Crater Found In Antarctica

Gigantic Meteor Crater Found in Antarctica

Frist Broke the Law

FEC fines Frist's 2000 Senate campaign

Imagine my complete lack of surprise.

Iran and Nukes

Iran nuclear bomb 'in 10 years'


So I don't want to hear any smoking-gun-mushroom-cloud bullshit, 'k?

New species!

Unknown Creatures Found in Cave

The cave was uncovered during drilling at a quarry close to Tel Aviv.

Scientists say it is a unique ecosystem that has been sealed off from the world for five million years and could contain other ancient lifeforms.

Misattributions of the Highest Magnitude

This nation was founded by a bunch of hippie-freak-equivalents of the 18th century, who knew how easy it was for an unchecked sovereign to be a tyrant, who knew that questions of religion were between a man and his God, and that salvation couldn't be imposed by a state, it could only be sought out by a person.

No appropriate [Founding Father] quote? Just make one up!

Want a Founding Father quote? How about some real ones?

Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue and corruption. Federalist Paper #68, Alexander Hamilton.

The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office....In this delicate and important circumstance of personal responsibility, the President...would stand upon no better ground than a governor... Federalist Paper #69, Alexander Hamilton.

[In discussing the term of office of the Executive:] It was much agitated whether a long term, seven years for example, with a subsequent and perpetual ineligibility, or a short term, with a capacity to be re-elected, should be fixed. In favor of the first opinion were urged the danger of a gradual degeneracy of re-elections from time to time, into first a life and then hereditary tenure, and the favorable effect of an incapacity to be reappointed on the independent exercise of the Executive authority. On the other side it was contended that the prospect of necessary degradation would discourage the most dignified characters from aspiring to the office; would take away the principal motive to the faithful discharge of its duties--the hope of being rewarded with a reappointment; would stimulate ambition to violent efforts for holding over the Constitutional term; and instead of producing an independent administration and a firmer defense of the constitutional rights of the department, would render the officer more indifferent to the importance of a place which he would soon be obliged to quit forever, and more ready to yield to the encroachments of the Legislature, of which he might again be a member. James Madison, Excerpted from letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 24, 1787.

We know, however, that no society ever did, or can, consist of so homogeneous a mass of Citizens [so as that the interest of the minority and the majority are the same]. James Madison, Excerpted from letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 24, 1787.

The inefficacy of [religion as a] restraint on individuals is well known. The conduct of every popular assembly, acting on oath, the strongest of religious ties, shews that individuals join without remorse in acts against which their consciences would revolt, if proposed to them, separately, in their closets. When, indeed, Religion is kindled into enthusiasm, its force, like that of other passions, is increased by the sympathy of a multitude. But enthusiasm is only a temporary state of Religion, and whilst it lasts will hardly be seen with pleasure at the helm. Even in its coolest state, it has been much oftener a motive to oppression that a restraint from it. James Madison, Excerpted from letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 24, 1787.

For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution. Federalist Paper #1, Alexander Hamilton.

Lying to the Public

Bush 'planted fake news stories on American TV'

FCC investigates video releases

FCC Investigates TV Stations for Airing Fake News

Whether a conspiracy or 'mere' sloppiness, the result is the same: journalists not doing their job. There are so many sides to this problem I don't know where to start.

First: presenting something other than a news segment as if it were a news segment, even if a specific segment is quite innocuous, makes it easier for the next faux-news segment, that *is* biased, to make it on the air.

Second: presenting something other than a news segment as if it were a news segment, puts journalists and their producers in a position of reliance on the outside source providing that VNR. No longer gathering and reporting the news, but simply passing along material without thinking about it. This eviscerates the entire profession of *gathering* and *reporting* *news*, making a hollow mockery of what should be a proud calling.

Third: such evisceration diminishes the profession's power to stand up to those who would manipulate the media, and by extension, the public. Taking the easy road by using VNRs? Why not take the easy road and censor when the White House asks you to? I'm not saying it's the next step directly, just a slippery slope. Anything that abdicates journalistic power is a step down that slope.

Fourth: misleading the public. Faked news is lying to the public. This is the exact opposite of what journalists are supposed to do. Journalists are witnesses to events most of us cannot attend. What we need is not "balanced" reporting, or VNRs, but accurate reporting: who, what, when, where, how, and why.

Sustainable Business

My friend is going into a sustainable business program (at one of two schools, so I shan't say more just yet), and ever since she started looking into these programs, I've been seeing stuff on sustainable business all over the 'Net. Cool.

Today it's this: Sustainable Business Leaders Achieve Success in Consumer Markets, Earning Recognition from Peers.

Diebold Must Die

Reprinted by permission:
------------------------

Worst security flaw ever - 3 states invoke Diebold emergency procedures

Permission to reprint or excerpt granted, with link to http://www.blackboxvoting.org

- The Oakland Tribune scooped other newspapers yesterday on the story.
- Pennsylvania's Michael Shamos sequestered all Diebold touch-screens.
- California is invoking emergency procedures.
- The state of Iowa is trying to figure out a way to scrub Diebold clean.

Harri Hursti has just come out with Hursti Report II, a Black Box Voting project.

Here it is:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/BBVtsxstudy.pdf

A second study with 12 more defects will be released Monday May 15.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS?

Back doors were found in three separate levels. They can be used one
at a time or combined for a deep attack that can permanently compromise the
Diebold touch-screens.

Almost nothing will work to ensure that machines that have already been
delivered have not been contaminated -- the very forensic procedures that
MIGHT identify tampering also wipe clean any evidence.

The procedures being used in Pennsylvania, California, and Iowa will not
necessarily work if the system has already been contaminated. Worse, the
very procedure needed to cleanse the system can just as easily re-contaminate
it.

Next week, Black Box Voting will release recommended solutions in conjunction with a
recommendation to pull all Diebold touch-screen machines off the shelf.

For more information, visit the following links:

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/27675.html

and to see what the Diebold lawyers are trying to do to Bruce Funk, click here:

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/27671.html
(Scroll past the Georgia cluelessness to a transcript of the retaliatory
meeting held to try to force Funk out of office.)

Diebold lawyers are also retaliating against Stephen Heller, trying to put
him in jail for leaking documents that have been compared in importance to
the actions of famed Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsburg. Click here
for the latest on Heller:

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/27423.html

and click here to donate to his defense fund:

http://www.hellerlegaldefensefund.com

(Diebold lawyer's vindictiveness has cost Heller his job and very nearly
his home. His courage in fighting for YOUR right to vote needs your support.

* * * * *

Black Box Voting is a nonprofit nonpartisan 501c(3) organization dedicated to
fighting for your right to accurate and fair elections. We are supported entirely
by citizen donations.

(We realize we just hit you up twice -- But really. Stephen Heller is one of our
personal heroes, and we put him first for a reason. Please read the story about
Diebold's attempt to put him in prison for leaking documents showing they were
planning a criminal defense budget for carrying out actions they had already
been told were illegal.)

If you can support our work (Hursti Reports etc) here's how:

click here: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
or mail to:
Black Box Voting, Inc.
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98055

* * * * *

-Black Box Voting

Stealing Power from Congress

Glenn Greenwald hits it right on the nose. This isn't "just" about tapping phones. This is about usurping Congress' legislative power, and that is a violation of the Constitution.

No need for Congress, no need for courts

This continuous evasion of judicial review by the administration is much more serious and disturbing than has been discussed and realized. By proclaiming the power to ignore Congressional law and to do whatever it wants in the area of national security, it is seizing the powers of the legislative branch.

But it gets worse.

But by blocking courts from ruling on the multiple claims of illegality which have been made against it, the administration is essentially seizing the judicial power as well. It becomes the creator, the executor, and the interpreter of the law. And with that, the powers of all three branches become consolidated in The President, the single greatest nightmare of the founders. [Emphasis added.]

NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

This database collection may -- may -- be arguably legal. I don't know. Even though Bush lied and said only international calls were targetted by the NSA. "'In other words,' Bush explained, 'one end of the communication must be outside the United States.'"

But again, and again, the Executive has refused to find out if something is legal. Refused to argue legality before the branch charged with interpreting the law: the courts.

The Legislature makes law, the Executive implements law, and the Judiciary interprets it. That's the way it's supposed to work. And this is not the first time the Bush Administration has tried to circumvent that.

Fun With Surveillance

THE Undergrad Experience

Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass

Abstract: The exponential dependence of resistivity on temperature in germanium is found to be a great big lie. My careful theoretical modeling and painstaking experimentation reveal 1) that my equipment is crap, as are all the available texts on the subject and 2) that this whole exercise was a complete waste of my time.

Beautiful Smackdown on some Clueless Creationists

If there's a better word, I'll use it, by the way. I don't object to people who believe a god created the universe, per se, I object to their insistence that such blind belief be taught in schools as if valid scientific theory.

A theory in science has a predictive capacity enabling you to test and refine it.

Has anyone made predictions based on "creation theory" or "intelligent design", that can then be tested?

How many fallacies can [Intelligent Design] pack in one article?

"I Never Said There Were WMDs" "Yes, you did. Here."

Rumsfeld Called Out On Lies About WMD (includes transcript)

Speaking in Atlanta today, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was sharply questioned about his pre-war claims about WMD in Iraq. An audience member confronted Rumsfeld with his 2003 claim about WMD, “We know where they are.” Rumsfeld falsely claimed he never said it. The audience member then read Rumsfeld’s quote back to him...

when he spoke quite clearly about them at the time:

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, weapons of mass destruction. Key goal of the military campaign is finding those weapons of mass destruction. None have been found yet. There was a raid on the Answar Al-Islam Camp up in the north last night. A lot of people expected to find ricin there. None was found. How big of a problem is that? And is it curious to you that given how much control U.S. and coalition forces now have in the country, they haven't found any weapons of mass destruction?

SEC. RUMSFELD: If you think -- let me take that, both pieces -- the area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

Second, the [audio glitch] facilities, there are dozens of them, it's a large geographic area.

Secretary Rumsfeld Remarks on ABC "This Week with George Stephanopoulos"

Ex-Head of F.D.A. Faces Criminal Inquiry

Ex-Head of F.D.A. Faces Criminal Inquiry

This is the guy who sat on Plan B.

Dr. Crawford resigned in September, fewer than three months after the Senate confirmed him. He said then that it was time for someone else to lead the agency.

The next month, financial disclosure forms released by the Department of Health and Human Services showed that in 2004 either Dr. Crawford or his wife, Catherine, had sold shares in companies regulated by the agency when he was its deputy commissioner and acting commissioner. He has since joined a Washington lobbying firm, Policy Directions Inc.

Since you, sir, went away

It's poetry night here at Parenthetically Speaking.

There's a lovely poem by Hsu Kan called A Wife's Thoughts, of which the second stanza has been the basis for several others. (This is not uncommon in Chinese poetry, to write something "in the style of X".)

Since you, sir, went away,
My bright mirror is dim and untended.
My thoughts of you are like flowing water;
Will they ever have an end.

And the same volume of Chinese poetry I have that this is found in, has several of its homages in it as well.

For example,

Wang Jung,
In imitation of Hsu Kan

Since you, sir, went away,
My golden burner has had no incense,
For thinking of you I am like the bright candle,
At midnight vainly burning itself away.


So, I planted tongue in cheek and wrote one of my own.

Since you, sir, went away,
My computer has lost all free memory,
My thoughts of you are like the overworked application,
An hourglass turning constantly.


*bows to audience*

Booksigning

I'll be signing copies of Writers of the Future v. 21, at the Borders bookstore in the Cambridge Side Galleria, on May 15, from 7pm-on. (An hour or so, is my understanding.)

For our not-so-regular readers, WotF is the fantasy/science fiction anthology containing my story, "My Daughter, the Martian".

I'll definitely be signing, possibly reading from "My Daughter, the Martian", or perhaps from an upublished work.

If you're interested, come by.

Otherwise, we're a hedge, move along.