I was over at Alien Citizen today and found a profoundly troubling article about how BushCo is screwing the troops yet again. Please check her blog at:
http://aliencitizens.blogspot.com/

And, for an article bringing some new facts to light on the debacle at the Justice Department, this from the Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/24/justice-department-looked_n_108931.html

The Girl Who Silenced the UN Environmental Conference for Five Minutes

Pop Quiz

Can you tell the difference between Bush and McCain?
Me neither:

Then There Are Cartoons That Aren't Meant to Amuse:

But, at least we've gotten to the point where we can begin to think about the repair process.

Updating the Post of June 4th

Better news than I aired on June 4th [see ‘A Sad State of Affairs’ below].
Today I’ve been working on a new post for All that Is and, again, wanted race- and gender- balanced photos for it.
This time I googled ‘entrepreneurs’ and, lo and behold, found a Black Man as the focus [in front of 3 others] on the first page! I've also found a higher number of multi-racial group photos here than during the previous search [for 'executives'].
Since entrepreneurs are a more recent phenomenon— in the news, at least —I’ll bet this site is a newer one than the site featuring executives and, probably, reflects a more current viewpoint. So, I believe, things ARE on the move—and for the better. We can hope that’s true, anyway.

I’m continuing to search through the site and will keep you posted on any good and bad news I dig up along the way. Or you can check it out for yourself at http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/entrepreneur.html. Happy hunting. :)

Wellllllll -- it did take 8 pages to find a lone Black Man -- but this one was, at least, indoors and dressed similarly to the other people in the montage. He also had appropriate props [family photos] in the pic. That's some improvement from last time, anyway.
xxx
And, a bit more news: When I googled 'counseling photos' I got a big surprise: very few photos that could be said to be those of counselors with their clients. Instead, relationships seemed to be the focus. All races and both genders were well represented. Lots of multiracial groups from 2 to several people included in each photo were prominent in this group and family member groups were featured as well.
Since this is a site people would be unlikely to stumble upon if they're looking for the photos found in it, I just thought I would pass on this information for other bloggers.

A couple of Sites to check out.

Go here and check out June 10's post [especially the 2nd pic] for your morning laugh.
xxx
Dan Froomkin of The Washington Post weighs in on such matters as the White House's "Self Examination" [yeah, right]; the relationship between Rove and Abramoff [remember him?] and the White House's relationship with Abramoff, as well; torture matters; the rush to war; the refusal of Iraq to accept certain conditions demanded by BushCo due to, as Iraqi officials put it, the fact that the biggest obstacle to Iraq's progress being those US policies; the Senate's latest inquiry into illegalities in the White House and the economy.
Here's the link.

Click here for a very abbreviated history lesson of what led up to the post below this one— and a possible glimpse of a brighter future for all of us because of the historic moment we are living through today.
The fact that the primary [as painful as it has been] included two historic firsts is good news, indeed. I'm holding the hope that, along with his policies, Obama may bring a different mindset to America.

Yes, he's inexperienced. I'm put in mind of another charismatic, inexperienced senator who had the audacity to race for the gold ring and win. I wonder what JFK's legacy would be today if his tenure had not been cut short? As things stand, he is one of our most revered presidents.

All that said, don't blow it, Barack. Even more than usual is riding on your presidency— and I'm not just talking about the mess Bush is leaving behind. I'm talking 389 years of accumulated mess.

A Sad State of Affairs

Today I set up a new post profiling the Young Soul over at All that Is.
I planned to include some photos and I wanted a good racial and gender mix. I got a massive surprise. With the entire internet to play with, I had a very hard time filling such a simple request.

Oh, sure, I found a huge photo stock of executives to choose from. Plenty of White Males, of course. And White Females. Asians, both male and female [primarily male] were fairly well represented. Black Females were available in smaller numbers. Several of these were profiles so they were fairly generic in nature. A few Indian and Hispanic Males were available. No females of either nationality were present in the pages I viewed.

But, I was on page 5 [with 25 photos available per page] before I found a Black Male as the featured person in the photo. Not alone in the photo, mind you— one of 6 people but he was the primary focus —finally.
I wanted to find a photo of a Black Man alone in a photo and, by this time, I was pretty curious to see how long it would take, as well, so I kept hunting.
When I finally found one he was at the top of page 10 and he was wearing an open-necked blue shirt.
Among 25 photos on this page alone, of mostly White Males wearing business attire, the first lone Black Man I could find was number 226 and his photo could just as well have been used to depict a window washer.

Almost all other captions were listed as 'Executive', 'Colleagues', 'Office Worker[s]' and were shown with appropriate props to signify that they were, indeed, working in an office. This man was shown with no props at all and, although he was in a listing of executives he was listed as 'Male Standing in Front of an Office Building'.

I was already days late on the post I was working on so I finally settled on a group of 3 'colleagues' although I did find a photo of 2 males [one Black and one White] working on computers before I found the one I used— on page 14. This photo, at least, showed 2 Black Males and 1 White Female. But I had waded through 351 photos before I found it.
xxx
How much rampant racism like this simply goes unnoticed by most of us every day?
How much more quickly might I have noticed this discrepancy if I were a Black man? [I'm not proud to admit that it has taken me 60 years.]
And, with so few images to draw on, is it any wonder that our minority children see their only way out of grinding poverty the route taken by Michael Jordan? And what are the chances that that is a realistic option for them?

Update by Jake

Hello, Humans—
My name is Jake. This morning at about 4:00, I rolled over on my back and let Two Crows [who, whether she knows it or not, just signed her house over to me] know that I am a little boy.

She gave me my first name— Jacob.
She tells me that it's very rare for a cat to earn its middle name before it even gets its first name [sometimes it can take months]— but I'm the exception to the rule. Before she had named me Jake, I had named myself Sinatra.

Two Crows says the name is still tentative—it depends on if I keep up the practice of singing at 4 AM. She says that if I keep that up she will have a serious discussion with me— whatever that means.
Does anyone reading this know what her reference to a water bottle might have meant? She seemed to have a lot of confidence in that thing— whatever it is.

As I get more and more settled into my new home, I'll be keeping you up to date with how things are going.
Hhhommmmmmmmmeowwwww— right now, though, I feel a nap coming on. Hey, I've got to keep up my strength if I'm gonna be up for tonight's serenade. :-3

'We must all hang together or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.'

Human Bitten By Feline

Hey, everyone—
No I haven’t finished the projects yet. In fact another one has taken me on:

It seems someone came in a few days ago and dropped off a cat in our neighborhood. She’s been hanging out around the pool.

Since I got to Florida 15 months ago, I’ve been content not being responsible for anyone but me. But this little lady [she’s 3 colors, so is probably female] is so friendly and, when the park manager mentioned that she has lost weight since she arrived here, my heart melted.

So, I carted over to PetSmart today and laid in a supply of kitten food [she’s at least an adolescent but, since she’s been losing weight, I figure she can use the extra nutrients to start with] litter, a litter box, a scratcher and a couple of toys. I drove home, set everything up, walked over to the pool and—she’s nowhere to be found. Of course.

Now that I’ve committed myself, I’m feeling a bit anxious for her though she probably was simply hiding from the sun [it’s a scorcher out there, today].

So, anyway, I may be taking on a new family member tonight and a trip to the vet just got added to tomorrow’s itinerary. If there is a merciful God, she’s not already pregnant and, as well as her shots, she’ll be staying at the vet’s for several hours while she gets a full check-up, gets spayed, etc.

So, so much for being responsible only for myself. **sigh**

Oh, well, I’ve had a parade of cats go through my home for 35 years or more. [Or, to be more precise, numerous feline owners have allowed me to reside in their house with them.]
Tess lived to be 19, fergoshsakes!

This little lady hasn’t even told me her name, yet—let alone whether she’ll want to help with the blogs. If she has a penchant for politics, spiritual matters or even funny videos, she’ll likely put in an appearance every so often. We’ll see.

Update:

Well, I went back up to the pool and, when I walked in the gate with the cat carrier, everyone knew what I was up to and wanted to help. One lady had some treats she’d been feeding the cat with. They said it had just been there and probably hadn’t gone far.

So, I sat down and waited and, a very few minutes later here it came around the corner. A man said that a couple of ladies had said it was a neutered male. I’m still not sure about that because the main colors are gray and white [what I call a tabico—pure white with tabby markings] but, I detect some hints of orange under the tail and between the back legs. Not much, but enough, I think, to qualify as 3 colors.

Anyway, it kinda freaked when it saw the cat carrier—so someone hid it and the cat settled down in my lap. No way was it going to ride home in the cart though, so, I carried it home on foot. The cat got a little agitated on the way home so we came to an agreement—we’ll give ourselves 48 hours or so and, if it wants to move out, it’s free to go.

Unfortunately, I had been debating between 2 flea collars at the store and seem to have gotten home with neither. **sigh**
But, since we’ve been home, the cat has met the food and water bowls and the litter box and the scratching pad. The catnip on the scratch pad brought on some biting of my wrist but we had words and the cat settled right down.

I haven’t investigated to see if I can determine the sex yet, so we haven’t even begun discussing a name. So far it’s ‘Hey, you.’

Right now, I think it’s still investigating the house. In fact, it’s awfully quiet out there. Maybe I’d better check and see what it’s up to.
xxx
It had made itself at home on the living room couch. A good sign. Acourse, the fact that there are several layers of moccasin leather and fur on the couch probably helped in that department. Just wait till it tries the couch in the guest room! It’s got about twice the layers as the l/r one. Cat heaven.
xxx
I just checked again. She [I'm still thinking of her as a 'her'] has now discovered the sheepskin on the living room couch. I think she's found her spot.