I don't care what anyone smoked 20 years ago, I approve of those who boogie till they puke, and I don't care who anyone in politics is screwing in private, as long as they're not screwing the public.

On other hand, if you expect me to pass up a scandal involving poker, hookers and the Watergate building with crooked defense contractors and the No. 3 guy at the CIA, named Dusty Foggo (Dusty Foggo?! Be still my heart), you expect too much.

Molly discusses the CIA scandals past and present.

[More...!]



Another good CIA read is Robert Parry's CIA: The Bush Family Feifdom

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Keith Richards

I've been trying to run down the rumor that Keith Richards has had brain surgery after the fall in Figi. Some reports say: "After a brief hosptial stay he continued to have headaches, returned to the hospital and doctors are rumored to have gone into his brain to relieve the problem."

But no one has yet gone on record about it. CNN and Reuters are siting Monday's New Zealand Herald. No official word from thr Stones or Keith's representatives yet.

I go to some of the Rolling Stones message boards to see what they know and they're also baffled at this point; praying for good news. (Undercover, Shidoobee, RocksOff)

***UPDATE: May 9 - Official word from RollingStones.com. The surgery rumors are true and Keith is reportedly healing nicely. His wife and 2 daughters are at the hospital. Someone has brought in guitars.

***UPDATE: May 10 - Jerry Hall says Keith doing very well, and has talked to the family via email. But I'm not buying the 'fell out of a tree in Figi' story, are you?

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Click to see who's on the Corporate Shitlist.

Link

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Principal bars Coral Springs student from singing anti-Bush song at talent show

A 10-year-old Coral Springs girl won't be allowed to sing a controversial President Bush-bashing ballad at her school talent show after her principal deemed it inappropriate and too political.

The song, Dear Mr. President, performed and co-written by the singer Pink, criticizes the president for the war in Iraq and other policies, including his stance on gay rights.

Link

This probably comes up much more often than we're made aware. In my high school, a band switched their song choice in a talent show and sang Country Joe & The Fish, "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag" to thunderous applause from the students and a swift closing of the curtain from the principal. They knew they'd never be able to get permission to sing it so they snuck it in.

Let the 10 year old sing whatever she wants. And if a mini neocon wants to sing something, so be it. Aren't we talking about free speech?

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SCENTS EVOKE SWEET MEMORIES
(or Incense, It's Not Just For Hippies)

Weirdpixie mentioned incense and I also began thinking about it -- the different types and scents, my favorites and where I was when I first smelled it.

It comes in sticks, ropes, powder, coils, dhoops, wood chips, cones. And comes from India, China, Japan, and all over the world. You can light it for rituals or light it 'just because'.

I've enjoyed many scents from the basic cheap to the handmade expensive and I always return to sandalwood. Or a sandalwood mix. It loyally permeated the sixties with me and followed me into the next century. Sandalwood has the history and the memory factor that none of the others have.

My first sandalwood incense experience began at a head shop in Daytona Beach, Florida. The 'after dinner' crowd was shopping and people watching on the sidewalks next to the beach. My senses were riveted with sounds of motorcycles, music by the Tams, kids screaming for snow-cones, Moms sipping on Singapore Slings and the freaks were stopping in the head shop to buy some new music or a peace sign patch. I could smell the incense long before I could see the head shop. I go inside and buy a ring with a large red stone. I hear Surrealistic Pillow on the turntable and we discuss the songs and talk about Grace Slick. I stood out like a sore thumb in my small town, but these were my people and I feel a real kinship with them.

Anticipation surrounded me that summer night and I felt I was in the midst of a beautiful memory that would last a lifetime. Permeated in a young girl's adolescence and the smell of sandalwood.

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Building work at the 104-acre complex, known locally as 'George W's palace', is supposed to be secret, but it is impossible to disguise the cranes dominating the Baghdad skyline of the palace that has 21 buildings and isbigger than anything Saddam built.

The question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?

Irritation grows from the residents deprived of air-conditioning and running water three years after the US-led invasion. Looming over the skyline, the embassy has the distinction of being the only big US building project in Iraq that is on time and within budget. (via)

[more..]

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GAIAN MIND SUMMER FESTIVAL

June 22nd-25th, Four Quarters, Central PA, USA

Just added! Daniel Pinchbeck is one of the leading voices in today’s counter-culture and is the author of Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism, which has given him a higher profile among those interested in alternative religion and spirituality. He will be speaking at GMSF2K6 in support of his forthcoming book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl. more…

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You've got to either read between the headlines or wonder what precedes it.

Mexican President Rejects Drug Bill - What am I bid, Bush? I wonder what kind of sweet deal President Fox got for dropping the drug bill? (He threatened was going to legalize simple posession for pot, cocaine, heroin)

Cheney Scolds Russia On Democracy - Why not scold them on quantum physics? Something he also knows nothing about.

Too cynical? Or not enough?

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83 Fender Stratocaster w/ Ghost of Jimi Hendrix WOW!!



Link


Uh-huh. $10,000 minimum bid? Are you kidding me?

thanks, frank!

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Rate Colbert on the AOL poll. VOTE! (via)

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There's something so mesmerizing about John Malkovich that makes me want to watch closely his every move and movie. His new film has him playing an Englishman who pretends he is Stanley Kubrick in what is billed as a "true-ish" story about a conman who duped dozens of people into thinking he was the reclusive director. Love him.

Link

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