Handy site for chaning one's colours

HUmm the template puzzels me... I have the archiving set to the same as my other blog, and the template tags seem to be the saem, but alas... no archve is showing up in the right section (even though when I publish it shows them there...)

Oh well, I'll go back to work and think about it ;-)

Been SOOOO busy and scatered lately. Very emotional as well. Can't even keep up with everything I have to do much less what I WANT to do

Found a new section of woods today near my house. It is weird. I've discovered 2 new things in just the last month. Makes me think I need to go for a several hour hike so I can make it a bit farther and see what is in there deeper into the woods. This section is across the road from a neighbor�s house. I noticed there is an old driveway there so I stopped my bike and went in on foot. Looks like in the 30's or 40s there may have been a house in there. There is a 1930 car sitting in the middle of woods with trees growing in and around in and an early model 50s car in a similar state. I didn't have bug spray on so I didn't stay long to investigate, but I think I'll throw on something orange (it is hunting season after all) and some bug spray and better shoes and tramp around there. I found what I think must have been a rubble foundation... Could be interesting.

Librarians are a funny bunch!

So to conitue with my Library theme over the past week....


See what the favorite government reports of librarians are


This report comes out WEEKLY.....????

And a very nice letter to the editor which I HOPE gets published!


Dear Colleagues,

This is the letter to the editor I sent to the NY Times in response to
Ashcroft's attack on ALA and librarians. The full title of the Ashcroft
article in the NY Times was "Aschcroft Mocks Librarians and Others Who
Oppose Parts of Counterterrorism Law." What the NY Times printed in
today's edition was a letter from Congressman Bernie Sanders. The limit
of 150 words is a nasty constraint.

All the best,

mitch

To the editor:

In "Ashcroft Mocks Librarians..." (16 Sept 2003), the Attorney General
ignores what the American Library Association, concerned librarians, and
countless others have said about the USA PATRIOT Act. We decry the
PATRIOT Act's overriding of the Fourth Amendment guarantee of the
demonstration of "probable cause" that was established in 49 of 50
states as the legal basis for requiring libraries to disclose
confidential patron records. The PATRIOT Act simply asks the FBI to
claim relevance to an ongoing terrorist investigation in a secret
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court proceeding--no demonstration of
probable cause is required. We are not dupes of the ACLU, as alleged in
the article. We support the war against terrorism, but oppose
Ashcroft's trampling on constitutionally protected rights of America's
library users based on his all-too-recurrent and far-too-rarely, if
ever, justified claim that the PATRIOT Act's abuses are needed to catch
terrorists.


Maurice J. Freedman
Director, Westchester Library System

Here's the respons from the ALA

For Immediate Release
September 16, 2003


American Library Association responds to Attorney General
remarks on librarians and USA PATRIOT Act: A statement
by
ALA President Carla Hayden

(Chicago) The American Library Association (ALA) has worked
diligently for the past two years to increase awareness of a very
complicated law * the USA PATRIOT Act * that was pushed through
the legislative process at breakneck speed in the wake
of a national tragedy. Because the Department of Justice has
refused our requests for information about how many libraries have been
visited by law nforcement officials using these new powers, we have
focused on hat the law allows. The PATRIOT Act gives law
enforcement nprecedented powers of surveillance * including easy
access to library records with minimal judicial oversight.

Among the many changes in U.S. law and practice enabled by
the act is the federal government's ability to override the historical
protections of library reading records that exist in every state. States
created these confidentiality laws to protect the privacy and freedoms
Americans hold dear. These laws provide a clear framework for
responding to national security concerns while safeguarding against
random searches, fishing expeditions or invasions of privacy.

Librarians are committed to ensuring the highest quality library
service and protection of our patrons' records from random searches,
fishing expeditions or other inappropriate invasions of privacy. This
commitment is why we are among the most trusted members of our
communities, from Maine to California. We take great pains to be
educated about the federal and state laws that govern our ability to
serve our communities * which is why we're so concerned.

Over the past two years, Americans have been
told that only individuals directly involved in terrorism need be
concerned. This is not what the law says. The act lowers the legal standard to "simple
relevance" rather than the higher standard of "probable cause"
required by the Fourth Amendment.

In March 2003, the Justice Department said that libraries had
become a logical target of surveillance. Which assurance by Mark
Carallo are we to believe?

We also have been told that the law only affects non-U.S.
citizens. This is not what the law says. In fact, the act amended the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in such a way that U.S.
citizens may now be investigated under the loweredlegal standards
applied to foreign agents.

And now Attorney General John Ashcroft says the FBI has no
interest in Americans' reading records. While this may be true,
librarians have a history with law enforcement dating back to the
McCarthy era that gives us pause. For decades, and as late as the
1980s, the FBI's Library Awareness Program sought information on
the reading habits of people from "hostile foreign countries," as well
as U.S. citizens who held unpopular political views.

We are deeply concerned that the Attorney General should be
so openly contemptuous of those who seek to defend our
Constitution. Rather than ask the nations' librarians and Americans
nationwide to "just trust him," Ashcroft could allay concerns by
releasing aggregate information about the number of libraries visited
using the expanded powers created by the USA PATRIOT Act.

Or, better yet, federal elected officials could vote * as several
U.S. senators and representatives from across the political spectrum
have proposed * to restore the historical protection of library records.

Ashcroft Mocks Librarians and Others Who Oppose Parts of Counterterrorism Law

THIS makes me SOOOOOO mad

Is he HONESTLY suggesting that librarians (some of the most INTELLIGENT among us) can't weigh the facts and make their own decisions?

Really now Johnny that is TOO much

Boy does wine make me sleepy.... ;-)

OK!!! I FINALLY got the comments to work, so comment away (all of you who read this blog, which is TWO of you...) ;-)

Going apple picking today. Should be fun! I actually haven't been before, and HOW long have I lived in the apple picking capital of the world?

Must CLEAN after I get back, been quite slack lately and since hubby has to work then rest I won't have much company to do anything else, so it will be a good distraction

Need to plant my tulips, get the pool covered and fertilize the lawn too

Sometimes I really don't like weekends as they just remind you of all of the upkeep you have to do and don't get to on the weekdays *sigh* But on a positive note, the work does count for something right... makes the place you live just a bit nicer....

STRESS is a VERY bad thing!!! HUGS Teru!!!!

I can't believe they didn't leave you a note or something! That would totally stress me out!

I offer my cleaning services if you wish. I am VERY good at getting rid of stuff. The easiest way is to make big piles of like items, not even going through them as you find them (takes too much time) then going through each pile separatly (once the room is clear) and only bringing back into the room what you really want/need

Also, have you considered a slightly higher bed, that way you can get boxes for underneath your bed to store extra stuff ;-)

But sometimes cleaning is a thing one must do on their own, though with a beer and a buddy it could be fun ;-)

OK, I can't do it. I can't join Weight Watchers.... But I CAN support you Teru, so I will start my food blog as well and excersize and we can bitch to each other about food and diets and the general unfairness of our genes!!!

Hey Teru, Another one for your Parade Of Death.....

Hey Teru, I liked the sample template you sent!!!

It's raining today. I rather like rain, but it makes me terribly sleepy!

I was dreaming of riding horses all night. *sigh* I think it is because we watched the Two Towers. There were lots of beautiful horses in the movien (oh AND Orland Bloom!)

I found a secret playgound today. Secret and forgotten. I felt better this morning so I decided to go for a hike. My normal route through the woods to the lake and beyond was boraing me (and it was raining a bit) so I went down to the other lake in the opposite direction (the lake with the swimming hole beach) and decided to cut thought those woods home (which I had never been in before). I crested a hill and found at the top a clearing with a large slide, a huge swing set, a full sized basketball court and a longforgotten horse shoe pit. It was weird as the playground had spectacular views of the lake. I decided to try the swing set and found it to be quite pleasent to swing in the utter silence of an early holiday morning while looking out over the geese swimming in the lake.

I know people probably still use the playground, but it was so overgrown and lonely. It looked as if it was built and cared for when more people cared to be outside and playig with their kids. There is even an overgrown and paved parking lot near it which I had seen from the road, but it just looked like a medow since you can hardley see the old paving through the grass.

These kinds of places seem so lonely to me. They seem to yearn for love and touch. At least at the point they are now. Later (prhaps in 5 years) if they continue to decline, they become bitter and warry and reject love and touch rather then embrace it.

I've decided to vist this place as often as I can, so it will get used to me and remember me so that even when it becomes bitter perhaps it will still hold a gental place for me

I was sick all day Sunday. I knew I was getting ill on Saturday so I purposely did not eat before going to the movie which meant it was 7pm before I got home and had anything in my stomach. I had wanted to go to MassMOCA Sunday but I just felt too ill.

So I layed around and watched Easy Rider since it was the 100th anniversary of the Harley Davidson.

What a surreal movie! The acid scene in New Orleans was completely over the top. And Karen Black was in it, which I didn't know before we started watching it. She was perfect in House of 1000 Corpses!

I always get her mixed up with Jennifer Coolidge. I am not 100 percent convinced they are not the same person....

I went to Blood Brothers with Teru and Naz on Saturday. What a good film. You can certainly see many notes of later movies that pay respect to this one!

Blood Brothers by Zhang Che (Ci Ma, 1973, 118 min.). New 35 mm print. This widescreen epic of love, loyalty, and betrayal is based on actual events that have become legend, spawning several film versions. Zhang�s retelling finds David Jiang and newcomer Chen Guandai as bandit brothers who befriend young general Di Long after trying to rob him. The stage is set for tragedy when Di Long falls for Chen�s neglected wife. With three protagonists, Zhang fully indulges his passion for sadomasochistic displays of the male body under duress. This threesome, whose devotion eventually turns into jealousy, treachery, and revenge, prefigures John Woo�s Bullet in the Head. Indeed, Woo was assistant director on Blood Brothers.