Books That I Am Reading

ROOM by Emma Donoghue

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

Earth(The Book)by The Daily Show

Shopgirl by Steve Martin

Jonathan Strange & Mr.Norrell by Susanna Clarke

In The Name Of The Father Washington's Legacy,Slavery And The Making Of A Nation by Francois Furstenberg

K~Tune 155

Small Reprise~Queen + Paul Rodgers

Djohariah~Sufjan Stevens

With or Without You~Sarah Darling

Maps~Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Sober Driver~Dengue Fever

Ohio~The Black Keys

Saturday Night~The Misfits

Thieves~She & Him

Come Undone~Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell

Goin To Alcapulco~Jim James;Calexico

Louisiana Fairy Tale~Yim Yames;Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Corinne Died On The Battlefield~Tom Waits;Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Riders On The Storm~Santana Featuring Chester Bennington & Ray Manzarek

Creep (Radiohead Cover)~Scala & Kolacny Brothers

No Karma~Jaydiohead

Small~Queen + Paul Rodgers

9/11 & Why I'm Voting Domocratic

Who does not remember where they were on 9/11/2001?Waking up after the actually event[I worked third shift],I first saw the burning buildings on MSN via the world wide web.I immediately turned on the Tv,and telephoned my Mother.Watching the towers burn,I stated to my Mom just how horrible it was watching them burning.Her reply,"Andy,don't you know that they fell?" came exactly as the images on Tv showed the first tower imploding.

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I was in an instant state of shock.

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Though no longer Catholic-I am now Presbyterian-for some reason,I felt compelled to go to our town's Catholic church,light a candle,kneel down and say the Rosary.

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That night at work..though it was a very slow night...lasted twelve hours...because everyone was just too numbed and,to be honest,befuddled,to go at it very hard.

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The following Jeff Stahler cartoon,published soon after what is now simply known as:9/11,summed up what most of us Americans felt.To this day,I consider it not only the best,but definitive 9/11 cartoon.Why it did not win a Pulitzer,is beyond me.

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America was at a crossroads...were we going to hate back?
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Apparently so.

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Flip forward to today...America is now not only filled with hate for our enemies,but hate for those that oppose us.

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The Republican party and it's nasty offshoot,The morally ambiguous,Tea Party(filtered through such outlets as Fox News)have created a nasty attitude of hate against all things that they stand against:especially,president Obama.Never mind that president Obama was elected into office.Never mind that actual good things have already happened in his under two years in office[ one war,for all practical purposes -over/major al-Qaeda operatives neutralized/a major banking disaster averted and an aggressive Stimulus package that appears to be working].Attack,attack and attack is the only thing these hate filled naysayers seem to understand.

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The Republicans are so good at hating,they even attack their own kind.There is NO compromise within the power/hate mongers of the GOP.Crossing over to vote with the Democrats on anything/for any reason is cause for shouts of,'Off with his head!'.

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The message is clear:Hate or be hated.

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This is not The American Way.

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But it is the way of cooperation giants like the infamous Koch brothers{international corporate sponsors of the Tea party} & of the international media corporate giant,FOX media.

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Both are playing on the fears,hate and bigotry of the American people,to force their hand upon The United States of America.

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Don't believe me...watch this clip from the 'comedy' news show,called 'The Daily Show'.Fox news-an oxymoron if I ever heard one-gets caught,here,doing it's daily practice of taking partial clips-totally out of context-and running them with hate speech sneering announcers,as if the clips were actual verbatim news stories:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Are You Ready for Some Midterms? - MSNBC's Political Narrative
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

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My question is:Fox News..if your opponent is so evil and back assward..why use Nazi style propaganda?Why mis-lead instead of lead?Why lie?

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Because lying is the only way to get your way!

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Shame on you Fox News!

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The sad thing is that it is working...and working well.

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Reading the current edition of ODOT's 'Transcript Newsletter'(Fall 2010) that reported that the Obama Stimulus package is actually working,a quasi-Republican fellow worker told me to,"Shut UP!".

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I guess,his mind was made up for him.The truth was irrelevant.The truth no longer had any meaning for him.Only the often quoted lies and mis-leading propaganda gauged his decisions.

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Abraham Lincoln once said,"You can fool some of the people all the time,and all of the people some of the time.But you can't fool all the people all of the time."

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Ya ain't foolin' me.

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Give me liberty or give me death!

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I'M VOTING DEMOCRATIC!

Two Quick Things

Ok,I am not usually a sucker for seeing these images of Jesus on toast,water stains,etc...but this one is pretty cool.Yes,I know,especially as an ex-treeman,that this is just an optical illusion-at best,and a case of just seeing what you want to see-at worst...but this is still pretty cool(says the ex-treeman).


Second,this 17:03 minute song by Sufjan Stevens called,'Djohariah'[about his younger sister],is BY FAR the best song of the year.The twelve minutes plus guitar work is simply amazing;the chorale chants,the horns,and the blow you away lyrics-just make this a fantastic song.None better this year.


I have been really burnt out on the lousy state of pop music lately,'Djohariah' is a God's send.One GREAT song.


Listen to it:HERE