Open Thread – Moment of Zen
I took this one a couple summers ago when I backpacked the Resurrection Trail. (No, that’s not like the “Appalachian Trail!”) The whole trip was 40 miles, and close to the end was a wonderful little cabin next to a lake with this boat. It was as quiet and peaceful as it looks. This picture is one of my favorites.
Wow. The water is so still, and the reflection so perfect, that it took me a while to realize that it wasn’t a narrow channel. Beautiful composition.
it is amazing
wish i could be there….beautiful
I really like how you captured the reflection of the mountain and trees in the lake surface. The lake looks like a mirror. Lovely picture.
How nice!
Very nice!
I am a registered Republican and as such received a census from the RNC to ask my opinion on various issues. I am completely disgusted with the Republican party and some of these questions are so misleading. I can’t answer them with yes or no answers, if I did it would be like answering the question “Have you stopped beating your wife?” One example : Do you oppose the Obama-Pelosi health care takeover plan that would bring Washington bureaucrats between doctors and patients,ration medical treatment and deny critical care while skyrocketing the national debt? I don’t have the ability to scan the thing because of its size, but I thought that AKM or Shannyn or Gryp might like to read it and let folks know the content. The above question was only one of many. If any of you would be interested or if Rachel would I would be glad to have it copied and send it to you by mail. It’s very interesting to say the least.
What a lovely, peaceful scene! AKM, you have the gift of providing a moment of zen daily for all of us and I thank you. It helps anchor the day before I go bat-crazy over the shenanigans of our politicians, and has-been politicians.
I appreciate your view of our gorgeous world.
Thanks!
I forgot to add that this census came with a four page letter from Michael Steele that is also as misleading as the census document. I came in an envelope marked official business and to be opened by addressee only under penalty of law. I would be happy to share the letter as well.
If folks are really buying into this crap without checking out anything for themselves, it’s pretty sad.
My two senators are also pro-rape and one of them is a C streeter and he wants to be our next Governor, unfortunately he will probably win.
Sue in Kansas @8 – is there a title to that census? I’m wondering if we can google it to see if someone already has it scanned an online. It bristles me just hearing about it .
NPR has a comment thread up for “questions Oprah should ask Palin”.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/10/sarah_palin_oprah_winfrey.html
Sue in Kansas – are these the same census questions you received ?
http://web.campaignsolutions.com/rnc/2009surveycensus/?initiativekey=F5BMW17GUXCG
Don’t forget to contact Oprah and give her your thoughts on her promotion of hate via SP:
https://www.oprah.com/plugform.jsp?plugId=220
BuffaloGal@9 – The title is 2009 Republican Party Census Document, it’s form RNC 2009. I think you might be able to read it at http://www.GOP/2009Census. Let me know if you have any luck. That doesn’t get you access to the letter but you might be able to read the census questions.
Wow, that is some documnet. Talk about writing things to show your point of view…created by FOX maybe? We should all fill it out! hundreds of us. Here we go…..
BuffaloGal yep you found it. Disgusting isn’t it?
I sit and allow my gaze..to take in all there..that speaks of ..The Real World..and its shimmering, eternal growth…and flow. Those portions..lead one..to the moment of Zen. Thank you.
It’s pretty easy, actually, the questions start,
do you agree
do you think
etc.
If they say, do you agree, say no.
do you think? No.
You don’t even need to read the questions!
Paula@13 – I think you have to have a registration number and voting district code to fill it out. I have each of those on my form.
I’ve only seen the Resurrection Trail Head. Wow, now I see why the hike is so popular. Maybe one day I will go. Did you run across any bears??
—
Snow is predicted in Anchorage- Oct. 28th- Time to get out the skis. Be sure and get you tire changeover.
you=your
(need more coffee)
Re: RNC Census questions – If this came to me from the dems I’d send it back to them in pieces. I wouldn’t accept such insulting manipulation from any party. They should be ashamed and Steele should peppered with emails of disgust. What a sham this party has become.
I truly hope it can someday be rebuilt as a reasonable political party. Dems could use a dose of that too but at least they’re not spouting insanity and conspiracy theories.
Former U.S. president George W. Bush garners noisy protest in Edmonton
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5i8HBaFzHSYu8bhz9nTysaPOaY01Q
I wonder if it will help to “boycott”– NOT watch the Oprah Show- and then later catch it on the internet? That would be a good slam, but don’t know if it will result in anything, as regular viewers will be watching it anyway.
Very nice AKM. An ahhhhhh picture, we need an ahhhhhh room of your pics for blood pressure control, lol. Thank you!
So, Mudpuppies, I found this at Texas For Scarah, what do you suppose this means when he/she says; starting to have laws reversed? which is still in the works?
( LAWS? REVERSED?! is this person working with some repug legislator or is he a leg? how else does one get laws reversed? a petition drive?)
working to undo problems of the of the past?
(PAST? PROBLEMS? what the heck are they? the he commenter name is “Upinak”.)
“I was here in Alaska … in the background, starting to have laws reversed, which is still in the works. Are people like myself, who are silent or quietly working to undo the problems of the past going to be blasted by people such as yourself?”
http://www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org/index.html?ID=12943
is the link where you can petition our government for true health freedom. What is that? An as-yet nonexistent America where we take responsibility for our own health with nutrition, supplements, and the kind of care we want, be that acupuncture, colonic hydrotherapy, colloidal silver, sunlight, and real food. It’s also a world where Sally Fields is NOT selling us pharmaceuticals to “protect” us from osteoporosis (which is actually caused by a diet too high in protein, which makes us so acidic that calcium is leached from our bones), and where there’s a toll-free number to report drug side effects IN the commercials for pharmaceuticals. Please read the petition, and sign on if you agree. Health and peace.
Coupla things: my husband is a registered Repub although he has seen the light and supports Obama. Anyway, he gets those surveys from the RNC. He sends them back with comments like, “this is the reason I can no longer be a member of the Republican Party,” and a few other relevant thoughts. When they solicite donations he sends the pre-paid envelope back empty. As far as Crazy Lady on Oprah, do you think there’ll be protesters outside? Has anyone protested Oprah before?
Speaking of protestors:
Close to 200 protesters rallied outside the venue as Bush arrived.
Police were on site to keep protesters away from the front doors of the building as many in the crowd held up banners that read “Bush is a War Criminal” and “Bush Go Home”.
http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091020/edm_bush_091020/20091020/?hub=CalgaryHome
I received this email in my inbox today. Call your Senator, if you haven’t already.
>>>>>
Amazing news! Health reform supporters across the country are burning up the phone lines and we’ve already hit our goal of 100,000 calls to Congress made or committed to in a single day. We’ve set a new single-day OFA record, but this is no time to slow down.
We’ve set a new goal of 200,000 calls placed or pledged by the end of the day. If we can hit it, we’ll keep congressional phones ringing off the hook, breaking through the insurance company spin and leaving no doubt that the voters stand with the President and demand reform.
If you have already called, thanks! Just pass this note along to friends and family so they can join. This is shaping up to be a historic day for our movement — and a big step forward for our country.
Thanks for making it happen,
Jeremy
Call your representatives and tell them: It’s Time to Deliver on health reform. According to our records, you live in Alaska’s at-large congressional district. Please call:
Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Anchorage office at (907) 271-3735
Sen. Mark Begich’s Anchorage office at (907) 271-5915
Rep. Don Young’s Anchorage office at (907) 271-5978
re:the repugs, michael steel, congress, palin…desperate people do desperate things…ie: lying, misleading, misinforming, behind-the-back, ugly stuff! It’s all pathetic! there should be no room in THIS country for THAT!
AKM…hiking in such serene beauty, but remote, isolated, wild countryside…what protects you from a grizzly or a charging moose???
Ran across this jewel on Crooks & Liars. Rachel Maddow as the new host of Meet The Press would be awesome!
http://trueslant.com/donovan/2009/10/17/fix-meet-the-press-hire-rachel-maddow/
AKM, you seem to always know just what it takes to soothe the psyches of your freaked out mudpuppies. Thank you for the latest “moment of zen”.
@Sue in Kansas (17) and Buffalo Gal (20):
Mr. CO got one of those “surveys”, and I filled it out, writing all over the margins. I did the English teacher critique of the biased slant of their questions, and suggested this document would not give them a realistic sense of what most Republicans think, just the extreme right-wing. I concluded that, based on their wording, the GOP is not interested with working across the aisle, improving our country, or being broad-minded or inclusive-and neither of us would be voting for any candidate who represented the party of NO.
I’ll probably get it back in a postage due envelope, the contents in pieces
@31 – Good for you! Brave soul. Wonder if they will respond?
If the Canadians arrest Bush for war crimes, it would bring a zen moment to the whole planet.
All NC Mudpuppies! For information on the first NC Mudstock, go to the Forum, check under Action Alerts – Events & Meets, and then NC Mudstock.
All mudpuppies are invited especially the ones from NC, SC, VA, TN & KY.
@Polly (32):
Probably not, but if they do…I have my red pen handy. (I never used it during my teaching career; seems like I have more use for it now- heh heh)
AKM, as a fellow backpacker, I really applaud this photo. It reminds us that often the best is found on the road less travelled. I found Lainey’s question
interesting, though…when I packpack I carry bear spray for bears, and the only time I’ve been charged by a moose was actually when I was in a canoe, and happened to get between a moose and her calf. I simply paddled reeeeeely fastI (I’m a sixty year old granny and often am out in the bush by myself. I feel safer in the bush than crossing Jasper Ave. and 97th street yesterday, in Edmonton, AB, when Bush spoke at the conference centre there. He’s the really unsafe Bush, as far as I’m concerned.
Gram @30 – Weren’t we all just talking about Maddow as anchor for Meet The Press , on Mudflats recently ? On the link you sent there were a few really good comments. One was that if Rachel did MTP it’d only be once a week as a moderator rather than 5 nights a week with her own show and own angle. The other suggestion was going back to the original format of MTP “back in the day” where the interviewee sat across from a panel representation of the press. Rachel could be on the panel a few times a month and wouldn’t have to give up her regular show. All the comments agreed that Maddow is one of the very best news people we have right now and all seemed quite thankful for her show. Go Rachel !
CO @31 – Fabulous ! We’ve got to use our voices! ( still can’t believe that census. I will be livid if I see something like that come from the dems)
Gardenslug @33 – I just keep hoping some fired up Mounties will go all rogue and drag him off to an undisclosed Canadian location. I can’t imagine too many folks in Canada really wanted him there. Not to many Americans that want him here. An ex President without a country. Maybe he could go to Afghanastan and help whip that country in to shape. He sorta owes them.
CO
I did that to a Democratic survey. I have training in testing and development of test questions, so I really had a blast. The Democrats are almost as bad as the survey you are describing. These things are just an excuse to ask for more money.
AKM: that picture is wonderful.
Swan Lake…biked there this summer with my 13 yr old. We’re ready to go back.
I am still laughing at the “first snow in Alaska comment,” as we -here in PA, got plowable snow BEFORE Alaska. How weird is that?
Hey Alaska, I think I know where your ice went.
Totally off topic, but can somebody help me out? I’ve been Outside for a few weeks, and am back, and can’t get on the forum. Something about check my cookies. NO idea what that means. Not nearly as important as the real issues, but no way to get in to tell them I’m having trouble getting in. Sorry. I was able to read about the “Anchorage” mudstock, and so far no mention of anybody else from the Peninsula going up? Anybody? Well, really not important, but …
AKM, THAT picture is mmmmmmmmmmmm!! AAaaaaaaaahhh! Thanks, as always!
HOPE!
Cool picture AKM..Have great day all…
Did you see my mother back there on the Resurrection Trail?
She ought to be resurrected by now.
KVC@121 on Oprah thread:
In order for Sarah to appear on Oprah, I believe her handlers will have explicitly said, “No questions about anything, except the book”.
* ** * ** * ** * ** * ** *
You’re probably right.
So, Oprah reads the book and asks questions like “On page 176, you claim Levi said …”, “You mention in the book your reasons for quitting the governorship of the state of Alaska ….”, “In the book, your claims of events on the campaign trail last year differ markedly from reports …”.
It’s all how ya frame it, baby!
{James Joyce Stream of Consciousness/0n}
I’m pretty sure HarperCollins booked this, possibly without Sarah’s express permission. So the “No-Show” card is still in play. Or can a publisher ‘make her’ go on as part of the contract? (I would LOVE to see someone MAKE SP do something she does not want to do).
Gosh, just can’t win for losing, that one. Damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t. I feel so sorry for her …… NOT!!!!!!
She made her own bed, she lies in it.
She made her reaping decisions, now she is sowing the results. Cause and effect. Everything that happened to her happened because of the DECISIONS SHE MADE not some conspiracy of Obama’s or the media’s, or left-wing bloggers. Jeepers!
This is exactly the kind of thinking I am trying to get out of my college students – Rather, I want to instill in them a sense of personal responsibility for their actions and help them connect the dots between their choices and the grade they get at the end of the semester.
It’s very frustrating to see that behavior in a supposed adult whom we are supposed to believe is worthy of being some sort of role model.
Y’know what I think our fascination with her really is? I think it’s because WE know she’s a fraud, but what we don’t know is whether SHE knows it (and is deliberately scamming and conning), or whether she REALLY BELIEVES the delusional stuff she spews. And either way, we, as generally non-coniving and non-delusional people here, have a difficult time understanding a mind that works that way, a way of thinking so alien to us, that a brain that works that way may as well be from a being from outer space. And because we are generally intelligent and curious people here, we so WANT to understand.
{James Joyce Stream of Consciousness/0ff}
(How the heck did I get from Oprah to that?)
Gryphen has posted a story about an ‘ alternative ‘ book coming out the same day as Sarah’s titled ” Going Rogue, Sarah Palin an American Nightmare”
( Even the covers look similar)
From the story link there was additional info as well… about a Coloring Book.
***************
“Cartoonist Julie Swigart and political satirist Micheal Stinson are self-publishing Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book, a 48-page paperback that will be released Nov. 17 (the same day as the G.O.P. firebrand’s autobiography as well as OR Books’ anti-Palin essay collection, also titled Going Rouge). The sample pages on the book’s promotional website fall clearly into the realm of political satire, including a coloring page with lipsticks and pigs (naturally) and a caricature of Palin in fishing overalls and possible “fishing gear”: a gun, a saw, an ax, and a bomb.”
Hmm..I hope they included the pic of Sarah riding that dinosaur..?
http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/10/21/going-rouge-palin-basher-lookalike/
As a follow-up to AKM’s story yesterday about ” Republicans For Rape” and how they defend Defense Contractors like KBR. You don’t have to be in the defense industry to be discriminated against… when it comes to rape.
Private Insurance Co’s are an equal opportunity Offender.
As per the Huffpo story….
“A Florida woman, who is a victim of sexual abuse, claims that rape was called a “pre-existing condition” by several health insurance companies, which would have disqualified her for care. ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/insurance-companies-rape-_n_328708.html
Wow you take lovely pictures. It makes me want to visit AK, then I stop and think eek that have quitter Palin. Just can’t go. But I don’t like cold weather. My uncle from Italy came to visit us many years back. He said america is a beautiful country. If only americans just take the time to see the great places we have here. I have lived all over the world and the united states. I think every state has something that makes that state special. Am from Maryland and what a great place to live to see so much history on the east coast.
That is an amazing photo. Reminds me of the week I spent (for work) in Missoula, Montana. I was astounded by just how beautiful the town was, nestled by the foot of the mountains.
Thanks for the Palin and Climate Change bill posts – read the Going Rouge post and you KNOW I am going to get a copy of THAT.
=)
Sue in Kansas Says:
October 21st, 2009 at 5:41 AM
My two senators are also pro-rape and one of them is a C streeter and he wants to be our next Governor, unfortunately he will probably win.
____
I feel your pain, Sue. Here in VA, after going blue for the first time in my life in ’08, we are about to elect a rightwingnut Americantaliban Repuke governor.
Everyone, if you haven’t called Harry Reid and your own senators to make sure that the Franken Amendment stays in the final bill, please do so today. Details & report your calls here:
http://www.fairarbitrationnow.org/
(look for the ‘Take Action’ list on the bottom right)
Just read quite a number of the “census” questions and think that, considering it is for the Republicans all the answers should just be NO.
#
45
honestyinGov Says:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:35 AM
“A Florida woman, who is a victim of sexual abuse, claims that rape was called a “pre-existing condition” by several health insurance companies, which would have disqualified her for care. ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/insurance-companies-rape-_n_328708.html
Yup…posted this like earlier under the related thread…Rethugs 4 Rape
Nauseating…
Best line from an Alaska Dispatch article by Amanda Coyne:
,“But perhaps Alaska’s law was too watered down? If so, she could have stayed in office and fixed it. That might have lent her the real respectability that she seems to be going for, through footnotes.”
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/blogs/palin-watch/2472-palin-wants-feds-to-trump-states-to-reform-health-care
North Carolina Mudstock has a date, time and location!
When: 12/12/09
Time: 12PM (Noon)
Where: Durham,NC
Satisfaction’s Restaurant
RSVP: 12/05/09
If you would like to attend, see this thread –
http://www.themudflats.net/forum/index.php/topic,8527.0.html
Thanks to Pearl for taking on the organising!
Sue in Kansas I would also send it back marked with dishones and misleading questions,no real choice and how could I trust a party that would sink that low and as I am an independent,having voted both parties,I would do the same for something sent out by the Dems with that type of misleading questions.I do opinion polls all the time and even they don’t go that far.Thanks for pointing it out to every one.Rah ah Shannyn and AKM on being part of going rouge
I just LOVE me some Al Franken!!!!
I just watched a video posted on Celtic Diva’s site that showed him discussing medical bankruptcies with some doctor from the Hudson Institute (?) who was testifying about health care reform. Actually, there wasn’t much of a ‘discussion’ because Franken (politely but firmly) shut her down with some statistics that clearly proved that her entire premise (that the current proposed reform would actually increase bankruptcies) was WRONG.
The more I see this guy, the more I like him. He is REALLLY smart, well-prepared, calls people out on their lies and doesn’t take any cr*p from anyone. He is quickly silencing all those critics who mocked him as a SNL-comedian-turned-politician. Go Al!!!
Can he PLEASE, PLEASE give lessons to some of his Democratic colleagues!!!
http://divasblueoasis.com/diary/897/senate-democrats-this-is-how-its-done
This little nugget is just for Gramiam.
We all need to help her out and let let know what ” GrandPa McCain ” is up to…. so he doesn’t wander off and get into trouble.
To make himself think he is relevant… he is back to his Tweets spouting nonsense about earmarks again. But NOT really doing any fact checking before he open his mouth.
————————–
“Senator John McCain, man, that guy hates him some earmarks! And, from time to time, he likes to take to his Twitter account, make a listicle, and ridicule various proposed expenditures without any concern whatsoever to the context or the substance of the funding matter at hand.”
**************
Huffpo does some fact checking for Him.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/john-mccain-back-to-twitt_n_329030.html
AKM, that really is a great picture with great composition. It instantly reminded me of something you see on a jig saw puzzle
This is funny
http://news.aol.com/article/study-finds-mccain-voters-lost/729783
44 Bill of Wasilla Says:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:12 AM
“Did you see my mother back there on the Resurrection Trail?
She ought to be resurrected by now.”
———————————————
Did you see my mother-in-law back there on the Resurrection Trail?
Sure hope she’s not resurrected by now.
hehe