the flowers that is. just saw a whole pack of flowers deburrowing themselves from winter's cold grasp. Very exciting. Is spring really here? Sure hope so. I am ready to toss my melancholy aside for abounding hope and joy. I wanna ride and ride and ride. For hours. Languishing in the sun. I tried to languish a but today and then it started raining. Hard to languish when you're wet. But, the door is open. The out is flowing in. Reviving the spirit and giving me back some moisture too. Please stay away winter, we've had enough time to play.

Today the US vetoed a United Nations Secuity Counsil resolution condemning the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin . With three abstentions and eleven members voting in favor of the resolution, America once again stood in the way of international accord over Israel's "security" decisions. I just hope that the current administration takes note that we have given the go-ahead for premeditated strikes against foreign leaders. I am sure that terrorists around the world have also taken note.

it hurts my eyes...

i commiserate (2 m 1 s, or 1 m 2s?) with lilho. I have a stupid sinus thing now too. For like a week and half now. It's disgusting. Who knew I could produce a gallon of assorted sputum per day? I think this is the first time for me having one (though my memory is admittedly less than keen in regards to these sorts of details). Empathy abounds. Please take and share.

sidenote: quote from war secretary John Calhoun to president Monroe around 1819, speaking to the Cherokee delegation: "You see the Great Spirit has made our form of society stronger than yours, and you must submit to adopt ours if you wish to be happy by pleasing him." So, haters of GW should realize that he is nothing new, we've been this way all along. Let's all just get with the program, eh?

Once again Israel has used missiles to kill in broad daylight. Yesterday they assassinated Sheik Yassin, leader of the militant Palestinian separatist group Hamas. There are a couple points worth mentioning. Frist off, assassination is a dangerous game to play. It sets a precedent that killing is okay on the battlefield or off, and yes the terrorists make no such discriminations, but is it a good idea for a modern army to sink to these levels? As Robert Fisk points out (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=5191), maybe George and Tony have nothing to worry about, but what of all our envoys and ambassadors, has Israel made them potential targets? Second, there is the imagery. A frail old man in a wheelchair is blasted out of existence by Israeli missiles fired from a warplane. To use Steve Weissman's words (http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/032404A.shtml) the David is slain by the massive Goliath. And image matters. Like those against the Iraq war keep saying, the more you kill civilians, the more anger there is, and anger breeds terror. It is also worth noting that Yassin was the spiritual leader of Hamas, he is a Muslim cleric, and his killing will reverberate not just through Hamas members, but through a wide swathe of Muslems in general. Obviously the point is that if you use terrorist methods for your own goals you are only going to escalate the violence, create new terrorist troops, and find no support in the international community (US excluded, of course).

trisha got a new hat
trisha got a new hat
oh come angel band
come and around me stand
trisha got a new hat
trisha got a new hat
oh bear me around on your slowly rings
to my immortal home

I am making yet another hat. The first holly graciously took. I am quite sure she will never be seen in public in it. Yeah, that bad. Well the second was much better. It was cream and scarlet and is now atop trisha's beautious kopf. One of her friends actually liked it so much he asked me to make him one. I should start a business. Unfortuantely I hate capitalism and so will just make it for free. Where is my money-mind? I am making a hat now, and depending on how much I like it, it will become mine or his. Holly deserves a respectable hat sometime too. Though I fear if I make her a nice one she will really never wear the other one. It is colored like a bumblebee. It is however gigantic, perhaps suitable for someone with dreadlocks.

sidenote: Sofar two people have died from watching Christ die. Yes, the profit, Mel Gibson, apparently has the power to strike people dead. The Passion (of the Christ) just gave a Brazilian pastor a heart attack , but the killing was not only levied against third world countries. A Witchitawan (KS) also was poleaxed into heaven by the "climactic crucifixtion scene." I guess they are technically martyrs now and are guaranteed a seat at the right hand of god and so on. Maybe I'll take paul's suggestion and render a scene of Christ's last moments upon the cross with crochet (maybe I'll martyr a few buggers too). Halleluja!

sidenote(squared): so we learn that the final frog is yet alive. There were three who we were convinced were reduced to two as we hadn't seen more than that at once. Today I come home to all three frolicking frogs. They are little water frogs in a tank with the massive queen angel and her two sentry rainbow fish. The pleckos lie in squallor at the bottom, living off the refuse of the court. The newly arrived frogs simply alight on what they will: a stony outcrop, outthrust leaf, plecko's head, whatever. I think they are more flight or fright. They have two responses to new events: swim rapidly away or freeze stiff in apprehension. They will, in midstroke, become absolutely still and float in any random position for minutes at a time. I suppose that, much like dears, in their natural habitat there are large predators whose hunting is motion oriented. So I refine the langauge: fight/flight/fright. So many ights, isn't it wonderful?