re-write, re-paint, reVISE?

“It doesn’t look good now, but a big part of painting is getting used to things not looking good while you work on them.” John Currin in the New Yorker, January 28, 2008, page 66.

DOUBLE CLICK THE MAP for DOUBLE SIZED

OHIO one of top 10 depressing depression (not economic) states.

"Ranking America's Mental Health: An Analysis of Depression Across the States" is posted online at <www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/state-ranking>.
Psychiatr News January 18, 2008Volume 43, Number 2, page 4© 2008 American Psychiatric Association




bigger map: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/vol43/issue2/images/large/eve_map.jpeg
use the magnify icon to toggle large to small size.

from the article:

South Dakota showed the best results for the measures used to develop a
composite depression status indicator, according to the report.

On average, residents of South Dakota experienced 2.41 poor mental
health days a month.

Among adults, 7.31 percent experienced a major depressive episode in the
prior year, and 11.16 percent experienced serious psychological distress.
Slightly more than 7 percent of adolescents experienced a major depressive
episode in the prior year.

In contrast, Utah residents had the highest reported depression rates,
with West Virginia and Kentucky following closely in terms of depression
status.

something to think about?

DIGG ARTS AND CULTURE

bitty browser, stay and surf . . .

Akron Weather Forecast, OH (44313)

Aerogarden, MoonShadow over ROBIN TREE, Cardinal, flight

The AEROGARDEN at almost 4 weeks, I have eaten a few basel leaves (it needed pruning); very FRESH!

This is the tree the robbins like to dine in during the day by moon light, note the MOON SHADOW on the snow.... this was 11:30 at night.....

A cardinal in the tree by the window -- where blackie was spotted.... under 20 degrees and the birds still come to have a bite.....

Cardinal with a seed in its beak....

the 'fat' birds in flight....

like living in the NATURE CHANNEL? I plan some type of feeder for humming birds . . . but cannot figure out how to get an OWL!

Blackie the Squirrel and the Three Fat Birds (what are they?)

Blackie, the black squirrel, who inspires fear in the brown squirrels. There are a few black squirrels in the area - have seen 3 at the same time in different yards. When a brown squirrel gets in their tree its pandamonium - they chase the brownie away, you hear a little battle on the room above . . . DOUBLE CLICKING SHOULD MAKE THIS LARGER, then back arrow to this page....


these porkers have showed up recenlty, on the ground, eating from the bird feeders. WHAT ARE THEY?

when its 10 degrees and feels minus 10 . . .

and you are aging rapidly....... you check around for things to invigorate, stimulate, provoke, entertain..... then reach for an ALEVE and a new tube of ben gay....

you find, not solace, but 'something' alive:
on British tv, a teen drama (who can resist a british tv show? - high brow, right? and a drama? with the chaotic energy of youth?). . . of course the Pakistani social interactions in the last episode are fascinating...... one of those things to be P2P'ed of the net since I'm not in England...

called SKINS (literally and metaphorically an apt title)..... oh, and its not the WALTONS.....

last August 11, 2007 (when I was looking for a home in AKRON!!!, the Guardian wrote:

Revolutionary when you look at the likes of Dawson's Creek and Buffy, which
embarrassingly tried to pass off actors in their mid-20s as hormonal teens. "The
show represents teenagers as they are," starts Nicholas Hoult, 17, who plays the
show's arch-bastard, Tony. "Unlike Hollyoaks, it's all very real, and doesn't
preach to anyone. Watching the OC is all very interesting, but it's hard to
relate to it." Aside from Hoult, who starred alongside Hugh Grant in the film
adaptation of Nick Hornby's About A Boy, the cast were all unknowns, picked from
Bristol's youth drama clubs and GCSE classes. The show was the brainchild of the
teen son of the show's executive producer and was also written by a team with an
average age of 22, including sardonic Never Mind the Buzzcocks host Simon
Amstell and recent Guide cover star Josie Long.

the finale's finale - cat stevens would be proud....:

Cat Stevens - Wild World Lyrics

Now that I've lost everything to you
You say you wanna start something new
And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'
Baby, I'm grievin'
But if you wanna leave, take good care
I hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

+++++

The Guardian
August 11, 2007
The Guide: Teenage riot: The stars of Skins make Grange Hill look like The Waltons, and who better to soundtrack their antics than Foals? Leonie Cooper joins them all on set for a MySpace special. Play nicely children...

Leonie Cooper

THE GUIDE

Living adverts for American Apparel's Lycra goods and Primark droogs wander the corridors. Glitter drips from the ceiling. And the beautiful people - not one of them a day over 21 - frolic against the heavily graffitied walls of an abandoned, half-derelict cathedral in the outskirts of Bristol. Everyone is knocking back pink pints of a non-specific vodka and Bacardi Breezer-based drink served from a Victorian marble bath. Red velvet draped four poster beds and huge pillows are strewn underneath the massive mock Tudor posts, all covered with elegantly wasted teens babbling happily to each other about life, the universe and everything. As parties go, it doesn't quite put Alexandra Palace's 1960s freak-out - the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream - to shame but something, however, is not quite right. It's only 6pm, and amongst the debauched, decadent hubbub people - grown ups, no less - dash about with clipboards and stern looks on their faces. Expensive and highly technical lighting rigs are being shuffled about while a group of rather over-lubricated and endearingly smarmy youths are treated like demi-gods every where they choose to roam, being barraged with requests for mobile phone snapshots, high fives and hugs. They are the cast of Skins and this afternoon is, without a doubt, theirs.

Everyone has been here since 9am, which might account for the various early evening casualties littered about the glorious venue, for the filming of a 10 minute special of the teen drama that set E4 aflame earlier this year. Skins not only brought the new wave of danceable indie to the nation - most notoriously the Gossip's remarkable Standing In The Way Of Control - but also stood out for its honest depiction of teenagers as the pill-popping, fag-smoking shag-monkeys they really are, whilst making its stars some of the most famous teens in the country.

"Not many people know what it's like to be recognised everywhere you go," begins Mike Bailey, 19, who plays Sid the show's chic-geek and desperate virgin, "but I'm certainly enjoying it. Girls come up to me and tell me they love me."

Today's show is not to be screened on E4 however, it's for MySpace, the social networking site for music fans. This special episode is hung around loveable pillhead Chris, who decides to put on the party to end all parties - yet while Nicholas Hoult is hanging around the press room sipping gratis Red Bulls, he's not actually in the show, so as to not give too much away about his somewhat precarious plight at the end of the first series. The short is to promote the first series' Channel 4 debut and today is an example of viral, or the more ominously sounding "stealth" marketing taken to its very peak. Alongside the cast and featured extras, there are 300 kids at the party picked solely on the basis of their MySpace profiles, which might account for the fact that everyone here is rather gorgeous. "Apparently you had to cover your MySpace page in loads of Skins banners to get here," says Amelia Sgroi, 19, from Exeter, an elegant six footer with legs up to her armpits and whirlpool eyes. "I didn't do anything like that, my page was just a bit colourful." Alongside the early evening ravers being shot for crowd scenes for the special show is an interviewer for E4's website and DJ, who were also picked on the basis of their MySpace pages. 18-year-old Liverpudlian Joe Nelson's online indie-disco electro mix won him the pleasure of spinning discs at today's shindig. He's a big fan of Bailey's Sid - who seems to have taken to wearing his character's trademark beanie hat in the street to ensure he gets recognised and of who there are roughly seven lookalikes here today. "Sid's just dead cool," says Joe. "He's laidback and tells it like it is, and that's what teenagers are like."

Skins tapped into the trend for all-ages gigs and club nights like London's Underage Club, an under-18s night that held its first all-day festival this week, from which anyone over 19 was banned. What set Skins apart from other Brit teen shows like the middle-aged men's wank fantasy of Brighton lesbian comi-drama Sugar Rush, and the glossy hi-octane madness of Hollyoaks, was the use of actors who were actually the same age as their characters. Revolutionary when you look at the likes of Dawson's Creek and Buffy, which embarrassingly tried to pass off actors in their mid-20s as hormonal teens. "The show represents teenagers as they are," starts Nicholas Hoult, 17, who plays the show's arch-bastard, Tony. "Unlike Hollyoaks, it's all very real, and doesn't preach to anyone. Watching the OC is all very interesting, but it's hard to relate to it." Aside from Hoult, who starred alongside Hugh Grant in the film adaptation of Nick Hornby's About A Boy, the cast were all unknowns, picked from Bristol's youth drama clubs and GCSE classes. The show was the brainchild of the teen son of the show's executive producer and was also written by a team with an average age of 22, including sardonic Never Mind the Buzzcocks host Simon Amstell and recent Guide cover star Josie Long.

Even before Skins was aired, the marketing wheels had been set in motion, with fleshed-out MySpace pages created for all the show's main characters. On Cassie's page - the show's spaced-out anorexic who's madly in love with Sid - you find out that she loves David Bowie and Joanna Newsom. "She sounds like an elf, she plays the harp," says "Cassie" Newsom in her favourite music section. "She's the closest to magical a human can be." While Jal, the clarinet-toting daughter of a fictional Bristol music legend rambles on candidly about her family on her page, telling us that "I've come to the conclusion that my brothers were adopted since they both appear to have grown up in South Central LA. They also subscribe to a ridiculous but popular religious belief that Tupac is the murdered son of God, and that God is actually Queen Latifah (or Lil' Kim, I forget which one)".

Today's party music is provided by up and coming punk-ravers Foals, who've spent three hours miming to their single Hummer for the party shots, but haven't actually even seen the show. "I haven't had a telly in five years," admits guitarist Edwin Congreave, "but we heard some kids on the bus saying it was cool," before adding "I'm only 23, but I feel really old today," casting his eye over the bubbling neon-clad youth skipping across the venue.

East London's new rave don Kissy Sell Out, 22, is also DJing to the party-goers. Alongside the Dayglo pop he plays remixes of Nirvana and Seal. "It's about nostalgia as well as all the new stuff, Skins is about diversity," he says in a tone that'll make anyone over the age of 25 feel ancient.

Kissy bounds offstage at 9pm sharp, before the coaches turn up to transport the comp winners and extras back to Bristol train station where they'll nip to the offy, and do the whole thing over again, but this time it'll be for real *

Skins Special, MySpace.com from Fri; Skins, 10pm, C4, Aug 21



++++++++++

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a41980/skins-star-mike-bailey.html
Sunday, February 18 2007, 13:55 GMT

By Neil Wilkes, Editor

Every school has at least one of them. The nervous, nerdy kid who always finds himself in embarrassing predicaments and the butt of everyone's jokes.

In Skins that honour falls to Sid, who takes centre stage in next week's episode. The reluctant virgin continues to fight his feelings for his best mate's girlfriend, at the same having to deal with an overbearing - and always-disappointed - father and fighting off the affections of an increasingly besotted Cassie.

Actor Mike Bailey tells DS more about what's in store for Sid - and spills the beans on who will eventually win his heart.

How would you describe the series?
"It's about a bunch of kids who live in Bristol, and it's basically going through their lives at a certain point in time. It's supposed to be about student life and teen life, but it's more of a comedy and also drama, because there are certain aspects in it which are funny, but it deals with a lot of issues. The good thing about it as well is that with this show, it doesn't always come right at the end of [each episode]. It's definitely different to what you'll see on TV these days."

Tell me a bit about Sid, if you could?
"Sid is best mates with Tony, he sees Tony as his best friend. Sid looks up to Tony but also he's in love with Tony's girlfriend Michelle. He's close to all his friends, even though his friends don't notice - there will always be a time when they're close to the different characters, so he is close to everyone but he still gets bullied a lot. He doesn't realise it, especially from Tony. It's not the bullying you see every day - not the physical, the mental, but Sid sticks with it and builds that as he goes through. He moves further away from Tony and becomes more of an independent person."

Is there a point where he realises Tony is a bit of a twonk?
"There are definitely a few moments where he thinks 'do I really want this, are you really a friend if you treat me like this?' But then he sympathises with Tony in the same way, because Tony is always having a hard time throughout the whole series. There are times when he thinks 'Actually, get lost, I don't want to do anything with you any more', but he always goes back."

This is your first TV role - how daunting has it been?
"I'm at college at the moment doing performing arts and the only things I've done before that were plays and stuff at college. I haven't even done extra work on Casualty, which it seems that everyone in Bristol had! So, this is the first big thing for me, and it's such a good experience to go from doing absolutely nothing to being a lead character on TV. I'm so proud of myself for getting it, I'm so glad I got it. There's not many people who can say they had the same possibilitiies and experience as me. So, I mean, I'm well chuffed with myself."

How strange is it to think that your face is on giant posters across the land?
"It's really weird. You can guess what you feel like, but until you actually see it, when you're like 'that's a bit weird'. Me and my mate were talking about this yesterday, saying there might be someone in Manchester looking at my face right now and it's so, so weird. But I love it, this is what I wanted to do, this is my dream, kind of, so I love every minute of it."

What was it like filming some of the more risqué scenes?
"When you're filming it, you don't really think about it. The full naked shots, which all of the male members of the cast had to do at some point, were really different to what you expect it to be - everyone's so professional when you're there. The cast and the crew all sympathise and help you realise it's not the easiest thing to do. When I'm under the covers doing what needs to be done, everyone was having a laugh with that, because it's something everyone can have a laugh with, admit they did it, everyone's talked about it. It's not that bad doing it, but when I have to sit down with my family and watch doing it - well, that's a whole different story. I'm not looking forward to that - having a quick one in the morning and the family walking in on you - it's not going to be fun!"

As you mentioned, he's in love with Michelle but it's clear that Cassie is in love with him. How does that triangle develop?
"It starts off with him madly in love with Michelle, and that pretty much sticks out through the whole series. He gets to this point where he realises that he really does love Cassie. He just sees her as a friend, somebody he can sympathise with, somebody he can relate to in some respect, because she's kind of an outcast from the group. You can tell Cassie's falling in love with him, but he just doesn't realise it. Then, when he actually has the chance to snog Michelle, he thinks, 'Actually, I can get a much better thing with Cassie'. He juggles between the two of them through the series, and I'm not going to tell you how it ends! You'll have to wait and find out on that one."

What can we expect from Sid's episode?
"The focus of my episode is more based on my family, the fact that my parents - who are played by Josie Lawrence and Peter Capaldi - are breaking apart. It starts off with Sid failing exams, failing a piece of coursework, and it just shows how some of the smallest [things] are affected by the family drifting away. His mum leaves, and Sid just loses it with his dad, as he realises 'you're more of a waste of space than I'll ever be'. Sid's dad is always bringing him down, saying 'what are you doing with your life, is there any point to it?' At the end of it, he gets his own back on his dad.

"My episode is definitely an episode where lots of things come in. He's watching his parents fall apart, he tries to get with Michelle but loses it, he's trying to do this essay, and at the end of it he doesn't - nothing good comes out of it. That's one of the good things about my episode, it isn't one of those ones where in about twenty minutes time Sid's going to be okay."

And Josie Lawrence as your mum! How good was that?
"It's really good, because I got to learn so much. The thing with Josie as well, she's known as a comedy actor, so working with her in a serious way is just so good, because you get to see the two ways in which she works - she can do the serious stuff, and she can do the comedy stuff really well. Also, there's Peter Capaldi who plays my dad. He was really, really good, because he properly came into the scene, he'd thought about it and stuff, and we'd talk it through and everything. The older actors and younger actors have all been amazing - there's not one person I wouldn't want to work with again. I've enjoyed it so much and I've been so lucky at this age to work with all these great actors."

How well did the cast get on?
"Everyone gets along, we were all so happy. Joe [Chris], Nick [Tony] and Dev [Anwar] don't live in Bristol, so they used to come down and we used to go out on nights, we used to have a laugh on set. There wasn't any friction, everyone got on well the whole way through. Since we finished filming, I've missed everyone so much, and to have a job where you're working with really, really great people, it's amazing as well."

What are your thoughts on a possible second series?
"Everyone is keen, I really want to do a second series. I loved doing the first series, so a second series would be absolutely amazing. But, I'm thinking of it as we're not doing it, so when we find out if we are doing it, then it'll just be like, so much better. I definitely want to do it. "

Thanks for chatting, Mike!

Skins airs Thursday at 10pm on E4
More

______________________

later.....

Robbins, Bluejays, and TREE PIGS!

for mid january its like the nature channel outside the windows, no deer tho! double click for large pictures... change your wallpaper.... winter in ohio?

In the front yard is a tree heavy with berries (we have no idea what it is, ID it); the robbins just love it, there must have been 10 0f them in it his morning. - outside my bedroom window.






Meanwhile the backyard was flapping with BLUEJAYS! and a few woodpeckers.

But then mr. mischiev showed up, a squirrel dressed as a tree pig, A TREE PIG!

I thought the roof would prevent this, but the tree pig used that prehensile tail and dangled . . . I have put a pie tin over the feeder, but may get a shepherds pole. cute... but . . . .

such a whiskered tree pig!

ah, Paul and I enjoy watching the animals. and the aerogarden is growing for that indoor touch of green....

GOOGLEGANGER

so what will the google schadenfreude merger look like?
\SHOD-n-froy-duh\, noun: A malicious satisfaction obtained from the misfortunes of others.


Urban Word of the Day

GOOGLEGANGER

Similar to that of a doppleganger, it is another individual with the same name as you whose records and/or stories are mixed in with your own when you Google yourself.

"Hey, I just googled my name and found that I have three googlegangers!"

"I got curious and googled myself last night-- and found a porn actress with my name! I can't believe my googleganger is a porn star!"


AND:

googlegeist

n. derived from german geist as in zeitgeist,combined with google.1.Literally google spirit.
2.Vertigo induced by addictive googling.3.Pervasive spirit around googletownand computers everywhere...urge to escape the wasteland by hitch-hiking on the information super-highway.

Rachel and Anna are posessed by impassioned googlegeist..oblivious to the road kill on the information superhighway .

from:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=googleganger&defid=2619255

those days, name the bird, a few gifts....

Paul set the table . . . I was making lunch . . . see into the living room? 2 of my brothers came for lunch . . .


the aerogarden is growing fast! its wonderful to have a bit of nature indoors. a few weeks ago it was so small (http://jbeckhamlat.blogspot.com/2008/01/aerogarden-lights-up-my-room-and-life.html )

a holiday gift from france, look how well the colors match? from Noel in Paris (founded in 1883)

my brother Joe gave me a birdfeeder for my birthday, I never tire of watching them gather and bring life to the tree now that winter has pushed my few days of indian summer into the past...

Got to love a bird feeder, and the garden...... my new out of the city existance? Single digit lows in the forecast.

Paul gave me soap (not geritol thank god) . . . .

ah to be a year older and a decade more senile, what more could you ask for?

be well.......

"Valley of the Dolls" - Helen Lawson vs. Neely O'Hara

the best scene, hillarious, yet the dvd says it was tragic at the time.....

12 jan 08 watched the 1967 cult classic VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

On saturday Paul and I watched VALLEY OF THE DOLLS!

I had never seen it, it came out when I was but 10 years old.
I love SEX AND THE CITY, this is not the same thing -but close. 3 women, not 4, drugs and chaos, and better music than SEX and the City. The book is by Jacqueline Susann . . . I've never read anything by her... money, fame, stardom, and off course: A DOWNWARD SPIRAL....

an innocent (parkins) who has a judgmental presence in my humble opinion

IT has great commentary tracks, one with Barbara Parkins who stared in the series Peyton Place. a 2 disc set. The most shocking movie of its time, 1967 - it may explain 1968?

a zillion good lines, like this one by Patty Duke playing Neely:

Neely O'Hara: [drunk in a bar] Who's stoned? I am merely traveling incognito.

DOLLS is code for PILLS...... great music, click once or twice.... maybe you'd like to read it (I ordered a used hard back copy- paper backs go for a penny on amazon in the used list; or see the movie? the book is online in google books.... free!

the title song:



sing along?

Valley Of the Dolls

Dionne Warwick


(Theme From) Valley Of the Dolls
Artist: Dionne Warwick
peak Billboard position # 2 in 1968 -
Words and Music by Dory Previn and Andre Previn

Gotta get off, gonna get
Have to get off from this ride
Gotta get hold, gonna get
Need to get hold of my pride

When did I get, where did I
How was I caught in this game
When will I know, where will I
How will I think of my name

When did I stop feeling sure, feeling safe
And start wondering why, wondering why
Is this a dream, am I here, where are you
What's in back of the sky, why do we cry

Gotta get off, gonna get
Out of this merry-go-round
Gotta get off, gonna get
Need to get on where I'm bound

When did I get, where did I
Why am I lost as a lamb
When will I know, where will I
How will I learn who I am

Is this a dream, am I here, where are you
Tell me, when will I know, how will I know
When will I know why?

Alissa Rubin on Charlie Rose January 9th, 2008

Alissa Rubin
A conversation with Alissa Rubin

Charlie Rose (PBS)

http://www.charlierose.com/guests/alissa-rubin

Alissa Johannesen-Rubin is an American journalist who began covering the Middle East for The New York Times in 2007. Previously, she had been a correspondent for The Los Angeles Times.

++++

The Charlie Rose Show

January 9, 2008 Wednesday

SHOW: THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW 11:00 PM EST

A Discussion With Alissa Rubin, the `New York Times` Deputy Bureau Chief in Baghdad; A Conversation With Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

BYLINE: Charlie Rose

GUESTS: Alissa Rubin, Madeleine Albright, Saad Mohseni

SECTION: NEWS; International

LENGTH: 8916 words


HIGHLIGHT: A discussion with Alissa Rubin, the "New York Times" deputy bureau chief in Baghdad. A conversation with former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright.




CHARLIE ROSE,
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HOST: Welcome to the broadcast. Tonight, Alissa Rubin. She is a "New York Times" deputy bureau chief in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISSA RUBIN, NEW YORK TIMES: So there`s this feeling that people are still waiting and still sort of, whether it`s Muqtada al-Sadr or the former Ba`athists, there`s a sense of people biding their time until it seems right to grab for more land, more property, more power.

And the essential power-sharing has not been come to terms with. And until someone wins and the loser is also reconciled to his position as a loser but gotten some guarantees, it`s very hard to go forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Also tonight, former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the thing that has happened is we are only looking at ourselves from our own perspective. And we think that everybody either fears us or respects us.

And the truth is that our reputation at the moment has been greatly damaged. Code word for that is Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and just generally the way we have behaved. And that we are only interested in ourselves and that we don`t understand that other countries have national interests also, and that we have made no effort to understand the history, culture, religions of other countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE ROSE
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: We conclude with a conversation about Afghanistan with Saad Mohseni. He is an Afghanistan media entrepreneur working in Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAD MOHSENI, AFGHAN ENTREPRENEUR: There is no cohesive vision for Afghanistan. If you speak to the Europeans, they will say one thing. If you speak to the Americans, they may say another thing. The question should be asked, what is your vision for Afghanistan? And not like we want a democratic state in the heart of Asia. What is your true vision for Afghanistan? How do you see Afghanistan evolving as a nation, economically, culturally, politically?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Rubin, Albright, Mohseni, next.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Alissa Rubin is here. She is the "New York Times" deputy bureau chief in Baghdad. She was formerly with the "Los Angeles Times," serving as that paper`s bureau chief in Paris and Vienna.

As the nation is transfixed by the 2008 presidential campaign, Iraq has somewhat faded from the news, but the U.S. project in Iraq goes on. I`m pleased to have her here to talk about how she sees it and the factors that are at play in Baghdad and in Iraq in general.

Welcome. So great to have you here.

ALISSA RUBIN: Thanks.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Tell me, everybody -- and you know, you`ve been watching the presidential campaign too. It doesn`t have the same place in the debate it did at the beginning of this political campaign.

ALISSA RUBIN: It absolutely doesn`t. And I`ve been struck the last few days looking at the coverage that it sort of almost feels like it`s yesterday`s war.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Yes.

ALISSA RUBIN: And if there`s a present day area of tension, it`s Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But I think in the long term, all of these candidates, Republican and Democrat, are going to have to deal with it. It`s not going to go away. Right now, there are about 160,000-plus troops there. And while they`re going to be reduced somewhat by the end of the year, there are still going to be well over 100,000. And it`s a huge amount of money. So everybody has plans for tax cuts or a health care coverage or whatever, but they`re going to need to get that money from somewhere. And right now, a great deal is being spent -- about -- I think it`s about $9 billion a month is being spent. I think that`s the number from the Congressional Research Service on the war. And that`s a lot. So they`ll have to think about that.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Why has the surge succeeded in the judgment of almost everybody? And what do we mean by success?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, I think it succeeded because a lot fewer people are dying. And that`s Iraqi civilians. It`s American soldiers. Certainly fewer than were dying some months ago. It`s the number of casualties. Even the number of attempted attacks, which often leaves a lot of injured. But there are a lot fewer of those now.

And also, most importantly to me, is that many of the attacks are less lethal than they used to be. We used to have those headlines where it would say "80 dead, 120 wounded, 40 dead." Now, it`s nine. It`s 11. Occasionally we had a big bomb the other week or the other day that was about 30. But it`s lower numbers. And that means there`s a lot less impact and reverberation through the population. So that`s a big difference, I think.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Is it sustainable?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, that`s the $64 million question. Is it sustainable -- under what circumstances? If the Americans reduced their numbers at a dramatic rate, I think most people think it`s not yet sustainable, because, as you can see, there`s been sort of an uptick in violence the last couple of weeks. We`ve seen somewhat more bombings, more attacks, particularly attacks on these Sunni awakening leaders.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: And why is that?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, I think there are a couple of different things. One thing is that neither side is quite satisfied with where they are. The Shiites really still worry that the Sunnis are going to come back and take over, and the Sunnis still think that they could, many of them -- not all of them -- think they could govern better. And so no one is reconciled or comfortable yet with his position in the new and sort of what people call the new Iraq, in the post-Saddam Iraq.

And while there`s that uncertainty, no one wants to give ground. No one wants to compromise. And so you have a continuing sort of unease and an unwillingness to make deals.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: How do you explain what Muqtada al-Sadr is doing in terms of simply calling his militias down? And how do you explain what the Iranians seem to be doing, which is, according to some sources, sending less and playing less of a role as a troublemaker?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, I think there`s probably nothing more interesting than the role of Sadr in the whole Iraqi political picture. He`s an outsider. He is not -- you know, he isn`t a politician himself. But he has been a king-maker several times over, and still has the capacity to raise the street the way no one else does.

And so this decision, it`s very hard to know who or how many people encouraged him to do it. But a number of people must have told him it was in his interest not to be a target.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Who are those people? Sistani would be one?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, Sistani would be one. The Iranians would be another.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Saying cool it?

ALISSA RUBIN: Yes. Because you have time. They have all the time in the world. If they want to complete the sectarian cleansing of Baghdad, which is what many of the Sadr-connected groups were doing, they can do that later.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: This is the Shiite militia especially coming out of Sadr City.

ALISSA RUBIN: Right, coming out of Sadr City and out of some of the other big, big Shiite neighborhoods. They can do that. And they can do it when there are fewer Americans around, and then they won`t become targets.

If they were to keep acting now when there`s a surge going on, there are a lot of American troops on the ground, a lot of focus on it, they would be at risk of losing men, losing credibility. And they don`t want that.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Are there things going on with Petraeus because he understands counterinsurgency more than most that we don`t even know about? Has he been able to work some kind of magic because he knows how to get certain messages to certain people and he`s able to explain the dynamics in a way that no one else has been able to do?

ALISSA RUBIN: If so, I would say that most of us don`t know about that part of it. But what he has done, it seems very successfully, is get his soldiers out on the ground and make them into a real presence, day to day, in a way that just was not true before. And that can`t be underestimated.

I think, you know, even as a reporter there for some time, I didn`t believe that the surge would have as much effect in Baghdad. But you know, when you really see American soldiers and vehicles and humvees and every other thing that they have out there and patrolling on foot, it has an enormous impact. Now, it also causes resentment, because...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Because it`s proof of occupation.

ALISSA RUBIN: It`s a proof of occupation and it`s a constant reminder and it`s a thorn in people`s side, and I think that resentment has risen lately. But it can`t be overlooked that that presence also is somewhat prophylactic and stops people from doing things they might otherwise do.

So that`s why this year actually, and the election is really going to be very interesting -- the American election -- and how candidates respond to it, because they`re going to start pulling out people. So you`re going to begin...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: When does that start? April? May?

ALISSA RUBIN: It already started, it already started, actually, but only about 5,000 came out by the end of the year. I think you`ll start to see more of it around April, May.

Now, the thing is...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: So it will go from 155, 160 to what?

ALISSA RUBIN: It will go to...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: 130?

ALISSA RUBIN: 130, right. But you won`t see it in Baghdad, because in Baghdad, they`re going to pretty much keep it pretty high numbers because it`s such a center. Because whoever controls Baghdad controls the country. So it`s the prize, without a doubt. And so what we`ll be looking for is what`s happening in Diyala and Salah ad Din...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: The other provinces?

ALISSA RUBIN: And the provinces outside of Baghdad. And I think that`s where we`ll get a sense of what would happen if you kept on drawing down, because you won`t get that just from watching Baghdad.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: And we will see, when they draw down Americans from those areas, you`ll see if the violence ratchets up again.

ALISSA RUBIN: You`ll see how much violence ratchets up, whether the Iraqi security forces can control it.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: How deep and how pervasive is this thing they call the awakening, which former Ba`athists or former insurgents or former and always Sunnis have decided that al Qaeda is not their friend but their enemy?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, first of all, there are some Shiites. And the numbers are (inaudible). They have really tried to bring Shiites in, in part to control those elements who call themselves Sadrists, who are still laying IEDs and everything else.

How pervasive is it? It`s -- I think it`s quite pervasive. It`s -- particularly in the Baghdad area, where there`s been a big concentration in the area south of Baghdad and the area just north of Baghdad. It`s very entrenched.

They`ve tried to spawn it and -- and of course in Anbar, where it began. It`s completely integral to the security system.

What`s difficult to know is whether now that these extremists, Sunni extremists, are going after the awakening leaders, will that undermine support for it in the Sunni community? No one wants to be an incidental target of a bombing if they can avoid it.

And so far the awakening, many of the awakening members have rallied and stayed with it. But it`s not clear, and an enormous amount is dependent on whether they are integrated into the Iraqi security forces.

As you said, these are former Ba`athists. Many of them are former members of the army, former members of the Special Republican Guards. They want to be back in the government. They want that mantle of respectability. And if they don`t get that from the government, from the Maliki, the government of Prime Minister Maliki, then it`s not clear they`ll hang in there. And also right now they`re being paid...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: By the Americans.

ALISSA RUBIN: By the Americans. And supervised by the Americans. The question is, how long can that go on for? As the Americans draw down units, they`re going to have fewer people there to run and to work with these awakening members.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: There are reports that the Maliki government is sending some money into these provinces like Anbar. Some, even though...

ALISSA RUBIN: They are.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: ... they`re not sharing the oil wealth, but they`re at least budgeting money for them.

ALISSA RUBIN: What they haven`t done, except in Anbar, is hire awakening members so they become members of the police and members of the army.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Because they fear that they may be infiltrators.

ALISSA RUBIN: Because they fear that they`re infiltrated by either extremists, you know, al Qaeda in Iraq type groups, or just -- they`re just Ba`athists who want to stage a coup at some point. And they don`t want them in their security forces.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Is it your impression that the United States is totally supportive of Maliki? Because they have ...

ALISSA RUBIN: I don`t know if they`re totally supportive or not supportive. They recognize that changing it would be a very difficult task, and there is no clear successor.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Mahdi was there for a while, wasn`t he?

ALISSA RUBIN: Yes, he was. But I think if you count -- if you sit down and count the votes, it`s really hard to come up with anyone who would win. And so, the United States is left with -- a little bit with the person that they know, the devil you know. And they know his weaknesses and his -- some of his strengths.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: What are they?

ALISSA RUBIN: They`re living with it.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: What are they?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, I think that he has -- he has not -- he has reluctantly come along with many of the things the U.S. has pushed for. He hasn`t said no to the awakening and integrating the into the security forces. He hasn`t said yes. Left it at least a gray area. There`s room for maneuver, room for making a case.

People who have met him, and I`ve talked quite a bit to people recently, Sunni leaders who have met with him, say that they feel he`s not the problem. That he`s quite personally supportive, but that some of the people around him are more sectarian and a little more difficult.

But there`s no question that he really has not managed to deliver services to Iraqis. And that is a huge area that`s very hard to convey properly in a newspaper article, and I don`t think we`ve done a good job -- any of us -- of conveying how awful it is never to have electricity, you know, that you can rely on, to have water that isn`t drinkable much of the time, to, you know, streets that are a mess. It`s -- there`s an endless litany of problems that people face. And that makes them quite angry at the government.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: This is an easy question and a difficult answer. But among all the people you know, Iraqis, would you say more than 50 percent wish we had never come there because of the interruption and death that took place, or is it a very different view, which is, notwithstanding, to overthrow Saddam is worth whatever we have to go through to get to the other side?

ALISSA RUBIN: It`s very hard to put a percentage on it. Because I think people...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Fair enough, but are they both two strong sentiments?

ALISSA RUBIN: Yes, they are two strong sentiments. And you would find people on the one hand, particularly if you talk to Shiites, many Shiites lived in fear under the regime of Saddam Hussein. They felt they had very few possibilities unless they were willing to join the Ba`ath Party. They couldn`t leave the country easily to go to conferences if they were professors, to travel to see relatives, anything like that. So -- and worship was difficult as well for them. It was making the pilgrimage to Najaf and Karbala.

But at the same time, do they long for the orderliness, for having some things you can rely on, for being able to send their children to school without worrying that they`ll be killed on the road...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Or to go to a restaurant and have dinner.

ALISSA RUBIN: Being able to go to a restaurant and have dinner, of course. And so I think there`s an enormous amount of conflict within people. And if you were to ask them in a poll, they`d have trouble saying it was one or the other.

Now, for Sunnis -- not uniformly -- but for many Sunnis, it was obviously better under Saddam Hussein. But for some of them, too, they were intellectuals. They were people who were part of the opposition. And they really are doing better now. Still, they too would long for A, security and, B, some efficiency in day-to-day life.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Is this some kind of defining struggle?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, yes, I think it is, because in two ways -- this is a huge, a huge struggle. One of them is between sort of how the West is going to be portrayed in a large swath of the Middle East for years and years to come, but -- and particularly the United States -- and so far we are not looking very good by any means.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Explore that deeper in terms of the people. You`re reflecting what you -- how, if this is a failure in the end, America will have lost enormous prestige and will appear to be someone that you can`t...

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, that you can`t rely on, that is unable to make judgments, that doesn`t stick with its promises. I mean, regardless of what promises were actually made by politicians, President Bush, anyone else, people had expectations, enormous expectations for what the U.S. was going to deliver.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Because of who we were and what we stood for and the power we had...

ALISSA RUBIN: Because of who we were and what we stood for. And the things, you know, we seem to have ended or been very instrumental in the war in Bosnia. We have been -- have all this money. People seem to live well here. Democracy has been held up as a kind of ideal. Almost America is a utopian vision.

But now, if we haven`t delivered really even electricity...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Basic services.

ALISSA RUBIN: Now, of course, it`s more complicated than that. There were lots of good and practical reasons some of those things weren`t possible and weren`t possible on the schedule that people wanted them. But nonetheless, there`s enormous disappointment. And I think that disappointment and distrust will reverberate for a very long time.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Unless?

ALISSA RUBIN: Unless in some way we`re able to figure out a way to regain credibility, which would probably mean spending more money and more time there.

Now, on what terms? Whether it would have to be military, whether it could be a more civilian capacity, you know, that`s the great debate.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: This is the debate I don`t quite understand, which is the notion of how long we`d be there and what that means and how the Iraqis feel about that. And just the whole idea that it`s part of the political debate in part. Democrats sometimes talk about it. John McCain will say we will be there forever if it`s necessary, because we were forever in South Korea and we were forever in Europe and forever in different kinds of places.

Do the Iraqis want us there, even not occupying but having...

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, again, it depends which Iraqis you ask.

(CROSSTALK)

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Shiites say no, Sunnis say yes, or...

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, right, I think -- to some extent. But I think also the question is what kind of presence.

Right now, the American presence is an intrusive one and on purpose. They`re trying to stop people from killing, you know, Iraqis from killing other Iraqis and outsiders from killing Iraqis.

But in the process, they`ve been very intrusive. There is not only disruption of daily life; there are mistakes. Sometimes people are killed who are actually friends of the Americans, or even working with them to some extent.

So it`s been a very fraught relationship. So there`s a question of how intrusive an American relationship would be.

But the catch-22 is if it`s not obtrusive, if they`re not intervening, then they`re going to be seen as sitting by while...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Terrible things are happening.

ALISSA RUBIN: ... terrible things happen. And bombs are going off. And ethnic and sectarian cleansing are going on. So it`s very difficult.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Has the question of a civil war, Sunni-Shia being the most easy...

ALISSA RUBIN: Right, sure.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: ... with the Kurds doing something, has that issue simply been postponed?

ALISSA RUBIN: I think you could certainly argue that, because you haven`t had a winner yet. And I mean...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: And no reconciliation.

ALISSA RUBIN: And no reconciliation. So there`s this feeling that people are still waiting, and still sort of -- whether it`s Muqtada al-Sadr or the former Ba`athists, there`s a sense of people biding their time until it seems right to grab for more land, more property, more power. And the essential power sharing has not been come to terms with. And until someone wins and the loser is also reconciled to his position as a loser but gotten some guarantees, it`s very hard to go forward.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Refugees. Are they coming back?

ALISSA RUBIN: In small numbers. Not in the large numbers that at first it looked like they might. I think we`ll see over the coming months what happens. I think one of the questions from many refugees, people I`ve talked to in Syria and Jordan in particular, is really, how safe is it? Really how, you know, are they really going to be able to find housing? Are they going to be able to find jobs?

At the moment, you would want roughly the same percentage of Sunnis and Shias who fled to return. But I think there`s still great uncertainty for Sunnis about whether they`ll be able to find a way to make their livelihood. And for Shias, there are still questions -- there are still quite a few bombs, and they`re very nervous about it. So that`s not at all done.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: How much of -- beyond the awakening -- is al Qaeda simply a separate force?

ALISSA RUBIN: You know, it`s -- I think that`s really hard to say. I think in general, al Qaeda is very -- or al Qaeda in Iraq, which is this home-grown group...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Or Mesopotamia or whatever.

ALISSA RUBIN: Mesopotamia -- is inter-laced with the more extreme of the insurgents groups that don`t necessarily have links to al Qaeda. There are constant marriages and divorces of convenience.

I read the jihadi Web site translations quite a lot, and they`re constantly putting up notices now, "We are no longer working -- you know, this Islamic army is no longer working with the jihadis whatever." And it`s back and forth.

So I think trying to separate that almost is pointless. If people are setting bombs that kill people, you probably don`t want them in your neighborhood.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: How long will you be there?

ALISSA RUBIN: Well, I`ll certainly be here -- there through the spring and summer. And I don`t know exactly what the "New York Times" has in mind.

(CROSSTALK)

ALISSA RUBIN: I`ll find out what the powers that be have in mind. I think it will be a very interesting year, because we`re going to see the beginnings of what it will look like with fewer Americans there.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: That`s really the next big thing.

ALISSA RUBIN: That`s really the next big thing, and I think we`ll start to see that late spring, early summer. And we`ll see how the candidates here start to talk about it, because it is not simple and it gets more complicated every year.

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: And it`s consequential about the future of the United States in terms of how it exercises its power and its credibility to achieve other things in the region.

ALISSA RUBIN: In the region, and really in the Muslim world, which is considerably beyond the region.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: We certainly have learned some of our failures in terms of understanding the nature of the culture and the way the rest of the world works. It certainly has been one of the lessons, has it not?

ALISSA RUBIN: I think that`s the case. And I think also, we`ve come to understand how large the tensions are within the Muslim world, that if we`re going to enter, we have to be sensitive to. The Sunni-Shiite tensions are really enormous. And Iraq was filled with fault lines that I think we didn`t understand very fully when we arrived.

And I think we saw it a little bit too much as Saddam Hussein was a terrible dictator, and...

CHARLIE ROSE
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: If we got rid of him, everything would be good.

ALISSA RUBIN: If we got rid of him, people would rally and democracy was next. But really, there was a big battle for power that`s a very old one in that part of the world. You know, if you look at old maps of that area, at one time it was part of the Persian Empire; at another time part of the Turkish Empire. Very different power structures have dominated it, and it has not really been resolved.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: I hope you`ll come back here any time you`re in New York.

ALISSA RUBIN: Thank you very much.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: Thank you very much. It`s a pleasure to meet you...

ALISSA RUBIN: Thank you.

CHARLIE ROSE
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: ... and to have you on the program.

ALISSA RUBIN: A pleasure to be here.

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: Alissa Rubin, deputy Baghdad bureau chief in Baghdad.

Back in a moment. Stay with us.

Arthur C Clarke's 90th birthday wish list

Arthur C Clarke's 90th birthday wish list
David Smith
Sunday December 16, 2007
The Observer

Arthur C Clarke, author of science fiction including 2001: A Space Odyssey, celebrates his 90th birthday today and continues to embrace new technology: he has marked it by releasing a video on the website YouTube.

In the nine-minute message, recorded at his home in Sri Lanka, Clarke makes three wishes. First, he would like evidence of extraterrestrial life. 'I have always believed that we are not alone in the universe,' he says. 'But we are still waiting for ETs to call us - or give us some kind of a sign.'

Watch it:



Evaluate him:



fyi
from Brittanica:
Arthur C. Clarke
born December 16, 1917, Minehead, Somerset, England


in full Arthur Charles Clarke English writer who is notable for both his science fiction and his nonfiction.

Clarke was interested in science from childhood, but he lacked the means for higher education. He worked as a government auditor from 1936 to 1941 andjoined a small, advanced group that called itself the British Interplanetary Society. From 1941 to 1946 Clarke served in the Royal Air Force, becoming a radar instructor and technician. While in the service he published his first science-fictionstories and in 1945 wrote an article entitled “Extra-Terrestrial Relays” for Wireless World. The article envisioned a communications satellite system that would relay radio and television signals throughout the world; this system was in operation two decades later.

In 1948 Clarke secured a bachelor of science degree from King's College in London. He went on to write more than 20 novels and 30 nonfiction books and is especially known for such novels as Against the Fall of Night (1953), Childhood's End (1953), The City and the Stars (1956), Rendezvous with Rama (1973; winner of Nebula and Hugo awards),The Fountains of Paradise (1979; winner of Nebula and Hugo awards), and The Songs of Distant Earth (1986). Collections of Clarke's essays and lectures include Voices from the Sky (1965), The View from Serendip (1977), Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography (1984), Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography (1989), and By Space Possessed (1993).

In the 1950s Clarke developed an interest in undersea exploration and moved to Sri Lanka, where he embarked on a second career combining skin diving and photography; he produced a succession of books, the first of which was The Coast of Coral (1956).

Stanley Kubrick's hugely successful film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was based on Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" (1951), which Clarke and Kubrick subsequently developed into a novel (1968), published under the same name asthe movie. A sequel novel, 2010: Odyssey Two (1982), by Clarke alone, was releasedas a film in 1984. He was knighted in 2000.

October temps in January?? Akron - Peyton Place - Harper Valley?

On saturday morning, 3 days ago, it was 3-5 degrees in the morning, snow, and ice....


Today, the 7th of January it hit 65 (the gas company's winter nightmare!). A great day for a walk.

Again, sky in Ohio, in Chicago looking up meant architectural wonders, here in Ohio, Nature's Majesty.

Then, the zoom lens kicked in, I've ordered one from the eye doctor for insertion. Wonder where the hundreds on this plane are going? how long did they sit on the runway?

Maybe they had a good book?

Indian Summer, in January? Ever read Peyton Place? the classic 1956 Grace Metalious novel? set in some small New Hampshire town.... it starts . . . . FEEL THE WEATHER!

"Indian summer is like a woman.. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle, and she
comes and goes as she pleases so that one is never sure whether she will
come at all, nor for how long she will stay. . . . She brings with her the time
of the last warm spell, an unchartered season which lives until Winter moves in
with its backbone of ice and accoutrements of leafless trees and hard frozen
ground. . . . .

One year, early in October, Indian summer came to a town called Peyton Place.
"

I'll admit, that I have only read the beginning of this iconic American Novel. In a way I want to save it...... AKRON is much more Harper Valley PTA....

Sunday high to be in the low 60s? in January? in Akron?

Sunday morning, http://www.weather.com/ for 44313, as of 11:00 a.m. the forecast is a high of 61 on MONDAY!!! last week it felt like 3 or 4 degrees. Is MOTHER NATURE napping? has Persephone found an early escape route?

SEE:



Few Showers
High

61° F

THE TIME IN AKRON IS:


you can get one for your page too, http://www.timeanddate.com/clocks/free.html

Confused birds, aero domes off, and COLD

I put out a 2nd suet feeder for the birds, who seem to enjoy snow cones . . . and acrobatics:



Of course, in a consumer society excess variety can lead to bliss, or sheer confusion! double click for a larger image! flutter flutter, what brand to I want . . . where is the VICTORY SUET, Winston asked Julia!

I again cleared the driveway, and did not even pull out of the garage. Mine again is the cleanest driest drive on the block. A few hours after I did it by hand this guy shows up going door to door!

The AEROGARDEN advances, domes had to be removed as the little wonders are shooting towards the light!

and its COLD! THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW, Jan 3, evening, IS!

from www.weather.com zip 44313

Partly Cloudy

17°F


Feels Like
3°F

Updated: Jan 3 09:25 p.m. ET

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the AeroGarden lights up my room and life!

Today (day 2, 2008) we are in a winter storm warning period. THE SUN is SHINING, the snow is bright. 24 degrees, 4 or so inches of snow fell overnight and more is coming. The stew is in the slowcooker- the dots are tapioca. Snow today, snow showers tonight, what are snow showers compared to snow?

A friend sent me an AEROGARDEN for Christmas. I had not mentioned my interest in this device to anyone – Paul saw me eyeing one at Linens and Things and nudged me forward – cookie sheets were more useful. I have planted the ITALIAN HERB set of seeds first.

It is in my bedroom, the bright light comes on at around 6 a.m. and goes out around 10 p.m.. ITS MY ARTIFICIAL SUN! and its bright, enough to read by anywhere in the room. I can look at the garden and out the window at the snow covered evergreen.

A spectacular contrast - - and I now have some green sprouts after only 4 days! This is a way to contol SAD (seasonal affected disorder), better than drink (better than drink alone).

I finished Saul Bellow’s SEIZE THE DAY, about a guy almost 50 who lost his job and was in desperate straights with his father, wife and questionable friends. Its a thoughtful account of dreams gone astray set in NYC. And it took place in a single day, but took me 3 to finish (putting away Christmas). I’m reading Christopher preface to BRAVE NEW WORLD – I may re-read the novel – but the preface serves to contemporized the content in social and political terms, and ad in a bit on Huxley’s thinking and lifestyle.

THE PICS:




Day one:

Day 4, growth and sprouting were occuring all over the place! so fast!

A garden indoors, a snow storm outside....

and a hot pot of stew - with wine - an aroma that is spreading through the house!

US SENATOR Jim Talent, oct 18, 2006 - I'M WALKING DOWN THE STREET IN ONE DIRECTION AND I SEE MYSELF COMING IN THE OTHER

http://www.ksdk.com/news/elections/election_article.aspx?storyid=105551

Transcript From Fourth Talent-McCaskill Debate
Created: 10/16/2006 11:52:53 PM
Last updated: 10/18/2006 10:31:35 AM
Transcript of U.S. Senate debateTranscript courtesy of KY3 Closed Captioning JERRY JACOB, MODERATOR:GOOD EVENING FROM THE STUDIOS OF KYTV IN SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI
U.S. SEN. JIM TALENT:

THAT WAS ANOTHER MISSTATEMENT OF MY RECORD. I'VE SPONSORED LEGISLATION TO PROHIBIT CLONING. LOOK, ON THE BALLOT ISSUE, THE BALLOT ISSUE WOULD CREATE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO CLONE THE EARLIEST STAGES OF HUMAN LIFE. IT WOULD FIX IT IN THE CONSTITUTION. I'M NOT FOR THAT. I'M OPPOSED TO HUMAN CLONING. I'VE TOLD PEOPLE I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE I'M WALKING DOWN THE STREET IN ONE DIRECTION AND I SEE MYSELF COMING IN THE OTHER. THERE'S BEEN A PROBLEM. I'M FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH. I'VE SPONSORED AND SUPPORTED $2 BILLION IN SUPPORT FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH ON THE FEDERAL LEVEL. THERE'S A PROBLEM BECAUSE UNTIL RECENTLY SCIENCE BELIEVED THE ONLY WAY YOU COULD GET A PARTICULAR KIND OF STEM CELL THEY NEEDED WAS TO CLONE A HUMAN EMBRYO. THE GOOD NEWS IS ALTERNATIVES ARE BEING WORKED ON, GOING TO BE AVAILABLE SOON AND THEY'RE BEING WORKED ON THE AT M.I.T. IN HARVARD WITHOUT HAVING TO DESTROY THE EMBRYO.

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do you think Jimbo read this?
Brave New World


now read the next post, clones coming to the neighborhood!

HAPPY DAY ONE! now, plan to protect your clone!!

HAPPY DAY ONE of 2008! PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF YOUR CLONE!!

now for the upcomeing year.... Community, Identity, Stability

first a bit from BRAVE NEW WORLD (cloning would seem to be the ultimate managerial Republican dream, yet its so opposed....?)

Image the work force? the mindless protest free work force, from BRAVE NEW WORLD:

Major instruments of social stability.
Standard men and women; in uniform batches. The whole of a small
factory staffed with the products of a single bokanovskified egg.
"Ninety-six identical twins working ninety-six identical machines!" The
voice was almost tremulous with enthusiasm. "You really know where you are. For
the first time in history." He quoted the planetary motto. "Community, Identity,
Stability." Grand words. "If we could bokanovskify indefinitely the whole
problem would be solved."

Solved by standard Gammas, unvarying Deltas, uniform Epsilons. Millions
of identical twins. The principle of mass production at last applied to biology.

from: http://www.huxley.net/bnw/index.html

+++ now the movie folks! and with the luck of the solar system it will look just like me (after my UFO abduction last August from the Macy's parking lot its very possible!)::

_____

Expect birth of firsthuman clone soon,says UNU report

http://update.unu.edu/issue47_15.htm

update.unu.edu

ISSUE47: SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 2007
The newsletter of United Nations University and its international network of research and training centres/programmes.

The world community quickly needs to reach a compromise that outlaws reproductive cloning or prepare to protect the rights of cloned individuals from potential abuse, prejudice and discrimination, according to authors of a new policy analysis by UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS).

A legally-binding global ban on work to create a human clone, coupled with freedom for nations to permit strictly controlled therapeutic research, has the greatest political viability of options available to the international community, says the report: Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable: Future Options for UN Governance. link: http://www.ias.unu.edu/resource_centre/Cloning_9.20B.pdf



Virtually every nation opposes human cloning and more than 50 have made such efforts illegal. However, negotiation of an international accord foundered at the UN in 2005 due to disagreement over research (or therapeutic) cloning.

"Human reproductive cloning could profoundly impact humanity," says UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of UNU. "This report offers a plain language analysis of the opportunities, challenges and options before us – a firm and thoughtful base from which the international community can revisit the issue before science overtakes policy."


DOWNLOAD REPORT here: http://www.ias.unu.edu/resource_centre/Cloning_9.20B.pdf

Without an international prohibition, human reproductive cloning accomplished in certain countries could be judged perfectly legal by the International Court of Justice, warn UNU-IAS co-authors Brendan Tobin, Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy, Darryl Macer, Mihaela Serbulea.
“Failure to outlaw reproductive cloning means it is just a matter of time until cloned individuals share the planet,” says barrister Mr. Tobin of the Irish Center for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway. “If failure to compromise continues, the world community must accept responsibility and ensure that any cloned individual receives full human rights protection. It will also need to embark on an extensive awareness building and sensitivity program to ensure that the wider society treats clones with respect and ensure they are protected against prejudice, abuse or discrimination.”

There is almost universal international consensus on the desirability of banning reproductive cloning based in part on religious and moral grounds, but mostly on concerns about underdeveloped technologies producing clones with serious deformities or degenerative diseases, Mr. Tobin adds. As technologies advance and possibilities of success increase, the current consensus is likely to erode and with it the possibility of securing a ban on reproductive cloning.

According to the UNU report, the widest international consensus would be achieved around an agreement that prevents progress towards full reproductive cloning but authorizes strictly controlled therapeutic cloning to prevent the uncontrolled production and destruction of embryos.

Failure to deal with the cloning issue reflects on "the credibility of the UN institution itself and its capacity to respond to society’s need for competent leadership," says the report.

Proponents of research cloning for regenerative medicine say it offers great hope of producing replacement tissue without the fear of rejection, that it offers a potential cure for millions of people suffering common diseases of the industrialized world – diabetes, stroke, spinal injury, and neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.

Opponents view research cloning as the unethical production and destruction of living embryos to produce stem cells upon which such therapies are based. The clash of positions led to a compromise non-binding UN Declaration on Cloning.

There have been no substantiated claims of cloned human embryos grown into fetal stages and beyond but such an historic event is not far off, most experts agree.

Clones have been achieved with mice, sheep, pigs, cows and dogs and U.S. researchers last summer accomplished the first cloning of a primate – a rhesus monkey embryo cloned from adult cells and then grown to generate stem cells.



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whad ya thinks of that?


end or new beginning, ALDOUS where are you?