Boobie Day

Happy Friday. Here's a Boobie.

Revisiting the History of Renzi

In the long delayed prosecution of my former congress critter Rick Renzi, now news is coming out that confirms something I long suspected: Shrub's (in)justice department manipulated evidence to protect Renzi:

In the fall of 2006, one day after the Justice Department granted permission to a U.S. attorney to place a wiretap on a Republican congressman suspected of corruption, existence of the investigation was leaked to the press — not only compromising the sensitive criminal probe but tipping the lawmaker off to the wiretap.

Career federal law enforcement officials who worked directly on a probe of former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) said they believe that word of the investigation was leaked by senior Bush administration political appointees in the Justice Department in an improper and perhaps illegal effort to affect the outcome of an election.

At the time of the leak, Renzi was locked in a razor-thin bid for reelection and unconfirmed reports of a criminal probe could have become politically damaging. The leaked stories — appearing 10 days before the election — falsely suggested that the investigation of Renzi was in its initial stages and unlikely to lead to criminal charges.

In fact, the investigation had been ongoing for some time and had already amassed enough evidence of alleged criminal misconduct to obtain approval from the highest levels of the Justice Department, including then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, to seek an application from a federal judge to wiretap Renzi. In February 2008, a federal grand jury indicted Renzi on 36 felony counts of money laundering, extortion, insurance fraud and various other alleged crimes.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/bush-administration-leaks-bolstered-rick-renzis-reelection-bid-2009-06-24.html

Renzi didn't run for re-election in 2008 when his blatant corruption finally lead to criminal charges. His trial has been delayed to September of this year. But he barely managed to retain his seat in 2006 by downplaying the investigation, even though his corruption was well known to anyone paying attention.
One of the reasons that I began this blog was to attempt to fight against Mr. Renzi, who represented my district. I dedicated pictures of tattoo'd pigs to him, and I'm only too happy to revive the tradition. There have been a lot of corrupt congress critters, but he was consistently among the worst. The entire Shrub administration acted as a crime syndicate, and Renzi was a typical rethug criminal who belongs in jail.
So have another pig, Mr. Renzi. I'm looking forward to the trial.

Damn You, Sanford!

Here I had a perfectly good piece of political snark (see below), and in less than 24 hours you go and make it irrelevant. Any politician can run off and have an affair. I had hopes that you could give us real political weirdness, but this is just the usual run-of-the-mill sleaze (although it is slightly exotic to be boffing an Argentinian, rather than the standard white staffer).
I really wish that my lame attempts at humor had a longer shelf life.

Sanford in 2012

OK, time for a little baseless speculation (and take full advantage of the opportunity to snicker):

Check out this set of facts. Fact 1: Gov. Mark Sanford went missing Thursday and hasn't been seen since. Fact 2: His staff has since told us that the governor has been hiking the Appalachian Trail. Fact 3: Sunday was "Naked Hiking Day" on the Appalachian Trail. We kid you not.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/23/1974627.

While no one I know wants to see a naked republican governor, Sanford could take a bold step to change the image of the republican party. Imagine him declaring "I'm the only candidate who's openly pro-walking naked in the woods." Where would Obama stand on the "nude hiking" issue? I'm thinking this could be a real winner for the republicans.

(added: Sanford now says he was in Argentina. I'm still looking for a good political snark angle in that.)

A Couple More Pics

A couple more from the Pagosa/Animas trip. Because they make me happy.

Can't wait to do it again.

Happy Summer Solstice

And Happy Father's Day.

Local News Can Be Fun

Ah, the joys of living in a smaller city. Little things make the front page of the paper:

Two city police officers have been placed on paid leave after police officials received photos of the officers surrounded by four women in what police officials call suggestive poses.

The photos show two uniformed officers in their patrol cars stopped at an intersection. Four women stand outside of one patrol car and have posed themselves in a manner that Police Chief Brent Cooper said the officers should have known might have happened.




"We're very embarrassed by this," Cooper said. "We're very disappointed our officers allowed themselves to get drawn into it."

http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2009/06/19/news/20090619_front_198395.txt

I know two of the women in the photos, and they're both sweet, fun-loving, and intelligent ladies. Seems pretty harmless to me, but I guess the law enforcement bosses don't share my sense of humor. The two officers were reprimanded and suspended for one day; not a huge punishment, but still rather silly and unnecessary.
It does make the local newspaper more entertaining, though.

We Need More Boobies

It's true. We need more Boobies. Please send me your Boobie pics ASAP. Thanks.

Well...

Our President will harm a fly...
Whereas...
the Cheney would have killed a kitten...
and shrub would have eaten the fly...by mistake
but Rove would have called it "manly"

Thoughts on Iran

First, if you want real insight into the events in Iran, I recommend (as with all things Middle East) that you read Juan Cole. Also, Andrew Sullivan (who I usually disagree with) has been doing a great job covering the Iran protests. And finally, this piece by Robert Fisk. (Added: see also Watergate Summer, where Enigma4ever has a great roundup). They, and many other real experts, will give you more serious insight than I am capable of. That said, here's some of my view:
First, it's important to remember that the Iranian election isn't about us. The vast majority of Iranian voters were angry about Iran's domestic economy. Opposition to Amahdinejad came primarily from the ongoing poverty in Iran in the face of vast oil wealth, not an opposition to the Islamic theocracy. One reason that the blatant election fraud seems so strange is that Moussavi is also supported by, and a strong supporter of, the Islamic council that is the true power in Iran. It's really unclear to me why the Ayatollah (and the supreme council) chose to rig the election, since the real power (and control of the Republican Guard) would remain unchanged, regardless of who won a legitimate election. By engaging in such blatant disregard of the voters will, they've actually weakened their own position. The Islamic Republic was under no threat from Moussavi. Now they are under threat from the massive public outcry.
Second, there is the history of mass protest in Iran from 1979. Each death leads to an additional demonstration of mourning. The 1979 revolution only came about after almost a year of daily demonstrations. So crackdowns will continue to bring more people out into the streets, and further weaken the government control as family loyalties (the strongest bond in Iranian society) tax the guards loyalty to the government. The Shah lost when his guards defected to join their brothers and sisters in the Green Bands (side note to media pundits: the Green Bands were the Islamic militia in 1979; wearing green bands still symbolize support for Islamic law, not some sort of western ideal of "freedom fighters"). This may take a while to play out.
Thirdly, Obama seems to be doing the right thing, by trying to remain uninvolved. He's walking a tightrope, but faced with the history of American meddling in Iran, support for the protesters is bound to backfire. The Iranian government is already portraying the demonstrations as the result of foreign provocation. Regardless of America's preference, Obama will need to deal with the eventual victor, and any American endorsement will only poison future relations.
While I said earlier that this isn't "about us", it's certainly clear that America would prefer to see Amahdinejad out of power. Amahdinejad's bombastic anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric has made it almost impossible to conduct any realistic dialog with him. He's created an adversarial relationship, and shrub and the neocons were perfectly willing to engage as adversaries. It's almost impossible to negotiate when both parties start by calling the other "evil". Moussavi is anti-American and anti-Israeli, but he's much calmer in his rhetoric than Amahdinejad, so there's a chance to open talks with a 'clean slate' (in reality, a less tainted slate), or at least without the baggage of recent years. I doubt that it will be a 'warm friendly' relationship, but it would allow us to pull back from the brink of war.
Added:

Those Mousavi supporters are using the slogans of the Islamic Revolution and it's my understanding that they are mostly simply seeking a return to the status quo ante, when their votes meant something in the half-rigged Islamic Republic's system. They're not looking to depose the mullahs and they're not looking to break the system that's persisted since 1979 - they just want it to work as advertised. Nowhere is this clearer than in their choice of leaders: Mousavi, Rafsanjani, Khatami, Montazeri. All members in good standing of the Iranian politico-clerical elite and all standing to gain nothing from a break-up of the existing system. As Trita Parsi writes:

What's often forgotten amid the genuinely awe-inspiring spectacle of hundreds of thousands of long-suppressed people risking their lives on the streets to demand change is the fact that the political contest playing out in the election is, in fact, among rival factions of the same regime. Ahmadinejad represents a conservative element, backed by the Supreme Leader, that believes the established political class has hijacked the revolution and enriched themselves and is fearful that the faction's more pragmatic inclination toward engagement with the West could lead to a normalization of relations that will "pollute" Iran's culture and weaken the regime. Mousavi is not really a reformer so much as a pragmatic, moderate conservative who has campaigned with the backing of the reform movement because it recognizes that he has a better chance of unseating Ahmadinejad than one of their own would have.

(from http://www.newshoggers.com/)

Last Weekend

A quick pic from last weekend's river play. We ran the Pagosa Springs stretch of the San Juan on Saturday, and the Animas on Sunday. That's me and Zymurgian in the front of the raft on the Saturday run. No big challenges on either run, but it was enough to test my shoulder and great to be back on the water.

USD hegemony over

Chris Hedges on the coming decline of the USD

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090614_the_american_empire_is_bankrupt/

Boobie Watch

The Friday Boobie is here, and with that I'm hitting the road. Enjoy your weekend.

Animas Bound

Leaving in the morning for Durango, CO, for Animas River Days. ARD is more of a "river party" than a serious whitewater river trip, but since it's my first time out since breaking the shoulder I'm looking forward to a challenge. If nothing else, it feels like I'm starting to break away from physical restrictions, step by step. I think I know what I'm doing (don't we all), but there is the chance that the shoulder could fail me. During today's physical therapy I did a bunch of tests, and my right side has less than 50% of the strength of my left (making me a left-winger) on most of them. Pain is still a part of any thing I do using my right arm. But I've made so much progress over the past few months that my therapist's words were "go for it" and "50% of your baseline is stronger than most people will ever be" (yeah, I used to be pretty solid), and I really need some whitewater to nurture my soul. So, fornicate the risk, I'm doing it.
I'll try to get a Boobie up before I leave in the morning, but otherwise I'll see you next week.

Solar Powered Garbage Cans

More accurately: Solar Powered Trash Compacters. These are being installed around downtown Flagstaff.

How cool is that?

I don't know what other cities are using these, but I'm really happy to see them in town.

Supreme Court Confusion

I admit to being fairly ignorant when it comes to the 'legalese' that most Supreme Court decisions contain. But Scalia's dissent in yesterday's decision on recusal of Judges sounds incredibly strange to me:

A Talmudic maxim instructs with respect to the Scripture: “Turn it over, and turn it over, for all is therein.” The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Aboth, Ch. V, Mishnah 22 (I. Epstein ed. 1935). Divinely inspired text may contain the answers to all earthly questions, but the Due Process Clause most assuredly does not. The Court today continues its quixotic quest to right all wrongs and repair all imperfections through the Constitution. Alas, the quest cannot succeed—which is why some wrongs and imperfections have been called nonjusticiable. In the best of all possible worlds, should judges sometimes recuse even where the clear commands of our prior due process law do not require it? Undoubtedly. The relevant question, however, is whether we do more good than harm by seeking to correct this imperfection through expansion of our constitutional mandate in a manner ungoverned by any discernable rule. The answer is obvious.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-22.ZD1.html

(bold added by me) The case (which was decided 5-4) basically said Judges should recuse themselves from cases that involve campaign donors (more details here: http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2009/06/08/horse-puckey-at-the-high-court/#more-15331). Seems pretty straightforward. But Scalia seems to be saying that because we can't have judicial perfection we shouldn't attempt to prevent judicial corruption. Citing the Talmud as containing "the answers to all earthly questions" sounds overtly theological, but not particularly logical. Which is where I get confused. I usually find Scalia's conservative corporatist views appalling, but extremely logical. He's usually very good at articulating his point of view, even if you disagree with his conclusion. This time his argument strikes me as truly bizarre twist of logic.

Added: Please feel free to compare/contrast with Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comments.

Moving the Democratic Party

Well, OK, just the local one. I'm off to help with moving the local Democratic party headquarters to a new office. The old office was in a warehouse by the railroad tracks, but now the party is moving into a real office near the public library. Don't know how this will impact politics or party policies, but we'll have a barbecue at the end of the move.

And completely unrelated news: in a World Cup qualifying match North Korea and Iran tied 0-0. There must be a joke in there somewhere, but I just can't think of one.
(added: never mind. Iran won the rematch 1-0)

Physical Therapy Update

(old x-ray; I don't have copies of the more recent ones)

I'm stiff and sore today, as a result of how hard I pushed myself in physical therapy yesterday. It's the price I expect to pay, and I'm not complaining. I've been really aggressive in my PT program, and both my surgeon and therapist have expressed concern that I might overdo it. I feel comfortable on how hard I'm pushing myself, and that I'm in touch with my body and know when to stop. It's hard to explain, but I know which pain is "good pain" and which pain means "stop!" But I'm highly motivated, and I have a goal: I want to get back on the river, so my shoulder has to get better. In my next step toward that goal, I'm doing Animas River Days next weekend on a paddle raft. It's a lower impact way to start with class 2 and 3 rapids, and being part of a paddle crew rather than full on oar rowing. At least one of my fellow boaters is nervous about my readiness, but I think I've convinced him that I'm up for it. This isn't the Canyon, or even the Juan. It's the Animas, and my shoulder is feeling stronger every day. So I'll keep working hard, even if it sometimes hurts.

Boobie Love

Don't they look happy on this Friday?

But Consider the Alternative

Almost everybody has already parsed Obama's Cairo speech, and most of the opinions are entirely predictable. The left loved parts of it, but felt Obama should have pushed a more progressive agenda. The right hated it, with much screaming about "apologies" and "terrorism" weakening America. The Israeli lobby doesn't want to be confronted about settlements, and most of the Muslim Middle East response is one of "very nice words, but what will be the action?"
One thing (almost) everybody agrees on is that Obama is a powerful speaker who can articulate his message clearly. Speeches don't change the world, but they sometimes shape perception And that was Obama's goal for this speech. On that criteria, the Cairo speech appears to be a success.
The thought that kept bouncing into my mind was "what if it were McCain on that stage?" While I actually doubt that McCain would have even attempted going to Cairo to make such an outreach, he would be compelled to articulate some Middle East position in some forum. And I just cannot imagine that his views would generate a positive resonance.
That's the crux of it. When progressives feel disappointed by Obama's moderation (and we feel it a lot), we must remember that the alternative we faced in McCain was a continuation of Shrub and the Republican international disaster. When Obama speaks on a global platform, it's a positive. Shrub and McCain induced a global cringe.

Happy Fist Bump Day

Remember June 3rd, 2008? The fist bump heard ‘round the world? Now we can celebrate it as another holiday!

This June 3, a group of media and design impresarios are promoting “National
Fist Bump Day” in honor of the anniversary. They want to celebrate a new iconic American expression of authenticity, political transparency and of course, change we can believe in.

"The idea behind National Fist Bump Day is to give Americans a chance to make the world a slightly better place with a simple and fun gesture of respect," says David Weiner, one of the organizers, along with Sarah Greenwalt. “It may not solve the world's problems, but it can at least reaffirm the fact that in the end, we all can get down with each other.”

http://theroot.com/views/bump-heard-round-world

Sweaterman, I expect you to be out knocking knuckles for the good of America today.
(H/T Booman Tribune)

Loving the Husky Women

Nice. My alma mater, the University of Washington, wins the national championship in women's softball. Danielle Lawrie, I think I love you!

Art

Artwork by Lynd Ward. For Dr. George Tiller. who was assassinated this morning. I've run out of things to say (via .McClatchy)

Closing California

I grew up in San Francisco and various parts of Northern California, so I'm somewhat sentimental about the stunning beauty of the state, much of it protected within the state parks. Now the state has a budget crisis (mostly of their own making), and Arnie is proposing cutting everything that is good (at DownWithTyranny Dr. Kirk Murphy has a great post about the impact on health care), because he can't possibly raise taxes:

Nearly every state park in the Bay Area — from the towering redwoods at Big Basin to Angel Island, Mount Tamalpais to Mount Diablo and every state beach from Año Nuevo in San Mateo County to Big Sur — would close as part of budget cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In all, 220 of California's 279 state parks, about 80 percent, would be padlocked starting as soon as Labor Day, under details of a historic closing plan released Thursday night by the state parks department.

...

On Tuesday, as part of an effort to close the state's $24 billion deficit, Schwarzenegger unveiled a series of proposed cuts. They included a plan to eliminate $70 million in state general fund money to parks in the year that ends in June 2010 and $143 million of that funding by June 2011. The latter number represents 40 percent of the state park system's $387 million operating budget.

Layoffs could hit 1,500 or more of the 2,900 state parks employees

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_12481195

Remarkably short-sighted, but Californian's have a long history of bad planning in their quest for immediate gratification. Cutting taxes and hoping that magic elves will take care of everything has been the California system for decades. Here's a simple equation: a study by the University of California-Berkeley found that for every $1 in public money spent on state parks, $2.35 is returned to the state in taxes from tourism and other revenue they generate. So the current proposal will only make the deficit worse in the future.

Julia Pfiffer Burns State Park

Now That's Inhanced Interrogation

When it comes to "interrogation techniques" here's an enhancement that I can support. The suspected terrorist, Abu Jandal, was Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, and one very tough customer. So how do you make him talk?:

Abu Jandal had been in a Yemeni prison for nearly a year when Ali Soufan of the FBI and Robert McFadden of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service arrived to interrogate him in the week after 9/11. Although there was already evidence that al-Qaeda was behind the attacks, American authorities needed conclusive proof, not least to satisfy skeptics like Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, whose support was essential for any action against the terrorist organization. U.S. intelligence agencies also needed a better understanding of al-Qaeda's structure and leadership. Abu Jandal was the perfect source: the Yemeni who grew up in Saudi Arabia had been bin Laden's chief bodyguard, trusted not only to protect him but also to put a bullet in his head rather than let him be captured.

Abu Jandal's guards were so intimidated by him, they wore masks to hide their identities and begged visitors not to refer to them by name in his presence. He had no intention of cooperating with the Americans; at their first meetings, he refused even to look at them and ranted about the evils of the West. Far from confirming al-Qaeda's involvement in 9/11, he insisted the attacks had been orchestrated by Israel's Mossad. While Abu Jandal was venting his spleen, Soufan noticed that he didn't touch any of the cookies that had been served with tea: "He was a diabetic and couldn't eat anything with sugar in it." At their next meeting, the Americans brought him some sugar-free cookies, a gesture that took the edge off Abu Jandal's angry demeanor. "We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him," Soufan recalls. "So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures."

It took more questioning, and some interrogators' sleight of hand, before the Yemeni gave up a wealth of information about al-Qaeda — including the identities of seven of the 9/11 bombers — but the cookies were the turning point. "After that, he could no longer think of us as evil Americans," Soufan says. "Now he was thinking of us as human beings."

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/05/29/i-guess-the-use-of-sugar-free-cookies-saved-lives-just-didnt-sound-tough-enough/

Yup, sugar-free cookies. Humane treatment and cookies can break even the toughest terrorist. Not waterboarding, or any of the other 'Jack Bauer' crap. Because even terrorists like cookies.

(Added on Sunday: Now in - time magazine. Maybe I can get a pro gig someday.)

Age Check

Here's one that may make some of us feel a little old: if JFK were still alive, today would be his 92nd birthday. If you're old enough to remember JFK, you remember him as a youthful, good-looking, energetic President who was tragically cut down in his prime. It's hard to imagine him as a 92 year old.

America's Leading Boobie Blog

I'm claiming that title.

We're #9!

Somehow Kiplinger's "best cities" ranking concluded that my little town, No. 9: Flagstaff, Arizona, (out of 361) is a great place to live. I'd love to agree with them, but their reasoning will sound somewhat strange to us locals:

we assembled candidates for our 2009 Best Cities list, which focuses on places that have stable employment plus the talent to create new, well-paying positions. A robust job market makes these cities safe havens during the recession and will give them a head start toward growth when the recovery takes off.

http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2009/07/best-cities-2009-where-the-jobs-are.html

Um, guys...our local job market sucks. I hope you're right about a "robust job market" "when the recovery takes off", but as of today Flagstaff lives up to our city slogan "poverty with a view". Wages are low, jobs are few, and housing costs are high. Certainly the region boasts some of the most beautiful countryside in the nation, and Flagstaff is a very warm friendly town. I love it here. But to make it in Flagstaff you have to be willing to scale down your expectations. Sure, there are a few people prospering, but the vast majority of this town is barely scraping by.

So maybe we should be honored to be ranked so high, but I'm not sure that Kiplinger's was looking at the same city.

I'm Sold on Sotomayor

So Obama has nominated Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court; all I can say is: great choice! As President Obama pointed out, Ms. Sotomayor's credentials include one of the most important decisions of my lifetime: she saved Baseball:

WASHINGTON — Federal judges are rarely famous or widely celebrated. Yet during a brief period in 1995, Judge Sonia Sotomayor became revered, at least in those cities with major league baseball teams.

She ended a long baseball strike that year, briskly ruling against the owners in favor of the players.

The owners were trying to subvert the labor system, she said, and the strike had “placed the entire concept of collective bargaining on trial.”

After play resumed, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that by saving the season, Judge Sotomayor joined forever the ranks of Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams. The Chicago Sun-Times said she “delivered a wicked fastball” to baseball owners and emerged as one of the most inspiring figures in the history of the sport.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/15sotomayor.html

We all know that the right wing is going to do everything they can to trash her (or any other Obama nominee), as they've already told us:

This month, as it appeared increasingly likely that Sotomayor would be Obama's nominee, the judge has been the target of a whisper campaign, and many leading far-right activists -- including Limbaugh and Fox News personalities -- started the offensive against her weeks ago.

For what it's worth, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said earlier this month that Sotomayor would face stiff GOP opposition if she were nominated for the high court. Since that would be true of any Obama nominee, it hardly matters.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

So whenever a winger starts attacking, we should immediately ask them "Why do you hate Baseball?"; and by extension America. Ask them if they also oppose 'Mom and Apple Pie'. Maybe I'll start a new PAC: "Baseball fans for Sotomayor". Who's with me?

Memorial Day

The day we remember our fallen service members and begin the summer barbeque season. It's good that we take some time to honor those who've served to guard our freedoms, but I wish that we would also take some time to prevent adding to their ranks. There are wars that are just and necessary, but all too many have been fought for less than noble causes.
I never served in the military (being in the post-Vietnam years), and my family has a long history of missing wars, either serving during peacetime or not being eligible to serve (gramps had TB, and wasn't allowed to join WW11). The last of my ancestors to be injured in combat was in the war of 1812, and he survived another 42 years. So I don't have any strong family connection to our brave warrior class.
But I've known many veterans, and I've seen their pain. Our memorial should include a pledge to stop adding to their numbers needlessly. The sadly unnecessary war in Iraq has added over 4,000 new graves to be memorialized, with more to come before we find our way out. We can best honor them by preventing needless wars in the future.

This Friday's Boobie

Another Friday, another Boobie.

Why Can't We Be Rid of The Cheney?

Correct me if I'm right, but The Cheney doesn't hold any office, does he? He's an ex-VP, so he has the same gravitas as Dan Quayle. His only claim to fame is being the most evil, un-American, yet (so far) un-indicted war criminal in modern history. Why is he on my TV?.
Somehow the 'debate' on national security is now a game show, where the President's speech must be 'balanced' with a voice from the 'opposition' to provide 'fairness', but why the hell is The Cheney that voice? I must have missed the part of the Shrub administration where the opposition had to be given "equal time and respect", although Al Gore was allowed to be the subject of media ridicule from time to time.
But The Cheney is still spreading his lies, and the networks still pay attention. Today The Cheney cited the national security context as one in which they foremost fear was "a 9/11 with weapons of mass destruction.The Cheney said "al Qaeda was seeking nuclear weapons and that because Iraq had "known ties" to terrorists, the Bush administration focused on Iraq because it was a regime that "might transfer such weapons to terrorists." The old "Saddam-Al-Qaeda-WMD" story that has been shown to be false since it began, and is now known to be the product of torture. And The Cheney felt no shame about stating his own support for torturing detainees:

"In top secret meetings about enhanced interrogations, I made my own beliefs clear. I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program."

http://washingtonindependent.com/44018/the-text-of-dick-cheneys-speech-at-aei

Brief memo to The Cheney: the Fifth Amendment doesn't really help if you make the statement on national TV. When you're finally on trial for your numerous crimes, they will use your own words against you.
But I'm still wondering why the hell anyone is putting you on my TV. If I wanted to watch a horror movie, I want good looking women between the scary parts. The Cheney should be in prison, not on TV.

(Added) The only "good" thing about The Cheney is that he proved that there are worse things than Richard Nixon, but that the country will survive them.

Not Quite the Strangest Proposal I've Read

This is certainly among the stranger proposals ever made to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (it's never going to happen, but it is an amusing idea):

A 12-year-old Iranian schoolboy who hopes to unseat hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that, if elected, he will resettle Israelis in Hawaii, The Scotsman reported on Friday.

"I will buy Hawaii, Obama's birthplace, from the United States and lease it to the Israelis who will go to live there - so that they don't kill children in Gaza," the Scottish daily quoted presidential candidate Kourosh Mozouni as saying.

The paper said Mozouni made the comments to reporters after he turned up to register holding his father's hand and waving a written campaign manifesto.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086106.html

I didn't know that twelve-year-olds were even allowed to run for President in Iran, but lets face it: he's probably more mature than Ahmadinejad.

Yay for Hubble

I admit that I'm a "space junkie" and I can waste hours looking at Hubble's photos of other galaxies. So I'm really happy that the service mission appears to be a success. This one:

May 10, 2009: The Hubble community bids farewell to the soon-to-be decommissioned Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. In tribute to Hubble's longest-running optical camera, planetary nebula K 4-55 has been imaged as WFPC2's final "pretty picture."

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/21/

Thanks to the service mission we should enjoy even deeper photos for at least another 10 years, which is great news. Sometimes it helps to take a break from politics and realize what a tiny little part of the universe we occupy.

Service mission updates here: http://hubblesite.org/servicing_mission_4/

Blaming Pelosi

Gotta love the latest rethug (Gingrich/Boehner) torture strategy: It's all Nancy Pelosi's fault. She was briefed by the CIA (maybe kinda sort of) that "enhanced interrogation" might be used, so she's responsible for everything that followed. When in doubt, blame a Democrat.
Of course this is ridiculous. Pelosi was House MINORITY leader in 2002-2003. She didn't (and couldn't) authorize, justify, or initiate torture. Shrub and the Cheney bear the sole responsibility for the appalling violations of national and international law, human rights, and the commission of war crimes. The Pelosi diversion is an attempt to distract the public away from the prosecution of the actual criminals; a variation of the childhood excuse "Johnny did it, too" defense. It didn't work with Mom when we were kids, and it shouldn't work in the "adult" world, either. Especially when we're talking about the most horrific crimes ever committed in the name of "America".
Even the most basic issue of Pelosi's possible complicity is rather weak. She says the briefings were vague and unspecific, that waterboarding could be used but not saying that it was already in use. Which makes sense. I doubt that the CIA came right out and said "we're torturing people", but rather left an opening for "plausible deniability" for all parties. Does this clear Pelosi? No. If she were a truly moral leader, she should have been screaming "STOP" at the very thought of America engaging in torture. But Nancy Pelosi is NOT a truly moral leader. She is a creature of congress who long ago sold out any principles she might have had in her pursuit of position and power on capitol hill. She is guilty of standing silent while the crime was committed, but that in no way absolves those who actually committed the crime.
Torture is wrong. Torture is always wrong. The (totally unrealistic) "ticking time bomb" scenarios DO NOT justify torture, nor does the patent lie that "it works". And the Shrub/Cheney torture program wasn't even focused on preventing another terrorist attack (which still isn't justified), but rather to promote a war with Iraq. A key revelation in last month’s Senate Armed Services Committee report on detainees — that torture was used to try to coerce prisoners into “confirming” a bogus Al Qaeda-Saddam Hussein link to sell that war — is finally attracting attention. The false confessions extracted from detainees were used by Shrub, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Powell,et al.,as "evidence" of the need to invade Iraq and remove Saddam. It was all a pack of lies, and it is the greatest crime in the history of American government. It is our international shame, and that shame will remain until the guilty are held accountable.
Pelosi may be guilty of complicity, but she is not the party responsible for the crime. Don't let the guilty use her to distract you from that basic fact. The Shrub administration is guilty of committing war crimes including torture. They are the ones who need to be tried and convicted.

Added: No doubt that Obama is trying to take the easy way out; doing nothing and hoping the issue will just go away. I'm not in any way surprised, but I think he's wrong. The enormity of the crimes demands investigation and prosecution, regardless of what Obama wants, and a "truth commission" or congressional investigation are likely inevitable.

Added2: See also Marcy Wheeler "Dick Cheney, Torture, Iraq, and Valerie Plame", and Think Progress "a disgraced Republican is attacking Pelosi". I'm not alone in my opinion.

Added3:Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) has written a poem "Fancy Nancy," to cast blame on Pelosi. It's as bad, or even worse, that you might have expected.

It's Friday Again

Time to bring out the Boobies.

The GOP Obituary Might Be Premature

As a liberal, I'm perfectly happy to see the Republican party in total disarray. But unlike a lot of the other liberal blogs, I'm not ready to predict their demise. While it's fun to watch them flounder about searching for a leader and a message, bad ideas have a way of returning over time and the public memory is remarkably short. It is amusing to watch desperate acts such as trying to rename the Democratic party as "The Democrat Socialist Party" (note to Republicans: the Democratic Socialists of America already exist; they just haven't won many elections) in hope of bringing back anti-communist hysteria, or the pro-torture snarlings of the Cheney in order to maintain the tough guy anti-terrorist image. Hoping that Limbaugh/Cheney/Gingrich can rehabilitate the party from the damage inflicted by the Shrub administration does seem delusional.
But the recent history of partisan politics should serve as a reminder of how quickly fortunes can turn. After the '64 election, the Republicans were thought dead. Post Watergate '73-'74, Nixon had so poisoned the Republican brand that a number of members of congress changed parties as the only hope of retaining their seats. Even as recently as the '92-'93 early Clinton popularity the Republicans were considered irrelevant. And the Democratic party has been written off for dead more than a few times. McGovern and the hippies were thought lethal, St. Ronnie led to the migration of the "Reagan Democrats", and a consensual blow job was considered such a moral outrage that no upstanding citizen would ever consider voting Democratic. Karl Rove thought that 9/11 could be used to create a "permanent Republican majority" and render the Democrats "irrelevant".
My point is that political fortunes turn, sometimes very quickly. The bad ideas and conservative constituencies that are the base of the Republican party still exist. The corporatist oligarchs still have the resources to promote their self-enriching deregulation agenda to the middle class, despite the fact it's been shown to be a total failure. The religious right can still move a large number of voters by demonizing gays and abortion. Characterizing Democrats as "tax and spend liberals" will still resonate with a percentage of voters, and there is always a market for the NRA's "liberals want to take away your guns" lie. So the people that bought Shrub could get fooled again.
Another factor that must be taken into account is that Obama was elected partly because of his charisma. While none of the current faces leading the Republicans can rival that, a charismatic individual could emerge in the future and rally enough voters to win. It's not like that's never happened before.

For Baseball Junkies Only

Gerardo Parra of the Diamondbacks just became the 100th player to hit a homerun on his first at-bat. (See opening season post for context).

Not Just Another Day

I like to think that I know myself pretty well, but sometimes I'm wrong. My emotional reaction to the first Mother's Day without my Mom was stronger and more painful that I expected. Mom passed in January, and while I thought that my grieving was mostly over I found myself really missing Mom. Thankfully I had some good friends around me (special thanks to Urland), or I might have been really depressed. But tears came at unexpected times, and the hole in my life was clear. Nobody will ever look as good on a Harley as my Mom did.
I hope you all took a moment to appreciate your own Mom, and if you are a Mom I hope you got the appropriate appreciation.

Replacing Souter

The retirement of Justice Souter brings focus to the reason that we should be glad that Barack Obama defeated John McCain. Appointing Supreme Court Justices is probably the most significant longterm act of any presidency, and the current court is the legacy of the presidents in our recent past. If McCain had won the election his appointment choice could have changed the basic philosophy of the court. One more staunch conservative vote would have changed the balance for many years.
Obama's choice won't.
The over-simplified reason is the current court balance. The four staunch conservatives (Thomas, Scalia, Alito, and Roberts) will be (barring the unforeseen) on the court for many more years, whereas the "liberals" are getting toward the end of their careers. Souter is now considered a "liberal" but only in a very "moderate" way. The balance still swings on Kennedy, a mostly conservative (but sane) jurist, so there is a sort of "balance" that will continue for the foreseeable future.
No matter how "liberal" Obama's choice is (I was hoping for Angela Davis), it's not going to change the "balance". The right wing will yell and scream about whoever he chooses, but it's a whole lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. The court will still be conservative, with a hint of moderation.
I'm guessing that Obama will choose someone (a woman) who is moderately liberal, and that confirmation will be relatively smooth. A "safe" choice (unless he gets a 'reverse Souter').
We'll hear a lot about the conservative "culture" issues of abortion and gay marriage, but the status quo will remain the same regardless of who Obama nominates. This isn't the vote that can change the game, so the fight will be mostly for show.
The only real court change will come when Kennedy or one of the conservatives leaves. Or we have another wacko conservative president (McCain-ish) who can push the court farther right. But Obama can't push the court further left with this appointment. 5 to 4 is still 5 to 4.

Late Boobie

The Boobie may be late, but now the connection works. Lookout world, we're gonna put more Boobies on the intertubes.

Hooray for the Boobie

Seems to be all that gets posted these days. Happy Friday.

A Personal Update

Given how sporadic the home internet is, I haven't been posting like I had planned to. But I'm not complaining. The California trip was quite productive, and I was able to do the work that needed to be done, but it hurt like hell. Just driving was painful. But I'm not complaining. My shoulder is healing ahead of schedule, but even after 2 month's of physical therapy I can't lift more than 5 pounds with my right arm. But I'm not complaining. My therapist reminds me that it's going to take 6-8 month's to regain most of my function and a full year before fully healing. But I'm not complaining. I haven't been able to work much, so I'm still broke. But I'm not complaining.
Because it's a beautiful, sunny, warm (first really warm day of spring) day, and I'm really feeling much too good to complain.

Here's the Boobie

It's Friday, and I'm back from California, so it's time for a Boobie. Enjoy.

Road Trip

In an attempt to test the healing of my shoulder I'm heading out to California to do some work on my late mother's house in preparation for sale. I'm not sure how physically or psychologically ready I am, but here goes. Luckily I'll have some help available, as Zymurgian (long time readers may remember him) will be going with me. He knows that he'll get to do all the heavy lifting, as I'm still at a 5 lb. limit on my right arm. Thanks, Zym. We're gonna try to have some fun while there, visiting breweries and beaches as soon as the work day is done. Should be back Tuesday, but who knows what I'll have for home Internet, as my connection is sporadic at best. Look out Bay Area; I'm on my way.

Ahh! Baseball

It's the most wonderful time of the year. The start of Baseball season. I do love Baseball, as it signals Spring and Summer, and gives you a perfectly good reason to drink beer in the afternoon.

And the numbers. The only way I managed to pass college statistics was Baseball. Today's great baseball statistic: Jordan Shafer hit a home run in his first major league at-bat. He became the 99th player ever to homer first time up. So the next player to accomplish this will be the 100th. That's kinda cool (but only if you're a Baseball fan).

A Response to the Latest Gun Violence

Another week of senseless tragedies and mass killings as a result of nutjobs with guns leads me to repeat my favorite proposal. What we really need is not 'gun control', but 'bullet control'. Think about it. Guns don't kill people; bullets kill people. A gun without bullets is a club. So I'm advocating that we impose strict restrictions on the purchasing of ammunition, limiting wackos to one bullet each. I'll call it the "Barney Fife rule" (only readers of a certain age will understand that reference). One bullet is enough for most self-defense situations, used properly. If a wacko decides to go on a rampage but only has one bullet, there's a limit on the amount of damage that they can inflict. Perhaps they'll use it on themselves without feeling the need to murder a bunch of people first. Most of the wackos will be reduced to merely fondling their guns and listening to Lush Rimbaugh's hate speech in response to their paranoid delusions, which is a lot safer for the rest of us.
(Disclaimer: OK, I'm not being serious. I do believe in the right of gun ownership, and have owned guns most of my adult life. But there is a certain logic to the idea as a way to reduce the lethal incidents.)

Iowa?

When thinking of America's more progressive states, Iowa isn't usually one of them. But Iowa has now legalized gay marriage, which is great. I was tempted to make some snarky comment like "all four gay couples in Iowa celebrate" but that would be wrong.
Whenever debating the issue of gay marriage I'm reminded of Branch Rickey's comment on integrating baseball that "people in the future will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about." Because it really is a very simple issue: equal rights. The law should never discriminate against any group of people, and 'separate but equal' is NOT equal.
So I say "good for you, Iowa!"

Boobies Behind Schedule

A day late on the Boobies. I couldn't get a steady internet connection yesterday, and the weather wasn't conducive to exposing Boobies anyway. April snow and 50 mph winds. The joy of springtime in the mountains.

Not Pistachios!

Another 'Salmonella in our Food' case, and Obama hasn't fixed the FDA yet. What's taking him so long anyway?
But I'm taking this one personally. Peanut Butter? Eh, I can live without it. And I don't like children much, and they're usually sick with something anyway. Lettuce? Grossly overrated filler for salads and sandwiches that can easily be replaced with much tastier vegetables.
But Pistachios are one of the truly great foods. Healthy, tasty, and they come in that cool organic packaging. Pistachios go perfectly with beer and baseball, and the season is about to begin. This one pisses me off!
Obviously, food safety should be a basic right in a modern civilized society. It's not that difficult to avoid salmonella contamination, and it's less expensive than massive recalls, so the food industry should be doing a better job of it. And the Government should be insuring that foods are safe as part of what we pay taxes for. We need to demand it.
I'll start by demanding safe Pistachios, dammit!

Added: Actual news coverage:

TERRA BELLA, Calif. (AP) -- It could take weeks before health officials know exactly which pistachio products may be tainted with salmonella, but they've already issued a sweeping warning to avoid eating the nuts or foods containing them.

http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2009/04/01/news/national/20090401_us_ne_193721.txt

Over 2 million pounds recalled...that's a lot of nuts...I'm not happy.

"Toxic" is not a Good Brand Name

Branding is now a science, and "Legacy" polled better than "Toxic". I certainly would rather sell my assets as if they weren't "Toxic". Even at a discount "get your Toxic Assets here" isn't a great sales pitch. Customers also respond better to "Vintage" than they do to "Old".

Beyond AIG

Ok, I'm throwing my 1.3 cents in on the AIG bonus outrage, the biggest controversy of the week.

Yeah, the bonuses are an outrage. Huge rewards for greed and failure can't be justified in good times, let alone an economic crisis. Collecting millions for losing billions is a hard act to justify. It's an 'in-your-face' action by members of a group of elites who consider themselves above the rules of common decency. And the hard working public has every right to be outraged.

But it's small potatoes. 1/1000th of the bailout money. The bonuses are merely a symptom of the failure of the greater economic Ponzi scheme that came to dominate the past decade. AIG, and a host of other major financial institutions, have engaged in a long running scheme to generate huge sums of money by exchanging paper "obligations" with no regard for actual value, knowing that they wouldn't be subject to any oversight under the shrub administration. Deregulation meant that no one would be held accountable until the house of cards collapsed, and now we're seeing some of the vultures tearing off the last bits of flesh from the rapidly decaying corpse.

The real problem, yet to be solved, is that the overall economic system is now untenable. The value of a dollar is based on a belief system that is no longer realistic, but nobody wants the consequence of the dollar collapsing.

The Obama administration inherited this mess (amongst many), and is now tasked with finding some sort of fix. The current firestorm over the fatcat AIG executives is great theater, and the political and populist outrage will dominate the media for a while, but in the end it's only a distraction. It's a simple story to explain, as opposed to the complexity of the real economic issues ahead. The real challenge will be finding a way to stabilize the current economy long enough to allow repairing the underlying fundamentals and to establish regulations and enforcement to prevent future collapses. And that is going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than scapegoating a few greedy bastards.

(BTW: This doesn't mean that I think the greedheads shouldn't be held accountable-they should. And we have a right to try to recover their ill-gotten gains, although I'm skeptical about the current congressional efforts. I'm just saying that this shouldn't be our focus. The real problems are much larger.)

Added: Congress is trying a new tax...like that has worked in the past.

An Inside Look

Name that hardware! Yep, I'm sharing an inside look at my humerus, complete with artificial ingredients. Feel free to comment with naming suggestions or any other good advice.

This is actually a test post, as I now have home wireless internet access (albeit spotty), and hope to return to regular posting.

The Unexcused Absence

Because I really have no excuse for not posting for so long. I have moved into a new abode, which is a good thing. It's a tiny little place, too small to be called a cave, so I refer to it as a "grotto". While I really could use more room, the rent is cheap for this area so I can't complain. And I'm in the heart of downtown, which is great.
I could complain about physical therapy, otherwise known as torture thrice weekly, but it is helping. The shoulder is improving and the pain decreasing, except when the sadistic bastard therapist is working me. "No pain, no gain"? Isn't there some middle ground? Oh well, I've suffered worse.
I'll try to be a better, more consistent blogger in the coming weeks, but I make no promises.

Friday the 13th Boobies

Any day with Boobies is a good day. And it's bad luck to be superstitious.

Boobies of the Next Generation

Because the future calls for more Boobies!

Patience Now!

There is a parallel between the nation's economic situation and my shoulder (ain't that an egotistical little analogy?) and that is the total lack of patience. Based on the news media, a lot of the public seems to be upset that Obama's stimulus program hasn't fixed everything yet, and I'm incredibly frustrated with my pain level and continued inability to use my right arm.
Both situations are going to take time before we see any noticeable improvement, but nobody really wants to hear that. Instant gratification is what we expect. So, Mr. Obama, could you please hurry up with that economic miracle? And fix my shoulder while you're at it. Thanks.

Hooray for Boobies!

Nice to be able to post the Friday Boobie this week. Okay, it's a commercial sellout Boobie, but at least it's here.

I am on the loose

Yeah, I'm out of the hospital-released on Monday, but just now making it to the library. The surgery seems to have gone well and I'm healing on schedule so far. Which means it's still painful, but only when I move. Luckily, there are medications for that (though I'm not sure whether they're trying harder to prevent pain or movement; they seem to reduce both).
I'll try to post a lengthier update soon.

This Time, for Sure

God, I'm sick of dealing with health issues. Tomorrow morning I'm having another surgery on my shoulder to return it to proper alignment, and (hopefully) it will begin healing. I'm really tired of being in pain, and I really don't like pain medications, but most of all I'm really tired of feeling like I'm whining. I want to get back to focusing on politics (the rethuglicans campaign of obstructionism is crying out for snark) or sports (look! a 23 year old swimmer with a bong! a baseball player using a substance! shocking, I tell you) or weird animals or anything but my shoulder. But the shoulder must be fixed, and then I must begin dealing with Mom's house (way too much stuff) and find some way to make a living. And quit smoking. And quit whining.
So it's off to surgery. Wish me well, and I'll be back in a couple of days.

Returning to Normal?

I'm (sort of) back, and doing my best to maintain a positive attitude. My Mom did pass away on January 25th, and the funeral was on the 31st. She passed peacefully, and I'm thankful for that. The funeral was quite large, as my Mother had a huge circle of friends and all the family as well. I made it through delivering the eulogy, but I was pretty broken up afterward (I went through the same when my Father passed 16 years ago). I'm trying to remain upbeat and not get too depressed, but it's not easy. Hope to post more soon, but I still have another surgery coming, need to find a place to live, and deal with my financial desperation, so there may not be a lot of posting.

A Boobie's Perspective

It's Friday, and this Boobie is looking for something to celebrate.

Last Booby of January 2009!

Because I had a bit of time this mornin'.........

The Next Bad Thing

I'm really sorry to keep posting bad news, but that's all I've had lately. The latest is that my Mother has had a respiratory failure and is in a coma. So I've postponed my shoulder surgery and am flying out to California tonight to be at her bedside. If you all have more blessings or prayers to spare, please send them Mom's way. Thanks.

Pain and Frustration

Can I scream now? Yesterday the surgeon determined that my shoulder isn't healing in the proper position, something I suspected from my pain level. So I'm having another surgery (probably on Saturday) to realign and add more hardware.
I am not a happy camper right now.