Hezbollah foiled US-planned coup "Hezbollah has foiled a US-planned coup to seize control of Lebanon during tensions sparked by controversial gov't decisions, a report says. "The Americans launched a pre-emptive strike against opposition nationalist forces, starting with the (Hezbollah) resistance, and attempted a Washington-planned coup but were taken aback by the opposition, which restored...

I'm too tired to wrap my head around the implications of all this (IANAL, after all), but I wanted to get them text of Wineteer's charter contract amendments out there, among other things. Link to Mr. Wineteer's amendments (as written before they were themselves amended during the board meeting, I believe). Link to the entire Sand Ridge Renewal Packet as presented at a school board meeting...

I see some parents are prepared to take the case of vaccine caused autism to court. I don't know what causes autism, but there's some doctor who has a show that airs on 1190 KEX radio, which I sometimes listen to, usually briefly, before changing the dial. That doctor ridicules anybody who thinks autism is vaccine caused. A couple days ago I heard him on it again, this time citing evidence...

Check out Eat Wild Oregon - "the number one site for grass-fed food and facts". Site includes information about the benefits of raising animals on pasture and links to local suppliers. They also have an Eat Wild Oregon Google Map that lets you find farms near you....

Newberry College was recently forced by the NCAA to "retire the use of 'Indians' as the school's athletic nickname, effective with the end of all team's current playing... ....

I might play this song at the next open mic, if I still feel up to it:

Last night, Saturday, May 10, the Obama campaign organized a "House Party" in Corvallis, hosted by the Boomer's (not the generation tag name but the family). Corvallistidbits was fortunate to be able to attend the event. The Corvallis "House Party" was but one of dozens of "House Party's" held last evening State wide in Oregon. Attendees were truly representative of all generations, both men and...

I heard the head of the Republican party convention, hand picked by McCain, has stepped down before the convention, because, a lobbying firm he worked for once represented the military regime in Myanmar. Man, alive. What happened to choosing right and wrong, over, say, making lots of money? You know, I want to believe in basic decency, but it's hard. People declare their allegiance to God,...

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women in my life! Thanks for showing me the ropes of "motherhood" and for answering all my endless questions about parenting. And to my childless friends, you are still Mother's to your dog, cat, horse, (spouse!?!) and you should be celebrated too! I hope you all have a wonderful day and do something special!...

Sleeping Always In bed Sunday morning To forget the week Because I need to catch up.

YEAH!! I passed the first 1,000 visitors in the new land of the "Bridges" blog! I have to admit, I am liking my new blog home a lot. Took me a bit to get used to some things, but I am enjoying the changes now! Thanks for hangin' with me!...

Amidst all this, I came within an inch of being hit by the streetcar. I was walking along and all of a sudden, there was a train brushing against my back, going at least 15 MPH. I never heard it coming. To see a video of the one armed multi-instrumentalist, click here. Free Hit...

I can't believe that I'm already leaving New Hampshire. I spent a mere 28 hours here, from landing to take-off, and it was not enough. However, we made the best of our time together, sitting over coffee and catching up, gabbing about various states of affairs, climbing two mountains in central New Hampshire (which left us exhausted), going to a birthday party of one of Katie's friends, eating...

Tashi, the last of the orange tabbies from the Lebanon situation, just went to a great home. The couple from central Oregon came by, exactly on time, a wonderful couple, responsible to a fault and still in pain from the loss of their beloved male orange tabby. Tashi could not have gone to a more loving caring home, I don't think. When they arrived, I was trying to find her, in my bedroom,...

The last time the military dangled this guy at us, when they offed the magnified persona of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, it blew up in their faces when reports surfaced that he was in an Egyptian jail. Or dead. It's always dangerous when the propagandists play with their non existent creation "Al Qaeda in Iraq". The Iraqis certainly know the truth that AQ is a mythical organization, and now it's slowly...

Albany has had three incidents in which someone, likely a male, paints penises on cars or businesses. I would have to guess this person is in love with penises. Most likely it is a male, maybe a male "coming into his own", if you get my drift, "blooming". Many males worship penises above all other gods. But, who knows, maybe it's a woman penis worshiper. Seems like an odd object of...

Leader of GOP convention quits after Myanmar ties reported "The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar. Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement: "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not...

I've set myself down in front of the computer countless times these past few days and each time, I find myself struggling to compose coherent sentences. It's not writer's block or anything like that. I've got plenty to say, but I simply lack the brain-power to do it well. So with that said, please accept my...

He's the dream every woman wants: black leather jacket stretched tight over a crisp white t-shirt, worn blue jeans, and rugged looks that could kill. He's the bad boy exuding untamed masculinity. He's the guy with a motorcycle, a gun on his hip, and a cigarette that doesn't hurt anyone. He's too cool for everything, and he knows it. It may not come as a shock to anyone, but my ideal guy...

"I don’t want to alarm anybody, but maybe it’s time for Americans to start stockpiling food. No this is not a drill." --Brett Arends, Wall Street Journal Food Riots are Coming to the U.S. "Global food prices have gone through the roof, terrifying the 3 billion or so people who live off less than $2 a day. This should terrify everybody else. In November, the UN Food and Agricultural...

Troubled and sick vets come back home "On April 17 the RAND Corporation released a study of service members and veterans back home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The 500-page study was titled Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery. It was sponsored by a grant from the California Community Foundation and done by twenty-five...

This blog is going to fade into obscurity to be replaced by my new collection of mini-blogs under the cool domain of dorkage.net. ( Well, if you're a dork like me you think that's cool.) I am just testing the trackback system with this post. The miniblogs I have so far are Red Hot Dork Chow -- about food dorks eat to stay healthy and sustainable Dorkage Goes Personal -- personal stuff Dorkage...

I didn't mean to get anything at a garage sale, that's for sure. But I stumbled into the BEST GARAGE SALE EVER. Everything cost almost nothing and I mean nothing. They wanted the stuff gone. It was an estate sale. I got a shop vac that works for a buck. I got some pots and pans, about six of them, for a buck. (I am still using pots and pans, the very few I have, that I got free at a...

I have tickets to the new musical play "Spin" for tonight's performance at Oregon State University Campus Theatre. This play was written by Mr. John Frohnmayer, (Independent) who is now running for U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Mr. Gordon Smith, Republican from Eastern Oregon. John's brother Dave Frohnmayer, is President Of University of Oregon in Eugene, and ran for Governor about 15...

The headline wants you to think the bloodshed in Lebanon is because of Hezbollah's violence. Hezbollah to Withdraw Gunmen in Lebanon "BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah and its allies announced Saturday evening that they would withdraw their gunmen, raising hopes for a political settlement after four days of street battles that have left at least 29 people dead across Lebanon. The statement came...

I found the below funnies at this link. I found myself chuckling out loud at several of these! Some clever folks thought these up. These are 10 commonly asked questions of lesbians and the answers you’ll rarely hear: 1. What exactly, do two women do together? (Usually asked by a woman) A. "It takes too long to explain. A lesbian quickie lasts hours. We lay there and discuss politics...

This is one very cool kitty, young, but a great mother, Tamara reports, follows her teenage son around like a puppy, but races back to her kittens, four of them, one of them born in the anesthesia room of the FCCO van May 4....

A decent description of modern economics is the study of behaviour in the face of incentives. Game theory is a branch of economics where we study behavior in strategic settings. In this, and in many other areas, economists have confirmed that understanding incentives goes long way toward explaining behavior. And here is the thing with games: the rules of the game create the incentives. So once we...

Revenue sources are becoming as scarce as the proverbial "cash cow" and "golden goose". The Corvallis City Council in an effort to blunt resistance to some ideas of generating revenue for the City Coffers look as if they will settle on what is essentially a Business License Tax.After considering an increase in the hotel tax, objected to by hoteliers, and abandoning the idea of a tax on food and...

At twenty-two, I was not ready to be the mother of a twelve-year-old. How could I possibly discipline a child more than half my own age? His younger brother was ten. Two kids. A mother. At twenty-two. Um, yeah, as the saying goes, "it was a time in my life..." We met on the dance floor. I'd seen a motorcycle in the parking lot, and once I walked into the dance hall, I...

Portland, OR — The Rogue River cabin where western author Zane Grey fished and wrote will be permanently preserved, The Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization, and the Bureau of Land Management announced today. The one-room cabin sits on 32 acres of land at Winkle Bar on the Rogue and is a regular stopping point for rafters and fisherman. It is surrounded by BLM land...

Why Wall Street, Israel and D.C. need the illegal drug trade "Contributing Editor Catherine Austin Fitts, who was a Managing Director at Dillon Read before becoming Assistant Secretary of Housing under George Bush and who holds an MBA from Wharton makes things very simple. She points out that the four largest states for the importation of drugs are New York, Florida, Texas and California. She...

The birds are singing and the trees and bushes blooming on the OSU campus. We have had enough warm days to allow plain air painting, so here's a quick little oil on gessoboard to get back into the swing of spring. Gessoboard is new to me...I like it's smoothness and will be painting on it for my 8×8 series for the rest of the year....

This truly gets tiresome. Apparently this article is from last year. Cheney/Bandar/Elliot Abrams Funded Terrorist Group Now At War in Lebanon "MAY 24, (LPAC)--In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, May 22, New Yorker magazine investigative journalist Seymour Hersh repeated charges he published in that magazine in March, that the Bush Administration has been working with Saudi Arabia to arm Sunni...

Thanks much to everyone who sent in questions for my 5 minutes with Barack Obama on Friday. I think I was able to synthesize most of what you suggested into the short time available. Here's what I asked: You talked today about renewable energy. Oregon and western states use hydroelectric power a lot. It?s clean, it?s renewable, but we see that there are problems that come with it in the collapse...

Military considering new cremation policies "WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is recommending changes in the handling of troops' remains, after it was revealed that a crematorium contracted by the military handles both human and animal cremations. A military official said there have been no instances or charges that human and pet remains were mixed. But officials are now recommending that troops'...

Those of us who don't study bugs are just laboring under false illusions, apparently. An excerpt from CBC radio's Quirks and Quarks program, which is downloadable: "There are plenty of hypotheses about why the dinosaurs went extinct. The most popular is that an asteroid hit the Earth and created a cloud of debris that cooled the planet, leading to the dinosaurs' eventual demise. But that scenario...