The "reason" we’re in Iraq is that the ruling party/person was a despot, killing innocent folks, and was willing (and able? - a lie if there ever was one) to export it. This is the same thing. It happens almost every day somewhere in the world. 30-years ago we’d know about this after the fact. Now we know instantaneously. We want to stop the atrocities, but in reality, we don’t have the stomach for it. We cannot do anything, because to do what would be required to change the Iranian situation would be too much for the U.S. citizenry to accept.

Help Lily Tomlin Protest Elephant Confinement This Saturday

I’d be surprised if this applies to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The only animals there that do not have acres to wander are the big cats, for obvious reasons, though maybe they should stop getting more of them. The article says they are targeting zoos around the world where mistreatment is rampant… can’t argue with that.

Mr. Wow on the Rise and fall and Rise and ... What? – of Sarah Palin

I’m saying it’s really weird to worry about a television show comment… do you believe that those "reality" shows are reality? Why give a damn about what David Letterman, or for that matter anybody else, says? If you like Sarah Palin’s professed beliefs & politics, vote for her. Sheesh!

Mr. Wow on the Rise and fall and Rise and ... What? – of Sarah Palin

I cannot believe the uproar. She’s a public persona and up for grabs. Letterman’s joke is immature locker room humor, but who cares? Jesus! It’s a television show for christ’s sake.

If you could have one piece of artwork by one artist to call your own, what would you choose? Why?

Two Young Girls at the Piano, 1892
Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)
Oil on canvas

I can look at this painting for hours in Musée d’Orsay and not get tired of it. It’s enchanting from any angle. I wouldn’t take it from the museum, however.

CA Supreme Court Upholds Proposition 8

god has to say that if you kowtow to him, then you get great afterlife. Problem is, we’re biological and die, there is no afterlife. In fact, since there is no god, who cares? Importantly, why would you (or anybody) care what some human beings wrote 1750 years to 3000 years ago?

Enough, however.

CA Supreme Court Upholds Proposition 8

See, that’s your problem right there… the reason you are so adamantly against same sex folks getting married has absolutely nothing to do with any god, it has to do with you taking it personally. My reference to your god generated an attack upon me, not my god. Actually, since your god allows you to act like that, s/he’s proven herself/himself to be a non-god.

CA Supreme Court Upholds Proposition 8

Dude, you can be a Christian (although why you’d want to is beyond me) and allow others, same sex or not, to be married. Not you, not in your church (unless you happen to be the only dissenting congregation member…), but it doesn’t affect you one way or the other.

God sucks if S/He is so closed minded that S/He (and I mean the entire triumvirate) agrees with your interpretation of Her/His teachings.

What scent do you associate with a pleasurable memory? An unpleasant one?

Pleasant memory generator? Channel 5 - my first girlfriend wore it (judiciously, not overpoweringly thank goodness!… and in only the appropriate places on her body).

Favorite smell? The smell deep inside a coast redwood forest cannot be beat.

Least favorite smell? Cigarette smoke.