Atrios has a good commentary on the annoying people on our side... sounds like half the people I know.
click here for the new...
FIVE BEFORE CHAOS HAS OFFICIALLY MOVED TO A BIGGER AND BETTER PLACE! PLEASE CLICK THE ABOVE BANNER TO GET THERE, AND DON'T FORGET TO BOOKMARK THE NEW LOCATION. THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!
FIVE BEFORE CHAOS HAS OFFICIALLY MOVED TO A BIGGER AND BETTER PLACE! PLEASE CLICK THE ABOVE BANNER TO GET THERE, AND DON'T FORGET TO BOOKMARK THE NEW LOCATION. THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Showdown at Blog Corral...
Well, not really. One of the few conservatives I really like, Charity, over at She's Right, has been spending some time here. If she lets me, I'll post her piece over here when it's done.
For Videogame Geeks ONLY!
If you're not a console video gamer, don't bother checking out this link. I'm serious.
Nintendo is the Democratic Party and Sony is the GOP
Stupidity as Deep as the Grand Canyon: The Nostrils of Satan
UPDATE: Part of this is bogus - after you read it, read my correction here.
Although I'm never truly surprised at the idiotic things coming from the religious right, every now and then I hear one that makes me wonder if we are living in any kind of rational existence anymore:
Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).“In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is ‘no comment.’”
How is this allowed to happen? Something is really wrong with this country when we have to dumb down just about everything as to not offend some small-minded people with the facts. Not to mention it's against the law:
Jeeez, two more years of this. I don't know if the country can take it.Park officials have defended the decision to approve the sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, claiming that park bookstores are like libraries, where the broadest range of views are displayed. In fact, however, both law and park policies make it clear that the park bookstores are more like schoolrooms rather than libraries. As such, materials are only to reflect the highest quality science and are supposed to closely support approved interpretive themes. Moreover, unlike a library the approval process is very selective. Records released to PEER show that during 2003, Grand Canyon officials rejected 22 books and other products for bookstore placement while approving only one new sale item — the creationist book.
Ironically, in 2005, two years after the Grand Canyon creationist controversy erupted, NPS approved a new directive on “Interpretation and Education (Director’s Order #6) which reinforces the posture that materials on the “history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism [and] Interpretive and educational programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes.”
“As one park geologist said, this is equivalent of Yellowstone National Park selling a book entitled Geysers of Old Faithful: Nostrils of Satan,” Ruch added, pointing to the fact that previous NPS leadership ignored strong protests from both its own scientists and leading geological societies against the agency approval of the creationist book.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
The Big Gundown (La Resa Dei Conti)
Ok, today it's 'The Big Gundown' (1966), from the third Sergio of Italo-Westerns... Sergio Sollima. This is another one I had to get on eBay, because it's not available in the U.S. As with many of these movies, often they are edited beyond belief when they make it to the U.S. I watched the 'Franco Cleef' restoration version. Apparently, Cleef took six different versions of this film, to edit it into a (mostly) English version that matches the Italian version, which is ten minutes longer. More on that in a minute.
This movie stars two of the biggest names in the genre - the hawk-eyed Lee Van Cleef (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Sabata, Death Rides a Horse and many others), and Tomas Milian (Companeros, Four of the Apocalypse, Django Kill! and many others).
Although not a 'Zapata Western', it takes place around the time of the Mexican Revolution. Van Cleef is lawman/bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett, a quick shot who is hired by a wealthy capitalist named Brokston (Walter Barnes) to hunt down a Mexican peasant named Cuchillo (played by Milian) who has allegedly raped and murdered a 12 year old girl. Corbett pursues Chuchillo catching him and losing him several times over the course of the film, as he slowly starts to realize that something is not right. It turns out Cuchillo witnessed the said crime, committed by someone else that Brokston is covering up for. There's a great knife vs. gun showdown at the end.
There was some great stuff in this film, and some not-so-great. The great - Van Cleef, of course. The man has some serious screen presence, regardless of the film's quality, and he has made his share of bad ones. He's definitely at the top of his game in this one. Tomas Milian, who usually has a knack for over-the-top overacting, plays it good as Cuchillo, much more subdued than usual. Even as the antagonist, he is very likeable, and the interplay between him and Van Cleef makes for a good screen partnership. The cinematography in this film is what makes it worth watching, whether it be the great camera ang
les, or the amazing landscapes. There are many who worked on this film that were also involved in the great Leone projects: Carlo Simi, Sergio Donati, Alberto Grimaldi, and of course, Ennio Morricone, who provides a fantastic score for the film.
The not-so-good: the script. The writing and dialogue is often simplistic to the point of ridiculous. It's what kept this from being in the non-Leone top tier of the genre for me. Other than that, it's definitely a visually striking film, to say the least.
Now, more about this 'Franco Cleef' restoration. As stated on the DVD, when this was released in the U.S., the editors did a horrible job, not only cutting out over 10 minutes, but by not bothering to even record English dialogue for the film in some parts, leaving out whole sentences (while you'd still see them talking on screen). What Cleef did was, using 6 different versions availble to him, put together an English version, and where there was missing dialogue, he either reconstructed it using other sounds from the film (quite flawlessly), or put back in the original Italian dialogue with English subtitles. Unfortunately, it makes it a bit strange to watch, especialy towards the beginning, when you'll have a conversation going on where it switches back and forth between Italian and English several times. It does it less over the course of the film, but it was still a bit odd. Unfortunately, there was no English subtitle track if you just wanted to watch the all-Italian version. Cleef also replaced a lot of the music with versions from CD, so the music sounds fantastic. He did some serious cleaning up of the sound and the picture. The colors are quite vibrant, too, which makes the breathtaking scenery that much better to watch.
So, aside from the dialogue, not a bad one for the genre. I'll be reviewing Sollima's 'Face to Face' next.
Trailer:
Of Capitalism and Christians...
Dr. Gerry Lower ties together the most unholy alliance of capitalism and Christianity in his 'Letters to a Christian Friend':
In dealing with the monument to unfairness and inequality that America has become under religious capitalism, we have the option of painting a more beautiful and meaningful world view than Abraham was able to paint in the absence of human knowledge. We also have the option of painting a black view of Abraham's religions. Both approaches are solid because religion and capitalism do survive and thrive on both ignorance and fear. There would be no other way to get people to believe in so much unadulterated Roman rot.
Worst of all (and horribly anti-Christian) is the fact that the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Romanism and Islamism, make people afraid to think for themselves, to the point of not being very human at all, oftentimes to the point of being remarkably inhuman. One wonders why these people can't see this in themselves ... but that blindness to reality is their reward for believing in what amounts to a self-proclaimed infallibility and righteousness.
He makes some very good points, namely that the time of hoping for some more compassionate, equitable form of capitalism is long past:
Unfortunately, a return to a more fair version of capitalism is simply not going to happen at this late stage in the evolutionary program. The values of religion and capitalism are the root causes of most of our problems in the western world. Our only hope is that the Abrahamic religions (as justification for despotism) will self-terminate as scheduled in their prophetic end of times. Americans uniformly guarantee that this will happen - the result of religion's infallibility and wealth's self-righteousness.
The lack of interest in postmodern natural philosophy is related to a number of factors. Firstly, the scientific community in the west has never been so ill-educated, most scientists knowing nothing of natural philosophy and the world view which birthed American democracy. Secondly, postmodern natural philosophy's embrace of conceptual and cultural evolution and the fact that the end of times for religion can be plotted right out on log graph paper frightens the living hell out of people.
I still believe, that in the near future at least, we will eventually have some sort of capitalist/socialist hybrid, like in Scandinavia. But we seem to be one of the most materialistic, shallow nations on earth, so I'm probably wrong.
Brent Budowsky is Deliriously Optimistic
Brent Budowsky, who can write some pretty good stuff, seems to be drinking the Kool-Aid of delirious optimism:
1. Democrats should aspire to build a new era in American history of
patriotic reform and national renewal similar to the eras of FDR and JFK. By electing a Democratic President and Democratic Congress in 2008 we can inaugurate the next New Deal and New Frontier and we should think in large, idealistic terms.2. 2007 will see the coming together of this growing alliance between Democratic leaders, national grassroots, the progressive blogs and progressive radio which will all flourish and support each other more than pundits predict. News and communications power will be further shifted from MSM to independent news sites.
This new alliance will empower voters, lift the party, widen the debate and attract political support and investment capital. The sites mentioned include Arianna and Huffington, Caro Kay and makethemaccountable, Mark Karlin and Buzzflash, Rob Kall and OpEd News and Bob Parry and consortiumnews among others.
3. The Democratic Party will regain its historic leadership on natonal security by expanding on its major gains in 2006 with Senators, Members of Congress, and candidates with military service addressing issues important to our troops, vets and mlitary communities.
What planet is Budowsky living on? Does he think this 'new progressive era' will be ushered in by a group that doesn't even have the balls to call for impeachment, or more importantly, cutting off funding for the war, as Kucinich has suggested? Yes, from time to time I wonder if the pendulum has swung as far as it has to the right and we're on the verge of some Third Progressive Era. Then I roll over and go back to sleep.
And he ate nachos and watched football with Homer Simpson
Gerald Ford was the first president I can remember. We had this special Time magazine about the presidents, and I remember him being the last one. It's funny how the media is spinning his legacy, as if letting shithead Dick Nixon off of the hook for Watergate, in the name of 'healing' was somehow a good thing. That said, I also hear a lot about Ford being the last Repub prez that wasn't evil.
What gives Ford a pass from me, however, is that great blaxploitation flick he made where he teams up with Billy Preston to rescue a kidnapped George Harrison. I think it was called 'Wild Ford Mustang' or something, originally intended to be a sequel to Isaac Hayes' 'Truck Turner', but Hayes pulled out at the last minute because of Scientology obligations:
On the other hand, the sequel, after the blaxploitation craze had run its course, was not nearly as good, as Ford tried his hand in the 'Not-So-Mod Squad', where his character teams up for a most unholy alliance:
President Gerald R. Ford, center, with Chief of Staff Donald H. Rumsfeld, left, and Rumsfeld's assistant, Dick Cheney,on April 28, 1975. (By David Hume Kennerly -- Ford Library Via Associated Press)
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Some Sam Harris for you, just in time for the holiday.
Sam Harris has a great article in today's L.A. Times: '10 Myths - and 10 Truths About Atheism'. he goes through the most often heard accusations about atheists, and sets them to rest in a frank, honest, and straightforward manner. A good one, in response to 'atheism is dogmatic':
Jews, Christians and Muslims claim that their scriptures are so prescient of humanity's needs that they could only have been written under the direction of an omniscient deity. An atheist is simply a person who has considered this claim, read the books and found the claim to be ridiculous. One doesn't have to take anything on faith, or be otherwise dogmatic, to reject unjustified religious beliefs. As the historian Stephen Henry Roberts (1901-71) once said: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
'Life is Good Without Christmas'
... So says an article in today's Times-Argus. I was both glad and surprised to see this. They talk to several Vermonters, including an atheist and a Wiccan, who do not celebrate Christmas. Big surprise? They're not the evil, wicked people we're supposed to assume they are, although I'm sure a wingnut or two will write a letter to the paper over the next week whining about the sacrilege in printing an article like that on Xmas eve, and how the people in the article are all going to hell. It was a refreshing read, especially in light of all this 'War on Christmas' stupidity we're hearing lately. I propose we start 2007 off with a 'War on Stupidity'. But that would be as futile as the 'War on Terrah', wouldn't it? You can't destroy all the stupids/terrorists, because five more will replace the one you got rid of.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Club CCD in MSN Groups?
I've noticed over the last month or so that I've been getting quite a few hits from a private MSN group called 'Club CCD' or something like that. Anyone know what that is, and more specifically the context in which people are linking here? Thanks.
Trans-fats and Reframing the Debate on Public Health Issues
Trans-fats, or those in partially hydrogenated oils, have been in the news a lot lately. New York City has taken the bold move of banning them in restaurants and Massachusetts is considering a statewide ban. As usual, when things like this happen, we hear drivel like this:
Cities should respect local businesses and allow the free market to continue to adjust to consumer demand. Instituting a New York-style ban would needlessly shock the market, triggering higher costs for consumers and removing flexibility for restaurant owners.Ah yes, the free-market, performer of more miracles than Jesus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's done a wonderful job with healthcare and affordable housing too, hasn't it? Anyways, when public-health legislation like this pops up (such as smoking bans in public places), the free-market fundies and certain libertarians love to pile on with the 'protecting us from ourselves' argument, calls of the 'food police' and the inevitable 'Big Brother'. And sadly, a lot of people buy into this crap.
I've always been a believer in the premise that, by and large, many Americans often don't do the right thing until we have no other choice. Many of us tend to be unable to grasp a 'bigger picture' in that we seem unable to grasp how our individual actions and choices affect the world around us. Unfortunately, because of the powerful industries pulling the governmental strings, the right thing doesn't get much of a chance. Consider fuel mileage standards, for example. Every time legislation is introduced to mandate higher mileage standards, we get the typical argument from the auto industry about how 'the market' is not calling for more fuel-efficient cars. 'People love their SUV's, so they're obviously not concerned about fuel efficiency'.
Know what? They are 100% right, many people don't really give a damn. So, by that logic, the hell with global warming, mideast oil wars and such? That's when the idea of the 'common good' needs to come into play. It blows my mind that, no matter what, the right of someone to make money always seems to trump my right to clean air and water or pristine wilderness or not having every corner of my mental environment cluttered with advertising.
The Difference Between Europe and AmericaOverweight and obesity and their associated health problems have a significant economic impact on the U.S. health care system (USDHHS, 2001). Medical costs associated with overweight and obesity may involve direct and indirect costs (Wolf and Colditz, 1998; Wolf, 1998). Direct medical costs may include preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services related to obesity. Indirect costs relate to morbidity and mortality costs. Morbidity costs are defined as the value of income lost from decreased productivity, restricted activity, absenteeism, and bed days. Mortality costs are the value of future income lost by premature death.
According to a study of national costs attributed to both overweight (BMI 25–29.9) and obesity (BMI greater than 30), medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998 and may have reached as high as $78.5 billion ($92.6 billion in 2002 dollars) (Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, and Wang, 2003). Approximately half of these costs were paid by Medicaid and Medicare.
So, basically you and I are paying for people to have the 'right' to stuff their faces with a Big Mac. And that is where we need to focus our public health arguments, how peoples' poor choices affect all of us. The next time a right-winger frames as a 'freedom' issue, we need to turn around with statistics like these to illustrate this important principle. First, even though people have the 'right' to make their own food choices (or car choices or whatever), statistics such as the above show that they are clearly choosing the wrong choice in terms of the things that affect all of us (even those who go out of their way to make the right choices), time and time again. So there goes their argument that people know what's best for them. Some do, some don't, and some do but just don't care. Then, it is vital to point out the economic costs of the problem, and how that is affecting my economic freedom, because I'm having to pay for someone else's poor choices. Which is the greater harm?
If framed properly, even though it's not going to convince all of the right-wingers (it's really all about the money to them anyways- their profits, not our personal incomes ), it will shift the public perception of how those issues are framed, and hopefully we can make some progress. I thoroughly support people's choices to engage in harmful behavior; I engage in it quite often myself. But I don't support having to pay for someone else's poor choices, nor do I expect you to pay for mine. And the right-wingers seem to be all about rewarding what they see as good behavior (savvy investment choices, staying off welfare, abstaining from sex until marriage. whatever). Why shouldn't they support this? Well, like I said, ultimately it's about freedom, the freedom to make money. And although important, it needs to be kicked down a few notches on the 'ladder of freedoms', certainly below the rung of public health. They have controlled the debate for so long in this country that much of their bullshit is taken as conventional wisdom and to hell with the facts. It's time for us to change that.
ADDENDUM: I didn't think of it as I was writing this morning, but in the crosspost of this over at Daily Kos, the alternative idea of taxing instead of banning came up. Of course, it would still get attacked with the same arguments as a ban, but again, could easily be justified in the sense that, sure, you have the freedom to behave badly, but you're going to pick up the tab for it, not society. I could get behind that. That's why I support cigarette tax hikes, as long as the money is used to offset the public health costs. And as far as the argument that these kinds of takes are taxes on the poor, I don't buy it. Considering that the poor have some of the highest smoking rates and obesity rates, perhaps if they couldn't afford to behave unhealthy, they would do it less.
Rainy Saturday Linkdump
Another rainy-when-it-should-be-snowy Saturday, another linkdump for you.
More on the phony war: No, it's not Iraq, it's that appearingly perennial 'War On Christmas' that the right wing doughy pantloads are so fond of whining about:
A little background from Dan Radmacher at the Roanoke Times:
As Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus wrote last year during a similar outbreak of Yuletide battle fever, "There is an ugly, bullying aspect to this dispute, in which the pro-Christmas forces are not only asking, reasonably, that their religion be treated with equal status and respect but in which they are attacking legitimate efforts at inclusivity."
[Bill] O'Reilly is not the first to allege a war on Christmas. An article last year on the anti-Fox News Web site News Hounds recalled that Henry Ford made the same allegation in his anti-Semitic tract, "The International Jew."
It was also a favorite refrain of the John Birch Society in the late 1950s.
And of course, like their brethren in the Bush administration, the LA Times tells us that people are making a lot of money on their war:
The American Family Assn., a conservative activist group, has rung up more than $550,000 in sales of buttons and magnets stamped with the slogan "Merry Christmas: It's Worth Saying."
Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit law firm affiliated with the religious right, has taken in more than $300,000 with its Help Save Christmas Action Packs. The kits include two buttons, two bumper stickers and "The Memo that Saved Christmas," a guide to defending overt religious expression, such as a Nativity scene in a public school classroom.
And of course, the incomparable Rude Pundit has his unique take on it here.
Some good Saturday editorial cartoons compiled by Bob Geiger here.And finally, nothing to me shows the love of Jesus more than blowing off the head of a non-believer with a high-powered rifle. Yes, the creators of the Wal-Mart bestselling 'Left Behind' series now have a video game, where you join the 'Tribulation Force' after the Rapture and kill all nonbeliever, including Muslims and United Nations troops. The only redeeming quality to the game is you can also play the antiChrist and dish out the same to the GodIdiots. Matt Taibbi has that as well as his take on the War on Christmas, here.
If you're celebrating something this season, or not, have fun.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Malaise
I don't usually get too personal on this blog, but here's a rare exception, so if you're not into venting, click somewhere else today, I can dig it. Every now and then I get into a funk when I think about the state of the nation. As I was doing some last minute holiday shopping in Burlington today and saw so much 'stuff' being bought, it hit me. Mostly, as I read the news and see how Bush is obviously not going to budge on Iraq, and I don't think the Dems have the balls to cut off funding or impeach or anything else daring and effective, the anger hits me, but it's not so much the anger at the government. I'm really mad at the ordinary people in this country who have enabled all of this bad behavior. Whether it be because of the intellectual deficiencies that allow them to be so easily emotionally manipulated, or the laziness that prefers American Idol to Being Informed, or just the fact that so many in this country are shallow, selfish and materialistic and just buy in to all the rah-rah we're #1 bullshit, it drives me insane. Many of us acted like little, scared, whiny pants-poopers after 9-11, and didn't learn a goddamn thing. And I've really had it up to here with fundamentalists, like this asshole. I can't help but agree with this by Jesse over at TV News Lies:
All I can say is that this is what you get for believing even for a moment what the US corporate media wants you to believe. The rest of us Bush haters are Bush haters for one reason and one reason only; we pay attention! So to my new former Bush supporting friends who seem to be suddenly surrounding me and telling me that I have been right all along: you can tell me I was right but after that shut the hell up because it is too late for forgiveness. From now on, just shut up and listen. Think about it!It's easy to say that, well, "we get what we deserve". I sure as hell don't deserve what has been happening to this country. Do you?
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Lazy Wednesday Photoblogging
I was hoping some of the Little Green Footballs people (you know, those ones who still have their mothers wipe their asses) stop by, but no luck. Feeling extraordinarily lazy today, so I give you some photos....
The catz, chill as last Saturday's party raged around them.
Pines as far as the eye can see (North Cascades, WA)
No, it's not Iowa. Heading back to the Cascades from the desert.
Dry Falls, WashingtonTuesday, December 19, 2006
Toke Up! It's Good for the Economy (Well, sort of)
Interesting (but not surprising) article in the Independent today: High times for farmers as cannabis is named America's biggest cash crop :
The report's author, Jon Gettman, says it is "larger than cotton in Alabama, larger than grapes, vegetables and hay in California, larger than peanuts in Georgia, and larger than tobacco in South and North Carolina".Oh, the tax revenue that could be made if the government got its head out of its rectum:
US Marijuana cultivation is worth more than $35bn (£18bn) per year. And that is a conservative estimate, based on government price surveys, Mr Gettman says. Corn, the largest legitimate crop, is worth just over $23bn and soybeans around $17bn. "Despite years of effort by law enforcement, they're not getting rid of it," Mr Gettman told the Los Angeles Times ahead of his report's publication yesterday in The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform.It's been said before, but aside from our retarded foreign policies, our marijuana laws are some of the most irrational things about this country. I mean, it's not like people start beating their wives' heads in after toking up a few.. that would be that other drug, you know, the liquid, legal one. When will the madness end?
"The fact that marijuana is America's number-one cash crop after more than three decades of governmental eradication efforts is the clearest illustration that our present marijuana laws are a complete failure," said Rob Kampia, executive director of Washington's Marijuana Policy Project.
FBC Turns One Year Old Today
Yeah, I'm f-ing nuts, what else is new?Well, it was a year ago today, after getting home late from a Christmas party with a wicked buzz on, that I decided to take the plunge and start a blog. And what a year it's been.
Some highlights of the past year: two links from Buzzflash, a growing catalog of movie reviews, and monthly installments such as the Christofascist Idiot Watch Update! and Dumb All Over. One thing I noticed, if you look at my Sitemeter from the graph below, is as soon as I started networking and communicating with other Vermont bloggers, my traffic started going up a lot quicker, sometime around July. So I'd like to give a big hey to Green Mountain Daily, She's Right, What's The Point?, Orwell's Grave, and anyone else I may have forgotten.
Best Google hit is still 'Asian tradition + marriage + eating poop'. I had my 4,000th visitor sometime yesterday, hard earned. It's not like the 26,000 hits in one year to some other shitty incoherent Vermont blog that will remain nameless, because I'm not getting several hundred hits a day from Google Images because I put a bunch of common photos up here (end snit here).So what's up for this next year? Big surprise, more of the same. I might write a bit more about music here and there, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Thanks for stopping by.
Confessions of a Ghost Tour Guide and Skeptic
I've often argued that some of us skeptics and atheists could do a much better job in communicating to the general public, without, shall we say, always being such a buzzkill. I'm going to point you now to a great article from CSICOP that shows you how it's done. Philip Howard is a skeptic - and a ghost tour guide in North Carolina, in Blackbeard territory. He tells a great narrative about the tours he gives to tourists. Here's the great thing at the end that some of us skeptics can learn from:
And a skeptic I am. I’ve never seen a ghost. I am convinced that spirit sightings and mysterious events can all be explained by natural causes. I live in a 150-year-old house where at least seven children died. Even so, I sleep soundly every night. When opportunity arises I speak out for critical thinking, warn against generalizing from anecdotal evidence, and challenge superstition and blind faith.
So how do I reconcile these tales and my core values? I have asked myself, am I aiding unreason and fostering pseudoscience by leading Ghost Tours? Am I encouraging people to uncritically believe in ghosts and spirits?
Finally I have come to a realization. I can simply tell the stories (they’re good tales, you know, and nothing is quite as refreshing as a good tale) and weave them together with fascinating local history (pirates, shipwrecks, war, geology, and numerous other entertaining legends).
Now and then someone will ask me, “Have you ever seen the ghost of Mad Mag?” or “Do you believe the dead can contact the living?” I’ve even had one man, with a decidedly perverse look in his eye, ask me if I thought demon spirits haunted our world.
Usually I turn the inquiry back on the questioner. “Walk back down this lane, alone, later tonight,” I say, “and let me know tomorrow what you experience.” Or, “It doesn’t really matter what I believe, does it. You need to make up your own mind. I simply relate the stories.”
For a while I toyed with the idea of handing out a disclaimer at the end of the tour. I wondered if it might assuage my conscience. But I soon thought better of that idea. There is no harm in sharing ghost stories, I decided. Anyone who can’t appreciate an Edgar Allen Poe tale, for instance, probably needs to get a life. I’ve realized that the participants in my tours are certainly able to make up their own minds. I maintain my integrity by never claiming that any of the ghost stories are evidence for the supernatural. The folks who listen to them can be the judge of that. I just tell the tales as I’ve heard them, although I agree with one wag who said, “It’s a damn poor piece of cloth that can’t take a little embroidery.”
Little Green Footballs and Rosemarie Jackowski
The far right Little Green Footballs website, which I usually refer to as the 'used, discarded condom of American history' has been talking trash about Rosemarie Jackowski, the Vermont grandmother arrested three years ago in a peaceful anti-war protest. Well, Ed Garcia over at Green Mountain Daily has had enough. Warning: some graphic photos and language, but some really powerful stuff.
Surprise!
Once and a while, the Supreme Court acts supremely and surprises me:
The Supreme Court ruled against the oil and gas industry Monday in a dispute over how many years into the past the government can reach to collect money for leases on federal land...And now it's time to cry for the poor, victimized petro companies:
BP and ARCO say unfavorable rulings in lower courts on the issue would add hundreds of millions of dollars to the royalty obligations of the oil and gas industry over the life of existing leases.And lets just hope that the Dems are serious about cutting the corporate welfare for them, too.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Something Stinks in New Jersey...
... and it's not Secaucus. A while back, I wrote about a student from a N.J. suburb right outside of Manhattan who recorded his teacher's classes, as the teacher was teaching such drivel in his history class such as
...that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven...Now here's where it gets ridiculous. As the NYT reports, this kid is getting a lot of flack from the community about it. Now, mind you, this isn't some backwater Alabama town, this is right outside of Manhattan. Surprisingly enough, the teacher is getting a lot of support, as well:
Staci Snider, the president of the local teacher’s union, said Mr. Paszkiewicz (pronounced pass-KEV-ich) had been assigned a lawyer from the union, the New Jersey Education Association. Two calls to Mr. Paszkiewicz at school and one to his home were not returned.
In this tale of the teacher who preached in class and the pupil he offended, students and the larger community have mostly lined up with Mr. Paszkiewicz, not with Matthew, who has received a death threat handled by the police, as well as critical comments from classmates.
Nothing promotes good ol' Christian charity and Jesus' message of love like a death threat, huh? Unfricking believable, eh? I'm sure he'll win any lawsuits, though. It is refreshing to see so many young people standing up and challenging religious belief lately.
Speaking of which, check out the Blasphemy Challenge, a nice little project that some young people have going. Lotta young people in the videos.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Saturday Linkdump
Another Saturday with crappy weather. In between trolling eBay for Spaghetti Westerns not available in the U.S. (someone badly needs a life, eh?), I put together a linkdump for y'all. Enjoy.
I'm still kinda baffled by all of the Obama hoopla on the left. I don't know what to make of it. I'm still cynical in the sense that I believe the race/name thing will make him pretty unelectable in the nether regions of this country. And I think that a lot of people are latching on to him because of his charisma and the fact that he's not Hillary. I haven't seen anything in his legislative record that stands out as something that would make me want to vote for him (and see a few things that would make me NOT want to, such as his support of the bankruptcy bill). And he seems to be pretty good at Clintonesque triangulation, a serious black mark in my book. Yet people go nuts over him, as in this latest account by Vermont Daily Briefing of an Obama meetup in Burlington this last week. I'm sure I'll continue to be baffled many times in the next two years.
Good rundown of the misconceptions floating about since the election from TPM here. Things like, you know, how Bush gives a shit about what anyone else thinks.
More gov't censorship dep't - White House puts the kibosh on an op-ed piece by a former National Security Council member criticizing Iran policy, that had already been cleared by the CIA.
Apparently, it's quite possible to turn your cell phone into a listening bug without you even knowing about it. Not paranoid hoopla, this is for real.
With all the Bible-thumpers going on about 'how we're a Christian nation' bullshit, many often forget or don't know that many of the Founding Fathers, such as Jefferson, were deists. In a nutshell, deists believe that God came and did his work, and left. Dr. Gerry Lower over at Smirking Chimp has a great piece that gives the whole rundown on deism. I don't buy into deism, but it's always been interesting to me because of the historical angle.
Finally, maybe if enough of you visit Norbizness, he'll put me in his blogroll.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Apathetic Agnosticism
Ever heard of Apathetic Agnosticism?
The position can be summarized as: "There is no proof either of God's existence or nonexistence, but since God (if there is one) appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic".This was interesting, especially because I think many full blown atheists such as myself spend a long time in this zone before finally crossing over to the bright side.
Never, EVER Question the Existence of Leprechauns
Unbelievable. An atheist art student expelled for questioning the existence of leprechauns:
In the classroom that day, Averill says one young woman was talking about her belief in energy layers and astral beings."I jokingly asked her if she believed in leprechauns. It turns out, she does. They live on another energy layer," Averill wrote in notes to himself later that day. "In the interest of bringing my own view to the discussion, I began to ask her how she knew these things. Again I know all too well that people can be sensitive about their spiritual beliefs, so I was pretty much walking on glass as I did so."
Averill says he wasn't trying to disprove the other student's religious beliefs, but "to convince her not to insist that they were scientifically proven."
The student, apparently offended, complained to the teacher. Averill was called into a meeting that evening, he says, with the Art Institute's dean of education, associate dean, and the dean of student affairs.
...and was soon expelled for questioning some fruit loop about the existence of leprechauns. Jebus forbid if someone questions your belief system. Political correctness rears its ugly head yet again.
John McCain vs. The Blogs
Seems like John McCain's really got it in for the blogs. According to an article at Think Progress, he is proposing legislation that: would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles. Some highlights of the legislation:
Also a good CNET article on it here. So, all those little photos we like to use that we probably grab off Google Images and such... we'd be in big trouble. I know you're proably expecting me to say this, but do ya think St. McCain's proposal has something to do with the impact bloggers are starting to have on the national political climate, one that obviously doesn't work in his favor? It's also funny how the Repubs love to use the 'child pornography' excuse whenever it comes to violating our privacy on the net, like they did with that Google data grab a while back. Maybe they just want to hoard it all for themselves.– Commercial websites and personal blogs “would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000.”
– Internet service providers (ISPs) are already required to issue such reports, but under McCain’s legislation, bloggers with comment sections may face “even stiffer penalties” than ISPs.
— Social networking sites will be forced to take “effective measures” — such as deleting user profiles — to remove any website that is “associated” with a sex offender. Sites may include not only Facebook and MySpace, but also Amazon.com, which permits author profiles and personal lists, and blogs like DailyKos, which allows users to sign up for personal diaries.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Great Silence (Il Grande Silenzio)
"Wherever he goes, the silence of death follows..."
Movie time! Today it's from the second most famous Sergio of Italian Western cinema: Sergio Corbucci, with his 1968 film, The Great Silence. Corbucci, you might remember, directed one of the first and most famous spag westerns, Django. The Great Silence is a much better film, and it's one of the few that you'll read about (aside from Sergio Leone's films) that transcends the B-movieishness that pervades much of this genre. Since the last few I've reviewed have fallen into that category, this film was refreshing to watch.
It stars French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant as Silence, the typical 'mysterious stranger in town' that is the archetype of the genre, with a twist... he's mute, as he had his throat cut when he was a boy, by some bounty hunters after his father. As expected, he's a fast draw that never draws first, and he has a penchant for shooting the fingers off of people and letting them live. German actor and Spag Western regular baddie Klaus Kinski stars as Loco, a particularly nasty bounty hunter. Genre regulars Fred Wolff, Mario Brega and Luigi Pistilli also have roles. And, most interestingly enough, there's a spaghetti-western/blaxploitation flick connection: the heroine named Pauline is played by the sexy Vonetta McGeee, who has been in such blax notables as Detroit 9000, Blacula, Hammer, and Shaft in Africa.
It takes place in a small turn-of-the-cetury town in Utah, where some Mormons, forced out of town, had taken to robbing to survive, and a bounty is put upon the
ir heads, which Loco is more than happy to collect. After he kills Pauline's husband, she hires Silence to kill Loco. Silence takes out a lot of Loco's men in the saloon, and is shot in the process, going into hiding with Pauline. American actor Fred Wolff stars as a rather funny and clumsy sheriff who is tired of all of the bounty hunters' killings. At the end, as the sheriff tries to bring Loco to justice, the Mormons are led into town where they are deceived by the bounty hunters into thinking there will be food and provisions for them. This leads to a big showdown at the end with Silence, Loco, and the hostages. And let's just say it has a rather shocking, powerful ending that will leave you rather stunned.
I liked this one... minimal, if any, cheese factor. The video restoration looked good, but unfortunately the Region 1 release I had only has the English soundtrack. I usually prefer to watch these in the original Italian with subtitles, because sometimes the English is strange and cheesy. It was ok, this time. Another great thing about the film was the location; it was filmed in the high peaks of the Pyrenees, so the scenery is pretty breathtaking. Just about every scene is covered in snow, a marked contrast from the rest of the genre, usually filmed in the deserts of Almeria, Spain. The acting was great, Kinski in particular, playing his Loco with frightening amorality, unlike the over-the-top acting of, say, Tomas Milian, another spag baddie regular. Ennio Morricone's soundtrack is both haunting and appropriate.
It is a very cynical, pessimistic film. Others have seen the political overtones regarding the futility of the individual being able to make things right. I didn't really catch the politics of it, it wasn't so direct as in Damiano Damiani's excellent 'A Bullet for the General'. Nevertheless, this was a great flick, and I can recommend it with no reservations
Losing the War
The S.F. Gate's Mark Morford is one of the savvier cultural critics out there... a good deal of snark and honesty, bound to get a right-winger's panties in a bunch. Today he's got 'America Loses Another War':Sure, you already knew. Sure, you sort of sensed from the beginning that we couldn't possibly win a bogus war launched by a nasty slew of corrupt pseudo-cowboys against both a bitterly contorted Islamic nation and a vague and ill-defined concept that has no center and no boundaries and that feeds on the very thing that tries to destroy it. It was sort of obvious, even if half the nation was just terrifically blinded by Bush administration lies and false shrieks of impending terror.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Let's Hope He's Right, Soon
(note to Secret Service re: title of post. Don't waste your time with me, it's snark. )
'I'll be dead when they get it right.' So says our dipshit of a President. See, poor Georgie just seems to be misunderstood. It's not really incompetence or mild retardation. That Daily News article I pointed you to basically is a telling of how clueless the W.H. is, and how, still, after 6 years, there are no grown ups in charge. Favorite quote from a W.H. aide: "The White House is totally constipated," a former aide complained. "There's not enough adult leadership, and the 30-year-olds still think it's 2000 and they're riding high."
Dumb All Over, December Edition
So many idiots, so little time. If you're ever looking for some of the dumbest, inane, what-planet-are-they-on? right wing 'news' and opinion, you need go no further than Worldnet Daily. Someone named Jim Rutz (rhymes with 'putz') pulls this one out of his ass, uh, I mean, head, uh, forget it, they're the same thing - A Devil's Food is Turning Our Kids into Homosexuals:
The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore...A few things... yes, there is some truth to the fact that there are some estrogen-like compounds in soy. But I wasn't aware that gay men had smaller pricks than heteros, and that they were all tofu-lovers. Sure, I've met quite a few hypersensitive whiny-ass male hippie vegan types, but I'm sure it's just a coincidence. I was a vegetarian for 8 years, and I didn't somehow go through some of the changes Mr. Putz describes in his rant. Who knew? I wonder if Ted Haggard was secretly a vegetarian.
Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because "I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
'Five Minutes to Chaos' in Times Argus
Well, in the Vermont Sunday magazine in today's Times Argus, this blog is mentioned(albeit with a mistake on the name) in an article. But the article's not about politics. Or religion. Or Spaghetti Westerns. It's about food. Yep, the one food article I've ever written on here was mentioned in an article by Steve Wallach about Ping's Sausage Shop in Barre. And a recipe by yours truly, as well. I can't help but find this all very funny.
Saturday, December 9, 2006
Saturday Link Dump
FBC is going to be in the Times Argus tomorrow... but not in regards to the usual topics on here. More on that later. Also, Dec. 19th will be the first anniversary of the blog. In keeping with the modern human's obsession with arbitrary numbers ending in zeroes, I'm trying to get 4,000 hits by then. As of this post, I'm at 3,757, it's definitely doable, so share the love and send your friends here. I'll have the obligatory anniversary post up on that day. Now, a few quickies for your perusal.
In the sore loser dept, as the GOP leaves DC with tons of unfinished business, they still gotta whine and cry...
"House Democrats have spent every waking moment of the past Congress obstructing any effort towards progress," said Kevin Madden, spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "They have tried to blow up the tracks on immigration reform, tax relief, earmark reform, you name it...It just goes to show they're a party of zero ideas and zero action."... that happened to clean the GOP clock this last election. Does that mean that the number of the GOP's ideas and actions can be expressed in negative integers? Is that possible?
And you thought it was only Japanese men.... Indian men are in crisis. Apparently, the international standard size of condoms sold there are too large:
A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men...The conclusion of all this scientific endeavour is that about 60% of Indian men have penises which are between three and five centimetres shorter than international standards used in condom manufacture.The article goes on to note that given India's huge population, it's obviously not keeping men from gettin' it on.
Finally, y'all know how I love to argue and fight with the righties, and I'm usually a no-holds-barred-kick-'em-in-the-teeth kinda fighter. Well, almost always. Our resident VT rightie blogger Charity Tensel at She's Right and I have had a good ongoing discussion about the role of government. And I play nice. Check it out over here.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Jim Webb and the Idiots
Someone got here by Googling 'Jim Webb is an idiot.' Turns out it was because of 'Jim Webb' and 'Christofascist IDIOTwatch Update'. Now the funny thing is when you look at all the other links on the page, in most cases, the 'idiot' refers to George Allen or George W. Bush. Go figure.
Oh God, Where art thou?
My skepticism regarding religion hit me pretty early in life. Like most boys in first grade in th 70's, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. And the more I read about them and about geology, none of the Bible stuff seemed to make any sense. The next big thing that got me wondering was how the God of the Bible used to make personal appearances all the time; whether it be the burning bush or any other numerous times where God personally spoke to people. I wondered, why doesn't this happen anymore? If someone said that God showed up while they were in the shower or stopped by for dinner on taco night, they're considered certifiably nuts. That's why I loved this one by Nick Paccione over at Smirking Chimp: Oh God, Where art Thou? It brings up these questions, as well as the larger point that people who believe in religious literalism really have it screwed up.
If the Bible is the literal truth then we must ask, “What happened”? Did God die? Did he abandon us? Or is he actually speaking to us through Pat Robertson? (Wouldn’t that be the ultimate kick in the head?) I don’t have the answer. And I believe to my core that anyone who thinks he or she has the answer (a fundamentalist of any stripe) is deluded.
I refuse to believe that God, once so meddlesome in people’s lives according to Bible accounts, has changed his to-do list so drastically. No more walks in the garden. No more sleuth-like pursuits of brother-killing criminals like Cain. No parting of seas. No direct instruction of where and why to move like Jacob and Moses received. And how long has it been since anyone has been turned into a pillar of salt for disobedience?
Has God changed his ways? Or is this more compelling evidence that the Bible stories about God’s interaction with mankind are not literal truth?...
But quite sadly, history continues to tell us that as long as people believe that their religion or “holy book” is the literal truth we will never make progress toward a peaceful world. The “holy” books of each and every world religion were never meant to be read as literal prose. They are poetic. Strip away the tales and myths and you’ll discover that they all offer the same guidance for living: love one another.
Great article, check it out.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Got blaxploitation?
With school wrapping up, I should have time soon to watch some movies and get some more film reviews up here. For those of you wondering what those 'blaxploitation' flicks are, check out these trailers... and remember, it's camp, folks.. pure camp. Not talking Citizen Kane here. Have fun. I do.
Trailer for 'Coffy'
and Dracula's soul brother... 'Blacula'
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Dumb and Scary
I read a rather unsettling article in the Times Argus today, about a man in Brattleboro:
A 32-year-old Guilford man has been arrested and accused of stalking and threatening to kill a family of Muslims that he believed were plotting a terrorist attack...Kyle A. Thurber was arrested Dec. 1 after waiting with a loaded rifle outside the workplace of two Muslim men, police said. Thurber, who has known the men for many years, told police they were terrorists planning to attack the United States.That was the scary part. Now the dumb:
Thurber told police members of the family, who are Palestinian, were plotting to blow up the north end of Brattleboro and possibly the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. He said he was suspicious because they frequently spoke Arabic to each other.Now, if you read the article, it's quite obvious that the man has some serious mental problems. But I can't help but wonder how our nod-and-wink gov't sponsored xenophobia (with a healthy dose of help from the right-wing noise machine) has helped contribute to this in some way. No, I'm not proposing that the government is somehow responsible for the actions of some nut, but they're certainmy not helping that situation with their rhetoric, either. And then there is that new study out that showed a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush...
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Sirota's on a roll lately...
David Sirota's been writing some really good stuff lately. Last week it was his 'Barack Obama is the Almighty', which deconstructed the current love-fest on the left with Sen. Barack Obama. Sirota received quite a bit of flack for pointing out that other than the fact that Obama is highly charismatic, there's not really much there in terms of progressiveness to be excited about, and that he hasn't really shown the leadership we're badly needing, while not precluding something happening to change that. Amen to that, brother. As I see it, so far the only plus about Obama is that he's not Hillary or Kerry. Once again, I'm thoroughly depressed about the potential '08 Dem prez candidates. It seems that once again, we're stuck with a 'lesser of two evils' roster, just like every other election I've voted in. And that sucks, big time. But I have also acknowledged that a candidate who would be sensible and progressive enough for my liking wouldn't have a chance of getting elected in this day and age.
Anyways, Sirota nails it again, this time going after the unchallenged free-market fundamentalism that is the current paradigm in this country, and responsible for a lot of the economic disparity nowadays, in his 'Flattening the Great Education Myth and the Free Market Fundamentalists'. There's just too much good stuff in the article to paraphrase here, just check it out for yourself. One of the most telling points is an account of a dialogue between students and a free-market professor, where the students question his premises and he doesn't exactly have any good answers. That's the big problem with all of this; we've just heard so many times that an unfettered free-market, and its 'market-based solutions' are the answer to everything, when often they are part of the problem. And this continues to be accepted as unquestioned truth, regardless of all of the evidence to the contrary. If Sirota is right, maybe that will start changing. Let's hope so.
Science Watch: Cannibalistic Neanderthals and Bogus Magnet Therapy
Time for a bit 'o science today. First up, it seems there's some new evidence that Neanderthals might have been a bit cannibalistic at times (and, no, in case you were wondering, I'm not referring to GOP inter-party squabbling - I mean those other Neanderthals):
Now, living in Vermont, let's just say that I see that certain segments of the population are entranced by magical therapies under the guise of 'alternative medicine'. Now, before some of you bite my head off, I am in no way discrediting all forms of non-Western medicine such as chiropracty or some herbalism, but there is also a lot of bullshit stuff out there, and some Vermonters seem to love it, more than other places I've been to, seemingly because some peoples' minds are so open that a bit of their brains seem to have fallen out onto the floor and inadvertently kicked under the table and forgotten about. A big one we hear about in the news is 'magnet therapy'. Now, I can understand why some people might think there's some merit to it; on the surface it sounds scientific. But a great article at the Skeptical Inquirer from a few months back calls the bullshit:Neanderthals suffered periods of starvation and may have supplemented their diet through cannibalism, according to a study of remains from northwest Spain.
Paleobiologists studied samples from eight 43,000-year-old Neanderthal skeletons excavated from an underground cave in El Sidrón, Spain since 2000. The study sheds light on how Neanderthals lived before the arrival of modern humans in Europe.
Researchers found cut marks and evidence that bones had been torn apart, which they s
ay could indicate cannibalism.
"There is strong evidence suggesting that these Neanderthals were eaten," said the study's lead author, Antonio Rosas of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid. "That is, long bones and the skull were broken for extraction of the marrow, [which] is very nutritious."
Is there anything in the human body that is affected by magnetic fields? Surprisingly, the answer appears to be no. This seems counterintuitive since most people know that oxygen in our blood is carried by hemoglobin and that hemoglobin contains iron. This is why iron tablets are often recommended for the treatment of anemia. However, the iron in hemoglobin is not ferromagnetic . If hemoglobin contained ferromagnetic iron it would be simple to separate red blood cells from other bloods cells with a magnet. Several studies have shown that static magnetic fields do not affect blood flow . Perhaps more important, if hemoglobin contained ferromagnetic iron people might explode or be flung across the room when exposed to the extraordinarily powerful magnetic field of a MRI scan.
However, for the sake of argument, what if some effect of magnets on human tissue could be demonstrated? What is the likelihood that it would be a therapeutic or healing effect? Probably slim to nil. By analogy, consider chemical compounds. The number of known chemical compounds is on the order of ten million. However, only a handful have ever been shown to have any therapeutic effects. Yet millions are toxic. It would be most unwise to eat or drink anything found on the shelves of a typical chemistry lab. If a magnet had an effect on human tissue, there is no reason to believe that it would necessarily be a healing effect.
The article also points out some of the ridiculousness, such as a magnetic grid you can buy for your bed that will cure cancer. Have a read. Also, for a laugh, have a look at this page that shows what happens when people aren't careful around MRI machines.
Monday, December 4, 2006
Friday, December 1, 2006
So now Pat Boone can shit on the flag?
Stupid white boy department: Perpetual cheeseball Pat Boone, addressing the Heritage Foundation recently:
Boone’s speech took a somber turn when discussing the malaise and apathy of today’s youth. Tears began to fall as Boone lamented: “It grieves me the way young entertainers are deriding our leaders.”Boone’s “Moody River” continued, as he castigated Simon Cowell of “American Idol” for lacking compassion and denounced the desecration of the American flag, saying “You deface a dollar bill and it’s illegal, but I can defecate on this flag, as many have, and that’s OK.”
Funny how he's referred to as a 'soul singer', considering he must be one of the whitest singers on the planet. But at least he's hip to the hip-hop:
Finally, noting that there were songs written for the Army, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, but none for the National Guard, Boone said he took the chore upon himself, penning “For Our Country: The Ballad of the National Guard.” He said, “Bruce Springsteen didn’t do it. Nelly, Eminem and Diddy and Piddy and Poopy and whoever the other rappers are didn’t — so I did.” And then he sang it.
A Question for You Legal Experts Out There...
As I catch up on the news and see that Iraq has turned into an even bigger shitstorm over the last few weeks, and see increasing calls for withdrawl from all sides (including the upcoming Baker report), and I see our dipshit-in-chief's refusal to do anything but 'stay-the-course', I have a question that hopefully someone out there with a bit more knowledge about the legal workings of government can answer for me. Now, I know the Prez is the 'commander-in-chief' the armed forces. But is there any way to withdraw the troops without his explicit order to do so? I know about the politically iffy 'cut-off-the-funding' approach, but I'm envisioning a scenario maybe six months from now where things are even worse, and other than the executive branch, there is no support for the war anywhere else. What can be legally done?
UPDATE: I posted this as a diary over at Daily Kos today, as well. A few people responded. We're shit outa luck. But, please feel free to put in your $.02.
Friday Dogblog (Rainy Day Depressed Edition)
It's tough for the pooches lately. First, being cooped up all month because of hunting season. Now it's rain when they should be frolicking in the snow.
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