Sunroof

I'm calling this a sunroof even though it's not in a car.

Here you can see the underlying structure, I modified steel straps to create the brackets that tie right into the house's roof trusses. I feel this will hold up well under a normal load from snowfall (say two feet), but I'm not so sure about an extra large dump, I've got some ideas to improve the load bearing ability of this roof in that case.

If today's Congress had presided during Watergate-link

Just go to the link.

Greenwald Explains What Happened-link

It will never stop being jarring that Pulitzer-Prize-winning revelations from the New York Times that the President and the telecom industry were committing felonies for years culminated in the full-scale protection of the lawbreakers and retroactive legalization of the criminality by the "opposition party" which controls the Congress.

That's Glenn's sad reflection near the end of his column last Saturday, 7/12/08. He starts with a blurb for Jane Mayer's new book, ""The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals". The tenets of Jane's book add fuel to the raging bonfire of evidence that the "Rule of Law" has gone by the wayside in this country( as it applies to the executive branch), aided and abetted by a compliant Congress.

Go

Read

Submitted without comment-link

Click on the images (2) for larger, easier to read versions.

A fishing trip

I enjoyed a short fishing trip near Buena Vista, CO on July 1, 2008.

Here's the view looking into Taylor Park from tht top of Cottonwood Pass just west of Buena Vista.

The Contiental Divide

That's Taylor Reservoir.

A nice Rainbow Trout from the reservoir.

R.I.P.

Fuck, Shit, Piss, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits.

George Carlin is dead and Carrot Top still lives.

Behold, my super awesomeness!

Ever wonder which superhero you're most like?

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 70% Green Lantern 70% Spider-Man 65% Batman 65% Supergirl 65% The Flash 65% Hulk 60% Robin 57% Catwoman 55% Iron Man 50% Wonder Woman 35%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Enema Memorial

AP photo

LOL!  This statue was just dedicated at the Mashuk-Akva Term Spa in the Russian city of Zheleznovodsk. If you can't make it out it's an enema bulb being hoisted aloft by three angels, there are many spas like this in the Caucasus Mountains that are known for their mineral waters which are said to provide beneficial enemas. To your health!

R.I.P. Bo Diddley

It's been good knowing you.

Dick Cavett in N.Y. Times- link

Great article in the Times by Dick Cavett, delivered in the style of James Wolcott. The link will take you to the article, he's got some hilarious comments about the speaking styles of General Petraeus & Ambassador Crocker during their visit to a joint session of Congress last week, as well as some remarks on the contents of their talks.

Here's a sample:

I find it painful to watch this team of two straight men, straining on the potty of language. Only to deliver such . . . what? Such knobbed and lumpy artifacts of superfluous verbiage? (Sorry, now I’m doing it…)

I guess he's alluding to what he thinks they're full of. Check it out, if you haven't already done so.

Elizabeth Edwards-link

Follow the links to a huge smackdown of John McCain's health care policies my friends.

Some Recent Photos

Just trying out a new filter I've got, it'called a star or cross filter.

When the weather warms a bit I think I'll take a stab at night photography, this filter should provide some interesting effects.

An Ounce of Prevention

What's all this fuss about Radioactive Immunity, and why do so many people oppose it? Seems to me that it would be very desireable, if John McCain somehow became president the survival of life as we know it might depend on such immunity.
Just think of the good that could be done in Iraq, where DU munitions and armor have been spread hither and yon. By providing inoculations to the Iraqis the survivors might be able to survive even longer.
And here in the U.S. those inoculations may prove to be just as beneficial, as the energy crunch sets in there's sure to be more nuclear power plants in our future. Eventually one or more of those will go Chernobyl on us, best to be ready.
Terrorism is still a considerable threat in this country, and experts agree, what the bad guys really would love to do is explode a suitcase nuke or dirty bomb somewhere on American soil. While immunity offers no protection against blast effects, those of us not blown to smithereens could rise up, dust ourselves off and proudly flip our middle fingers at those filthy jehadist bastards.

Colorado Caucus

I attended the Colorado Democratic Caucus

in my precinct on Super Tuesday.

All the experienced caucusers said the turnout was

the best they'd ever seen.

Recent Photos

A crack in the ice

Portrait of the artist as a shadow

A huge cottonwood

An oak leaf

Clinton campaign chairman open to Ann Coulter endorsement-Link

That's the title of this short article in today's Denver Post, I think it's a little misleading, if you actually read what was said;

McAuliffe: I don’t know what to tell you. She’s never said a nice word about Hillary Clinton in her life. Listen, we’ll take every vote we can get, I guess is all I can say.
PoliticsWest: So, you’ll accept that endorsement?
McAuliffe: Listen, anyone who wants to help us, I’m all for it. Hillaryclinton.com, if she wants to send a check.

"Conservative gadfly Ann Coulter", now that's charity!

Why the right loves a disaster-link

Excellent op-ed in the L.A. Times today by Naomi Klein who you may recognize as the author of "The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism", note the link to the article above.
The book was published in September of last year and now resides high on my must read list.
Her op-ed piece starts as a critique of some of the wackier rightwing ideas about "economic stimulus" that are floating around in the wake of the recognition (shock!) that the U.S. is deep in a recession. In describing these schemes she just happens to to present the thesis of her book.

A crisis hits, panic spreads and the ideologues fill the breach, rapidly reengineering societies in the interests of large corporate players. It's a maneuver I call "disaster capitalism."
That's the gist of it, a kind of opportunism that brings about changes which would otherwise be enormously unpopular. She cites several disasters that made such changes possible; 9-11, Iraq, Katrina.

Every crisis is an opportunity; someone will exploit it. The question we face is this: Will the current turmoil become an excuse to transfer yet more public wealth into private hands, to wipe out the last vestiges of the welfare state, all in the name of economic growth? Or will this latest failure of unfettered markets be the catalyst that is needed to revive a spirit of public interest, to get serious about the pressing crises of our time, from gaping inequality to global warming to failing infrastructure?
A good question, I recommend this article and if that proves interesting check out this video.

Additions to the Blogroll

Today there are two new links in the Blogroll to the right. You'll see Crooks and Liars, which is John Amato's excellent video blog, there's always some great stuff there if you have the bandwidth or the patience to wait for downloads you'll see some great topical video.
Also, and I can't believe I haven't added this yet, you'll find The Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman's blog, hosted by the N.Y. Times. Professor Krugman writes a column for the Times that I read religiously but that wasn't really enough for me, so I was elated when he started his blog a few months back. Enjoy!

Supply your own caption

Saul Loeb/ Getty Images

naught ocho

Welcome to 2008, lets hope it goes better than 2007, I've already noticed that today starts the final year of Bush's reign of error. On a somewhat depressing note it's a leap year, so there will be an extra day.

If nothing else the year should be interesting if only for the elections, presidential and the lesser offices. People are talking about change, let's see if it happens.
I hope to do some blogging about politics in the coming months, the Democratic National Convention will be right here in Denver and that may give me the opportunity to log some fairly interesting posts. In addition I plan to continue with the usual fare that has made me a legend in my own mind, because I ain't tired of it yet.
So drop by anytime at all.