Did Condoleezza Rice just pull a Richard Nixon in discussing torture with a Stanford student, asserting that if
the preznit said waterboarding isn't torture, it can't be illegal? Watch the video that
emptywheel
provides and decide for yourself whether Condi was attempting the "I was only following orders" defense. I think
the answer is "yes, she was," and that if this is widely disseminated, Condi could be in serious trouble. But
I've been disappointed in such matters before.
Only slightly OT: one of the commenters points out, with documentation, that reheating fried rice can lead to
food poisoning. I almost made that mistake last week. Whew! I guess there's some Rice you just shouldn't eat...
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said on Tuesday he would switch to the Democratic party, presenting
Democrats with a possible 60th vote and the power to break Senate filibusters as they try to advance the Obama
administration’s new agenda.
...
Whatever his party, Specter is hardly a reliable vote. He's not even reliable at voting the way he says he'll
vote. But given the numbers, I'll take him. Can a newly minted Democrat beat a right-wing radical Republican
(Rep. Pat Toomey) who was to have been Specter's challenger in the GOP primary, and will, I presume, be his
general election opponent now? Time will tell.
Sometimes it has to be done. And sometimes, even stating the obvious isn't sufficient to prevent the most
partisan of Republicans from making damned fools of themselves... if indeed any making is required.
Paul Krugman
was probably the most widely read writer to make the observation that GOPers Bobby Jindal and Susan Collins
were both hammered hard, Jindal for mocking volcano monitoring just before Mt. Redoubt blew, and Collins for
stripping stimulus funds for pandemic preparedness (perhaps on the "no casting of pearls before swine flu"
principle) immediately before... well, you get the idea. But Krugman was not alone; at least
twobloggers
on that blogroll to your left, respectable commentators indeed but of much less stellar fame than Krugman, made
the virtually identical observation, apparently independently of each other and of Krugman.
These two bits of sheer folly have a common origin, one all too common among Republicans: a willingness to
ignore the physical facts in pursuit of some sort of narrow, short-term partisan advantage. Think about it for
even a moment (something Jindal and Collins obviously didn't do):
volcano behavior is unresponsive to even the most brilliantly conceived demagoguery;
no virus yet discovered recognizes either national boundaries or political alignment.
Those two facts should be so obvious that they don't even require mention in print. Yet ignoring the most
fundamental physical facts... not political assertions, but observable, demonstrable physical facts... has
become so common among Republican politicians that the inevitable is finally happening: the collision of their
political rants with observable hard reality is becoming plainly visible to everyone. Well, everyone with the
sense Dog gave a cockroach...
It's not literally raining here this morning. But after an extremely busy weekend, I'm awaiting a call from the
glass company about replacing the shattered door. If it is replaced today, the kitties wlll have to be confined
in a bathroom, further confusing Tabitha about the location of the litter box. I'm aching in a couple of places
this morning. And... I couldn't make this up if I tried...
Stella is having a root canal at this very moment.
I am reminded of a cartoon I saw decades ago (prior to the era of personal computers, let alone the Internet),
in which a dentist holding an object is approaching a man in the chair. The dentist says, "Now, Mr. Jones, just
to see if we can do it, we are going to attempt to stuff this tennis ball in your mouth." For the few of you
who have never had one, that's about what a root canal feels like: the pain is bearable, but the sense of being
crammed full is overwhelming. Think good thoughts in Stella's direction this morning... and afternoon.
I'll soon return to regular blogging when things return to a lower level of craziness around here.
Meanwhile, please visit those blogs listed on the left.
(LibraryThing is very sluggish this morning. Please have patience.)
When the U.S. military began sending terror suspects to Guantanamo in 2002, President Bush proclaimed that it
was unwavering U.S. policy that they would be treated "humanely." But according to a report made available to
NEWSWEEK and other organizations, internal Defense Department memos show that U.S. interrogators quickly strayed
from that approach, devising elaborate plans to break down the resistance of two high-value detainees by
stripping them and forcing them "to bark and perform dog tricks." These techniques were derived in part from
classified U.S. military training slides that recommended subjecting detainees to "religious disgrace" and a
process of "degradation" that included addressing them as though they were "an animal," the memos show.
The memos, which relate to the interrogations of Mohammed al Khatani and Mohammedou Wali Slahi, are contained in
a newly declassified Senate Armed Services Committee report to be released Wednesday by its chairman, Democratic
Sen. Carl Levin. While the basic outlines of these interrogations were previously known, the report provides new
details and will likely add fresh momentum to calls for a "truth commission" or similar Justice Department
investigation of U.S. interrogation practices—both of which President Obama suggested for the first time Tuesday
that he was willing to support.
...
(This article is a few days old. Actually, I've read that
Obama has since abandoned
his support for a truth commission. Such a commission would be a waste of time anyway compared to a special
prosecutor, which no one within the administration seems to be considering.)
What can I say: Jesus Christ (or insert the name of your favorite Deity here), the United States of America has
sunk to this. We are in the depths, the pits. We can see more things just as bad, but we cannot see worse. These
deplorable acts were not the work of "a few bad apples," but the outcomes of deliberate decisions made by our
government's highest officials. Dick Cheney and his cronies might as well have bitten the heads off babies; the
actions would not be more perversely immoral than what has been done premeditatedly in the name of the American
people. If these people are not prosecuted for their heinous crimes, how can we claim to be a nation of laws?
And if these people treat their animals the way they treated the detainees, why are they not already in jail
for animal abuse?
Excuse me now; I'm going to go crawl back under the covers and pull the pillow over my head...
This is a view outward through the center panel of the sliding glass door in our den. We finally hired someone
to do the lawn. Through no fault of his, his edger picked up a pebble and tossed it into the door. The panel
is safety glass; this was the result:
The lawn guy is being completely responsible, saying he will sustain the complete cost of replacing the panel.
That's good, because I suspect it ain't gonna be cheap...
Did the use of torture (I'm sorry; I will not yield to the administration's policy of calling it "coercive
techniques" or "brutal interrogation methods": torture is torture) help keep America safe?
Scott Shane:
WASHINGTON — Even the most exacting truth commission may have a hard time determining for certain whether brutal
interrogations conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency helped keep the country safe.
Last week’s release of long-secret Justice Department interrogation memorandums has given rise to starkly
opposing narratives about what, if anything, was gained by the C.I.A.’s use of waterboarding, wall-slamming and
other physical pressure to shock and intimidate Qaeda operatives.
Senior Bush administration officials, led by Vice President Dick Cheney and cheered by many Congressional
Republicans, are fighting a rear-guard action in defense of their record. Only by using the harshest methods,
they insist, did the intelligence agency get the information it needed to round up Qaeda killers and save
thousands of American lives.
Even President Obama’s new director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, wrote in a memorandum to his
staff last week that “high value information came from interrogations in which these methods were used,” an
assertion left out when the memorandum was edited for public release. By contrast, Mr. Obama and most of his top
aides have argued that the use of those methods betrayed American values — and anyway, produced unreliable
information. Those are a convenient pair of opinions, of course: the moral balancing would be far trickier if
the C.I.A. methods were demonstrated to have been crucial in disrupting major plots.
...
Shane goes on to discuss political motivations on both sides for arguing that torture did or did not produce
results that protected Americans. In a way, it is obscene that the matter is even being discussed: as I noted
earlier,
torture is illegal and immoral whether or not it works.
But perhaps there is an approach to settling the debate that should accomplish some resolution in fairly short
order: round up all the Republican members of Congress who justify torture, as well as Bush administration
officials who wrote the torture memos, and fucking waterboard them. Hey, it might keep Americans safer; that
makes it OK, right? <snark />
This is not about the effectiveness of torture in safeguarding American lives. This is about desperate GOPers
covering their asses after having done truly unconscionable things that might send some of them to jail. And
that's all it's about. Don't be bamboozled into thinking otherwise.
Who? All the major companies (AT&T, TWC, Comcast) that deliver broadband. How? Imposition of
broadband usage caps
with strong penalty disincentives for using more than the monthly cap. This has been tested in parts of Texas
for a few months now (no, I have not been directly affected). Time Warner Cable's response to widespread
customer complaints and possible congressional action? "Fine, you lucky duckies; no more advanced wideband for
you!" Read the linked article for details.
Oh, yeah, that'll teach us. Here we are, pretending to be the most technologically advanced nation on earth,
yet every other major internet-using country has faster broadband available to everyone, mostly at lower cost. We
Americans are really going to respond well to being denied comparable service and bludgeoned into submission
to contracts worse than the ones we have now. I can see the new ad slogans now: "Want better, cheaper
wideband service? Move to Japan!" And "Buy American... pay the same as now, get less for your money!"
Oh, yeah; that'll work.
Over my years of contracting, I cut many deals with customers, giving good discounts on my services in exchange
for their commitments to provide me large amounts of contract work. I wonder why it never occurred to me to try
beating my clients about the head and shoulders, threatening reduced service or withholding the latest
technologies I was capable of delivering. What a concept... I could've made millions!
Dick Cheney has
asked the CIA
to declassify intelligence which he says shows that torture has been effective in obtaining information
to combat terrorism.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has apparently
squelched
the use of the word "torture" in public statements, substituting a variety of euphemisms.
May I point out that Cheney's claim, even if true, is irrelevant. Murdering your spouse's paramour is also
effective in putting an end to his or her affair, but that does not make murder legal or morally acceptable.
Still, the statement provides insight into Cheney's thought processes. (Shudder.)
And Obama's recasting of the language of the discussion shows that he must have had his fingers crossed during
the campaign when he made all those pronouncements about how he would clean up all the unconscionable activities
of the previous administration.
This is simple: either those former officials are prosecuted, or the United States goes forward with no
legitimate claim to abiding by the rule of law.
When one moves, one inevitably fills out a lot of forms, sometimes provides documentation of long-established
facts about oneself, etc. Today I filled out a form at the Post Office at which I have a PO Box. No big deal,
right? Just give 'em your new physical address, and you're set, right?
Well, not quite. Their form says they require two forms of ID, at least one with a photo. No credit cards, no
Social Security card, no birth certificate. I had to think about that one for a while: what, aside from a
driver's license, meets those criteria? Eventually I brought my U.S. passport.
But the clerk was not concerned about my ID. She was vexed that I had handed her nothing with my new physical
address on it. OK, said I; I just moved, and the form you supply doesn't require proof of the new physical
address, but here's the printed-out receipt from my online change of address for my driver's license. The
document is to be carried with one's driver's license and shown to law officers until the new license arrives.
It's a felony to fake anything on your Texas DPS record.
Oh, said Ms. Bureaucrat, but you entered that address yourself; I need something printed by someone else, e.g.,
a light bill or gas bill or...
Um, I replied, yes, I typed that in. I also typed in the new address when I opened my light company account,
and my gas company account, and... exactly how would anyone ever get my new physical address if I did not give
it to them?
The look on her face could have cooked eggs. Hardboiled. The eggs, I mean.
After looking very suspiciously at me for a full two minutes, she said, well, I'll pass your application
(application? I've had the goddam PO Box for over 15 years), but I have to put a note on it that says you may
be required to provide a valid ID with a correct address in the future. I didn't argue; what would the point
have been?
This kind of thing has happened at least two other times since 9/11/2001 (and never before then). The manager of
this tiny Post Office is apparently convinced that if he comes down hard enough on his long-time customers,
he'll catch the next Al Qaeda terrorist. Hey, I need to reread the recently released memos: maybe I'll be
tortured when I re-up for my PO Box next year...
My nation, in the persons of a half dozen members of the Bush administration's executive branch, wrote memos
that led to widespread torture, including the waterboarding of one terrorist suspect (Khalid Sheik Mohammed)
183 times in a month.
Meanwhile, the No Such Agency
wiretapped a member of Congress without a warrant,
asserting that Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) arranged a quid-pro-quo with a "suspected Israeli agent" in a phone
conversation recorded by the NSA. Never mind that the transcription shows no evidence of a quid-pro-quo, or
that the "suspected Israeli agent" is an American citizen and... here's the kicker... a major Democratic Party
contributor.
Meanwhile, according to Jane Hamsher, based on
Scott Shane's NYT article,
CIA director Michael Hayden may well intend to ignore President Obama's orders that all torture-related
interrogation techniques should cease.
It doesn't get much worse than that. I am ashamed of the behavior of my country's leaders under George W. Bush,
and of its intelligence agencies run amok, and to the extent that
President Obama intends to give them a free pass,
I am ashamed of my country's current leaders as well.
If I appear to have a bad attitude... if I take a couple days' break from blogging... I think you'll understand
why. In my current frame of mind, I am convinced that nothing we can do will place even the slightest obstacle
in the way of these evil people, or even sway the good but painfully misguided people. And I just don't have it
in me these days to pursue lost causes.
The Released Torture Memos
Or: The Bybee Out With The Boardwater
Glenn Greenwald
has a good summary and a few excerpts (mostly as graphics files, not text). As Greenwald remarks in conclusion,
Finally, it should be emphasized -- yet again -- that it was not our Congress, nor our media, nor our courts
that compelled disclosure of these memos. Instead, it was the ACLU's tenacious efforts over several years which
single-handedly pried these memos from the clutched hands of the government.
...
If you have ever doubted for a moment that we need the ACLU to force the government to operate openly, here's
your proof. If you have ever doubted that the Bush administration operated as a violent criminal gang in its
pursuit of the so-called "war on terror," these documents are your proof. Warning: because of the sheer
specificity of the documents regarding torture techniques, it is ill-advised to read them while you are eating.
Be sure to listen to Greenwald's radio interview with ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer about the significance of the
memos as understood so far.
Are you full-blown, batshit crazy, or merely fucking nuts?
Here's TPM on Perry's reference to... yes...
secession:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry Contemplates Secession
By Brian Beutler - April 16, 2009, 12:25PM
As they struggle to find political footing, rump Republicans, (even the formerly mainstream among them) are
beginning to dabble in right wing extremism. That's not hyperbole. Indeed, you need look no further than Texas
Gov Rick Perry, who seems to have gotten a bit carried away yesterday at a Tea Party Protest in Austin. "We've
got a great union," Perry said, "There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it."
But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come
out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."
This comes less than a week after Perry appeared with sponsors and supporters of a Texas House resolution
affirming the state's claim of sovereignty under the 10th Amendment. "I believe that our federal government has
become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the
affairs of our state," Gov. Perry said.
That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm
the states' rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the
letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue
regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.
The legislation itself (HCR 50) declares the state sovereign and demands "[t]hat all compulsory federal
legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that
requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed."
...
Dog-damn you, Guv, what the fuckety-fuck do you think you're doing? Are you trying to reinforce the very worst
stereotypes other Americans hold of Texans?
For the record: I personally know no Texans... none, of whatever political persuasion... who would even consider
secession. Ain't gonna happen. Apart from these few crazies, Texans are loyal Americans. All these statements
prove is that Perry is part of the absolute right-wing nut-case fringe. I ask Republicans to exercise some
sanity and defeat this seriously mentally disturbed man in the primary, so we need not fear another term of his
misrule.
This self-indulgent post has no political content; you may skip it if you're here for the politics.
The YDD is confined mostly to home because of the foot injury, though Stella puts his leash on and takes
him out once a day. The healing is very, very slow because of the nature of the condition. Strong antibiotics
leave me with little energy for things like blogging, but hey, would you want to risk going without? me neither.
(Someday I'll write a post on the gross inadequacies and extreme frustrations of the healthcare system for people
who have no private insurance. The short version: sometimes you're screwed outright; other times the system in
Texas seems to reflect a dire fear above all other fears that someone, somewhere, might receive some treatment
at public expense, Dog forbid.)
Stella is overwhelmed with a combination of work, unpacking and taking care of me. She's doing that last item
exceedingly well for someone accustomed to a guy who is typically independent and self-reliant. Still, all taken
together, she has too much on her plate, and there's not a lot I can do to help.
Samantha is adapting, and is often back to her lively self. Tabitha... well, I'll spare you the details of the
poop-and-pee report, except to say that she has been restricted from several areas of the house until the
matter is resolved. We're awaiting lab reports from the vet to find out if there's a medical component or if
the behavior is purely stress-related. Well-known remedies have had no effect, or in one case, negative effect.
On the positive side, we had three consecutive days of very pleasant weather, and managed to spend at least
some of it outdoors. I really do miss being able to take a walk or a bike ride.
Again. Again again. Still. Whatever. The Minnesota election contest court
ruled unanimously
that Al Franken won the Senate race in Minnesota. Will Norm Coleman appeal, presumably to the Minnesota Supreme
Court? Is the Pope Catholic? (Maybe we'd better save that last one for another discussion.) Will the US Supreme
Court unconstitutionally intervene as they did in Bush v. Gore? Who knows. Franken has been
kept out of office for nearly four months already; in my opinion, only the first month or so should have been
plenty of time to resolve the matter and seat Franken.
This election, with its recount and contest, seems to me to have gone about as cleanly as humanly possible. If
there is a legitimate basis for challenging it further, I cannot imagine what it would be. (That's not my job;
that's what GOP lawyers are paid to do: like Alice's White Queen, they imagine six impossible things before
breakfast.) It appears to me the Republican Party is gradually perfecting a strategy for monkeywrenching the
outcome of any fair election: if this strategy is continued, soon enough, no election in the United States will
be meaningful.
Franken's term has already been reduced by about a third of a year, a truly crucial span for the economic
recovery effort. If the GOP bends its full energies toward monkeywrenching all close elections, it is possible
we might lose the tiny resemblance to a representative democracy we retain today. At that point, we will all
need to give serious thought to how we can compel the restoration of the form of government our nation's
founders gave us.
I know it's Easter for a lot of people, but
this
is very important... and very troubling:
Obama to Appeal Detainee Ruling
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: April 10, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some
military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that
the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for
extended periods without judicial oversight.
In a court filing, the Justice Department also asked District Judge John D. Bates not to proceed with the
habeas-corpus cases of three detainees at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Judge Bates ruled last
week that the three — each of whom says he was seized outside of Afghanistan — could challenge their detention
in court.
...
It is clear by now that Obama's Justice Department intends to oppose, repeatedly and relentlessly, the
invocation by prisoners of their habeas corpus right to go before a court to challenge their
detention.
Habeas,
also known as The Great Writ, is no less than seven centuries old, and is fundamental to justice in England and
the United States. Obama's Justice is attempting to jimmy the protection that stands between prisoners and
arbitrary indefinite imprisonment. The opposition is neither arguable nor ambiguous in any way. Nor is the issue
of violation of habeas in any way unclear.
In this matter, as noted in a post upstream, Obama is no better than Bush... and Obama loses my support until
his AG directs Justice to cease opposing this fundamental right. Tinkering with habeas is utterly
unacceptable, and I will not tolerate it when a Democratic president does it any more than when a Republican
president does. It is wrong... pure and simple, wrong.
This controversy is clearly growing, as well it should. These radical theories were not ancillary to the
liberal critique of Bush/Cheney lawlessness but central to it. Last night on CBS News, Katie Couric repeatedly
asked Eric Holder about this issue, and -- as The Washington Independent's Daphne Evitar noted -- Holder was
forced to say that he has reviewed the cases where the Obama administration invoked "state secrets" and agreed
with virtually everything the Bush administration did in those cases with regard to that doctrine, making clear
(as Evitar put it) "that the Obama administration [with the possible exception of one unnamed case] is unlikely
to depart dramatically from the Bush administration’s position on the use of the state secrets privilege."
...
In short, the Obama administration is advancing sweeping, nay, breathtaking assertions of new powers that even
Bush never claimed to have.
It doesn't matter which party's president claims broad powers: the problem is the claim itself, together with
the exercise of the power. Claims of secret powers, or powers that must be exercised in secret for reasons of
national security, are the most dangerous. We saw many examples under Bush, and no one really succeeded in
stopping him. What will we allow Obama to do? Will anybody in Congress or the courts put the brakes on? Or are
we headed for de facto one-man rule? For that is what such decrees amount to. Our form of
government is not supposed to yield a dictator, not even an elected dictator, no matter how benevolent, bright
or politically aligned with us. The checks and balances are essential, no matter who is in charge.
When Your Family's Good Name Just Isn't Good Enough
... then you must be Asian American, and the person not satisfied with your family's millennia-old name must be
State Rep. Betty Brown (R) of Texas.
Here's Brown, in a committee hearing on confusion of names on Voter ID:
"Can't you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll
workers," said Brown, "if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that's easier for Americans to
deal with?"
Right, Betty. I suppose you mean "real" Americans with "real" Anglo-Saxon names. Even if those names come close
to naming a teapot.
Just how insulting can the GOP become without bursting into flames and vanishing?
Well, I hope not. In a couple of hours, Stella is taking me to the doc to have a look at the problem I mentioned
earlier. People with my condition sometimes lose a foot. At this point I have no reason to think I will, but
neither does the injured foot look very good. I'll try to post more when I know more. Meanwhile, prop your
feet up, and be grateful you have them.
UPDATE 2:20pm: it's not looking good. Per the specialist's order, I'm off to the
E.R. (at the county hospital, of course... no insurance, remember?). If I get to come home tonight, I'll let
you know what happened.
UPDATE Thursday am: Well, that was a stressful 24 (26? more?) continuous hours
in the E.R. I think I will probably keep my foot, though there is still some uncertainty. I'll write more
after I sleep it off.
FINAL UPDATE: Here are a few details, albeit in an abbreviated version.
Non-healing wounds are characteristic of a common condition I suffer. Over the course of the move to Our House,
one such wound developed and expanded on one foot. Like a fool, I pushed ahead with the move... after all, a
deadline is a deadline, right? ... and undertook to heal the foot after we had all our stuff moved to the house.
Again like a fool, I gave my feet a bath in warm water with Epsom salts. While this may have helped the wound,
it was hot enough to take a large patch of skin off the top of the already-damaged foot. (Yeah, "ouch" is right.
"Stupid" is also correct.) The result was a foot significantly enough damaged to require not just medical
attention but specialist attention of a sort available mostly at emergency rooms. So we went to one. Going to
the county hospital E.R. was not a compromise; they have won awards as one of the best in the nation... and
despite the endless waits for attention, I can now see why: the level of staff expertise and dedication is
exceptionally high.
The other thing that is exceptionally high is my love and admiration for Stella, who took off work, drove me
to the E.R. under circumstances in which I could not drive myself, and stood by me minute-by-minute for the
more than 24 hours it took to get the issue resolved, taking initiative frequently and assertively toward that
resolution. Now that's devotion. I am very lucky. (Yes, I'd do the same for her; is that a surprise?)
The potential of
this knowledge
for good or ill is something we will have to confront soon:
Brain Power Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory
By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: April 5, 2009
Suppose scientists could erase certain memories by tinkering with a single substance in the brain. Could make
you forget a chronic fear, a traumatic loss, even a bad habit.
Researchers in Brooklyn have recently accomplished comparable feats, with a single dose of an experimental drug
delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory, like emotional associations,
spatial knowledge or motor skills.
The drug blocks the activity of a substance that the brain apparently needs to retain much of its learned
information. And if enhanced, the substance could help ward off dementias and other memory problems.
So far, the research has been done only on animals. But scientists say this memory system is likely to work
almost identically in people.
...
Remember the character called The Mule, in Asimov's Foundation series? The Mule discovered he had the capacity
to reach into people's minds and make them loyal to him. Obviously these researchers are not talking about the
same capability, but the possibility being discussed has similar potential to tamper with the chemistry that
underlies the human moral framework. That is a frightening possibility. And now that the possibility has been
revealed, you know that every government will be working on actualizing it as soon as they are able.
I can't help hoping that there is some major obstacle.
Stella's exceptional effort made it possible to move completely out of the one remaining apartment today. All
that remains is to turn in the keys tomorrow. Oh, and we have a few hundred boxes sitting around the house...
Unfortunately, I've managed to do damage to one foot. I am not yet certain how serious it is, or isn't, but I
doubt I'll be running any foot races anytime soon. Apart from that, we are very, very glad to be here in the
new old house. The weather is beautiful, the grass is growing (and will soon need mowing), and we are looking
forward to living here without the burden of the move hanging over us. The kitties are still in a bit of a
cranky mood, but they'll get over it. The move was a success: I think congratulations are in order.
(Note: Blog photos may be scarce until I figure out which box contains the battery charger for my camera.)
The great Mark Twain remarked that “[w]hiskey is carried into committee rooms in demijohns and carried out in
demagogues.” Dog knows no one is a bigger demagogue than Boehner. I have no objection to his consuming any
damned drug he pleases, even to excess, but I do wish he wouldn't show up for press conferences shitfaced drunk.
To my great regret, Boehner is a public representative of a part of the American people before the world at
large: Boehner's inebriation embarrasses more than just Boehner. These pressers are part of his job. I don't
show up for work drunk... neither should he.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The Iowa Supreme Court says the state's same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples, making it the third state where gay marriage is legal.
...
An African American colleague used to say that "Iowa" stood for "Investments Of White America." Whatever Iowans'
racial outlook may be, apparently the state's judiciary is not as extremely conservative as I would have thought.
Afterthought: just to be clear, that's the state constitution the law violates.
Many news sites remarked on this ADA study; the
Forbes article
was not bad in and of itself, but their headline writer should be taken out and shot (and perhaps served for
dinner):
The Dark Side of Vegetarianism
03.31.09, 08:00 PM EDT
For some teens and young adults, it may be concealing eating disorders
WEDNESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Despite its proven health benefits, a vegetarian diet might in fact be
masking an underlying eating disorder, new research suggests.
The study, in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that twice as many
teens and nearly double the number of young adults who had been vegetarians reported having used unhealthy means
to control their weight, compared with those who had never been vegetarians. Those means included using diet
pills, laxatives and diuretics and inducing vomiting to control weight.
There's a dark side to vegetarianism, said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale
University School of Medicine. He had no role in the research.
...
Please note that Dr. Katz's statement is not rendered as a quotation. In other words, there's a real
likelihood that the words "dark side" are not his, or any professional's, but merely the opinion of the writer
of the article. The article, otherwise satisfactory, seems to take no account of the possibility that some
people... but only some... develop eating disorders and, separately, become vegetarians, due to some larger
psychological phenomenon. There is certainly no demonstration of a causal relationship in either direction, as
the headline implies. How many times must we say it: correlation does not imply a causal association.
I've known and worked with more than a few nutritionists and dietitians, and I'll politely refrain from
commenting on the reasoning habits of the nuttier among them, because even with insufficient logical basis, many
of them develop keen intuitions for what dietary changes individual clients need. But by contrast I've known
literally hundreds of vegetarians over the approximately 27 years I've been veggie, and I can assure you there's
no one personality type, no one motivation and most certainly no common unhealthy manifestation of eating
disorders among vegetarians. Any "scientific" study purporting to prove otherwise is surely flawed, incorrect,
full of crap. (So are most vegetarians, though usually not for long.)
I see three broad categories of motivations for choosing a vegetarian diet: love of animals, belief that a veggie
diet is more healthful, and sincerely held religious beliefs. There is no dark side to any of those, and whoever
delivered that phrase is inappropriately insulting millions of vegetarians who have made their decision not to
eat critters for the best of reasons and with no psychopathology involved.
I, for one, am tired of the gratuitous hostility toward sprout-eaters. Hey, anonymous columnist, what's your
problem? do you have a case of the guilties about "eating Bambi," as one acquaintance used to phrase it?
I have to be out of my old apartment in less than a week. Forgive my lack of an April Fool's Day post; there's
just not time at the moment. I may be gone for one day or six; I'm not certain.
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Poor Defendants Go To Jail
Any of you who are ACLU members, or who regularly read
Grits for Breakfast
or related blogs, are well aware of the problem of inadequate criminal defenses provided to indigent defendants.
Christy Hardin Smith examines the problem and concludes that it's getting worse, in her post
"Sixth Amendment In Crisis: Right To Competent Counsel At Risk."
If you're poor in America, and you're charged with a crime, you are no longer assured of even a minimally
competent defense The theoretical presumption of innocence doesn't mean much if not backed up with an adequate
defense... and few Americans seem to give a damn. All of our founders are surely spinning in their graves.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives
in a spirit of charity than the constant omissions of a
government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
- FDR
I belong to the Democratic Party wing of the Democratic Party.
- Paul Wellstone
I am a Democrat without prefix, without suffix, and without apology.
- Sam Rayburn
