Some faith restored

Given the extremely conservative nature of the Supreme Court of the United States, I had resigned myself to the Court ruling in favor of the Administration in the Hamdan case. Thankfully that hasn't happened - see SCOTUSblog for details on Hamdan. This is, as everyone is saying, huge. The President of the United States has been rebuked:

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Congress did not take away the Court's authority to rule on the military commissions' validity, and then went ahead to rule that President Bush did not have authority to set up the tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and found the commissions illegal under both military justice law and the Geneva Convention. In addition, the Court concluded that the commissions were not authorized when Congress enacted the post-9/1l resolution authorizing a response to the terrorist attacks, and were not authorized by last year's Detainee Treatment Act. The vote against the commissions and on the Court's jurisdiction was 5-3, with the Chief Justice not taking part.

The Court expressly declared that it was not questioning the government's power to hold Salim Ahmed Hamdan "for the duration of active hostilities" to prevent harm to innocent civilians. But, it said, "in undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails in this jurisdiction."

Mr. Bush is not above the law. About time someone said so.

What worries me is the Republican House and Senate. It wouldn't shock me if they ruled the Geneva Convention no longer applies in this "new war". Nothing these people do shocks me any more.

But for one, brief moment, my faith in Constitutional law has been restored.

"I thank my stars, I am happy! and Jove, and my stars be praised!"

Strolling around the web this morning, as I do every morning, I stopped at one of my favorite haunts, Astrodynamics and saw the title:

Astrology hits HGTV

Whoa!

See What's Your Sign? Design.

Thanks for the heads-up Lynn (and AstroCocktail)! I can't wait to see this show.

Holy frijoles Batman! I've turned into Martha Stewart!

The 'rents and my sister are coming to my place for dinner tonight. I'm not a huge fan of fish, except for shrimp and lobster, but my parents like it, so I thought I'd compromise and make a scallop casserole for dinner tonight:

2 pounds of baby scallops
6 ounces, more or less, of cream
a dash, or so, of white wine
fresh dill... teaspoon, half a teaspoon? well, to taste at any rate
bit of garlic, not a lot
some scallions
dash of salt and pepper
freshly grated parmesean and bread crumbs over the top

Mix it all together and bake at 350 degrees, in a large casserole dish, for about 30 minutes.

I'll put together a spinach salad with a light balsamic dressing on the side. I'd love to make some saffron rice, if I had saffron or cardamom... I guess I'll go with plain white. Yeah, boring, I know. A vegetable platter with some nice cheese (that I'll have to pick up on the way home tonight) since I don't have the time to make a spinach dip and/or a tapas as an appetizer.

One of the problems of serving fish is I have to serve white wine... right? Only, I hate white wine and I know nada about it. I picked up two bottles of Trimbach 2000 Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling and a bottle of St. Supery 2004 Sauvignon Blanc last night. I have no doubt Dad's going to make fun of these selections. Well, if he does, he gets no dessert! Which, by the way, is my pecan apple pie, that I made last night.

I also dragged out the damask table cloth and napkins, the good china, the good silver, the crystal candlesticks last night... Dad's coming, and he gets... snippy, let's say, if the table isn't properly set. Because the linens were in the dresser, I had to press those last night as well. This is why I entertain so infrequently. It's too much galdarn work! Why am I doing this? Well, we've been to my sister's house three times since she moved in, in October, so it's my turn. I guess. I suppose I'm feeling guilty that Gret's gone through all this work and I haven't.

I still have to pick up flowers and cheese on the way home tonight. As I have this whole white theme going on here (unintentional, but still), I'm hoping to pick up some white flowers - daisies, lilies, alstroemeria... um, isn't alstroemeria a lily too? What I know about flowers I could write across the head of a pin and have loads of room left over for something short like, um... Shakespeare.

Ah well, whatever... all white flowers to go with the all white linens, china, candles and casserole dish... all of which coordinates with my all white kitchen. Except for the toaster, which is bright red. Leave it to my sister-in-law Mary to introduce the only hint of color in my kitchen. My red toaster was a Christmas gift from her last year. It really stands out in my all white kitchen.

Two Moons

The above photo is of Pluto and two new moons, Nix and Hydra.

Nix, which I believe is usually spelled Nyx in Ancient Greek, means night. Her mythology, according to Hesiod, is:

Hesiod states that Night was the daughter of Chaos, which makes her one of the first creatures ever to emerge from the void. This means that Nyx was the sister to some of the oldest deities in Greek myth, including Erebus (Darkness), Gaia (the Earth), and Tartarus (the Underworld). From these primeval powers came the rest of the Greek gods and goddesses. And Nyx was responsible for bearing her share of divine children.

Nyx gave birth to a number of offspring. Some of these children of Night were Eris (Discord or Strife), the Moirai (Fates), Hypnos (Sleep), Nemesis (Retribution), Thanatos (Death), and the Hesperides. While these beings were born from the goddess alone, without a father, Nyx also had children by the god Erebus. To Erebus the goddess bore Aether (Air) and Hemera (Day).

Also from Hesiod, in Theogeny:

"There also stands the gloomy house of Night;
ghastly clouds shroud it in darkness.
Before it Atlas stands erect and on his head
and unwearying arms firmly supports the broad sky,
where Night and Day cross a bronze threshold
and then come close and great each other."

Not someplace I want to live.

The other moon is named Hydra. From Pantheon.org:

The Hydra which lived in the swamps near to the ancient city of Lerna in Argolis, was a terrifying monster which like the Nemean lion was the offspring of Echidna (half maiden - half serpent), and Typhon (had 100 heads), other versions think that the Hydra was the offspring of Styx and the Titan Pallas. The Hydra had the body of a serpent and many heads (the number of heads deviates from five up to one hundred there are many versions but generally nine is accepted as standard), of which one could never be harmed by any weapon, and if any of the other heads were severed another would grow in its place (in some versions two would grow). Also the stench from the Hydra's breath was enough to kill man or beast (in other versions it was a deadly venom). When it emerged from the swamp it would attack herds of cattle and local villagers, devouring them with its numerous heads. It totally terrorized the vicinity for many years.

These names are quite gloomy, aren't they? I was wondering if the astronomers were completely without humor until I read the article:

Nix was originally spelled "Nyx" by Stern's group. Nyx is the Greek goddess of darkness and Hydra is the nine-headed serpent that guarded the underworld. Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld.

But since a near-Earth object was already called Nyx, the IAU decided to tweak the spelling to "Nix" to avoid confusion.

Stern said he wasn't disappointed by the spelling change because the pronunciation and significance of the names were still intact.

"The joke was that they nixed Nyx," Stern said.

Gotta love the Greeks... um Geeks.

Edited to add:

Spotted this at Planetwaves this morning and it made me laugh:

Donald Rumsfeld is an idiot. True, he is one of a cabal of the most idiotic idiots in the Annals of the Idiotic Idiocy of the Human Race, but this dude stands out like the Eiffel Tower on a clear night. He has other problems, but mainly, he's bloody stupid.

:)

My home world.

Photo courtesy of NASA.

Now if they'd just give me a ride home.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

What passes for a government in Iraq these days announced last week it would grant amnesty to anyone who did not kill Muslims in this, the Iraqi Civil War.

It is now open season in Iraq on US soliders. The Senate has no problem with this.

Do you?

Last week two US soliders were kidnapped. Their bodies were found yesterday:

An Iraqi military official said Tuesday that the bodies of two missing U.S. soldiers showed signs of torture, and that men appeared to have been killed "in a barbaric way." Also, the umbrella group for Iraqi insurgents claimed responsibility for the soldiers' deaths.

Surprised? I'm not. It's only going to get worse.

If you pray, say a prayer for our soliders and the families of Pfc. Menchaca of Houston, Texas and Pfc. Tucker of Madras, Oregon.

7 US Troops Wounded Looking for Comrades

A Father Speaks Out Against the Iraq War

US Embassy Memo

By the way, in case you missed it, your home is no longer your castle and anyone can enter without knocking - Police, FBI, CIA, anyone.

Also, make damn well sure you have your birth certificate on you. You see, if you are suspected of not being a US national, a non-citizen, you may be arrested and held without charges or explanation, for as long as anyone chooses to hold on to you. And no, you won't have access to an attorney, even if you ask for one.

City to crackdown on illegal immigration

Love it!

Bush Abrogates 3rd Amendment, Just to Complete the Set

Book Launch

"Watchdogs of Democracy?", by Helen Thomas, is excerpted at Rawstory and available for pre-order at Amazon.com

Just in case you missed this

five years ago:

The Enron Story Everyone Is Missing: The Bush-Ken Lay Connection

Bush should be called as a witness in the congressional hearings scheduled to unravel this mess. One thing that should come up in the hearings is then-Gov. Bush’s October 1997 telephone call on behalf of Lay to then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to help Enron crack into the tightly regulated Pennsylvania electricity market.

“I called George W. to kind of tell him what was going on,” Lay told the New York Times about the 1997 phone call, “and I said that it would be very helpful to Enron, which is obviously a large company in the state of Texas, if he could just call the governor [of Pennsylvania] and tell him [Enron] is a serious company, this is a professional company, a good company.”

Since we now know Enron lacked those virtues, it’s clear Bush was used to sell a bill of goods to the unsuspecting Pennsylvania folks.

That Lay was instrumental in Bush’s rise to the presidency is indisputable. Since 1993, Lay and top Enron executives donated nearly $2 million to Bush. Lay also personally donated $326,000 in soft money to the Republican Party in the three years prior to Bush’s presidential bid, and he was one of the Republican “pioneers” who raised $100,000 in smaller contributions for Bush. Lay’s wife donated $100,000 for inauguration festivities.

Once again, I <3 Molly.

Since it is a long and noble Texas tradition for the accused to fight all allegations by finding Jesus, this indicates a major degree of guilt.

Well over a year ago I read some where Bill Clinton was angling for Secretary General of the UN when Annan retires. I still don't know if that's a good idea or not. Interesting article on what to look for in a new UN SG: 10 Qualities to Look for in a New UN Secretary General. I don't think much of it is based in reality - bit like the lists we used to send of to Santa Claus when we were kids. Ah well, it'll make International Politics a bit more interesting this year. I wish the UN was covered better in the US.

BattleCry: Ron Luce's Holy War, by Sunsara Taylor.

“Do you care more about the pigs around you or God?” BattleCry leader Ron Luce roared at the crowd of more than 17,000 youths gathered at Wachovia Spectrum Stadium in Philadelphia on Friday, May 12. No, this wasn’t a metaphor: After reading a passage from Luke 15 that mentions pigs, he actually brought several squealing, pink farm animals on stage. Got it? You either get with Luce’s hateful, hyper-patriotic, woman-bashing, racist god or … you’re a pig.

What’s more, it became clear during the rally that all the rhetoric about battles, warriors and war was not just metaphorical, either.

The 9/11 Story That Got Away

Now, in an exclusive interview, Miller reveals how the attack on the Cole spurred her reporting on Al Qaida and led her, in July 2001, to a still-anonymous top-level White House source, who shared top-secret NSA signals intelligence (SIGINT) concerning an even bigger impending Al Qaida attack, perhaps to be visited on the continental United States.

Ultimately, Miller never wrote that story either. But two months later -- on Sept. 11 -- Miller and her editor at the Times, Stephen Engelberg, both remembered and regretted the story they "didn't do."

I'm Pregnant!

*
**

~ ~ ~


Not that there is a civil war in Iraq, but Basra Carnage Escalates as One Person Killed Every Hour.

US Secretly Backing Warlords in Somalia.

Us? Never!

U.S. officials have long feared that Somalia, which has had no effective government since 1991, is a desirable place for al-Qaeda members to hide and plan attacks. The country is strategically located on the Horn of Africa, which is only a boat ride away from Yemen and a longtime gateway to Africa from the Middle East. No visas are needed to enter Somalia, there is no police force and no effective central authority.

Oh, right! Silly me! The Terrorists!

Thanks be to god we're friends with Muammar Qaddafi, that fine, upstanding fellow! Always been a true-blue friend of democracy he has.

This is the country that used its vast oil wealth to finance Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's fantasies of international revolutionary leadership by sponsoring coups, invasions, assassination attempts and terrorist atrocities across the world. Americans got a taste of Colonel Qaddafi's methods in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, an attack that killed 270 people. A year later, another Libyan terrorist bomb killed 170 people on a French airliner over Africa.

Never! I won't believe a word of it! Miss Rice says they're the good guys now, so that's good enough for me.

~ ~ ~

Hey Millennials, Debt Becomes You:

While tuition prices continue to rise, the acceleration slowed this year, Ms. King says, offering a positive projection for future college students. And the job market is relatively healthy, she says, opening up more doors for graduates. But interest rates will increase on July 1, when federal loan programs move from a variable rate system to a higher, fixed rate. Stafford loans will jump from the current 5.3 percent rate after graduation to 6.8 percent. PLUS loans, designed for parents, will rise from 6.1 percent interest to 8.5 percent.

~ ~ ~

* No, I'm not pregnant.

** What the fuck is next? Donna Reed cloning? Get your period for the first time and you get outfitted with pearls, poodle skirts and heels?

No, we don't live a fascist, Nanny state.

In the tradition of Mega Corporations taking over sporting arenas and renaming them, I think we should stop calling the White House the White House and instead call it the Fox Broadcasting Arena.

Rainy days and America get me down.

I learn something new every day. Today's professor is Matthew Aid, as interviewed by Kim Zetter at Salon. Read The NSA is on the line -- all of them.

The controversy over Project Shamrock in 1976 ultimately led Congress to pass the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other privacy and communication laws designed to prevent commercial companies from working in cahoots with the government to conduct wholesale secret surveillance on their customers. But as stories revealed last week, those safeguards had little effect in preventing at least three telecommunications companies from repeating history.

I knew about the FISA... I didn't realize it stemmed from Project Shamrock. I guess I didn't pay close enough attention at the time. And, as I recall, my introduction to FISA (something like 15 years ago) was by a guy who firmly believed the government is out to get each and everyone of us. Real conspiracy theorist. We'd debate his "theories" endlessly. It was fun and I never took any of it seriously.

I do now.

We should be terrified that Congress has not been doing its job and because all of the checks and balances put in place to prevent this have been deliberately obviated. In order to get this done, the NSA and White House went around all of the checks and balances. I'm convinced that 20 years from now we, as historians, will be looking back at this as one of the darkest eras in American history. And we're just beginning to sort of peel back the first layers of the onion. We're hoping against hope that it's not as bad as I suspect it will be, but reality sets in every time a new article is published and the first thing the Bush administration tries to do is quash the story. It's like the lawsuit brought by EFF [Electronic Frontier Foundation] against AT&T -- the government's first reaction was to try to quash the lawsuit. That ought to be a warning sign that they're on to something.

As usual, me hearts Molly.

I hate to raise such an ugly possibility, but have you considered lunacy as an explanation? Craziness would make a certain amount of sense. I mean, you announce you are going to militarize the Mexican border, but you assure the president of Mexico you are not militarizing the border. You announce you are sending the National Guard, but then you assure everyone it’s not very many soldiers and just for a little while.

Martial law, anyone?

As if the weather isn't depressing enough.

I didn't bother watching Der Fuehrer last night. More lies I don't need to listen to.

So much for Fitzmas in May. Jason Leopold, Sockpuppet Extraordinaire.

And, as if the news in this country isn't depressing enough, the civil war we started in Iraq is intensifying. See Juan Cole's entry for today.

Al-Sari said that for the last month, Basra has been afflicted by a mass of assassinations, equalling one each hour of the day. (That would be 24 a day, and 720 for the month). Sources in the city allege that the police are helpless to intervene, and indeed refuse to go out to the crime scene to attempt to capture the assassins, since they would take fire from tribesmen supporting the assassins, who belong to their tribe.

The Professor's article today also directed me towards photos at AfterDowningStreet.org. Go look, face the war that this government won't let you see. And if so inclined, say a prayer. For them, for us.

Those pictures are not for the weak of heart or mind. But then, the truth never is.

Common Sense

So we may have Fitzmas in May, come Monday?

It's welcome, but not enough.

Impeach Cheney first, then Bush, this is what must happen. Granted that leaves us with the Speaker of the House, but it's a start.

Though I've believed it for months I haven't said so - we live in a fascist country. It's hard to believe it, to think it, let alone say it. It's not enough to blog and comment. All representatives of the people, state and federal, need to hear from us. Write them and ask for articles of impeachment to be delivered. Be polite but outline all the reasons why - and god knows there's enough of them. It is up to each of us to change our country. It's not too late.

I've been re-reading Thomas Paine lately, and the Federalists. They still have much to teach us. Go back, read what they thought a Nation should be and compare it to what we have. The differences are glaring - painful even.

We can fix this. Not everyone is cut out for campaigning, electioneering, but each of us can write an intelligent, well reasoned argument in favor of impeaching and removing all members of the current administration. Set off a writing campaign even Republican's cannot ignore; copy your letters to state and federal representatives to television and print publications and post them on your blogs.

HOW CAME THE KING BY A POWER WHICH THE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID TO TRUST, AND ALWAYS OBLIGED TO CHECK? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither can any power, WHICH NEEDS CHECKING, be from God; yet the provision which the constitution makes supposes such a power to exist.

Common Sense

It's been pouring like mad all night. We're slated to get 4 inches in southwestern CT before it's done.

By Larisa Alexandrovna Rawstory

The UN source also says that a military analysis suggests that no military action should be undertaken in Iran until spring of 2007, but that things remain volatile given this administration’s penchant for having "their own way."

By Sunsara Taylor Battle Cry For Theocracy

If you’ve been waiting to get alarmed until the Christian fascist movement started filling stadiums with young people and hyping them up to do battle in “God’s army,” wait no longer.

In recent weeks, BattleCry, a Christian fundamentalist youth movement, has attracted more than 25,000 people to mega-rally rock concerts in San Francisco and Detroit, and this weekend it plans to fill Wachovia Stadium in Philadelphia.

The leaders of BattleCry claim that their religion and values are under attack, but amid spectacular light shows, Hummers, Navy SEALs and military imagery on stage, it is BattleCry that has declared war on everyone else. Its leader, Ron Luce, insists: “This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom.”

I'm glad I don't live in Philly.

I missed Jack Cafferty on CNN yesterday. Well, I miss him every day because he's on when most folks are still working. The transcript of his question yesterday is at AMERICAblog:

"Does it concern you that your phone company may be voluntarily providing your phone records to the government without your knowledge or permission?"

Yes, it does. But what concerns me more is that this government thinks what it's doing is legal, Constitutional. This is the part that really matters:

Then why did the Justice Department suddenly drop its investigation of the warrantless spying on citizens? Because the NSA said Justice Department lawyers didn't have the necessary security clearance to do the investigation.

Read that sentence again.

A secret government agency has told our Justice Department that it's not allowed to investigate it. And the Justice Department just says okay and drops the whole thing.

In other news, Der Führer approval ratings are at 29%.

And as if Mussolini didn't have enough problems: What MI5 knew.

War Clouds

Los Angeles Times:

Russian leaders continue to mouth the usual diplomatic platitudes about democracy and global cooperation, but Russia is actually playing a complex double game. On Tuesday, Russia launched a spy satellite for Israel, which the Israelis can use to monitor Iran's nuclear facilities. On the same day, Russian leaders confirmed their opposition to any U.N. Security Council effort to impose sanctions against Iran, and their intention to go through with the lucrative sale of 29 Tor M1 air defense missile systems to Iran.

Interesting take. I still think the Iran War starts in March of 2007.

Life Without A Net

In one of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti, Marijo lives in perhaps the worst of its slums. Cite Soleil is a teeming shantytown of a quarter-million people living in poverty so abject it is difficult for anyone outside of here to imagine.

Robert Scheer: Top Spy’s Story on Prewar Intel Is Finally Told

Perhaps most damning is an interview, added for the broadcast version, with Tyler Drumheller, a CIA veteran of 26 years’ service who was the agency’s top spy in Europe until his retirement a year ago. According to him, before the war Hussein’s foreign minister had been “turned” and was talking secretly to U.S. intelligence. At first excited by this rare inside look at Hussein’s regime, the top dogs at the White House dropped the issue like a hot rock as soon as his information contradicted their overheated rationale for “preemptive” war. “The policy was set,” Drumheller told CBS correspondent Ed Bradley. “The war in Iraq was coming. And they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy.”

See also:

"Nothing Prepared Me for Bush"

The press doesn't care. The media, because it's been driven much more by market competition and competition with electronic media. They're doing this "gotcha" journalism. What passes for investigative journalism is finding somebody with their pants down - literally or otherwise.

Sometimes they have a good one - like torture and the rendering of prisoners. Those are good stories. But in the main, there's no felt obligation to cover the economy, poverty, or foreign policy in any systematic way. When the print organizations had a more dominant power in their own markets and publishers that cared to excel or readers that demanded they excel, they felt the need to cover even the boring issues. Now there isn't any of that felt obligation at all.

Also at Alternet.org

Because he said it better than I can:

In another reminder that George W. Bush has still not caught the man responsible for September 11, while he has mired tends of thousands of US troops in an unrelated Iraq quagmire, the murderous lunatic Usamah Bin Laden spoke again on Sunday. I don't know how Bush lives with himself. He has squandered 5 years of unparalleled power and opportunities, and has nothing to show for it but national bankruptcy and national humiliation.

Professor Cole, Informed Comment.

I've been busy of late. Two new programs designed, plus gearing up for someone's pregnancy leave (no, not mine), has me putting in a lot of hours.