“Freedom?”: Richard Brautigan’s first wife, VIRGINIA ASTE, speaks in a new interview
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Interview by Susan Kay Anderson
Less-than-revered by his Beat peers (Ginsberg gave him the ungainly nickname “Bunthorne,” Burroughs once observed him—drunk—crawling along the floor of a hotel after a reading event, Ferlinghetti said he “was all the novelist the hippies needed” because “[i]t was a nonliterate age”), Richard Brautigan became internationally famous in the late ’60s for writing simple-yet-surreal poems, short stories and novels that made readers marvel and burst out laughing.
Brautigan’s personal life, however, was no laughing matter. Severe alcoholism—drinking a bottle of brandy and two fifths of whiskey a day during binges, according to friend Don Carpenter—and depression over declining book sales led to Brautigan’s suicide in September 1984. He was 49.
Read More »
Get them out of here NOW!
Friday, December 25, 2009
This has been a nice day. A stressful one, but it's over and it's time to relax. It was all fine until my Mother reverted back to my high school days, came to my room and made a motion with her arms like an umpire calling a runner out at base.
"Get 'em outta here!" she yelled.
The dogs? I wondered, looking around to see what the hell they could have done to incur such wrath from her.
"I saw those two boys, now get them out of here NOW!"
I was stunned. "Knock yourself out", I say as she goes from room to room looking for errant visitors.
I felt steam building up inside of a now teenage version of me being scolded... and I say something about "...I'm a grownasswoman, almost 60 fucking years old and if I wanted to have "boys" over to vist, by God, "boys" would be visiting."
It's the second time she's said something like that to me in the past year.
She's 87. She has dementia. We always had a very rocky relationship I must admit but when she suddenly found herself alone in 2005 I left my husband and my daughter and moved 85 miles away to stay with her for a little while and here I remain. As much as we never got along I could not in good conscious let her stay by herself nor could I move her someplace else. Almost like a cruel joke the gods are playing on me or is it a chance for us to finally reconcile?
It's getting harder to live with my Mother and I cry tonight because she makes me mad and I cry because I'm sorry she's not well and I cry of what could have been and what never was.
"Boys" in the house. Maybe she'll apologize to me tomorrow and tell me that she's sorry for saying something so ludicrous.
Pity party is officially over. Thanks for listening. xoxo Read more...
O Christmas Tree, O You Fucking Christmas Tree
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tomorrow I might put up my Christmas tree. Again.
Actually if I do it'd be the 3rd time in two weeks.
The first time that I put it up it was so beautiful and I took some photos and I added some packages under the tree. But it wasn't standing sturdy enough and it fell crashing down and sent all the items scattering, some shattering. Sigh...
It's 7-ft tall and is crammed full of mostly collectible ornaments.
So I put it up a second time. The big snow storm that rocked the whole east coast came through Friday night and a snow-heavy willow tree fell and hit our power pole which (among other things) blew out the tree lights so I had to remove the burned out Christmas tree lights.
You cannot take off your tree lights without knocking off most all the ornaments and the beads and pearls, etc, so I stripped that sonofabitch down again and "bare ass naked" it now sits in the living room.
Maybe tomorrow we try again? Let me consult my Eight Ball.
Testing New Comments... Again!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
After a reboot a few days ago I seemed to have lost the new comment form I was trying out. It's Intense Debate and I like what it offers so I'm trying it again...
Thanks for your patience. (Like I'm speaking to the masses or something)
Asheville Atheism Attacked Anew
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
...the election of Councilman Cecil Bothwell in Asheville, North Carolina, was being contested because he does not believe in god. No, your morning coffee is not laced with LSD; you read that correctly.
H.K. Edgerton is threatening to file a lawsuit in state court against the city to challenge Bothwell's appointment because, "My father was a Baptist minister. I'm a Christian man. I have problems with people who don't believe in God," said Edgerton, a former local NAACP president and founder of Southern Heritage 411, an organization that promotes the interests of black southerners.Am I the only one to see the problem here? Discriminating against blacks is bad, but perfectly OK when directed against people with a different world view?
link Read more...
Saturday Morning Me
Saturday, December 12, 2009
saturday morning me//
eagle's football jersey/charcoal leggings/
black knee boots/good hair day/
bowl of cheerios/still drinking hot tea/
sandalwood incense (Nepalese String)/
clothes washing/and did i mention
the freaking tree that fell down last night that took a week to put up and now i have to do it all over again? Fuck. Me.
so what about you?/
"Arise and drink your bliss, for all that lives is holy." --William Blake
Make Up Your Mind!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Last week I was rated "R" now today I'm "PG". It must go by what's on the recent days of your website.
Without further ado I must mention hardons, dildos, shooting heroin, goatse and *bukakke and a partridge in a pear treeee. I'll run the test again tomorrow.
*Edited to correct spelling.
Confirmed Date on 'Dark Shadows'
Johnny Depp's Dark Shadows to begin next year
Sci Fi Wire has learned that production will start on "Shadows" late next year. What, you want to know when? "We're actually going to shoot that film next September/October with Tim Burton and Johnny," he said. Which I'm guessing means that the movie will see a summer or fall 2011 release, presuming all goes as planned. Burton is still finishing post-production on Alice in Wonderland, which also stars Depp and opens March 5, 2010.
The Barnabas Collins character will be outstanding with JD doing him. I've been waiting to hear more on this and finally we get dates. Yay! Won't that be grand?
{via} link
Naoto Hattori
New Naoto Hattori prints. I learned of him pretty soon after I got online at least 10 years ago and he's simply the best at what he does.
This particular print is 15" X 16", $150.00. Sadly, too expensive for my meager budget.
link
Favorite Quotes
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flames by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
~Albert Schweitzer
Chronic Art
tokeofthetown.com — Cliff Maynard of Pittsburgh has blazed a unique trail on the stoner art scene. The 37-year-old creates amazing mosaics using the humble medium of used roach papers from smoked joints. {via: digg}
I'm all for innovative art? I suppose it is art. Thoughts? link
Must Be Santa by Bob Dylan
Saturday, December 5, 2009
A little odd to see Bobby in long straight hair singing about Santa but with this bordello-type spin on it, it's not bad. It's from his first ever Christmas album, Christmas In The Heart.
All of the artist's U.S. royalities from sales of these recordings will be donated to Feeding America, guaranteeing that more than four million meals will be provided to more than 1.4 million people in need this year's holiday season.Link | YouTube | Review Read more...
Foxfire
Friday, December 4, 2009
We have been consumed by a frenzy of green and alternate energy but Foxfire is the original green series and surival guide.
The original book was published in 1972 and my husband and I really poured over this book and Foxfire 2 which came later. There are maybe 12 of these Foxfire books now. Link
I can hardly think of Foxfire without thinking of the other good publications that came out around the same time like Mother Earth News and The Whole Earth Catalog. These were essential to us hippies and commune dwellers. But the Whole Earth was our "go-to" guide, our reference, our Google. It taught several generations how to select ecologically-sound products and make wise choices. Because of Whole Earth we had super cool accommodations near the Appalachian Trail by Watauga Lake and always had something good to eat. We all learned how to grow and cook and can almost anything. We built an outhouse and re-routed a spring. We loved it. The only problem we had was people always wanting to come over and hang out all the time.
Good News // Bad News
Good News: Your Mother is Christie Brinkley
Bad News: You look like your Father (Billy Joel)
"Bless her heart," as we say in the south. But I have sympathy for her recent suicide attempt. She's obviously having problems.
The Most Urgent Threat to World Peace Is Canada?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
"The harm this country could do in the next two weeks will outweigh all the good it has done in a century."Pretty fucking severe, wouldn't you say? But I read further because it's George Monbiot and learn that what Canada's leaders have done is reprehensible and at the root of it all is goddamn oil. Fucking oil! Why did I not see that coming?
"Until now I believed that the nation which has done most to sabotage a new climate change agreement was the United States. I was wrong. The real villain is Canada. Unless we can stop it, the harm done by Canada in December 2009 will outweigh a century of good works."
-Source Read more...
160 Grams
SOURCE
I don't know this model's name but he's featured everywhere this season. He's in the VNFOLD magazine link below, too.
Obama Ecstasy Pills Found
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
A traffic stop in South Texas yielded illegal drugs including pills in the shape of President Barack Obama.
Police in Palmview detained the driver after finding black tar heroin, cocaine, marijuana and several Ecstasy pills. Police say the Ecstasy was in brightly colored pills made to look like cartoon characters Homer Simpson, the Smurfs and even Obama.
Source
As in "OMG, I got SO wasted last night. We did a hit of Orange Barrel and two fucking Obamas."
NEW Mark Ryden
Tuesday, December 1, 2009

This set of 17 postcards showcases all eight paintings, two detail painting views and seven drawings from Mark Ryden's 2009 solo exhibition at the Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. The postcards are printed on high quality card stock and are packaged into a heavy card stock folder. This is the first time that this collection of images has been reproduced in any format.

THE SNOW YAK SHOW
SOURCE Read more...
VNFOLD
Premiere issue of VNFOLD, Argentina art, culture, and fashion magazine. OUTSTANDING photos.
Cry Out - Theo Adams
Monday, November 30, 2009
CRY OUT (Trailer by Matthew Stone) - Presented by the Theo Adams Company from Theo Adams on Vimeo.
Theo Adams, a wunderkind director, performer, and visionary, has created a ground-breaking new kind of theatrical production with his Theo Adams Company. Their ambitious project combines queer cabaret, classical music, power ballads, and expressionist dance that promises to be a mesmerizing, mind-blowing experience. In a time when it seems like everything has been done over and over again, it’s refreshing to find someone who can think and create in such radically different terms.
The world premiere of ‘Cry Out’ will be Monday, November 30th in Tokyo, and it will be performed around the world throughout 2010. In each different city, they plan to collaborate with local performing artists to craft an inimitable presentation every time.
Theo Adams is a self-taught, 20 year old director, performer and visionary. Fresh from an epic collaboration with acclaimed photographer David Sims and W Magazine; His newly formed company of talented and passionate dancers, musicians, artists and performers are travelling from London to Tokyo to realise their most ambitious project to date.
http://theoisamazing.blogspot.com

Chasing Napoleon at the Palais de Tokyo
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and at a moment when the economies all around the world are paying for the excesses of capitalism, Chasing Napoleon questions the gravity centre of our political lives and explores utopist landscapes of all kinds, from Hobbes’ state of nature to the influence of science fiction in Paul Laffoley’s work.
It also includes elements as different as Dieter Roth’s inventory of Reykjavik, Theodore Kaczynski’s anti-capitalist manifesto, Darth Vader and, of course…Napoleon Bonaparte, the ultimate political symbol.
Source
Showstudio Fashion Revolution at Somerset House
Blogs, Twitter, websites of all kinds… Our perception of fashion is changing. The fashion image is nowadays so much more than just the printed photograph.
Visionary photographer Nick Knight understood this 9 years ago and founded Showstudio, an innovative, interactive, imaginative and inspiring website.
Somerset House now hosts an exhibition showing some of Showstudio’s best works, created by Knight himself in collaboration with some of the biggest and most exciting personalities in fashion.
Nick Knight's 100 Portraits LIVE at Somerset House
BHOPAL, 25 Years Ago
Saturday, November 28, 2009
People walk past a statue of a mother holding a dead child in her arms in Bhopal, India, on November 18, 2009. Residents are bitter whenever they glance behind their homes toward the old Union Carbide factory, where a lethal plume of gas escaped from a storage tank in the early hours of December 3, 1984, killing thousands instantly. Survivors say the anniversary marks another year of physical and psychological trauma compounded by government and corporate negligence.
To this day, Dow Chemical (who bought Union Carbide) has refused to clean up, and whole new generations have been poisoned. For more information, please visit http://www.bhopal.org.
Photos
Saturday Morning Me
saturday morning me//
still sipping on chai/wheat toast and honey/
grey sweats/grey hoodie/navy houseshoes/
listening: broadcast/
opium incense/two ivory candles glowing/
forecast: procrastination & naps/
but first: grocery shopping/salon stop/
so what about you?/
Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures by Graham St John is the most wide-ranging and detailed of all the books on rave. More than the study of a musical movement or genre, Technomad offers an alternate history of cultural politics since the 1960s, from hippies and Acid Tests through the sound systems and 'vibe-tribes' of the 1990s and beyond. Like Greil Marcus's Lipstick Traces, Technomad makes unexpected but entirely convincing connections between people, movements and events. Like Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, St John's book introduces us to unknown heroes, committed geniuses and genuine revolutionaries. Beautifully written, with a genuinely international perspective on electronic dance music culture, Technomad is one of the best books on music I've read in some time."
via | buy
Just ordered it from Amazon. In paperback; hardback already sold out.
Can You Really Shrink?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Have you ever heard someone say that they have shrunk over the years? When I'd heard that in the past I didn't believe it to be possible at all but it happened to my husband.
AND he regained his lost 3.5".
He lost 3.5" of height to put him back at an even 6'0" because of spinal problems. After surgery to rebuild the discs in his spine he's back to his full 6'3.5". So there is merit in the saying about people shrinking.
I still have to stand on my tiptoes to kiss him. :)
By the way, he continues to heal and is getting pretty good at using the walker around the house but it's hard on a man to be seen as needing aid or help so it's an emotional journey as well.
organic food brands
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

link
More Lifelounge Goodness
Monday, November 16, 2009

Daphne Guinness (who is famous for being thin, stylish, marrying/divorcing a Greek shipping magnate and having tons of cashish) actually wore those McQueen shoes. This shit is outrageous. In a good way.
Where will the shoe pendulum swing next? Fashion takes such outrageous risks. You don't see many extreme looking oh, let's say, books or dinner ware or cars or buildings. Maybe a tad different but fashion is outrageously innovative and who doesn't love that rebellious attitude?
link
Saturday Morning Me
Saturday, November 14, 2009
olive lounging pjs/multi headscarf/
scarf around neck/gold slippers/
coffee #2/wheat bagel w-brie/oj/
playing with gopi dots/
listening: sacred chants of devi/
forecast: work first & nap later/
so how about you?/
We don't want too many citizens asking where the power and the money really goes. Informed by psychedelics, people might stop saluting. --Terence McKenna
The RunnyBunny on Etsy
Friday, November 13, 2009

King Poodle, Skully, by the Runny Bunny.
From the website: "I have made this using two of my favorite old molds. The crown is hand formed. This piece is 11 1/2 inches long by 8 1/2 inches tall. This is made to order and will ship in 1-2 weeks."
Yay! Her creations make me happy and when I decide on which one(s) I want to buy I'll even be more happy. I like funny happy, not creepy weird.
link
Another Suu Kyi Release Rumor? Or...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Burma claims it will release Aung San Suu Kyi. link
Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong San Soo Chee), Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, symbolises the struggle of Burma's people to be free.
Although some of us have been yelling long and loud, right now, finally, The WORLD is watching.
Designer Michel Berandi
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Michel Berandi and his clothes are a thing of beauty. And I like the influences that he's cited in the following interview.
What are some key experiences in your life that had shaped your point of view as a designer?
The Damned’s gig in London circa 1978/79. My first screening of Alejandro’s Jodorosky’s The Holy Mountain and Luis Bunuel’s Belle de Jour. Those provided compelling wallpaper for the mind, but my deepest key experiences are mostly literary.

Aldous Huxsley for precision, Allen Ginsberg for flow, William Blake for beauty, Ed Sanders for smartness & coolness, Anthony Burgess for linguistic joy, Fredrich Nietzsche for historical vision and Frank Zappa for weirdness. Issac Asimov and the Marquis de Sade remain perhaps my favorites overall. Read More »
via | link
Handmade? It Looks Like You Made It With Your Feet
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Now I buy things from Etsy quite often so I like what many of the people there do but there may be a few crafts that come up just a little short.
She was 'like an angel'

The night before she was killed on the streets of Tehran, the woman the world would come to know simply as Neda had a dream. "There was a war going on," she told her mom the next morning, "and I was in the front."
"People go and write on her grave in red ink the word 'martyr,'" she said, "and then the authorities go and wipe it off." MORE »
Quote Of The Day
Friday, November 6, 2009
~Steve Jobs
Loving Sam Rockwell
Sunday, November 1, 2009

To me Sam Rockwell can do no wrong. His acting jobs are very diverse in the many independent gems and bigger studio movies he appears in and he's always challenging himself. There are two movies out now that offer him up to us Rockwell fans.
From the team that brought us Napoleon Dynamite, comes Gentlemen Broncos. I hate to draw a broad conclusion because I've not seen the film but Sam Rockwell could be the best thing about this movie and that's good enough for me. See Trailer - (more...)
Benjamin (Angarano), home-schooled by his eccentric mother (Coolidge), is a loner whose passion for writing leads him on an journey as his story first gets ripped off by the legendary fantasy novelist, Ronald Chevalier (Clement) and then is adapted into a disastrous movie by the small town's most prolific homespun filmmaker.

It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth's primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive. His only companion is a robot named "Gertie" (voiced by Kevin Spacey).
N O T E W O R T H Y - Moon is directed by David Bowies son Duncan Jones. Did you know that there is a petition to get Sam an Oscar nomination for Moon? Click here.
Saturday Morning Me
Saturday, October 31, 2009
listening to "dirty projectors"
i'm tired and i'm kranky/
having coffee and Kahlua/
my horoscope said to "get out today"/
i will.. i'm going to the liquor store/
so how about you?/
I checked my fucked-o-meter. The gauge was firmly set on ‘Seven ways from Sunday.’
Happy Halloween!
Friday, October 30, 2009

I hope you have a fun Halloween weekend.
I have enough candy to feed around 150 Trick or Treaters and then it's lights out and I'm outta here. xo
Saturday Morning Me
Saturday, October 24, 2009
breakfast-cashew butter wheat toast/tangerine tea/
visine/ginseng/milk thistle/omega3/multi/
black sun and moon dress/trusty black shawl/
listening--Honey To Ashes - The Lickets/
watching leaves swirl on the back deck/
October is my favorite month/
so how about you?/
Quotes For Today
"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
~Thich Nhat Hanh
"For those who wish to go across the water, may I be a boat, a raft, a bridge."
~The Way of the Shantideva
Police think body is missing Florida girl's
Thursday, October 22, 2009

My sister was a Social Worker and I remember something she once told me that jailed prisoners will 90% of the time want to move to Florida when they get released. So there's a lot of offenders there, sexual and otherwise.
I would like to find out the ratio of child molesters in Florida. I don't mean to bash Florida because I've, hands down, had some of the best times of my life there but I can't be the only one raising this coincidental item.
link
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes
Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Like a crazed mix of Krishnas, von Trapps and musical merry pranksters Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes are blazing a path through the music world.
They got so much buzz midyear that I became leery of them so I avoided them. That buzz usually translates to a softer rock like the band Phoenix, The Decemberists or the Shins. All devoid of innovation and soul.
Their first album came out in July 2009 and is fun and exhilarating. It's full of rich melodies and upbeat lyrics. I'm excited about them the way I got excited about Arcade Fire and Fever Ray. (They didn't quite propel me to *Yeasayer-excited, but hardly anyone else can do that.)
Lead singer Alex Ebert was flat-out born to be a front man. Tall, dark, and lanky, his expressive eyes smile while he holds court for an appreciative audience with ants in their pants -- my, oh my. Alex and muse Jade Castrinos sing to each other as she joyfully shares the spotlight beside him, holding her own as she warmly blends the vocals.
MySpace | YouTube
UPDATE: today, October 21st I find out more details on the fabulous *Yeasayer. See EBC.
Dragon*Con 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Dragon*Con 2009
Originally uploaded by pausetivespace
Aren't these magickal photos?
Strange Worlds Collide: Cosplayers at the Aquarium first seen at Coilhouse.
Vampire Killing Kit

Antique Vampire Killing Kit. This is the real deal. Very detailed and mysterious.
I found this at the endlessly fascinating SheWalksSoftly (who found it at this link). Be prepared to sit a spell and scroll and click your little fingers off at SheWalksSoftly as she's featuring a Halloween Countdown explosion.
Wibiya Toolbar
Saturday, October 17, 2009
My website is getting a little fat, ie taking longer to download so I'm tinkering around with removing some items from the sidebar as well.
That's been a pet peeve of mine. Websites that take up so much bandwidth and take a long time to fully load so I better "walk the walk", as they say. =)
Saturday Morning Me
coffee/bagel with brie/brazil nuts/
multivitamin/omega 3/ginseng/
2 pc olive lounging ensemble/
letter opener holding up nappy head/
listening: new espers 3/
so how about you?/
Daily Rumi Quote
Many of the faults you see in others, dear reader, are your own nature reflected in them. As the Prophet said, 'The faithful are mirrors to one another'.
On His Way Home
Friday, October 16, 2009
The back story (and the short one) is that over many years the discs in his back had degenerated so badly that he woke up numb below the waist one day. He was in surgery 2 days later to replace those parts with titanium.
They are making him a custom wheelchair and he is using a loaner for now. His legs aren't fully functioning yet but he has literally taken some steps on his own so we're hoping for the best but it'll take some time for him to progress and be more agile.
So I'm glad to finally have him home. Thanks for reading, for listening, and for your support. :)
The Gang Rape and the Republican
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, October 16, 2009
The world's tallest domestic dog? Adorable. The world's biggest newborn baby? Sad and disturbing.
Waterless urinals in every new building in Los Angeles? A positive step. Canada's disgusting oilsands and Coal Country, a new documentary detailing the environmental atrocities in Appalachia? Heart wrenching and depressing.
Jimmy Page showing Jack White and the Edge how to play "When the Levee Breaks" in It Might Get Loud? All flavors of awesome. Garth Brooks coming out of retirement? Anesthetizing.
See, it's all a matter of perspective. It's all a matter of context and spin, into which bin we toss the delightful refuse of our culture to recycle and re-use it another day.
It is with this wonky filter in mind we turn our gaze to the gaping hellmouth that is the U.S. Senate, that drab cauldron of grumpy old men, defeminized women and tiny handful of rebellious dissenters, all of whom claim to have your best interests at heart but mostly only really give a damn about which lobbyist will help them best make their next boat payment.
Do I sound a little bitter? I cannot imagine why. Let us watch the senate and see if we can figure it out.
Look at them shuffle and sneer, hem and haw! Watch as they willingly eat their own souls with an ice pick and some turpentine, then step up to the media microphones and try to sound ennobled and magnanimous when in fact they only make everyone within earshot feel lost and fatalistic. So cute.
It's the same old spectacle, isn't it? There they go, tossing around the health care reform issue like it didn't affect millions of humans every single day, throwing in massive compromises and snags just so the GOP can fellate its pals in the insurance industry and a gaggle of aggrieved Democrats can get their egos fluffed and you still won't be able to get a decent dental plan for your family.
But now, just for fun, let's take it a step further. Or rather, darker. Let's go ahead and step right onto one of those large, rusty nails sticking up from the senate floor, so painful as to make your stomach turn, a bit of your lunch jump back into your throat.
It's a story from the dark political underbelly that makes you question the entire setup, rethink humanity, and lean out your window and scream: what the hell is wrong with these people? Who are they, really? Why do we give them power?
Here is freshman Minnesota senator Al Franken's first-ever legislative action, a relatively simple, almost laughably surefire bill requiring the Pentagon no longer do business with any contractor -- hi, Halliburton! -- that requires its employees to agree that she cannot sue said contractor if she is, oh let's just say, gang raped by its employees.
You read that right. It's a can't-sue-us-if-you're-raped clause. In a U.S. government contract. Aimed squarely at Halliburton. Thanks, Dick Cheney!
First, you are required to get over your initial disgust that such legislation is even necessary, that such clauses even exist and that the Pentagon is already doing business with such contractors (hi, Halliburton/KBR!), and that there has already been a truly horrible case validating it, wherein a 20-year-old female employee was allegedly gang-raped by contractors, locked in a shipping container, abused every way from Sunday, and found out later she was unable to sue.
Let us pause to imagine if, say, Wal-Mart had such a clause. Or maybe Toys 'R' Us. Starbucks. Let us imagine the appalled outcry. But Halliburton? Dick Cheney's vile little spitwad of shameless war profiteering? No problem. Hey, it's Republican-endorsed military contracting. No one said it was ethical.
But that's not most the repellant part. Ready?
The most repellant part is the 30 U.S. senators -- Republicans each and every one -- who just stepped forth to vote against the Franken amendment, essentially saying no, women should have no right to sue if they are sexually abused or gang raped, Halliburton and its ilk must be protected at all costs, and by the way we hereby welcome Satan into our rancid souls forevermore. God bless America.
Let us repeat, for clarity. Franken's amendment passed with a vote of 68-30. Meaning 30 U.S. senators voted against the elimination of the rape/sue clause. Meghan McCain, call your dad. He's one of them.
Here is where you try and do it. Here is where you bring in the filter mentioned above, try to figure out where to slot such wretched information, how to make even the slightest sense of it.
And then you discover a horrible truth: you can't. Turns out, when faced with such vileness, all filters fail. All balance is thrown off. You thought you had some sort of way to process and attain perspective? You are proven wrong.
So perhaps all we can do is ponder how pathetic and sad these various senator's lives must be, how these bitter old men will now go home at night and announce around the dinner table that, yes, today they worked very hard to help improve the welfare of the nation by essentially enabling rape and sexual abuse, tried their darndest to prevent women who've been viciously attacked from having much legal recourse. And lo, Satan will chuckle happily.
Then maybe these senators will try and hug their wives, or their daughters. And maybe, if there's any justice in the universe, their wives and daughters will slap them as hard as humanly possible, lock them in a shipping container, and never let them touch them again.
P.S. Would you like a complete list of these 30 senators' names? Right here.
Why look, there's grandpa McCain. There's disgraced man-child John Ensign. Hooker-lovin' David Vitter. Saxby Chambliss. Inhofe. It's a veritable welfare-state who's who of Dick Cheney's sanctum of oily fluffers, and many more who would love to be. Shall we write a nice letter to them? Or maybe their wives and daughters?
link
An Hour of Music and Conversation with Legendary Native American Singer-Songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie
Monday, October 12, 2009

Over the years, Buffy Sainte-Marie has worked with the American Indian Movement, but also with Sesame Street, and even Hollywood, winning an Academy Award for the song “Up Where We Belong” in 1982.
You can watch the video on Democracy Now - link
I'm not a big fan of her vibrato singing style but her spirit, her heart and her desire to right wrongs are what have continued to move me all these many years. Nice to see that she's still spreading the love and light.