anna missed

2010, 7″ diameter, 45rpm record, turntable parts, varnish

2010, 12″ x 12″ x 12″, Douglas Fir, electrical components, ivy vine (click on image for close up)

2010, 11″ X 19″ x 2″, wood and varnish (click on image for closeup)

2010, 10″ x 16″ x 2″, oil paint on wood (click on image for enlargement)

John Cole catches this Eugine Robinson take on the ground zero mosque controversy:

Lies, distortions, jingoism, xenophobia—another day, another campaign issue that Republicans can use to bash President Obama and the Democrats. First it was illegal immigration. Now it’s the so-called Ground Zero mosque, which is not at all what its opponents claim.

First, it’s not at Ground Zero. The site in question is two blocks north of the former World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan; an existing mosque is just a few hundred feet more distant from the site of the collapsed towers. Second, while the planned building would indeed house a place of worship, it is designed to be more of a community center along the lines of a YMCA. Plans include a fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, bookstore, performing arts center and food court. Kebabs do not threaten our way of life.

[JC]”As a commenter pithily noted the other day, calling this a mosque is like calling a casino in Las Vegas a cathedral because it has a wedding chapel.”

That pretty much sums up the entirety of my feelings on the subject. No need to spend any more time on this nonsense.

Obama flew into the area today with a big boom…. several actually. About 2 this hot quiet afternoon the house shook with a boom so loud you could feel the concussion wave. I flew out the front door to check on daughter and friend in the yard thinking it must have either been a meteorite that crashed into the yard or someone finally figured out how to fire my 8 inch howitzer I keep parked out there just in case. But all was silent except the birds and the dog who was in conniptions. Then another two loud ones erupted in quick ethereal succession, without any trace of smoke, fire, or any other logical index. Very weird sensation like a Stephen King movie until predictably, I saw a couple of F-15’s flying overhead and realized it was just a sonic boom.

Turns out that Obama  was on a fundraiser in Seattle and some fool float plane had violated the airspace restriction that scrambled  jets from a Portland airbase who  had to really hit the gas to get up here in time. It must have taken them all of 5 minutes to make the supersonic journey only to find that the fool plane had already delivered its vacationers safely at the waterfront dock in Lakecity.

Oh well, I guess that by scaring the shit out of 6 million residents is  pretty much a small price to pay for the ecstasy of one upping the Bush/Cheney crowd when they last flew into the area for a fundraiser, and the F-15’s had to aimlessly just fly around all day in a big circle.

What a stupid world we’re living in.

This is great, just released video of local Backbone Campaign & local friends take action against the Target Corp. Took place inside local Target store, West Seattle.

Managed Ignorance:

Ignorance has become a feature where it used to be a bug. Formerly it was the job of the media to correct ignorance, insofar as it was possible (and, truthfully, it wasn’t very possible). Now though it’s increasingly the job of the media to manage ignorance. To make a space for the ignorant, and to ensure that those kept in managed ignorance get just enough news, and never more than they need to remain exactly where they are.

We were probably due for some measure of managed ignorance, what with the already stupefying mix of rational ignorance, the cable news cycle, cognitive dissonance, and in-group loyalty that shapes public opinion today. But still, consider: We found WMD in Iraq. We only tortured really, really bad people, we did it only in non-fatal ways, and they provided us worthwhile information. Same-sex marriage is going to force churches to do things they don’t believe in. There will be death panels deciding your grandma’s fate. Climategate destroyed global warming science forever.

All are untrue, but there are those who believe every one of them, and these people’s opinions about where to go from here don’t count any less just because they’re based on untruth. Those who propagate such beliefs know them to be untrue, and they know it’s not worth the average person’s time, cognitive investment, and loss of group loyalty to discover otherwise.

[…]

more at link.

This is of course, the insane in the attic infantile sibling of Chomsky’s  Manufacturing Consent.

Thought I’d check to in see if the blog is still here, and it is.

As they say in Jamaica,  “soon come”.

Soon.