DeRosaWorld

Christmas Tree

The DeRosaWorld Christmas Tree.

 

It's Fucking Hot In Los Angeles

Even the cats are swimming.

Another of Charles Darwin's Great Stories...

Charles Darwin's ecological experiment on Ascension isle... a wonderful little story from the BBC.

"Two hundred years ago, Ascension Island was a barren volcanic edifice.

Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical "cloud forest".

What happened in the interim is the amazing story of how the architect of evolution, Kew Gardens and the Royal Navy conspired to build a fully functioning, but totally artificial ecosystem.

By a bizarre twist, this great imperial experiment may hold the key to the future colonisation of Mars."

Salvador Dali Sculptures Join The Jet Set This Winter

Surrealist artist Salvador Dali (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) is to be honored this winter when 14 of his sculptures will be displayed in and around Courchevel, a French mountain ski resort... the exhibition aims to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Spanish artist's death.

Below are the giant sculptures Alice In Wonderland and Woman In Flames.

Saturday Musings: 'Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich' Edition.

So it really was just looting the Treasury. Trillions of dollars to bankers and their corporate financial institutions for nothing in return for the American people… not even a thank you or a reach around.

One of the giant missteps for the Obama Administration, when the history books are written, will be the “bailout’. Shameful, sad, embarrassing.

I’m afraid he doesn’t really know how do deal with the crisis. May history prove I'm wrong.

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I’m not coming down against his diplomacy so soon. Secretary of State Clinton’s speech at the Council on Foreign Relations this week was an interesting declaration of sanity and intelligence.

As far as Iraq goes, he is trying to survive the hand he was dealt… okay, but where is my cheap gasoline?

And I do not like what I see in Afghanistan.. I think America really needs to ask itself why not more diplomacy and international cooperation here, too, before the American death toll rises to a level where we start blaming Obama for another Vietnam.

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Health care reform: Well, some Republicans are repeating what some Republicans said during the Clinton Administration’s health care battle. Stop health care reform, because its success will prove that Big Government and the Democratic Party works.

If health care reform loses, or there is bill that does not finally offer a ‘public option’, then why did America vote the Republicans out of office in the first place? Democratic Senators should be planting the stake in the ground here and moving ahead without Republican support. This is called victory… elections have consequences… prove it.

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Walter Cronkite died. TV news anchor royalty. He had a tough job of trying to maintain his dignity in a medium that basically lied to us for the last 50 years. He cried on the air when JFK died, but never did anything else about it. He got mad on the air over the Vietnam War, that was kind of cool.

Americans are a very strange and naïve people and will just sit in front of that fucking box and take whatever comes out of it as the truth, as history, no questions asked. Walter Cronkite was a big part of that. Reporting what he was told and rarely, in his case maybe once or twice, daring to ask if what he was reading each night was in fact good for the people whose living rooms it was entering.

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As for music…two words: Bill Evans.

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As for books: Mysteries. I have a few mysteries to get through this summer. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, its all the rage. Of course some Michael Connelly, and Robert D. Parker is dipping his big toe into teen mystery fiction... say what?! First up though is Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor.

A Man Works From Sun To Sun, But A Woman's Work Is Never Done

I have a growing family of house finches living in the trees and large bushes behind my house. I sat in my yard on Father's Day and watched a female house finch teach two of her babies how to fly. It was something special to see. A few other birds, a blue jay and a hummingbird parked on the phone wires to watch.

The small birds left the wire and seemed to hang in mid-air and it seemed quite the struggle to move forward, but they did, slowly, flying over the house and out of sight.

The adult birds take off like fighter planes, but these little guys put-putted along.

After about three minutes, both birds came back to a wobbly landing on the wires next to their mother.

My cats ignored the festivities.

Saturday Musings: 'that horrible moral squint' Edition

Sorry I missed May Day, Comrades. I had to work, thank god.

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Arlen Specter, Smarlen Specter. We don’t need anymore Lieberman Democrats. Politicians who put their self preservation over the good of the State and the Will of the People need not apply to the Party of Hope.

Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) is going to kick Specter’s ass in the Democratic Primary. Stesak just won election in a Congressional District that is a suburb of Philadelphia. This was a Regean/Republican stronghold before Bush, Jr. took control of the reigns. Once Arlen Specter actually has to cast votes with the Democrats, game over.

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Justice David Souter... I hope he plans to write a memoir. Our Man For All Seasons on the Supreme Court. The Republicans thought they had a Sarah Palin for the bench and he turned out to be Thomas More.

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So do you think the Powers That Be would waste Jeb Bush on a 2012 run or wait until the Democrats fixed everything, filled the Treasury again and then take over in 2016?

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FOX News is a hate crime.

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Swine Flu, huh? Maybe in 75 years we will be told what really was going on.

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Speaking of swine... Mark Penn sucks big, fat elephant dick.

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Hmmm, it looks like being a bitch to the Banking Industry, even after all that has happened, is still a bipartisan thing in the US Senate. Congress is doing its part, but the Senate is just disappointing when it comes to homeowners vs. banks.

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Okay enough of this political stuff, I have a yard to sit in and some wine to drink. Let’s get to the important stuff…

Book of the Week: Hell, I’m not even finished yet and James Gould Cozzens is resurrected from the library trash bin with Guards of Honor.  Where have you been all my life? If I could write like this… well, I would. Three days in the life of a military base, yeah, I know… sounds wonderful and out of print longer than Zac Efron has been alive, but this book is being devoured this weekend.

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In music, don’t arrest me, but I traded my download of Chess Records Soul for a copy of Mavis Staples Live, Hope At The Hideout... Indeed.

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So I’m set for the weekend, I have Jacob's recap of American Idol's Results Show (the funniest writer on the Internet. Don't bother watching TV, just read Television Without Pity.) and I can smell the ocean. So now I just have to kick Marnie the cat off my lounge chair and I'm good to go.

Baby Roma Tomatoes Invade DeRosaWorld

 

The baby roma tomatoes plants are budding at DeRosaWorld.

Saturday Musings: 'Video Killed The Conservative Pundit' Edition

Did Rush Limbaugh win the week? Let’s ask 42 Republican white men and then maybe Barney Frank as the fair and balanced 'Democrat' token.

Don’t you just love victory! Elections have consequences and the Presidential election of 2008 means the Republican opposition is on TV 24/7.

Can’t I at least have Jim Webb?

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It will take a few years for the Pundit class to die off, and until then we need to support the few reporters that are left fighting the good fight….like Jon Stewart. His segment on Rick Santelli is the best piece of economic journalism since the Republican Meltdown began. This brief video puts all cable news networks, Republicans and Ronald Reagan-conservatism to shame.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (I love saying that) is continuing to pick up the pieces of the international rumble left by the Bush, Jr. Era. We are lucky these other world leaders are letting an American diplomat into their countries. I think they are all relieved to see her. Go Hills!

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It is really time for Congressional Hearings on the Republican economic meltdown and George Bush, Jr. should be made to testify about what he knew and when he knew it. Two World Wars and a 50 year Cold War could not bring the economy of America to its knees. It took Republicans from with-in to do that. Time to pay up, boys.

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What people need in this country is to relax a little. Smoke it if you got it and listen to some mellow, smart singer-songwriter records. I’m talking Carol King’s Tapestry.  Joni Mitchells’ Blue. Some Neil Young or Willie Nelson’s Spirit (0ne of my favorite stress release records).  Let these artists play and sing for you, intelligently. It is great for the mind and soul. Here is a list of 100 singer songwriter albums to help get you started from ChordStrike.

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Book of the Week: After a week of  Rush, CPAC and Rick Santelli, get you real intellectual macho on and read James Salter’s first book, The Hunters.

The arts in America were so full of promise after World War Two. The nation came back from war different, grown-up, ready to live the second-half of a very changed and exciting American century. This book is a good example of that artistic mini-golden era of writers: Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer…the list is long and wasn’t restricted to novel writing, but extended into other arts, film, dance, theater. Then something went wrong…Republicans took over and all was lost. But reading James Salter’s The Hunters will show you a brief example of what grown-up, smart America could have been...and they're jet-fighter pilots!

Happy Earth Day

This little guy came visiting DeRosaWorld. The cats were not amused.

Spring Is Here

Roses have bloomed in DeRosaWorld. Spring 2008.