Nuthin' To Say

My raft, ready to launch.

There Are No UFO's

I now have conclusive proof that UFO's do not exist. My proof: The utterly corrupt and dishonest former Governor Fife Symington claims he saw one:

(CNN) -- In 1997, during my second term as governor of Arizona, I saw something that defied logic and challenged my reality.

I witnessed a massive delta-shaped, craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking. I was absolutely stunned because I was turning to the west looking for the distant Phoenix Lights.

To my astonishment this apparition appeared; this dramatically large, very distinctive leading edge with some enormous lights was traveling through the Arizona sky.

As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that this
craft did not resemble any man-made object I'd ever seen.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/09/simington.ufocommentary/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Given that anything Symington says is patently untrue, there must not be any UFO's (I'm sorry, Mr. Kucinich, but Mr. Symington's dishonesty outweighs your honesty by several magnitudes).

This Weeks Boobie

For Friday, a masked boobie with an egg (also known as a "potential future boobie").

A Level of Idealism

Over a beer with Zymurgian, the discussion turned to "waterboarding" and why it's wrong. I'll try not to be a naive idealist, but here goes. America used to stand for the "ideal" in human rights. By saying that our interrogation techniques are "classified", America has tacitly admitted to engaging in torture. And that tacit admission has destroyed our credibility on the international stage. While Zymurgian rightly pointed out that all wars include atrocities, in my life it was never considered that American policy would accept torture. Shrub changed all that. When our "policy" is now "classified" as far as interrogation, we have lost the moral standing to condemn the brutal practices of others.
A very stupid person at the bar said "they do worse in ...", and I tried to explain that this argument was shot down when I was a child. Simply put, "johnny did something worse" was shot down by my mother's "that doesn't change the fact that what you did was wrong".
My good friend "ducky" (yes, that is his nickname) is a Vietnam vet, who saw more shit than I can even imagine, pointed out that while atrocities occurred in Vietnam, they were considered crimes. He pointed to several cases where people who engaged in brutal acts were prosecuted.
Now we have Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib as a legacy. This is now "policy". The fact that an AG nominee won't state that "waterboarding" is illegal is a symbolic admission that we have abandoned the American ideal.
This is the tragedy of shrub. We are no longer the symbol of "idealism".
Added: The Senate confirmed Mukasy. Torture is now official policy.

A Photo

Guess where this is. Here's a truly beautiful photo album . Take a look at some places the Cheney would like to bomb.

Dear Landlord

Along with every other thing that could cause anxiety, today I'm having "landlord induced anxiety". Here's why I'm worried: The roof over my head.
I've been living in this house for about six years. The roof leaks in several places. We don't complain too much, because the rent is low for the local market. As long as I've lived here, the landlord has talked about putting a new roof on the house, which would be a good idea. But I don't have much faith.
Today, I heard tromping on the roof. It was a young man taking measurements and planning the replacement of the roof. I talked, and he explained that he's our landlords daughters boyfriend. That somehow was a qualification.
Our landlord is a really nice guy, but he's cheap and unreliable. Over a year ago, he decided to re-paint the house. Today, half the house has primer, but no new paint. The other half still has the old paint.
So I'm worried about the "new" roof. It is November. While we've had unusually dry, warm weather, we will get snow sometime soon. I fear that the roof project will begin, and then be forgotten.
I'd really rather have a roof over my head for the winter, even if it leaks.

The Upcoming Disaster

$100 a barrel for oil? Go read our pal monkeyfister for a ton of insight and information (and yes, Sweaterman, I'm glad I didn't take the bet). The falling dollar? No, I'm talking about a REAL disaster: The hops shortage:

A worldwide shortage of hops — a key beer-making ingredient — could have a big effect on the taste of specialty brews and force smaller microbreweries to hike the price of their products.The shortage can be blamed on a perfect storm of events — bad weather in hop-growing areas of the United States, Europe and Australia and a depressed U.S. dollar.

Brian Titus, president of Halifax's Garrison Brewing Company, said his brewmaster isn't sure he'll be able to make some of his beers in the new year because he hasn't been able to find some varieties of hops at all.

"It's bordering on disastrous actually. If you don't have hops then you don't have beer," said Titus.

The shortage has some breweries rethinking their brews and possibly changing beer recipes to cut down on the use of hops.

"So maybe you find something that smells similar but doesn't have the same taste profile and it doesn't have the same bitterness," said Titus.

Industry analysts speculate the shortage could force smaller breweries to hike the price of some beers by as much as 10 per cent.

Larger breweries are less likely to have to raise prices because they buy in bulk with long-term contracts.

Craft brewers don't have the means to hedge against rising prices, like their industrial rivals.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/11/01/hops-shortage.html?ref=rss

This is really hitting home. My local brewery had to make a hops substitution for their latest batch of IPA, and Zymurgian has altered recipes for his 2 latest batches of homebrew. As someone who likes "hoppy" beers, I'm really worried.

Added: Here are some links to the oil/dollar issue:

DOLLAR NEW LOW...

OIL NEW HIGH...

GOLD $850

One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State

In regards to Py's earlier post on the "beginning" of the election campaign, it's nice to see how things have changed.

Remember this picture?


Well, it seems that some things are, ahem, a little different now:

And while I agree with Py that the 2008 election is far from decided right now, that blue picture shore duz warm my heart.

Another Bad Idea

There are so many bad ideas in our current society that I can be called "petty" for being upset about this, but I'm against this idea:

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- For the first time Tuesday, baseball general managers recommended instant replay be used to help umpires make difficult decisions.

The recommendation, by a 25-5 vote, was limited to boundary calls -- whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the top and bounce back, and whether fans interfere with possible homers.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AuhD4G5t2tyKykgQoeipLGgRvLYF?slug=ap-instantreplay&prov=ap&type=lgns

I've been a baseball fan since I was a small child, and played for decades, so maybe I'm a traditionalist. But a part of the beauty of the game is the human factor of the umpires. In the course of the long season, bad calls even out. And they give us fans something to argue about. Instant replay will only slow the game down, while removing some of the inherent emotion.
Then again, I still oppose the designated hitter rule.

52 Weeks

Today we are 52 weeks away from the election, so it's now truly campaign season (yeah, I know the campaigns started a long time ago, but I consider that "pre-season"). Now we'll get to see who's got the best arm when slinging the mud. We'll watch the media spin the images to fit the pre-planned narrative. By the time the actual votes are cast, the average voter will be disgusted with the entire process. They'll be voting for whoever they hate the least.
Brilliant prognostication, right? Not really. Just the observations of a political junkie who's been involved in every election since 1968.
The consensus amongst the pundits seems to be that the Dems are a shoe in, in the wake of the disaster that is shrub. I don't buy it. There is plenty of time for slime.
Likewise, the punditocracy has chosen Hillary as the winning Dem. I remain unconvinced. While she has great name recognition, she's not that popular with the general public. The question is whether Obama/Edwards/Other can take advantage of the opening.
On the rethuglican side...agh, I'm not going there (I would rather retain my lunch). Suffice to say that the eventual nominee will be a white guy who the media will portray as strong and manly. The talking heads will swoon over him while blathering for hours on any petty flaw they can find on the Democratic nominee.
Thanks to the flurry of early primaries, the nominees will probably be chosen by February, leaving plenty of time for a long mud slinging season. But there is a real possibility that all the early primaries will split between candidates, creating an intense political playoff lasting into March. We'll see.
The bottom line is that we will not get the person who would be the best President, but rather the person with the best mud slinging and dodging talent. It's a strange, sad system.

Pakistan

I have been trying to write a "smart" post on Pakistan, but it keeps falling apart. Basically, "what a fucking mess" is not a profound insight. The best insight I've come to is the old axiom "there are no national allies, only national interests".

General Musharraf is engaging in a power consolidation. He's suspended the courts, arrested the opposition, and is now dealing with rioting lawyers. It has nothing to do with terrorism, as Musharraf has basically taken the appeasement route with the islamist factions, ceding a fair amount of autonomy to the tribal regions in the northeast.

Shrub and Condi are calling for a return to "democracy" and elections. But you can tell that they really don't want it. Musharraf has been our guy, and they don't want to risk the possibility that Pakistan would end up with a leader less friendly to America.

And there are the nukes.

For real analysis, I suggest Barnett Rubin at Informed Comment: Global Affairs

Added: Shrub adds his own brand of ... well...whatever he adds:

on Secretary Rice's recent phone call with President Musharraf. I asked the Secretary to call him to convey this message: that we expect there to be elections as soon as possible, and that the President should remove his military uniform.

So he told Condi to tell Musharraf to "get naked"? That's just weird.

(sorry. the writers guild is on strike.)

Inflating Value

Yesterday I jokingly posted the results of "what is your blog worth?". I found some amusement that somehow this blog could have a dollar value, since it produces nothing tangible or marketable.
But it got me thinking about the inflating value that markets place on assets that have no intrinsic worth. As Citibank is reporting a loss of $11 billion dollars in what are basically unregulated markets that are based purely on speculation, I'm wondering where the next shoe will drop. I look at the stock market which currently operates like a giant casino, as opposed to an actual investment in solid business practices. Google is now the fifth most "valuable" corporation, based on stock prices. This makes no sense. I mean, Google is a wonderful thing, but what do they actually produce? Advertisements to sell products that others produce.
I'm no economist, but I wonder how much of our financial system is really one big ponzi scheme? The real estate bubble assumed that there would always be someone who would pay more for the house in the future. The stock market assumes that someone will be willing to pay more for the stock tomorrow. And the federal budget assumes that other countries will continue to buy our debt.
How many of these "assets" have any more intrinsic value than this blog?

Story Time

Over at Jones Town our dear friend Dcup of PoliTits has written a masterful piece of short fiction. I strongly suggest that you go read. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but suffice to say that it's quite timely and it fits with some of the feelings of paranoia that occur as a result of our current political climate.

Pygalgia Sells Out

I decided to plug Pygalgia into "how much is your blog worth?" and got this as a result:

Your blog, http://www.pygalgia.blogspot.com/, is worth
$19,758.90

My blog is worth $19,758.90.
How much is your blog worth?

So Pygalgia is now up for sale. Heck, I'll settle for the straight $19K, never mind the change.

Salt River Pic

Some friends came by last night, and we had a great visit. "D" makes wonderful mead. Just plain delicious. However, I am now reminded that mead can cause hangovers (not bad, but slightly foggy). The pic is from a trip that said friends and I were on this past spring.

Changing Times

Tonight, most of you get to set your clocks back. Not me. I get to change time zones. I get to move from Pacific time to Central time without even getting out of bed. That's one advantage to living here. When I lived in other states, I hated the disruption of time changes. I have a very stable bio-rhythm which takes about 2 weeks to adjust to changes.

So, does the time change mess with you, or is it no big deal?

He Vetoed What?

OK, this is mind numbingly stupid. Shrub vetoed the water resources development act, even though it passed congress with enough support to override the veto?

President Bush has yet to be truly challenged on any of his vetoes of Democratic bills this year.

But with his Friday veto of the water resources development act, known by the acronym WRDA, Bush may have finally found something that unifies Congress against the veto pen.

The WRDA bill passed both chambers of Congress with much more than the two-thirds margin required to override a veto, but the White House has decided to create a confrontation over spending in the bill because $9 billion was added to the measure, which funds water infrastructure projects around the nation. The legislation's total cost is about $23 billion, and it has won such widespread support in Congress because it would help with hurricane protection, flood mitigation and wetlands restoration.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1107/Bush_veto_of_water_bill_may_be_nixed.html

In light of the water crisis in Georgia, and pending water shortages around the country, the WRDA bill is actually way too little, too late. But this might be the stupidest veto I've seen in my lifetime. Shrub is a lame duck, so he has nothing to lose. But the country does. Earlier this week, he was bitching about congress not getting appropriations bills to his desk. Now he vetoes another one.

We deserve better.

Masked Boobie

It's Friday. Here's a masked Boobie, hoping to make you smile.

An Interesting Plan

Well, this doesn't fit with shrub's anti-Iranian rhetoric. Our friend Saudi Arabia is offering nuclear cooperation with Iran:

U.S.-allied Gulf states are willing to set up a body to provide enriched uranium to Iran to defuse Tehran's stand-off with the West over its nuclear plan, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told a newspaper on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries -- Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates -- share Western concerns that Iran's nuclear energy program will lead to it acquiring atomic bombs, a claim Tehran denies.

"We have proposed a solution, which is to create a consortium for all users of enriched uranium in the Middle East," foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED).

"(We will) do it in a collective manner through a consortium that will distribute according to needs, give each plant its own necessary amount, and ensure no use of this enriched uranium for atomic weapons," he said, according to MEED's Web site.

Prince Saud said Iran was considering the offer, which envisages building a plant in a neutral country.

"We believe it should be in a neutral country -- Switzerland, for instance," said Prince Saud. "Any plant in the Middle East that needs enriched uranium would get its quota. I don't think other Arab states would refuse. In fact ... other Arab countries have expressed a desire to be part of the proposal."

"They (Iran) have responded that it is an interesting idea and they will come back to us. We hope the Iranians will accept this proposal. We continue to talk to them and urge them not only to look at the issue from the perspective of the needs of Iran for energy, but also in the interests of the security of the region."

The six Gulf Arab states have announced plans to start their own nuclear energy program, raising concern over an arms race in the world's top oil exporting region.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071101/ts_nm/iran_nuclear_saudi_dc_2&printer=1;_ylt=AkZyB4yZ9zLZiBEdZZVPpxtg.3QA

It's actually a very rational idea, and coupled with Russia's nuclear offer to Iran, could allow Iran to have nuclear energy with a much lower risk of nuclear weapons.

Of course, this would remove one of shrub's justifications for a war with Iran. By offering to work with Iran, Prince Saud has changed the whole Middle East dynamic.

Cheney is probably drop kicking kittens as he reads this.

Shanker Tackles Uranium

One of the major environmental issues in this region is the contamination left from uranium mining. When the mines shut down in the late 80's, there was no clean up of the radioactive tailing's, and the result has been an estimated 3500 deaths from lung disease. Now, Howard Shanker (http://www.howardshankerforcongress.com/) is trying to get congress to act:

Many of you have read about the testimony in recent Congressional hearings presented to Rep. Henry Waxman, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, regarding the legacy of uranium contamination on Navajo land. For decades, the Navajo Nation and many grass roots organizations have been trying to address this human tragedy in real terms -- with only marginal success.

Hopefully, one of the defining moments of this struggle took place last week. As one of the attorneys representing the Navajo Nation on the uranium contamination issue, I had the privilege of working with the Navajo delegation to help prepare them for this hearing. I was also honored to attend the hearing in Washington, D.C. and to monitor the testimony and questions first hand. In spite of ongoing discussions with the Bureau of Indian Affairs ("BIA"), the Department of Energy ("DOE"), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), and limited clean up of specific areas, this was the first sense I had that something meaningful may actually be accomplished-that this tragic legacy of contamination may eventually be addressed on a large scale.

An L.A. Times article from November 2006 first alerted Chairman Waxman to the plight of the Navajo - not the fact that the federal government had utterly failed to
address this mess for decades. As outlined in the L.A. Times article, "from 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were chiseled and blasted from the mountains and plains. The mines provided uranium for the Manhattan project, the top-secret effort to develop an atomic bomb . . . private companies operated the mines, but the U.S. government was the sole customer. . . . As the Cold War threat gradually diminished over the next two decades, more than 1,000 mines and four processing mills on tribal land shut down." The radioactive waste and debris from these operations, however, largely remains. People live in and around uranium-contaminated areas. Livestock grazes and children play amongst radioactive waste and debris. There is a palpable threat of radioactive contamination to the ground water in many areas.

At the hearing, Edith Hood, while choking back tears, talked about the mining waste near her home in the Church Rock area, and the sickness and illnesses that plagued her and her family. These sentiments were echoed by Larry King and Ray Manygoats. Phil Harrison, although a Navajo Nation Council Delegate, testified as to his personal experience with uranium contamination. George Arthur, also a Council
Delegate, testified in his capacity as the Chairman of the Navajo Natural Resources Committee. Mr. Arthur made it clear to the Committee that enough study has been done. It was now time for the federal government to take action to address this ongoing human tragedy. Stephen Etsity, the head of the Navajo EPA, managed to bring Navajo soil (from the Tuba City area) into the hearing chambers, where he used a device to demonstrate the existence of gamma radiation.

It was, however, the Committee's questioning of government officials following the Navajo testimony that truly shed light on the process. Chairman Waxman led the charge, berating officials from EPA, DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC"), Indian Health Services ("IHS"), and BIA. Waxman asked what these agencies needed to make this situation right. He also commanded that the parties come back before the Committee on December 12 to discuss what, if any, progress has been made. I must add, however, that I was also impressed with the passion and questioning of Congressman Udall from New Mexico -- as he pressed the head of the BIA as to his understanding of the government's trust responsibility to the tribes. Congresswoman McCollum from Minnesota was also among the representatives who presented a strong showing of support for the Navajo Nation.

Although skepticism in matters such as these is usually the rule, I left the hearing with a feeling of hope. I am hopeful that Congress will follow through on the journey it has apparently committed to beginning. As a candidate for Arizona's Congressional District 1, not just an attorney helping to represent the Navajo Nation, one of my priorities has been and will continue to be to address this ongoing human tragedy on the Navajo Nation.

Regular readers know that I'm supporting Mr. Shanker here in AZ-01, both because of his stance on a wide variety of issues and his overall integrity, and I'm glad he's standing up for the Navajo Nation on the uranium issue. In light of the current push for increased nuclear power, it's important to address the problems from past uranium mining to ensure that we don't repeat past mistakes.
I am once again reminded why I think Howard would be a damn good representative in congress.