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DJ Kaotick Birthday Bash Atlanta Dec 22 at MOYA

DJ Kaotick Birthday Bash Atlanta Dec 22 at MOYA

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If you’re 18-26 and in Atlanta, come kick it with Kaotick (my stepson) for his 25th birthday.

Come to Kaotick’s HUGE birthday bash at Moya!
This Saturday! December 22
18-21 $10 12 and up free – 10 p.m to close (@4)
1371 Clairmont Road, Decatur (Atlanta) 30033

KAOTICK on the 1’s & 2’s ALL NIGHT!

Listen to KAOTICK at his MySpace page.

From Downtown Atlanta
From: I-75 N/I-85 N
1. Head north on I-85 N toward I-75 HOV Ln 5.0 mi
2. Take exit 89 for GA-42 S/N Druid Hills Rd 0.4 mi
3. Follow signs for Exec Park Dr and merge onto N Druid Hills Rd NE/GA-42
Continue to follow N Druid Hills Rd NE 2.0 mi
4. Slight right toward Clairmont Rd 348 ft
5. Turn right at Clairmont Rd 1.5 mi
To: 1371 Clairmont Rd

Open Letter to Saxby Chambliss (R, GA)

Open Letter to Saxby Chambliss (R, GA)

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I received an email today from Senator Saxby Chambliss, and I’m posting both his communication and my own.

Dear Ms. N: Thank you for contacting me regarding the National Security Agency’s (NSA) monitoring of conversations connected to terrorist activity and the treatment of military detainees. It is good to hear from you.

I certainly understand your concerns regarding personal freedoms. We are blessed to live in a free and effective democracy, and, just like you, I hold dear the personal freedoms that are provided to each and every law-abiding American.

As you know, the world changed on September 11, 2001. In the weeks following the catastrophic and murderous attacks on our nation, President Bush authorized the NSA to intercept certain international communications into and out of the United States from persons known to have links to terrorist organizations. As it has been publicly discussed, the purpose of the monitoring program is to prevent another attack on our country. This program is effective and the terrorist plots that have been foiled demonstrate that it is vitally important for the President of the United States to have the power and authority to act on information to protect the American people.

With respect to military detainees captured by the United States, they should be treated humanely and in a manner that honors our agreement under the Geneva Conventions. On October 17, 2006, President Bush signed into law (P.L. 109-366) a bill that outlines the treatment of our military detainees and our interrogation program. This law will further underscore to other countries that the United States will treat its detainees properly and justly.

As always, I appreciate hearing from you.

(Yada yada yada, I’m so sure he appreciates hearing from me.)

So here is my response. I am almost completely certain that such correspondence has no impact on Senator Chambliss whatsoever, but perhaps his staff draws some kind of statistical trend reports for purposes of future elections.

I’m not the only Georgian who wonders why Mr. Chambliss continues to puppet the lies of this administration.

Dear Senator Chambliss:

The NSA monitoring of conversations and email has gone beyond the bounds of what you describe in this correspondence. I am quite sure that you are aware of that.

How can you try to say that you hold dear our freedoms and the values of our democracy when you continue to support the unethical and anti-American actions of this President and Vice-President?

Stop using 9/11 as the “second Pearl Harbor.” With policies such as surveillance of American citizens, retroactive immunity laws, the expansion of executive power, and the torture and mistreatment of prisoners of all kinds – both here and abroad – you have undermined the values of the United States of America.

In this respect, the 9/11 attack couldn’t have been more successful as an act of terrorism; this administration, with your full support, has used it to betray what we should have been standing up for – our freedoms, our democracy, our rights as Americans. You, sir, are allowing that act to succeed in changing the very fabric of our nation.

You say we are “blessed to live in a free and effective democracy.” What remains of this “blessing” – a state of affairs hard-earned in blood and vigilance – is systematically being dismantled, and you contribute to this! Your oblique reference to God does not move me; I cannot imagine how you think God would approve of rampant greed and corruption, deceit, theft, torture, war profiteering, or throwing away the very aspects of American democracy that used to give hope to so many people here and abroad.

Senator Chambliss, after 9/11, we had the sympathy and support of most of the world – think for a moment about how we have thrown that away. Think for a moment about how a truly effective counter-terrorism policy might have reduced terrorism, rather than exponentially increasing it as this administration has done with its harmful policies and actions.

America currently disregards international and domestic laws and agreements on a level that I would never have thought possible. We have even aggressively invaded another country that had not attacked us – a deep violation of our own principles, and of the U.N. agreements for member countries.

You claim that the NSA program has foiled terrorist plots. Would you care to name a few? Can you show me someone that has been lawfully convicted on the basis of this (unconstitutional) activity?

The statement that we treat prisoners (whether at Gitmo, or in Iraq or Afghanistan – or in the countries we ship them out to for torture) in a manner that is in accordance with international law and treaty is so laughable that I am quite frankly amazed that you would still continue to make this claim.

Mr. Chambliss, I have contacted you about many issues, and although I know that your email responses are simply cut and pasted from form letters written by others, I still ask you to hold yourself accountable for the misleading statements being made in them.

Sir, your role in the Senate is to represent the interests – and the laws – of the people of Georgia and of this nation. When will you begin to take your job more seriously?

Senator, I plead with you. Revisit some of these important issues. The future of America is at stake.

These are real problems, and the way they have been handled so far will have lasting repercussions.

Won’t you begin to be part of solving these problems rather than making them even worse with your denials and your continued support of every whim of this secretive and dangerous administration?

Most sincerely-

(it’s “Dr. N.” to you, Senator)

Religious Southern Hospitality – not

Religious Southern Hospitality – not

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I receive notices every couple of days from the neighborhood watch. There has been a bit of a crime wave in the area, and everyone is on edge.

I’m getting very uneasy about some of these communications. Call me whatever you want, but I would never want to have to rely on some of these neighbors. I’m even thinking of getting a little more serious about defense in case of darker times.

Yesterday, I got this email:

Subject: stranger walking our streets tonight

Neighbors- There is a gentleman that has been standing out in our cul-de-sac on Br*****n Ct. for some time this evening. When asked what he is doing he said he is looking for a place to stay and then started walking down the street again. Be sure to lock your doors.

He was so dangerous that he could be approached, and answered a question…

This bothered me. It bothered me a lot.

I replied to all this morning:

I know that everyone has reason to be cautious, but just a thought: as this country creates more and more poverty, remember that this man could be you.

It was cold last night. Did it occur to anyone to try to help him?

I hear a lot about Southern hospitality and how religious people are in the south. I’ve seen little evidence for either.

Matthew 25
..for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

Way to make friends with the neighbors… but I can’t take it anymore. “Stranger walking our streets tonight?” Sigh.

And of course, the saga continued. Evidently replying to all did not have the intended effect. The email went to the coordinator, who replied:

While I understand your point of view regarding this man’s situation, I think it is a bit naive these days, to think that one can just open his/her home up to a perfect stranger wandering the streets. In Biblical times, crimes such as home invasions and armed robberies were not commonplace. Nowadays, it would be very dangerous even to approach this person, much less invite him in for dinner. He could be armed or suffer from serious mental illness. This particular neighbor called the police. I believe that we have to trust that the police will assess the situation and provide any services that this man may need. I find it touching that you care so deeply for others’ well-being and you may think that I am cold or uncaring, but I have small children as does the neighbor who sent the email. I couldn’t, wouldn’t risk my own life or the safety of my family like that. I would, however, notify the authorities and describe the situation to them, so that they could help him. I am not forwarding your email to the n’hood watch list because I feel it would be neglectful as coordinator to encourage people to follow your suggestion. I hope we can agree to disagree on this subject with no hard feelings.

After I finished with my hearty laughter at the cognitive dissonance between the accusation of my naiveté and the simultaneous assertion of a lack of violence in Biblical times, I wrote back:

If he could answer a question, he could be driven to a shelter. Did the police actually come? Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. How about giving him a cup of coffee to ensure that he would sit there until they arrived instead of wandering off?

It went below freezing last night – wouldn’t it be a terrible thing if they discovered his frozen corpse today?

I have a small child too – I wasn’t suggesting taking him in. We can agree to disagree – I simply feel that there may be more options than the ones that are offered. Believe me, I am not naive about this subject.

The thing that’s interesting about the scripture that I quoted is that it is a description of the last judgment. The bottom line, as it were, is not the ten commandments – not for christians. Here is the complete text (New American Standard Bible, compare to others):

The Judgment

31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Anybody gonna fight to have this posted at the courthouse?

If you’re going to claim to be a christian you can’t rationalize this away. If you claim the text is inspired and literally true, then you are bound by this judgment. I’m not really a christian, or not exclusively (and for most, that would mean not at all), but I think that this makes a very dramatic point about what is important.

The insight of the scripture to me is just this: The spirit is in everyone. Don’t dehumanize. Put yourself in the position of the other person. You can protect your own safety while doing so – of course. But – stranger walking the streets, lock your doors? – what is he then, Dracula?
So, what really happened here? The “gentleman” (love how they put it that way?) was approached and it was clear that he needed shelter, and then what? What was next? “Move on,” “good luck with that”?

If you feel that it is too dangerous to approach someone, that’s one thing – sure, call the police.

But this guy was clearly harmless enough to be approached, and then they simply report that he wandered off, so lock your doors.

(Spitting to the side).

Tori Amos Rocked the Fox

Tori Amos Rocked the Fox

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I’ve had the Tori Amos tickets since about an hour after they went on sale. Tori Amos and Kate Bush are my all-time favorites.

Two of the Tori Amos “dolls” of her multiple-personality “American Doll Posse” made an appearance at the concert she gave at the Fox Theater in Atlanta Wednesday night.

This concert was very different than Tori’s others. Less hypnotic reverie, more hard rock.

Evidently the songlist is affected by the selection of the semi-archetypal facets of her personality she chooses to perform with that night (“Pip”, “Santa”, “Isabel”, “Clyde” or “Tori”).

The “Santa” persona – a very saucy, rebellious creature – rocked the house. With bobbed platinum hair and a clingy, almost-not-there black dress, she belted out some of Tori’s most high-energy songs. This is the tiger.

Body and Soul

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pw4A95Lk1s[/youtube]

Seven devils bring them on
I have left my weapons
’cause I think you’re wrong
These devils of yours they need love

Come and kneel with me Body and Soul
Come and kneel with me Body and Soul
Body and Soul Body and Soul Body and Soul

The “Tori” persona stepped in later. Her long red-auburn hair set off the glittery, cling-tight american flag jumpsuit. Her movements reminded me of that “oh, wow” muppet.

Big Wheel

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9byJ0TY8ko[/youtube]

I’ve been on my knees
But you’re so hard
hard to please
Did you take me take me in
So you are a superstar
get off the cross we need the wood
Somehow you will rise
But without a tool
I know honey you’re a pro
But BABY I don’t need your cash
Mama got it all in hand now

These were both very fiery characters, and it was a great concert, but I missed hearing her more contemplative and moody songs. I would have loved to have heard more of the ballads – I missed songs like “The Beekeeper,” “Father Lucifer,” and “Mohammed My Friend.”

We had a great time, and I have to say that it was a much more interesting crowd than the audience that showed up for George Carlin. The people-watching was almost as fun as the concert itself.

And I even got a tee-shirt. I hardly ever do that.

Ben was very pleased to stay home with his first-ever at-home babysitter. She is very pretty, and she even played with him. This is the last bit of conversation I heard as I left the house: “But Batman isn’t blue!” “No, that’s just the bot. The real Batman is inside the bot.” I think he had as good a time as we did.

Bush Loyalists Admit Impotence

Bush Loyalists Admit Impotence

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Governor Sonny Perdue is joining lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the Georgia state Capitol to pray for rain.

How totally embarrassing.

Well, Bush let ’em down – “Tough luck, Georgia.”

Water is not a partisan issue. You have water or you don’t.

They’ve known about the potential problems of a rapidly-expanding state (and city) population for some time.

Instead of planning and accountability, we get prayers. They’ve made noises about it being interdenominational, but here that probably means something like Presbyterian, along with Methodist and Bapist.

Dry, dour, hypocritical prayers.

I doubt they’ll even have any good chants or dances… they don’t really have a good relationship with the environment anyway.

They have handed the problem off to a higher power, one that doesn’t really get into micromanaging local weather systems.

I’m waiting for some evangelist to claim that the drought is God’s punishment on Georgia for tolerating Atlanta (or some equally fluffernut theory that might play into the fears of the dreadfully misled and manipulated).

Hubby Released

Hubby Released

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Ok, I’ve been on pins and needles all night (and freaking out a bit), but my hubby finally has been released from detention at the Atlanta airport.

It turns out that the only thing he shared with the person they were looking for is his very common name.

The guy didn’t have the same birthday. He wasn’t even an American.

Sigh.

So now, I’ve talked him into taking the expensive cab ride home.

No way is he riding the MARTA subway train at night, not as tired as he is. The last time, he had to deal with one guy who showed him a big ugly knife and said he was hungry. He just needs to get home. He’s been traveling for 24 hours.

Here’s the fun part. He can look forward to detention anytime he travels now.

I’d really like to know what this other guy was wanted for.

I got a suggestion from a relative in law enforcement and government that we could talk to an FBI agent and perhaps get some form of bone fide so that he doesn’t have to go through this every time he travels now.

He hasn’t eaten or slept. I’m going to make a meal right now…