May 29, 2009 archive

living with weapons consciously

This weekend I went to a place where EVERYONE was armed. Not just armed; although everyone was carrying deadly weapons, some people were literally festooned with them. And we’re talking DEADLY weapons; not meant for hunting, but meant for KILLING. Killing people.

I myself was armed, of course; although I didn’t go there for the weapon side of it, I wouldn’t dream of showing up at this event unarmed. I wouldn’t feel completely dressed, you know?

Strangely enough, not a single person was hurt by these deadly weapons. Not a scratch. And I doubt that anyone was hurt going to or coming from this event. Nor do I believe that many people will be hurt by these deadly weapons.

And besides, I LIKE weapons. There, I’ve said it. You ain’t going to get my fifteenth-century Muramasa longsword without a stiff argument.

Follow me after the fold, as I attempt to explain why I felt safe in the middle of an armed society.

The Lion Roars! Kennedy Health-Care Plan Has Public Option

Thank God or the Goddess for Teddy Kennedy!  He has done so much for America over his lifetime, and even in sickness, the “Lion of the Senate” is roaring again:

May 29 (Bloomberg) — Senator Edward Kennedy, chairman of one of two Senate panels drafting health-care overhaul plans, said he will include a government-run program to compete with private insurers in a measure to be considered in mid-June, asserting his role in the emerging debate despite his battle with brain cancer.

snip

“An important foundation of our legislation is the following principle: If you like the coverage you have now, you keep it,” Kennedy wrote in an op-ed article in the Boston Globe. “But if you don’t have health insurance or don’t like the insurance you have, our bill will give you new, more affordable options.”

Bloomberg

Postcard from Cuervonaca




Photobucket



This is a true story. Almost. And it’s almost a work of fiction, but not quite. I should know. I was there.

Docudharma Times Friday May 29

There Is No

Doubt Republicans

Are Just Racists  




Friday’s Headlines:

 Nominee’s Links With Advocates Fuel Her Critics

Young Iran’s search for a leader

Iraq faces the mother of all corruption scandals

The hidden massacre: Sri Lanka’s final offensive against Tamil Tigers

Koreans turn out in force for Roh

Russia’s chief of elite forces ‘implicated in Chechen village massacre’

Fiat will not attend Opel talks

Slump Disrupts Migration

Program to refurbish aging nuclear warheads faces setbacks

Technical problems and an erosion of scientific expertise are blamed for delays in the effort to replace thousands of parts that have aged since the bombs left the factory decades ago.

By Ralph Vartabedian

May 29, 2009


A decadelong effort to refurbish thousands of aging nuclear warheads has run into serious technical problems that have forced delays and exacerbated concerns about the Energy Department’s ability to maintain the nation’s strategic deterrent.

The program involves a type of warhead known as the W76, which is used on the Navy’s Trident missile system and makes up more than half of the deployed warheads in the U.S. stockpile.

The refurbishment program is aimed at replacing thousands of parts that have aged since the bombs left the factory 20 and 30 years ago.

The $200-million-a-year program is a cornerstone of America’s nuclear deterrent strategy, and the Energy Department has been under growing pressure from the military and Congress to meet tough deadlines to get the weapons ready.

In February, the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced that the “first refurbished W76 nuclear warhead had been accepted into the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile by the Navy.”

 

On Torture And War Crimes, Part One, Or, I Interview Dr. Addicott

I can’t tell you the number of times I began a story with a plan for where it would go, only to discover that the plan isn’t going to work.

The stories sometimes seem to write themselves…but other times, the research seems to do the writing instead; this being one of those times.

When the production of this story began it was with the intention of trying to explain what should be the “controlling authority” in terms of defining torture, a precedent set by the European Court of Human Rights, or Title 18 of the United States Code.

Having reviewed both statute law and numerous judgments in law courts worldwide as well as the recent Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of Professor Jeffrey Addicott, and having conducted an interview with Dr. Addicott personally, I’ve come to two rather surprising conclusions:

It may not really matter whether waterboarding is torture…and although neither I nor Dr. Addicott might have seen it coming, it’s starting to appear that he and I might agree on one thing:

Waterboarding, whether it’s torture or not, is a war crime.  

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

What I know,” the Buddha said,

“is like the leaves on that tree;

what I teach is only a small part.

But I offer it to all with an open hand.

What do I not teach?

Whatever is fascinating to discuss,

divides people against each other,

but has no bearing on putting an end to sorrow.

What do I teach?

Only what is necessary to take you to the other shore.

–Siddhartha Gautama, The Dhammapada

Phenomena X: Separation


Campfire

The Only Thing

Sitting around a campfire

we could select a problem

and jointly figure out

how to solve it

if we wanted to

But we are too many

for such a gathering

and to form

such an intention

and we have changed

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 21, 2008

Caressing the Deck

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.

….

The decision to create a cybercommand is a major step beyond the actions taken by the Bush administration, which authorized several computer-based attacks but never resolved the question of how the government would prepare for a new era of warfare fought over digital networks.

~ New York Times

He closed his eyes.

Found the ridged face of the power stud.

And in the bloodlit dark behind his eyes, silver phosphenes boiled in from the edge of space, hypnagogic images jerking past like a film compiled of random frames. Symbols, figures, faces, a blurred, fragmented mandala of visual information.

Please, he prayed, now-

A gray disk, the color of Chiba sky.

Now-

Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding-

And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity. Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America, and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of the military systems, forever beyond his reach.

And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.

~ William Gibson (Neuromancer)

Late Night Karaoke

Much Music Friday

Autoimmune Disease, Collaborative Medicine

In the interests of full disclosure, as I write this I’m under the influence of approximately a tablet and a half of Oxycodone (Percoset 5/325), which I’ve been taking about every four hours for the past 48 hours. Likely way too much.

Hmm, where do I start and what elements of my story are cardinal to this post? And why the heck am I on pain medication?

Terry McAuliffe a fraud? No…

I apologize for the short and rushed essay, but I just wanted to get this story up as it’s breaking.  It might turn into some kind of bigger scandal for McAuliffe because people were convicted, in part, because of the things he apparently ordered them to do.

Sex With Ducks

Could BOTH be right? Yes.

I didn’t “break” the story, I merely posted it.  The Telegraph didn’t break it either, they reiterated what was already on the record.

The story has been out there since 2004.  But, let’s give credit to Raw Story for drawing together the relevant facts.

Now, could the Pentagon response be accurate?  Yes…

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