Napolitano targets conservatives in further suppression of dissent.

Roger Hedgecock broke a story of enormous significance earlier today. The Obama Administration issued a Homeland Security report that warned of the threat from those conservatives groups opposed to homosexual marriage, abortion, firearm restrictions or illegal immigration, and, of course, the obvious danger to America posed by our returning war veterans, who the previous administration viewed as war heros.Coupled with last month’s DHS warning that supporters of Ron Paul, or other conservative or libertarian third parties are suspicious and pose a risk to the government of the United States, the chilling comparison of the Labor/Socialist/Democrat agenda with totalitarian regimes of the past are becoming more clearly evident, and much sooner, than we feared.Strangely enough, the Obama security team appears unconcerned with the rioters/protesters who threatened the Republican National Convention last summer in Minneapolis (which only those watching Fox News or attending actually saw because of the media blackout of anything that could possibly harm the Obama campaign) or those persons with histories of actually bombing institutions of American government (the President’s close friend William Ayres) or those who have travelled to enemy nations (countries whose governments gin up rallies where thousands shriek “death to America” etc… and support or have supported anti-American terror like Saddam’s Iraq, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela) or just plain advocate the justice of anti-American terror efforts.Does anyone remember something from a history class about governments that gain control of the means of production and conditions employment on support of government policy; use law enforcement to intimidate dissent; gain control of the media to prevent dissenting speech; and, identify and demonize large segments of the traditional population as enemies of the state? We have a mental image and we'll bet you do to.

Opening cabin windows

Well, here is my latest collage. While trying to think of an interesting title, I thought of the people who would be driving up north this weekend to open their cabin windows. They will be raking, and making beds and turning on the water and generally getting ready for their times of "getting away from it all" this summer. This time I decided to try to transfer my calligraphy to fabric rather than using paper in the piece. I think they transferred really well. I feel a beginning of some real experiments that will take me places this summer........ Well, I got this far and realized that I forgot to take pictures while in process. So here ya go. At this point I have sewn together randomly odd pieces of fabric. I try for balance, and have learned to just go with it, because you can always layer to bring the balance back if it gets upset. I wanted this tree to be more than an applique so I handpainted a background, even running the paint out of the bounds I created earlier. I added the dimension of the embroidered grass and sky. I have a feeling as I do more, it will get more elaborate, because you get braver...... Here it is in the frame. I layed a red canoe in the bottom right corner, but I didn't put it in because I thought it could hold its own the way it was. It didn't look bad with the canoe, I just didn't want to be so repetitive in my work. What do you think? I started a Boy Scout piece that will be the same technique, but really, different. After a couple of days, I will post those pictures. I have a show in Madison tomorrow. It will be my first out door show. I feel unprepared...........I will let you know how it goes.

Do you mind how people gonna look at you?

So, people are judgmental mostly. They judge you base on what you wear. If you wear tacky clothes, you are not trendy, and you are not clean. If you look different from other people, you are outcast. If you are a little into book, you are a nerd. So, do you care what other people think of you?

You got your own style, your own life, and you just be yourself. Right!?

Afghanistan and Pakistan: More troops and money

But the same old problemsTHE opening move of Barack Obamas campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda was as successful as he could have wished. Just days after he unveiled a new policy to deal with extremists on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, nearly 90 countries and international bodies gathered in The Hague to support him. Delegates hailed the renewed, rejuvenated or re-energised American effort after seven years of ever more costly and dispiriting fighting. The most closely watched participant was Iran, the object of American courtship. It announced that, despite its dislike of the ineffective foreign forces in Afghanistan, it was fully prepared to help fight drugs-trafficking and rebuild Afghanistan. And Russia, with whom America wants to reset testy relations, said it could do more after allowing America to send non-military supplies to Afghanistan through its territory (France and Germany can send military kit). ...

Do Recessions Sometimes Encourage Creative Destruction?

Source of image: online version of the NYT article quoted and cited below. (p. B1) The dot-com bust earlier in the decade dragged down high-fliers like Sun Microsystems and America Online but set the stage for a new generation of Web powerhouses like Google and other innovative Internet software companies like Salesforce.com, founded on disrupting the status quo. The recession of the early 1990s sent I.B.M., then the dominant force in technology, into a five-year tailspin. But it also propelled Microsoft and Compaq, later acquired by Hewlett-Packard, and Dell to the forefront of computing. Indeed, Silicon Valley may be one of the few places where businesses are still aware of the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian economist who wrote about business cycles during the first half of the last century. He said the lifeblood of capitalism was "creative destruction." Companies rising and falling would unleash innovation and in (p. B4) the end make the economy stronger. Recessions "can cause people to think more about the effective use of their assets," said Craig R. Barrett, the retiring chairman of Intel, who has seen 10 such downturns in his long career. "In the good times, you can get a bit careless or not focused as much on efficiency. In bad times, you're forced to see if there is a technology" that will help. So who's up, who's down and who's out this time around? Microsoft's valuable Windows franchise appears vulnerable after two decades of dominance. Revenue for the company's Windows operating system fell for the first time in history in the last quarter of 2008. The popularity of Linux, a free operating system installed on many netbooks instead of Windows, forced Microsoft to lower the prices on its operating system to compete. Intel's high-power processors are also under assault: revenue tumbled by 23 percent last quarter, marking the steepest decline since 1985. Meanwhile, more experimental but lower-cost technologies like netbooks, Internet-based software services (called cloud computing) and virtualization, which lets companies run more software on each physical server, are on the rise. For the full story, see: BRAD STONE and ASHLEE VANCE. "$200 Laptops Break a Business Model." The New York Times (Mon., January 25, 2009): B1 & B4.

MINI HIDEN Camera

For mum

It seems not for the young,but mum!

If I found this one,I'll buy for my mum!~

How do you think?Advice?THX!~

California

Its economy is dismal, its politicians worse. But nowhere can reinvent itself so capably as CaliforniaPITY California. Not only must it endure an epidemic of foreclosure, a 10.5% unemployment rate and the lowest bond rating of any state. It is also suffering a critical assault. In the past few weeks Forbes, Fortune, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal have all published scathing reviews of California. Even this newspaper has called it ungovernable. Although many other states have been knocked by the recession, none has been kicked so enthusiastically while down. The most trenchant critic is Joel Kotkin, an urbanist at Chapman University. Mr Kotkin, who defended California during the early 1990s recession, now believes it is decaying. In his view, the state has been captured by environmentalists and slow-growth zealots who are stymieing house-building and running down dirty industries like agriculture and manufacturing. They are turning California from a place of working- and middle-class opportunity into a playground for the rich and a trap for the poor.