Whereas some think that the Papaya Dance on Good Morning America turned politician and former Vice Mayor of City of Makati Edu Manzano into a star, others believe that the Apocalypse is finally upon us ....but I know here is a guy just likes good but very strange dance songs.... it is no surprise to me that this originated in the Philippines where even prisoners like to dance . After watching these, maybe you will begin to think the end is not so far off too, but if that's the case, at least you can dance your way into it. A little humor from our own Ambassador Kristie Kenney in the world of the weird and wonderful ....

You might recall, that over at Delaware Liberal I was asking for the reincarnation of Thomas Jefferson. Well, in that vein, this is what the world of anime thinks of our presidential race with a special h/t to the dark lord Dick Cheney and his minions. This is one intense moment of Zen....

The heart is the loneliest desert and cities lights, coursing veins in the cold air and such a soul lost in itself.... a city street dimly lights the person you are.... Weary of everlasting, sometimes aimless work, and then strengthened, healed, comforted when it stops being cold....

h/t to Stuff Asian People Like for this: http://www.asian-central.com/stuffasianpeoplelike/2008/03/05/25-staring-at-people/

For all of you celebrating Easter today, have a happy Easter! I only have one question this morning....How could I know that my neighbor's dog would take "the Easter egg hunt" to a whole new and dangerous level? This has intensified the conflict between me and my neighbor's dog to a critical level faster than Hamas shooting rockets into the Southern Israel. I needed to make some "painful concessions" to end the conflict. We needed a seasoned negotiator to help the end the conflict.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080323/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney . Thankfully we got it done by Easter morning. Still, I'll never go to an " Easter egg hunt" again. Wouldn't it figure that just when I needed "homeland security" (if you know what I mean) they were not around....

"Even if they should smash statues and burn scriptures, it would be wrong of me to carry anger in my heart or offense in my head, as the Buddha suffered through innumerable hardships, so too must I bear patiently these things, heat and wind, cold and rain, ignorant people and anger of others. All things arise a result of conditions, I did not condition them, but I will cherish all living beings within them." --Buddhist Prayer, translated from Pali Thailand plans to censor you and your site if you offend the Buddha. This raises a number of troubling questions about the use of the Internet to control how information is used, about the dynamics of our first amendment rights online and our willingness to defend them. Of course most Americans do not want to cause any offense to anyone, but often do so through sheer ignorance of the historical conditions people are sensitive to; sometimes people do so willingly, but for many Americans tolerance is an ideal as enshrined as it is for...

h/t to Jesus' General for showing me how insane parts of "Team McCain' really are @ http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2008/03/meet-team-mccain.html Proving once again that it is all fun and games until the owner of the Washington Times crashes the party.

....Or do we. A friend of mine reminded me that playing a prostitute on TV or in the movies is very different from actually having to live through that life. In a movie an actress can feel sexy, sensual and beautiful and does not feel the same terrible sadness and often horror that many women who are hookers do feel. If you capture that sense of desperation, and isolation you should win a Oscar. And if you are a hooker, a real one, you know exactly what I am talking about. You'd say, "maybe lose a few teeth or get a nice scar after an angry trucker gives you the monkey wrench love tango. Of course that will lower your price and you will no longer be able to claim the mantle, high priced." For anyone who has seriously studied the issue, within the context of prostitution, sex can be nothing more than violence. It is a sad reality. It is a sad reality that men subject women to this or that women agree to it in the first place. It often goes hand and hand with drug addiction...

Early morning and sunlight dances along the bay like a gentle friend. Little orange diamonds on the water. Fishermen all gone home after a long night have left tracks in the sand, and footprints peck the sand like ghost crab holes, sandpipers, terns. The air is still and quiet like times when clouds are gently falling, falling like leaves in autumn through cold air, falling to earth kissed by waves. Have a beautiful Sunday.

I love rivers. They are the most beautiful and interesting places I know of, from the Huang Pu or riding along a Khlong speedboat inside of Bangkok, to the Jelab in India or the Ganges at Varanasi. Rivers are time in motion, they never stop moving or changing; not even for a second, but they capture the life of a land and its people. Rivers always take you where you need to go, as long as you go by boat. This is the Huang Pu River in Shanghai. It flows on its own surrounded by a highly developed and sophisticated city where you can buy anything you want. This nice overview picture is from a postcard but captures the commercial activity surrounding the river and the Shanghai needle in the background. Here is the Mae Nam Chao Phraya River in Bangkok which is life blood of the city, it is along the docks near Wat Sulthawat and not far from Wat Arun. Down the river from here is the popular tourist district. People use speed boats for transportation between Bangkok Noi and the main district...

.....this is about how I think the strong and responsible should care for the weak in the natural order of the universe. Though as a libertarian I do not advocate violence, or any type of fighting, I understand this is sometimes necessary to protect those without a protector from the cruel and vicious: This is your weekend watching to learn about the natural order. The Lesson: Get you act together and create a better tomorrow by teaching both tolerance and virtue. You do not need to be perfect to be good, but you have to have virtue to strive for what is good. If people see the people who break the rules in every field rewarded for their violations, how can you expect to maintain, "....Justice, insure Domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, Promote the general welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity....." or ever expect them to even try to be good? They will be too busy trying to make everything perfect and like a theater that ...