Thank you Sarah for linking to this speech that was recently given by Bill Moyers.

From the speech:

"I've always thought the American eagle needed a left wing and a right wing. The right wing would see to it that economic interests had their legitimate concerns addressed. The left wing would see to it that ordinary people were included in the bargain. Both would keep the great bird on course. But with two right wings or two left wings, it's no longer an eagle and it's going to crash."

another quote:

"An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only on partisan information and opinions that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda, is less inclined to put up a fight, to ask questions and be skeptical. That kind of orthodoxy can kill a democracy -- or worse."

and from the show, Now, on the evening when he wore a lapel pin of the American flag:

"So I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags in their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks, or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don't have to make it, or approve of bribing governments to join the coalition of the willing (after they first stash the cash.) I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us. The flag belongs to the country, not to the government. And it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war -- except in self-defense -- is a failure of moral imagination, political nerve, and diplomacy. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country."

Wow. (emphasis mine)

Update - already - to this post. My dear friend Kerstin has already linked to this speech in her sidebar. Her link is to a free site where you can read the entire speech! Yeah!

Look! My sockapalooza socks! This is the pair that I received in the exchange from Sharon. How cool that they were knit with hand-dyed, handspun wool. They are truly gorgeous.

I started working on these during my trip to Massachusetts back in March. The yarn is Lorna's Laces and is really pretty, but I'm just not *into* these socks. And I can't explain why. The texture is pretty interesting. I'll finish them eventually I guess.

Update!
A couple people have asked about the stitch pattern that I'm using on these socks.

I kind of made up the pattern - modifying one of the patterns from the stitch calendar.

In the round it goes like this:

R1: *K2, P1*
R2: *K1, slip1 with yarn in front, P1*
R3: *K2, P1*
R4: *slip1 with yarn in front, K1, P1*

That's the whole pattern. On the top of the instep, I start with one purl stitch, then follow the stitch pattern until the other side of the top of the foot. The bottom of the foot is all stockinette stitch.

And, because I'm trying to set a record for the same yarn and project showing up in multiple posts, here's some close-up stitches of the mittens made from the dudleyspinner roving. Perhaps I should have made a pillowcase out of this yarn so that I could lovingly rest my head on it at night?

One last picture from the herding clinic - a sweet shot of one of the cattle dog pups. I could have taken pictures of these puppies all day long they were so darn cute.

The Introduction to Herding Clinic was so much fun. Katy got to sniff her first sheep today and then spend two sessions working them. She did very nicely. She tried to bite the sheep a couple of times, but all in all she moved them quite well.

And the joy on her face after the first session was a beautiful thing to see. She loved working those sheep. L*O*V*E*D working those sheep!

We have the brave volunteers:

The adoring crowd (a pair of cattle dog pups):

Katy enters the practice paddock. She was handled by the lady who runs the clinics. I stood by and watched in amazement.

Each dog has a natural direction of travel around the sheep that feels most comfortable to them. Katy's was the "come bye" which is moving the sheep by traveling in the clockwise direction.

It's practically impossible to get a picture of her that's not a blur - her speed and intensity were such fun to watch.

Here the handler was slowing down the session (she was excellent in her handling of all of the dogs at the clinic - always being sure to end the session just as the dog had performed successfully):

And after a long hard day of herding, Katy sleeps and dreams of more sheep.

A new picture of the mittens made with the yarn spun from my dudleyspinner roving. Two mittens. Almost completed. When I knit a pair of mittens from the top down, there are three pairs of stitches between the body of the mitten and the thumb that I kitchener together. That's the last thing I have to do to finish these.

Tomorrow, I'm taking Katy to an Introduction to Herding Clinic. A couple of my friends have gone to the clinics and have had fun, so we're looking forward to it. Since an experienced handler will be working with her I hope to get to take some pictures of Katy in the ring with some sheep. This is gonna be good!

Miss Ellie doesn't get to go to the herding clinic. Poor baby. But she did get to go and watch two agility classes tonight and practice being quiet in her crate. She was a star and barely barked or whined the whole time - even while I was working with other dogs! What a good girl.

Some beautifully dyed fiber that I bought over at Hello Yarn. I love the way the colors of the fiber look beside the hostas.

Katy, doing her best to reek havoc in my backyard. After digging the dirt out of this planter, she proceeded to go and dig the water out of her water bowl. Because if there isn't any naturally occuring mud in the yard, there's no reason why one shouldn't just make their own personal batch.

Ellie, the innocent bystander.

Wondering if I can get any more entry mileage out of this yarn?

After coming back from my trip to Canada, I seem to have misplaced not one, but two battery chargers. These are the AA chargers that I use for my camera batteries. I could go buy some batteries, but I feel that I should find the chargers so that I can use the four sets of re-chargable AAs that I already have. Until my camera is back in business, I'm searching through my archives for some kind of visual stimulation!

In the meantime, here's something that's pretty cool. It's a watercolor demo put together by Lori Rase Hall. I think it's a nice documentation of her process. I've bought her notecards and one of her paintings for a special present. She also has a blog where she posts recipes and pictures of her gorgeous garden.