February 3, 2008 archive
Feb 03 2008
A Special Faerie Tale
Feb 03 2008
Docudharma Times Sunday February 3
This is an Open Thread:Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin
Into the future
A Frail Economy Raises Pressure on Iran’s Rulers
TEHRAN – In one of the coldest winters Iranians have experienced in recent memory, the government is failing to provide natural gas to tens of thousands of people across the country, leaving some for days or even weeks with no heat at all. Here in the capital, rolling blackouts every night for a month have left people without electricity, and heat, for hours at a time.The heating crisis in this oil-exporting nation is adding to Iranians’ increasing awareness of the contrast between their growing influence abroad and frailty at home, according to government officials, diplomats and political analysts interviewed here.
From fundamentalists to reformists, people here are talking more loudly about the need for a more pragmatic approach, one that tones down the anti-Western rhetoric, at least a bit, and focuses more on improving management of the country and restoring Iran’s economic health.
Feb 03 2008
HONORING THE FALLEN: US Military KIA, Iraq/Afganistan – January 2008
Feb 03 2008
Brutal Betrayal
On January 25, Donna Norton had a 40 minute conversation with a legislative assistant in the office of John Conyers regarding Impeachment. It did not go well. In fact, it was a big FUCK YOU to every American who believes in the Constitution, the rule of law, and American democracy.
Take a look at betrayal. Take a good look at it:
In Continuing Battle with Conyers’ Office on Impeachment , Ms. Norton reports what she was told by one of the smug aides of the no longer trustworthy Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee:
* Impeachment’s not necessary. The next election will take care of EVERYTHING. Just ELECT DEMOCRATS. (This chorus was repeated throughout our discussion.)
* A sitting President is not subject to court actions. Nothing in the Constitution says a President is subject to the law. He finally conceded this remains an “unsettled” question in the courts. (I insisted on documentation to support his statements, and he emailed me a Congressional report, 1978 “CRS Report for Congress” #98-186 A, on impeachment, about 30 pgs.)
* Congress does not have an OBLIGATION or duty to investigate or take any action to prevent a President from breaking the law or abusing his powers. It’s totally up to THEIR DISCRETION.
* It’s okay for their decision to be based on party politics rather than Constitutional considerations because the decision is solely theirs to make.
* The courts can follow up with any illegal acts of the President or Vice-President AFTER they’re out of office, and all will be fine.
* Correcting power-abuse really has no meaning because power is what it’s all about. They all abuse it. So what? It’s just politics.
The aide seemed not the least bit disturbed by the gravity or import of my conclusions. It is, after all, just politics. And, by the way, electing Democrats to office will take care of everything (just in case I forgot to mention that).
Lies. Forty minutes of lies.
If it was legal to walk up to that smug traitor and punch his lights out, I’d make an appointment and punch his lights out. Unfortunately for American democracy, the Bill of Rights does not provide abused, lied to, spied on, robbed blind and betrayed citizens with the right to deck smug traitors. It’s illegal. Treason and fascism are legal though. They’ve been legalized by the USAPatriot Act, they’ve been legalized by the Military Commissions Act. They’ve been legalized for seven years by the thugs in what used to be our White House, our Congress, and our Supreme Court. I can’t punch out even one of those traitors, so I have to settle for asking that complicit son of a bitch in Conyers’ office a few questions instead . . .
Feb 03 2008
Will Tweedle Change or Tweedle Experience Get My Vote?
Subtitled: One in a cast of dozens of Stalwart Edwards supporter’s endorsement diaries.
Nota Bene: This is a diary that is going to be going up on the Daily Kos, at 1:30am EST, posted as an essay here in case anyone wants to see how the Tweedle Brigades react.
OK, here’s the endorsement: I endorse the principle of voting for a candidate in the primaries. I refuse to be forced into casting a “lesser of two evils” vote in a primary race.
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So, in particular:
- I am endorsing a vote for Senator Obama for any Stalwart Edwards supporter who sees a clear reason to vote for Senator Obama.
- I am endorsing a vote for Senator Clinton for any Stalwart Edwards supporter who sees a clear reason to vote for Senator Clinton.
- And I am endorsing a vote for John Edwards for any Stalwart Edwards Supporter who does not see a clear reason to vote for either Tweedle Change or Tweedle Experience.
Hell, even if I end up in one of the first two camps before March 4th, I probably won’t tell y’all. I’m certainly not going to be an Obama or Clinton supporter, and whether I vote for one of them or Edwards is my own damn business.
Well, that was an awfully anti-climatic endorsement diary. Over the fold, how either Tweedle could win my vote.
Feb 03 2008
Quote for Discussion: 2.3.2008
Don argues in the book and in the podcast that to point to an American steel worker put out of work by imports of Brazilian steel and say that he is “harmed by trade” is to misunderstand the nature of trade and its winners and losers. He says it’s like saying that a man whose wife leaves him for another man is harmed by love. After all, the man married because of love. The man is the product of his parents who were touched by love. So it is with the steel worker. His steel job exists because of trade. His whole life is supported by trade of various kinds. So in what sense is he “harmed by trade?”
It’s a profound point. It forces you to see just how trade and specialization and the division of labor create the incredible lives we lead, lives of wealth and health unimagined by previous generations.
But having said that, I think there is something else to add, something about the way our self-worth and pride and satisfaction are tied up in our work. An out-of-work steel worker still has a very good life compared to generations past and the success of his life up until the loss of his job is indeed due to trade (and sometimes to the protectionism that worker would like to see made stronger). But there’s no denying that it’s very tough on a person who has invested most of his life in a particular skill to suddenly find that there’s no demand for that skill. Yes, it’s the price of progress and it’s a price worth paying. Yes, it’s not particular to foreign trade, as Don points out, but is the result of all kinds of economic change. But there is something deeply poignant about it, nevertheless.
It is a mistake to use protectionism to keep that worker from having to deal with change. But that doesn’t change the potential sadness of the situation. I’ve argued that the real consolation for that worker who loses his job and struggles to find another that is as satisfying is knowing (if he knows any economics) that his children and grandchildren will lead better lives because we tolerate economic change.
Russell Roberts, Café Hayek
Feb 03 2008
The Panic of 1837, Climate Change, & Hoping for Peace
Martin Van Buren was better at acquiring presidential power than using it for himself. Van Buren was elected president in 1836, but he saw financial problems beginning even before he entered the White House.
Feb 03 2008
Iglesia ……………………………………… Episode 30
(Iglesia is a serialized novel, published on Tuesdays and Saturdays at midnight ET, you can read all of the episodes by clicking on the tag.)
Previous episode and previous pertinent episode.
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There was no blood on her scalp, no cut, but there was blood in her eye. But, she wasn’t completely stupid. She got up and walked over to him, hands at her side and open to show non-hostile intent. She was lying of course, but it seemed to work, and he didn’t react to her approach. In fact he put down his teacup and picked up the tray of cakes and offered it. Instead of accepting, she made her right hand into a fist at her side, but with the index finger pointing out stiffly. She raised it slowly, not certain why she was being so cautious, since he had never actually hurt her. Huh. As he proffered the tray full of cakes, she poked him lightly in his midsection, right above the pockets of his waistcoat. He was solid, his flesh felt like and yielded like any other flesh. She poked him again, harder, just to be sure. As she withdrew her hand she shifted her right foot back slightly….and then let go with her best Bruce Lee: One Inch Punch.
Feb 03 2008
What Are Your Fav TV Show Themes/Songs (w/Poll)
Ever since Mad About You and Seinfeld ended their runs almost a decade ago, I must confess I’ve watched very little, if any, prime time network television. I suspect that’s not unusual as many of us changed our viewing habits and became political junkies once cable news channels became widely available by the mid-1990’s.
The Virginia and Maryland suburbs had cable television available at least a decade before we here in Washington, DC were introduced to it in the early 1990’s. I’m not really sure what the reasons were for the delay. Difficulty in digging ditches in the city to lay cable and the resulting traffic jams, I’m sure, was a major reason. Bureaucracy — which we specialize in and is found in abundance in the DC city government — undoubtedly was an impediment too. And you thought the old Soviet Union had a monopoly on centralized bureaucracy? Nope. We even have a Safeway food store here in the DuPont Circle area, one of the few in the immediate neighborhood and one affectionately referred to as the “Soviet Safeway.” Residents buy whatever the store offers for sale. Choices are few.
The introduction of cable television in DC did re-acquaint me with some of my favorite shows from years gone by.
Feb 03 2008
Pony Party: Zoo Three
I think we need to start with some shaking music since this is the last pony party of the day….
Here are the last of some pics I snapped yesterday. The Northwest Passage exhibit was closed for renovation and the warm weather animals were off sunbathing on a beach somewhere so you get mostly birds and some big kitties at the end….
Hey Wazzup????
Love is in the air….
Staunch individualists….
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