FEELING MORALLY, INTELLECTUALLY CONFUSED?
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views06/0831-31.htm

PERSONAL NEWS #104
Thursday, August 10th, was the monthly Tolkien/LOTRs meetup at Café La Fortuna on the upper Westside of Manhattan. Got off the subway at 6:55pm and as I’m walking on 71st Street, I noticed other people glancing westward at the sky. When I glanced over my shoulder, I was like oh geez, the sky was dark and nasty lookin. Quickened my pace and five minutes after arriving to café the rain came down in buckets with strong winds. Ordered some dinner and read my book [ie: essays on Tolkiens work] while waiting for others to join the meetup. After an hour I was hearing other diners, entering the café, say that many subways were not running due to flooding. When no one showed I figured it must have been due to weather and subways. [Later learned that was the case.] By the time I left at 8:45pm the main part of the nasty storm had passed. Still couldn’t utilize the 2 or 3 subway line due to flooding. So I had to take the C to the L and then a bus to get home.

On Sunday, August 13th, Jackie joined me in hanging out at Riverside Park [near West 72nd Street] around 3pm with views of the Hudson River. The weather was perfect that weekend with sunshine, no clouds and 80 degrees. Showed her the items I’d purchased from the recent ELF Convention in NJ. After about two hours or so we meandered over to Café la Fortuna at 6pm for dinner in the garden section. We spent a few hours discussing events, news, gossip and issues on immigration.

On Monday, August 14th, around 12 noon I attended my first NYDoP Marketing/PR meeting at Norma’s office. [Only a few blocks from my office in Times Square.] These meetings are in conjunction with our Gandhi/Sept 11th event.

I missed the first two meetings earlier in the month. I spent part of meeting catching up and rest of the time taking notes. My duties, regarding event PR is farming out the press release to media outlets and blogs. Those in attendance were Liz, Carol, Norma, Bonnie and Ken. Later on I had an appointment with my chiropractor to figure out why my left shoulder was in such discomfort. Learned I was suffering from nasty muscle spasms and not sure what cause them. After an examination came several different heat therapy treatments and adjusting of neck/back. My doctor informed me not to do upper body workout at gym until treatments were complete, but I could engage in cardio/stretching. Geez … it always seems to be something … most annoying!

Tuesday, August 15th, I helped out on the Tasini [above photo] campaign with several other volunteers down at South Ferry Terminal. One of the volunteers, Chris, calls us the “Street Team”. Over the course of an hour Chris, Jeremy and Katherine handed out 300 flyers. While Al and I hold up Tasini banners for all to see, plus discuss latest news or events.

P.S. Yes, I know, my bad in being behind on "personal news" ... working on getting it up to snuff very soon ... thank you for your patience.

BUMPER STICKER QUOTE OF THE DAY ... THE LAST TIME RELIGION CONTROLLED POLITICS, PEOPLE GOT BURNED AT THE STAKE