Ready for the November Race?

Soon we'll find out if the Republicans in Congress can swim. These cuties in the picture, not in Congress, were at an annual animal sports day event in China. However, being in China they probably celebrate by eating the winner... and loser... well probably everybody.
In America the losers will reap the benefits of the GOP, crony networking, lucrative scams and undeserved positions as consultants , maybe selling WMDs to semi -responsible governments.
This has been another banner session for the GOP. Wide spread cronyism and incompetence, hey we had another today!
Way to stay on course with those appointments Bush. Others will have to endure trials and prison time but it's risky going for the big rewards in life and Republicans know where the trough is, thanks to a gullible public. These guys certainly can run out a scam like nobodys business. And nobody can lie and manipulate the public's fear better than this current crop of GOP villains.

Night Driving

Mrs. Q has purchased a lovely black Honda Civic. Excellent say all at Q manor who love to drive.
Most people prefer the radio on or something to distract them when they drive. At night, I prefer silence, so that the car replaces my consciousness, with the future becoming the arrival of distant headlights and the past is the black in the rear view mirror with the sight of lights fading away. Between the two horizons of future and past, the present is replaced with eyes and ears focused on the road and that purring engine, achieving a mystic like state.
When the drive ends and you get out of the car, suddenly past and future disappear into an expansive present , open and less predictable.
Is there anyone else out there thinking about their conscious states and would fancy sharing a night drive? Probably Kate Bush, if she could pull herself away from the monotony of an English country castle and garden life, with all of it's tiresome charm and repose. It's the least she could share with me for all of my purchases and support over the years. Shouldn't we be friends by now?

Freedom

I'm fond of Giacometti sculptures. Man pointing, man walking, what's not to love with these svelt little guys? We're lucky so many of his figures survived. This driven artist would often destroy his days work at night, unhappy with the results. Today of course, they're works of art. and priceless. He kept sculpting many figures down to match box size, thinner and thinner. He said they were one more touch away from vanishing altogether in his hands. What was he trying to capture? Obviously something very inner and essential in man.

So these figures aren't just anorexic, they may represent feeling spiritually isolated from your fellow man depending on what kind of an individual you are? They do represent a personal truth about man in each figure without all of the superfluous space of our everyday lives that is usually important for us to feel comfortable and secure. There was a closeness between Sartre and Giacometti, so most see his sculptures as an existential man.
Is no man an island unto himself? In existential thought you most certainly are alone in your unique subjectivity. In existentialism you are responsible to find or make your own values and choices in life, not the lazy inauthentic strategy of borrowing other peoples beliefs and values, usually one's father and mother's. This is the angst of freedom for those who constantly think about who they are, what they are, what must they do and for what can they hope. Our lives in the west aren't tumultuous enough to be forced to ponder these questions daily, unless we're dying or in a desperate situation, say in a hurricane with no relief.

So how would Sartre view Bush's freedom in Iraq? As they become more terrified daily, more are exercising a dangerous freedom. Not the kind Bush wants. They exercise their freedom to say no to authority, to kill or take one's own life for a cause they believe in. In Iraq people are being discouraged from acting on their freedoms. They're encouraged to remain peaceful while the U.S. Airforce flys in and out at will because they're not really a sovereign country, while people are detained and killled without charges, while people are murdered randomly for their ethnicity, everyone waiting for the next bomb to go off. Iraqis would probably relate to Giacometti's man, as their lives are stripped down to life and death choices everyday, without the superfluous space filling up their day to day that we have . We live our full space lives avoiding thoughts of our own mortality and apparently theirs as well. Bringing real freedom to Iraq, which has been a slogan anyway, would obviously require leaving them alone .

Back to School

Well I bet this pic reminds you to watch out for good prices on juice boxes? Yes, soon it will be time to be more careful driving with all of the little goths, emos and hippies on the streets. This charming pair are on a website from Finland, hel-looks.com. The site is endless pics of ordinary Finns, on the street describing their fashion sense. Well no wonder it's so hard to get off the internets some nights?
We do have to let kids discover their own individuality, as much as possible. Fashion is very creative. I love all Tim Burton films so I can't complain about the strange, and for most kids, expression comes in phases. Kids need to know you love and support them regardless of their habits.
Then there's the republican approach. Wait ti'll your father gets home, I forbid that, you will be punished forever. Good Christian upbringings that make straight looking kids neurotic, sneaky and destructive. How else do we explain republicans? The crime, the deviance the lack of humor?

Macho Cat Disease (Feline AIDS)

Feline immunodeficiency virus or feline AIDS as it's often called. It's caused by the same family of viruses that cause AIDS in humans with the same resulting illness and death. It's transferred through blood and saliva and is mostly contracted by cats fighting. Some 10-20% of cats have the virus.
So we have the same virus with the same health effects in cats but we don't call it a gay cat disease, even though pets do occassionally hump the same sex or inappropriate objects? It's more like a macho fighting disease with cats. If humans got AIDS from fighting each other we might be forced to get along more, spend more time being lovers, gay or straight, without the current prejudice I hope? At least we don't hump stuffed animals and pillows?

Dog Days of Summer

This is Joey , trusted friend of Q. I would recommend a yellow lab to anyone who doesn't care about piles of yellow hair on the floor. They fiercely guard and bark when you're not home yet are unlikely to bite anyone, although she's never met a neocon. One look at Bolton's moustache might turn her into cujo. They're very cuddly at night and who would kick an 80lb blonde out of their bed, unless it was Ann Coulter. Apparently Ann prefers women anyway.

The other two Q manor muts are Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Syd and Lou are now a breeding pair, except they're quite unsuccessful at that simple task. I think it's because they're British, very proper, fussy and clumsy about sex.

Is Bush An Idiot?

An overdue topic on Scarborough Country. John Fund put up a brave defense claiming that just because Bush mangles the language and is serially inarticulate it doesn't necessarily follow that he's not intelligent or has the right policies. Not unlike someone on the deck of the Titanic claiming that it appears to be sinking but should arrive in port before going under.
If Bush is intelligent, could he write a book, say an autobiography? He's a university graduate and two time President. Without anyone's help, could he? I'd pay to read that classic. Speaking of his autobiography, it would of course be written by others but what could it possibly say about his life? I spent the first half high and a fool, spent the second half being a serial failure and fooling many? If he tried to paint any successes in his life, critics would quickly prove him wrong or a liar. Chapter 6- Angela doesn't like massages or funnin around . I don't know what her problem is? It would be funnier than a diary.
If this intelligent Bush can't organize in his head a simple well known saying, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, how does he understand the many complex policies being explained to him? He obviously doesn't have to really, as others must run everything for him.
It's time to openly admit that America voted twice for an idiot for President. Far worse though would be this future show. Is Bush a moral person? Does he show conscience or any real compassion? Has he ever admitted resposibility for his actions? Is he just an occassionally charming sociopathic idiot with a wealthy influencial family?

Why I Didn't Vote For Harper

I was quite drawn to this portrait of Madame Cezanne. Though my walls are full of art, I found a good print of this painting and tried her out in the living room. Mrs. Q stared uncomfortably and declared that she's wonky looking. Actually, she's asymetrical like many interesting faces.
As we know, the left hemisphere which is mostly logic and verbal language, controls the right side of our face and body. The right hemisphere, the oppressed and recessed side, is more intuitive, non-verbal, feeling and fantasy orientated, and controls our left side. So, if you cover the right side of her face on a bit of an angle for her wonkiness, you see the dominant public face on the left, relaxed, patiently waiting for Paul to sell a painting and take her out on the town in Paris. If you cover the left side we see the inner Madame Cezanne. No she is not a happy gal. A sad life, married to a struggling artist who doesn't understand women. Plus her name was Hortense Fiquet. Couldn't be happy with that name.
It's hard to find front facing pics to study, other than mug shots. Some faces are fairly symetrical and boring. The Bush pic below with the Neanderthals has a good contrast. Karla below has a sorrowful remorseful look on her public side but is mocking the camera from her private side. Harper is very strange. His public side looks sly and condescending, while his private side... also looks sly and condescending? I wouldn't vote for that face.
The puppy is a control element in the research and is perfect on both sides. The puppy wins again, of course.

Neanderthals Weren't To Be

Speaking of Neanderthals, recent DNA tests have concluded that they were indeed a separate species from our anscestors homo sapiens and there's no evidence of interbreeding. They disappeared a short 10-30,ooo years ago and were not the stereotype large stupid brutes we think of. They weren't much diferent in their use of tools, living in shelters, they had the ability for speech, the males only about 5'6", the females about 5 feet.
They were probably chased and killed across Europe by our ancestors, since that's what we do well, the last of them taking refuge in caves on the coast of France, apparently not able to escape mankind and maybe they lacked our cunning to survive at all costs. Artist recreations from their bones show a very human looking people for non-humans. If we did lead to their extinction, as an evolved human I'm sad for the loss. Now if some had survived and were discovered today, how would we view them? Protected and endangered non-human but similar species? What if their hiding area had oil? Who would protect them from Cheney? Could we interbreed, Mr. Santorum? It fascinates me that we came so close to having a non-human competitive species survive with us today. Wouldn't that challenge a lot of religious and ethnocentric notions?
Some recreated images here invite comparisons with todays neandercons. Who would you trust to be more peaceful planet neighbours? Would they hate us for our freedoms? They probably just wanted to have kids and live in peace.