What do you think about when you meditate? Usually, some form of trying to excavate any kind of negative thing cycling in the mind and turn it toward the positive. For example, when I am annoyed with Dick Cheney, I meditate on how Dick Cheney was my mother in a previous life and nursed me at his breast.

You mean you fantasize about being breast-fed by Dick Cheney? It’s a fantasy of releasing fear and developing affection. It’s a way of coming back to feeling grateful toward him and seeing his positive side, finding the mother in Dick Cheney.

The latest release of the University of Michigan's Consumer Confidence survey describes an American mood that is as miserable as it has ever been.

More consumers than any time since the first survey was conducted in 1946 reported that their financial situation had worsened (57 percent). When asked to explain the changes in their finances, the highest number of consumers cited higher prices for fuel and food, and the smallest number of consumers reported income gains than at any other time in the history of the surveys. "Consumers held the bleakest inflation-adjusted income expectations since the question was first asked nearly a half century ago," noted [Richard Curtin, the Director of the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.].

Nine-in-ten consumers thought that the economy was in recession in June, with record numbers citing unfavorable news about rising prices, lost jobs, slowing economic growth, and the continuing fallout from the credit and housing crises. "Perhaps the most significant development in the past few months is that two-thirds of all consumers now expect the economic slump to extend into the next several years," said Curtin.

Most notable: The last time Americans felt this bad? May, 1980.

What else happened in 1980? The political party that did not occupy the White House won a landslide election and profoundly changed the course of American history.

I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable.

Quite simple really!
The theremin is just plugged into Timmy's amp, and placed near him when he plays with the globe! Easy!
The theremin is designed to pick up tiny changes in the interference in its little radio field, namely body parts with high capacitance.
When you touch the globe, the "lightning" grounds to your body, covering you with static electricity.
SOOooo the theremin reacts normally to the proximity of Timmy's body – and then goes COMPLETELY APE SHIT when Timmy's body is covered in static electricity. Hence, the distortion and FUGGINCOOLness.
luv,
Zip

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Labels: Bacon

Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. . . .

After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. . . It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses.

It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives -– and the liberty –- of the American people.

I'd like to underscore the fact that in 2006, when the Congress was controlled by Bill Frist and Denny Hastert, the administration tried to get a bill passed legalizing warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, but was unable. They had to wait until the Congress was controlled by Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to accomplish that.

Meanwhile, has anyone seen Barack Obama?

The two presumptive presidential nominees have differed over the issue. A senior aide to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., recently indicated the senator would support granting immunity to the phone companies. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was among the most vocal opponents of immunity in the Senate debate last year. . . .

A spokesman for the Obama campaign didn't return phone calls or emails seeking comment for this article.

If Obama remains missing for much longer, it may be necessary to issue an Amber Alert for him.

BOULTON: But the Supreme Court have just said that — you know, ruled against what you’ve been doing down there.

THE PRESIDENT: But the district court didn’t. And the appellate court didn’t.

BOULTON: The Supreme Court is supreme, isn’t it?

Even the briefest of surveys of the supporters gracing McCain's events underscores the kind of red-meat appeal he's making. Immediately after his speech in New Orleans, a pair of sweet-looking old ladies put down their McCain signs long enough to fill me in on why they're here. "I tell you," says one, "if Michelle Obama really doesn't like it here in America, I'd be very pleased to raise the money to send her back to Africa."

The diminutive and smiling old lady's friend leans over. "That's going a little too far, dear."

"Too far?" says the first. "Farrakhan is saying they were brought here against their will, and their bodies are still feeding the sharks at the bottom of the sea! I mean, really!"

"OK, sharks still eating bodies," I say, writing it all down. "Could I have your name, ma'am?"

"Janice Berg," says the first old lady. "And lest you think I'm Jewish, the name comes from Norway. Berg is 'mountain' in Norwegian. I'm part German, part French myself."

A few paces away, I catch up with a man named Ron Saucier and a woman who would only identify herself as Mary. Ron says his problem with Obama is the integrity thing. "He exaggerates too much," Ron says. "He's not honest."

"OK," I say. "What does he exaggerate about?"

"Well, like that time he was saying he had a white mother and a white grandmother," he says.

I ask him how this is an exaggeration.

"Well, he was saying . . ." he begins. "As if that qualifies him to . . ."

Despite my repeated prodding, Ron seems unable or unwilling to say aloud exactly what he means. Finally, his friend Mary, a grave-looking blonde with fierce anger lines around her eyes, jumps in, points a finger and blurts out one of the all-time man-on-the-street quotes.

"Look, you either are or you aren't," she says.

"And he aren't," Ron says, nodding with relief.

Change is risky. When you change things there is always a chance that they could get worse. Although some people can't afford to see doctors now, if Obama was elected and gave everyone health care, some of the people who couldn't afford to see doctors now might end up going to quacks who would amputate their limbs or make them even sicker with untested drugs. Then they would be worse off than they are now. As McCain pointed out in his speech we could even go backward if we didn't have the right kind of change.

We don't need to take a risk on a President who could make things even worse than they already are. We need a President like McCain who, when the telephone rings at 3:00 in the afternoon, waking him up from his nap, would be ready to answer it and solve whatever crisis needed to be solved. Unlike the inexperienced Obama, McCain was born the day before yesterday and he's forgotten more than Obama knows. He's seen a lot of slick-talking con men in his day, promising to make things better before they slipped out of town absconding with his money and he knows that the only change you can really believe in is hardly any change at all. That's the kind of change America deserves. Why fix something that isn't broke? America may be getting on in years and may not be as quick on its feet as it used to be but let's not trade it in for a brand-new America when the old one works just fine.

CROWLEY: Senator, you mention reform (INAUDIBLE) so I have to ask you, Celtics or Lakers?

OBAMA: I am actually rooting for Kevin Garnett. I think he’s a great player. But I would say Lakers in six. They look like the best team in the NBA already.

As for Clinton’s fallback position of trying to make herself the vice-presidential candidate on a “dream” Obama-Clinton ticket, Obama would have to be crazy to go for it. Clinton brings nothing but disaster to the Obama campaign. He doesn’t need her to win New York, New Jersey or California, all of which he will win by a landslide without her in November. He doesn’t need her for Illinois (her home state, whatever efforts she made to try to pretend she was a rural Pennsylvanian during that state’s primary). She certainly doesn’t help him in the south, with the possible exception of Florida. She doesn’t bring any “balance” to the ticket, given that both senators have almost identical voting records on domestic issues. And as for the swing states—Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, etc.—she may do more damage than good, given the number of independents and Republicans who have been drawn to Obama, but who have negative feelings about the Clintons. Moreover, with the right vice-presidential candidate—and it’s not Clinton—Obama may even have a shot at not just Virginia, but also North Carolina and even Mississippi—states where the percentage of black voters is high enough that, with an energized black voter turnout, the liberal Democratic vote could be enough to turn the trick.

'Hezbollah' style fist-jabbing.

Barack Obama should not pick Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential nominee, former president Jimmy Carter has told the Guardian.

"I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made," said Carter.

In any case, it seems obvious to me that if Hillary Clinton can't beat Obama for the nomination, she desperately needs to try to defeat him in November. I'm not even convinced that this is a calculated strategy to emerge as the front-runner for 2012. I think it's more on a gut level than that: the Clintons believe you can't win the presidency as a Democrat any way but their way, and an Obama victory would be a twin humiliation -- not just a defeat of Hillary Clinton personally, but a public demonstration that they don't have a monopoly on political savvy within their party.

They can't live with that. So the attempts to undermine Obama will continue -- to the convention and beyond -- unless they're stopped.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Howard Dean, it's time to play some real hardball.

Although there are no homosexuals in Iran, there are trannies! OMG!

Fortunately, the sexually repressive religious regime of Iran viciously represses transsexuals, subjecting them to stoning, prison, torture, and death, right?

Right?

Not so much.

Turns out that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the second largest provider of sex change surgery in the world (after Thailand), and that there are officially between 15,000 and 20,000 transsexuals in Iran, although the Guardian alleges up to 150,000 unofficially.

Under current President and leading member of the Axis of Evil, Mahmoud Admadinejad, government support for transsexual surgery has extended to bribes:

...state support has increased since Mr Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. His government has begun providing grants of 2,250 for operations and further funding for hormone therapy. It is also proposing loans of up to 2,750 to allow those undergoing surgery to start their own businesses.