It's Monday This time it's for real Linda... I was off to the doctor earlier today... Nothing wrong, just a regular follow-up. When I got back I was wandering around the internets... Somehow I stumbled upon a site called Cover Lay Down. They seem to have had their last post…
It's Monday It's a busy day today. I'm just now starting my first cup of muses... And I'm on the road soon. I have to have lab work done before my physical on Wednesday afternoon. And I have an appointment with my surgeon to follow-up on my surgery. So not…
Thursday There are high clouds this morning. And, the morning temperature is in the mid 50s... A really nice place to start out the day. Jeb Loy Nichols is playing on the Winamp machine. Ever since I first heard him on the radio back in the early 2000s I have…
This is the reason I first subscribed to Cooks Illustrated. Chris Kimball's editor's note was always the first thing I read. And because of wanting access to his story telling, I became a better cook.
In honor of the coming weekend... And the brisket I am going to put on the smoker... Links Texas Monthly - The Master
Everybody following everybody isn’t a networked community; it’s a madhouse. Enough of the madhouse. Let’s build something truly powerful and show the world all the beauty we can bring about with that power! via Why I Unfollowed 45,000 People On Twitter. I wondered when I first heard of Twitter what…
Image via Wikipedia Back in my youth I discovered The Mother Earth News. It was probably sometime around 1971 that I first came across the magazine. I am sure I first found it at the old Space City News in downtown Houston where I spent a lot of time each…
One of the things I like most about this thing we call Blogging is number 2 on Patry Francis' list. And she ranks up there at the top of my amazing people list. Patry published this list back around Thanksgiving in Twenty O'Six. I stumbled across it again today as…
Standing out in the backyard with my morning coffee as the sun rises, it was still. There was absolutely no breeze stirring, an unusual occurrence for here, at least lately...Cool and damp with dew on the grass, my body warmed by the rising sun. I was astonished to note the…
Yesterday I had to swing by the Post Office to drop off a couple of Netflix returns and ran into the local "teabagger" protest...All 100 of the...maybe. All I could do was shake my head and wonder what exactly they were protesting. Do they even know? Was it taxes? Was…
I have a confession to make...I just discovered Marion Nestle and her blog Food Politics. I know, I'm slow on the uptake sometimes. I find that my feelings about food are becoming somewhat activistic...I am getting more upset by the industrialization of our food on a daily basis. So you…
Reading the news this morning, I saw this short spot: Marion Nestle went to see Food, Inc and she gives it two thumbs up. I've only seen clips and heard a talk by the director and stars Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan about the making of the movie. It's going…
It seems that every where you go online these days you read the same thing...At least from anyone of a certain age...People are thinking and planning to garden their way through the crisis. Leon Hale posted his plans on his blog today... The news keeps being bad, and we haven't…
Looking on the weather wunderground, I see that Fred is still feeding the woodstove and wearing the multiple layers of clothes he was lamenting in his essay. While I am enjoying the open door and the porch rocker, Fred is still dreaming his summer weather dreams.
My reading on the web keeps coming across a common thread...It's that over and over in blog posts and comments people are talking about buying seeds and starting to raise vegetables again. It looks like I'm not the only one making the connection. Here is what Verlyn Klinkenborg had to…
When I was born in 1952, there were 203,000 farms in Iowa, only 11,000 fewer than when my dad was born in 1926. By 2002, the number had dropped to about 90,000, with roughly the same acreage in production in a state with a population that had remained roughly the…
Image via Wikipedia It seems this story was inevitable... ROSENBERG, TX — A trip out for a free breakfast at Denny's took a big bite out of the wallets of several people in Rosenberg on Tuesday. Some of those who went to the local Denny's Corp. restaurant for a free…
And the "good" news just keeps coming in. At what point do we stop putting so much trust in corporations to do the "right" thing...Not just the profitable thing? In one of the largest food recalls in history, the Food and Drug Administration asked retailers, manufacturers and consumers yesterday to…
I watched and listened to this as it was given on Tuesday. It wasn't until today that I actually read it...I find myself even more encouraged than I was with the first hearing. I foresee the American people will be inspired to greatness once again. Maybe, just maybe, our leaders…
Andy Griffin writes a great post from the experience of a farmer. If you haven't visited The Ladybug Letter, you should... “What’s your ‘Plan B’?” a radio reporter asked business school students the other day. One young woman’s answer caught my ear. “If things get bad enough,” she said, “my…
“This is an excellent illustration of an ingredient-driven outbreak,” said Dr. Robert Tauxe, who oversees foodborne illness investigations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, more than 470 people have gotten sick in 43 states, and at least 90 had to be hospitalized. At least six deaths…
Image via CrunchBase You can't be on Twitter or FriendFeed and not be inundated with comments from and about Scoble. I don't know how he does it, but it's really annoying. I find myself relaxing when he takes a break from Twitter, for example to fly from Europe to the…
Wow, am I relieved to see you. Wasn't sure anyone would find me at my new address (or recognize me from NPR circa 1979). And having come out today as a casuality of the recession and one of the 64 folks laid off from NPR, I frankly wasn't sure how…
The MSM is full these days of stories of the demise of the MSM. Having argued continuously for limits in the ownership of news organizations I feel that a lot of these failings can be laid at the feet of the consolidators. As in most of the rest of the…
How do we manage to stay healthy in this season? Yesterday at this time it was in the 30's, the wind was out of the north. This morning it's 67 and the wind is balmy and out of the south. My poor sinuses can not figure out what they need…
Image via Wikipedia I missed this last Friday when it played on the local PBS station...It's nice to be able to catch it later on the "intranets"... Bill Moyers and Michael Pollan...What a pair. A very in-debth exploration of food policy in America ensued. Here is just a part... BILL…
After the storm, once you realize you've lived through another, your awareness of your surroundings is contracted. You begin by wandering around just your own little space surrounding your home...Checking for damage, fixing the immediate needs if possible. Then you begin to expand your awareness to your neighbors. First you…
Deprivatization I wish people wouldn’t say that Fannie and Freddie have been “nationalized.” I mean, it’s basically accurate, but it conveys the wrong impression. The fact is that Fannie Mae was originally a government agency; it was privatized in 1968, not for any good economic reason, but to move its…
Hurricane Rita Image by alpoma via Flickr As of this morning at 7am this was the latest on what was happening with our tropical weather As the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina nears, federal, state and local officials along the Gulf Coast are keeping a wary eye on Tropical Storm…
Texas' overall uninsured rate of 25.2 percent, and its 20.2 uninsured rate for children, continued to be the highest in the country. Nationally, the number of people without health insurance last year declined from 47 million in 2006, the Census Bureau said. Median household income — meaning half of households…
This one's for you... While reporters at The Post and The New York Times have been vetting McCain, many others give him a free pass. Their default cliché is to present him as the Old Faithful everyone already knows. They routinely salute his “independence,” his “maverick image” and his “renegade…
This has to be one of the strangest things about Texas Republicans... When health care in Texas makes headlines, the issues raised by administrators and physicians are hardly rosy. They include overcrowded emergency rooms, mounting hospital budget deficits created by unfunded indigent care, and uninsured rates for adults and children…
Obama is the first political figure since Carter to understand the energy efficiency and conservation approach and actually try to present it to the American people. Republicans want to nip it in the bud -- that's why they are so aggressively jumping on the tire gauge thing. They want to…
What do you call a Republican who is happy to lie directly to people's faces? John W. McCain. The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.
Up early to check on the status of Edouard...Looks like a miss for my house...Heading inland already on the Louisiana border. Should miss the majority of the Houston area, rain and moderate winds only. Sherry has headed for work already...Television on, radar on the monitor... Happy Birthday Wendell Berry It's…
This project began as so many good things do, over a cup of coffee. So begins the preface to Rebooting America, Ideas for Redesigning American Democracy for the Internet Age. Dana Boyd blogged about the availability of the download this morning and I pulled the pdf down before leaving the…
Wouldn't it make a great birthday present to the country if we could get serious about Energy Independence? Yale Environment 360: As Energy Prices Rise, the Pressure to Drill Builds Perhaps we should be amazed that America’s largest protected area — the 19.2 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) —…
I have never felt that the Corporate pushers of GMOs were looking out for anything other than their own profits. That has led me to look on their actions in an unfavorable light. While this has always been a personal "feeling", I find my concerns expressed very well by this…
One of the email missives I look forward to comes in on it's own schedule each month. It is from Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm called "The Ladybug Letter". Andy tells tales of his life in agriculture on the west coast...Funny stories, ironic stories...Stories of life...Great stories... The Ladybug Letter…
A good overview of the Keith Olbermann rise in the New Yorker. It was nearly midnight before Keith Olbermann left the NBC News election studio on May 13th, having spent five hours on the air, co-anchoring coverage of the West Virginia Democratic primary. Olbermann had a short ride home from…
I saw the notice in my email first thing and as I worked my way down the list I was trying to formulate a post. Then I read John Scalzi's...If you are or were a Carlin fan go read John's short tribute. Whatever » RIP, George Carlin He was my…
Danah Boyd had an interesting comment on her blog today... In an attention economy, it's better to ignore than to critique. This drives me absolutely bloody batty. Anyone who's been online for too darn long knows has heard the expression, "don't feed the trolls." This stems from the general belief…
It’s easy to forget sometimes that everyone has a story to tell if we take the time to listen. We are so accustomed to hearing the stories of people in the news that we sometimes lose track of the fact that the random stranger on the bus also has a…
State GOP targets Obama at Houston convention (w/video) | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Cornyn was among several speakers who called the party home to its philosophical foundation and urged voters to view Obama as a near-socialist who doesn't share Texas values. The state's other senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said Obama…
As if we needed another reason to think that this years election is as important as any in a generation, the very fact that but for an appointment to come...George W Bush would not be denied the right to imprison his perceived enemies... Eugene Robinson - A Victory for the…
And the conservative will discount the numbers because of the source...But come on, can't we expect a little bit of research from the speech writers? Fact check John McCain: Another of my disagreements with Senator Obama concerns the estate tax, which he proposes to increase to a top rate of…
Obama's In Control: No More Lobbyist Contributions To Democratic Party - Politics on The Huffington Post "The DNC and the Obama Campaign are unified and working together to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington…
Way back when, in the final season of the West Wing there was an episode with the title "The Presidential Voice". The premise was that Congressman Santos didn't have the "Presidential Voice" and they were trying to teach it to him. Long story short...You don't teach the "Presidential Voice", it…
Like many of his fans I discovered Utah Phillips late in his life. My daughter, a fan of Ani DiFranco, introduced me to him a few years back... U. Utah Phillips, 73; Folk Singer Championed the Working Class - washingtonpost.com U. Utah Phillips, 73, a Grammy-nominated folk singer, rabble-rouser and…
For those who are following the rough weather... Wunder Blog : Weather Underground The tornado that devastated Parkersburg, Iowa on Sunday has now been rated an EF-5 by the National Weather Service. An EF-5 is the strongest possible classification a tornado can receive, and is only given to those tornadoes…
Tuesday Evening It was good to get back to work after a long and busy weekend. It seems to have been one of those weekends that requires a work week to recuperate from. I spent two days finishing up a bit of remodeling and furniture construction (good ol' IKEA). You…
Susan Albert linked to the National Arbor Day site and their animation showing the changes in hardiness zones. Lifescapes Yep, it's true--101.8 on our digital thermometer yesterday, and that's in the shade. Austin hit 101, too, a record temp for the day and an indication of what's in store in…
Shifting winds: A victory for island development | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Weather forecasters and climatologists have long warned that unbridled development of the vulnerable Gulf Coast is setting the stage for a disaster that might dwarf the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Coming hard on Katrina's heels was Rita, which…
I've linked to the writing of Andy at The Ladybug Letter before. I first stumbled across him in a link to his history of field greens and spinach during the spinach disaster a year or so ago. I've been a subscriber to the newsletter he and his partners put out…
There are many people in the public eye that leave me embarrassed of my home state...Bill Moyers is not one of them.
Two years ago today I started North Carolina Mountain Dreams, my first blog. That first post was entitled "Inventing the Myth as I Go". It seems that not much has changed in two years. I am still dreaming about the mountains, still creating the myth of my life as I…
Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts | PBS
May 2, 2008
BILL MOYERS:Welcome to the Journal.
I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, "Who's telling the truth over there?" Everyone he said. Everyone sees what's happening through the lens of their own experience." That's how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: "Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical," one viewer wrote. A "nut case," said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.
Eugene Robinson - The Surge Turns Into the Stall - washingtonpost.com Of course, Bush long ago lost any credibility with Congress and the American people on Iraq. It's understandable that he hides behind Petraeus's breastplate of medals and Crocker's thatch of gray hair, sending these loyal and able public servants…
“The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and wasteful.” Wendell Berry, Farmer, Essayist, Conservationist, Novelist, Teacher,…
Paul Krugman's latest column focuses on food. Wander on over and check out his thoughts... Grains Gone Wild - New York Times These days you hear a lot about the world financial crisis. But there’s another world crisis under way — and it’s hurting a lot more people. I’m talking…
The first wealth is health. - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you are as skeptical as I am about most of modern medicine's miracle drugs, you might not want to read this book review. It will just reinforce what you already assume is the truth... Big Pharma's Golden Eggs - washingtonpost.com…
YES! Magazine Exclusive Interview :: Pete Seeger “I remember Pete Seeger from when I was a child and this story-telling, banjo-picking singer would come on his sloop, the Clearwater, to the neglected little parks that lined the Hudson River not far from my home. His presence brought people together to…
Another Reason To Be A Localvore... Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird? - New York Times Migratory songbirds like bobolinks, barn swallows and Eastern kingbirds are suffering mysterious population declines, and pesticides may well be to blame. A single application of a highly toxic pesticide to a field can…
For everyone who has heard Clinton won Texas (over and over and over again), the voting ain't over till it's over... Party's not over for Texas Democratic caucus-goers | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Clinton, a senator from New York, won the March 4 primaries and collected a 65-61 lead in…
I'm a liberal, and I loathe the anti-American things Wright said precisely because I believe that the genius of our country is its capacity for self-correction. Progressivism and, yes, hope itself depend on a belief that personal conversion and social change are possible, that flawed human beings are capable of…
On the first day of spring I don't know whether to welcome spring or to welcome it back after our preview of summer over the weekend...This morning is starting out at 47° with the prognosticators pushing for the low 70's by afternoon. Now that is what I call spring. "What…
I see from my weather report that we are having another anomalous day where the temperature here matches my favorite ares of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Of course in order for this to have happened the mountains had to warm up 20° while we cooled down a like amount. Yesterday…
E. J. Dionne Jr. - The Street on Welfare - washingtonpost.com Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about how brilliant capitalists are, how much they deserve their seven-figure salaries and how government should keep its hands off the private economy. The Wall Street titans have…
When this year started, I figured the Democratic Party had a really good thing going. There were low polling numbers for the Republicans and we had some really good candidates running. As the primaries and caucuses worked their way down the schedule, Hillery and Barack both broke out and I…
A personal observation from my polling place yesterday...There were lines on the Democratic side of the room but none on the Republican side. And this area is mostly Republican. We don't field a full slate of Democrat candidates for any elections in this area... Caucus crowds amaze election officials |…
The pace at work since the new year has been quite frantic. I find myself sleeping late almost every morning. It's cutting down on my musing time as I have my toast and coffee each morning. Some mornings it seems like I barely get through the email and important reader…
I am enjoying a beautiful winters day of forced leisure. The sun is shining in a bluer than blue clear sky. The temperature is in the mid 60's with just a slight breeze blowing from the north. It's a quiet, lazy Friday with most folks at work or in school.…
It's raining today so I'm sitting at the kitchen table listening to the raindrops with Mary Gauthier playing in the background. Of the things I had on my wishlist for Christmas, two were her latest recordings. Ever since I discovered her last year, I have been in love with the…
Here's a bit of trivia I am sure you all have wondered about. What...you say you haven't... Tex-Arcana: Where did Texas toast come from? | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle A miscalculation is credited with fostering the creation of "Texas Toast," the oversized grilled bread slices that now regularly appear beside…
Something is strange with my blogs. For some reason my search engine hits are climbing at (for here anyway) unusual rates. Believe me I'm not complaining, I might make some new friends. A five and six fold increase in the number of hits is appreciated, and if most of them…
Yesterday morning at this time the temperature was in the 70's today it's in the 40's. Other than light rain falling I like today's temperature much better. ++++++++++ I see my ex-Gov is still at it. Compassionate Conservative that he is, he has been kicking SCHIP for a decade longer…
Again today the internet connection is being problematic. I guess I shouldn't have been so easy with my praise of AT&T last week when asked about their dsl service. It almost makes me wonder if this isn't my comeuppance for saying good things about the phone company. Reading through the…
Thanksgiving Day was the last decent weather day we had through the long holiday weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all wet, windy and cold. Most decidedly cold for the wife. Forty degree weather in this neck of the woods qualifies as winter, not fall, so throw in the rain…
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We wandered over to my mother's house about noon on Thursday carrying our contribution to the feast. Both of my brothers were already there. Of my sisters one had arrived and one was running late...So far everything was normal for the day.…
You know it's time to go back to work when you get up and the weather outside has turned back to Texas. It's 65° with a humidity of 97%. In other words, looking outside right now you can see the air under the neighbors night lights. The prognosticators are predicting…
I walked out of the house yesterday to see this sight... The color of the sky was so arresting I had to grab a shot. Then I waited to see the sun peak over the tree tops. This whole daylight saving time is screwy though...I shouldn't have to wait till…
Over the course of the last month or so I keep stumbling over videos from TED. This morning I came across a link which I watched . Then I went exploring...Here is one of the Talks I found interesting...Why don't you spend some time this weekend being inspired... Go explore…
Two Pigs - Verlyn Klinkenborg - York Times Over the course of just a few generations (in my case just two) we have gone from a world where everyone knew where their food came from to a world where you really don't even know which continent supplied the ingredients in…
The musings from stream side, as the fall turns to winter...for the present time at least. A Late Afternoon, Mid-October Snowstorm on the Madison River - New York Times I have come again to the why moment. I suspect it may be the reason I fish. I cast, and yet…
Blog Action Day On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind. In 2007 the issue is the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get…
The weather out is delightful, even the humidity has fallen below 90%. Morning temperature is 64°. The skys are clear and the day has yet to break. We should be heading into a beautiful weekend. It could be time for a photo road trip... ++++++++++ Well...It looks like the Industrial…
I keep seeing these high record notices scattered up and down the east coast. New York, New York (10001) Conditions & Forecast : Weather Underground Record high temperature set at Kennedy...a record high temperature of 90 degrees was set at Kennedy today. This breaks the old record of 75 set…
My new toy finally arrived from Dell yesterday...A 17" laptop with some bells and whistles to make photo editing easier. I planned to post the first blog this morning. I got a little sidetracked with a phone call from a high school buddy making arrangements for the 35th reunion this…
Bush the philosopher has one thing right: Human dignity is served when people make choices for themselves rather than being nannied by the government. But only simpletons suppose that this principle is absolute: Where unfettered private initiative produces evidently bad outcomes, most people prefer an alternative. This is why we…
