Wednesday, February 25, 2009

/The Monster's Prayer/Meg Whitman/Don Wentworth/

(P1) Philosophical


The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is an invented deity designed as a satirical protest to the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution...And, according to the Pastafarian belief system, pirates are “absolute divine beings” and the original Pastafarians. (Wikipedia)

artwork by Vincent



The Monster’s Prayer

by Ed Coletti

Our Flying Spaghetti Monster
who lives in a huge uncovered pot,
“Pirate” be thy name.
Thy ship will come,
“Aargh!” will be rung
in Somalia where it is heading.
Give us right now a bit of your sauce
for enduring our idiocies
as we endure yours.
And don’t let us eat too many meatballs
by tempting with fragrance of basil and garlic
but save us from buccaneers just like yourself
before we finally walk the long plank.
For thine are the pirate ships,
and the loot or the booty
now or forever — whatever.
Amen.

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(P3) Political

25 Random Things About Me: Meg Whitman

by Chris Kelly at Huffington Post

1) I'm running for governor of California.

2) I have a billion dollars.

3) I'm 58 years old. I've been a proud member of the Republican Party for two years.

4) My campaign website is called Megwhitman.com. Its background is the color of money.

5) I have an MBA from Harvard, just like George W. Bush. What could go wrong?

6) I'm running for governor because I strongly believe that California should be friendlier to business and, uh, I guess that's about it.

7) Did I mention the billion dollars?

8) People say I use too much business jargon when I frame strategy fundamentals trend paradigm.

9) I have two beautiful sons and their names are Prioritize and Skill Set.

10) Last week, the LA Times asked me my position on school vouchers and my answer was "I don't know how to answer that question."

11) Last week, the LA Times asked me if schools should report the children of illegal immigrants. My answer was "I want to think about that a little bit."

12) Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle asked me my position on offshore drilling and my answer was "That is an issue I would like to study further."

13) Wait, someone just handed me a card. I do have a position on an issue besides statewide business-friendliness. I also want to cut taxes and spend more money on education.

14) Which won't be easy, since 55% of the state general fund budget is spent on education.

15) I've just been handed another card.

16) "This is an issue I would like to study further."

17) I believe gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt children.

18) I supported Proposition 8 because I don't believe gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry.

19) And I think their bastard children deserve a wonderful education that I'll pay for by cutting taxes.

20) On second thought, this is an issue that I would like to study further.

21) When the San Francisco Chronicle asked me about my plans to reduce the size of government I said, "I can't be that specific on it."

22) I believe we "have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of the environment" but I don't believe we should be raising emissions standards on automobiles or "doing things that damage the car companies."

23) The American Lung Association rates Los Angeles the worst city in America for year-round particle pollution. 3rd worst is Bakersfield. 5th worst is Visalia. 8th is Fresno. 9th is Hanford.

24) A few years ago, when I was running eBay, I was asked about our expansion into China:

Q: Can you give us your thoughts on doing business in China given the civil rights issues there?

A: We do not have the issue that many of the portals have doing business in China because in China, we are not serving news, we're not serving really anything that has to do with commentary.

My position on civil rights in China isn't even "I'd like to study it further." It's "Who gives a shit."

25) California's unemployment rate is 9.3%. There's gotta be someone else who wants this job.

from Chris Kelly at Huffington Post 2-16-09

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(P3) Poetical

Something in the slight spring
of the branch
as the bird
alights —


Donald Wentworth

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Friday, February 13, 2009

Quetzalcoatl/Michael Phelps Ain't Alone/Flying Spaghetti Monster

(P1) Poetical

Quetzalcoatl by Ed Coletti
(watercolor and archival ink - February 2009)















Reading to the River


by Ed Coletti


You used to read your poems to the river.

You’d written her name as Flower

but pronounced it Flō-er

as though her naming assertively moved her.

Not the diminutive Flo of a woman named Florence

nor il Fiume Arno running through Firenze

font of so much art, home of Dante

who I like to think often spent

his moments reading to the river.

And you did so frequently beginning,

“My dear Flo always flowing,

reminding me, as Al Young writes,

that all of time is fake at least

where the river flowing is concerned,

and Amy urged we pound the piano

like it’s our last song or our first.

“Fleeting river fleeing me

No one stops the river

ever leaving — only leaping into

being river

or more simply

reading to the river

ever merges lover into loving

words into water

moving.”



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(P2) Political

Michael Phelps In Amazing Company
Keith Thomson

by Keith Thompson, reporter and author at Huffington Post 2-5-09


Packaged goods giant Kellogg announced today that it would not renew its sponsorship contract with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps as consequence of his being photographed smoking marijuana. It's a strong statement by the company, particularly in historical context: According to an October 2002 Time/CNN poll, 47% of Americans have smoked marijuana. And users and advocates of the plant reportedly* have included the following, several of whom are admired by Kellogg's customers:

Louisa May Alcott
Jennifer Aniston
Bing Crosby
Laura Bush
The Beatles
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Johnny Carson
President Bill Clinton
Johnny Depp
Harrison Ford
Bill Gates
President Andrew Jackson
President Thomas Jefferson**
Steve Jobs
President John Kennedy
Stephen King
Ann Landers
President James Madison
Madonna
John Stuart Mill
President James Monroe
Mozart
Friedrich Nietzsche
Peggy Noonan
President Barack Obama
Sarah Palin
Governor George Pataki
Pablo Picasso
President Franklin Pierce
Brad Pitt
Oliver Sacks
Arnold Schwarzenegger
William Shakespeare
Barbra Streisand
George Soros
President Zachary Taylor
Queen Victoria
President George Washington
John Wayne

...and, according to an anonymous source, at least one other star athlete.


*sources/citations in hyperlinks; **As the links note, there is debate as to the precise nature of the early presidents' usage

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Flying Spaghetti Monster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is an invented deity designed as a satirical protest to the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. The FSM is the deity of the parody religion[1][2] The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster,[3]

founded in 2005 by BobbyHenderson. Since the intelligent design movement used ambiguous references to an unspecified 'Intelligent Designer' to avoid court rulings prohibiting the teaching of creationism as a science, this presumably left open the possibility that any imaginable thing could fill that role.

In an open letter sent to the education board, Henderson parodies the concept of intelligent design by professing belief in a supernatural creator, which closely resembles spaghetti and meatballs.[4] He furthermore calls for the "Pastafarian" theory of creation to be taught in science classrooms.[5]

Due to its recent popularity and media exposure, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is often used by atheists, agnostics (known by Pastafarians as "spagnostics"), and others as a modern version of Russell's teapot[6] and the Invisible Pink Unicorn.


Origins

The first public exposure of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (CoFSM) can be dated to January 2005, when Bobby Henderson, describing himself as a concerned citizen, sent an open letter regarding the FSM to the Kansas State Board of Education. The letter was sent prior to the Kansas evolution hearings as an argument against the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes. Intelligent design was thought of as a way to teach creationism in the public school system without mentioning the word "God". Henderson stated that both his theory and intelligent design had equal validity; saying

"I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."[4]

Henderson explained, "I don't have a problem with religion. What I have a problem with is religion posing as science. If there is a god and he's intelligent, then I would guess he has a sense of humor."[7]

The Board only responded after Henderson posted the letter on his website, gaining significant public interest.[8] Henderson subsequently published the responses[9] he received from Board members.

The central belief is that there is an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster, who created the entire universe "after drinking heavily."[14] The Monster's intoxication was supposedly the cause for a flawed Earth. All "evidence" for evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, in an effort to test Pastafarians' faith — a form of the Omphalos hypothesis. When scientific measurements, such as radiocarbon dating, are made, the Flying Spaghetti Monster "is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage."[4]




Tuesday, February 03, 2009

2 By Centa/Pathfinders/Put These Others on the Hook/ Cool Place in Brooklyn/

(P1) Poetical

Centa Theresa
's "Bronze Flower" (pastels, oils on paper, 16" x 24") & her "Domestic Flight" (pastel, chine colle -sold-)

http://www.centatheresa.com/
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(P2) Political


Two Pathfinders and Another Bunch to Not Be Let Off the Hook!




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(P3) Philosophical

C00L Spot in Brooklyn




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