This guy just won't go away

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer – Fri May 22, 4:40 am ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama fought Thursday to retake command of the emotional debate over closing Guantanamo, denouncing "fear-mongering" by political opponents and insisting that maximum-security prisons in the U.S. can safely house dangerous terror suspects transferred from Cuba. In a unique bit of Washington theater, former Vice President Dick Cheney delivered his own address just one minute later, defending the Bush administration's creation of the prison camp as vigorously as Obama denounced it.

Obama, appearing at the National Archives with its immensely symbolic backdrop of the nation's founding documents, said shutting down Guantanamo would "enlist our values" to make America safer. Speaking a day after an overwhelming congressional rebuke to his pledge to close the prison, he forcefully declared the camp a hindrance — not a help — to preventing future terrorist attacks. He contends that the prison, which has held hundreds of detainees for years without charges or trials, motivates U.S. enemies overseas.

The president promised to work with lawmakers to develop "an appropriate legal regime" for those who can't be tried and are too dangerous to be released. Still, he did not provide the level of detail about his plans that lawmakers, including Democrats, demanded in a 90-6 Senate vote denying money for the shutdown on Wednesday.

Cheney, in his own speech, denounced some of Obama's actions since taking office as "unwise in the extreme" and "recklessness cloaked in righteousness," repeating his contention from a series of headline-grabbing appearances recently that the new president is endangering the country by turning aside Bush-era policies. The former vice president, a primary architect of the Bush approach, accused Obama of looking for "a political strategy, not a national security strategy."

I REALLY WAS AGAINST TRYING TO PROSECUTE DICK CHENEY FOR HIS OBVIOUS DISREGARD OF THE CONSTITUTION DURING HIS TERM AS VICE-PRESIDENT

BUT

IF HE WON'T GO AWAY THEN MAYBE IT'S TIME TO PUT THE PEDDLE TO THE METAL AND SHUT HIM UP ONCE AND FOR ALL

HE REALLY BELIEVES EVERYTHING HE SAYS AND HE TRULY BELIEVES HE IS THE SPOKES PERSON FOR REPUBLICAN RIGHT WING

.....and most of us thought it was Rush while all the time it's still the REAL DICK

Even if he is partially correct on his opinion of the situation it's just a bad moment when he starts jabbering.

I've just never liked the guy and the fact that he's still making noise seems staggering to me.

Can't someone call Dan Quayle and let him teach the Real Dick how to be a nice quiet ex-Vice-President?

Does anybody have Dan's cell phone number?

Michael Timothy McAlevey

WE NEED TO SEE

Basketball fans need to see a final with Kobe vs LeBron and Denver and Orlando are doing everything possible to spoil that dream match up.

It would be very interesting if both conference finals went seven games. We would all be quite exhausted. Of course the players could also be a bit tired but they make millions of dollars to stay in great shape.

There is so much talk about the greatest basketball players of all time and while Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and Kobe and LeBron get mentioned...it seems everybody simply overlooks Kareem Abdul Jabbar when talking about the greatest.

Bill Russell simply counts his rings and laughs at all the speculation about greatness.

I have heard that its all about winning and Bill Russell did that the most.

Personally I still think Jerry West was the best. Skinny white kid who is simply known as
the LOGO.

But right now the two best players are Kobe and LeBron and we need to see that final confrontation.

Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony see a different outcome.

The playoffs are the real part of the NBA season.

This is fun and this is intense

KOBE VS LEBRON would make this one of the great seasons in recent history.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Hubble Hubble

When I consider that the pictures from the Hubble telescope have been arriving from a BROKEN machine than all I can wonder about is....what the freaking bejesus will the new pictures look like?

I simply can't wait to see what a repaired Hubble will be able to see.

The best news is that they think that the Hubble is good for Ten more years. A new improved next generation telescope will be in place in a few years so everything thing looks great for stargazers.

This latest repair adventure has been an incredible story with spacewalks up to eight hours long.

http://hubblesite.org/

To follow the story and see incredible images just go to the Hubble site shown above.

Out of this world is an understatement
and the fact that the original Hubble was placed in orbit on Sean's 12th birthday is just another special part to this incredible story.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Laura is 20

There are so many amazing facets to this young woman.....and there is no reason to start rambling on about those facets because each and everyone of you who know her probably have a different set of facets.

FACETS can be elusive
FACETS can be bold
FACETS can be funny
FACETS can be old

FACETS can be transparent
FACETS can be tiny
FACETS can be apparent
FACETS can be shiny

The only FACET that really matters is the one that connects hearts to hearts and souls to souls and that FACET is very very hard to see and almost always impossible to touch.

BUT WHEN ONE HAS THAT CONNECTING FACET IN PLACE AND IT IS SECURE, THEN ONE KNOWS FOR SURE HOW ONE FEELS

HOPEFULLY LAURA KNOWS HOW MUCH SHE IS LOVED
BY EVERYONE WHO GETS TO SEE HER
FACETS

and this concludes the one and only time in my life that I have used the word FACET
in reference to a human being

so HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA
and have a
FACETNATING DAY

and by the way be sure to read her blog
http://www.thefairlygreatbookadventure.blogspot.com

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Another 31

31 today
and
working on a future

Happy Birthday Seamus

Michael Timothy McAlevey

TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA

So the other night, while the Dodgers were setting a MAJOR LEAGUE record for most wins to start a season at home, Vin Scully started talking about the number 13. He even went so far as to explain that the back of a dollar bill has numerous 13 ramifications and he actually spent 3 to 4 minutes on the subject.

During last night's game while the Dodgers were leading 6-0 after five innings Vin casually brought up that there probably weren't any TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIACTS popping up tonight.

I thought to myself that the number 13 damage had already been done with the Manny story but then remembered that the team is a team and winning is the name of the game. I was a little tired and decided to hit the sack early thinking that the 13 jinx was just another silly thing along the road of numerous silly things.

I woke up this morning and started reading the newspaper and was shocked to learn that the Dodgers had lost the game 11-9. And they lost the game to the team with the worst record in baseball.

I really don't think there's much more to say about this.
I really don't think there's much more to say about this.
I really don't think there's much more to say about this.

13
13
13

Now if the Dodgers lose 13 games in a row I think it will mean the end of civilization as we know it.

oh...by the way
I'm not writing anything about Manny for the next 50 games.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

THE LIGHT IS ON

---

May 6, 2009, 2:02 pm

Racing to Build a Better Light Bulb

By Leora Broydo Vestel

The Pharox LED bulb is among several vying to replace the incandescent.

Warner Philips, the founder of Lemnis Lighting of the Netherlands, is confident that his company’s new 6-watt Pharox LED Light isn’t just ready for the consumer market, it’s ready to take over the lighting market from both incandescents (increasingly being phased out in many countries) and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.

“C.F.L.s are officially an outdated technology,” Mr. Philips said during a recent conversation with Green Inc. “You can’t recycle C.F.L.s. You can’t get a fully dimmable product. That should make them obsolete.”

The Pharox bulb was introduced Wednesday at Lightfair International in New York, where lighting designers from around the globe are showing off their wares. According to Lemnis Lighting, the new Pharox can match the light output of a 60-watt incandescent, and it can be used smoothly and reliably with dimmer switches — unlike many C.F.L. bulbs. It’s also designed to be heat-resistant, the company notes and, also unlike C.F.L.s, mercury-free.

The packaging says the bulb will last 25 years given average use (four hours a day), or more than 36,000 hours.

Come July, the bulb will be sold on Amazon.com for just under $50 – still more expensive than dimmable C.F.L.s, but with a lifespan that the company says is eight times longer and with more incandescent-like dimming capabilities. The Pharox’s payback time at that price, according to Lemnis, is 3.5 years.

Mr. Philips says he sees the price dropping rather quickly, as it did with a 5-watt, 40-watt equivalent bulb the company introduced six months ago at $40. It is now selling for $35 — a decrease attributable in large part to assistance from the Clinton Climate Initiative, which is sponsoring a giveaway of 2.5 million bulbs in Europe.

(The fact that Google gave 25,000 bulbs to its employees in honor of Earth Day last month doesn’t hurt either.)

Mr. Philips said problems with heat build-up inside enclosed lighting fixtures, which cause L.E.D.s and C.F.L.s to fail early, has been addressed with a vented design that allows for better air flow.

Still, the company told us that the preferred use of the Pharox is in open fixtures. Using it in enclosed fixtures — like recessed ceiling cans — will reduce the lifetime of the bulbs by about 25 percent, the company said (a data point not evident on the bulb’s packaging, it should be noted.)

Indeed, as with many would-be replacements for the incandescent bulb, a bit of incongruity exists between performance claims that may well pertain in a laboratory, and a bulb’s performance in the real world.

For starters, the advertised light output of the Pharox is about 300 “lumens” — the metric used for measuring the light coming off a bulb. That places it somewhere between a 25-watt and 40-watt incandescent. A 60-watt incandescent emits up to 900 lumens.

The company explained that the light output is comparable to a 60-watt bulb, depending on where one uses the bulb and for what purpose. “There are 60-watt soft tone/flame bulbs that generate less light than a Pharox 6-watt,” the company said.

It’s also worth noting that an earlier version of the Pharox — a 4-watt, 40-watt equivalent bulb dubbed the Pharox LS — had some trouble when it was tested in a Department of Energy program that evaluates the performance of L.E.D. products.

While eight of 10 Pharox bulbs the agency purchased from a distributor between December 2007 and March 2008 had performed well, two of the samples died before the laboratory could run any tests. The energy department said at the time that it had “serious concerns about the reliability or robustness of the product design.”

In an e-mail message to Green Inc., a Lemnis representative noted that the Pharox bulb in question was “outdated” and no longer offered on the market.

“As with any nascent technology,” he said, “all manufacturers will have issues.”

IT'S HAPPENING

Does anyone have Warner's cell phone number?

and the answer to that question would be......YES

Michael Timothy McAlevey

78, 89 and no

Every Tuesday is a golf outing with my 89 year old father.

Normally my older brother plays but he is being a cowboy and hanging with his homies in Santa Barbara for a week. The group is called Ranchero Vistadores and apparently the organization goes back about 79 years. Members have included Ronnie Reagan and various other pillars of the community. They spend 8 days playing cowboy and rodeo games and from everything I've heard....they have the time of their lives. At least the time of their lives that don't include women. This is the 38 year that he has gone on the ride.


My father is taking a blood thinner and he gets very tired and dizzy around the 13th hole. Of course the fact that he is 89 might have something to do with it but my instincts tell me differently.

I had to take a blood thinner awhile back and it drastically reduced my energy level. Of course the doctor's have a reason....they always have a reason....for him being on Coumadin but I'm not so sure about the other eight prescriptions.

Of course asking questions about the interaction of certain drugs gets you absolutely nowhere. The side affects of many drugs is dizziness....but when you ask a Doctor they always say the same things. "All side effects are very rare."

ALL SIDE EFFECTS ARE VERY RARE

THERE'S NEVER A PROBLEM UNTIL THERE'S A PROBLEM

WE DON'T HAVE THE ABSOLUTE ANSWER ON WHY CERTAIN DRUGS DON'T WORK WELL WITH OTHER DRUGS.

ASK YOUR PHARMACISTS

Which makes my brain hurt and causes me to think about golfing with my father....after all the pharmacists didn't prescribe the medication but apparently they know more about the medications.....which means we might just need more pharmacists and less doctors.

Huh?

Did I really shoot a 78 today?

As we were walking off the course I said to one of the players..."I beat you by a stroke...you shot a 79 and I shot a 78."

He looked at me very calmly and said...."How many mulligans did you take?"

I had to think for a second and then softly said...."two."

The look he gave me was sufficient and I realized he doesn't take mulligans and therefore my 78 was really an 80 and he beat me my one stroke.

I announced then and there that I never liked taking mulligans and only did it because everybody else did it. He just grinned and started walking away knowing that in the real game of golf he had beaten me by one stroke. I also realized it and as he walked away I said..."from now on I will play the real game of golf whenever you are playing."

He stopped and turned and said "there's only one way to play the game of golf....and that's according to the rules...and all the rules are precise and there are no gray areas....except of course when dealing with unplayable lies...and then it usually takes a third party to clarify."

So from this day forward I will never take another mulligan and I will never give or take a gimme putt and I will never sleep with the starters girlfriend and I will never eat sushi for breakfast.

Rules are rules and when playing the game of golf all principles of self worth and self respect come fully into play....on numerous occasions during a round.

Now for my dad.....he can freaking do anything he wants just as long as he keeps showing up every Tuesday morning at 7:55. In fact I think I'll start giving him the twenty foot putts....but first the blood thinner issue needs to be addressed because it's screwing up his game. Today he only played 12 holes and then just kinda napped in the cart while we finished the round. He had shot a 45 on the front nine so he had a good chance of breaking 90.

He also informed me before he left that he voted no on all the May 19th ballot measures and mailed his ballot already.

Which now means I might have to vote yes on all the measures.

IT'S ALL ABOUT
BALANCE

GOLF
POLITICS
PRESCRIPTIONS
LOVE

And the difference between shooting a 78 and an 80 is a
HUGE
DIFFERENCE
as is not adding two mulligan strokes to the score

but the scorecard says 78 and we all know that anything written down is the absolute truth.

Except of course for prescription side effects and occasional golf scores.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

When someone asks

When someone asks who my influences are I usually think about these type of Celtic symbols.
Of course my designs take extreme liberties with the structure of these designs but I am who I am and I do what I do.

I'm working on a NEW ELEMENT in my "Free Flow Motion" technique but I keep throwing things away and that's so not me.

I have trouble throwing away newspapers so imagine what takes place in the Michael Timothy McAlevey personal ART library.

It can get "clustered"

But at the same time SOMETHING is developing
or
NOT

The beauty of being an artist is that it doesn't really matter as long as there is something pleasing to observe after the mental storm clouds have passed

Back to work

Michael Timothy McAlevey

May

As always the year is advancing rather quickly. Soon we will be celebrating 2010 and wondering what the heck happened to 2009.

While the economy is stumbling there are still wonderful stories happening on a daily basis. Some people are having banner years and some people are falling in love and getting married and some people are having babies and celebrating life in ways they never though imaginable. Some people are writing stories and making movies and some people are writing songs and some people are creating art...and some people are even playing golf on a regular basis.

Of course some people are studying very hard and other people are looking for jobs or at least wondering what jobs might be available....and some people are wondering about grad school.

No matter what anyone is doing 2009 is now five months in and moving quickly.

There is still time to make 2009 the most rewarding year of your life.

DIET, EXERCISE and PRAYER or meditation if you prefer
are the three methods for optimizing your existence and when you slow down and think about it
you know
it's true

Creativity flows from right thinking and right thinking flows from right living and the circle gets bigger and the goals get larger and the rewards become
huge

Today's "article" is my Hallmark birthday wish for Robert McShane

Happy Birthday Dude.

Love

Michael Timothy McAlevey