Poet Share Updates!

As you may or may not know by now, I'm not posting much--if at all--here anymore because my time is gradually becoming more consumed by moderating at The Poet Sanctuary and running my own set of Poetry Forums at Poet Share. With over 60 members and 10,000 posts now, Poet Share (with accompanying Poet Share Blog) is shaping up as a full-time project, so I don't foresee posting much here anymore, except perhaps to update on the site.

If you're at all interested in reading or writing poetry, come check us out! We have writing prompts that change each week, and numerous boards that appeal to different aspects of our community. Like the Kitchen board where we swap recipes, the Fun Stuff board with games and jokes, or the Meeting House where all sorts of revelry goes on. There are even writing contests that members get to vote on, and December will be our 2nd Bi-Annual cross-board competition.

I encourage you to stop by Poet Share Blog to get the scoop, and Poet Share Forums to join in the fun!

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Matt Drudge Lies

To me, this is plainly crossing the line between sensationalism and outright fabrication. The pic and caption from TheDrudgeReport:

And the text of the WashingtonPost article the above picture links to:

President Obama will call attention to the existence of the underground facility in an early-morning statement to reporters here before the opening of the G-20 economic summit, and will say that Western intelligence agencies have been tracking the facility for years. U.S. officials said Obama decided to disclose the program's existence after learning that Iran had become aware that it was no longer a secret.

So who, exactly, was caught by surprise?

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Portia De Rossi Is A Man?

Gotta love that Huffington Post. :)

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Computer Stuff

I got my new Dell Mini last week (and one for Norm as well) and they are freakin' great! 2.6 lbs, 160 GB (that's 3x what my other laptop had) and perfect for what I need. Mostly web-browsing and writing poetry. :)

I had to share this with you as well: the prototype for Microsoft's new tablet. They ought to have the bugs worked out by the time I can afford one . . . in ten years. lol

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New Definition

So, yeah, this gives new meaning to "wash your bush."

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I Can Die Happy

My favorite childhood superhero is coming to the big screen. And he's to be played by someone with a body meant for superhero tights.

Variety:

Ryan Reynolds has landed the coveted role of "Green Lantern," getting the starring role in Warner Bros.' live-action film based on the DC Comics hero

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Legacy (For Michael Jackson)

Start music to "I Want You Back (Jackson 5)"

Starling child, standing tall,
Center of attention,
You who moved more hearts and minds
Than most would care to mention

As a boy you gave your voice
And smiled for all to see
Bringing beats and rhythmic choice
Easy as ABC.

Then you grew from boy to man,
You stormed the music biz,
Showed the world a bolder plan,
A charismatic wiz.

Then when Thriller topped the charts,
We really came around,
You found those places in our hearts
And to them music bound.

Now you're just a legacy,
A legend gone too soon.
Linger in supremacy--
You walked upon the moon.

You're the one who showed us dance,
How souls that rock will move
Though you're now beyond all chance,
We won't forget the groove.

And when the groove is dead and gone, yeah
You know that love survives
So we can rock forever
On . . . (Rock With You, Michael Jackson)

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Poetshare Forums Now Open To Public

Well, after a two-month successful trial run with limited members I've decided to open the Poetshare Forums to the general public. If you like reading or writing poetry, stop on by and say hi!

And don't forget that TPS (thepoetsanctuary) is the first place to go to nurture your poetic talents! (I moderate there as well.)

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Forget Iraq. Forget Iran. The Real Concern Is Pakistan

Just yesterday we heard, once again, that the Taliban relishes the idea of obtaining Pakistan's nuclear arsenal . . . and using it against the United States:

"By God's will, the Americans will not seize the Muslims' nuclear weapons and we pray that the Muslims will have these weapons and they will be used
against the Americans," he said in an exclusive interview.

While I'm reticent to believe the "an enemy of my enemy is my friend" scenario, this does seem to make the concern all the more immediate:

Qari Zainuddin, the sole leader to emerge from Mehsud's clan to resist him openly, was shot as he slept at his headquarters Tuesday morning in Dera Ismail Khan, a town on the edge of the extremist-controlled South Waziristan region, close to the Afghan border. He was killed by one of his own guards, who almost certainly was working for Mehsud, according to Baaz Muhammad, a follower of Zainuddin who was with him when he was shot and also was wounded in the attack.

Those Pakistanis who were willing to stand up to the Taliban have just been shown they are not safe anywhere.

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VT Senate President Boycotts Dem Fundraiser

In a show of solidarity with the LGBT community, Vermont State Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin, who was to receive an award at the fundraising banquet, has decided not to go, accoding to GreenMountainDaily.

Shumlin's full letter:

Dear Andy,
Further our recent telephone conversation, I was looking forward to seeing
you next week in DC for the DNC event with Vice President Joe Biden, but
after learning how the Administration and the Department of Justice is
choosing to defend DOMA, I am writing to let you know that I am canceling my
participation in the upcoming event.

As an early and strong supporter of Barack Obama I am shocked and
disappointed at the level of insensitivity that the Department of Justice
has shown towards gay and lesbian couples and their families. By defending
DOMA and making reference to horribly inaccurate and deeply hurtful
stereotypes about gay and lesbian Americans, the Administration has chosen
discriminate against a minority group that we all have a responsibility to
be more courageous in defending. This action will only serve to sow the
seeds for further hatred and division against the only minority group left
in America that politicians can publicly discriminate against and see their
approval ratings rise. My disappointment in this has led me to the
regrettable decision not to be a participant in the DNC event.

I am proud Vermont made history in how we enacted marriage equality - not
through a court order but through legislative action. The tides of history,
love and justice came together in Vermont and I look forward to witnessing
this movement swell across the nation as all of America's citizens are
granted equal rights. It is my hope that the Obama Administration will
actively support what we did in Vermont - grant marriage equality to all
under the law - nothing more and nothing less.

Andy, I appreciate your hard work on behalf of the DNC and I make this
decision with regret.

My Best,

Peter Shumlin

Good on you, Peter. Thanks for your support and solidarity with us.

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Quickie Cartoonie

Found this cartoon at McClatchy:

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Federal Benefits

Breaking on MSNBC's Rachael Maddow right now: President Obama will extend health care benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees tomorrow.

What about DOMA?

Robbie says it's a fig leaf, and I agree, but my favorite words on this come from Huffington Post, in an unusual divergence from mediocrity:

Well, I hate to be the one to explain a rights struggle to the first Black President, but the equality movement is not a grab bag of rights. You don't get to reach in and see which prize you've won. Each of the rights discussed above - the right to benefits for your partner, the right to serve openly in the military and the right to access the same tax breaks and immigration privileges given to heterosexual couples - should be granted. Immediately. Granting one does not absolve trespass over the other rights.

Obama PWN'D. (Is that how the kids type it?)

And fucking eh right--Immediately.

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Resurrecting The Lede

This article, A Fight For Religious Freedom In The Classroom, from OneNewsNow goes on to praise and praise a schoolteacher for preaching in the public classroom, and begins with the words:

A Christian teacher in a public school is being hailed as "a hero of the faith."

The article builds and builds on portraying him as a hero until it seems these people are proud of him for what he's accused of:

In firing Freshwater, the Mount Vernon school board cited an internal investigation that found he had preached his Christian beliefs in class. Freshwater, a teacher for 24 years, was also accused of using a scientific device to burn a cross image onto a student's arm and of keeping a Bible on his desk.

Well, I can tell you one thing. That's not what Jesus would do. Mm-nm, nope. Hero of the faith? Maybe if you're Charles Manson.

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On Palin

Okay, I've held my tongue long enough.

The apparently brain-dead governor of Alaska (see interview with Matt Lauer here where she has several d'oh! moments) is milking a joke about her told by David Letterman for all it's worth and then some, and people are letting her get away with it. Let's get some facts straight, shall we?

1) SNL joked about INCEST in the Palin family, and the good governor still saw fit to appear on SNL after that. Clearly her indignance level is selective at best.

2) Jay Leno made a similar joke to Letterman's and he wasn't called on it either. Because that's what comedians do.

3) Letterman has apologized twice--no one else ever has for their jokes about the Palins. And it's not like they don't supply plenty of fodder for the comedians.

4) Letterman in no way made allusion to Todd and Sarah Palin's 14-year old daughter. They are the ones bringing her into this and shame on them for it.

5) If Governor Airhead hadn't embraced "abstinence only" and had instead talked to her children about birth control, perhaps she wouldn't have had an UNWED TEENAGE DAUGHTER. Truth hurts, doesn't it?

If the Republican party is pinning its hopes on this grotesquerie of a politician, then start buying your funereal bouquets now. Only the most hardcore idiots are still backing her. And yes, I do mean idiots. Sorry, gaypatriot, but it's the truth. If you're sooooo intent on being partisan and supporting Sarah Palin just because she's a "conservative"--if you can't see through this veneer of bullshit--then try some Visine. Because it's all over but the cryin'.

(And kudos to Matt Lauer for taking her to task.)

And AS FOR YOU, gay men and women who seem so surprised that Obama's not all he said he was: you should've listened to me.

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Not Easy Bein' Green

Iran's Green Party, that is. Best place I've found for updates that's not twitter is here.

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Daily Dose Of Irony

Hand-Sanitizer full of bacteria:

Analyses of several samples of over-the-counter topical antimicrobial skin sanitizer and hand protectant products revealed high levels of various bacteria, including some associated with unsanitary conditions.

Some of these bacteria can cause opportunistic infections of the skin and underlying tissues. Such infections may need medical or surgical attention, and may result in permanent damage.

FDA finds the inspection results particularly concerning because the products are promoted as antimicrobial agents that claim to treat open wounds, damaged skin, and protect against various infectious diseases.

The inspection uncovered serious deviations from FDA’s requirements.

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Fun With Bigots

(Warning, no dirty pics to follow but you may not want this on your computer at work):

1) Type nationalorganizationformarriage.com into your browser and click "Go."

2) Go thank Jeremy at GoodAsYou for the heads up. ;)

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Graham, Lieberman Don't Care About The Troops

By turns sober and furious, the two senators vowed again Tuesday to vote against -- and, if possible, filibuster -- the troop-funding bill and all other legislation until they get their way. (emphasis mine)

I can't tell you how many times the same tactic was taken by Democrats in the last Congress and my conservative associates lambasted the Dems taking such action as "unpatriotic," saying they were putting their own interests ahead of funding our troops. Today, without looking, I bet those same associates are calling Graham a hero for his actions.

It's a ridiculous argument either way, but the point about partisanship needs to be made.

(h/t Huffpo)

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The Mexican Mess

Now this is what you call ballsy:

Gunmen launched grenades and opened fire in near simultaneous attacks on two police stations in Acapulco Monday, killing three officers in violence that broke out less than 48 hours after a gunbattle in the resort left 17 dead. . .

Gunmen fatally shot two officers sitting in a patrol car parked outside one police station. A few minutes later, assailants attacked a second station, about two miles (three kilometers) away, wounding two officers, according to the Guerrero state police department. One of the officers later died.

Serious stuff on our southern border, it's an all-out war that our media is underplaying. The cartels are trying to get a foothold anywhere they can in order to bulwark their efforts:

Twice before, the anti-drug agents had gotten a tip about a load of cocaine at the hulking industrial park on this dreary stretch of highway half an hour outside Guatemala City. Twice before, a U.S. official said, they had found nothing.

On their third visit, they found a firing squad. . .

During the last year and a half, the Zetas have carved a bloody trail across Guatemala's northern and eastern provinces. More than 6,000 people were slain in Guatemala in 2008. Police say most of the killings were linked to the drug trade.

As the recent blood bath shows, the violence is now threatening the capital, deep in the interior.

Hell, the cartels are even in office, though they may be slowly losing their grip:

Severed heads tossed in front of a car dealership. Bodies hurled off a bridge. Extortion threats against shop owners. It was no secret that this town popular with tourists for its monarch butterfly nesting grounds was in the grip of Mexico's drug trade.

But even the most jaded were stunned when Zitacuaro's young, charismatic mayor was arrested this week in Mexico's biggest sweep ever against politicians with alleged cartel ties.

The swift and secretive operation by federal forces netted 10 mayors and 18 other top officials in Michoacan state, escalating President Felipe Calderon's battle against cartels ahead of the July 5 national elections.

What bothers me is that I heard not one peep from the news networks yesterday about the attack on the police station. Because it's escalating, even 2 1/2 years after Calderon's renewed offensive. And it will spill toward us next.

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El Presidente

No, not Barack Obama--ME! I was just elected President of our local (and new) Friends of the Library Association. What does that mean? Basically I'll be in charge of setting up and running events for our new non-profit (tax exempt) FOTL association, publicity, etc.

Anyone know how to get free books? If you've got books to get rid of, you can always send them to the Friends of the Highgate Library Association, c/o little old me. :)

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