Nope, 1 Wrong Writer ...

5 wrong justices
Even the title of his piece hit me wrong from the get go. "This bozo thinks he's smarter than these five Supreme Court Justices?"

[goes off to read article to see what else he can find that's stupid/bogus/wrong/idiotic/moronic/etc]

Well he's not entirely stupid. Or perhaps he is given his creditentials (you'd think someone who was on the inside wouldn't say something that blatantly stupid). He's a law professor at Berkeley. Perhaps we should substitute him for part of the joke "LSD and Unix were both invented at Berkely. We don't believe this is a coincidence." Although he did serve in the Justice Department under the UberSturmFuhrer, so I guess I can understand that he has a radical (ie: stupid) point of view.

Given what I've seen of SC decisions (since I've begun paying attention to them in the last few years) they're incredibly focused. And the court decides what cases it wants to hear of those presented to it by petitioners. Which means there at least has to be some point of law under debate, some potential doubt that not all the "i"s are dotted and "t"s crossed, even if the topic does have political ramifications.

And if you *look* at the data on what's been laughingly called "trials" at Gitmo you would see that even the tribunals aren't following their own rules as established by Washington, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR. After the debate over the trial of General Tomoyuki Yamashita following WWII on war crimes charges, a change was made in the UCMJ for trying prisoners charged with war crimes. So it's covered in the rules now. Those self same rules he says they are following which the data indicates they are not.

And let's go look at the definition of a "military tribunal" to see what we can find out about it's history and it's rules.

Hell even I know it's pretty bogus if the accused a) doesn't get to attend the trial and b) doesn't get to see the evidence of his alleged guilt. That kind of sounds like something the SS or the KGB might do. The ultimate question, which Professor Yoo seems to be ignoring, is what's to stop them from charging me (or you) with "terrorists acts" (and is being "unpatriotic" during the War on Terror a "terrorist act"?), convicting you in-abstentia and locking you in solitary for the rest of your life? No appeal, no parole and no chance to speak to an attorney.

Is that the way you want to be recorded in History, Mister War President? Mister Attorney "Torture" General?

Okay I went and read the stuff on military trubinals and it's freakin' scary. One of the cited references to the it was
Executive Power, Gonzales Style
and the idea that the President could order the arrest and indefinate detention of any US citizen without recourse to trial or access to an attorney. That foreign nationals aren't protected by US laws or the Laws of War. And that any US official who engages in acts (such as torture, illegal wiretapping, ordering up personal phone records, etc.) is immune to prosecution related to those acts if ordered by the President (under his authority as "commander in chief").

So not only can they do this, but you can't sue them later if you're vindicated and released. Hell from that piece it even says that guilt doesn't even need to be proven "beyond a reasonable doubt". Which means that you can't see a lawyer, you can't be present at your trial, you don't get to see the evidence against you and you can't appeal to anyone outside the original chain of authority. If this isn't the very definition of WELL AND TRULY FUCKED I don't know what is.

Still Sweltering?

Well I *think* the AC has been fixed but it was kinda warm when I got here this morning. I was running late since the bus "skipped" the Boy and I had to drive him. And the doors were again closed but the fans inside were still around. Some on and some not. And it seems to have gotten cooler since I got here. So it could just be taking awhile for it to cool off again after the AC comes back on. (I was going to say that my forearms weren't sticking to the desk anymore but that may not be the case)

'Devil'-wear
Looks like a film I want to go see. I'm not big into fashion or anything but Meryl Streep looks like she had a woot making this one. And Ann Hathaway was pretty good in those princess movies she was in a few years ago (well I only saw the first one). Stanley Tucci is in it also and he's always good. I guess (after reading that article) there aren't too many guys whose primary concern regarding what they wear to work is whether it's clean, but how exactly do you "distress" a handbag (and why would you want to?)?

Superman ain’t gay, he’s queer
And the question has apparently arisen concerning the orientation of Superman. There also seems to be a bit of speculation about Superman being an alleghory for the life of Christ. I'm fairly certain he's the messiah for a legion of parents-basement-dwelling, thirtysomething, video-store-clerk, comic book geeks. Who knew they were fundamentals Christians too? And what do we get if we combined the two ideas

Just because I can't seem to make a post without some political rant in it, we can peruse;
Reform DeLayed
The Supreme Court's ruling is disappointing but the conservatives stayed true to their "base" and the others found no grounds for dissention (apparently). So expect the House of Representatives to represent you even less and be even less productive. Man I wish I could be paid $162k a year to goof off.

On the last issue the Court has before they close this session, they ruled that military tribunals are illegal.
Hicks' military trial ruled 'illegal'
Hmm. I wonder what the Administration is going to use for an excuse to keep Guantanamo open now?

The Sweltering, Day 3

Well the AC is supposed to be fixed tomorrow morning. When I got here this morning the doors were all closed and none of the fans were out as they had been yesterday. It turned out that I must have just been early. Brian asked me to go cover the Op Center so Brand could continue his Unending War with IBM and work on TSM. So I packed up (before I had unpacked) and headed out.

It was nice and cool over there but my leg has been bothering me for most of four days now. I need to call the doc and make an appointment. Except I'm afraid that he may tell me that I can't do karate, which would be very disappointing. Of course I should have it looked at before something happens which requires amputation (I guess I've been watching too much "House"). They don't seem to be afraid to kill patients on that show. ;P

Torg is cancelled for tonight. Andy had a family emergency. I hope everyone is alright but now feel guilty since my reponse was that everyone could come over anyway instead of expressing my concern. The heat is throwing me off. Yeah, that's it!

I keep thinking I should send Senators Talent and Bond email asking them why they're wasting time on this flag burning ban (techinically it's a ban on desicrating the flag with no definition of what desicration is) instead of real work. Ironic since I'm blogging at work! (of course I'm not working for 5,595,211 people, and not getting paid $162,100 a year either)

In looking for the website for "House" I was poking around and found some clips of interviews with the actors. It was funny because Hugh Laurie has a distinctly British accent. And that reminded me of an ET thing I caught on accident that discussed that issue. It seems that he has to have his "American" accent "always on" or he doesn't sound right, so he always talks that way on set.

Damn, reading his bio is cool. Seems he's quite the talented English Actor (caps intended). Wrote scripts, screenplays and a novel, recorded original songs, directed and starred in a number of good shows/movies.

Well it seems that we have to go to 802.1x testing now.

The Sweltering, Day 2

The AC is out in our building. And word yesterday afternoon was that there was a problem with the compressor. And the part it needed wouldn't be in until tomorrow morning. So it would be fixed some time tomorrow or Thursday morning.

Fortunately (and I can say that as I sit here sweating) the weather in town has only been in the low to mid 70s so far this week. With impending rain looming on the horizon (or is that too many transitive verbs? - well that sounded funny in my head but I can't remember what a transitive verb is and have no idea if the two "ings" I used are them). But then impending and looming mean kind of the same thing, so while it may not be wrong it does sound (now) kind of klunky. But then I'll come back later and tighten it up so it does sound half way decent. Such is the power of the "EDIT" button.

Work is a bit slow right now, nothing on the front burner with it's pot handle sticking out so as to whack my thigh as I step around the stove.

...

That damn fly is back [reaches for a magazine, which are scarce now since I had to clean up my cube for a VIP walkthrough last week] ...

Well his "taunt" skill must be higher than my "concentration" skill since he seems to be gone now. Ah, well, his time will come .... [bwahahahahahahaha].

But since the air is out the doors are all open with fans sitting in them. And even then most everybody has found some reason to be somewhere else. Our boss even reserved one of the conference rooms in our other building so we could work there. But I'm a die-hard, refusing to give in to Mother Nature. I did, however, asceed enough to wear shorts and sandals though. It occurred to me that this was often how Joe would dress. And even now this is how Erik dresses most of the time (that's how you know it's cold in Missouri, if Erik has long pants on or has worn something other than sandals).

Lunch is spaghetti and meatballs today, just like yesterday. And last Thursday. (Fridays are fast food since I'm in the Op Center all day) I had some left over angel hair pasta last week (or perhaps week before last) from the Game Night Dinner so I finally made some sauce and put meatballs in it. Then I loaded up four freezer containers. The first lunch I ate I discovered that I had put too much in each one, I ate too much and felt bloated. As I recall I didn't eat dinner that night. But the last two (including this one) aren't so bad. And this the week after I had four containers of curried meatballs and rice (of which there is still one waiting for tomorrow or Thursday for a change-of-pace). Cheaper (and quicker) than going out for lunch every day. And easier since the building is usually locked down and getting delivery in is a hassle.

Last Friday the Alton rerun was his breakfast bread episode. The cinnamon rolls sounded good and The Boy wanted some so Sunday I tried to make them. However the dough didn't rise very much so I presumed I'd done something wrong. I went ahead and finished making them last night and started another batch. After three hours that dough still hadn't "doubled in volume" so I left it out all night, figuring I'd have to toss it in the morning. But this morning it had risen quite a bit so I did the rest of the prep (much easier this time since now I had a rolling pin to roll them out with). The batch from Sunday still "looks" okay but they're covered in icing and swimming in melted brown sugar and cinnamon so looks could be deceiving. Sharon seems to think my yeast might be expired, I'll have to check.

Marlin and Yvonne went to the karate conference in Lincoln this last weekend. Bethany was in charge and she was still stuck in her "green-belt-itis" (a condition where you get kind of tired of doing karate after you get that far and need a break before you can get ...

marvelous, I love getting those kind of calls at work. (Tricia, if you read this AES called me again)

but you need a break before you can get energized again) but she did well I think. The workout was different but still raised a sweat and the stuff we worked on was interesting. But now that they're back and they learned all sorts of new things, I'm sure we'll suffer appropriately. Marlin tested (and passed) for his next level of black belt (ni-dan) and Yvonne got two trophies, one for the kata tournament and one for spirit.

It seems to me that I'm probably going to go back into one of my "quiet periods". I responded to a customer email yesterday and was proven wrong in what I said twice (or was it three times) so I don't think I'll talk to customers much for awhile. Plus (and I'm fairly certain she was joking) I was told I talk too much on WoW. So mums the word nowadays I think.

The Torg game has been "on" for two weeks now since Jack is in Korea for five weeks. I won't go on about what happened since it's all on that site and ... well never mind.

In fact I think this is finished now. Later.

Well that was

a bit alarming.

I found out that Ryan and Julia had broken up so I was going to remove her blog from my links. While I was scrolling through I found the link to the Erikson book I'd finished reading so I put in the link to the new book I'm reading ("The Truth" by Terry Pratchett). Somewhere in the mix I lost about half of my template. D'oh!

So I backed through all the pages I'd been to until I found the editing one and managed to copy everything there and paste it back in place. So I managed not to lose anything but it showed me that all the work I put in some of these things needs to be backed up somewhere else. So I copied it again to a file on this machine.

The air is out here today so it's rather warm. Although the weather in Columbia today is much milder than it has been, than it was last week, it's still a bit warm in here. The compressor is gone and they won't get a new part in until Wednesday or Thursday. D'oh

Jeff is flying back to the States this week. He sent a note out about his retreat challenge entry and when I went to look at the calendar I realized that Origins is this weekend. So, since I've done none of the prep I should have I don't think I'm going. Ah well, it's not like I've been going straight although it would be nice to see Jeff, Jay and Garrett again. And to poke around a Dealer's room for awhile. But I won't spend a bunch of money on games I don't need or won't have time to play.

The Retreat is coming up late next month so I'd better get to writing. I've got a decent idea finally for an entry for the Challenge but I need to finish the general outline and start making up the setting specific rules. Rather than try to learn d20 Modern or Spycraft (or d20 Spycraft) I think I'm going to use Savage Worlds since I have two copies of that book (and can borrow another two) plus I know those rules already. So all I have to do is to decide what setting specific stuff I want to use and draft those. Then I can start on my idea for the scenario. All I'll say now is that it involves Buried Pirates Treasure, the KGB, the NSA and more mystery.

Smoking for charity

Remarks, testimony clash in Ney probe

'The report, Walsh said, merely shows the lengths Abramoff and his partners, who "have pleaded guilty to deceiving their clients, employers and member of Congress, would go to further their own greed."'

Exactly how is going to jail "furthering greed"? So not only is the Congressman a liar, but his spokesman is a moron. Well, should I really be surprised? The operative question is, will the voters buy his line of sh!t?

"Although testimony at Safavian's trial indicated the golf trip consisted largely of golfing, drinking and smoking cigars, Ney told the Senate committee he thought it would raise money for underprivileged children in Scotland and Washington, D.C."

And how does golfing, drinking and smoking cigars help raise money for needy children? Are they betting on who would win? Who would drink the most? Who can smoke their cigar fastest?

America, these are your servents in Washington!
Morons!

Assorted Nonsense #2

Must-have Products for Raising Sluts

"DoctorMama was elated to read that the FDA approved an HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. And then surprised to read that some people believe giving the vaccine to young women may encourage them to engage in premarital sex."

Well then if their children don't get the vaccine and then (later) die of cervicle cancer, that particular mindset may be removed from the gene pool. A self-correcting problem as it were.

But it led Mary Tsao to speculate about other products which may cause girls to become sluts. Including;

• Softpaws: widgets you put on your cat's claws to prevent them from tearing up your furniture. So the girls can then go out all night worry free.
  
• A better sports bra which allows them to galavant around half naked more comfortably.
  
• A white noise machine which will make their parents sleep more soundly and not hear them sneaking out their windows to service the neighborhood boys.
  

And it seems that

Difficult Decisions: Minimum Wage, Nannys and Sex Workers

Sex workers are paid better than child care providers. And they seem to have similiar skill sets.

Support for the war VS Support for the troops

This is an interesting idea. As I read Lieutenant Barnett's blog (Midnight in Iraq) archives I find some interesting things. At one point he got an email from a journalism student at the UW Madison. She asked him about how war protestors affected him and other soldiers (technically he's a Marine rather than a soldier - soldiers are Army) there. It caused me to examine what I think about the war, those executing it and those responsible for starting it.

And so here, of no particular importance and in no particular order, is what I think.

• Do I think the war was "necessary"?: No, not particularily. There was, as it turns out, little or no valid evidence that Saddamm had weapons of mass distruction. He was, no doubt, an Evil Man and shouldn't have been the leader of his country but that was a situation which had existed for more than 30 years so why the sudden desire to "fix" this particular problem? (I have an idea on that as well) There was no burning, immediate threat to American security that I can see (or could then) which had to be addresses by invasion.
  
  
• Do I think we should pull out as soon as possible?: No. Right or wrong we did what we did. We "broke" Iraq and since we broke it, I believe it's our responsibility to fix it such as is feasible and such as the Iraqi people will let us (or accept our help). Can we fix it by the schedules which seem to keep popping up in congress and the media (this year? next year? next July?)? I serously doubt it but I'm not really on the inside track and posses sufficient information to render an informed opinion.
  
  
• Does that mean we should pull out early and leave things unfinished?: No, I don't think we should. Being ex-military I have a certain desire, likely instilled in me by my parents as well as the Army, to see the job done. All the way. My nature is such that I'm something of a perfectionist but that is mostly infeasible in this sort of situation. "Close enough for Government work" isn't just a joke. Really.
  
  
• Does that mean you are willing to let the Administration not announce a pull-out date?: No. I don't trust them any longer. There have been way too many instances of the Administration lying to us (the American people) to allow me to take their word for anything as anything other than what you should scoop up after you walk your dog. Now granted they are all politicians (which means that anything come from their mouth can generally be used as fertilizer), but they seem to want to become the new definition of "politican" and formalize the link between that term and "bald-faced liar".
  
  
• So if he didn't need to invade Iraq, why did he?: I believe he started the whole thing because it neatly folded into his reelection bid. The whole "don't change horses in mid-stream" war president thing. I believe he had no idea how to address the other significant (domestic) problems we faced so he waved his hand and said "look over there". And people bought it. (which is a shame on us rather than a condemnation of him, after all, snake oil salesman are an American tradition) But we let him get away with it at the time and now we can't just bail on his stupidity. He still doesn't seem to have any feasible plans to fix any of our problems, and it's becoming less of a side line issue after all.
  
  
• But what about the "War on Terror"?: From my perspective we've been involved in the "war on terror" since the mid 70s when terrorists started using airline hijacking as a common means to their ends. I was nearly blown up one Saturday afternoon when I went to wash my jeep at the PX. Soldiers in Germany were killed for ID cards which were then used to plant bombs on our bases. The only difference between the 80s and 90s and now is that they got the brass balls to attack us on our own soil. Possibly because we seldom put the smack down on them in their ballparks before then. Or at least not often enough (the late 80s air raid on Libya springs to mind an instance when we did smack pretty hard).
  
  
• Why should we listen to you and why are your opinions any more important than mine?: You shouldn't and they aren't. I spent 13 years of my life defending your right to be an idiot and to express that in public. In some cases it might have been a mistake but I will trust to Darwin to strike you dead when you fail to look both ways crossing the street. In fact my opinions are of no importance to anyone but me but this is my blog so I can post any damn thing I want so. So bleh! [sticks out tongue]
  

Well I may have more to post on this sort of thing later but that should be enough for now. I hope I've been slightly amusing.

Tell me why

exactly, Diane Miller from DRM, that it is important that we talk. If you had said something about the topic you might have stood a chance of having me call back, even though it is a toll free number you left. Instead you get religated to the category of telemarketer (which you probably are) and consigned to the bit bucket where all voice mail and answering machine messages go to die. And I won't lie and say I'm sorry about it.

I don't personally hate telemarketers. After all, they're only trying to do their job. However I don't intend to allow them to consume my life with their bull. When I answer the phone at home I listen long enough to hear their name and who they're with and then I tell them I'm not interested as the phone is on the way back to the hook. Sure, it's rude as hell but they called me so I reserve the right to metaphorically slam my door in their face.

The most annoying ones are the ones who claim their from your bank or one of your credit card companies. That flags it for me that I'd better listen since they may have some sort of complaint about my missing a payment or something. Something I should verify. And then they start in on the "special deal" once they have me. After the initial window for rude behavior has closed I feel bad trying to reopen it but as I type this I think I'll change my policy and just say "STOP" to them. Tell them I'm not interested and they shouldn't mis-represent themselves as belonging to a legitimate company I have a relationship with.

Of course I could, instead, inform them that I'm a High Priest of the Great God Zul and begin proselytizing. Looking for converts or at least, human sacrifices. Perhaps tell them that we will annoint them richly if they're still virgins since that's a more powerful sacrifice.

I wonder if the Republican party gives more goodies to virgins who join the party?

Assorted Nonsense

Well the link to the MilBlogWire didn't seem to work out. It's not surprising. The guy running it calls himself "Uncle Jimbo" and I found myself disagreeing with him on the issue of the retired Generals speaking out against Rumsfeld. Shortly after that he seemed to stop updating things, although I found some of the blogs he linked to really good. Good stuff from the guys on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, even if I didn't much care for his writing or politics.

But yesterday I found Midnight in Iraq by a Marine lieutenant. He writes well and even if he now doesn't have a job which takes him outside the wire, he does see some interesting things which give us another perspective on the situation there. I particularily liked his stuff on Arab/Iraqi customs. So I think I'll replace that link with his and follow his blog now.

I went running on the Katy trail on Monday with Yvonne, David and Bethany. The running wasn't too good but the stations we did were good. And it was a good workout. But it seems to be taking me much longer to recover from it than it takes me from the karate sessions. It could be the weather as well, I'm not quite sure. But my hip and my knee have been talking to me a lot lately and they don't have many nice things to say.

Tricia called to talk to me about insurance for the boy. We're going to have to figure something out.

The Firefly game is tonight and I'm making tortellini with sausage. Jack is bringing the stuff for a cesear salad too, so dinner should be really good.

I got my stand mixer yesterday. No chance to test it yet but I sense homemade pizza in the near future.

KitchenAid KSM 150 P Artisan 5 quart

I got a special deal from cooking.com where I can pick from a food grinder, citrus juicer or slicer/shredder attachment for free (all three worth about $65). Plus shipping was only about $6. Now I'll have to find some more recipes.

There was lots of stuff in the news I heard recently that I was inclined to comment about but I guess I'll put that in later.

So who's the one who is

Inarticulate?

Doomed gay-marriage ban creates hysteria

'Said Exodus International's Alan Chambers, who said he quit homosexuality 14 years ago: "Our children are being raped every day of school by what's being taught. Are you mad? I'm mad. I'm so mad. God have mercy."'

Mister Chambers or the reporter, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post?

Exactly how is what is being taught "raping" your children Mister Chambers? And which part of the cirricula is doing the "raping"?

And is anyone else amused by this "attack" by gay people upon marriage? Are they picketing City Hall so that no one can get marriage licenses? Or are they blockading the churches so the wedding parties can't get in to the chapel?

And I'm unclear which side is claiming that this amendment, banning gay marriage, is advancing civil rights? It appears that Tony Snow said something which could be interpreted as this position and he was then taken to task by CBS News' Bill Plante. Upon further inspection he couldn't articulate exactly how banning something like this gives us more rights.

This would seem to indicate that Mister Snow isn't very good at his "snowjobs", wouldn't it?

And the bills sponsor, Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), seemed unable to articulate exactly how a ban on gay marriage will encourage hetrosexual deadbeat fathers to stay at home and help their families and thus improve the "epidemic level of fatherlessness in America".

Man, if I lived in Colorado I'd be ashamed of the folks I sent to the senate.

What ARE they afraid of?

Amendment Fails, Supporters Vow To Keep Pushing

I don't understand them at all.

I fail to see how an institution which may be thousands of years old is now so frail, so decrepit, that it could be toppled at the mearest hint of a breeze of the mere mention of gay couples getting married. How does two women or two men getting married hurt any other high school football star from marrying his sweatheart and getting a job in insurance, buying a home and starting a family of more republican ... (well let's avoid name calling) "voters". How does it hurt all those republican politicans who are already married to their college sweathearts and have already raised families (and perhaps divorced the mother of their children to marry a cute big tobacco lobbyist). How does it hurt the religious leaders who seem to adamantantly opposed to the very idea? Are gay marriages going to suddenly convince multitudes of people to stop attending church and stop tithing? Do they believe that by allowing gays to get married, to be covered by family health insurance plans, to amend their wills to support their new families, to share the tax benefits (and obligations) of filing jointly, they are suddenly going to "catch" gayness? That they're going to decide suddenly to leave their wives for a male lover. That they're suddenly going to get good taste and common sense? (Oh, I'm propagating a sterotype, sorry)

Or are they just hung up on the phrase? Perhaps we should call it something else entirely. But I suspect, not seeing much common sense in the entire issue, none of these alternatives would be palatible.

But if it's only a ploy then I can't see them actually getting that worked up about it failing. However that raises the question "Is this what we're paying them to do?"

Answers indeed

No Easy Answers

Not being a Marine, never having been deployed to Iraq and not ever having been in combat, I don't consider myself qualified to have an opinion ... well, perhaps that's not the term I need, I don't consider myself qualified to render judgement on others, particularily when the bullets start flying or when they see comrades, friends and squadmates killed.

The reporter did, at least, try to walk a mile in their boots, being embedded with the 3rd of the 1st. So while he may not understand what it means to be a Marine, to swear to protect and defend, obey the orders of those appointed over them, against all enemies foreign and domestic, he has some idea what they are going through there. How scared you may get (at being killed or perhaps at screwing the pooch and getting a buddy or subordinate killed).

And some of the comments in that piece are interesting, especially the ones by parents who have children deployed, sometimes on the 2nd or 3rd tours. Or the officers who were deployed. Or the retired vets.

I really liked the one by the former commander of K Company, 3rd of the 1st. However I disagree slightly. I don't think civilians who sit calmly in front of their computers sipping lattes have any right whatsoever to judge soldiers or marines. They have a right, guarenteed by the service of said soldiers and marines, to their opinions and the right to voice them. But until they put the welfare of their nation before their personal welfare I don't believe they have the right to judge those who do.

Bad Definitions?

Okay, so maybe we do need someone (Congress??) to define some terms for us. This morning, on the way to work I was listening to this;

Immigration Raid Roils Kentucky Community

The reporter, Jennifer Ludden, uses the phrase "reputable" to describe the home building firm (Fischer Homes) who's sub-contractor hired illegals. Perhaps I've been mistaken for years about the meaning of that term.

...

Nope, it seems that it meant what I thought. Having a good reputation, honorable. Digging a bit deeper I finally find what I'm looking for, "high esteem". Which leads to respect. And eventually we get to "To avoid violation of" which implies violation of laws.

So what part of violating Federal laws is "reputable"? (perhaps she should have used the term "previously reputable")