Who should the Military Trust?

This has made its rounds, but deserves repeating...

Democrats
* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army
journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII. He lost an arm.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V,
Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star,
Vietnam.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven
campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze
Stars, and Soldier's Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star
and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze
Star
with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but
received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18
Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul
Wallenberg.

Republicans
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage. Seven deferments. Seven.

* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve. Probably took time out of his homophobia.
* Trent Lott: did not serve. Hey, he needed the time to practice his racism.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve. Probably spent it studying Machiavelli.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked
Max Cleland's patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon! Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got
assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running
for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam,
disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role
making movies. *And then confused the movies with real life.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart
and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued
in NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Pundits & Preachers
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.

* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve. Needed the time to study harassment of women.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot
back.) Don't get me started on this long-haired sexist neo wingnut.

The Project Gutenberg EBook of "Love Conquers All" by Robert Benchley

is now onlinereplete with illustrations.

...slowly she turned: tar heel tavern #40 - thanksgiving edition

Laurie cooked up a real feast for us today. Go check it out!

The Color Thistle

and other purty colors.

Love blinds by being so real

Love blinds by being so real
that even eyes are in awe and stand down
knowing the lines intersect in eternity,
which cannot be seen save the eye of Love
wherefrom it came
In grace opens its gates and mysteries.
-anonyMoses Hyperlincoln III

Tonight! The Near Misses rock The Evening Muse in NODA

"There must be a corner cafe..."

"This unforgettable band is comprised of Shana Blake, Reeve Coobs, Jill Lurie, and siblings Eva Gael & Etta Lea."

Show starts at 8pm. 5 bucks in advance. The Evening Muse is the corner cafe on 36th and Davidson.

What Is Web 2.0?

Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software
by Tim O'Reilly

More on Web 2.0, AJAX, mashups and how Google is leading the way in the development of Web 2.0.

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey was a naughty girl at the recent American Music Awards, and the world is worse for the wear, even though I have no idea what that means. Maybe it is supposed to be "no worse for the wear". Or maybe it is something altogether different, like "omnipresence abnegates attribute". Yes, that was it!
Mariah Carey was a naughty girl at the recent American Music Awards, and omnipresence abnegates attribute.

Alls I can say is "Yugo girl"!

Buddha Boy or Bulemic Girly-Man?

Skinny boy gets even skinnier

Telegraph | News | Pilgrims flock to see 'Buddha boy' said to have fasted six months

Arnold needs to take this boy and give him some pecs. Something! I mean look at him! Practically a girl! And that long hair! What are our kids turning into? Hippies? Beatles? Wussies?

And look at that dress! As if men in kilts was not bad enough. I can only shake my head and toss up my hands...

JUDGE JOHN G. ROBERTS: The Published Opinions

The CJ of SCOTUS has hundreds of opinions. He opines all day long sometimes. Here are his published opinions, or, in his case, Published Opinions.

(via the legendary and kind Doc Searls)


Ceci n'est pas une chat

If America Left Iraq

The case for cutting and running
(Thanks to Deep Teeth for finding this.)

anonyMoses plays the piano

Here goes one of my groovy piano sonatae.
Comments? Criticisms? Tomatoes? Pesto?

Limerica by Anonymoses

(Using the astonishing and clever beginning line of "There once was a ___". )

There once was a thingus whose thirl
would set your mind starting to whirl.
Trying to be Saturnalian
he performed rather Thalian.
There were those even thought him a girl!

There once was this red-headed bloke
who'd think the day long, and smike.
Once he got out of bed
blood rushed to his head
and affected his mind quite like coke.

There once was a man named Thales
(who came long before the dailies)
who reduced all matter to water
and betook himself a good daughter
now he may join the league of George Baileys.

Should Bush have a third term?

As the exuberance of Bush's second term sweeps the globe, people everywhere are asking if Bush can have a third and even fourth term. Some are even requesting that voting be dropped altogether, now that we have found the summum bonum, or pinnacle, of world leadership.

Where do you stand on this urgent and ludibund question?

3rd term??

Logos by Anonymoses

How Charlotte fights (and creates) homelessness

Iddybud responds to Charlotte Talks and the sale of Morningside Apartments.

Easley shows no mercy to Syriani family

Victims of "Justice" receive no Mercy

Easley denies clemency for Syriani

What do you do when someone's mother is taken away from them? Governor Mike Easley of North Carolina apparently thinks the answer is to take away their father as well. Personally I think it is wrongheaded and hard-hearted. But then again, I don't get to kill people like Easley and other governors and presidents do. Must suck to be one. Blood on the hands and all that.
Maybe he actually thinks Javier is a better man than Valjean. Sure acts that way.

By showing no mercy to the Syriani children, Mr. Easley has lost my respect and vote, as if he really gives a damn. I guess he can feel like a manly man now though. Heaven forbid he should appear soft, or the Taoistic ideal. (The soft shall overcome the hard. Oops!)

So while Mr. Syriani killed the mother of these children, Mr. Easley killed their father. I seriously hope he gives this some thought. I cannot imagine he will ever be forgiven for his short-sighted need to take away life, and inflict even more pain on this suffering family.

Idea Consultants: Turn your blog into a book (and sell it)

So, you've been writing a blog for quite some time now. You are proud of some of your work. You are particularly proud of some of your old stuff, now burried deep in the archives never to be seen again. Who reads archives, after all? You don't want to repeat yourself over and over again, and have never felt at ease with constantly linking back to your old posts (I never had such qualms). So, what can you do to make your old stuff more accessible and available?
Let Bora show you how...

"To question your government is not unpatriotic -- to not question your government is unpatriotic," Hagel said.

Hagel Defends Criticisms of Iraq Policy

US used chemical weapons in Iraq

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US used white phosphorus in Iraq

White phosphorus is highly flammable and ignites on contact with oxygen. If the substance hits someone's body, it will burn until deprived of oxygen.

Globalsecurity.org, a defence website, says: "Phosphorus burns on the skin are deep and painful... These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears... it could burn right down to the bone."



'I treated people who had their skin melted'

"They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud," he said. He had seen "pieces of these bombs explode into large fires that continued to burn on the skin even after people dumped water on the burns".

Bill Clinton, like Gore and Edwards, acknowledge that Iraq Invasion was a big mistake

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

Unlike many of the pussilanimous Democrats and nearly all the Repuppetlicans, Clinton, Gore and Edwards are using their eyes and minds...

Bush's Political Capital

Where it's at
Another excellent cartoon from Zencomix.

Welcome to DAVETV

IPTV - Coming to a Computer Near YOU!

From Wikipedia
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) describes a system where a digital television service is delivered to subscribing consumers using the Internet Protocol over a broadband connection. This service is often provided in conjunction with Video on Demand and may also include Internet services such as Web access and VOIP where it may be called Triple Play and is typically supplied by a broadband operator using the same infrastructure.

IPTV is expected to grow at a brisk pace in the coming years as broadband is now available to more than 100 million households worldwide. Many of the world's major telecommunications providers are exploring IPTV as a new revenue opportunity from their existing markets and as a defensive measure against encroachment from more conventional Cable Television services.

Is traditional TV news still relevant to young people?

BBC NEWS: Digital challenge to old-style TV news

Note the reference to Buzzflash: Left Drudge on Steroids

To Torture, or Not To Torture

That is our question...

White House declines to totally rule out torture
WASHINGTON (AFP) - In an important clarification of President George W. Bush's earlier statement, a top White House official refused to unequivocally rule out the use of torture, arguing the US administration was duty-bound to protect Americans from terrorist attack...

A DEADLY INTERROGATION
Can the C.I.A. legally kill a prisoner?
After September 11th, the Justice Department fashioned secret legal guidelines that appear to indemnify C.I.A. officials who perform aggressive, even violent interrogations outside the United States. Techniques such as waterboarding—the near-drowning of a suspect—have been implicitly authorized by an Administration that feels that such methods may be necessary to win the war on terrorism. (In 2001, Vice-President Dick Cheney, in an interview on “Meet the Press,” said that the government might have to go to “the dark side” in handling terrorist suspects, adding, “It’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal.”) The harsh treatment of Jamadi and other prisoners in C.I.A. custody, however, has inspired an emotional debate in Washington, raising questions about what limits should be placed on agency officials who interrogate foreign terrorist suspects outside U.S. territory.

Charlotte Art League

From Right to Left: The Adventures of a Liberal Veteran

Blogcritics.org

John Edwards: a portrait in authenticity

The Bright and the Dull.

"Cornbread and Roses" -The Nation

In February Edwards surprised them all, announcing a campaign to "eradicate poverty in America." With a $40,000 annual salary paid by private funds, Edwards became the first director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC, Chapel Hill's law school, largely a think tank designed to bring antipoverty scholars, activists, journalists and politicians together to cook up innovative ways to tackle economic and racial inequities.Edwards is also putting some of his ideas into action, including the College for Everyone program he promised in 2004. In low-income Greene County Edwards this summer announced a pilot program to pay for the first year of college for local high school graduates willing to work at least ten hours a week.

Since launching the center, Edwards has returned to perpetual motion, taking his antipoverty crusade to more than thirty states. Between visits to shelters and job-training centers and delivering his new stump speech, full of ringing challenges to view poverty as "the great moral cause of our time," Edwards has raised more than $4 million for Democratic legislative candidates in mostly red states, trying, as he says, "to build the party back from the ground up." He's teaming with unlikely partners on the left--including local AFL-CIO, ACORN and NAACP chapters--in campaigns to raise the minimum wage in Ohio, Arizona and Michigan. He's praising Big Labor's historic role in "lifting millions of Americans out of poverty." And he's floating serious--and surprisingly liberal--proposals to put his high-flown rhetoric into action. He's touting a controversial "cultural integration" plan to give low-income families housing vouchers to move into better neighborhoods. He's calling for expansions to Bill Clinton's earned-income tax credits, for concerted crackdowns on predatory lenders, and for "work bonds" to help low-income workers build savings and assets. He wants not only to repeal Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent but also to raise capital-gains taxes for those on the top rungs. After Hurricane Katrina he spoke pointedly about how "the face of poverty in America is the face of color" and promoted an ambitious Gulf Coast recovery program modeled on FDR's Works Progress Administration--a touchstone for the kind of big-government liberalism that the old Edwards (like most Democratic leaders today) wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole.

Icky War Crimes are Making Scott McClellan Dance for his Dollars

White House Briefing: McClellan Deflects Questions on Torture Exemption A Couple Dozen Times

It must be tough being an apologist for war criminals and their icky need to torture, especially now that they can no longer claim proprietorship of the so-called American mainstream, which they polluted and left for dead, in their race to the right fringe of Hell.

So much easier to just emulate Jesus or Rumi or Gautama than to emulate power-crazed megalomaniacs -- who could never see beyond their alcohol-emboldened egos.

America should be courageous enough to cough up our own hairballs when they threaten the flow of air. And yet our air is filled with hairballs and nutballs, all hyperventilating shrill emotions, as if amplitude will serve to persuade. But as George Bernard Shaw once observed:
"Not intelligent, only opinionated." Yet some people guzzle opinion as if it were knowledge, thus real food. Only when they die of malnutrition might they realize that one has to eat something more than chicken. Faux chicken.

And that is why anonyMoses Enterprises has created an antidote:
Whenever you are in public, repeat aloud the words: "Rush is bigger than Jesus", which is literally true, although figuratively false.

Before long, the spell will wear off, and dittoheads will be given back their own heads, and sunshine days will return, and sweetness and light will dwell over all the earth. Maybe.

The Politics of Flu

The relationship between GW Bush, Scooter Libby and the Bird Flu.
[file under pharmaterrorism]

Penthouse courts sexual Panther Cheerleaders

Concupiscent Panther Pussycats

Most cheerleaders are celibate, and don't even think about sexual congress. Not so our brave and sexy Panther cheerleaders! And now Penthouse magazine realizes that southern belles have got what it takes to move mags, and we're not talking redneck wheels, which are typically already moving. The magazine is courting Renee Thomas, 20, (who looks a whole lot like Kelly Ripa) and Angela Keathley, 26, to pose nude, although it would generally be better is they were nekkid, since it is sexier to be nekkid than merely naked or nude. Nekkid, you see, has a special meaning down south, with the implication being that hormones are involved.

Go pussycats! You are putting our team on the map!

Oh wait! They are actually called the TopCats? Why not BottomCats?

A history of the Iraq war, told entirely in lies

A Revision Thing...
Posted on Monday, November 7, 2005. All text is verbatim from senior Bush Administration officials and advisers. In places, tenses have been changed for clarity. Originally from Harper's Magazine, October 2003. By Sam Smith.

(Thanks to FullThroat and Ra Bourbon for this nugget.)

With such gems as...

-It was absolutely clear that the number-one threat facing America was from Saddam Hussein. -We know that Iraq and Al Qaeda had high-level contacts that went back a decade.
-We learned that Iraq had trained Al Qaeda members in bomb making and deadly gases.
-The regime had long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist organizations.
-Iraq and Al Qaeda had discussed safe-haven opportunities in Iraq.
-Iraqi officials denied accusations of ties with Al Qaeda. These denials simply were not credible. -You couldn't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talked about the war on terror.
-The fundamental question was, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer was, absolutely.
-His regime had large, unaccounted-for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons--including VX, sarin, cyclosarin, and mustard gas, anthrax, botulism, and possibly smallpox.
-Our conservative estimate was that Iraq then had a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical-weapons agent. That was enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.

-The United States was not interested in the oil in that region.
-We were intent on ensuring that Iraq's oil resources remained under national Iraqi control, with the proceeds made available to support Iraqis in all parts of the country.
-The oil fields belonged to the people of Iraq, the government of Iraq, all of Iraq.

On and on the lies go...

And people are still dying for them.

Carolina Panther cheerleader arrested for gangbanging team

Cheerleader arrested after alleged sex - NFL - MSNBC.com

OK, so she didn't really gangbang the whole team, or even one of them. She did apparently have sex in a bathroom stall, which is also quite sexy.


For more anonyMoses coverage of the Panther cheerleaders and their foibles, check here.



This will only make people want to see the Panthers more often, so...great going girls!

anonyMoses chosen as a BlogCritic of the Week

...for "Breaking the Gilligan Code".

This and others can be sound here.

Close to the End

(Dedicated to Mr. Bush's last term in office.)
Sung to the music of "Close to the Edge" by YES

[edited to fit on your screen]

Close to the End
(also known as "Kos to the Edge")
by anonyMoses Hyperlincoln

A seasoned bitch could call you from the depths of your disgrace,
And rearrange your liver to match up your boily face,
And achieve it all with music that came quickly from afar,
Then taste the wrath of man recorded, losing all against the hour.
And assessing points to nowhere, leading ev'ry single one.
A Sundrop can exalt us like the blog of Mr. Sun,
And take away the plain in which we move,
And choose the course you're running.

Rough at the edge, found in the corner,
No right of way, no right today...
Close to the ledge, down by a liver,
No right of way, no right today...


Crossed the line around the changes of the Sumer,
Lashing out to dull the color of the sky.
Passed around a moment clothed in mourning sadder than we see.
Getting over all the time I had to worry,
Leaving all the changes far from far behind.
We relieve the tension only to find out the master's bait.

Down at the bend, round by the corner.
Close to the end, just by a liver.
Reasons will pass you by.
I get up, you get down.
Now that it's all over and done,
Now that you find, you're in a hole.

My mind convinced, eclipsed with the younger Moon attained with Rove.
It changed as almost brained amidst clear manna from above.
I crucified by hate and held the world within my hand.
There's you, the time, no logic, or reasons we don't understand.

Sad courage claimed the victims standing still for all to see,
As armoured movers took approach and overtook the sea.
There since McCord, the license, or the reasons we understood would be.

Rough at the edge, closed down my liver.
Kos to the edge, found in the korner.
Close to the end, round by the corner.
Down at the edge, found by the river.

Sudden call shouldn't take away your startled memory.
All in all, the journey takes you all the way.
As apart from any reality that you've ever seen and known.
Causing problems only to receive no mention,
Stupid paths that climb halfway into the void.
As we cross from side to side, we hear the total Bush refrain.

Down at the bend, round by the corner.
Close to the end, down by a liver.
Reasons will pass you by.
I get up, you get down...


In his white face
You can clearly see a Liddy sadly looking.
Saying that he'd take the blame
For the crucifixion of their web domain.

I get up, I get down,
I get up, I'm a clown.
Two million people barely satisfied.
Two hundred women watch one woman cry, too late.
The eyes of hurricanes can achieve.
How many millions does he deceive each day?

You get up, I get down.
I get up, you get down.

In charge of who is there in charge of me.
Do I look on blindly and say I see the way?
The truth is written all along the page.
How old will we be before we come of age for truth?
I git up, I git down.
I git up, I git down.
I git up, you git down...


The time between the votes relates the colors to the schemes.
A constant vogue of triumphs dislocate man, so it seems.
And space between the focus group ascend knowledge of Plame.
Their song and dance envelop time, lost social temp'rance fuels the flame.

Then according to the man who showed his outstretched arms to space,
He turned around and pointed, threat'ning all the human race.
I shook my head and smiled a whisper, knowing all about the place...
On the hill we viewed the silence of the valley,
Called to witness cycles only of the past.
And we reach all this with movements in between the sad remark.

Close to the bend, down by a liver.
Down at the end, found in the corner.
Reasons will pass you by,
Now that it's all over and done,
Call to the seed, write Mr. Sun.
Now that you find, you're in a hole.
Reasons will pass you by,
I git up, I git down.
I git up, you git down.
You git up, I git down...

Blogfather Ed Cone has a new blog

Ed can now be read at Typepad. May want to update yer blogrolls!

News from around the weird

Oil-for-Food Scandal implicates Bush and Cheney
For months, Mr. Limbaugh, and the other overpaid apologists, have been yawping about the Oil-for-Food scandal, since the UN is involved, and since they are knee-jerk haters of anything that goes against their nationalistic bigotry, such as the supranational United Nations.
PUT ON BRAKES! THE BUSHIES ARE INVOLVED. DROP IT! DROP IT! PLUS VITE!

CBS Poll: Bush approval rating at all-time low, 35%! Favorability Rating at 33%!
35% does not a mainstream make...so when you hear the marginalized 35% claim to be the mainstream, understand that you are being lied to, and call them on it.

Vatican says Christians should listen to science and avoid "fundamentalism"
Definition of the day. fundament - buttocks: the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on. Fundamentalist: Someone who rests on, or has his head up, his buttocks.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Democrats, Don't Ignore the War; It's time for a true opposition party.
Face it. A lie and a bad idea is a hole that needs no further digging.

War protesters close major boulevard in Los Angeles

'Katrina Cough' Floats Around; The storm's residual mold and muck may be causing respiratory illnesses in people who have returned home.

Mark Crispin Miller Talks About the Last Stolen Election, the One in 2004

Meet the New Interrogators: Lockheed Martin

A Flu Plan That's For The Birds

All the King's Media
Are Washington reporters really that close to their sources? For her part, Miller has a "tropism toward powerful men," as Times columnist Maureen Dowd delicately put it. This is well-known gossip in court circles, but let's not go there. Boy reporters also suck up to powerful men with shameful deference, wanting to be loved by the insiders so they can be inside too (shades of the French courtiers). The price of intimacy is collected in various coins, but older hands in the news business understand what is being sold. The media, Christopher Dickey of Newsweek observed in a web essay, "long ago concluded having access to power is more important than speaking truth to it." - William Greider

WebKorner, Charlotte Internet, now in Spanish!

Charlotte's pioneer in Internet services,WebKorner, now has an online presence in Spanish, in order to better reach out to our new citizens who speak Spanish, and who may want to get on the Internet. Sister company, Charlotte Internet is also heading that way. Both are in beta at the moment.

CharlotteInternet is also going through a design change, as the existing site is sorta blah. As the original owner of Charlotte Internet, I would not have signed off on it, but alas, it is coming around. Good things take time. Great things take lots of time.

Well, sometimes.

The Bird Flew: Donald Rumsfeld, Pharma-Terrorism & Fear Profiteering

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld in bed with Tamiflu

NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.

Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.

What do these great blogs have in common?
(Feel free to click at random, and report back on what you learn.)
Planet GrenadaA la GaucheAcross the Great DivideAfter School SnackAjeebAll Facts and OpinionsAmerican ErroristAmerican SamizdatAn old soul...angela bowers : tales from under the barAngry White KidanonyMosesAnother Liberal BlogAnti-Zionist Notesanti-[everything]AntithetonApostate WindbagArancaytar's Little CornerArran's Alleyat easeAtavistic EndeavorBait and Switch PresidentBanality FairBarking DingoBenjamin Solah's blogBig BoardBiomes BlogBionic OctopusBlog d'Elissonblog me no blogsBlogosphere ZooBlur BeltBrian Patton*Brown Rab Girl FishBy Beauty DamnedBy the grace of GodCanadian Lefty in the Land of King GeorgecatamitebastardCat's BlogChicken Foot StewClass War NotescoadunateCoffeeHouseStudioComments From Left FieldContraWebConvoluted Insanity*Crack the BellCultural RevolutionCurmudgeonCurmudgeonly CrabCut to the ChaseD r. M e n l oDave's Big BeefDead Men Left*debwireDefCon4Democracy for CaliforniaDemocrat VoiceDemocrat Voice, All in OneDiaLogicdiogenesian discourse*Disillusioned kidDispatch from the TrenchesDissent ChannelDoug IrelandDr ForbushDrubloodDyskepticEl Osoet aliaEverything You Know Is Wrongex-lion tamerExecutioners Thong*FeministeFighting the War on ErrorFighting the War on ErrorFire Horse SocietyFishBowlFreedoms GateFront LineGentle BreezesGod of BiscuitsGreat Minnesota Progressive NewswireGreatScat!Guns, Germs & Steeledhalfgeek.netHammer and NailHeart, Soul & HumorHegemo's Creative Class WarfareHenry BaumHIV/AIDS News & OpinionHope 4 AmericaI protestIddyBudIdeological QuagmiresillogicallogicalityImpastoIn Search of UtopiaIn the DarkInspector LohmannInternational Rock CityIntolerable Banality of EvilIsland Dave's ViewJeebasJesus ReportingJews sans frontieres*JimtopiaJohn P. Hoke's AsylumJulie SaltmanKing of Zembla*Land of the Free, Home of the Bravelast 5 pagesLast Day of My LifeLast Left Turn Before HootervilleLeft End of the DialLEFT is RIGHT*Left of CenterLenin's Tomb*Liberal CenterLiberal-Feminist BiasLife in the Third LayerLoaded MouthLogical VoiceLOSLILucky White GirlMad KaneMadison County Young DemocratsMaitri's VatulBlogMajikthiseMaking Out with the Chaos DemonMarian's BlogMEDIACRITYMessenger PuppetMockingbird's MedleyMotor City Bad KittyMouse MusingsMullah BillDougNever Knew I was living in theNewsHogNick LewisNJ Spoken WordNo Religion NowNow ThenOdessa StreetOff-The-Record, Off-The-WallOhio LiberalOneWomanWreckingCrew*Orient LodgeOutside The AsylumO'eo CookieP!pas au-delaPBA HeadquartersPeace GardenPesky' Apostrophe*PharyngulaPinko Feminist HellcatPolitical StrategyPortaPulpitPostcards from NowherePrairieWeb BlogPreemptiveKarma.com*Princess Wild CowProgressive Change for Tsunami VictimsProgressive Co-OpProgressive Democrats of AmericaProgressive InkProgressive SocietyquintonotesRaks InfinityRampaging PMSRANDOM THOUGHTS on PoliticsRatboy's AnvilRay GarraudRed HarvestRepublic of T*Rising HegemonRob's Blog*Rooftop ReportRox PopuliRussell RantsSardonic SideshowScience And Politics*Scrutiny Hooligans*Semitism.netSense of UrgencyShabOOty's Madness*Shameless AgitatorShining Light in Dark CornersSilence is Consentsimianbrain.comSimply Appalling*SmokeWritingSpontaneous Arising*Stained Glass Soulstartle the echoesState Of The QusanStraight BannanaStreak's BlogSusannity!Swerve LeftT. Rex's Guide to LifeThatColoredFellasWeblogTheory of Powerthings as it isThoughts by MonikaThoughts from Kansas*Thoughts from Kansas*Threading the NeedleTildTileseyTotal Information AwarenessTown and PlanetTrebz.comTsuredzuregusaUnrepentant LeftistVast Dairy State ConspiracyWard ReportWatchingTheWatchersWatermarkWealth BondageWhat It Is TodayWhere the Dolphins PlayWhere We're BoundWhy are we Back in Iraq?Wilson's Blogmanacyour village voice and Zeldhead?

The Executioners Thong

A Pithing Contest cursed with imagination. More than a wordsmith, Greensmile is a wordjones. And a darned good one one at that.

Kiva: Microloans to the 3rd world

Heal the world. Make it a better place. For you and for me and the goddam human race.
(via Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing)

The Secret Presidential IMs: Taking a Page From Bill?s Playbook | The Huffington Post

Danielle Crittenden

(via the keen eye of Ra Bourbon)

"Someone needs to hose you down." - Google Search

Others picked up on Hume's racial slur... first mentioned here.

RSS and Atom in Action, by North Carolina's Dave Johnson

Blogging Roller: Atom Publishing Protocol

Thanks to Billy for training my eye on this find.

Selling your blog for less than a million? Think again! Technorati says they are priceless.

My blog is worth $105,568.98.
How much is your blog worth?

"

Happy Halloween from Woody Williams and the folks at Carolina Art Blog

Art by Woody Williams

Tild ~: Light 'em up

Charlotte's Pumpkin Wall...which I drove by just today!
(Twilight Zone theme)

Is Maureen Dowd more endowed?

Maureen asks: Desperately Seeking Betty Friedan?

Animated Halloween Card - "Psychopumpkin" by Tom Priest

A Halloween greeting from my dear old friend from the coast of Massachusetts, Tom Priest.

Cream at the Royal Albert Hall

The Creams

New Release!
Cream - Royal Albert Concert Hall - 2005 - CD/DVD
Review by Freeway Jam

What do Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack the Bruce have in common?
Answer: They are the shit. They are also back.

I see this as a portent, and highly approve. Can't wait to see the show...

Breaking "The Gilligan Code"

Jesus and Mary Magdalene?

Now that Bob Denver has made it off the island, as we say in spiritland -- where no man is an island, indeed, no island is an island -- we can now begin to unravel the many mysteries presented by the television classic.

For example:

Consider this list...

• Gilligan
• the skipper
• the millionaire
• his wife
• the movie star
• the professor
• Mary Ann

This is the order of names mentioned in the final version of the song. But what is wrong with this picture?

Only the Alpha and Omega have actual names attached to them. Gilligan and Mary Ann.
Is this because they are in fact the Alpha and the Omega?
We know that Alpha is a hurricane, and Omega is a vitamin suppliment made of fish oil.
Hurricanes travel OVER water, and fish swim IN the water. But is this important?
Is the Pope important? We like to think so.

They all have names. Thurston Howell, of course. But Lovey Wentworth, Jonas Grumby (skipper), and Roy Hinkley (professor)? Sound familiar? Granted, Ginger Grant sounds a little familiar, but that might be because we had a president and a Lou named Grant.

But what else is it about Gilligan and Mary Ann? Is it that they were meant to be together from the very start, and that they are the only characters worth their salt? Salt too, remember, is IN the ocean, like fish, but that Salt II is something else entirely.

Or is it???

Were Gilligan and Mary Ann, in fact, desposyni? Did they have olive eyes? Are they the true vitalismen?

Now some will argue that the professor and Mary Ann are the only important characters...since they were first distinguished as being the original "and the rest". Clearly an important title.
But remember, Mary was the name of Jesus' wife and mother, and Ann was the name of Mary's mother, although she spelled it with an "e" although placing in the creative spot in the second space, producing "Aenn"...although she preferred the more friendly "Annie", at least according to dental records.

But such thinking is flawed, since there were no professors in biblical times, and the ones that did profess were considered wiseacres and numbnuts, and were typically forced to eat their falafel without ketchup, so to speak, and were thus rendered toothless, socially. Clearly the professor was not a major player in the Gilligan Code.

"And the rest"

The professor and Mary Ann were, at one time, the proverbial "rest". Requiem is the latin word for rest. Therefore, the professor and Mary Ann were the requiem. But so what? Who isn't these days?

So this leads us back to Gilligan and Mary Ann; the Alpha and Omega.
Were they meant to be an item? Is that what it is all about?
Is this just some fantasy on the part of the writers, anticipating Survivor and Lost?


Gilligan's Isthmus

And speaking of Lost, could it be, as some have said, that the crew were in fact not on an island, but an isthmus? This would make a lot of sense, since Isthmus rhymes with Christmas, and sense rhymes with since...but somehow this seems like a dead-end, since it was all filmed on a soundstage, which only rhymes with roundstage, which was popular during the Albionic Renaissance, as proved by Herr Shakesjoyce, writing between the lines.

As we explore the Gilligan Code, we will discover all manner of wild and wondrous connections.
We hope you will stay with us as the secrets are, at last, revealed.

Many thanks to Jude Camwell, the Iddybud of the Blogosphere, for her inspiration and amazing sleuthwork of this timely and touching matter.

Will Cheney Dick Bush?

As Dick Cheney's fate catches up with him, will he fall on the sword for Bush?
Here are some things being said around the country worth pondering.

TO believe that the Bush-Cheney scandals will be behind us anytime soon you'd have to believe that the Nixon-Agnew scandals peaked when G. Gordon Liddy and his bumbling band were nailed for the Watergate break-in.

Many Republicans say that Mr. Cheney, already politically weakened because of his role in preparing the case for war, could be further damaged if he is forced to testify about the infighting over intelligence that turned out to be false. At the least, they say, his office will be temporarily off balance with the resignation of Mr. Libby, who controlled both foreign and domestic affairs in a vice presidential office that has served as a major policy arm for the West Wing.

A majority of current and former military members surveyed this week in North Carolina disagree with how President Bush is handling the war in Iraq, according to a poll released Friday.
More than 56 percent of military members surveyed in an Elon University poll said they disapprove or strongly disapprove with how the president is running the war.
Nearly 53 percent disapprove or strongly disapprove of Bush's overall job performance.
The results are startling because military members almost always overwhelmingly support wars and the president, said poll director Hunter Bacot.

The incompetence and mediocrity of this administration has been clearly demonstrated time and again. Add to that corruption, greed, and lying...and some Republicans are going to realize that they don't want to fall on a sword for this closed group of global pirates. When you realize you are on the wrong horse...get off. And people are starting to climb down from the crosses they have had to bear for folks to whom a cross is just something one does to a "t" as they are cashing their bloody checks.

Brit Hume to Juan Williams: "Someone needs to hose you down."

Montgomery, Alabama

Shredder purveyor FoxNews' white Brit Hume usually just condescends to black Juan Williams by saying "Juan, Juan, Juan" or some other derogatory comment. Today Hume racheted it up a bit when he said "Someone needs to hose you down."

As a white Southerner who still remembers the dark days of our past, where whites would hose down black protesters, I am shocked by the comment, and think he should apologize for his poor taste in words.

34% of Americans think Adam and Eve rode to church on dinosaurs

While watching Weekend Update last night, I was struck by a recent poll which showed that:
66% of Americans think that Bush has done a poor job in Iraq
while the remaining 34% of Americans think Adam and Eve rode to church on dinosaurs.

America: Atavism's Cutting Edge

Libby says he believes he will be Exxonerated

which is the next best thing to being Enronerated.

Disgusting Pig

Gasoline Prices on Yahoo! News Photos

anonyMoses presents...BushWorld Symphony

BushWorld Symphony is finally finished, and now I'm going to have to rest my music bone. BushWorld Symphony is a 16-part symphony composed mostly in the early 21st century, and finally cobbled together into a unified whole only days ago.

Songs with minimal descriptives. (Some have more than one part) . This is what the songs resemble, if only they good...

BUSHWORLD SYMPHONY by Anonymoses Hyperlincoln
March of the Plebeians
The symphony opens with a swaggering, half-drunk, Hindemithian intro with low horns, tympani and percussives.
Spatial Someone
The mudane gives way to the Cosmic. Kitaroesque.
Monks in the Wild
Shades of Arvo Part, Henrik Gorecki and Thomas Tallis.
God Breathing
Blinds of Britten, Vaughan Williams and Mahler.
Monks in Space
Orff on acid.
Human Love
Shades of Copland's "Tender Land".
Wars of Adolescence
John Williams meets Igor Stravinsky who then meets Phillip Glass, gets nervous and then returns to Igor who is now dating Stockhausen.
Love Theme
Shades of Morrocone or Aaberg.
Bold Pavane
Faure on Steroids.
Jeremiad for a Goofy Planet
King Crimsonesque lamentation. (Starless, Lark's Tongue)
March of the Patricians
Mickey Hart meets Arvo Part, has sex with Elliot Carter then roosts with Radiohead.

Goodnight sweet princess!

The elegant and brave Ms. Rosa Parks


The voice of Montgomery today...on the death of Rosa Parks. May she rest in peace.

"Good Night and Good Luck": Holding a mirror to BushWorld

A review

Jones Theory of the Merry-Go-Blogosphere

How the Blogosphere Works...Really!

Blog veteran and mayor of Blogsboro, Billy (the blogging poet) Jones, explains how the blogosphere is not a sphere at all, but more like a record album, or perhaps, a merry-go-round. A record album is flat, and one starts at the edge and moves to the center over time. But, Mister Jones surmises, a merry-go-round might actually be a better metaphor since the same properties hold true, but the dangerous kickwork of those at the periphery also plays a big part...just as it does in the real blogosphere.

THESE THINGS AND MORE at Billy's new blog, inexplicably called BillysNewBlog. I fail to see the connection.

Get a jump on local internet advertising with CityAdNet

With CityAdNet, you hold the reigns. You decide what to say and how much you want to spend. It is the Priceline of local Internet advertising. It is also the Millard Fillmore of Foosball, but that's a different story.

Want to touch your toe into the net ad waters? Maybe you're ready to plunge right in. Either way, you can get it done, say what you want to say, sell what you want to sell, attract who you want to attract...at whatever price is right for you.

CityAdNet: The Future of the Present

Lay and DeLay: Caught and Cauter

The fingerprinting of Tom Delay

Cauterization is the burning of the body [politic] to remove or close a part of it. It is sometimes done for medical reasons, as to treat some kind of wound in an area, for instance, or sometimes performed as a recreational body modification.

Tom DeLay is being cauterized from The Body Politic in much the same way that Ken [de]Lay was cauterized from The Body Business. Getting Layed ain't what it used to be. And today we read that the former exterminator has been served his papers, and will be mugshat and fingerprinted...with Bible black ink, not the fashionable red or purple.

The Hula Hoop & The New Liberal Physical Policy

Ancient Liberating Device


The Hula Hoop (or Hoola Hoop if your brain is bad) is making a liberal resurgence, thus partially justifying a notion once held by the gigantic Robert Reich (not to be confused with the diminutive Robert Reich who was never Secretary of Labor) and ushering in an age of physical liberality which some predict will cause the physical conservatives to finally retreat into their wally white world where one wonders where the yellow went, but not much else, lest one include animadversive gasguzzle shokinah or other oopsishnesses.

According to the author of "Hands of Light", simply making these gyrating motions with the human thorax is juvenative and restorative, or in other words, evolutive -- anathemae to many with conservative physical policies. But such ignorationalistic damming of reality will not stand against the rising waters, the pent-up aching rivers, of Nature, even as she rises in us. And thus the brave Hula Hoop will have saved the day, and the world will, once again, love America, or at least North Carolina.

[Andy Griffith theme]

How A Hula Hoop Helped Save Gay Whales from Rational Nuking
The String Cheese Incident

Wilma Now Most Intense Atlantic Storm Ever

Gathering strength at a fierce pace, Hurricane Wilma swirled into the most intense Atlantic storm ever recorded Wednesday, a Category 5 monster packing 175 mph wind that forecasters warned was "extremely dangerous."

Wilma was dumping rain on Central America and Mexico. A hurricane watch was in effect for the east coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, parts of Cuba and the Cayman Islands, and forecasters warned of a "significant threat" to Florida by the weekend.

"All interests in the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula should closely monitor the progress of extremely dangerous Hurricane Wilma," the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Wilma's top sustained winds reached 175 mph early Wednesday in the most rapid strengthening ever recorded in a hurricane, said meteorologist Hugh Cobb of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. At the same time Tuesday, Wilma was only a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph.

Noam Chomsky named top intellectual, passing over Bill O'Reilly who was 76,000,000th.

Noam Chomsky

The man who has spoken more truth to power than just about anyone has been voted the highly prized "top intellectual", according to a recent poll conducted in England, beating out anyone on FOX News by several million points. Or so I would guess.

His lectures at MIT were, and probably still are, a treat for the mind. Highly recommended.

What brave network, though, would dare put him on their payroll?

Any takers? Coresnot.

Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. His works include: Aspects of the Theory of Syntax; Cartesian Linguistics; Sound Pattern of English (with Morris Halle); Language and Mind; American Power and the New Mandarins; At War with Asia; For Reasons of State; Peace in the Middle East?; Reflections on Language; The Political Economy of Human Rights, Vol. I and II (with E.S. Herman); Rules and Representations; Lectures on Government and Binding; Towards a New Cold War; Radical Priorities; Fateful Triangle; Knowledge of Language; Turning the Tide; Pirates and Emperors; On Power and Ideology; Language and Problems of Knowledge; The Culture of Terrorism; Manufacturing Consent (with E.S. Herman); Necessary Illusions; Deterring Democracy; Year 501; Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War and US Political Culture; Letters from Lexington; World Orders, Old and New; The Minimalist Program; Powers and Prospects; The Common Good; Profit Over People; The New Military Humanism; New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind; Rogue States; A New Generation Draws the Line; 9-11; and Understanding Power.

WebKorner Bizblog on Idea Consultants on ConvergeSouth

WebKorner Bizblog

The Secret IM Conversations: Bush seeks advice from Clinton

The Huffington Post
(Thanks to Rob Urban for this find)

Kickass43: yo bill
Kickass43: u up
LadeezMan42: man im always up
LadeezMan42: whazzup witu
LadeezMan42: aint it past yr bedtime :)
Kickass43: laura kickd me out
LadeezMan42: been there dude...
MORE

The American Conservative: "Money for Nothing"

Billions of dollars have disappeared, gone to bribe Iraqis and line contractors’ pockets.

When the final page is written on America’s catastrophic imperial venture, one word will dominate the explanation of U.S. failure—corruption.

Dark Clouds Over Toledo

The National Socialist Movement (also called "NSM" or "NSM88") is the largest neo-Nazi Party operating in the United States of America, with "Units" and members in all 50 states and around the world. They co-operate with other "white nationalists", such as the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Skinheads and National Alliance. The "88" in its name is a code word for "Heil Hitler", H being the 8th letter in the alphabet. The name America's Nazi Party is sometimes used, but this should not be confused with the revived American Nazi Party, a different group.

So says Wikipedia about the neo-fascist group that has brought the storms to Toledo.

Art from Faith: North Carolina's Cathy Sigmon

"field of daisies 2" by Cathy Sigmon

Primarily a self-taught artist, Cathy works from her studio in Faith, North Carolina in colored pencil, watercolor and acrylics. She has won numerous awards in local and regional exhibitions and conducts workshops for regional art guilds.

A Signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America, Cathy has participated in CPSA international exhibitions in San Diego, Detroit and Houston. Her work is included in "The Best of Colored Pecncil 4", published by Rockport Publishers and distributed in the U.S. and abroad by North Light Books.

Jay Does Convergence - Blogger Ovittore's recent experiences at ConvergeSouth, Greensboro, NC

Jay Ovittore's Blog

With special focus on the music...

The beloved Joanne Shenandoah

Joanne Shenandoah & small friend

Shenandoah has become the most critically acclaimed Native American singer of her time... - Associated Press

Who is really terrorizing Americans? The Bush Administration? Here are 13 instances...

The Nexus of politics and terror - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com

The Two Percent Solution

RUSSERT: And Matt, the most astounding number in this: 2 percent – just 2 percent - of African-Americans give George Bush a positive rating for his performance as President.

MacArthur 'Genius' Grant awarded to Harvard's Sue Goldie

Sue Goldie


Physician, researcher applies decision science to global women's health

Public health researcher Sue Goldie, associate professor of health decision science at Harvard School of Public Health, has been awarded a $500,000 MacArthur grant "for genius and creativity" in applying the tools of decision science to evaluate the clinical benefits, public health impact, and cost-effectiveness of alternative preventive and treatment interventions for viruses that are major public health problems.

Goldie's faculty research page

mistersugar: Tar Heel Tavern #34: T-Shirt & Shoes Required

Anton is going to be hosting the Tarheel Tavern this week.
Here is what he says he would like as a theme:

Tar Heel Tavern #34: T-Shirt & Shoes Required
Next week, I’ll again host the Tar Heel Tavern, a carnival of North Carolina bloggers. Here’s the theme: t-shirt tales:

That’s right. I’m asking bloggers to dig into their t-shirt drawers, find a shirt with a story behind it—best if it’s got something to do with North Carolina—and share the tale with the rest of us. (See this post for an example of one of my archived posts.)

If you’ve got the means, post a picture of the t-shirt to your blog or Flickr (tag it “tarheeltavernT”).

Submission deadline is Saturday, October 15 at noon.

BONUS: While you’re at it, why not get rid of the t-shirts you haven’t worn in the last year by donating them to your local clothing bank, a Hurricane Katrina drive, or me (I’ll send them to my Peace Corps village in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu).

UPDATE: I’ll accept other, non-t-shirt posts, too. The more crowded into the tavern, the merrier.

Narcissistic Graffiti on ConvergeSouth

Excellent coverage on the Herb Everett, Dave Winer, Amanda Congdon and Duncan Black (Atrios) sessions, and more...

John Lennon's Day

John Lennon October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980


Working Class Hero
by John Lennon

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and class less and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me


Speaking of Greensboro, I was in Greensboro when I heard the news about Lennon's death.
There was a nice and moving candlelight vigil at UNCG with good folks like John S. Jones, Bill Poole, Chuck Newman, Maria Robbins, Lucy Biron, David Grogan, John Pope, Eric, Chance, Dayna, Fred and Stan in attendance. Hard to believe 25 years has passed since then...

Good to see Greensboro is still a groovy place, because it certainly was back then. Long live Greensboro!
Long live the memory and music of John Lennon!