Willie's Wild Weed and Mushroom Tour

Willie Nelson's public statement regarding being caught with a bag of Marijuana earlier this week:

"It's a good thing I had a bag of Marijuana instead of a bag of spinach. I'd be dead by now."

Just 'Cause It's Cool

St. James' Infirmary

Yea, I'm addicted to the guy. I'd read that Saint James Infirmary was a staple in his shows, so I was a little disappointed not to hear him perform it when Doc Wu and I saw him recently. Damn, the guy can play a mean sax.

http://tinyurl.com/lyvhh

Pay No Attention to That Useless Crap Floating Around Out There

HOUSTON - Shuttle astronauts spotted three more pieces of debris floating in space outside Atlantis early Wednesday, but officials said it didn't seem their appearance would prevent a landing attempt Thursday.
The objects were sighted during stepped-up inspections a day after the discovery of two other mysterious objects forced a postponement of the planned Wednesday landing.
NASA downplayed the discovery of Wednesday's objects, saying the important question was whether an in-depth inspection of the shuttle showed no damage to Atlantis' heat shield. An initial examination had turned up nothing of concern, NASA officials said.
"It's not uncommon to see little bits of pieces of things floating by," said flight director Paul Dye."

Holy hell, Major Tom! We put everything back together...well, except for that useless crap floating around outside of the window, and we're not really sure what the hell that stuff did anyway. Thumbs up!

The Pope as Rabble Rouser

Vatican tries to calm Pope row

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined a chorus of Muslim criticism of the head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, calling the Pope's remarks "the latest chain of the crusade against Islam started by America's (George W.) Bush."

The Pontiff said on Sunday he was deeply sorry Muslims had
been offended by his use of a medieval quotation on Islam and holy war. But he stopped short of retracting a speech seen as portraying Islam as a religion tainted by violence.

While some Muslims were mollified by his explanation for the speech made in Germany last Tuesday, others remained
furious. "We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a Web statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's
branch of al Qaeda. "We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement, posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda
and other militant groups.

In Iraq's southern city of Basra, up to 150 demonstrators chanted slogans and burned a white effigy of the Pope. "No to aggression!," "We gagged the Pope!," they chanted in front of the governor's office in the Shi'ite city.

The Pope referred to criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Isn't it interesting that the Pope did NOT say "I take it back" when he recounted long-ago observations that Islam is spread through the sharp edge of a sword. And isn't it interesting that Muslim protestors burning effigies of the Pope are shouting, "No to aggression!" Indeed.

I increasingly get that uneasy feeling that this is going to end up in a bloody contest of who has the bigger sword on a global scale, and fence-sitting isn't going to be an option.

I read a review of THE HOLY VOTE: The Politics of Faith in America, By Ray Suarez in the Washington Post this weekend. The author, claims the reviewer, "identifies himself as a deeply religious person [who] is offended by the Christian right's efforts to identify their country with their faith, and he has no problem saying so. The result is a powerful reaffirmation of America's greatest contribution to human liberty: the separation of church and state." In my mind, most countries in the Middle East illustrate what happens when faith and law become one and the same.

NPR's All Songs Considered

In the mornings, as our vanpool is crawling up I-95 towards Washington, I frequently get frustrated with commercial radio choices -- how many times can a person be expected to listen to the same classic rock songs or the same 25 soft-jazz tunes? So, I'll tune to National Public Radio and snicker as the 13 other folks in my van are gradually lulled to sleep. In addition to the lack of screaming DJs and car commercials, they offer interesting stories and fair (in my opinion) news. Sometimes in the morning we'll also hear a short biography of a musical band with some musical clips.

Since I'm a music fiend, and still (6 years later) piss and moan about CNET buying out MP3.com and ruining my free downloads across all genres, I love to find new places I can "snatch" music. I've discovered how to use audio capture software (Audacity) to record any website's audio stream into my computer and then save it as an mp3 file for my I-Pod or work computer.

Which brings me around to NPR's All Songs Considered. How many of you can say you've heard 70-year old Jerry Lee Lewis pair up with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page? They cover a lot of ground, all genres (country to modern experimental -- which by the way I really do NOT get usually), and cross generations. Lots of good stuff to listen to...check out the "Archives" and listen to the Allman Brothers playing, "Old Friend".