inkbluesky

Prehistoric women had passion for fashion

“According to the figurines we found, young women were beautifully dressed, like today’s girls in short tops and mini skirts, and wore bracelets around their arms,” said archaeologist Julka Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic.

The unnamed tribe who lived between 5400 and 4700 BC in the 120-hectare site at what is now Plocnik knew about trade, handcrafts, art and metallurgy. Near the settlement, a thermal well might be evidence of Europe’s oldest spa.

“They pursued beauty and produced 60 different forms of wonderful pottery and figurines, not only to represent deities, but also out of pure enjoyment,” said Kuzmanovic.

They also produced toys for children, divided up daily chores, experimented with fabric, prepared their bedding with attention to comfort, were respectful of the disposal of human remains and used some very sophisticated metallurgical techniques. Sounds like a commune from the sixties. Maybe they should double check the carbon dating.

the way back

“Exxon’s happy. BP’s happy. I’ll sell my soul to the devil.”

When the FBI came looking for corruption in Alaska politics, it found an excellent perch in Suite 604 of the Baranof Hotel in Juneau, the state capital. There, a profane septuagenarian named Bill Allen did business throughout a 2006 special session called to set taxes on the oil industry. With hundred-dollar bills in his front pocket for ease of access when lawmakers turned up with their hands out, the oil-services company executive turned in a bravura performance before the pinhole camera that federal agents installed opposite his favorite chair.

“Let me count first here,” Allen said, shushing a former statehouse speaker as he counted out a bribe in video footage entered as evidence in the lawmaker’s September trial, one of several crowding the docket of the federal court here.

On another tape, Pete Kott, the former Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, crowed as he described beating back a tax bill opposed by oil companies. “I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie,” Kott said. “Exxon’s happy. BP’s happy. I’ll sell my soul to the devil.”

“Well, that will stay in this room,” one lobbyist said as a midnight session wound down.

It did not, of course. Since breaking into public view a year ago when federal agents raided lawmakers’ offices and homes — finding $32,200 neatly stacked in a closet of Kott’s condo — the federal probe has produced four indictments, three convictions, three guilty pleas and a rapt audience keen to see how high into Alaska’s political hierarchy the rot reaches.

Strict rules of golf or logic or whatever there’s no way to prove it, but I wonder if the Conservative proclivity for jumping whole hog into corruption isn’t connected to their obsession with dogma. Not to be confused with just believing in a deity. While the Old Testament is clearly adamant about the sin of stealing, the dogmatists are supposedly all about Jesus. Sure they broke a commandment or two or three on a regular basis, but the big guy’s son will forgive all their earthly sins. Makes for a nice rationale for their head spinning world of situational ethics.”I’ll sell my soul to the devil.”, words said to a lobbyist suggests very worldly concerns, but also that he isn’t too concerned about what he does in this life. Like the Conservative bumper sticker that says, “Christians aren’t perfect just forgiven”. A dangerous idea where one doesn’t have to do much wrestling with virtue, the occupant has an admission ticket all lined regardless of their actions.