For this afternoon, a blast from the past, with Laurie Anderson’s Oh Superman, as far as I know the orginal video.  I didn’t even know there was one, before now.  And a really great Pixar animation, which many people may have seen (I hadn’t)…

Remember, please don’t rec the pony parties…

First, Oh Superman.  I can’t hearing it without that peculiar strychnine stretched out flashy feeling…but that’s undoubtably a function of microdot and repetition.  From, of course, Big Science, which in college was one of my six tapes…

And this really great, amazing, ever so cool Pixar animation…which, if one is blogging, surely resonates…

Be excellent to each other…jessical on tap as time permits…

I’m late for work, but I had to post this.

Anyone who wants to expand on this–feel free to steal my idea.

See ya!

This is an OPEN THREAD. Here are four stories in the news at 4 o’clock to get you started.

1. Rosalind Russell of The Independent reports that ‘Only now, the full horror of Burmese junta’s repression of monks emerges‘. “Monks confined in a room with their own excrement for days, people beaten just for being bystanders at a demonstration, a young woman too traumatised to speak, and screams in the night as Rangoon’s residents hear their neighbours being taken away.” First-hand accounts, smuggled out of Burma, are now revealing a “systematic campaign of physical punishment and psychological terror”.

   Most of the detained monks, the low-level clergy, were eventually freed without charge as were the children among them. But suspected ringleaders of the protests can expect much harsher treatment, secret trials and long prison sentences. One detained opposition leader has been tortured to death, activist groups said yesterday. Win Shwe, 42, a member of the National League for Democracy, the party of the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has died under interrogation, the Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said, adding that the information came from authorities in Kyaukpandawn township. “However, his body was not sent to his family and the interrogators indicated that they had cremated it instead.” Win Shwe was arrested on the first day of the crackdown.

   Monks and novices, as young as 10 years old, were confined to a room — 400 in one room — with no toilets, beds, blankets, buckets, or water. “The room was too small for everyone to lie down at once. We took it in turns to sleep. Every night at 8 o’clock we were given a small bowl of rice and a cup of water. But after a few days many of us just couldn’t eat. The smell was so bad.” Onlookers who applauded the monks were taken away and beaten. One such spectator “is so scared she won’t even leave her room” or talk to anyone.

   Another Rangoon resident told the aid worker: “We all hear screams at night as they [the police] arrive to drag off a neighbour. We are torn between going to help them and hiding behind our doors. We hide behind our doors. We are ashamed. We are frightened.”

   The junta’s “intelligence agents are scrutinising photographs and video footage to identify demonstrators and bystanders. They have also arrested the owners of computers which they suspect were used to transmit images and testimonies out of the country.”

2. The New York Times reports that Turks are angry over a House committee’s Armenian Genocide vote. “Turkey reacted angrily today to a House committee vote in Washington on Wednesday that condemned the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during World War I as an act of genocide, calling the decision ‘unacceptable.'” Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, criticized the vote saying “Unfortunately, some politicians in the United States have once more dismissed calls for common sense, and made an attempt to sacrifice big issues for minor domestic political games… This is not a type of attitude that works to the benefit of, and suits, representatives of a great power like the Unites States of America. This unacceptable decision of the committee, like similar ones in the past, has no validity and is not worthy of the respect of the Turkish people.”

   The Bush administration’s concern that passage of the resolution could hamper their ability to continue the occupation of Iraq. “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates noted that about 70 percent of all air cargo sent to Iraq passed through or came from Turkey, as did 30 percent of fuel and virtually all the new armored vehicles designed to withstand mines and bombs.” “Turkey severed military ties with France after its Parliament voted in 2006 to make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.” Turkey has recalled its ambassador for 10 days of consultations.

   Meanwhile in northern Iraq, The New York Times reports Iraq’s worries on Turkish border grow. Mahmoud Othman, a “Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi Parliament today condemned preparations by Turkey’s government for potential cross-border military action against Kurdish rebels in Iraq, even as he reported that the Turkish military was mobilizing on the border and Turkish warplanes were flying close to Iraq.” Othman said Turkey’s military was mobilizing on the frontier and “Turkish warplanes were flying close to the border but not crossing it.” Reuters reports that Turkey may request incursion into Iraq. Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, “will ask parliament next week to authorize a military push into north Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels”. The Washington Post confirms Turkey’s military mobilization. “On Tuesday, Turkey’s top civilian and military authorities ordered the armed forces to their highest state of alert. On Wednesday, the Turkish air force used F-16 and F-14 fighter jets and Cobra helicopter gunships to bomb suspected PKK hideouts and escape routes in the mountainous border region, the Turkish Dogan news agency reported. Iraqi residents said Turkish artillery shells landed in Iraqi territory, according to news reports from the border area.” The U.S. and European Union have implored Turkey not to invade northern Iraq.

There is more below the fold: a mixed court ruling on Al Gore’s film, today’s “Guns of Greed”, and a bonus story on the natural evolution of English irregular verbs.

3. The Independent reports on an ‘Inconvenient verdict delivered on Gore’s climate change film‘. Justice Burton, a High Court judge in London, who “was pondering whether the film should be shown in classrooms after criticism from a politically active school governor in Kent, who had accused the Government of ‘brainwashing’ children”, “found that the ‘broadly accurate’ film can indeed be screened – as long as it is accompanied by material from the climate change-denial fraternity. But, in a somewhat more damaging move, the judge forensically examined the documentary’s ‘one-sided’ case and found ‘nine scientific errors’ in its content.”

   For The Guardian, David Adam reports on the nine “errors”. “The mistakes identified mainly deal with the predicted impacts of climate change, and include Mr Gore’s claims that a sea-level rise of up to 20ft would be caused by melting in either west Antarctica or Greenland ‘in the near future’. The judge said: ‘This is distinctly alarmist and part of Mr Gore’s ‘wake-up call’.’ He accepted that melting of the ice would release this amount of water – ‘but only after, and over, millennia.'” A list of the nine points of contention are outlined in the article.

   [UPDATE W/CORRECTION 2007-Oct-12] However, Tim Lambert at Deltoid blogs An ‘error’ is not the same thing as an error. “Unfortunately a gaggle of useless journalists have misreported this decision as one that AIT contained nine scientific errors.” Such as the two reports I cite. “Contrary to all the reporters’ claims Burton did not find that there were 9 scientific errors in AIT, but that there were nine points that might be errors or where differing views should be presented for balance.” (Hat tip Meteor Blades.)

4. Today’s “Guns of Greed”.

   • Josh White of the Washington Post reports relatives of an Iraqi shooting victim has sued Blackwater. “Attorneys for Talib Mutlaq Deewan, who was injured in the shootings at Nisoor Square, and the families of Himoud Saed Atban, Osama Fadhil Abbas and Oday Ismail Ibraheem, who were killed, filed the lawsuit this morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking for an unspecified amount of money to compensate for alleged war crimes, illegal killings, wrongful death, emotional distress and negligence. The lawsuit names Blackwater USA, The Prince Group and Blackwater founder and CEO Erik Prince as defendants.” Their lawsuit described the shooting as a “massacre” and “senseless slaughter” and a result of Blackwater policies.

     This is the first U.S. civil case seeking damages brought by family members killed in the attack. “The Nisoor Square lawsuit focuses on the alleged ‘recklessness’ of the Blackwater security contractors and seeks to punish the company for its ‘mercenary’ tactics in the war zone that have led to ‘repeated callous killings of innocents,’ according to a complaint.”

   • The New York Times reports that the U.S. Military and Iraqis are being shut out of the FBI/State Department investigation into the September 16 Blackwater massacre in Nisour Square in Baghdad. “American military officials and Iraqi investigators say the F.B.I. and State Department are refusing to share information with them on their investigation into the killings. The American military has not been allowed to speak to Blackwater employees who were in Nisour Square that day, nor have military officials been shown the Blackwater vehicle that the company and State Department officials have said was disabled during the events of Sept. 16 just west of the heavily fortified Green Zone, according to a senior American military officer.” The Iraqi investigators have been denied repeated requests for information as well. The State Department claimed “bureaucratic” “prerogatives” and an anonymous Justice Department official said this was not unusual for an investigation.

   • The Wall Street Journal reports that Blackwater has quits a security industry association. “Blackwater USA yesterday pulled out of one of the few Washington-based industry associations for private security companies, a move that distances the embattled firm from one of its staunchest advocates… ¶ The International Peace Operations Association confirmed that the company had withdrawn its membership. Blackwater, which joined in 2004, is no longer listed as a member on the association’s Web site… ¶ ‘We have decided to take a hiatus from the [association],’ said a Blackwater spokeswoman. ‘We, like many other organizations engaged in this type of work, are pursuing other aspects and methods of industry outreach and governance.'”

   • The AP reports the State Department may phase out Blackwater. “The State Department may phase out or limit the use of private security guards in Iraq, which could mean canceling Blackwater USA’s contract or awarding it to another company in line with an Iraqi government demand.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered a complete review by a commission headed by Patrick Kennedy, “one of the State Department’s most experienced management officials”.

     Kennedy has been instructed to concentrate on key issues including: changing the “rules of engagement under which State Department security contractors operate”, if Blackwater’s corporate culture contributes to their mercenaries being involved in more shootings, and “whether it’s feasible to eliminate or drastically curtail the use of private foreign contractors to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq. And, if so, how to replace them.” But he is not expected “to recommend eliminating all private contractors because it would have a profound impact on how U.S. diplomats work in Iraq.” According to the AP’s anonymous sources, the “State Department’s own Bureau of Diplomatic Security lacks both the manpower and equipment, notably helicopters, to do the job”.

     “Officials in the tight-knit world of security operatives in Baghdad said Blackwater was preparing a reorganization and possible downsizing.” Perhaps, Blackwater is getting out of mercenary work completely and refocusing on its original business plan of training police and military? Nah. Mercenary money is too good.

   • According to the Los Angeles Times, the U.N. wants private security firms in Iraq held accountable when killings appeared unjustified.

     The report urged U.S. authorities to investigate incidents in which private guards killed civilians, and to “establish effective mechanisms for holding them accountable whenever circumstances surrounding the killings show no justifiable cause.”

     …The U.N. report decried continuing lawlessness in Iraq, finding that it was creating an “ever-deepening humanitarian crisis.” It painted a grim picture, finding that “daily life for the average Iraqi civilian remains extremely precarious.” It noted civilians continue to bear the brunt of the “indiscriminate” violence in the country, although military forces reported a drop in civilian casualties and car bomb attacks in June, the end of the three-month reporting period.

     The report found as many as 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the country, about half of them to Syria, and that many civilians remained displaced within the country because they had been chased from their homes and neighborhoods by sectarian threats.

     The report also said the security efforts had caused a significant increase in the number of people detained by forces, and complained that it was taking too long to process the cases through the judicial system or provide defendants with adequate access to counsel. It applauded recently launched efforts by the U.S. to improve conditions in the jails and judicial system.

     Reuters reports that Blackwater mercenaries are subject to international law according to the U.N.

     Ivana Vuco, the U.N.’s senior human rights officer in Iraq, told a news conference that private security contractors were still subject to international humanitarian law.

     “Investigations as to whether or not crimes against humanity, war crimes, are being committed and obviously the consequences of that is something that we will be paying attention to and advocating for,” she told a news conference.

   • Alissa Rubin and Paul von Zielbauer of The New York Times writes this news analysis, ‘Blackwater Case Highlights Legal Uncertainties‘.

     One remedy is not being discussed: the State Department can waive immunity for contractors and let the case be tried in the Iraqi courts under Order 17, which is the section of the Transitional Administrative Law approved in 2004 that gives contractors immunity.

     L. Paul Bremer III, who supervised the drafting of the immunity order as administrator of the United States occupation authority, said: “The immunity is not absolute. The order requires contractors to respect all Iraqi laws, so it’s not a blanket immunity.”

     The reason for this, according to legal specialists, is the U.S. government has little faith in the fairness of Iraqi courts if accused mercenaries were tried. So, that leaves the U.S. courts where questions exist if military or civilian law can be extended to mercenaries working for the State Department. Some scholars doubt the the constitutionality of trying civilians in military court.

     The options under civilian law are little better. The most likely way to prosecute would be through the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows the extension of federal law to civilians supporting military operations… However, trying a criminal case in federal court requires guarantees that no one has tampered with the evidence. Because a defendant has the right to cross-examine witnesses, foreign witnesses would have to be transported to the United States.

     The piece makes this observation that I’ve not heard before: “areas that could be defined as American territory, such as a military base or the Green Zone”. The Green Zone in Baghdad is American territory?

   • Christian Berthelesen and Said Rifai of the Los Angeles Times reports on more details of the life of one of the women killed on Tuesday by Australian mercenaries in ‘The brave cabbie of Baghdad‘. Marani Oranis, was “still mourning the death of her husband” when the former scientist in Iraq’s Agriculture Ministry turned her 1990 Oldsmobile into a taxicab “earn enough to support her daughters.” About 100 people, her family and friends in the Armenian Christian community, mourned her death at her funeral yesterday.

     Oranis, who was 48, was born in Basra, the youngest of six brothers and three sisters. She earned a degree in horticulture and agronomy. She gave up her job at the Agriculture Ministry to raise a family with her husband, Azad, an architectural engineer. Together they had three daughters, Nora, Karon and Alice.

     Her family members say her life was overwhelmingly characterized by sympathy and caring for others, including attending to both her mother and father in their final years… Two years ago, Oranis’ husband died after heart bypass surgery. He did not work for the government and had no pension, leaving Oranis with little.

     With Iraq ravaged by war and her degree and agricultural expertise years out of date, she took up chauffeuring students and workers to their schools and jobs, to make enough to care for her daughters. Nora, 20, and Karon, 18, were both in university — Nora studying architecture, and Karon pursuing biological studies. Alice is 13.

     Oranis was dressed in black when she was shot, garb that her niece said showed she was still mourning her husband.

   • The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the reaction from the two murders. “The incident involved employees of Unity Resource Group – a company founded by a former SAS commander, Gordon Conroy” and “have prompted a debate over whether Australia should use its external affairs powers to regulate Australians working in Iraq and elsewhere as security personnel.” The paper also reports this Aussie security firm killed before in Iraq.

5. Lastly, a story that is of particular interest to me and my love of the English language. Denise Gellene of the Los Angeles Times reports in ‘Tracking the evolution of language‘ that “researchers discover that irregular verbs change in a predictable manner — just like genes and living organisms.”

   Irregular verbs in English over the past 1,200 years have gone extinct through “the linguistic equivalent of natural selection. The irregular verbs, governed by confusing and antiquated rules, came under evolutionary pressure to obey the modern ‘-ed’ rule of regular verb conjugation, according to a report today in the journal Nature.”

   The researchers, led by Martin A. Nowak, an evolutionary theorist at Harvard University, discovered that irregular verbs evolve in a predictable manner — just like genes and living organisms. Analyzing databases containing millions of words, Nowak and colleagues showed that the patterns of change depended on how often irregular verb forms were used.

   Infrequently used irregular verbs were quickest to evolve. For instance, “holp,” the past tense of “help,” became the modern “helped.” Similarly, “chode” became “chided” and “swole” became “swelled.”

   Researchers found they could compute the precise rate by which irregular verbs became “regularized” in the same way physicists calculate the half-life of radioactive materials.

   In general, they discovered, a verb used 100 times less frequently evolved 10 times as fast.

So, what else is happening?

For some time now Michelle Malkin (née Maglalang) has been helping keep America safe from murderous hordes of foreigners by alerting us every time she hears about a horrendous crime committed by an illegal alien.

You may find that bizarre and deceiving and dangerously inflammatory, and so forth, since horrendous crimes are obviously often committed by people who aren’t illegal aliens. Jeffrey Dahmer, for example, was not an illegal alien. Nor was John Wayne Gacy, or Timothy McVeigh, just to give a few examples from the Horrendous Hall of Fame. Given such an obvious truth, you might say that attempting to make a connection between illegal aliens and horrendous crimes makes as much sense as attempting to make a connection between white American citizens and horrendous crimes. Or Filipino-Americans and horrendous crimes.

But you would be deceiving yourself with clearheaded thinking and logic and other such Liberal nonsense.

With all this in mind, I would like to begin to do my part to make America more safe by alerting you, on a regular basis, to crimes committed by Filipino-Americans, which might or might not happen a lot more often than you think. Even crimes like the ultra-unAmerican – espionage.

More to come.

Crossposted