Schwa.

sa-weet! I just done playing me a bluegrassy Norwegian Wood and i gets me a recruit....and it sorta goes without saying, but bring that 12 string, i love playing that thing

Canada reopens its "most disgraceful" act OTTAWA (Reuters) - After decades of foot-dragging, Canada is finally about to take a close look at what one aboriginal leader calls "the single most disgraceful, harmful and racist act in our history." From the 1870s to the 1970s, around 150,000 native Indian children were forcibly removed from their parents and sent to distant residential schools, where many say they were abused mentally, physically and sexually. Conditions in the schools -- run by various churches on behalf of the government -- were sometimes dire. Contemporary accounts suggest up to half the children in some institutions died of tuberculosis. One prominent academic calls what happened a genocide, yet for many years few Canadians knew what had happened. Now, for the first time, the mainstream population will be learning a lot more about what was done in its name. As part of a C$1.9 billion ($1.9 billion) settlement between Ottawa and the 90,000 school survivors in May 2006 that ended years of law suits, a truth and reconciliation commission is set to start work on June 1. The commission, which has a life span of five years, will travel across Canada and hold public hearings on the abuses. "You have to get the truth out ... it seems impossible today but it's real, it happened," said federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl. Native leaders hope the commission -- to be headed by aboriginal Judge Harry LaForme -- will help improve ties between the largely marginalized one million native population and the rest of the 32 million people in Canada. "I don't say that this is going to be a magic wand and everybody is going to feel good when this is over. But we do know there is a healing component to that sort of process," LaForme told Reuters. Government officials at the time said the schools were supposed to educate native children. The other aim was to assimilate aboriginal peoples and crush their cultures. Duncan Campbell Scott, a senior government bureaucrat dealing with aboriginal matters, declared in 1920 that "I want to get rid of the Indian problem. He added: "Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic." Children in the schools were called pigs and dogs. Teachers beat them if they used their own languages and told them they would go to hell unless they converted to Christianity. Many parents never saw their sons and daughters again. Survivors often took to drugs and alcohol to dim the pain. Although Canada spends around C$10 billion a year on the aboriginal population, many serious problems remain. Native leaders say the destructive legacy of the schools helps explain the lamentable living conditions, poor health and high crime levels that many face today. "I think Canadians will have a better appreciation of why we have become so stereotyped -- that we're lazy, or losers, or drunkards, or whatever. (This) resulted from a very destructive, oppressive colonization of aboriginal people," said Chief Robert Joseph. Critics, noting the commission will not have subpoena powers, say it will not make much of a difference. Roland Chrisjohn at the University of St. Thomas in New Brunswick says Ottawa must first admit that taking children from their parents and giving them to outsiders constituted an act of genocide. "Residential schools were about destroying our political systems, destroying our religious systems, destroying our communities, our cultures, our livelihood ... they largely succeeded," Chrisjohn said. The churches are suitably contrite. Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, says religious authorities tried to "socialize and Christianize" aboriginal peoples. "We failed them, we failed ourselves, we failed God. We failed because of our racism and because of the belief that white ways were superior to aboriginal ways," he said. (For more details about the schools, click on http://www.wherearethechildren.ca/en/home.html) Ted Quewezance, executive director of the National Residential School Survivors' Society, is confident the commission will help efforts at reconciliation. Quewezance told Reuters he was abused physically and sexually during seven years at a school. When asked how he coped with the memories, he replied: "You just live with it, that's all." The residential schools scandal has strong parallels with what happened at the same time in Australia, where at least 100,000 aboriginal children were removed from their parents for a variety of reasons. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to the "Stolen Generations" in February. The United States also ran boarding schools for aboriginal Americans, but on a smaller scale. Strahl concedes there is a danger that years of public testimony about abuse could cause resentment among the mainstream population. "It's a two-edged sword ... the commissioners are going to be extremely important to make sure that it doesn't just become a bashing exercise, one way or the other," he said. And no one can tell whether Canadians will pay much attention to the hearings. Native leaders have long complained about what they say is a widespread ignorance of and indifference to the aboriginal population. "If they don't listen it will be a tragedy. I think once and for all we, as aboriginal people, will be certain that Canadians simply dismiss us as nothing important ... that would be the worst insult of all," said Joseph. For now, the official tone is one of optimism, especially since Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet a key aboriginal demand on June 11 when he stands up in Parliament and formally apologizes to school survivors. LaForme says that if all goes to plan "we will be able to say, in the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, we have looked the beast in the eye. We have come to terms with our horrendous past and it will no longer keep us hostage."

i think he meant Keri Kennedy, Kev.

I still: ~Love the band Phish and the music they made. For me to say that chapter has ended and i don't listen them anymore would be the same as MarcO or Morgan saying they don't listen to the Dead anymore (and i know they do ) ~Play Phish Albums and Concerts all the time (once a week or so) because i still can't find anything better. ~Want Phish to reunite. No one out there can say with any certainty that Phish is dead. Sure they're not the same band as they were, but i don't hear anyone complaining about Phil and Friends playing Viola Lee Blues, a song they began playing in the 60's that they didn't even write themselves in the first place. ~Believe i'm not the same person as before as Punky mentioned, but i'm A LOT wiser and i've found that over the years this has helped me to enjoy my concert experiences even more. There is something to be said about better planning and preparedness....fuck, i don't even really remember my first 2 Phish shows...only driving to them. ~Think Trey has a lot of creativity in him and with the right ensemble can blow anyone out of the water with his music, he just needs to stop feeling pressured to make the music and let it flow out of him like it seemed to so many years ago. Here's hoping

ha, i just read that this has 163,000 views on the "tube" A real shame (comedy-wise) it didn't break when he raised it over his head

Live in the NOW Punky, live in the NOW!! I would not try to recreate anything, but to simply create new experiences. As hard as it is not to remember how it 'used to be' and compare i'd still have an amazing time and maybe even cry a little

Not sure what i was smoking when i said there was no vending for this fest cuz there was a ton....no glass but lots of other stuff. Sorry BK. Getting close...

BEEEEEYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU!

::starts saving money:: I'll make the reservaaaaaatiiiooooonnnnnnn!!! HA, good times in Cinci

sorry Trogmeister

i heard it was sold out.

Very interesting and confirms a lot of what we all already suspected. A bit of a long read but worth it. Scott McClellan's Confession May 28, 2008 10:46 a.m. Scott McClellan worked as a loyal press spokesman for George W. Bush for eight years, ultimately becoming White House Press Secretary . He resigned from that position in 2006, in the wake of the controversy over the Valerie Plame leak scandal. In his new book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," he offers a harshly critical portrait of the president and his administration. Going to war in Iraq was a mistake, he concludes. But an even more fundamental mistake was the administration's decision "to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed." What follows are excerpts from his book: [image] As press secretary, I spent countless hours defending the administration from the podium in the White House briefing room. Although the things I said then were sincere, I have since come to realize that some of them were badly misguided. In these pages, I've tried to come to grips with some of the truths that life inside the White House bubble obscured. My friends and former colleagues who lived and worked or are still working inside that bubble may not be happy with the perspective I present here. Many of them, I'm sure, remain convinced that the Bush administration has been fundamentally correct in its most controversial policy judgments, and that the dis-esteem in which most Americans currently hold it is undeserved. Only time will tell. But I've become genuinely convinced otherwise. * * * Most of our elected leaders in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike, are good, decent people. Yet too many of them today have made a practice of shunning truth and the high level of openness and forthrightness required to discover it. Most of it is not willful or conscious. Rather, it is part of the modern Washington game that has become the accepted norm. As I explain in this book, Washington has become the home of the permanent campaign, a game of endless politicking based on the manipulation of shades of truth, partial truths, twisting of the truth, and spin. Governing has become an appendage of politics rather than the other way around, with electoral victory and the control of power as the sole measures of success. That means shaping the narrative before it shapes you. Candor and honesty are pushed to the side in the battle to win the latest news cycle… Ironically, much of Bush's campaign rhetoric (in 1999-200) had been aimed at distancing himself from the excesses of Clinton's permanent campaign style of governing. The implicit meaning of Bush's words was that he would bring an end to the perpetual politicking and deep partisan divisions it created. Although Washington could not get enough of the permanent campaign, voters were seemingly eager to move beyond it. Bush emphasized this sentiment during the campaign. He would "change the tone in Washington." He would be "a uniter, not a divider." He would "restore honor and dignity to the White House." He would govern based on what was right, not what the polls said. He would, in short, replace the cynicism of the 1990s with a new era of civility, decency, and hope. There would be no more permanent campaign, or at least its excesses would be wiped away for good. But the reality proved to be something quite different. Instead, the Bush team imitated some of the worst qualities of the Clinton White House and even took them to new depths. Bush did not emulate Clinton on the policy front. Just the opposite – the mantra of the new administration was "anything but Clinton" when it came to policies. The Bush administration prided itself in focusing on big ideas, not playing small ball with worthy but essentially trivial policy ideas for a White House, like introducing school uniforms or going after deadbeat dads. But a significant aspect of the Clinton presidency that George W. Bush and his advisers did embrace was the unprecedented pervasiveness of the permanent campaign and all its tactics. In hindsight, it is clear that the Bush White House was actually structured to emulate and extend this method of governing, albeit in its own way. The most obvious evidence that the Bush White House embraced the permanent campaign is the expansive political operation that was put in place from day one. Chief political strategist Karl Rove was given an enormous center of influence within the white House from the outset. This was only strengthened by Rove's force of personality and closeness to the president. * * * The permanent campaign also ensnares the media, who become complicit enablers of its polarizing effects. They emphasize conflict, controversy and negativity, focusing not on the real-world impact of policies and their larger, underlying truths but on the horse race aspects of politics – who's winning, who's losing, and why… The press amplifies the talking points of one or both parties in its coverage, thereby spreading distortions, half-truths, and occasionally outright lies in an effort to seize the limelight and have something or someone to pick on. And by overemphasizing conflict and controversy and by reducing complex and important issues to convenient, black-and-white story lines and seven-second sound bites the media exacerbate the problem, thereby making it incredibly hard even for well-intentioned leaders to clarify and correct the misunderstandings and oversimplifications that dominate the political conversation. Finally, it becomes much more difficult for the general public to decipher the more important truths amid all the conflict, controversy and negativity. For some partisans, that is fine because they believe they can maneuver better in such a highly politicized environment to accomplish their objectives. But the destructive potential of such excessively partisan warfare would later crystallize my thinking. * * * When Bush was making up his mind to pursue regime change in Iraq, it is clear that his national security team did little to slow him down, to help him fully understand the tinderbox he was opening and the potential risks in doing so. I know the president pretty well. I believe that, if he had been given a crystal ball in which he could have foreseen the costs of war – more than 4,000 American troops killed, 30,000 injured, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens dead – he would have never made the decision to invade, despite what he might say or feel he has to say publicly. And though no one has a crystal ball, it's not asking too much that a well-considered understanding of the circumstances and history of Iraq and the Middle East should have been brought into the decision-making process. The responsibility to provide this understanding belonged to the president's advisers, and they failed to fulfill it. Secretary of State Colin Powell was apparently the only adviser who even tried to raise doubts about the wisdom of war. The rest of the foreign policy team seemed to be preoccupied with regime change or, in the case of Condi Rice, seemingly more interested in accommodating the president's instincts and ideas than in questioning them or educating him. An even more fundamental problem was the way his advisers decided to pursue a political propaganda campaign to sell the war to the American people. It was all part of the way the White House operated and Washington functioned, and no one seemed to see any problem with using such an approach on an issue as grave as war. A pro-war campaign might have been more acceptable had it been accompanied by a high level of candor and honesty, but it was not. Most of the arguments used – especially those stated in prepared remarks by the president and in forums like Powell's presentation at the UN Security Council in February 2003 – were carefully vetted and capable of being substantiated. But as the campaign accelerated, caveats and qualifications were downplayed or dropped altogether. Contradictory intelligence was largely ignored or simply disregarded. Evidence based on high confidence from the intelligence community was lumped together with intelligence of lesser confidence. A nuclear threat was added to the biological and chemical threats to create a greater sense of gravity and urgency. Support for terrorism was given greater weight by playing up a dubious al Qaeda connection to Iraq. When it was all packaged together, the case constituted a "grave and gathering danger" that needed to be dealt with urgently. * * * To this day, the president seems unbothered by the disconnect between the chief rationale for the war and the driving motivation behind it, and unconcerned about how the case was packaged. The policy is the right one and history will judge it so, once a free Iraq is firmly in place and the Middle East begins to become more democratic. Bush clung to the same belief during an interview with Tim Russert of NBC News in early February 2004. The Meet the Press host asked, "In light of not finding the weapons of mass destruction, do you believe the war in Iraq is a war of choice or a war of necessity? " The president said, "That's an interesting question. Please elaborate on that a bit. A war of choice or a war of necessity? It's a war of necessity. In my judgment, we had no choice, when we look at the intelligence I looked at, that says the man was a threat." I remember talking to the president about this question following the interview. He seemed puzzled and asked me what Russert was getting at with the question. This, in turn, puzzled me. Surely this distinction between a necessary, unavoidable war and a war that the United States could have avoided but chose to wage was an obvious one that Bush must have thought about in the months before the invasion. Evidently it wasn't obvious to the president, nor did his national security team make sure it was. He set the policy early on and then his team focused his attention on how to sell it. It strikes me today as an indication of his lack of inquisitiveness and his detrimental resistance to reflection, something his advisers needed to compensate for better than they did. Most objective observers today would say that in 2003 there was no urgent need to address the threat posed by Saddam with a large-scale invasion, and therefore the war was not necessary. But this is a question President Bush seems not to want to grapple with. * * * I still like and admire George W. Bush. I consider him a fundamentally decent person, and I do not believe he or his White House deliberately or consciously sought to deceive the American people. But he and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war. Had a high level of openness and forthrightness been embraced from the outset of his administration, I believe President Bush's public standing would be stronger today. His approval ratings have remained at historic lows for so long because both qualities have been lacking to this day. In this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security. All the president can do today is hope that his vision of Iraq will ultimately come true, putting the Middle East on a new path and vindicating his decision to go to war. I would welcome such a development as good for America, good for Iraq, and good for the world. Bush knows that posterity has a way of rewarding success over candor and honesty. But as history moves to render its judgment in the coming years and decades, we can't gloss over the hard truths this book has sought to address and the lessons we can learn from understanding them better. Allowing the permanent campaign culture to remain in control may not take us into another unnecessary war, but it will continue to limit the opportunity for careful deliberation, bipartisan compromise, and meaningful solutions to the major problems all Americans want to see solved.

Screaming "I'm missin Scratch Bastid!!" Gold

342. Songs by artists whose daughters have gone on to be notable musicians or singers **No family may be mentioned more than once, unless going from parent> daughter and then from daughter> (grand)daughter... so you can't pick a song by June Carter because Roseanne and Johnny have already been used.** 1. Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line (Roseanne Cash) 2. Willy Nelson - Playmate (duo with his daughter) 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

oh man, that would be so sweet if i got mine this week.

editted, thanks buddy.

Absolutely not. Stapes and I caught the tail end of his set at Langerado and aside from the content (preachy) he was fucking smokin'.

@ Jane Bond - Waterloo Sunday, June 1 JON-RAE FLETCHER (of Jon-Rae & The River) special guest BA Johnson $7 at the door Door at 8 PM thanks NR

Can't, security already has my picture on file

noob! Nope, OLD!

fail.

Perhaps with the promise of NOT being there next time they show up