The Tide Continues to Turn - EDITED

Supreme Court rules against administration on Guantanamo lockup

SUPREME COURT (AP) - The Supreme Court is siding with Guantanamo Bay detainees over the Bush administration.

The high court has ruled that President Bush overstepped his authority in creating military war crimes trials for hundreds of Guantanamo inmates.

In a defeat for both the administration and for some of the president's aggressive anti-terror policies, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion which says the proposed tribunals are illegal under U-S law and the Geneva conventions.

Two years ago, the court rejected Bush's claim to the authority to detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny them access to courts or lawyers.

This case focused on a Yemeni inmate who worked as a driver for Osama bin Laden. He's spent four years at Guantanamo, facing a single count of conspiring against U-S citizens.

Thank the Gods!

Setting aside the very simple question of if the Bush administration has nothing to hide, why do they want to conduct these trials in secret?… ;)

EDIT: Maybe to hide stuff like this.

I love this country, I love being American. The principal reason I love being American is because the country was created with the best of intentions, the highest ideals of government in mind (though not entirely successful at the time of it’s creation, vis-avis, “the serpent under the table” slavery, but we fixed that after a few years), The idea that the freedoms and wellbeing of the people can be maintained under a just government. The most basic freedom any human being has from being snatched off the street and either just being thrown into prison indefinitely at the governments whim and “tried” secretly where no evidence is brought before the publics’ eye, no defense attorneys, no jury of peers.

In 1973, Augusto Pinochet at the head of the Chilean military took the Chilean presidential palace by force, dissolved their governing body and began the rule of a Junta, a military dictatorship. In the 17 years that followed, it is estimated that over 3,000 people became “Desaparecidos”; “the ones who have disappeared” They were arrested and never seen again. 2,095 have been confirmed as dead, another 1,102 are still missing. Stalin, Mao Tze-Tung, Hussein, every tyrant in the world employs arbitrary arrest and military tribunals closed to the public. Since the dictators are the heads of the military the defendant has been pronounced guilty of being an enemy of the state long before they were arrested, the tribunals a formality of paperwork. The tens of thousands of people arrested by the Committee for Public Safety and sent to the Guillotine after the French Revolution were processed through closed “Revolutionary Tribunals”.

Having suffered arbitary arrest and indefinate imprisonment themselves at the hands of the British, one of the first things the Founding Fathers placed in our Constitution was contained in Article one, section nine: “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” In other words evidence had to be presented to the court to prove that the person in question was being rightfully detained.

The states themselves then demanded that the 6th Amendment be passed in the Bill of Rights: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.” This guaranteed that American citizens could never be arbitrarily arrested and thrown in jail by a government wishing to control the populace as Pinochet’s regime did in Chile.

Whether or not the people at Guantanamo bay are guilty or not is beside the point, what was at stake here was opening the door to tyranny on our own soil. Whether or not there was a precedent set that allowed the government to push the scope of its power ever further into our lives and most basic freedoms: The right to disagree with our government free from knowing we will never become one of the ones who disappeared.

If an American commits a crime on forgiegn soil, he is tried by the nation who's laws he broke. If an vistor to the U.S. commits a crime here, they are tried by our courts. Either the Afghan and Iraqi prisoners of Guantanamo are POW's and must be tried for war crimes (and taking up arms against an invading force does not qualify as a war crime) or they are citizen-criminals and must return to their native countries to be tried for crimes by their government. (Read more on the legality of their sitution here under "Prosecution".) Someday, we will have to stop sitting on the fence and every second we delay that decision merely increases resentment against the hypocracy the Bush adminstration has pushed the United States into.

Speaking of Freedom...

Bear Flees for 2nd Time Before Neutering

He said the bear bashed a nearly 400-pound steel door off its four bolts, destroyed an electrical box while tearing through two electric fences and scrambled over a 12-foot fence anchored with 2 feet of steel below ground.

Life, Liberty and to keep one's cajones!

Go Boo!

So, Getting Back To The Conversation

That History Degree Isn’t Doing Him a Lot of Good.

From the Associated Press

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee urged the Bush administration on Sunday to seek criminal charges against newspapers that reported on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace terrorists.

Rep. Peter King cited The New York Times in particular for publishing a story last week that the Treasury Department was working with the CIA to examine messages within a massive international database of money-transfer records.

King, R-N.Y., said he would write Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging that the nation's chief law enforcer "begin an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times — the reporters, the editors and the publisher."

We’ve been through this before with “The Pentagon Papers”. During Vietnam the Nixon Administration took the NYT and the Washington Post to court to “protect military secrets” of their own incompetence and deception. The Supreme Court voted them down 6 to 3.

First of all: Trying to block the press from revealing the Constitutional abuses of the Bush administration of American citizens rights on American soil does nothing to endanger the troops.

Secondly, a country is only as free as it’s Press. Freedom of information IS freedom itself. When Southern slave owners in the 19th century wanted to control the slave population, the first thing they did was attack their literacy. People were punished severely, some even hanged, for trying to teach black people to read. The first thing a tyranny attacks is it’s populaces ability to exchange information. If the press is not allowed to share information with the rest of the country, we are no longer as “free” as we claim to be.

"No government ought to be without censors, and where the press is free, no one ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of attack and defence. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting out the truth whether in religion, law or politics. I think it as honorable to the government neither to know nor notice its sycophants or censors, as it would be undignified and criminal to pamper the former and persecute the latter." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1792. ME 8:406

On a Better Note:

From Reuters –

The White House appears to be leaning toward allowing a secret federal court to look at its controversial warrantless wiretaps, a reversal of previous policy, a top Republican senator said on Sunday.

Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had been pressing the Bush administration to seek clearance from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, court.

The act requires warrants from the court for intelligence-related eavesdropping inside the United States.

Yeah! I so hope this comes through.

As upset as I get with the Bush administration, the public's open reactions to and debates about his policies, most of them carried out via the Internet, have been very encouraging. The conversations that were held in local taverns and town meetings have become nationwide debates. Information flashes around the country in a matter of hours. While the Bush administration has been able to manipulate people's fears and strong arm legislation in the past, their every move was observed and commented on by a majority of the population. It's almost impossible for a president to try to sneak something by the American public anymore and the outrage raised over the warrant-less wiretaps and the ensuing demands they pass by review shows how powerful Freedom of Speech is in maintaining freedom.

You Like Me! You Really, Really Like Me!

It seems I have a fan.

Wow, I never realized I engendered such deep feelings in people. Just so rewarding to know I have touched a life....

If it can be termed as such.

BwahHaHaHaHa!

Oh, Lawd, I haven’t laughed like that in a while.

See, I told you I'd post something fun. ;)

Infineon Raceway

8th Place at Sonoma!

Yea! *applause* Great job guys, well done! Must feel good to be back up where you belong! Unfortunately, Elliott was not voted in on Fanscan, so I didn’t get to hear how the communication but I’m sure it was a lot happier and smoother. You’ve turned the corner at last last. Go you!

Well, I found out that I will be continuing to watch races on Trackpass until August *grr*, but it still interesting. For instance today watching the various drivers tackle Turn 11. Drivers like Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon would stop accelerating and brake hard halfway down the stretch going into the turn. They wouldn’t brake at all in the turn itself and then power out. Guys like Elliott and Jr. would basically keep their foot on the gas and the brake through the turn. Thing is, Trackpass doesn’t show who is downshifting to help steer, so now I just want more data. *chuckle*

Though one of my friends did find it amusing how the #38 spent at least the last ½ to 1/3 of the race in the top ten and was barely mentioned. PRM talked to him during a caution and other than that? Two sentences: “Oh, I feel should mention Elliott Sadler running in the top 10 right now. He’s actually got a good record on road courses. Kyle Busch…” Apparently the TV coverage was even less. I’m beginning to think there a cloaking device on his car that engages whenever he is running in the top 15. *chuckle* Silly Season never ends, but maybe this will redirect the focus away from the 38 for a while.

But an interesting race altogether, long green flag runs sandwhiched in between a smattering of yellow and two reds. Very entertaining.

But this was just a quick note, I’ll write more about such fun topics such as the wiretap review and the Bush administration’s short memory tomorrow and who know, maybe I’ll throw in something fun.

Catching Up: NASCAR

I’ve been pretty out of whack that last couple weeks. Nate’s death was a shock and it gave me a lot to think about. So…

Michigan

Well, given that the race was an hour late and got cut 70+ laps short, I’d be pissed if I was at the track.

Dale Jr.: Yeah!

Elliott Sadler: Seems to have unwound a bit from previous weeks, tempering his complaints with some praise and even attempted to crack a joke. Good deal. And they did get the car handling better in the final laps, gaining 7 spots in a single run before the race was rained out. Good job! However, the dynamic between Elliott, Tommy and Brett was…weird, on beyond the “VA/NY” thing. The over-the-wall guys have been performing really well, but things are not happy in the #38 pits. Granted, given the rough year they have had, it’s not surprising things are tense, but Sunday's gain could be yet another sign that the team is slooooowly turning the corner.

BTW- respectfully amused ^5 to Elliott for being mentioned in a rallying speech by Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Though I’m not sure how Elliott the Toby Keith fan feels about that being mentioned at a Democratic function *chuckle*, Warner makes an excellent point, though aimed at too small a group of people. Professional Politicians in general, no matter what their party affiliation, are utterly out of touch with America, consumed with their “Us. Vs. Them” political maneuvering rather than finding out what their constituents actually want.

Hey Good Lookin’….

Given Dale Jr.’s commentary about his nomination to People magazine 50 Sexiest Bachelors (“They ain’t saying nothing that ain’t true”) and a joke he cracked a couple weeks ago about being the sexiest driver in NASCAR, I think someone’s ego better throttle back a bit. Granted, if a grease monkey looking like that walked out of the shop at my garage I sure as heck would be checking for a wedding band, but the reason Dale sucks all the estrogen out of a room is because he’s a celebrity. You’re handsome Jooonyer, but a lot of those honors are due more to your publicists than to actual objective standards. I mean really, who at People Magazine actually looks at the entire stable professional athletes before putting these lists together? They just look for names they recognize. As proven by the pics from “Pit Road Pets” I posted a few weeks ago you have some stiff competition from that "Mountain of Scruff” as one of your publicists termed it. Hell, Jamie McMurray gives you a run for your money in that regard as does Jeffie-Pop, and Carl Edwards has the whole “Gary Cooper” thing goin’ on. Bobby LaBonte ain’t too hard on the eyes either.

And as one should always remember: There always someone better in the farm leagues.

Best of luck to everyone at Sonoma!

I'll get back on track tomorrow. ;)

Pride Goeth....

This month’s Archaeology Magazine has an excellent article about the fortunate happenstance that led to the cracking of one of the largest stolen antiquities rings in history. It is an excerpt from Watson and Todeschini’s The Medici Conspiracy.

“The main point is that the auction houses, collectors and museums in America, and elsewhere, have always subscribed to the fiction that, if it comes from Switzerland, and there is no photographic or other evidence that an antiquity hasn't been in the ground of an "archaeological country," then that object is "clean." This might be what in spin-doctoring is called "deniability." That whole set of reasoning is exploded by the Medici case.”

Aside: Those Medici’s. *shakes head* If ever there was a mess in Renaissance Europe, you would probably find a Medici at or near the center of it. They seem to have a genetic predilection for intrigue.

This wide reaching ring has effected the highest circles in the Art world, forcing institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, among others, to return dozens, possibly hundreds of items. They can at least claim ignorance having bought the work through dealers such as Sotheby’s and Atlantis Antiquities, who could also claim ignorance of how the seller procured the item in the first place. Most of the items were stolen directly from the native archaeological sites.

What was amazing was this ring was so well established and so arrogant that members had dozens of artifacts in their own homes. One even left a handwritten organizational chart of the ring sitting on a desk in his warehouse.

*Duh!*

The biggest black mark is against the J. Paul Getty Museum, who may have obtained as many as 350 of its pieces illegally, including one of its more famous pieces: the Greek Griffins. In a warehouse raid, investigators found a Polaroid of them in a car trunk. The Getty’s former curator, Marion True, is on trial in Rome for knowingly purchasing stolen artifacts.

Also under investigation is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When investigators raided the apartment of the ringleader, Robert Hecht, they found that the Met had sent him copies of official inquiries from Italian authorities as the provenance of some items in their collection, suggesting that perhaps the Museum was not as innocent and unaware as they claim.

What is sad is that institutions such as these probably make up a small percentage of the final resting place for stolen artifacts, most of them probably ended up in private collections from which they will never be recovered.

What we are seeing here is the last vestiges of the imperial plundering native artifacts from the 19th century. When nations such as England or France took control of a region, they simply seized the art works in the temples and ruins and shipped them back home. Cleopatra’s sarcophagus, for example, rests on the floor of the Mediterranean because Napoleon wanted to decorate his parlor (or something). The Vatican has one of the biggest collections of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt (though what the Pope wanted with mummies is a mystery to me). Of a stunning find of Etruscan burial complete with jewelry and a chariot, only fragments and photos survive as all the jewelry and most of the chariot disappeared, probably into private collections. These are just a couple of examples of the hundred of thousands of artifacts that have been looted worldwide.

When artifacts are stolen and vanish into private collections never to be seen again, the effect is academically and economically devastating. Because these pieces of history are simply missing, we are denied a complete picture of what history is. Even if they are recovered, because they have been removed from the site and can no longer be placed in context much of the information an archeologist could have gained from finding them in situ is lost. Such theft affects the country it was stolen from as well. The income gained through tourism and loaning the pieces out to museums around the world (if not the outright sale) is lost. But on top of all that is the fact that it’s just rude. These are pieces of the native population’s cultural history. How would we feel if someone swiped the Constitution or the Liberty Bell and sold them to some private Japanese collector to decorate his living room? It’s a despicable trade and I am pleased to see that these countries are cooperating to really crack down on something that has simply been winked at for hundreds of years.

On a more positive note, check out Archaeology Magazine main page for their “interactive digs” of Sagalassos, a ancient Greek colony in Turkey, and Hierakonpolis. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the Antiquities Act, which spurred the growth of American Archeology.

(Coincidentally, I am currently reading a biography of Teddy Roosevelt which is quite excellent.)

Also a looter feeling the sqeeze showed archaeologists a 2,700 Etrsucan tomb.

Cars - EDITED

I went to see Cars last night and found it to be Pixar-good, which means in comparison with what the rest of “The Industry” churns out, it was very good.

Granted, the premise is as old as the hills: guy in the fast lane get forced to slow down and smell the roses by being trapped in a small town, but Pixar tells it well. I didn’t walk out of the theatre with the same emotional “Wow!” that I did with Finding Nemo, but it was still a good and entertaining story. You pretty much know where he's going to end up, but the journey does take some interesting turns. I think this is the only feel good movie I can remember that involves cow-tipping, for instance. As always the gift of any Pixar film is the assortment of odd characters populating it and Cars is no exception. From the delightfully-sweet-but-numb-as-a-stump ‘Mater the Tow Truck to the stogy-with-a-secret-Doc Hudson (a Hudson Hornet), you will definately be entertained. Cheech as a pimped out low rider with a different look each day and Chong as the left-over-flower-child VW Van are great supporting parts as is Guido the silent but uber-efficient forklift.

The only character that fell flat was sadly also the main characters foil/romantic interest. Sally the Porche is just...boring. She's nice but in the middle of a Pixar crowd she's is rather colorless. Perhaps that is where the film failed itself but if it is, it’s a minor failure. The plot and the rest of the characters compensate.

And as always, you have to keep your eye peeled for the little background details that just enrich the film.

But Pixar’s real gift to racing fans were all the in-jokes. Of course, everyone knows “The King”, a powder blue Plymouth Superbird, was voiced by Richard Petty (which a cute turn by Lynda, his wife playing herself on screen as a powder blue station wagon) and Dale Jr. makes a couple brief walk-ons as “Junior”, a red #8 stockcar complete with the Earnhardt “Racing E” along the sides. Darryl Waltrip plays one of the booth announcers in his #17 Chevy Monte Carlo Coupe (with I believe it was the Tide paint scheme), Mario Andretti also puts in an appearance (interestingly, not as a champ or formula one car but the stock car he won the Daytona 500 in) and Michael Schumacher makes a really great comic turn poking fun at himself speaking Italian. Lightening’s sponsors are played by Tom and Ray of NPR’s Car Talk and so on. The snobbishness Stock Car fans encounter from Formula One fans is also noted to great amusement.

The animation is...incredible. There is a scene where Lightening and Sally take a drive through the California hills that the background is photo-perfect. It’s amazing. And not only is the detail exquisite, the balance of reality and cartoon-y characters struck in Cars is simply perfect. So while this film lacks the emotional punch that Finding Nemo did, I think it actually hits a high mark by being the best animation Pixar has ever done.

So despite what the official reviewers say, this is definitely a film to spend the 10$ and see it on the big screen when you can. It's very good. Not great, but very good.

EDIT: What Kind of Sports Car Are You?

In the spirit of Cars...

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Actually, that looks more than kinda like Lightening McQueen...

Nate's Bar & Grill

If there was one aspect of Nate that endeared him to everyone was that he shared, he shared his knowlege of science, of literature and of course, food and drink. He never sounded like he was making pronouncements from on high (as I know I do), he was simply sharing his knowlege and through that himself and blessedly, his family has as well in the last few days, kindly including us in the circle of those that knew and cared for Nathan. Tonight the Ringboard is going into a 24 silent vigil to honor him as tomorrow is his funeral.

Though as one who had talked to Nate, I can say the idea of Nate and silence in the same sentance brings a smile to my face *chuckle*. So In keeping with Nate's open hand, I will share some of the drink recipes he concocted or tweaked. He liked bring enjoyment to people, and I hope you all find these recipes as enjoyable as many of us have. Just one condition: When you make it for the first time, raise your glass and toast Nathan Schumer, a gentlman and a scholar in the truest sense of the words.

This first drink was one he created for a fellow board memember from New Zealand:

The Bellbird:

1oz light Rum
1oz gold Rum
half oz Razzmatazz (Raspberry Schnapps) or Creme de Cassis or Chambord

Three quarters fill with Cranberry Juice
One quarter fill with Pineapple Juice
Garnish with a squeeze of lime

Build drink in a tall, iced glass, roll into a shaker for a few shakes.
Roll back into glass and serve.

Nate's Vodka Gimlet:

“If you look up a Vodka Gimlet in a bar book it will probably say something like 1.5 ounces of vodka plus 1/2 oz. of Rose's Lime Juice - that's just gross, I don't like RLJ at all, way too sweet and artificial tasting. As much as possible I use fresh juices - one of these days I'll make my own batch of sweet and sour but I haven't been making that many drinks at the house lately.

I haven't made it in a while, so I'd encourage you to try it out and adjust if you make this at home, but I "researched" this at home until I got it just right and I think it was this:

1.5 ounces of vodka (Skyy, Absolut, or Stoli would be decent choices)
1.5 ounces of fresh lime juice
2 Tb. of sugar (use granulated - superfine if you can get it)

Pour ingredients into a mixing glass with a scoop of ice, shake well and strain into a chilled glass. (You will have to shake it a bit to get the sugar to dissolve)."

Nate's replacement for the detested Rose's Lime Juice:

“On that subject, I combined my interest in cocktails, cooking background and scientific training tonight in order to develop a homemade recipe for sweet and sour mixer that is used in cocktails. I try to use fresh juices in drinks whenever possible, I don’t care much for the standard sour mix that is used in most bars and I cannot abide the syrupy, artifical crap called Rose’s Lime Juice (which neither tastes nor smells like lime juice). Obviously when making drinks on the fly it isn’t practical to cut or squeeze citrus fruit to order so I figured that I could come up with a sour mix that could be made in any quantity. Here is what I came up with:

½ Cup lemon juice
½ Cup lime juice
1 ½ Cup water
½ Cup sugar

For those of the metric persuasion:

120 mls lemon juice
120 mls lime juice
360 mls water
120 mls or 100 g sugar*

Combine ingredients and stir until sugar dissolves. The sugar will go into solution more easily if you heat it but it should dissolve at room temperature. I would consider bringing it to a boil initially just to help sterilize it and extend the shelf life. While the low Ph and concentration of citric acid should be inhospitable to microorganisms this comes out as something like a concentrated lemonade so I don’t expect a long shelf life. Two weeks, perhaps, though I’ll keep tabs on the batch I made tonight and share my findings in the next issue of JBM, Journal of Biochemical Mixology."


The Washington Apple

1 oz. Crown Royal (or other Canadian Whisky)
1 oz. Apple Puckers
1 oz. Cranberry juice
splash of sweet and sour

shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass frosted with
cinnamon-sugar.

"That rim is my own touch on it and so far it's a hit - it's just the thing
to set it off and get you licking your lips.”

Blue drinks:

“Actually blue drinks are something of a specialty of mine. I'll make Wajz my Sea Foam martini:

Vanilla Rum, Blue Curacao, Orange juice and a splash of pineapple juice, strained into a chilled cocktail glass.”

Blue Hawiian - Light Rum, Blue Curacao, pineapple juice and sweet and sour.

Actually I think a similar but better drink (not quite as sweet, more refreshing) is Rum, Blue Curacao, pineapple juice and ginger ale or 7up. I made that one up so far as I know but in this game it's pretty tough to do anything for the first time. And if you do...would I want to drink it?"

The San Diego Siezure

"I invented another drink tonight on the spot. A guy who had been in the bar for the last two nights drinking beer asked for a Seizure. I told him I didn't know what that was but I'd look it up - he stopped me and told me I wouldn't find it because it didn't exist (yes he was getting tanked and was being a smartass). He told me to make something up that would taste like banana so I grabbed the Creme de Banana...and then the Malibu Rum. Poured them both into a collins glass and let the force flow through me...than reached out and filled it the rest of the way with OJ and pineapple juice, and finished it with a float of Bacardi 151. I garnished it with an orange wheel and cherry, this yellow-orange drink, and served it up. He loved it. He had three of them and couldn't shut up about it, just kept saying, "Wow, you've got a real winner here. This is a hell of a good drink." I wrote the recipe down for him to take with him. He called it a San Diego Seizure but I think I'll have to name it something else, don't really like the "Seizure" part. Another story from the Bartending Chronicles...”

The Carmel Apple Martini

"So here's the recipe. Note that while I won't make anything obscenely sweet this is for the folks who don't like to taste their alcohol and is probably best as an after dinner drink when you're craving dessert. My guess is that Athene and CTS wouldn't touch this thing but Loretta, Dirt and Wajz might be up for it. I can go either way, I generally like strong drinks but I can enjoy this one as well.

1.5 oz vodka
1.5 oz apple puckers
splash of sweet and sour
0.5 oz butterscotch schnapps
1 Tb. thin caramel sauce

combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice; shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Optional: drizzle caramel into the glass and gently pour the cocktail in so as not to disturb it.

Note - minus the caramel and butterscotch is my recipe for an apple martini. I actually put just a splash more puckers than vodka but for the caramel one I would keep the ratios even. Keep in mind that this is a pretty tame cocktail - a true apple martini would have be 3:1 vodka to apple puckers but it's rare that anyone ordering this drink wants a cocktail this strong. In my version that you don't taste the alcohol, it has a strong apple flavor and the sour gives it a little tanginess and takes the bite out of it. Some bartenders add 1/4 to 1/2 ounce of Midori but I can't say that I've tried it. It sounds good but I would make a different cocktail with that, not an Apple Martini."

Back off man, I'm a scientist.

Thanks to Dirtrum for collecting them.

Lord Natrone - EDITED

I just received word that one of my online friends passed away. Nathan, or Lord Natrone as he was known on the boards, was one of the longstanding members of the Ringnuts. He and I had been internet pals and had spoken on the phone, not often but at great length whenever we did. We spoke a couple months ago after I moved out here. I should have called him before…

His knowledge of Tolkien was near exhaustive, but more important were his warmth, wit and just goodness. He was just a genuinely good guy. After earning a masters in bio-chem, he went into genetics, but decided he didn’t like working in a lab and quit to become a bartender a couple years ago. He loved it and took great pride in his work. He was thinking of asking his girlfriend to marry him, settle down and start a family. He was only 30 with no known health problems that he spoke to anyone about. EDIT: The autopsy revealed Nate had an enlarged heart...Figures...which led to a fatal arrythmia. Intelligent, astute, creative, energetic, eloquent, funny (his impersonations are near legend), warm, kind and just a genuine, unpretentious good guy. He just passed out at work…and was gone.

Too soon. Too soon.

...it's just the car that we ride in
a home we reside in
the face that we hide in
the way we are tied in
and life carries on and on and on and on
life carries on and on and on

did I dream this belief?
or did i believe this dream?
now i can find relief
i grieve... ~ Peter Gabriel

May the Lord and Lady bless and keep you Nate, thank you for the time you shared with us. My thoughts and prayers are with his girl friend and family, may they find comfort and peace.

Whine and Roses

I Hope They Bring Flowers

It seems that politicians are starting to recognize the power of the internet at last.

While on the outside, it appears as though much of America has been apathetic about politics with the lack of open protest (expect for illegal immigration), the fact is the internet has been politically on fire for the last 4 years. Much of the activism has become electronic in the form of message board discussion, blogs and even videos posted to sites like YouTube.

The internet is the world largest graffiti wall and as such, there is a lot of crap one has to sift through, but it is also instant communication. Information can be spread around the world in practically a heartbeat. You don’t need a placard to raise awareness of something when it’s hitting everyone’s e-mail in a 48 hour period. People who would not normally read a news paper will still read of things not covered by the 6 o’clock news and get better coverage of them. For example this news article that talks about troop withdrawls from Iraq fails to mention what this news article does that the administration is actually talking about increasing troops level short term and intends to leave a significant military presence on the ground there for years (which really comes as no surprise since it came out that the U.S. was building 14 military bases in Iraq during the 2004 elections).

My, my.

But without access to the multiple news sources on the internet, how many of us would hear only one version or another? It sucks that we have to read 2 or 3 or 5 sources to get a somewhat clear picture of what is happening in the world, but at least we can. And unlike a TV network, the ’net also exposes people to multiple ways of interpreting that information. Opinions are also spread around the world faster than the speed of sound. Whether wants to or not, on the internet you will be exposed to different points of view.

“You can’t stop the signal.”

The question come what do we do with that signal? Can something as wildly disparate as the blogsphere truly be harnessed behind a single party, let alone a single candidate, enough to be effective?

(Though I admit, Warner looks a pretty good call at this point.)

I‘m unsure. I disagree wholeheartedly with the notion that the political internet should remain political outsiders simply for the sake of anti-establishment chic, but to attempt to organize the greater internet community into a single purpose would be akin to herding cats. Because everyone has an equal voice (sort of, depending how popular one’s blog is), the wide variety of nuanced opinions are always going to have a presence and draw people into their orbits. The Dailykos is just one of the political nexus points on the net. There are Conservative blogs as well such as CommonwealthConservative and Instapundit whom will also most likely be courted by the time 2008 rolls around. So what we might get is simply a heightened extension of the partisanship seen in mainstream media today that still accomplishes little.

Mew.

However, Moveon.org has been respectfully successful at effecting legislative change through organizing letter writing and phone call campaigns as well as raising money for TV ads so the idea that a political internet presence can translate into RL (Real Life), is valid.

What is going to be fun is watching the watchers. Not too long ago a certain administration was shelling out cash to newspaper columnists to write columns in favor of the administration policies. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if someone attempted to bribe bloggers, if they haven't already done so. The first time that hits the net…oooo.. nelly. It not like anyone can shut down the Washington Post if it’s discovered one of their pundits took a bribe, but here….hackers can bring down a site practically at will.

But if I start singing the praises of Patriot Act, don’t bother complaining. I’ll already be on my way to Tahiti.

Oh, it’s a brave new world indeed.

Can’t Lose for Winnin’

They can’t even kill themselves without being called terrorists for it.

O.K. how hysterical does Harris sound. I mean really.

Speaking of which, I am very glad Zarqawi is dead. It is sad when any human being dies, but in a case such as his, like Ted Bundy, it’s just better for the world in general. However, I was not so foolish to believe that it would suddenly make things better in Iraq. This was merely a head of the hydra. According some analysis I have read, Zarqawi and bin Laden were on the outs. Now bin Laden can replace him with someone more controllable, someone more in line with al Queda policy. We have removed loose cannon, not sunk the ship itself.

Though I have to wonder at how the military is changing their story from knowing where he was from a tip to now they are claiming they tracked him through cell phone usage while Jordan is claiming it was thier intelligence that helped pinpoint Zarqawi’s location.

You wouldn’t be trying to exploit this to strengthen support for wiretapping, would you Mr. President?

Ugh. Enough with the politics. Y’know, I was actually watching a couple episodes of the X-Files before the race started this afternoon and now I realized why it went off the air: how can you make money off secret government conspiracies when it conducts them out in the open?

Speaking of the race…

Brakes, Braaaaakes!

Once again, another race viewed through Trackpass.

For as much talk as there was about the set-ups for the turns (and Toney Stewart’s broken shoulder), brakes ended up being the biggest issue at Pocono this week, including Jeff Gordon’s which went out completely, sending him into the wall at 190 mph (not a fan, but thank the Gods the guy's o.k) with only 8 laps to go, red flagging the race. From what I hear it was a pretty big mess with Jeffie-pop carrying half the infield with him into the wall, but they got it cleaned up pretty fast.

Well, Mark Martin ran in the top ten for much of the day, but wound up 17th, Dale Jr. managed to bounce in and out of the top ten, ending up 14th.

Elliott’s day was...well, it was better than last week. Handling problems at the start, especially through turn three, dropped him in the back, but continued adjustments had him running lap times pretty much on par with the leaders and managed to break his way into the top ten twice (once I think through the shuffling of pit stops, but once he did it the hard way) but around lap 150 his brakes started to fail as the temperature changed (affecting the handling) and he ended up finishing 20th.

Perhaps in a *small* way this is turning the corner…sloooowly.

BUT....someone needs to exile that boy to Emporia for a few days. I fully understand this has been a rough time for them. I understand it’s a driver’s job to complain and let the CC know what wrong with the car, but jeezus. I don't think I heard a single positive word out of him the entire race. He is wound so tight he was actually complaining more the higher up in the field he got. In general Elliott is an upbeat, positive guy. I understand how rough things have been for the team, but lately this is simply not him. This whole “taking on the weight of RYR on my shoulders” thing has gone far enough. Can he be the lead driver in a multi-car organization and lead it to VL, to a championship? Yes. Of that I have no question. But with all due respect to Mr. Sadler's strength, determination and senses of duty and honor which are very admirable and some of the bigger reasons I am a fan, as well as understanding what he has said about his position at RYR as the starting QB, if you will; A. *IF* the wieght of RYR falls on any one set of shoulders in particular, I would think it would be the Yates' (and they have been at this a while) and B. no one can’t stay wound that tight for that long without things unraveling and as much trouble as this team has been having, the last thing they need is the driver unraveling. He needs to go home, play with his dogs, hug his nieces, go have a beer with his friends and get some perspective.

On the way back down to Charlotte just fly low over Virginia and kick him out.

On a more positive note a friend of mine caught Elliott up in the booth for the Busch race and said it was one of the best “guest announcers” they’ve had in the booth for quite some time. He was very informative without being obnoxious (ah, a trait I envy). Well done! *golf clap*

I also heard he was going out to Eldora in September to play in the dirt. *Yea!* :)

It’s starting to thunder here…another rain storm coming through.

X-Men

I went to see this Friday evening and found it…eeeghn. All the elements were there, but it just couldn’t pull it off. The script was good, it combined about 3 or 4 different storylines that were originally in the comic books and did so rather cleverly. The two principal ones being The “neutralizer”, which in the book took Storm’s powers for many years (and she still led the X-Men because she was so kick-ass, much unlike the Halley Berry portrayal) and the Dark Phoenix Saga, which is widely considered one of the greatest story sequences in all of comic history.

In the book, the X-Men are on a space station (this is like soap opera for 13year olds, bear with me) and the only way they have to escape the exploding station is a damaged shuttle with insufficient shielding. Jean makes the decision that she will pilot the shuttle in using her TK (telekinesis) to try to protect her from the radiation (this was the Cold War, there was always crazy radiation out there). Well, when the shuttle crashes, Jean emerges from the wreck much more powerful and chooses a new code name: Phoenix. She is powerful to the extent you see in the movie where she can manipulate things on a molecular level. She can access too much power, but her decline is very slow and she is ultimately pushed over the edge by another telepath into Dark Phoenix, which is what you see in the movie. Well, this happens and that happens and she eats a star (no kidding), destroying an entire inhibited world in the process and Wolvie when given the opportunity and asked to by Jean, can’t kill her himself, so eventually she commits suicide (not like “going out in a blaze of glory” kind of way, but just quietly offing herself) right in front of Scott, which pretty much destroys him for about…oh…I think it was about 15 years or so before he ceased to be complete mess...and then she came back (because no one in comic stays dead…..soap opera for teenagers, remember) and he was an even bigger mess.

They also tried to include Storm’s confrontation with Calisto, though Calisto didn’t have super speed, she was just always had a can of whoop-ass at the ready.

Which BTW-that character broke the cardinal rules of super hero creation. If you character has more than one power, they must be related in some way. Especially if the character is a mutant who’s mutation would be following a specific path of genetic adaptation.

Remember that, it’s important. ;)

Anyway, they managed to put together a good script out of all these elements and of course, the acting was good (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, I could watch those two read a phone book) and the final moment between Jean and Logan is beautiful, though perhaps over the top. It just...It didn’t quite resonate with the audience. It didn’t strike that chord that the previous two had done and I can only lay that on the direction. I mean, as a slam-bang action movie it’s great...but it just somehow failed the promise of it’s script and the characters. Maybe because there were parts of it that were over the top and you lost your suspension of disbelief.

Like when Magneto broke out of the plastic prison in X2, you bought it. But even though in the comic book he is powerful enough to move the Golden Gate bridge, you just didn’t buy it onscreen. It was just unnecessary. Huge and showy and unnecessary. And as I observed in the comment section below, Magneto doesn’t strike one as the type to leave an access road open to his back.

Maybe that was it, Singer underplayed the powers and this guy over played them, which lost the sense of reality the first two movies had.

Vinnie Jones BTW, makes a great Juggernaught. That was inspired. Beast was good. Kelsey Grammer actually did a good job pulling it off, much better than I expected.

Beast has always been on one my favorite characters because he never took himself too seriously. Yes, he was blue and furry and yes, he couldn’t fit into the “normal” world, but he never became this tortured Phantom of the Opera/Quasimodo character bemoaning his fate. He liked who he was and what he was (though the fact it was hard for him to find a date might get him down occasionally) and could poke fun at himself and the situation, which in the middle of characters like Logan, Storm, Scott, Jean, Rogue, and later Angel became very tortured, Psylocke and just about everyone else in the mansion/school, Hank was a breath of fresh air. He made the book breathe.

Anyway, I would recommended seeing the X3 as a matinee, it’s something to see on the big screen, but you might feel little torqued if you shelled out ten bucks.

I’m going to see Cars tomorrow night (hopefully I will have avoided the “kids rush” this weekend) and will let you know how that is.

Old and The...Old. EDIT

DOMA: Yet Another Gimmick

By making another push for the “Defense of Marriage Act”, Bush tries to distract the country yet again from his utter failure of foreign and domestic policies. It’s like he’s sidling up to the evangelical right saying “Hey, little girl. I got some candy back in my van.”

Question is, will they fall for it?

I’ve discussed gay marriage before here on this blog: No one has ever been able to explain to me how a gay couple marrying affects the marriage of the straight couple down the street (unless their marriage has some pretty serious problems to begin with) nor how the institution of marriage itself is somehow “damaged” by gay people marrying.

Gay marriage doesn’t damage the institution of marriage. Las Vegas does.

As for the “marriage is for the procreation of children” argument, Archren dealt with that in her blog entry when she pointed out that by that reasoning, straight couples with fertility issues should have to get divorced since they cannot fulfill the proposed main purpose of marriage. Besides if you are together just to breed, how lame is your relationship? A long time ago, I was listening to a Christian speaker on the institution of marriage and she pointed that “in the Bible it states “..and the two shall become one”. Not “..the two shall become three or four or five.” The main purpose of marriage is Love. Children are a happy extension of that love into the future but not it’s main purpose.

Then there is the “If we allow gay marriage, then polygamy will be next!” No, that’s something else entirely since gay marriage still only involves two people. The legal ramification of allowing spousal rights to multiple partners is completely different than replacing “Jane” with “Jim”. Plus the terrible effects institutionalized polygamy on women in certain “families” is well documented while the evidence of the harm of homosexual monogamy…is there any?

Anyway, as you can tell I find the entire DOMA thing ridiculous with not one logical argument to support it. If Bush truly wanted to "strengthen American families, he would go after dead-beat parents. He is just bringing this up again in order to make the evangelical Christians distracted and happy for the November elections. Trying to get them to choose “blow-jobs over job-jobs”, as Mahr put it, once again.

Will they forget how the administration failed them in the New Orleans, the falling value of a dollar, the spiraling-out-of-control-defict, the “guest worker program” and millions of $$ spent on that useless fence, the rising energy costs, the mistake of Iraq and mistakes in Iraq, the executive order that allowed contractors rebuilding the Gulf Coast to pay people who had lost their homes and jobs less than a living wage, the attacks on Constitutional rights, lack of attention paid to improving education in this country, the failure to stop jobs from flowing off shore, inflation rising out of balance with salaries, the raising of taxes on college saving plans, attacks on veterans benefits, the association with multiple criminal indictments, and so on and so forth and such, in order to stop gay people from getting married?

We’re about to find out.

Mariners of the Ancient World.

The development of maritime trade is a rather esoteric subject, but if one ever takes an interest Lionel Casson's The Ancient Mariners is a very readable account of an aspect of history that is taken for granted in most history texts: maritime trade. One reads in the school books about this ancient civilizations warring with that ancient civilization, or how that culture flowed from this group of people to that one, but rarely do those books address the mechanism of how that happened. Two of the most influential civilizations in the early Mediterranean were sea faring people: The Minoans, who influenced the culture that later took them over and became the “Geeks” of Homeric legend: the Myceneans, and the Phoenicians of the Levant, who not only brought British tin to the bronze age Mediterranean, but introduced writing to the western world.

The Phoenicians are a very interesting people when placed next to other pre-Roman cultures. If the ancestors of Yankee traders could be traced that far, they would go back to the Phoenicians, or Canaanites as they were called in the Bible. Colonization was very common in the ancient world. Greek city states for example spawned child colonies by the dozen into the Black Sea and elsewhere and they in their turn created their own “grandchild” colonies, but no one created a colonization program so solely and openly devoted to commerce as the Phoenicians did. They didn’t care about land or political/philosophical differences, they didn’t even seem interested in grabbing resources, they just wanted a monopoly on all trade in the Mediterranean. From 1,200 to 800 BC they dominated ocean trade through small colonies and outposts scattered not only all over the Mediterranean, but on the coasts of Africa and what is now Portugal. They also had no qualms renting themselves out to one side or the other for naval battles. Anything so long as the money was good.

The example the book related of Phoenician’s dry practicality involved a great hero who did not stop an enemy army or save a town, but ran his ship aground to prevent other traders from ascertaining his source of supply. For this his deeds were recorded and he was given, not a statue, but the replacement cost of his ship.

My father always theorized that the Legend of Atlantis sprang from Phoenicians trying to keep other sea farers from trying to discover the British Isles or their middle men to the British isles, which was the source of the tin for making bronze, the hottest technology of the time.

“Yeah, you go out the straight there…and keep going. Big island, huge harbor, can’t miss it.” *snicker*

Another way the book is good is that it shows how historians and archeologists suss facts out of legends with small bits of corroborating evidence from a wide variety of sources: geology, archaeology, meteorology, historical accounts of other peoples, inventories and other records, anything they can lay their hands on they use to reconstruct the past. The example of the detective work used to ascertain that Jason and the Argonaut's great voyage was probably into the Black Sea is fascinating.

For me anyway.

Anyway, Casson does a great job weaving legend and humanity together to help the reader identify with the ages of history being discussed. Definitely keep your eye out for the comedy of errors of an ancient Egyptian priest sent to Lebanon to buy cedar wood. (Egypt had no lumber worthy trees.) So as dry as the subject matter may sound it’s actually an enjoyable read.

Speaking of Nat’l Geographic

Give this test a whirl and see how your geo-knowledge is.

I got 18 out of twenty.

EDIT

Duma

I just finished watching this and thought it was quietly brilliant. What Disney would turn into a sappy melodramatic “boy and his cheetah story” became an understated yet poignant boys journey into manhood. I can honestly there was only a couple moments my suspension of disbelief was stretched a tad, but it quickly settled into the organic flow of the story. Very well done, I recommend it for everyone.

And the cheetah shots are incredible. Simply stunning creatures and truly unique. Cheetahs are big cats, but unlike any other. Learn more about this remarkable species here and here is the website for the Cheetah conservation fund, which is trying to save the cheetah in it's natural habitat. And here is a website I found while poking around that has wav files of different big cat noises, including the cheetah.

Defintions

Recently some twit in my college newspaper wrote a column touting conservatism as the cure for the country’s ills. Sadly, what was painfully obvious is that he had no idea what conservatism is: Small government and low taxes would supposedly cure of our economic woes, but we should maintain a large military, be interventionist in world politics and invasive of citizen private lives vis-avis the Patriot Act and wire tapping.

That’s not conservatism.

Not to mention that it’s going to take a heck of a lot more than tax breaks to solve all of our economic problems like a falling currency value, shaky stock market, rising energy costs and an deficit spiraling out of control.

Man, I hate stupid people.

So here now, for the edification of him and anyone else who throws around the term "liberal" and "conservative" casually are the REAL definitions of what Liberal and Conservative are.

Disclaimer: These definitions for American Liberalism and Conservatism only. These definitions change depending on what country is being discussed. In the U.K. for example, they are nearly reversed. I am including links to wikipedia articles on each of these definitions. I understand wiki's current reputation but still feel it is a worth while resource, especially if one reads the "Talk Pages". So consider these starting points to learn more about the history of the country and this movement in particular. These articles include try to include the cultural definitions of liberal and conservative, which are really different topics. Someone can be culturally conservative, and yet still believe in the rights of the individual. For example they can refuse to have guns in their home, and yet not feel it is the government’s right to ban guns altogether. The following are the political definitions only.

Conservatives do believe in a small government and low taxes, but they believe in those principles because they feel the government should stay out of the private lives and business. A conservative may have a pro-life political stance, but ruling over that is the idea that it is a private matter, which is just what George H.W. Bush said when asked about abortion law: “It’s none of my business.” They believe government should only be big enough to run the country’s infrastructure and maintain a standing army for national defense. National defense only. Conservatives are isolationist in regards to world politics, as indeed Washington himself recommended. They favor the right of the individual and the state over the right of the federal government and believe that social charity is not the responsibility of the government, but the individual. For example, the government shouldn’t be supporting people who are out of work, churches and private charity organizations should.

American Liberals practice a form of progressivism. They believe the government can be used to improve people’s lives. They do believe in a larger government that gets involved (or interferes, as conservatives would say) in people’s lives and business to make the country better. They see the role of the federal government being superior to that of the state and believe the government needs to step in to promote personal American wellbeing with programs, such as rural electrification, social security and subsidized housing, as well as social change, such as with Civil Rights. They also belive the government should step in to regulate business to create a more stable ecconomy (and recently environment). Liberals extend that philosophy into the world wide arena believing the U.S. should use it’s position as one of the most powerful nations in the world to make a world a better place. FDR was a liberal.

Please note neither of these definitions includes supporting or opposing the Bush administration but only addreses the role of government in American lives. That's because the Bush adminstration is neither conservative nor liberal. It’s also explains why Terri Shiavo became such a watershed for them: the attempt of government to interfere in a private family matter flew directly in the face of conservative ideals of individual rights. Bush’s support in the GOP has been on a downward spiral ever since.

Most American’s fall somewhere in between. They may favor government interference on some issues while favoring individual or states rights on others. They may favor government interference in issues such as gun control, but be against the Defense of Marriage Act. Or they may be Pro-Life, but believe strongly in Freedom of Speech and so on. The truth is America needs both Conservatives and Liberals to maintain it’s greatness. Liberalism ensures that the country as a whole progresses into this new millennium, keeping up with the rest of the world as well as ensuring that the country keeps up with social and cultural change (see Civil Rights again), while conservatives (real conservatives) ensure that individual rights and freedoms do not get trampled in the mad rush forward. Liberals push the country forward while conservatives ensure that that it does not move too far, too fast. Both are needed for it is the dynamic between the two that is most valuable to this country.

Neoconservatism came out of the cold war and is the brand of conservatism practiced by the Bush administration. It takes what I see as the worst aspects of each and blends them into a mean-spirited whole. Neo-Conservatives favor government interference in private lives to uphold socially conservative ideals while giving big business a free hand. They favor a foreign policy of military intervention to replace any foreign government with a democracy, especially if it’s something materially profitable. (Note, no neo-conservative has advocated replacing the tyrannical monarchy of Saudi Arabia with a democracy.) They do not favor spending tax dollars on social programs such as education, unemployment, social security and subsidized housing and wish to allow business a much freer hand to operate by taking down unions and dismantling the EPA. They also don’t seem too fond of the Constitution.

Quite frankly, I view neo-conservatives as a blight on the American political landscape. They are extremists and outdated ones at that. They still believe they are operating in the world of the Cold War and are trying to treat Terrorism as the new USSR. They think that there is a form of "domino effect" they have to stop by ensuring that all nations are democratic. But terrorism is not a country, it isn't even a unified political philosophy like Communism was. It's a type of action. You can have communist terrorists, democratic terrorists, religious terrorists and so on. Any philosophy and theology in the world there are, they can each have terrorist groups. (Well, not Buddhism.) Not to mention, terrorists can move. You take over a country, they just move somewhere else. That’s sort of the entire point of terrorism: Not to be there when the guys in white hats show up. Neocons haven't cottoned to the fact that there is no "evil empire" with satellite nations. The world has changed.

And then there are the attacks on American rights and liberties. No, neo-conservatives should have never gained such power. They need to be relegated to the fringe where they belong so we can get back to running the country.