Friday, May 29, 2009

And they said this would be post racial....

Haven't been posting much recently.

Mainly been trying to keep sane while watching the coverage of the pending Sonia Sotomayor nomination to the Supreme Court.

I have had the opportunity to read over some of her rulings and cases. Fairly mundane, slightly left of moderate judge. By no means a firebrand liberal. But the coverage of her opinions (legal) and of her commentary have been down right sickening.

Starting with the shoddy piece by Jeffery Rosen over at the The New Republic. The piece itself is just bad journalism. The plethora of anonymous sources, lobbing invectives, alone should be enough to disqualify it as a responsible critique, but this takes the cake:
I haven't read enough of Sotomayor's opinions to have a confident sense of them, nor have I talked to enough of Sotomayor's detractors and supporters, to get a fully balanced picture of her strengths. It's possible that the former clerks and former prosecutors I talked to have an incomplete picture of her abilities.
But then you have the unhinged response of the right-wing. Huffington Post has good round up here, Think Progress has some interesting commentary here, and well it is pretty much a big whine-fest.

Now I do not know what the woman's judicial philosophy is. But the critiques profited thus far are some of the shoddiest I have heard. If you disagree with the idea that simply because some has an opposing judicial view than you, just say you object because of that. Do not try to demean their legitimate accomplishments as "affirmative action based", or "preferential treatment". Graduating Summa Cum Laude, requires hard work and dedication. No one can hand that to you. Especially at an institution like Princeton. Also it is easy to forget that those same individuals who are attacking this now, were praising it for Justice Alito, and Roberts during their confirmations.

It is nice that hypocrisy never goes out of style.

-Cheers

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I want one!!!

Ravage Flash drive!

Now if only I could get my car to do the same thing!

-Cheers

Yep, sign me up....

If there is a draft Nathan Fillion to be Green Lantern petition out there, this would be the argument for it. And consider me totally sold!



-Cheers

Monday, May 25, 2009

Boston is prepared!

At least they don't want it to be a surprise when the zombies strike!

Transparency at its finest!


In other zombie news, got to play Left for Dead. It was pretty cool. What was also pretty
cool, was the walk to the bar afterward, through the deserted parking garage, and your friend
doing a dead on impersonation of the "witch" wailing.

-Cheers

Friday, May 22, 2009

Onion comedy and just kind of cool....

The Onion as always captures a meme...and eviscerates it.

Police Slog Through 40,000 Insipid Party Pics To Find Cause Of Dorm Fire


And just a cool video with Zachary Quinto.

Also this list just kind of scared the crap out of me. I am glad I am not a teenager nowadays....

-Cheers

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Duel of Fates....

Both the President and ex Vice President Cheney gave speeches on national security today.
Here are the highlights of both, care of the good fellows at TPM.

President Obama:


ex V.P Darth...Dick Cheney:


There is a lot here to here to unwrap so I will just leave to my betters. Mr. Greenwald has, as always, insightful and salient concerns about the Presidents speech. D-day also has a solid take on it. With Dan Froomkin bringing the mixed bag knowledge as well.

My commentary consists of this. Why do we even care what Cheney has to say? His policies were so fantastically rejected by the polity that his seat at the table of disgrace should be permantly booked for the next decade. He trotted out the same binary tropes and strawmen
as always.

I am more concerned with President Obama though, for much the same reasons that are mentioned by the others above. Obama's rhetoric is formidable, but it is his actions that bare watching. Making sure those things sync up is important, and holding him accountable when they don't is even more so.

-cheers

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I met this little girlie, her hair was kinda curly....

I am evidently late to comment on this. But because I could be accused of having a fascination with hipster chic, I thought I would at least devote a post to the subject of the "blipster" (it is an interesting photo essay).

That seems to be the chosen nom de guerre for black hipsters. With arguably the most well known example being:

That would be Mr. West.

Personally I tend to gravitate more to the John Legend style of dress, obviously with less success. Sort of a retro-rat pack feel, versus a neo-80's vibe. Mainly because I loathe skinny jeans.


-Cheers

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A non-angry post!

In honor of all the peeps who graduated this past weekend. Congratulations to Dr. Sherry and the Bav!

My man crush gave a wonderful commencement address this past weekend.

And no I am not talking about the President at Notre Dame!



-Cheers

Douche-bag of the day

Today that honor goes to Joe Scarborough. When the best defense you can offer is, "It is! Because I say so!". The look of shock on Carlos Watson's face is actually genuine.

The old "torture works because I want it to", maneuver.

I have come to a realization on the torture issue. The pro-enhanced interrogation crowd has an easier case to make. It is a very visceral undercurrent to it. Most people on a basic level don't put much stock in psychology. They are individuals of course, and are not predictable. The idea that using softer means of interrogation, to gather information, flies in the face of all of our cherished cultural tropes. There is a conceit in there that only the guilty were tortured.

The belief that torture, more often then not, yields actionable intelligence is systematically taken apart here. I am not arguing that it never does (the whole a stopped clock is right thing), but that it does more harm to both our image, and our own security is my concern.

The main misunderstanding about torture is that it is used to gather new intelligence. It is not.

It is used to confirm information that the interrogator has. Meaning, you have an answer/hypothesis, now you are looking for confirmation. The other aspect is the coercive nature of torture, people just do not seem to understand that you will break. You will say whatever you think will stop the pain. Collectively we are view ourselves as the strong jawed hero. That is just not how it works. We all have our breaking points, and once there you will spew whatever you think your torturer wants to hear.

Star Trek: The Next Generation had an episode that actually did a good job of conveying this. Jean-Luc had been captured by Cardasians ( I may be wrong on this. I am sure Andy will correct me!) and was being tortured and questioned about Star Fleet. At the end of each torture session the interrogator asks Picard about the number of lights that he sees. There are three light globes every time, but the interrogator tells him there are four, and if he would tell him there are four the beatings would stop. Of course Jean-Luc does not. However in the closing scenes of the episode he is speaking with the ships counsellor (after a timely and successful rescue), and admits he was about to tell him there four lights. Not only tell his interrogator, but he had come to believe himself that there were four lights.

I am sure I am not doing the episode justice.

-Cheers

Glenn on the warpath...

What I tend to respect about the intellectual "left" is the ability of some of its members to hold on to consistent principles, and not to be ostracized by the party as a whole.

With the implosion on the right, you see the pure sophistry of a political party. The strict and strident adherence to a party line even in the face of an absolutely discordant reality. The GOP is is tossing out its moderate members and doubling down on bigger defense, tax cuts, and no gay marriage. Furiously masturbating to old pictures of Ronald Reagan and yearning for yesteryear.

But on the left, you have many who spent years railing against the gross excess of the previous administration. Diligently chronicling the perfidy, malfeasance, and generally venal nature of those that worked in the Bush administration. It is clear now they are not giving up simply because there is a new boss, or ignoring inequities simply because they happen to support some of the same policies. I would say, in fact, that it is more important that the critiques come from the 'base' in this regard.

I think this may be the most damning comment about our political culture (I recommend reading the post, it is cringe inducing):
What is most damaging about all of this is exactly what Goldsmith celebrated: that Obama's political skills, combined with his status as a Democrat, is strengthening civil liberties extremists -- could possibly object to any of that.
Now, much of the other half of the country, the one that once opposed those policies

-- Democrats, Obama supporters -- are now reciting the same lines, adopting the same mentality, because doing so is necessary to justify what Obama is doing. It's hard to dispute the Right's claim that Bush's Terrorism approach is being vindicated by Obama's embrace of its "essential elements." That's what Goldsmith means when he says that Obama is making these policies stronger and more palatable, and it's what media stars mean when they describe Bush/Cheney policies as Centrist: now that it's not just an unpopular Republican President but also a highly charismatic and popular Democratic President advocating and defending these core Bush/Cheney policies, they do become the political consensus of the United States. Bush/Cheney terrorism policies and solidifying them further. For the last eight years, roughly half the country -- Republicans, Bush followers -- was trained to cheer for indefinite detention, presidential secrecy, military commissions, warrantless eavesdropping, denial of due process, a blind acceptance of any presidential assertion that these policies are necessary to Keep Us Safe, and the claim that only fringe Far Leftist Purists --
This is disappointing, to say the least. Of the things I hoped for the most, it was the dismantling of the national security/terrorism policy of the Bush/Cheney regime. Strengthening it with a coat of new paint and a more polished spokesmen, is not what I signed on for. You can't polish a turd and this stinks to high heaven.

In further depressing news. Democrats have no spines.

THEY NEVER LEARN.... At some point a few weeks ago, Republicans decided that the closing of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was a political winner. They'd rant and rave about the Obama administration putting terrorists in U.S. "neighborhoods," and Democrats, the theory goes, would back away from a sensible policy.

The argument was absurd, of course, and I'd hoped congressional Democrats would ignore the fearmongering. It looks like the minority party still knows exactly how to push the majority party's buttons.

You know what, this some of the worst sort of demagoguery. I have wrote it before, other commentators have made the case: if there is one thing Americans excel at in this day and age, it is putting people in jail, and keeping them there.

Our prison system houses some of the most dangerous people in our society and nary a one escapes. During WWII we housed, on American soil, over 400,000 enemy troops/POWs, and boy did they run rampant all over the country. Oh wait they didn't.

And we are honestly to believe that 250 individuals, that may or may not actually be terrorist pose more of a threat then Imperial Japan and Nazis Germany?

This does more then strain credulity. It fucking brakes it, bends it over a buffet table and sodomizes it while its small children are watching, all the while kicking puppies and eating kittens.


Let us repeat on more time. They are not not Super-Villains!


-Cheers

Monday, May 18, 2009

Jumping the Shark...

Our government has officially jumped the shark, when Jesse "The Body" Ventura articulates the reasons why torture investigations are necessary, and the hypocrisy involved in some of the pro-enhanced interrogation arguments.



-Cheers

Is it a good Star Trek movie?


Here is your flow chart.

And "Jazz Hands".

-Cheers

Friday, May 15, 2009

Diversions...

Between flip flops, the flaps over flips, and people who don't know what the First Amendment. The vast swaths of people who believe torture is acceptable when we do it, has me near apoplectic.

I need to decompress.
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in beauty like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to the tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One ray the more, one shade the less
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress
Or softly lightens o'er her face,
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow
But tell of days in goodness spent
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.

-- Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
 
So today you get a poem. It's trite and overused, but it is always one of my favorites.
-Cheers

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Craven and the lawlessness....

This is a very disconcerting development.

I am sorry, but there are large swaths of the Arab/Muslim world that are anti-American as is. Showing this pictures in the short term may inflame that. But holding those accountable for what they did is the curative.

When heinous acts are done, accountability should be demanded. Lying and covering up only makes the acts worse.

Release the damn pictures. Investigate the interrogation procedures, so we can put it behind us as a nation.

-Cheers.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I need to stop watching the news.

Got home. Turned on the teevee machine and there was Frank Gaffney going full "24" on the torture issue.

Yes there are people in the world who wish to do us harm. There always have been.

The "terrorists" are not super villains. They do not have super powers, nor do they possess alien, occult, or super-luminal abilities/artifacts.

Yes they can kill our citizens. I do not doubt that. One man on a subway could injure hundreds even thousands. Where do you draw the line? They are not a foreign nation. They are, at best, a guerrilla front.

We are a nation. We have near infinite resources and they do not. If we hold to our beliefs they will lose. As long as we treat as a threat and not the threat, they will become even more marginalized.

If I have to listen to any more of this....well...I will just do another post.

-Cheers

And now for something different.



Jesse I would just settle for a cross body chop to the solarplexes of the banking industry.

Seriously how far of the reservation have we gone when Jesse "Sexual Tyrannosaurus" Ventura is calling out V.P Cheney?

-Cheers

Moral Relativism Revisited

This is as venal and craven a comment as I have seen from a government (ex in this case) official. The reason we have laws is so that when things are difficult we have a measuring stick to reign in that behavior. Every heinous act ever committed is always justifiable by at least one party.

Efficacy is not a defense. The 24-esque scenarios that are conjured up to justify this sort of behavior are so improbable as to render the very arguments inert.

On the other hand kudos to Eugene Robinson (umm....Pulitzer Prize Award winning) for at least the sensible push back. Also I am not sure why it is you would turn to the daughter of the Vice President as a credible and objective sources.

The very arguments that are being put forth, we did not accept from the Japanese or the Germans at Nuremberg.

Simply because we do something does not make it good nor right.
Andrew Sullivan sums up my feelings on this here.
The most salient point being:
One key thing to understand about torture is that it almost never occurs when the torturers know nothing and need to find out something. That's why seeing it as an interrogation tool, properly understood, is actually oxymoronic. What torture is about is forcing a victim to tell you something you already think you know but want confirmed - either to prevent an attack or use as propaganda or deploy against another suspect.

Just wanted to add this post by Digby.

I highly recommend reading it. This sort of rationalization is dangerous, as Digby notes:
We are in big trouble when torture becomes just another political football. It's the kind of thing that turns powerful empires into pariah nations. Why anyone thinks it's good for America for the world to perceive us as violent, pants wetting, panic artists who could start WWIII at the least sign of threat is beyond me. I certainly don't feel safer.
It is not right. It was not right during the Spanish Inquisition. It was not right for Pol Pot. It was not right when Japanese servicemen used it. It was not right when our CIA used it. Arguing efficacy does not change that. It is enshrined in our laws, to protect us, our values, and out liberty from those base motivations. This whole discussion has become disingenuous. Those that argue the efficacy of torture or for the 'one percent' doctrine, do not even have the honesty to do that. Because the question is more accurately, as Steve Chapman put it:
And if effectiveness is the only gauge, why even debate whether these techniques fit the definition of torture? The problem with using "it worked" as an argument is that it justifies too much. By that rationale, we can justify subjecting enemy captives to every form of torture ever devised. We can even justify torturing and killing their spouses, siblings, parents, and children, right in front of them.
If a plurality believes this. Then we are far more dire straits then I thought. Even if they are "suspected terrorist" we are better then that.
-Cheers
--edit

Monday, May 11, 2009

Weekend Post Birthday Wrap-up

Just wanted to say thanks for all the people who came out over the weekend.

I don't exactly recall all of the events of Saturday, but I am certain I had a wonderful time.

Even though I woke to the lingering taste of bad decisions (Mexican car bombs-at least what I am calling them, tequila shots chased with an Irish car bomb), it was well worth it.

There was dancing, there was drinking, and there may or may not have been cavorting. I suspect I did at least one inappropriate thing, and possibly more.

I am glad Ed and Kelly got to make it out. I miss them greatly and it was nice to see them.

Single T, The Bav, X-Tina, Crazy Lady, Shawn, Tyler, the Lovetron, Angie and Erin were definitely rockin' the joint. I am sure I have forgotten some people. But, much like my dignity, it was not deliberate!

Also special thanks to the Voss', Cation and Julia for soldiering through a very long day, to share a drink with this old man. You didn't have to but it was much appreciated.

*Special note. Bradley, I have heard you are making poor fashion choices. Stop it.

That is all.

-Cheers

Friday, May 8, 2009

Who'da Thunk it....

Something to lighten up the mood around here (all thanks to Mike-no nudity!).



First off...there is a federation for this! Do they have like delegates and like diplomatic envoys?!!?

-Cheers

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Science is still Hard.....


Meant to post this earlier.

Now, on the heels of my post on the National Day of Prayer, I fear I may be cast as anti-religious. However that is not the case. What I am, though, is anti-stupid.

This clip is an excellent example of what is troubling about people who have no background in the sciences being entrusted with deciding their fate.

Also for the record there is no increasing skepticism in the scientific community, with regards to evolution or global climate change.

Both are accepted (evolution as a full fledged theory) the main issues are the mechanics of the operations. Not that operations are taking place.

-Cheers

They have a plan....

By way of Tyler and his seemingly omniscient knowledge of all things alcohol.

40 Things Every Drunkard Should Do

I personally like to refer to myself as a 'sot' instead. Drunkard is so Charles Dickens.

Also I think there must be some way to make drunken tour de force out of the suggestions.

Though mixing of the topics on that list could be lethal.

-Cheers

National Day of Prayer

I have seen there is a bit of a hubub on the teevee machine about the President Obama choosing to downplay the National Day of Prayer. Honestly I think that is a good idea.

Now this is normally an issue I would stay away from like the plague, but it seems to be getting a fair amount of chatter. What I find interesting is that it, also serves to show the conservative (small 'c') side of the President.

What I mean by that, is there are those who believe issues of worship should be private and while others believe in more ostentatious showings of faith. I believe our current President is more the former and not the latter.

For me? Well most who know me would say I am agnostic at best, possibly with a more animist look at theology at this point. But I do have a very firm belief in the separation of Church and State. Steve Benen has a nice post on the subject over at the Washington Monthly, his previous career gives him a bit of insight in to the various maneuvering that go in these situations.

You do not have to be an atheist to think that most displays of religious fealty in the public square need to be carefully scrutinized. Just as much as the State needs separation from religious concerns, even more so the Church needs to be protected from the machinations and abuses of the State.

Prayer, at least from what I learned should not need a day of commemoration, the faithful should be doing it every day. Nor should it matter whether it is recognized by others, since it is by its very nature a personal conversation between you and your god, gods, or a noodley appendage. Who cares what others think?

So yeah I applaud the President for trying (in vain) to dial the notch back a bit on this, and lower the political temperature.

-Cheers

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Irony Alert!

Man that was fast!

UAE Torture Prince

Glenn Greenwald found this little nugget in the Guardian, and noticed the rank hypocrisy and tut-tutting that we are about to watch this administration/legislature engage in.

I mean seriously, we had our very good noble reasons for dunking those fellows heads in water! They were evil and had pertinent information on an ever-evolving ticking anthrax-radiological-swine flue bomb.

But now when a government official of another country does this, we catch the vapors and demand answers.

Now this is not me supporting what Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan has done, but more to point out why it is you investigate and or prosecute when you find these cases. Or else this is the company you keep. Sadists and monsters like that.

-Cheers

Friday, May 1, 2009

The Golden Rule...

This is going to take me a bit to unpack this.

Pew released a new poll and there were some interesting numbers in there about religious affiliation and views on torture, as Chris Good is reporting.

For some more commentary see Steve Benen.

-cheers