because I can

Friend and poet, Billy Jones, wants us to consider the phrase: "because I can" so I cannot pass up the challenge (or he will beat me with his blogger bat).

There are at least 3 ways to look at the matter. Consider the distinctions:

BECAUSE i can
because I can
because i CAN

The first meaning seems vapid, and the third seems adolescent, but the second one has resonance and worth.

Make a list. Write down all the things you do. Now calculate either the percentage or total set of people who also can perform that function or activity. For example:

Breathe - 100%
Eat - 90%
Fart - 92.8%
Sculpt - 19%
Write a book about life from my particular perspective - .000001%

Make the list as complete as you'd like.

Now, order the list mathematically.

Meditate on the list, then ask yourself whether or not you are spending enough time focusing on what you alone can do.

So many people waste their gifts trying to do what anyone else can do.

Dare to be extraordinary.
Dare to be yourself.

because YOU can!

Norton Resigns After Abramoff Revelation; Justice O'Connor Warns of Dictatorship

• Interior Secretary, pictured with Abramoff, resigns abruptly
• O'Connor chides GOP attacks onjudiciary, warns of dictatorship
• Sandra Day O'Connor Warns Against Partisan GOP DeLay/Bush Dictatorship.
• Fancy Frist Campaign ad attacks gays, judges, African Americans
• Focus on the Family denies lobbying for Abramoff; E-mails refute
• Bush: "How will I know if it's unconstitutional?" - World Net Daily Condemns Bush's Absentee Presidency"
• At Conservative Forum on Bush, Everybody's a Critic

Chris Matthews of the Kakistocracy

Alphabetically, Chris Matthews is one of the most aeolistic, borborygmic, cacodoxical, deblaterative, energumenical, frustraneous, godhopping, heteronomic, ignivomous, jejune, kakistocratic, logorrheic, mammoniacal, nescient, outrecuidant, periphrastic, quaquaversal, ringent, scumbered, talionic, ululative, vulpecular, windsucking, xanthic, yammering and zorillic of Pavlov's bitches. Thus we hereby grant Chris honorary membership in the kakistocracy. Welcome. And may 2008 bring an end to the kakistocrats.

The kakistocracy in the News:

Bush's Approval Rating Falls to New Low
Far fewer Americans consider Bush likable, honest, strong and dependable

More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush's performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP-Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency.
Republican Party leaders said the survey explains why GOP lawmakers are rushing to distance themselves from Bush on a range of issues — port security, immigration, spending, warrantless eavesdropping and trade...
Personally, far fewer Americans consider Bush likable, honest, strong and dependable than they did just after his re-election campaign...
By comparison, Presidents Clinton and Reagan had public approval in the mid 60s at this stage of their second terms in office, while Eisenhower was close to 60 percent, according to Gallup polls...

The 2005 Koufax Awards: Anonymoses is up for Best Writing

The Koufax Awards are now open for nominations, and somehow I got shoehorned into the mix.
Even though there are many better writers on the list, you can still vote for Anonymoses since no one else is. It's the weird thing to do!

The Best Writing link is HERE.
The main list is here.

Check out all the categories though. Iddybud is up for best blog and blog deserving of wider recognition. Bora Zivkovic is in a few categories (Expert and Single Issue). Look for Coturnix and Science and Politics. Other local folks are Scrutiny Hooligans, Arse Poetica, BlogAsheville, Ed Cone, Pam's House Blend, Blue NC, and more. (I'll add more, and link, later. In a hurry right now.)

OTHER CATEGORIES
Best Blog (non-pro) - Best Commenter - Best Single Issue - Best Series - Best Blog (pro/sponsor) - Best Expert Blog - Most Humorous Blog - Most Humorous Post - Best Post - Best Group Blog - Best Blog Community - Best Writing - Best state and local Blogs - Wider Recognition Blogs - Best New Blogs

Angelic Dana Reeve Joins Christopher Reeve, her beloved husband, in Heaven

Dana Reeve was 44

Dana Reeve, wife of Christopher Reeve, Dead from Lung Cancer

Their love was, frankly, exemplary. We should all hope to be such angels.
And now their love is complete, as they join in the eternal family of Love, we call Heaven.
I can't help but be happy for them. It is us for whom I mourn. It is our loss.
The world is less bright without them. May we all learn from their extraordinary love and sacrifice.
My own beloved aunt died from lung cancer just 2 weeks ago, and today I decided to quit smoking...even before learning of Dana Reeve's departure. I can't help but drawn threads.

I once had hopes that Mr. Reeve would become another FDR, in that he would run and win the presidency. Theirs would have been an awesome co-presidency.

Alas, they are in a better place.

Cheney Declares War on Iran

Bloodthirsty Animal Killer once again sets sights on humans

Dickless Cheney, the Emperor of the Media/Military-Industrial Complex, has recovered from his detention, and is now hungry to shed more blood. Not his own, of course.

Mothers and fathers, gather ye children for the blood-letting.
Soon they will be shipped to Iran, to satisfy the sporting Bush Misadministration, for whom Life is frankly a piece of turd to be stamped on.

Anyone else ashamed of these killers?

God is Love. Cheney ain't either. Au contraire.

And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?

[stock tip: Invest in bodybags.]

Women Flee South Dakota in Droves

Abortion Ban Leaves SD Men Considering Seeing Brokeback Mountain

gingerivers: Tar heel Tavern #54 is up!

gingerivers: Tar heel Tavern #54

Grace: Esse Quam Videri

"The most perfect grace consists not in external ornamentation but in allowing the original material to stand forth, beautified by being given form."
-I Ching (The Book of Changes)

To be rather than to seem...

I guess you could say we live in a state of grace!