Greetings, Earthlings!

I come in peace.

Actually, I come and go, in peace. I'm at a fiction writing workshop for part of this week, so this is me, not posting regularly. Sorry about that, expect to see more of me soonish.

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article on The Iraq War and the Politics of Grief.

Gaza pullout resulting in strife -- gee, big surprise there. Soldiers clash with Gaza settlers

Why a threat today?

Why is Cindy Sheehan a Threat to George on Thursday, but Not Today?, by Amy Branham.

For the last couple of days I have been hearing that Cindy Sheehan will be considered a threat to national security if she does not leave her post by Thursday. At this point, it’s important to ask: why Thursday? Why is Cindy not a threat today or tomorrow? Why wasn't she considered a threat to national security Saturday when we first marched out to the ranch? What is the difference between Thursday and now?

Branham goes on to explain -- because the president is leaving Crawford today, and he'll have to drive past Cindy Sheehan to do it.

Beautiful Quote

From Assorted Ramblings of Gwen's Petty, Judgmental, Evil Thoughts:

So I posted bad thoughts about that, but then I went back and erased them. Screw those people and the sour grapes they rode in on, you know? Lately I've been making a really forceful attempt to be less angry. (Can you tell? No? Die and go to hell, then.)

That just totally cracked me up.

Fortified Peanut Butter in Nigeria

Hope for Hungry Children, Arriving in a Foil Packet

A fortified peanut butter nutritional supplement is saving the lives of starving Nigerian children.

The use of this supplement not only saves the kids themselves, but frees doctors up to tend those suffering other illnesses.

Traditionally, malnourishment meant hospitalization and fortified milk. Plumpy'nut can be given to mom and fed to the child at home, which means fewer beds and medical resources taken up by starving children. Plus, Plumpy'nut can be manufactured relatively locally.

One of the virtues of Plumpy'nut is that it can be made almost anywhere with local materials and a slurry of vitamins and minerals prepared by Nutriset. Versions of the same product are being manufactured in Malawi and in Niger's capital, Niamey, and Nutriset has welcomed the notion of local partners - from charities to women's groups - who might make Plumpy'nut under license or even as franchisees.

Do you see what that means? Not only can children be fed, but so can a local economy.

Pre-Approved for Terrorism, No Waiting!

Bruce Schneier articulates so much better than I have why these 'pre-approved' programs are a bad idea.

Orlando Airport's CLEAR Program

...the only purpose of [this verified identity] card is to divide people into two lines -- a fast line and a slow line, a "search less" line and a "search more" line, or whatever....

The reality is that the existence of the card creates a third, and very dangerous, category: bad guys with the card. Timothy McVeigh would have been able to get one of these cards. The DC sniper and the Unabomber would have been able to get this card. Any terrorist mole who hasn't done anything yet and is being saved for something big would be able to get this card. Some of the 9/11 terrorists would have been able to get this card. These are people who are deemed trustworthy by the system even though they are not. [Emphasis added.]

And even worse, the system lets terrorists test the system beforehand. Imagine you're in a terrorist cell. Twelve of you apply for the card, but only four of you get it. Those four not only have a card that lets them go through the easy line at security checkpoints; they also know that they're not on any terrorist watch lists. Which four do you think will be going on the mission? By "pre-approving" trust, you're building a system that is easier to exploit.

Downing Street Memo

These Are The Crimes That Try Men's Souls

...a leaked memo from Downing Street finally confirmed that Bush fabricated the entire war. On May 5th, 88 members of Congress signed a letter that gives the president a chance to explain himself.

British Intelligence Warned of Iraq War: Blair Was Told of White House's Determination to Use Military Against Hussein

"Military action was now seen as inevitable," said the notes, summarizing a report by Richard Dearlove, then head of MI6, British intelligence, who had just returned from consultations in Washington along with other senior British officials. Dearlove went on, "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

I just keep stumbling every time I read that word, "fixed". It's just so this Administration. "We don't like the real world, so we'll live in a pretend one, instead, where Saddam had WMDs and was behind those planes on September 11, 2001". Well, he didn't. And, he wasn't. And we invaded his country, deposed him, and installed -- let's be honest -- something remarkably like a puppet government, as his replacement.

That's freedom on the march, baby.

What the Hell: A Music Meme

Last week, someone tagged Medley with a song meme, and now that I'm back from Ireland, I thought I'd foist on you all what I've been listening to.

Sliabh Notes -- heard them in person in Galway, bought a CD in Doolin. I love the song "Galway", which I also heard them perform live. That's a beautiful song. And the Galway Sessions -- two weeks of music, music, music -- was just amazing as a whole.

Andy Irvine and Paul Brady -- bought on the shopkeeper's recommendation in Doolin. Definitely a good choice.

A couple of collections of 'essential Irish music' -- pub songs to instrumental airs.

George Michael's Listen Without Prejudice, vol 1 -- a fantastic album, especially Praying for Time and They Won't Go When I Go.

And I'm about to go hunting for the minidisc with 4 songs on it by Bright Eyes, because I could use some of that right about now.

While I was *in* Ireland, I listened to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, a mix of Hot Topic bands that I put together last year, and Ottmar Liebert (flamenco), all on my minidisc player -- I only brought 4 discs, and one (some bluesy stuff) I never listened to at all. And I listened to the Sliabh Notes album, but I had to borrow W's CD player and adapter to do that.

But, since I can't listen to people singing and study at the same time, I mostly had to stick to the LOTR and flamenco.

It's Still Not Science

But Is It Intelligent?

Fanning the Controversy Over 'Intelligent Design'

I don't have anything new to say about 'intelligent design' today, I've blogged about this subject before:

Science is a method of asking questions based on observations, predicting behaviours, and testing if those behaviours occur. Science is not a thing, it is a process of analyzing the world we live in.

Go ahead, teach ID -- please. But teach it as philosophy or theology or something else, because unless you can make predictions based on intelligent design and then test those predictions, you are not doing science and you should not be teaching it in a science class.

This Novak Walking Off The Set Thing

There's just no visible motive. I've seen the clip -- they weren't yelling, really. I've read the transcript:

HENRY: And the "Strategy Session" continues on INSIDE POLITICS. Still here: James Carville and Robert Novak.

Katherine Harris made a name for her self during the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential race. She was then Florida's secretary of state. She went on to the House of Representatives.

Now she wants to move over to the United States Senate. Today she got the news that the speaker of the Florida House won't challenge her for the Republican nomination. In the meantime, Harris is blaming unnamed newspapers for tarnishing her image by doctoring her makeup with Photoshop. -- that computer program. Bob Novak, have you been investigating this make-up story?

NOVAK: No, but I've had the same experience that she did. A lot of my trouble in the world is that they've doctored my make-up and colorized me in a lot of newspapers on my picture. So, I sympathize with her.

HENRY: This is breaking news. I've haven't heard this.

CARVILLE: Breaking news. Who did it? What paper?

NOVAK: Well, I don't. I can't tell you.

CARVILLE: Yes. You know the two happiest people in America today about this decision, is Bill Nelson and Jay Leno. I mean --

HENRY: Bill Nelson the Democratic Senator.

CARVILLE: The Democratic Senator and Jay Leno. That -- I mean, they're going to go nuts over this. They're messing with my make-up, but you really don't know who it is. I mean, let's say this: She's going to be good for the humor circuit. She's going to be good for the speech circuit and she's good for a lot. And I think that Nelson -- I think, it's probably no secret that the White House wanted the speaker to run and I suspect that the Nelson people are, you know, feeling pretty good here today.

NOVAK: A couple of points here: The first place, don't be too sure she's going to lose. All the establishment's against her and I've seen these Republican -- anti-establishment candidates who do pretty well. Ronald Reagan, I guarantee you that the establishment wasn't for him. We just elected a senator from Oklahoma, Senator Tom Coburn, everybody in the establishment was against him. She might get elected -- So, wait. Just let me finish what I'm going to say, James. Please, I know you hate to hear me, but you have...

CARVILLE: He's got to show these right wingers that he's got backbone, you know. It's why The Wall Street Journal editorial page is watching you. Show 'em you're tough.

NOVAK: Well, I think that's bullshit. And I hate that. Just let it go.

(Novak leaves set.) HENRY: OK. James, what do you think though, seriously about this Senate race, James, that the -- that basically the Katherine Harris and Bill Nelson, if they do square off, what do you think -- what will that mean for Bill Nelson? He's considered an endangered incumbent.[...]

He just gets up and leaves. I mean, Novak and Carville weren't even in each other's faces. That's what surprised me. Where's the impetus to get up and leave? What the hell was that?

Not that I care, much, except that Novak is the guy who ought to be strung up and vigorously sued if not held criminally liable for outing CIA agents and stuff.

US To Play Shell Game With GTMO Prisoners

Just sounded cooler that way. Possibly more true, too.

US aims to empty Cuba terrorist camp by 70%

The Bush administration is negotiating the transfer of nearly 70 percent of the detainees at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to three countries as part of a plan to share the burden of keeping suspected terrorists behind bars.

You know, the only burden this is going to reduce is that now the US can express horror and dismay at the treatment of prisoners in some other country's prison, as opposed to one of our own.

I Blame the Patriarchy

You should, too.

The current craze for pretending that certain kinds of knowledge do not exist, for the purpose of promulgating antediluvian godbag superstitions about “Baby Jesus” or “Creation” or “The Virgin Mary,” is chapping my hide almost as hard as the current infestation of Austin-based singer-songwriters who continue to employ the overwrought phrase “I’m down on my knees!” and then rhyming it with “please” (but never “cheese”) in their trite masterworks, and that goes double if the singer-songwriter also tries to yodel. The godbags are completely insane with no hope of a cure, sure, but one could argue that it’s because they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and now can’t help it. Whereas lame poetry accompanied by acoustic guitars is an entirely preventable atrocity. What’s more, it’s never art, and it’s rarely entertainment, and of course yodeling should never be attempted by anyone whose cousin is not also her brother.

Sheer poetry. Of the good variety.

I also love Shakespeare's Sister, who you should go read right now, especially when she lays the smack down on Christians Who Support President "Liar Liar Pants on Fire" Bush.

This is what will always irritate me about conservative Christians who adore Bush. They genuinely don’t seem to care that he constantly behaves in unchristian ways. They genuinely don’t seem to care that he doesn’t even attend church regularly. Their biggest concern seems to be that he “isn’t afraid to show” that he believes in God, which isn’t even an honest claim; he isn’t afraid to say he believes in God. He, in reality, does precious little to show it.

Art Prankster Goes after Israel's new 'Berlin Wall'

Art prankster sprays Israeli wall

I like this guy.

GTMO Prosecutors Quit In Protest

Gitmo prosecutors quit in protest

...two Gitmo prosecutors quit in protest, accusing fellow lawyers of "ignoring torture allegations, failing to protect exculpatory evidence and withholding information from superiors"...

Don't tell me it's a fecking tropical paradise, Dick.

Two quit jobs as Gitmo
tribunal prosecutors

The Pentagon acknowledged on Monday that two former members of the military team handling prosecutions of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba, had alleged last year that the trial system was rigged in favor of the government.

Downing Street, Joe Wilson, and Rove, oh my

Help Rep. Babara Lee's inquiry into the Downing Street memo

Congresswoman Barbara Lee and 29 co-sponsors are backing a Resolution of Inquiry which, if passed, will require the White House and the State Department to "transmit all information relating to communication with officials of the United Kingdom between January 1, 2002, and October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq."

Thompson, dems seeks information around Downing Street memo

"In addition, since the May 1 story in the Sunday London Times, seven additional documents have been leaked to the press," the letter reads. "Collectively, the documents present serious questions as to whether intelligence was manipulated and whether officials in both the U.S. and Britain misled the public as to whether military action in Iraq was really the last resort as both nations purported to be the case."

Truth, kids. That's aaaaalllll I'm asking for.

And while we're talking about manipulating intelligence, how about that Karl Rove?

Karl Rove in deep do-do? The man who always ends up smellin’ rosy "[O]ver the years Rove has been charged with more than just loose lips".

Bush: Rove has 'my compete confidence' despite leak

Bush said last month that he would fire anyone found to have acted illegally in the case, but critics accused him of lowering the "ethics bar." Bush and his aides have at times in the past been broader in saying that those involved in the leak would face consequences.

You know, I don't normally notice bias in the media, but that was the softest way possible to say "Bush had previously stated 'We must remember the high standards that come with high office', and is now backpedaling by saying well, if someone gets convicted maybe we'll fire 'em".

“Bush warned that he expected his White House staff to meet the highest ethical standards, avoiding not only violations of law, but even the appearance of impropriety.”

“”We must remember the high standards that come with high office,” he said. “This begins careful adherence with the rules. I expect every member of this administration to stay well within the boundaries [that] define legal and ethical conduct.”

Oh, I live for the day.

The Sound of Silence

The resounding silence of this blog has been due to several factors, mostly interconnected:

* the death of our father, J.C. Stith. That's the twin 'we'.
* the attendant traveling almost exactly halfway around the world to say goodbye.
* the coming back.
* the resultant jetlag. Oh, dear, the jetlag.
* the complete lack of caring about anything other than my own personal issues right now, up to and including the song-and-dance Distraction Show called The Nomination of Roberts. (What's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan right now? What's 'Bush's Brain' doing right now, hmmm? Are the American people being distracted?)
* the trying to stay caught up for my last week of summer school.

I've come to the conclusion that human beings are not meant to travel so far, so fast. We should be on slow boats to wherever we go, so that the difference between sunrise and sunset is minimal, every day.