Tuesday, January 31, 2006
A Beautiful song by Stacy Sutherland.
Have transcribed the lyric of ' Nobody to Love' by Stacy Sutherland , which is on the album Easter Everywhere, by the 13th Floor Elevators. This has been another song, where the case has been, the lyrics have not been listed anywhere on the web. Using Wavpad, which allows you to slow down the song, I believe I have ascertained the lyrics the best I could. Stacy's southern Texas drawl is a bit hard to decipher even for a fellow Texan. Yet the song has beautiful lyrics, its a paen to a woman, a girlfriend. She must have been something very special. Okay here are the lyrics:
Nobody to Love
In her eyes they reflect a smile,
cascading to the shore,
and then her words like golden birds,
would love to follow the storm
and then her voice was echoing,
through the night no more,
and I remember all the dreams,
and all the words before
She knew the sun was shining,
She knew the moon was shining,
She knew her eyes were fine with light
She knew the sun would come
and it would shine for us all day,
Burning bright its morning light
would guide us through the day...
Nobody to love,
Nobody to love,
Nobody to love,
Nobody to love,
Nobody to love,
Nobody to love,
Nobody to love,
Nobody to,
Now I face the midnight,
with nobody to love,
I used to leave at twilight,
with nobody to love
She left me in the wilderness... all I had was hope,
She left me only loneliness...each day so cold,
and now ..I have.. no one to hold
She knew the sun would come
and it would shine for us all day,
Burning bright its morning light
would guide us through the day...
Sunday, January 29, 2006
We seem to have problems learning from history, don't we?
This is just a small excerpt from what looks like a 6 part extensive interview. At this point Ellsberg has been comparing America's Vietnam experience to our involvement in Iraq:
"Q: We seem to have problems learning from history, don't we?
A very sad thing, and it isn't just Americans. When I try to draw lessons from history and pre-history, I've reached some unhappy conclusions about the nature of our species. Not just about Americans or capitalists. And part of it is that our concern for other people is very selective and very easily manipulated by leaders and by propaganda. And people are capable of being very little concerned about masses of deaths and suffering of other people - foreigners, far-away, invisible, not related, different languages, different religions.
They can be led by leaders to be concerned about that, but it's also very easy to distract them from it, into not being very concerned about it at all.
And it's very hard for Republicans to learn from Democrats. And the Vietnamese, I think, didn't learn all that much from having been invaded. They went into Cambodia and didn't really do very well. The Chinese went into Vietnam and got a bloody nose.
The Soviets really reproduced our Vietnam experience in Afghanistan. The only difference is the weather. I must say, that was one case where I wasn't wrong. I looked at that situation very early on when a lot of people were saying the Soviets would not have their one hand tied behind their back. They won't have problems with the press and the public, so now they're going to do it tough, the way the Israelis would do it.
So even despite the fact that they didn't have any of those domestic factors that we did, they didn't do any better and they were just as brutal as we are in Iraq.
Here's another one that didn't turn out as costly for us as I thought it would: our own invasion of Afghanistan. I thought we'd have the same trouble as the Soviets. That really didn't work out, but why not? First of all, the U.S. very much limited its penetration of Afghanistan. It's left almost the whole country, except for Kabul and Kandahar, to the warlords. It hasn't been ambitious at all about controlling most of the country. I didn't expect them to leave it at that. In retrospect, why did they? Because they were preparing for Iraq, which I have to say is another one I didn't foresee particularly. I didn't know about the Project for a New American Century. I didn't know the neo-cons at that point. I don't recall looking at Iraq particularly at all in 2001 or early 2002.
People say, Of course, we don't plan to stay in Iraq. We just plan to stay until there's a democratic government, a democratic government that will ask us to stay in our bases there and which will be friendly to Israel, and assure US that women's rights will be observed and so forth, but above all that the contracts will be recognized that we're signing now for all the deals about oil. We don't have to be there indefinitely, all we need is a government that is friendly in all these respects, as Chalabi promised us.
Well, that's a recipe for staying forever. Even if this administration lets go of all the other conditions, I don't believe they'll give up on the bases and the oil. Nor will its successors, Republican or Democrat. So I think that's what we will be doing, staying forever. Unless the rest of us, outside the government, force change on the leadership of the Democrats as well as the Republicans, which will be difficult and take a long time.
Q:And that's why there's such a resistance to naming a timetable and calling everybody traitors who want a timetable.
Absolutely. Those same words were used to Nixon throughout his time on Vietnam. People were asking him to set a timetable. The weeks that I was copying the Pentagon Papers in October of 1969, a bunch of us at RAND were also putting forth a proposal to get out in one year, by 1970. Nixon was saying, no, no, no, no, that way they'll be able to wait for us to leave and then move in. We can't do that. And he was giving all the arguments that Bush is giving now. In fact, I wonder if Bush has actually opened the old drawers or brought down one of Nixon's memoirs from the shelf or something and simply copied the speeches, because that's what he's saying.
I'm still convinced - though most people aren't - that Nixon didn't mean at all for Saigon to be Communist in 1975 or 1978 or 1980. The reason he was rejecting the notion of having all American troops out by setting a deadline, setting a timetable, was not because he objected to that particular timetable or to having a timetable, but because he had no intention of giving up American presence altogether. Ever.
And that's where I think we are today. What are the secret intentions or plans of the White House, specifically of Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld? I think it is not their intention or expectation or willingness to see a total removal of U.S. influence and presence in Iraq. Ever. In light of that, I don't think what people need to face up to is what I regard as a likelihood that this war is going to go on much longer than two years or four years or eight years. I think that figures like 30 and 40 and 50 years should be considered. That's what they have in mind. When I say that, I'm not talking just about their hopes or expectations, because of course Nixon had hopeful expectations that were frustrated. I'm talking about intentions that I think may very well be fulfilled by Democrats as well as Republicans, intentions to hold on to bases and oil at all costs. I'm not at all confident that Democrats will be willing to give up those bases.
But the point is people need to start facing up to the fact that when Bush talks about being out of there, he's either lying or being incredibly wishful. Again, we come back to the question, can Bush possibly be persuaded that he really is going to get all he wants and that Chalabi is going to be vindicated in the end? I don't know. I can't figure Bush out, when it comes to his expectations. But I think he is determined to get what he wants, and realistically that won't let him reduce our troops all that much while he's in office."
Q: If, as you've said before, you fear us going into Iran, won't we have to have a draft? Won't that create so much protest they can't move forward with their plans?
No. First of all, the draft didn't stop Vietnam. It went on and on and could have gone on longer. I think we were very lucky in a number of ways that it didn't go on a lot longer. Anyway, it wasn't the draft, it was the large casualties and that was a result of Westmoreland's search-and-destroy missions and attrition strategy. That was known by many of the generals and they weren't willing to take a stand and take responsibility for reining him in on that. They were very critical of his strategy and the great American losses that we were suffering, but they wouldn't tell him not to do it.
If they had stopped that and really changed the strategy and gotten the U.S. casualties down greatly, they could have stayed in Vietnam and they would not have been forced out of it, because Americans are very tolerant of bombing and they're very tolerant of foreigners dying.
Q: And that appears to be Bush's strategy for the next year.
That's what he hopes for.
Q:He's going to go to air power and pull some troops out.
And Americans will go along with that."
So this is from part 5 of the interview: A direct link is:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/28/20658/6235
Fascinating reading. Especially for those of us who lived through the Vietnam War and can remember the release of the Pentagon Papers.
Monday, January 23, 2006
A cosmic jellyfish appears to pulse with light in this multi-wavelength image of the Cartwheel galaxy, compiled from images taken by four space telescopes.
Saw this photo from an article on the web at:http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8582
It turns out that: "The galaxy probably came by its distinctive shape when a small galaxy – possibly one of the objects at bottom-left of the image – collided with it head-on 100 million years ago. The crash set off ripples in the large galaxy's gas that led to concentric rings of star birth."
Astronomers dated this star formation by studying the wavelengths of light emitted by each region of the galaxy. This image represents those wavelengths by colour, with purple representing X-rays measured by the Chandra Space Telescope, blue representing ultraviolet light measured by the GALEX spacecraft, green representing visible light observed with the Hubble Space Telescope, and red denoting infrared light recorded by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Calm after the storm
The outer ring, which is wider than our galaxy, the Milky Way, reveals the youngest wave of star formation because it shines in high-energy X-rays and ultraviolet light. "Usually a galaxy is brighter toward the centre, but the ultraviolet view indicates the collision actually smoothed out the interior of the galaxy, concentrating older stars and dust into the inner regions," says Appleton. "It's like the calm after the storm of star formation."
Recently, astronomers also discovered the galaxy does not end at its outer ring. Using the GALEX spacecraft, they found a faint disc (not visible in the image) that stretches two times as far as the ring, making the Cartwheel 2.5 times as large as the Milky Way."
I thought the image of the Cartwell galaxy was cool and intriguing. We tend to get so down to earth, and fixiated of life on this planet , while meanwhile there are galaxies like this radiating cosmic beauty on a vast scale. Wow.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Charlie Milam Pinkston, my Great Grandfather
Back in the 1850s, Dothan was then called Poplar Head, and was a small pioneer settlement located near a spring. Settlers back then made a living by cutting down pines for lumber, growing cotton and corn, keeping pigs and other livestock.
So he grew up most likely as a farm boy, in an area of southeast Alabama which along with parts of southern Georgia is known as Wiregrass Country. Wiregrass is a tall grass, which in this area among other things can harbor a good number of rattlesnakes.
In the 1860 Census for
Sometime after the Civil War ended, and before the census of 1870, the whole family must have moved to
This time period was one of turmoil in the South, as Reconstruction was still in effect, and the South was still trying to recover from four years of warfare.
Why would Henry B. Pinkston and family head here during this time? Well, here is what S.Harper in an 1936 article about Winn Parish says about this time: "As I have already stated the Civil War left this country in a demoralized condition. Thousands of families abandoned their homes and went west, and on account of such a vast amount of public land, upon which a man could build himself a house, clear land for cultivation, and avoid paying any taxes, land really had no value. The hundred of thousands of acres of land that had been entered before the Civil War and abandoned after the war, had been adjudicated to the state for taxes. Thousands of families moved on such adjudicated land, built homes, cleared land, and thereupon lived. " http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/winn/history/harper.txt.
So clearly the vast amount of public land, freely available would have been an attraction. In a second article from 1939 Mr. Harper goes on to recount: " Now, I wish to give a little history of the advantages the pioneers and youth of the old days gone by had over the youth of today. In those pioneer days the range was good the whole year around. The cane covered not only the swamps but the hills as well. This certainly was a fine stock country. Fat beef was plentiful during the winter months as well as summer. The hog range was excellent. Beef was considered second class meat instead of first class as now. Home made pork sausage could be found in nearly every smoke house. Venison was a very common meat, for deer were killed to get rid of them rather than for meat. Squirrels, likewise, were killed to get rid of them. No one thought of game laws, posting of anyone's land, or hunting license. Fish were plentiful. No limit to number of deer, ducks, squirrels, turkeys or fish one might kill or catch. One of the best things for the pioneer family was a tract of land for a home. At the beginning one could settle on a tract of land, blaze it out and then enter it for $ 1.25 per acre from the United States Government. One could enter as much as he wished if he had the money. Later, the homestead law was passed when one could homestead 160 acres for $ 15, live on it as many as seven years before having to prove settlement which could cost some $ 15 more which made total cost of 160 acres about $ 30. There were no taxes on a homestead 'till patent was issued. If one could find a tract of state land he could get 160 acres of state land for twelve and one-half cents an acre, thereby become the owner of 320 acres for not more than $ 55.00. "
In the same year 1870, the Winn Parish census indicates a young Ida Goff was living with her step-father William Henderson Smith, and her Mom, Columbia Goff who had remarried after her husband James L. Goff of the
From Charlie’s Masonic lodge obituary we find that he married in Mississippi. Ida’s parents were originally from there, so that may have something to do with this. At any rate by 1874 , Ida and him must have married and been busy because their first child, Alonzo (Lonnie) was born on
Quite likely they had a farm and homestead there in Winn Parish. The next child they had Atticus Lafayette Pinkston was my paternal Grandfather. He was born April 1, 1878. Family legend also says the Ida was of French descent, so that, along with living in Louisiana may account for the “Lafayette” middle name. They would go on to have four more children together, Grover, Ida, Ella, and Charlie Milam Jr.
The 1880 census shows them as being a household in Winnfield. But by then, Charlie’s father Henry B., is shown for 1880 as being over in
By 1886 , Charlie M. shows up on a Tax record for
Since the 1890 census does not exist it is hard to say much about these years, except from other papers , there is indication that Charlie, and Ida owned the Logansport ferry which crossed the Sabine
Then on the 21st of February 1891, Ida died. She was just short of being 33. According to my father, this was very hard on Atticus who was 13 at the time. When Charlie went on to remarry to Mattie Wagstaff on Nov. 5, 1893, Atticus could just not get along with his new stepmother. He eventually went to live with a Doctor Lock in Center, Texas.
Charlie, and Mattie together, had a son David Douglas on
Nine years later on May 5, 1905, Charlie would marry for the third and final time, to Mollie Baker, who was originally from Bear Creek, MO. She would have been 29 at the time, and he was 54.
However, in the 1910 census Charlie is shown living in the household of his daughter Ida, who by then was married to William David Whiddon . Mollie is not listed as being there, so presumably they were no longer together. In this census he is listed as a fisherman.
At this point I will go ahead and insert further information from the Masonic Obituary of Sept. 8, 1920. :
“He joined the Baptist Church when he was a young man but later in life united with the Christian church, of which he was a member until his death. Uncle Charlie, as he was familiarly known by his friends, was made a Mason at an age when most men are in their dotage, yet such was his rugged health and powers of endurance that until he was stricken with the malady which caused his death, he was mentally and physically fit, able to do a hard days work and feel none the worst for it.
He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. A.J. Truitt of Joaquin, Texas, June 18, 1920, aged seventy years and fifteen days.”
Charlie’s life then, spanned an interesting period of the American South. He was 10 when the Civil War began, and undoubtedly saw the effects of the war in Alabama, and his father returning on parole in May of 1865, after having had become a prisoner of the Union forces. He would have experienced the Reconstruction period in Louisiana, and then the technical progress of the Gilded Age while living in Texas. In all he had 5 sons, and two daughters. And he must have known much heartbreak after seeing two wives of his die, while they were still quite young.
About his schooling, or what he may have read, or any letters, that is unknown to me his Great Grandson. This has been a reconstructed biography using what facts and knowledge of circumstances I could obtain. May he rest in Peace, and of course his ancestors are thankful for his efforts.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Creepiness factor in an Age of Anxiety
Watching some of the playoffs, it was apparent that BK is going to be a sponsor during the Super Bowl, which means we'll all be seeing a lot more of the creepy BK guy. If you do a Google search under creepy Burger King guy, you'd be amazed at what comes up.
He creeps a lot of people out. Besides from doing the Icky shuffle. Ick. One of the factors is, the combination of him wearing robes, supposedly kingly, which look more like Little Lord Fauntleroy , with the King mask of an aging guy with a beard. And as they would say in the old Firesign Theatre: Those eyes! Weird!
But the BK guy is merely a concoction of some PR firm hired by Burger King, which is owned by a British corporation. So he is merely creepy.
In this era now, we also have Mahmood Ahmadinejad, who really is creepy.
If your an Israeli, first, as in last October, he tells you Israel should be wiped off the map. Then he says there was no Holocaust, or that he doesn't know if there really was such a thing or not. Then he suggests Israel be moved, I guess lock, stock and barrel, to Europe or Alaska. Recently he wants to start enriching more uranium, which by the way, is what you need to make a nuclear bomb.
And the latest from Mahmood is that it is the West that is Medieval.
And this from a guy who wants more separate mens and womens elevators to be built in Tehran.
Unfortunately, everything he does is like gift wrapped present for "W", and the Neocon crowd. But , if you live in Israel he must, at the minimum, give you the creeps. The dude is serious. Just adding to the creepiness factor of the world.
Me thinks him, and the BK guy, and Pat Robertson need to get together and share some scenes. Selah.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Murtha and Common sense on Iraq
Situation in Iraq Is Civil War
According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition, the definition of a civil war is a "war between political factions or regions within the same country." That is exactly what is going on in Iraq, not a global war on terrorism, as the President continues to portray it. 93 percent of those fighting in Iraq are Iraqis. A very small percentage of the fighting is being done by foreign fighters. Our troops are caught in between the fighting. 80 percent of Iraqis want us out of there and 45 percent think it is justified to kill American troops. Iraqis went to the polls in droves on December 15th and rejected the secular, pro-democracy candidates and those who the Administration in Washington propped up. Preliminary vote results indicate that Iyad Allawi, the pro-American Prime Minister, received about 8 percent of the vote and Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq's current Oil Minister and close associate of the U.S. Iraq war planners, received less than 1 percent. According to General Vines, the top operational commander in Iraq, "the vote is reported to be primarily along sectarian lines, which is not particularly heartening." The new government he said "must be a government by and for Iraqis, not sects." The ethnic and religious strife in Iraq has been going on, not for decades or centuries, but for millennia. These particular explosive hatreds and tensions will be there if our troops leave in six months, six years or six decades. It is time to re-deploy our troops and to re-focus our attention on the real threats posed by global terrorism."
As I pointed out in a post back during the summer, a reading of books on the history of Iraq reveals that the Sunnis, the Shia, and the Kurds, have all been living in this area for good or ill, for the last 900 years. It is the March of Folly(cf. Tuchman) to think that US Military can get them to get along any better than they have been getting along over the span of a millennia.
Now the Neocons may have dreams of an Iraq safe for Halliburton, Bechtel, and US oil companies, but it looks like by voting for the Islamic list, the Iraqis have their own ideas about what they want to see happen in their own country.
And once US troops finally do leave they can hardly be targets for Al- Zarqawi and his suicide bombers. In other words if 45 % of the Iraqi public think it is okay to kill US troops, Iraq just may not be the place to fight Al-Qaeda, or the Jordanian mishmosh version of it.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
More Lyrics; Jupiter in Gemini
Likewise this blog; if the subject changes or my posts are all over the map;well thats just the way it goes. As T.S. Eliot mentioned, these are shards stored against my ruins, etc.
Anyway, am going to post more lyrics from Bull of the Woods. The project began when I discovered that no matter how much you search, most of the lyrics to the songs on it had not been put up on the web anywhere, til moi got around to it. A correctal project as it were.
Here are the lyrics to With You, an unusual song in 3/3 time. I sort of like it:
With You
Dreams are told bout people around you,
If you should watch them they soon will astound you,
I know a guy who said he felt threatened,
Said he dreamed nice things when you was around him
Dreams, dreams,
can't help but believe him
Dreams, dreams,
can seesaw beneath him
How do you play there ....many mind
How do you play there....many mind
Living in trust is what we should strive for,
speak not the truth and soon you'll be called for,
Some day is coming and soon I'll be asking,
Ready yourself for love everlasting
wind, rain,... sun and sea,
cannot keep... your love from me,
all these things... were meant to be
Dreams, dreams,
can't help to believe me,
Dreams, dreams,
in seesaw bequeathing,
How do you play there.... many mind
How do you play there.... many mind
How do you play there.... many mind
How do you play there.... many mind
cf also: 13th Floor Elevators
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Heavens Gate or Senile Dementia Now
Heavens Gate or Senile Dementia Now
Back in November when Pat Robertson condemned the good people of Dover, PA, to God's Wrath simply for choosing different school board members in an election, I saw this photo of Pat, and the look on his face reminded me of Marshall Applewhite, him of Heavens Gate fame, who is presumably on the Hale-Bopp comet, by now on the edges of the solar system.
Well, Pat is getting really out there. As noted many places,among which the New York Times:"
The Protestant broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."
"God considers this land to be his," Mr. Robertson said on "The 700 Club," his television program. "You read the Bible and he says, 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine.' "
But he also said that in the Bible, the prophet Joel "makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who 'divide my land.' "
Mr. Sharon "was dividing God's land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease" the European Union, the United Nations or the United States, Mr. Robertson said.
Well, it looks like Pat has become Gods personal spokesman.
As Yahoo News noted: "
Pat Robertson Imagines God as a Petty, Clownish Thug".
What Pat failed to take note of was that Israel was pretty much carved up right after the 1947 war. Ariel Sharon had very little to do with that.
Subsequent wars have seen subsequent shifts in boundaries.
I mean, just this part of Robertsons reasoning doesn't bear up to any fair analysis. Me thinks, and a lot of other Americans already think, that in Robertsons case we are beginning to see senile Dementia setting in.
Wonder what Pat will say if a new comet shows up. Strange days indeed, as John Lennon once sang.
Friday, January 06, 2006
New Year: new times along the coast
The lastest Rolling Stone has an article about how Bush, filled FEMA with cronies all throughout the agency . It can be read over at;
Looting Homeland Security : by Eric Klinenberg and Thomas Frank.
The really interesting part for me among many is:
"Everybody knew that if there was a Category 5 hurricane potentially hitting New Orleans, the state and local governments would be overwhelmed," says Jane Bullock, the former FEMA chief of staff who served for emergency management from 1995 to 2001.. "It would have been useful to have FEMA there, counseling less-experienced officials on how to respond."
Instead, FEMA sent only one staff member to New Orleans before the storm -- Marty Bahamonde, a regional director from the Boston office whose previous responsibilities were in public affairs. The agency also failed to deliver the vital resources it had routinely supplied in the past: power generators, potable water and ice, emergency-communications systems, medical teams to support local hospitals, search-and-rescue teams to locate and assist survivors. The result was catastrophic: thousands of people stranded without water and food; thousands more huddling for days in the dim, stinking Superdome; hospital patients baking to death; nursing-home residents abandoned and drowned.
"Just look at the generators," says Bullock. "We've all read horror stories about people dying in hospitals because their fuel for generators ran out. But it's easy to bring in generators with military helicopters if the roads are blocked. It's astounding to me that this didn't happen. Or the Convention Center -- the government could have flown in water and food immediately. Those people didn't have to be stuck like that. There was no one on the ground with experience in disasters. I don't think Brown knew what to do."
As the disaster unfolded, Bahamonde frantically tried to impress the seriousness of the situation on Brown. "Sir," he e-mailed his boss on August 31st, "I know that you know the situation is past critical. Here are some things you might not know. Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes . . . Estimates are many will die within hours . . . We are out of food and running water at the dome . . ."
Brown's reply: "Thanks for update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?"
Well, this article is a real eye-opeaner. Moreover, right after this Bush tried to appoint a crony, Harriet Miers whose qualfications was, she was his lawyer, to the Supreme Court, and then recently over the December recess he went around the Congress to appoint a crony, Julie L. Myers to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her husband, John Wood, is Chertoff's chief of staff now, and her uncle, Richard Myers, recently retired as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.
So Bush keeps appointing cronies, totally oblivious to professional qualifications . So it goes.