My brother sent me a link to this car today from Teamblink.
The turbo 20v makes 270hp at 17psi.
It’s on 15×8 zero offset with 195/50/15.

THANK YOU!!!

Last night, I put out a plea for Americans like you to email and call the four ‘moderate’ Senators most likely to affect the voting on the health care bill being forced on Saturday night, 11/21, by Dingy Harry Reid. Senators EVAN BAYH, MARY LANDRIEU, BILL NELSON and BLANCHE LINCOLN.

I’d like to thank ERIC ODOM for linking us to his many readers. I’d also like to thank the editor that drives this machine, Dee, who had to sort through the two thousand or so responses that came in to our appeal. Additionally, thousands more must have gone out that did not, or could not, take time to comment. To say that we were surprised, thankful and gratified would be an understatement. AMERICA is alive and well…God bless you all and KEEP UP THE HEAT!!

At this writing, it appears that Bill Nelson may be feeling bullet proof enough to vote in favor of the unhealthy America bill. Either that, or they have promised him the world to get him to betray his constituents and his country. Likewise, Mary Landrieu has been offered a 100 MILLION dollar pork sandwich. In her typically opportunistic and weather vane fashion, she may be unable…scratch that…unwilling to forego bestowing this largesse that belongs to OTHER Americans in her state, which already had BILLIONS of Federal dollars pumped into it, apparently accomplishing very little, other than greasing skids for bureaucrats and politicians. It’s business as usual in Louisiana.

It’s just possible that these Senators have been promised some cushy  assignment in a ‘future’ Obama administration, or perhaps a lush job with a ‘K’ Street lobbying firm should an aroused electorate bounce their useless carcasses out of there. DON’T put anything past this bunch. It should be readily apparent that they no longer serve the interests of the United States of America, its Constitution or its people. They are on a purely Marxist ideological drive to fundamentally change America into something which AMERICANS don’t want, and which in point of fact is DIAMETRICALLY opposed to the will of the people.

I’ve known for a long time that Americans were outraged and getting more steamed by the minute…but after reading some of your comments…if I were one of those Senators, I’d be damned uncomfortable.

DON’T STOP NOW!! I hate to keep picking on him, but Mark Levin has asked his radio listeners to call, email and write these four and all members of the Senate as well. He has a huge audience. We shut down their phones today as their message boxes are full. Keep calling, emailing and writing those letters. Be courteous but be firm…it’s ok to tell them off but do it in a civil manner. Don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s not having an effect because it IS! A lot of these politicians are looking over their shoulders to see when the pitchfork mob will show up on the horizon…and DESERVEDLY SO.

Don’t listen to some of the supposed ‘conservative’ turncoats in the lame stream media, they are just somebody’s lapdog anyway, and chances are I’VE got a larger readership than most of those clowns.
Keep the kettle boiling under these jokers…America for Americans now! This is our country and it’s damned sure worth fighting for!

Once again, the four Senators are:
Evan Bayh, Indiana
202-224-5623
Mary Landrieu, Louisiana
202-224-5623
Bill Nelson, Florida
202-224-5274
Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas
202-224-4843

Just because we have shut down their Senate office phones, don’t stop there. Go online and get the phone numbers for their district offices and continue to let them know what you think. For instance, Dianne Feinstein has her Washville message center shut down…BUT you can still get through to her San Francisco offices. Let them know how you feel.

God bless you and God bless America.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

Washington, DC – The National Iranian American Council applauds the Senate’s passage yesterday of S.Res.355, which condemned Iran’s deplorable human rights record, urged the restoration of meaningful human rights to all of Iran’s citizens, and called for an immediate release of those wrongfully imprisoned in violation of their rights.

NIAC President Trita Parsi called the resolution “a step forward” in bringing greater worldwide attention to Iran’s human rights abuses against innocent civilians.  “US policymakers have to bring a greater focus to the human rights problems in Iran; a strategy that focuses only on Iran’s nuclear program and ignores the suffering of the Iranian people will not be successful” Parsi said.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) addressed the Senate chamber yesterday about Iran’s human rights abuses, saying “recent events have made abundantly clear that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is failing, and failing badly, to live up to its own professed ideals and its international commitments to protect the human rights of its citizens and others.”  He, alongside Senators McCain (R-AZ), Casey (D-PA), Graham (R-SC), Nelson (R-NE), Corker (R-TN), and Lieberman (I-CT), submitted the resolution earlier this week and secured its passage in only two days.

Speaking of the resolution, Senator Levin, who chairs the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, said “It is proper and appropriate for the Senate to make clear its determination that these acts violate international human rights standards, Iran’s own professed commitments, and common decency.”

A similar but unrelated resolution supporting the Iranian people’s struggle for rights is pending in the House of Representatives, introduced last week by Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) with Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA).  So far, Representatives Wolf (R-VA), Shuler (D-NC), and Manzullo (R-IL) have signed on to that effort.

MediaMatters Goes For The TWOFER

Imus And Levin Exposed Criticising Obama…

FBN Imus: Obama Seems Enamored of Himself : CLICK|HERE.

Levin on FBN’s Imus: “egomaniac” Obama went to China because he’s “visiting all the regimes that he admires” MediaMatters for America CLICK|HERE

Actually Levin described President Obama as an “incompetent idealogue and an egomaniac”.  Perhaps MediaMatters skipped over “incompetent idealougue”  for fear the Leftists would agree with Levin, precipitating a range war!

Here we go again. Obama and his cohorts in the Senate are hell bent on accomplishing the destruction of our civil society before the 2010 elections and are attacking us through the judicial appointments route.

Knowing full well that the cat is out of the bag, several cats as a matter of fact, on the true nature of the DeMarxist socialist agenda for America. Knowing that they face an increasingly uphill road to continue to buffalo the American people into believing the lies and obfuscations they’ve been delivering and having to face a hostile electorate.

Democrats, watching support for them and their agenda melting away in the polls, having  to face the  possibility that they face a real waxing in the 2010 elections and possibly beyond, are reverting to their most favored  tactic, which is to suborn the election process and the will of the people  through the judiciary. Nothing new there. Super kudos to Mark Levin for being all over this thing today, while everyone else seems oblivious to the real dangers this issue holds.

Judicial activism is nothing new to our federal courts. Neither is it new to the Democratic party. Franklin Roosevelt, with the  “Judiciary Reorganization Plan” of 1937, also known as the ‘court packing plan’, kicked the whole thing off. He was responsible for the appointment of no less than eight members of the Supreme Court during his twelve years in office…replacing justices hostile to his socialist agenda with those more friendly to his ‘New Deal’ policies.

Enter Patrick ‘Leaky’ Leahy, the man who couldn’t keep a classified secret to save his life, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. How the HELL do we allow such men and women into positions of power and influence? Leahy is moving forward legislation to increase federal judgeships AGAIN, after having tried it WITH some Republican co-sponsors last year. He is asking for 12 new judgeships in six courts of appeal and 51 judgeships in 25 district courts. He has 17 Democrat co-sponsors and no Republicans on this one.

The implications for the people’s voice to stand, if Obama and his Marxists are able to stack the courts with Maoist ACLU types, are grim. Yet we keep seeing where certain RINO moderate Republicans would make an accommodation with their Democratic counterparts, at the expense of the constituency they purportedly serve.

We have to put the word out NOW that any Republican who supports any of  these appointments, or who fails to fight every one of these appointments, may as well start packing now. This is an area we cannot afford to lose. We have to fight these people at every turn. There can be NO accommodation. There can be NO deal making.
There can be NO more RINO Republican turncoats.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

Cressidas and Levins and Sprinters and Skylines, oh my! I was just clearing out some images on my Mac and transferring them to one of my terabyte drives when I stumbled upon these images I shot at the Japanese Classic Car Show last month. Before I transfer them to the HD archive and forget all about them for another year or so, I thought I’d just share some more pics of these awesome Japanese nostalgic cars! Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

de dimineaţă, în maşină, ascultând glumele voit şi asumat misogine făcute de Dobro & Co la radio Guerilla mi-am amintit de replica unui personaj din spectacolul Krum, văzut de curând în FNT:

“ăştia-s bărbaţii care ne-au fost atribuiţi, altii nu-s …”

“pfaleooo!” – mi-am zis uitându-ma îngrozită în jur, îngrozită bineînţeles de sumbrul subinţeles a unei asemenea replici. Speram ca chipurile închise în celelalte maşini din trafic – ca nişte cepe puse la murat în borcane uriaşe – sa-mi risipească – precum risipeşte un vânticel cald de toamna frunzele de pe trotuar – sa-mi risipească deci temerile vezi Doamne absurde şi exagerate.

O frână brusca mi-a întrerupt filozofelile matinale şi cheful de consideraţii cinico-socialo-înţelepţoaso-lăptoase.  O maşină mi-a ieşit obraznic şi intempestiv în fata, iar după ce am reuşit s-o evit, nu fără emoţii, am gonit niţel – dovedindu-mi of course şi calităţile de Mica Schumi a Lumii – şi la primul stop am reuşit sa văd cine se ţinea cu asa îndârjire de volan. Oh, prima data am văzut fălcile care mestecau voluminos şi greoi ceva, antrenând în aceasta acţiune cam un sfert din muşchii valizi ai corpului. Apoi ochii ieşiţi din orbite, capul ca un dovleac noduros şi neregulat, fata ciupita, tumefiata şi colorata în mod ciudat şi mâinile, ah mâinile acelea umflate, spărgând  mânecile hainei, prea strâmte prea înguste, prea mici, cu inele înţepenite pe degete, ajunse aproape pana la os prin osânza îngroşată şi parca puţind a colesterol, din ala rău nu din ala bun … chipul acela parca aşteptând sa plesnească dintr-o clipa în alta s-a întors încet înspre mine şi, dacă se mai putea şi mai mult şi-a holbat ochii într-o încercare nereuşită de mimica iritata: “Shiee vreeei, ng-ng?”.

Noroc cu un alt claxon – daaa, bazaţi-va pe claxoane, ele sunt salvarea atunci când monştri neidentificaţi îţi răsar în fata în trafic şi tind sa te hipnotizeze primejdios şi pe termen nedeterminat – un claxon m-a trezit din coşmar şi am reuşit sa fac stânga, în timp ce posesorul claxonului trecea foarte tulburat şi agitat (ce-o fi păţit sireacu’? Of of of …) pe lângă mine, fluturând din vreo 5 mâini, în timp ce vorbea la 3 telefoane şi se scobea în nas.

bărbaţii ce ne-au fost atribuiţi, ah, ăştia-as bărbaţii ce ne-au fost atribuiţi … ah, nu, nu, NU!!! e o greşeală, nu pot sa cred.

Healthcare reform debate matures tea party movement

November 7, 2009—Washington, D.C.
At 11:07 PM EST Saturday night, the highly debated and emotionally charged HR 3962 Omnibus Health Care Reform Act passed the House along party lines 220 to 215. Republican Party Chairman, Michael Steele, told Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, “Listen to those Democrats applauding their way right out of office next year.”

The late night vote follows days of protests outside the nation’s Capital by protestors of the estimated 1.2 trillion dollar health care reform bill and a slew of rallies, town hall meetings, and bus rides by Americans fearing that the Omnibus bill is actually a move toward socialism and loss of freedom overall. A call by Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Sean Hannity’s television show drew tens of thousands to Washington and to the steps of the Capital within six days.

Rep. Michele Bachmann

Donegan is legally blind and wanted to join those departing for the Capital to rally behind Bachmann’s call to protest the bill:

Brian Donegan (in red strip shirt) of Can-do Conservatives raises cane during DC rally.

Dozens of Congress members joined their colleague from Wisconsin on the platform while key note speakers energized an already emotionally charged crowd.

Actor turned activist John Voight

A 78 year old priest was carried from the doorway of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office days ago in protest of believed provisions concerning abortion. Father Norman Weslin and 11 other pro-lifers were arrested at Nancy Pelosi’s office at #235 Cannon office building. The YouTube video was posted by pro life activist Randall Terry who is no stranger to civil protest and disobedience leading to arrests. However, today the majority of those lining the Canon building hallway were making a House call on the Speaker and other members of Congress to protest a perceived overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

To complicate matters, supporters of the health care reform bill, some dressed in medical garb, chanted “Health care for all!” to which opponents countered, “Kill the Bill!” The back and forth chanting continued sporadically while most stood quietly in lines to the doorway–others wandered in and out of Pelosi’s office ripping strips of papers from a copy of the healthcare bill—the idea suggested at the rally. Capital Police scurried back and forth talking to one another trying to calm the growing chants as well as they monitored activities. Several were escorted away by Capital Police while others stood along the walls waiting to enter Pelosi’s office, cameras in hand while media rolling tape. Soon the hallway was cleared.

Outside other protesters waited for Congress members leaving the Capital building in route to their offices across the street. Texas Representative, Ron Paul said, “This is great!” as he engaged with handshakes and picture taking opportunities by those congregated. When (D-CA) Maxine Waters exited the Capital the reception was far less friendly. One woman lunged at her screaming her disgust with the legislation and shouting questions about her support of the bill. Her physical behavior toward the Congresswoman drew the attention of Capital Police.

That’s when another said, “Leave her alone” in an attempt to ward off a possible arrest and subsequent headline in the news labeling all the activists as angry, militant right wingers. Another lady misinterpreted the well intended intervention and began taping what was said. She said later she thought the person worked for Waters and apologized for being confrontational.

Outside the Cannon building, (D-NY) Scott Murphy ventured into the crowd for more than an hour listening to others scream, talk, and watch him move through the crowd. Again, a handful of protesters shook fingers toward him, yelled and interrupted his comments. In reality Murphy’s smirks didn’t help to quiet their emotions or concerns about his expected yes vote on the healthcare bill.

Tea Parties--more than just about healthcare

Just before midnight Murphy voted along party lines adding his vote to the slim margin of passage in favor of HR 3962 bill. For the Democrats and President Barack Obama its passage is a victory. For those who sacrificed to actively voice their opposition it is also a victory–Americans are speaking out holding elected officials accountable in a big way. The passage of HR3962 by the House does not end the continuing saga of controlling costs and providing healthcare for Americans. The Senate still has to give its approval. So Tea Party activists will have plenty more opportunities to visit the Capital as Congress continues to confront other polarizing issues such as energy, immigration, and the failing economy riddled by devastating job losses.

I know this is old but it’s always going to be a classic. This is what made Hibino stand out. Unseen in D1, Jumping Drift! His aggressive driving style has translated into his attitude, by pretending to be bad-ass in front of camera. A true legend!

It’s amazing how the level of drifting has increased so much over the years, now-a-days you can pretty much
discard your run if you haven’t initiated before Minami’s straight.

For more Jumping Drift check out this JDM Allstar video at Wembley:

Thank God for Obama. Yup i said it thank God for Obama. This man and his Marxist agenda has fired up the Conservative base of the Republican party. I think this was the best thing that can happen to us. The Republican representatives and Congress got complacent and started spending like no tomorrow.  The people are beginning to gain momentum and intensity. I would like to thank Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Hannity and Rush for getting our voice heard.

I would like tho thank all of you patriots who attended the rally on the steps of the Capital Hill. For every one of you there were 2 more who wanted to be there. My heart swells with proud and happiness seeing the American people from all walks of life and ethnicity gathered together for the cause of liberty and freedom. You guys made a statement louder than a 1000 thunderstorms. The one thing these representatives fear seeing are their constituents. Remember they work for us not the other way around. We have to hold their feet to the fire and let them know if they vote for this nonsense we will kick their butts out of office.

I truly love this country. I am proud to be an American. This is the land of opportunity, freedom, self-expression. We are the Paul Reveres of the movement. I am a subscriber to the “America love it leave it.” belief. I get goosebumps and a lump in my throat when i hear the National Anthem or see old glory flying high. All of us are fighting the fight that the founding fathers did. Waging war on a government who practices soft tyranny. Not violently but peacefully practicing our first amendment right. We fight for the values and principles set forth by our founders. Our country was based on self-responsibility, freedom and liberty. We fight against Marxism, Socialism, Leninism. History has taught us that these type of dictatorship practised by tyrants led to millions of lives being lost, millions of people tortured, raped, starved and killed by gas chambers. Our voices are being heard even if the president is trying to ignore us. We will be heard!!! Everyone keep up the good work, fight the good fight and we will come out on top. Again thanks Obama we appreciate that. That’s the truth as i see it.

The American Medical Association supports only its own political agenda and not its member doctors, according to some physicians. Many will not even join this once prestigious organization, citing concerns that it no longer reflects their opinions or their concerns for their patients. The AMA came out in favor of the 1.8 TRILLION dollar health care debacle. Putting the LIE to that is the report that 45% of physicians would consider quitting the profession if the bill passes. 65% of practicing doctors are fully opposed to government controlled health care. Only about 18% of physicians are represented by the AMA.
That other GREAT SELLOUT is the AARP, another politically motivated Kool-Aid outfit interested ONLY in its own profit margin, who stopped speaking for the vast numbers of seniors a long time ago.
Many seniors, always conscious of dollar concerns, have signed up for the AARP to take advantage of supplemental insurance discounts and until recently were largely unaware of the AARP’s extreme liberal proclivities. This all changed with the Obama administration’s drive for for a single payer health care system, which even the thickest senior could tell was BAD news for senior health care and in fact they were about to be thrown under the proverbial Obama Bus…sort of like he did to his Granny?
I witnessed an AARP meeting in Fremont, California, where the AARP, attempting to answer the tens of thousands of angry calls and letters directed at them by members who objected to the AARP’s stated intent to support the massive government takeover, asked some very pointed questions of the AARP spinette, whereupon she promptly snitted up and abruptly walked out of the meeting. The AARP subsequently came out with a statement saying they were ‘rethinking’ their support…Well girls and boys, we can see how they rethunk it.
Meanwhile in Washington, a little group of  FIFTY THOUSAND of our friends and neighbors gathered on the capitol steps in response to Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s call to action on Friday last. They then proceeded to the Capitol office buildings to have a little tête à tête with their Representatives about just who the hell they work for and just exactly what was expected of them. All very respectfully you understand..though some of our most liberal Congress Critters didn’t reciprocate and either hid or actually abused some constituents. I guess they didn’t care to be confronted with the truth of the fact that they have been exposed for what and who they are. There will be a HUGE reckoning in 2010. The whole country is steaming and they are so insular and so blinded by their own ambition they can’t see it.
Nancy with the Flash Frozen Smile lied again and then reneged on her pledge to allow members of Congress and the public 72 hours to examine the final version of the bill. What a surprise! I’m shocked.
Speaker Pelosi intends to go ahead with a sneak vote on Saturday despite sharply deteriorating support in her own party.
Many Conservative patriots are staying in Washington to keep up the pressure on members of Congress. Another call was put out by Rep. Bachmann on Mark Levin’s radio show on Thursday, for anyone who is in range and can possibly reach DC in time to come to the Capitol to support this totally grass roots Conservative Patriotic effort. Mark Levin was at the rally in person and his presence was HUGE.
God bless America…

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

The Mighty Jon Voight took no prisoners on the steps of the Capitol today, hitting Obama with ACORN, “corrupt” White House Czars, ObamaCare, Afghanistan and this memorable chestnut:“Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Rev. Wright to damn America?” But nothing will grate the Left more than Voight’s effusive and well-deserved praise of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.

more about “JON VOIGHT PUMMELS OBAMA AT DC ANTI-O…“, posted with vodpod

more about “Jon Voight Calls Obama ‘False Prophet’“, posted with vodpo

In the video you can’t see Mark Levin, but you can hear him very good.

Tea partiers descend on Capitol Hill

The Tea Party holds no seat in Congress, but at least 10,000 of the party’s members descended on Capitol Hill Thursday to rally against a Democratic-written health care overhaul.

A plan first hatched and heralded on FOX by iconic conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) grew over the weekend as she e-mailed with a handful of colleagues. By the time activists started arriving at the foot of the Capitol around 8:30 a.m., it was clear no Republican leader could stay away.

Minority Leader John Boehner, Republican Whip Eric Cantor and Conference Chairman Mike Pence all spoke.

Inside, Democrats were working to finalize a trillion-dollar health care bill that they say will deliver insurance to tens of millions of Americans who currently lack it, improve the quality of care and rein in costs both for individuals and the government.

Outside, on the grassy lawn just steps from where Barack Obama took the oath of office, an endless lineup of rank-and-file lawmakers and conservative All Stars – Bachmann, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, actor Jon Voigt and Mark Levin, author of “Liberty and Tyranny” – demanded that the health care bill be torn asunder.

“Madam Speaker, throw out this bill,” bellowed Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.).

“Oh come on, tell them how you really feel,” Bachmann yelled to the crowd from a temporary podium at the foot of the Capitol.

“Kill the bill! Kill the bill! Kill the bill!” the crowd replied.

“The American people need to stand up again and make sure that Congress hears them this time. Speaker Pelosi is putting her bill on fast track to a vote – and it remains to be seen if the House will even get a chance to vote on the commonsense Republican alternatives. The people need to make a House Call on Washington this week and tell their Representatives to vote no to a government take-over of one-fifth of our economy. This is gangster government at its worst,” Rep. Michelle Bachmann said.
“This is the deciding moment and the people need to make sure their representatives know where they stand.”

I could not agree more . Do everything you can… Be the Silent Majority no more!!!

“These are the times that try men’s souls”. Thomas Paine wrote that during the year 1776, while our fledgling  nation was in the throes of armed revolution against the greatest military machine in the world. If Vegas had been around back then, the odds would have been astronomically against that we would survive being crushed inside a year. It was a minor miracle that we had survived the “battles” of Lexington and Concord on April 19th 1775. We had no standing army or navy. Our militias were ragtag groups of farmers and shopkeepers.
There is another document authored by Thomas Jefferson and published on July 4, 1776. It begins, “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected to them to another”. The ‘healthcare monstrosity’ of 1990 pages will have another 800 pages of “managerial” amendments added to it in the dark of night by Pelosi’s GOON squad. They will attempt a vote on this indescribable horror.
I’m not saying that armed insurrection is our answer, but something certainly has to be done. We don’t need to wait for Friday’s vote for tyranny…we have it right now in the House of Representatives. We have  one party rule enforced by pint-sized Nancy Pelosi, to include having locks changed on chamber doors to keep Republicans from introducing amendments or raising objections to the absolutely illegal and unconstitutional multi-trillion dollar robbery of our freedoms, our independence and our God given heritage.
The Obama administration is out to destroy our way of life. Rush Limbaugh said as much in his interview with Chris Wallace broadcast on Sunday AND HE WAS RIGHT!
Bill O’Reilly said he thought Rush was wrong that Obama wouldn’t do that for fear that he wouldn’t be re-elected. I’ve got news for you Bill…Rush is right…you are wrong. Obama is an ideologue. Pelosi, Reid and company are only slightly less so…their idea of transformative is along the lines of Pol Pot or Joseph Stalin and let us not forget that great Obama administration icon Mao Tse Tung.
They couldn’t care less what the American people think or say…they are going to thug this thing through unless we STOP them… AND WE CAN. Representative Michele Bachmann (R) Minn. has called for citizens from all over America who can reach Washington by Thursday to gather at the capitol steps to rally and then proceed into the congressional office buildings to beard the cowards in their dens. Not with pitchforks  and tar (YET), but with video and cell phone cameras. Any bets the cretins will clear out Wednesday night or hide behind staff and be unavailable?
I know of two people from Nancy’s own district who are winging their way east as we speak… Mark Levin has also promised to be there to lend his support. Calls and emails will also undoubtedly inundate the offices of Congress and the Senate and bring down the White House and Capitol switchboards.
Given what is happening in Virginia, New York and New Jersey they’d better start listening.
They’d also better be damned grateful that we have more respect for the rule of law than they do.
For with us, as Conservatives, Independents and many Democrats who are not represented by this bunch, the law is something WE stand by. For those TYRANTS it’s something they hide behind.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

For years, this book has sat on my shelf, intimidating me. I bought the book–or rather, wrote it on my Christmas list–as a culmination of three irresistable qualities this novel has: It is a masterpiece of classic literature, it is Russian, and it is a part of Oprah’s Book Club.

Needless to say, that book ended up under the tree in a brightly-colored, paper-wrapped box. But, until this past July, the cover remained uncracked.

Before I delve into the thematic struggles of the book and all its contents and characters, I think it’s important to show my reasons for packing this 817-page monstrosity on a 12-hour road trip and spend 3 months of my life juggling Levin, Anna, and Oblonsky alongside D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, and Virginia Woolf. I didn’t know what to expect from this novel. I had never read anything by Tolstoy before. I guess I kind of placed hi on a pedestal right alongside Dostoevsky and Dante. They intimidate me, and before July I’ve been too scared to read them. This summer when I was looking at books to read, I stared at the binding and said to myself, “grow a pair, Kate. You are 21-years-old; an adult. You can conquer this.” So I began to read.

If anybody is reading this and gaining the courage to read it themselves, allow me to offer a piece of advice. Get the Pevear/Volkhonsky translation (cover pictured). It is very good. Another word of advice: Please don’t read any further into this post. I give spoilers.

This may be the first novel where I couldn’t decide if I liked the protagonist. I do like Anna because I find her sympathetic and she holds a sense of passion that we don’t generally find from a character anywhere near this time period. Especially from a woman. In more European works (I’m thinking of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte) the female protagnoists either fight against society over what is appropriate, or zip their lips and wrestle internally. Here, Anna blatantly rejects her marriage in favor of Count Vronsky, and goes off to live with him. What’s more, she doesn’t really seem to care what everyone says about it. She may not leave her home much, but we don’t get a lot of internal struggles between her decision and society’s reaction.

That being said, I was not love-struck by Anna. For starters, she completely rejects her husband and son. In the past two months I have found myself much more able to relate to married characters, and I simply cannot understand this. Karenin is a very open-hearted man who clearly loves his wife very much. A part of me believed wholeheartedly that had she come back home and asked for another chance, he would have given it to her. Also, I didn’t like how she handled everything in the end. She had so many options. She could have straightened things out with Vronsky, she could have tried to patch things up with Karenin. But Anna would not be Anna without a motivating sense of self. She doesn’t know how else to eliminate the drama from her life, so she sees no other option than to eliminate the commonality.

I’m not surprised at all that Oprah has this novel on her book list. So much of it applies to society today. One very intriguing element of the book is the dichotomy of instant gratification versus lasting satisfaction. The two main parties of this novel surround Anna and Levin. Anna represents instant gratification. She leaves her husband and son for a man who offers her passion. Anyone in a long-term relationship will say that passion is fleeting. At least the passion that Anna continuously seems to need. After awhile when Vronsky settles into a routine and stops devoting every waking minute to Anna’s desires, she is immediately convinced that he’s having an affair. It makes sense that she would think that: After all, she’s cheating on her husband. The relationship she is so worried about is technically an affair itself.

On the other side of the spectrum is Levin. He represents lasting satisfaction. For almost half of the novel he is head-over-heels in love with Kitty. To the joy of my hopelessly romantic heart he gets the girl, and they assume the natural roles of husband and wife.

I mentioned earlier that passion is fleeting, and then I clarified. Levin holds a passion for Kitty throughout the whole novel that every man should hold for his wife and every wife for her husband. He puts her first every time.

American culture in the twenty-first century has become a century of Annas. We like things that satisfy our needs now. On the small end there’s things like fast food and credit cards. But look at the big picture. Every other marriage ends in divorce. People are making their partners sign pre-nups beforehand so in the future, when they do split, no one gets jipped Something that used to be revered as a sacred bond now is little more than a legal document for tax purposes. Tied along with that, more and more people simply forego the legality of marriage and would rather live with their partner instead. That way they can enjoy all of the benefits of “marriage” without the responsibility. And why shouldn’t they? Marriage isn’t a sacred union anymore: people are losing “it” as young as 13-years-old.

Tolstoy sums up (what I believe to be) the over-arching theme in the last line of the novel. Levin says: “but my life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of it, is not only meaningless, as it was before, but has the unquestionable meaning of the good which it is in my power to put into it!” This is a very existential line. Which is good, because this is a very existential book. These characters get out of life exactly what they put into life. Levin cares so ardently for his wife, and in the end it is his family that saves him, both emotionally and spiritually. In contrast, the only person Anna cares for consistently throughout the novel is herself. At the end, she is alone.

A part of me thinks that Tolstoy wanted this book to seem as a sort of warning. Yes, you will get out of life what you put into it, but this applies as much to the negative as to the positive. Today we call this karma. I don’t know how I feel about that, but  I do know that regardless, it is another post for another blog.

Anna Karenina. Leo Tolstoy. Penguin Group (2000) ISBN: 0-14-313500-2

On Sunday the Grand Rapids Press ran a front page story entitled, “All eyes on endgame as war decision looms.” The story, written by Press reporter Ted Roelofs, begins by focusing on a local soldier who was “singled out for bravery last month” in Afghanistan. The soldier’s father is then cited in the article making comments in support of his son.

Roelofs then writes that the upcoming decision to send more troops to Afghanistan “is dividing US citizens and making it difficult for Obama to follow through on goals outlined in his campaign.” Unfortunately for readers, the Press reporter never states what those campaign goals were as it relates to Afghanistan.

The article then provides readers with comments from another military family, Donna & Bob Roush, who think the US should not pull out of Afghanistan. “Those are bad guys over there. I would like the president to take the advice on the ground. I don’t understand this waffling and waiting.” Here the Press reporter doesn’t bother to verify or clarify what is meant by “bad guys over there.”

The reporter then says that, “a majority of Americans either oppose the war or question whether it is worth continuing to wage.” This statement is based on a Washington Post-ABC News poll, but the Press doesn’t tell readers when the poll was taken, nor which questions were asked of those polled. The Press is providing its own poll with three voting options: 1) Add troops and continue counterinsurgency, 2) Maintain current strength, focus on militants along the Pakistan border, or 3) Pull out of Afghanistan entirely. While it is interesting that the Press is conducting its own poll it should be noted that President Obama has said that withdrawal from Afghanistan is not an option.

The rest of the story is devoted to other comments on what the US should do in Afghanistan. Representatives Vern Ehlers and Pete Hoekstra both support send more troops and Senator Carl Levin wants to “see a large increase in the Afghan army be the major way in which this is successful.” We have pointed out in previous postings how Levin’s position supports the US strategy in Afghanistan, but doesn’t agree with some of the tactics.

Another source cited in the story are Mary Alice Williams, an Obama supporter, who said, “the troops should come home.” However, her comments are drowned out by two more comments from pro-military families. One mom says that her son thinks the US should stay in Afghanistan and “we need to be there and get the job done.” A comment from the military parent who lost a son in Afghanistan in August concludes the article by saying, “His buddies want to finish the job. I would like us to see it through.”

This is the first article written by a Press reporter since President Obama took office that deals with the US war in Afghanistan that didn’t just report on troop deaths. However, like most of the reporting we have seen in the Press in recent months, this story does not deal with the real policy issues that will ultimately determine what the current administration will do in Afghanistan, instead it presents numerous claims about should be done with no evidence to support any of the claims, particularly those made by politicians.

I was just watching the news where Sen Levin said sending more troops into Afghanistan would be a mistake because the United States would appear to be an occupier. He also said it would add more people to the side of terrorists.

HELLO! We invaded the country. What do you think we are, a boy scout troop meeting?

Also we were not in Afghanistan or Iraq when our embassies in Africa and the USS Cole were attacked. Neither were we there when the attack on 9/11 took place. So that argument about bringing more people to the fight is the most absurd argument I have ever heard.

The reason we had the bloodiest month since being there in my opinion is due to the apperances of indecision or indifference from the current administration. Similar to what happened in Viet Nam. The politicians had no backbone and the enemy used this by pounding the troops and causing more death and injuries to the point that we pulled out. It’s a known fact that the North Vietnam regime was close to given up when they sensed our lack of backbone and carried on.

Do we really want the Taliban back in control to give safe haven to terrorists again?

What message will a loss send to these terrorists?

The 9/11 commission concluded that this evil movement was already at war with us while we pretended they did not exist. To think that if we pull out of Afghanistan that we will be loved need to get their heads examined. To believe that tells me someone is smoking some pretty good crack.

Sobre o assunto abordado na aula, uma visão geral sobre o assunto apresentado por Golan Levin na conferência ‘Audiovision and Computation: Landmarks, Paradigms, Futures’ no festival Cybersonica em 2005_

Audiovision and Computation: Landmarks, Paradigms, Futures

The four pillars of digital art, the four core concerns of electronic media artists are:
- Transmediality (tangibility, audiovisuality environment),
- Processuality (generativity, algorithmic processes),
- Connectivity (communication, connection),
- Interactivity (creative flow, play, cybernetic feedback).

To understand “visual music” (performing):
- a formula which combines both sound and image into a holistic union,
- or a striclty visual, temporal form, analogous to but separate from music.

Levin’s work belongs mainly to the first “formula” but he often uses both.

Audiovisual performance systems

In his 1927 book Color-Music: the Art of Light, Adrien Bernard Klein wrote “It is an odd fact that almost everyone who develops a color-organ is under the misapprehension that he, or she, is the first mortal to attempt to do so.”

Researchers, artists, scientists regularly claim they were the first to invent the Color Organ. Untrue as the story shows:

The earliest known device for performing visual music was built in 1734 by Louis-Bertrand Castel.The Ocular Harpsichord coupled the action of a harpsichord to the movement of transparent tapes. In 1844 D. D. Jameson’s “color organ” filtered light through liquids of various colors and reflected it off metal plates onto a wall. Frederic Kastner’s 1869 Pyrophone opened flaming gas jets into crystal tubes to create both sound and image. Levin went on giving many examples (see a list of them in the extract of his thesis proposal) and highlighted two instruments : Thomas Wilfred’s Clavilux (1920’s, pictured here), and Oskar Fischinger’s Lumigraph (1948). The Clavilux filtered light through several stages of multicolored glass disks, the instrument produced only images, no sound at all, Wilfred was commited to that. The Lumigraph interupted colored beams of light with a flexible fabric surface.

Introducing the computer. The computer:
- transcends the limitations of physics, mechanics, optics,
- overcomes the control/generality tradeoff of physical systems,
- takes advantage of the unique affordance of computation: iteration and simulation; conditional testing and constraints (the difference between a calculator and a computer is that the computer has the ability to ask “what if”), data storage.

Visual interfaces to sound on the computer – Common paradigms:
- score displays,
- control-panel displays,
- flow-based networks,
- reactive “widgets” (spriters, romplers),
- navigable terrains (virtual land-mines),
- cellular automata (sonified life).

1. Score-based interfaces. They are extremely efficient but:
- they generally have a diagrammatic space instead of a painterly one,
- they rely on a coded visual language of mostly arbitrary graphical conventions. You need the key!

2. Control panel interfaces. They lack the gratifying tactility and the two-handedness of the 70’s synthesis.

3. Widget interfaces (object metaphors) have material properties, physical properties (like “how high”) and contextual properties(such as “how near to an object”).

Reactive widgets: when taken individually have limited malleability, are quickly exhaustible (canned media), the malleability is achieved through sheer number (e.g. 10,000 widgets), future in granular resynthesis and wavelets.

4. Navigable space interfaces (terrain, architecture and map metaphors) where you navigate in a 3D world. E.g. Lab AU, and Playstation’s Vib-ribbon (picture above).

5. Automata interfaces (rules systems). e.g. the work of Tom Betts.

6. Flowchart interfaces (networked metaphors).

Challenges and pitfalls
- Randomness: how can someone know that the system really responds?
- the taste of mathematical systems, instead of focussing on whether it is meaningful,
- cartesian and diagrammatic mappings,
- modal interactions instead of giving people feedback on where they are,
- ROM-based solutions.

Some exciting new directions:
- custom physical sensors,
- physical sound actuation,
- alternative imaging (physical pixels, lasers),
- new contexts (phone, PDA, putdoor, furniture),
- better user models (learning systems),
- software cannibalisation (game mods),
- etc.

link_ http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/05/keynote-of-gola.php#more

Outros sites relevantes_

site pessoal_ http://www.flong.com/

video_ Conferência de Golan Levin sobre “Software (as) Art”

uma entrevista com o autor do conceito, Gerfried Stocker

Spotted this over on Rob’s Roadster drift blog.

That guy is livin’ the life!

Your debit or credit card transaction goes something like this: You buy something at a retailer, either online or in your hometown, and you go to pay with your card. Your payment gets split, with a tiny percentage going to Visa or MasterCard, and the rest going to the merchant.

But now Congress is looking to change the whole system in a way that hurts American 1 and other financial institutions.

Merchants pay a fee for the privilege of using Visa/MasterCards payment infrastructure. That’s called interchange. Visa and MasterCard pay card providers, like American 1, a bit of that interchange for being a part of their system.

Everyone wins. The merchant gets an ease-of-use system for payments, Visa gets some income from the merchant, and we, as a credit union, get a fraction of that income for providing the debit or credit cards. Interchange is great because it helps credit unions of all sizes to issue debit and credit cards. We see interchange as a merchant’s fair share of the costs of this convenient system.

But it’s more than just convenience. Merchants, the ones taking the Visa or MasterCard payment, pay a small fraction for this service and reap most of the benefits, all while assuming none of the risk. American 1 has to cover the costs for fraud, card errors, and serving debit and credit card accounts. All the while, merchants benefit from the increased purchasing power such card systems provide. When you have a Visa account, for example, it’s easier to pay for more and bigger stuff. The merchant gets all that income, and only has to pay a small, single-digit percentage back to card issuers to maintain the system.

If credit unions like American 1 didn’t provide debit and credit cards to our members, imagine what would happen to local businesses. Or online retailers. Now think about all the other credit unions and banks across the nation. We all have to provide debit and credit cards, and providing that system costs money. The only way we can pay for this convenient system is to charge a fair interchange fee.

Now, Congress is looking to change the interchange fee structure, which means American 1 and other card providers could get less income for providing debit and credit cards. If this happens, our debit and credit card system could cost you, the member, more.

If interchange were reduced and could no longer adequately support American 1’s card system, you, as members, may end up paying more to use your debit and credit cards, or we may no longer be able to offer cards at all. Members of Congress should oppose merchants’ proposals to reduce interchange.

So we’re fighting back with a petition. You can stop in to our Home Office or Argyle Branch locations this week to sign the petition telling Michigan’s senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, that we don’t want them messing with interchange income. Use those links to e-mail your senator, and your local Congressional representative, and tell them we don’t want any reduction in interchange income.

Been knocked a bit for 6 again this week, so taking it lightly. So here’s the reason behind some of the pages I link to:

Hawley keeps me busy, let’s all read his blog and encourage him to learn to add tags and post himself (me, I do it by adding ridiculous tags until he screams ‘NO! I canna take it anymore!’ – hasn’t worked yet). His blog is whimsical, always amusing and, of course, FABULOUS.

One of my kin in LotRO, unwize explains the game taking the kin by storm. Inspired by Massively it appeals to the explorer in all of us. Head on over to see him write about the game, and explain the rules he set up. Seriously, it’s taken the kin by storm. I’m just FAR too lazy to go looking for scenes, though I’d like to contribute some sometime, I guess.

Another kinmate Berathe is making inroads into blogging. Her poetry is second-to-none and another whimsically serious LotRO-focused blog, with added zombies and horror. Ode to a Laptop is a modern classic.

Spinks is, and has always, been my blogging cohort. We started together and we still talk topics every morning. Just, she tends to write about stuff, and I tend to talk about it. Ha ha. Oh, and in Tobold-esque full disclosure, I should mention we’re also testing the refer-a-friend sick-speed levelling in WoW. It lets me chat to her with graphics behind us, it’s just as much WoW as I can deal with, and I still keep my levels chugging along. Hawley inspired me to make a shaman, but I have zero idea what I’m doing.

These are some of the more personal ones. I’ll go through some of the others as the days go by, because I’m still having a bit of a time away from computers and this eases me back into blogging, while hopefully giving you some useful background into why my blogroll looks the way it does.