this, from the Washington Times regarding John McCain inviting bloggers who normally would not be considered ‘political’ and also non-conservative bloggers (presumably from the far left? Can that be it?) to ‘tell the real story’ about him and his campaign. Also, I just caught on Fox News, that several female conservative bloggers were tapped by Senator McCain also. Not sure about ‘the war’ mentioned below. Stay tuned. McCain widens dialogue on blogs By Stephen...

Ron Paul, one of the most interesting and unique of the men who ran for the Republican nomination, well… He’s not giving up. He and his considerable group of supporters have already rented space for their assembly near the site of the Republican Convention in St Paul Minn. Paul doesnt support John McCain; thinks McCain’s ideas are far different than his. Says he has a lot of ‘numbers’ in terms of voters Doesnt think he’ll be interested in campaigning with Bob Barr,...

Quoting Jessica Marshall from ZooGoer blog at the Smithsonian Anyone who has ever stayed up too late and regretted it the next day knows just how much humans need sleep. Animals need it, too. Every animal studied so far—from whales to octopuses to fruit flies—sleeps, although animal sleep takes various forms, and even among mammals the human eight hours is not the norm. Horses, elephants, and giraffes, for instance, sleep only about two to four hours a day, while bats and opossums sleep up to...

The Republicans seem at present, to be burning bridges between themselves regarding Senator McCain’s candidacy, while the Democrats seem to be beginning at least to talk about building bridges. But to build a bridge isnt enough. Leaders can destroy their own groups by not having enough genuine earthy experience on the ground, by not being able to bring bold but effective solutions to longstanding problems, and by failing to have an accurate arial view of the ‘big picture.’ A leader...

What with the city of Denver trying to make space for Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Speech for the thousands of protesters who say they’ll be showing up at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August… including “Recreate ‘68″ and “Code Pink” and “Free Mumia”…amongst others too, there appears to be a slow-down in raising the promised private money to pay for the convention. Denver is a small-big town. People joke and say it’s...

Than Shwe, the dictator of Burma, caused it to be announced today that a constitutional referendum “was overwhelmingly approved”– when in fact a huge portion of the Burmese are dead or lying injured and homeless from the cyclone and tsunami which hit the Irrawaddy delta rice growing region almost 13 days ago…and were unable to drink clean water, let alone vote. Than Shwe’s referendum casts in concrete in perpetuity, more of the brutality and egotistical offal that Burma...

Today the noble polar bear was listed by the US Government as a threatened species because the icy environs in which it thrives are diminishing. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said this step did not denote a policy shift to lessen ‘global warming.’ It appears to be the government’s first use of the Endangered Species Act to note the loss of animal habitat caused by dramatic man-made or naturual climate changes. But far away from the world of argument about what or who causes...

Today John Edwards is endorsing former competitor Barack Obama… It is a late endorsement, given when the horses are already in the home stretch, and one horse is the stronger runner long distance, but the other horse has more than a neck and neck lead, and also appears to be running on the inside track next to the rail. Clinton won over Obama by more than 2 votes to 1 in West Virginia. And it is said that so-called “white, working-class voters” also supported Edwards before he...

The word endure is from the Latin, indurare, and the Spanish, duro, meaning ‘hard’ or to ‘harden.’ But to endure, to develop endurance doesnt mean to be inert nor immovable nor brittle. Quite the contrary. To endure means to be hardened, as in being passed through the fire… as a steel blade is passed through fire to harden it… so that thus tempered, one remains limber: bendable, but not breakable. _________ CODA The photo is of a tiny one-man outpost in Antarctica....

This is a picture of a mountain in West Virginia. It has been mined for coal, which has been exported out of state to supply other states in the union, year after year for nearly 150 years. This is only one of many mountain tops that have been ‘taken down’ for mining purposes in West Virginia. Thousands of miners have died mining for coal to export to the rest of the USA. There have been over 150 large scale mining disasters caused by all manner of corporate neglect, also some very...

This is West Virginia’s Beartown State Park . It is 107 acres purchased in 1970 with funds from the Nature Conservancy and a donation from Mrs. Edwin G. Polan, in memory of her son, Ronald Keith Neal, who fought and died in the Vietnam War. West Virginia is a place of odd and delightful place names. Beartown State Park is located on the eastern summit of Droop Mountain where a major battle of the Civil War was fought by West Virginians in 1863. Pearl S. Buck, the venerable author, was born...

Recap of BBC Show, as promised to TMV readers earlier. I was on a BBC radio show today as a blogger from The Moderate Voice. The issue of the day there was (still), “Should Hillary Clinton quit?” As a sign of intense international interest in the Obama-Clinton primary race, the BBC has been airing many opinion shows about the elections. This one segment of one particular show today was just a few minutes of discussion on that topic. There were, in those few moments on air, lots of emails flying,...

Wait, wait, don’t clobber me for asking this low in vitamins, high in refined sugar question. I’m not qoing to answer it. I question the question… the repeater-rifle question stuck on automatic: “Should Hillary quit?” Hear me out… There are several poignant “election times” topics for national discussion that have been mostly ignored. They oughtn’t be. For instance: How much of the MSM, by their pronouncements about what any candidate ought or ought...

Got a call from the BBC this morning. I’ll be on BBC radio here in just a little bit to speak about “Should Hillary Clinton Quit?” I’ll post the article on what was said on the show, later tonight. I’ve been writing an article for TMV on just that topic. Generally, it’s a critique about the MSM’s perseveration re telling a candidate what they ought do next. Irritable back seat drivers, I’d venture. An odd surge toward ‘making news happen,’...

May those who can, hang on. May those who cannot, know all mercy. ________ CODA In symbolism, the pine tree remains rooted and green with life, even under duress of cold and raw weather. Cranes make many migrations back and forth between heaven and earth, standing for a certain kind of longevity, that of the soul.

For those whose good mothers have died …for those who were lucky enough to have had what I call, “a beautiful, imperfectly-perfect mother,” but one who too early passed from this world, especially hard when she has been the ground note for her sons and daughters. Some of us did not have a mother we can remember without fear, but even that doesn’t keep us from recognizing that special bond between many mothers and their children wherever we see it– and blessing that...

The Mistaken Zygote Syndrome by C.P. Estés I tell my patients this story I made up, with both levity and gravity, to try to explain one of the great mysteries of this Earth: why some parents and offspring sometimes look at one another and ask themselves, “Who the heck are you? and what planet did you really come from??” Here’s what I have to say on the matter in my consulting room: We are born the way we are, and into the odd families we came through: 1) Just because… (almost...

Mother’s Day, as we know it today, is a more or less genteel day of hopefully kind words and sweet sentiments depending on whether one’s family more resembles the Simpsons, the Partridges or a holy family of schmoos. But long ago, Mother’s Day in the US burst forth drenched in blood, and buried in bones and graves. It was anything but genteel. This fiercely special day was set aside in 1870 to make a cry heard round the world from mothers who were demanding that war never be...

The Heart of the Unknown Mother by C.P. Estés Whether children landed on earth, but had to leave too soon, whether they were detoured before they could be born, whether they were wrenched away, or lost for unexplained reasons, whether they were here for just a few moments, or a few days… they all are blessed children. Full children. When people ask, “Are you a mother?’ you are entitled to say ‘Yes, I am a mother.’ ‘Oh, how many?’ they’ll ask. Tell...

The United Nations said it would suspend flights into Myanmar after the military government seized the food and equipment it had sent into the country. But then, some small portion of detente began to be worked out between the UN with the US, UK, and Burma. We shall see. Various and sundry claims by relief agencies are flying over the internet today, adding to the garble instead of keeping the facts straight, in part, because no one can get a large enough overview of the facts. By all reports,...

According to my contact in Yangon, what pitiful supplies are on the ground, have no distribution whatsoever to any of the thousands of villages and tributaries in Burma hit into utter devastation by the tsunami/ cyclone. The Burmese, most poorer than poor before the tsunami, are going on their 6th sunrise without clean water, food, or shelter or medicines. Meanwhile, it is certain, while the military government gets down their fiddles, the infants and newborns and toddlers grow dehydrated. Without...

Various news reports say there are over 200,000 dead in the cyclone and tsunami that hit Burma… now five days ago. Other reports say over 500,000 will be dead if the thousands of bodies floating in water and lying in mud are not burnt or buried, and the injured given help, and the vulnerable given clean water. This is after the government originally said there might be a total of 10,000 dead. Maybe not even that many, they said. This from The Sun, U.K., by Nick Parker, Chief Foreign Correspondent...

nota bene: this pix was sent to me by a sister blogger. I believe it was taken by Ann Althouse in New York

Photo I.D.’s were required in order to vote in Indiana in the primary yesterday. A strict new law. But what if you can’t easily get a photo I.D.? What if you are a citizen, have lived an exemplary life, have stood up for the lives of others, have agreed not to be paid for your work lifelong, have agreed to wear funny clothes and interfere in society’s gears when justice to the soul is concerned… and you can’t get a photo I.D. to assert your right to vote? What if it’s...