Why are We Paying $50 a Barrel for $20 Barrel Oil??

That's a Question I Have Been Asking Myself For Two Years or More!
About Saudi Arabia
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Spring Has Sprung: Photo To Prove It Here:

Kay enjoys the wisteria while it lasts. Delicate, fragrant but short lived.
Photo taken downtown Sebastopol by my trusty Nikon D70s, set on raw resolution which automatically gives me a jpg work print and fill flash boosted by half a stop. I have not processed the image so the exposure is a little hot.

And Another One!!

Got Flu? Thank Susan Collins! By: Teddy Partridge Monday April 27, 2009 10:09 am

1 diggs digg it

Flu And You - Part V - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

"Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill? No, we should not." Susan Collins bragged about stripping pandemic flu preparation money from the stimulus bill in February. Doesn't seem so moderate now, does it?

Watch her brag about it right here.

Her website still posts a glowing Wall Street Journal article about her wonderful leadership on the stimulus entitled "GOP Wields More Influence on the Stimulus Bill" [that page as now been scrubbed, but we saved it as a PDF -ed.]

After meeting with Mr. Obama, Sen. Collins expressed concern about a number of spending provisions, including $780 million for pandemic-flu preparedness. "I have no doubt that the president is willing to negotiate in good faith, that he wants to have a bipartisan bill," Sen. Collins said

Hope we sure get more of that wonderful good-faith negotiation with the GOP soon!

Any Doubts That Republicans Are Intrinsically Evil Washed Away

At least the Rep leadership in DC is.
Great article from Susie Madrak in CrooksandLiars today:

As I often tell myself, there is rarely any situation in which the attentions of the Republican party can't make it even worse. Dave Johnson at Seeing the Forest points out one major problem:

We face a potential swine flu pandemic, and we do not have the people in place in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that we need. Why not? The Republicans are blocking confirmation of Obama’s nominee, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Why are they blocking this nomination? Because Gov. Sebelius won’t approve Kansas Republican bills to block abortion even if the abortion will save the mother’s life. They say she is “an enemy of the unborn,” because she thinks doctors should be able to save the mother’s life.

So as you worry about this possible flu pandemic, think about why your government is not yet fully up and running to do its part and protect us. As we saw when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, government-hating Republicans destroyed our ability to respond to emergencies, and instead set up a system where contracts were awarded to cronies who collected the cash but never delivered the services. And now they continue to block our government’s ability to protect us, because they think that a mother’s life is not as important as a fetus.

The Democrats should start a big public relations push to get the Republicans to drop their opposition for the sake of the country.

It might work, but who knows? After all, Republicans always put party above country. Because guess what the Republicans (including "moderate" Susan Collins, helped along by Karl Rove's attacks) stripped out of the stimulus bill? You guessed it: pandemic flu preparedness! (They insisted it had nothing to do with the economy.) From John Nichols in today's The Nation:

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year's emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.

Obey and other advocates for the spending argued, correctly, that a pandemic hitting in the midst of an economic downturn could turn a recession into something far worse -- with workers ordered to remain in their homes, workplaces shuttered to avoid the spread of disease, transportation systems grinding to a halt and demand for emergency services and public health interventions skyrocketing. Indeed, they suggested, pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.

Sad that in the time of the country's greatest need, the GOP always says "screw america" and puts party ideology first.

Do You Know the Proper Way to Cough in Public?

This post has an informative (and somewhat humorous) video demonstrating the only approved way to cough or sneeze in public these days:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/26/724688/-Swine-Flu-Update:-Public-Health-Emergency-Declared

Roses Are Enjoying Spring Too!

Kay says our roses are more spectacular this year than in recent memory. Here's one sample:

The Tragedy of Alyssa Peterson.



In case you aren't familiar with her story, this post from FDL is very powerful and informative and I recommend a quiet reading of it.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/26/torture-and-the-united-states-of-alyssa-peterson/

Very Different Sort of Website.

Perhaps this site is another reason I'm glad that I have never lost my luggage.
http://www.isthisyourluggage.com/Site/Luggage_home.html

Great News From Camile Cusumano From Argentina

If you click on the image, it will open to a larger, much easier to read mode.
For more info, go to her website: CamilleCusumano.com

Bud Break Time In The Vineyards!


Bud break signals the beginning of the 2009 vintage. We won't see the grapes for another 2-3 months but at last the process has begun!

Mother's Day Family Photo

Had a photo session with Ann Marie Dale, her daughter Alexandria and husband Ryan Polite in Ragle Park yesterday for a traditional Mother's Day present: a current portrait.
I think outdoor portraits are best and the most fun to shoot. And my trademark, as it were, is to use the sun as my backlight.
I used my Nikon D70s, in the raw mode, which also produces a small reference jpg which is what this photo is. Fill flash was with my trusty old Vivatar 285 into a bounce card on a Bogen light stand. Nice thing about the raw format is that in Photoshop CS3 I can totally control the color temp, in this case warming up the photo and reducing highlights as needed.

Very Impressive and Moving Sand Art movie.

Not sure where this came from but it's delightful to watch and there is a link visible in the video. A very talented person did this.
Watch to the end to get the music credits, very nice sax playing.

Amazing English Singer!

If you've not yet seen this video (and you will) here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

Did I Mention That Spring Is Definitely Here in Sebastopol?

Well, here's a picture to prove it. Gravensteins in the making!

What's with these Georgia boys?

From DailyKos website:

Here’s a piece about the son of our local rep, right wing nut Paul Broun

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun’s son was arrested and charged with drug possession early Saturday morning at a party in Athens.

Paul Collins Broun III, 18, of Knob Creek Drive in Oconee County, was at a party at an apartment on West Cloverhurst Street at 2:30 a.m. when Athens-Clarke police responded to a complaint.

Broun smelled of alcohol and marijuana and had a pill bottle in his pocket containing marijuana, according to a police report. Police said they also found a small glass pipe containing ash and bits of marijuana in Broun’s SUV.

Broun is a senior at Athens Academy. His father was elected to Congress in 2007.

Conservatives are planning for fun times!

They got all these teabagging parties scheduled, so not only will there be lots of fun activities, I'm sure the video coverage will be priceless.
Not sure what they have planned? Here's a web page that describes their planned activities in detail.... maybe too much detail!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=teabagging

Fun, Music-filled Video.

Thanks to Redvale over at Twitter, I learned about this little film. Watch and enjoy:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

3 officers killed in Pittsburgh shooting

NRA 3, Cops 0.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Fun Golf video on Youtube.

I'm not a golfer but I found this video to be rather astounding... if you can afford it.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/03/golf-holersquos-tee-box-is-1400-feet-above-the-green/

Rot In Hell Drudge- Part 1

Proof that right wing fools like him are only in it for the money..

http://wonkette.com/407530/hey-this-is-not-appropriate-matt-drudge

Binghamton NY Tragedy - Take Action

If you are upset, divert your anger to a good cause:

http://www.bradycampaign.org/action/getconnected/

Love Those Those Romantic French!

My fave photo so far from Obama's foreign travels..
Sarkozy's hand on his wife's butt!!

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Harman Stabs Fellow Dems in Back!

Rep. Jane Harman [D, CA-36] voted with Repugs to gut the Grayson bill, allowing the Banks which received TARP money, to pay bonuses as they want. Someone should ask how much the banks had to contribute to her campaigns to get her vote.
I trust her actions will be scrutinized during her next election cycle.

For more on the story, Firedoglake has more detail.