"A local executive does not possess that authorit y"

-- From a very very quick skim of the opinion(s).

CA Supreme Court says Newsom was wrong to disregard CA statute unconstitutional, since the court had not actually admitted the statute to be unconstitutional.

Local officials are directed to uphold the statute barring gay marriage until or unless the statute is determined to be unconstitutional (by a court...not a local executive).

The marriages performed between same-sex partners have been annulled.

Fear is a Noun and a Verb

Today, I'm going to tell a short parable about fear.

In two days, I'll be getting on a jet plane to fly across the country. With two cats. And I am afraid.

What am I afraid of? I am afraid overzealous security personnel at the airport will inadvertantly release one or more of my cats from their carriers, thereby giving me a heart attack and killing me.

I am afraid overzealous airline personnel will refuse to let me board, leaving me trapped at one of the world's busiest aiports in the middle of the night, with two cats, thereby giving me a heart attack and killing me.

What I am not afraid of:

Flying on a jet plane in a post-9/11 world.

Being in an airport in a post-9/11 world.

Arriving jetlagged.

Starting law school.

Terrorists.

The uses of fear, for me, however, are many. Fear keeps me on my toes. As an expert contingency planner, my fear reminds me to plan ahead and be prepared. I have my contingency plan(s) lined up. (I won't need them. Nothing bad will happen. I am prepared nonetheless. This is who I am. This is what I do.) I have never let my fear stop me from doing or being or achieving. (My fear will not stop me from getting on that jet plane. With two cats.)

This seems to be good advice for the Bush Administration. Fear is only useful when it goads you to do something useful.

Color-coded terror alerts, by way of example, do not seem to foot that bill. They are, in fact, quite aptly named. They make you worry, make you fear, but don't offer you the opportunity to do anything constructive.

Terror Alert -- an alert designed to foster terror.

Yes. Yes they are.

Hey! There's Hope For Me, Yet!

Not that I worry about being prone to Alzheimer's in particular or anything, but losing my mind is just about the worst way to go I can imagine.

Work 'may ward off Alzheimer's'

...previous studies have indicated that keeping the brain active can protect against Alzheimer's.

Research published last year suggested that dancing, playing musical instruments, reading and playing board games can all reduce the risks of developing the disease.

Dr Kathleen Smyth, who was involved in this latest study, said mentally demanding jobs may boost brain activity and help it to fight against Alzheimer's.

Hm!

September 'National Preparedness Month'

http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2004_08_08.html#001686

This is transparently a continuation of the Bush campaign by other means, financed with everyone's tax dollars, out of funds that could be used, say, to hire more actual first-responders, Pushtun translators, or troops to replace the exhausted guardsmen.

If this September is NPM -- what have all the other months since September 11, 2001 been? The warm-up act?

Bush Admin. F**ks Up, Again

Unmasking of Qaeda Mole a U.S. Security Blunder-Experts

...working under cover to help the authorities track down al Qaeda militants in Britain and the United States when his name appeared in U.S. newspapers.

"The whole thing smacks of either incompetence or worse,"

Um, yeah.

Alternate History

Alternate History: The Cincinnati

What if things had gone differently? What if the Founders had taken as their model not late eighteenth-century Britain, but that other great example of good government: the Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire, in which each Emperor "adopted" the leading military politician of the next generation as his successor?

I just thought it was cool.

(Actually, I thought, Brad! Thanks! That gives me an idea for a story. )

True, *and* funny!

Bush says his administration will "never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people."

Laughing and crying...

Niger Story Cracking Open

Want to know how forged documents about Nigerian uranium wound up in US hands? Josh Marshall tells us the forged documents were deliberately released by an Italian intelligence officer.

in late June there was a piece in the Financial Times which alleged various evidence for the proposition that Iraq had in fact sought to purchase uranium from Niger. The story also suggested that the 'security consultant' was himself the likely forger of the documents and that this 'scam' had only served to obscure the real evidence of the sale of uranium to Iraq.

...You’ll remember that most of the papers in the bundle of Niger-uranium documents that arrived at the US Embassy in Rome were actually authentic. It was only a subset of the documents --- those specifically related to the alleged Niger-Iraq transactions and a couple others --- that were bogus.

In late 2001, the SISMI officer brought the Niger Embassy employee a packet of documents --- those later identified as forgeries --- and instructed her to slip them in with the other documents she was providing to the ‘security consultant’ on an on-going basis.

She mixed those documents in with authentic documents which she had access to in the course of her work at the embassy. She then passed those documents --- again, a mix of authentic and forged ones --- to the ‘security consultant’. [to be sold to other intelligence agencies and the press]

Presidential Ad Campaigns

The Living Room President.

How neat! Presidential compaign commercials since 1952, thanks to the American Museum of the Moving Image.

(Hat off to Crooked Timber, for the tip!)

One Pair Socks

Took forever to knit, but that's just me.

One pair socks, knitted with Caron Dazzleaire yarn. Or Wintuk. Pale, creamy color, on something like size 4 needles. 36 sts in the round at the ankle, and a little chevron texture design on the heel. I putzed around with the toe, and did one as a star toe, the other something out of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears.

First sock...oh, May? Second sock, cast on, knit, and finished in one weekend, during the same weekend my apartment (filled with boxes) ceased to be my apartment.

Multi-tasking good.

Still working on the blue cotton tank!

Bush Would've Gone In Anyway

I just listened to President George W. Bush say, "Knowing what I know today, we still would have gone on into Iraq" [referring to the WMDs we've failed to find], in response to a question from a reporter in today's Rose Garden press conference.

The President went on to explain that although Saddam may not have had WMDs, he had the capability to make them.

Every nation has the capability to *make* weapons of mass destruction. Maybe they have money. Or they know a guy who knows a guy. Or they have a chemist.

Blankets with smallpox were a very effective weapon of mass destruction during the settlement of North America. Does this mean every nation with doctors is a threat to the U.S.?


(Edited later to clean up quote after transcript available instead of just my memory.)

Permafrost melting in Alaska

Because the temperature has risen 4 C in the past 30 years.

Sea Engulfing Alaskan Village.

In the article, Shishmaref is referred to as the canary in the coal mine. Well, the canary is drowning.

Oh, and don't forget that wacky Florida!

Lost '02 Florida Vote Raises '04 Concern

"This shows that unless we do something now - or it may very well be too late - Florida is headed toward being the next Florida," said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, a lawyer who is the chairwoman of the coalition. [That's the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition -- sid.]

Vote Counting in Riverside, CA

Fear of Fraud, by Paul Krugman.

It's election night, and early returns suggest trouble for the incumbent. Then, mysteriously, the vote count stops and observers from the challenger's campaign see employees of a voting-machine company, one wearing a badge that identifies him as a county official, typing instructions at computers with access to the vote-tabulating software.

When the count resumes, the incumbent pulls ahead. The challenger demands an investigation. But there are no ballots to recount, and election officials allied with the incumbent refuse to release data that could shed light on whether there was tampering with the electronic records.

Can't count the votes right, folks, if you can't see them. It's as simple as that.

Doctors Without Borders Leaves Afghanistan

Doctors Without Borders leaves Afghanistan

They've been there since 1980.

They've been there through the Soviet occupation.

They've been there through the mujahadeen resistance.

They've been there through the Taliban.

They've been there through the US's invasion and occupation.

And now, now, after all that, after the US has "freed" Afghanistan, it is so dangerous they can no longer stay.

After the US, it has become too dangerous.