deathbyathousandcuts

Re: Yoo's Minn. Strib op-ed

2005-12-26T16:45:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank the Minneapolis Star Tribune for giving John Yoo a platform to respond to this latest controversy in which his legal work plays a foundational role.

In light of the recent disclosure (by the NY Times) of wholesale wiretapping of the communications of US citizens by the NSA and Bush's decision to bypass the Congressionally mandated judicial checks and balances on the use of this executive branch power, John Yoo's legal work for the Bush Administration has once again resurfaced as a prophyllactic justification for their actions. In this context, I was very interested in reading Mr. Yoo's editorial to see what additional insight he could provide into the thinking of the administraton regarding this matter.
Unfortunately, Mr. Yoo has chosen to try and muddy the waters of public discourse by conflating a strawman(*) with a non-sequiter(+) with a little can't-talk-about-the-NSA-because-its-classified thrown in and then concludes ... what? that we don't always declare war? ...

It's too bad he has chosen to try obfuscate and duck the NSA issue instead of enlighten and clarify the administrations thought processes for us. I wish I could say I expected better of him.

(*)The false characterization that "Liberal intellectuals
believe that Bush's exercise of his commander-in-chief
power has exceeded his constitutional authority and led
to a quagmire in Iraq. If only Congress had undertaken
the solemn process of declaring war, they have argued,
faulty intelligence would have been smoked out, the
debate would have produced consensus, and the American
people would have been firmly committed to the ordeal ahead."

(+)the rest of the op-ed regarding historical context of
presidential authority to commit our military to foreign
hostilities with or without Congressional approval or a
formal declaration of war.

Hook, line and sinker

2005-07-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

I am now able to confirm that my brother has taken the bait, hook, line and sinker.

First, he called my mother to verify what my fiancee told him. My mom told him something to the effect that we've been dating for so long that my fiancee is fully justiied in doing this.

Next, out of the blue, I hear from a mutual friend of my brother (who is not in on it) that he is extremely upset at my fiancee and my mother and that he has been ranting at all of his friends about it (but not a peep about it to me).

This friend didn't buy the story and contacted my fiancee to tell her what my brother has been saying. So now we have another co-conspirator.

More to come...

The perks of bloggerhood

2005-07-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

One of the many dubious perks of bloggerhood is that you get invited to spend your time participating in studies of bloggers.

True Words of the Day

2005-07-11T00:46:00.000-07:00

In those parts of the world where learning and science
have prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of
it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue.
-- Ethan Allen, Reason the Only Oracle of Man (1784)

Practical Jokes Happen....

2005-07-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married in about a month and I figured that this is an excellent opportunity to try to punk my brother. He's usually pretty skeptical, but sometimes he isn't, particularly when confronted with things that tie into his strongly held beliefs.

First, I called my mother and told her I was playing a practical joke on my brother and to make sure she didn't spill the beans when he calls her.

Next, I cast the line. I had my fiancee call my brother and tell him that she was throwing a surprise wedding and not to tell me or it would ruin everything.

I fully expected that my brother wouldn't take the bait and would immediately come to me, since a surprise wedding is preposterous on the face of it (even if it's a shotgun wedding, you are given notice). We would have a laugh, I would tell him the truth and that would be that....

But he didn't come to me. In fact it has been ten days and not a peep about it. I think he's taken the bait.

More to come.....

Re: DIRELAND: DEEP THROAT'S CRIMES: Mark Felt, Constitution-shredder

2005-06-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Doug Ireland wrote:

"After Mark Felt (photo left) outed himself as the legendary “Deep Throat” in the Watergate case last week, there was a media rush to canonize the FBI’s former Number Two man, and politicians proposed he be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But in all this gush to make Felt a hero, there has been little or no mention of Felt’s prime role in COINTELPRO -- the most gigantic domestic political spying and disruption operation ever in American history, illegally conducted by the FBI."

What a load of non sequiter!

For those too young to remember, Felt was canonized 30 years ago, although pseudonymously. Merely attaching a face to the pseudonym doesn't change that. History, facts and the court of public opinion have deemed him and his actions righteous. This opinion won't change even when he turns out to be an exemplar of Hoover's FBI and little better than the pillars of morality in the Nixon administration.

I got a huge kick out of watching the Nixon "club Fed" fraternity queue up on the TV spin zones to whine and moan about the failings (he didn't have unblemished motives) of the man who ratted them out for their malfeasance. Talk about splinters and logs! Looking back, it must really stick in their craw that Reagan pardoned him.

The crooks seem to think they are being given another shot at rewriting the history of Watergate. But they are writing their own epitaphs, not Felt's. Their tirades remind me of prison house rants where the inmates are all innocent, facts and convictions notwithstanding, and the cop who busted them is the real bad guy.

Bismarck's Statemanship

2005-05-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

I came across this while reading up on the history of the Prussian-Austrian war and it struck me that there are some American officials who could have learned something from this.

"Woe unto the statesman who makes war without a reason that will still be valid when the war is over. After the war, you will all look differently at these questions. Will you then have the courage to turn to the peasant contemplating the ashes of his farm, to the man who has been crippled, to the father who has lost his children?" - Otto von Bismarck, 1850

Even though Bismarck was a disciple of military might and its use and dearly wanted to conquer Austria (and at the time most of Prussia supported it as well), he gave this speech in part because he believed Prussia was not ready at that time to win a war with Austria. And he was likely correct in that thinking. In no small part, through this speech, he was successful in convincing the Prussian King, ministers and parliament to avert war with Prussia at that time.

It is well worth noting, that after Bismarck had bided his time and built the Prussian army into a force capable of defeating the Austrians, he led the Prussian army in war against Austria and won.

Intelligent Disingenuousness

2005-05-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

This article on HuffPost (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/archive/2005/05/devolution-the-intelligen.html) really got my hackles up about the ID crowd. If they are right, they should be able to prove it to scientists and collect their Nobel prizes, which would be richly deserved under such circumstances. The following was submitted, by me, as a comment to the story:

If Intelligent Design proponents want to put up an ID theory as a valid alternative to the theory of evolution by natural selection, then they must do what any scientist would do. Namely, make a meritorious case using the tools and methodology of science that is convincing to the scientific community. At the very least, ID proponents must provide a falsifiable theory along with evidence that is more convincing to their scientific peers than the millions of data points collected over the last 150 years that support the theory of evolution by natural selection.

But of course, establishing a scientific truth is not the goal of the ID proponents. What they are doing is the minimum possible that will provide a fig leaf capable of allowing the willfully ignorant and intellectually lazy among us to ignore the mountains of evidence (of which one could demonstrate the validity of to oneself if one chose) in favor of faith in fairy tales that are (apparently) so much easier to believe.

RIP Max 8/10/1992 - 5/11/2005

2005-05-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

My kitty Max, best friend and constant companion, lost his battle with cancer today. We are heartbroken, but happy that he lived a long life, that he got to spend his final days sleeping in all his favorite places and that he died at home with his family.

Happy trails sweet friend, in the afterlife may you find lots of sunny spots and may the chipmunks be fat and and the birds slow.....

My sweet kitty Max, may he rest in peace

My American English

2005-05-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Death of a best friend

2005-04-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

One of my cats, Max, was diagnosed with cancer (leukemia) on Friday and has only a few days to live. I wrote the following in part to cope with my feelings about whether or not to put him down.

Poem: Ode to Max

Max, best kitty, best friend, constant companion
You’re dying and there is nothing I can do
But watch you wither away
Or kill you in an act of compassion
To spare you the agony
You are probably experiencing.

It breaks my heart time after time
To see you overcome your weakness and pain
Barely able to jump up, but succeeding
Just because you want to sit next to me
Just sit next to me one more time
And comfort me in my grief

I’m trying to be strong for you
And my heart is in my throat
Seeing you be strong for me

Tears roll down my face as I write these words
Words I cannot speak because I’m overwhelmed
By your selfless acts

I want you to die at home
I really don’t want your last moments
To be spent in terror in an unfamiliar place

But I don’t know how much longer
I have the strength to watch you waste away
As the disease takes away your vitality
Until all you can do is lay in one place
And wish for death to come.

Would I be putting you out of your misery?
Would I be putting me out of mine?

Please let me be strong for you, Max
Please let me avoid choosing a compassionate death
Please die in familiar surroundings with the ones you love.

Words of wisdom understood by Republicans, but not Democrats

2005-04-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

"It's not so much what you do that counts, but what you are willing to let the other fellow get away with." - Sid Bernstein

Lying Statistics or Lying Statistitians

2004-09-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

check out what the votemaster has to say today over at www.electoral-vote.com

the money bytes are:

It is becoming increasingly clear that the pollsters are producing the results that the people paying the bills want to hear. Even pollsters who were once thought to be above suspicion are now suspicious.

Garbage in, garbage out: The US media at work

2004-09-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

The right may not own the media, but there is no doubt that they are currently much more effective in getting their talking points into the 24-7 TV and radio spin cycle. In fact, they are so effective that it seems like they are practically able to control what is presented and which talking points are accepted as "facts" to frame the presentation, which "facts" win out and what "conclusions" are drawn.

It seems to me that we are witnessing a practical application of post-modern relativism which is used cynically to achieve a Pravda-like level of control of what is presented on the parts of the (mostly uncomprehending) media consumed by the most people (and it is achieved while not seeming obviously compromised to the majority of viewers and without using the obvious top-down control exercised to the same effect by the Communist media).

The only solution I see is to take advantage of the credulity if the idiotarians in our media to destroy their credibility for everyone. We're better off not getting anything out of them rather than allowing them to create a reality distortion bubble that bears highly misleading relationship with what is actually going on.

testing Mozilla blogThis

2004-09-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

deathbyathousandcuts

testing testing 123

Inaugural Post

2004-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here's to my new blog.

May it be more intellectually satisfying than George (gentleman's C-) Bush, less insane by religion than John (where are the bongs and hookers, nevermind the terrorists) Ashcroft and less corrupt than Dick (the 2 million dollars that Halliburton gave me while VP doesn't mean a thing to me) Cheney.

Salut!