Torture! Or, it's about time.

[NO PIC THIS TIME]

We now have proof (minutes from a meeting in Guantanamo in 2002, released by Sen. Levin's office) that we tortured,

money quote: (not for even the remotely squeamish, and from among many possibilities)

Yes, if someone dies while aggressive techniques are being used, regardless of cause of death, the backlash of attention would be extremely detrimental. Everything must be approved and documented.

and that there was a coverup.
money quote:

We may need to curb the harsher operations while ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross -- added by transcriber] is around. It is better not to expose them to any controversial techniques. We must have the support of the DOD.

Daily Kos link here.
Good news? Well, Nancy Pelosi has decided that criminal investigations about torture are no longer off the table.

MADDOW: ... you support a call for a criminal investigation, potential investigation.
PELOSI: Absolutely.

From Glenzilla, here.

So, just maybe.....

Republican Distortion

The stimulus bill was attacked by Republicans for having lots of pork and excessive earmarks. One particular complaint came from Congressman Pence.

The stimulus has "$30 million in there to protect mice in San Francisco."
(Mike Pence on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 in a statement on Fox News Channel.)

Senator Boehner's office jumped on the band wagon with this statement,"This sounds like spending projects that have been supported by a certain powerful Democrat in the past. And it certainly doesn't sound like it will create or save American jobs."

A closer look at the actual project tells a different story. According to Angie Drobnic Holan,

But the projects themselves — the South Bay Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project , the Napa Plant Site , and the Napa Salt Marsh restoration — are intended to do more than just benefit wildlife. It's major construction work to create recreation areas and to restore marshland that will resist flooding and storm surge.

"This is bulldozers, front-end loaders, backhoes. These are major earth-moving projects to break down levees, to resculpt the landscape and to make sure nature can do its thing," Ritchie said. "Right now, we just have these lousy little salt pond levees and they break."

"These are real jobs, and these are truly ready to go," he added. "We can definitely spend this money for construction by Nov. 30, 2010."

Given this description of the projects, which were first reported in the San Jose Mercury News , it's a serious distortion to say there's money in the bill to protect San Francisco mice. The bill doesn't even list the San Francisco projects by name. And the funding agencies — the Corps of Engineers or NOAA — could still decide to fund the projects or not. The bill passed a final vote in the House on Feb. 13, with no Republicans supporting it.

So Pelosi did not put an earmark in the bill to save the mice.

I really think there ought to be penalties for politicians who engage in this sort of distortion and outright lying. We can only hope that they will be voted out of office, but how likely is that when stories such as this one get so little coverage?

Epic Fail - Lyrics Version

Check out this site's proud version of John Lennon's lyrics to "Cold Turkey," a lovely little ditty about the pain of heroin withdrawal.

Here's a sample:

Come let's worship him.
Celebrated Christ, the King, the Mighty One.
Come let's worship him.
Let's give thanks to the Lord.

The FAIL is much more poignant as John Lennon ("Imagine there's no heaven") was no big fan of Christianity.

Here's some actual Cold Turkey lyrics:

Oh I'll be a good boy
Please make me well
I promise you anything
Get me out of this hell

Cold turkey has got me on the run
Oh, oh, oh, oh

Think Youv'e Seen Everything?

That's a huge piece of sushi! They say you are always supposed to shove the whole slice of sushi in your mouth to experience the balance of flavors.

The lips are shrimp, and his teeth are fish paste. (Sort of conjures up the spectre of the worst morning breath ever.)

It looks much more like Obama with the ears stuck on. (Found both these pics at Boing Boing

Morality, Stupidity, Random People on Street Corners and Me.

I have had this curious feature, endlessly documented on this blog; my intelligence level has fluctuated for the last three-somewhat years. I'm trying to process this in a way that is at least slightly interesting.

Me, stupid--FUN FUN FUN. CONFIDENT CONFIDENT CONFIDENT, SMART SMART SMART (In my own head, subjectively. Objective results may differ). I have decided that there is an inverse proportion between how intelligent someone feels and how intelligent they are. This makes choosing US presidents and presidents of corporations somewhat problematic. Proof? Turn on the radio or media thingie of choice. Because, of course, confidence, which I have at least a bit of proof about, is inversely related to competence.

Me, stupid--not so sensitive; also great fun; me somewhat closer to my normal level of intelligence? On the way to the Dr's this morning, there was this girl, 20 something, with a sign at a street corner. Sign said "Victim of current Economic Downturn, anything would help. God Bless." I didn't have any change to give her. I'm haunted. If dumbbb, I wouldn't care. It's better to be stooopid.

Relief Is In Sight

Thank goodness for the cutting edge coverage at 'The Onion'!

I had thought that the mortgage meltdown with its seismically destructive ripples throughout the economy would have been enough to quell all the irrational exuberance. But the audacity of hope being what it is, requires that we seek out more advanced solutions.

Finally we have the pharmacological technology to target individual cheery people, so we will no longer have to rely on tsunamis, earthquakes, Republican candidates and financial catastrophes with all their attendant collateral damage.

But take these welcome tidings in stride, or you may need a dose yourself.

Grammar Nazi's

I found this clip at a site devoted to grammar.


In spite of their professed enthusiasm for grammar, they entitled their post, "Who do you think you are kidding, Mr. Hitler?"




Ahem,....the correct pronoun would have been 'whom'. This mistake is not nearly as egregious as the improper use of 'whom' when 'who' is called for. I often let this sort of error go by, but at a site dedicated to proper usage? ( I took this screen print of that page just in case they correct it after they see my comment on their blog------I'm so petty).

A most awesome rant

Geebee has posted a righteous rant over at his site, somesense and nonsense. Plus it's funny. You should dash right over and read it.

25 things about Apricot Blossom

1. I'm shy most of the time.
2. I like wearing clothes that are too big for me. It makes me kinda feel like I'm walking around covered in blankets. But I don't like ponchos.
3. I do like nachos.
4. I don't like tomatoes.
5. I like detail work and staple guns.
6. My hands shake.
7. I use my cat as a pillow. Unless he isn't around, then I use a pillow.
7 1/2. That last one is glamourized. I like doing that with facts some times. I can only use Harold as a pillow successfully for 3-5 minutes at a time.
7 3/4. I often lie only to turn myself in a second later.
8. I like non-fiction books better than fiction.
9. I like painting with my hands on walls.
10. I used to love talking about myself, but I don't anymore and I have trouble thinking of things to talk about.
10 1/2. This took me a few days to fill out.
11. I love heights because they scare me.
12. I hate horror movies because they scare me. They make my neck tense.
13. Sometimes I wear slutty clothes, but they make me feel silly because I'm not slutty. So I end up looking silly instead of slutty.
14. I'm glad I've stopped doing that (#13).
14 1/2. Well, it's much rarer.
15. I think I speak really loudly, but lots of people say that I don't, so I guess I have no idea how loudly I speak.
16. I'm really bad at buying clothes that fit me. Most of them don't, so I tell myself that I like wearing big clothes since they fit me better than the clothes that are too small for me. I do, sometimes, but usually I just wish I could figure out how to wear clothes.
17. I hate doing dishes. Like, a lot. Especially washing off tomato-based stuff, which only aids in my dislike of tomatoes. I guess it's a good thing I don't like tomatoes then, because I'd only end up resenting them when I had to wash the dishes.
18. 25 is a really big number sometimes.
19. Once, when I was little, i carried a dead butterfly around on a frisbee for hours and sang to it.
20. I pretend I'm not a sentimental person, but I fail at it. I remember turning 8 and being upset because I missed being 7.
21. I don't like birthdays. I worry about aging sometimes, but I remember that I always have and it makes me feel better because it gives me perspective.
21 1/2. I think I'm going to be an awesome old lady. It's just the inbetween stuff I'm not so sure about.
23. I'm an incorrigible optimist.
24. I cry really really easily, and am constantly having to assure people around me that I'm ok. Happy, sad, angry, any mildly strong emotion will do it.
24. I never meant to end up in the theatre. I wanted to be a scientist.
22. I love laughing. I laugh a lot.
25. I'd be a terrible scientist.

25 things about Snapdragon!

This is Djinn, a trifecta! All the Daughters!

Snapdragon says:

1. I am friends with way too many people on facebook that I wouldn't talk to if I saw them somewhere.

2. When I grow up, I want to either be a pyrotechnician (Do affects with fire for movies), or research alternative forms of energy.

3. I'm not the most social person. Most days, I would rather stay at home and read then go hang out with people.

4. The fact that about a dozen people have been on my class since kindergarten makes me really happy.

5. I have a plog. It's like a blog, but with comics that I make. You should check it out. http://aaallie.tumblr.com/

6. I don't understand how people can hate their family. Sure, we have our disagreements sometimes, but I'd give up the world for them.

7. I am really excited for college. Like really. Even though I have no idea where I want to go. Not an ivy league though, too much pressure.

8. I like my name. I am one of the few people with out a first name as a middle name. Know anyone named Lyons?

9. At the moment, I'm listening to Os Mutantes. They're great. Go look them up.

10. I'm proud to be a ginger kid

11. Facebook eats my soul. I should really not check it every 30 seconds to see if anything important has happened.

12. Webcomics eat my soul too, but in the good way. I have like 20 That I read on a daily basis.

13. One thing that annoys me is when people don't know their own beliefs, just follow everyone else. I don't believe in a god, and my family has been a big influence, but I've thought long and hard about specifically what I believe. I once asked this girl if she believed in limbo, and her response was "I dunno, we haven't learned about it in sunday school yet." It kind of made me want to shoot her.

14. I liked the first twilight book. Thought the second one was boring, didn't finish the third, and hated the fourth. And don't get me started on the movie.

15. My room is messy. Like really messy. But it's only because I own an obscene amount of stuff, and I don't have room for it all.

16. I collect business cards. If you see a cool one, you should pick it up for me!

17. I miss camp. even though half of the people hated me, the other half more than made up for it.

18. Right now, I'm wearing a pretty green dress. Why? I wanted to.

19. I really like to do all kinds of art, but I'm not patient to stick with one thing until It's finished. I have half finished quilts, paintings, sculptures, etc.

20. It takes a lot to make me cry, but it doesn't take a lot to hurt my feeling

21. I'm one of those obnoxious people who talks about how lame it is that Hot Topic is becoming preppy, but I'd still rather shop there then Hollister or Abercrombie, and I do.

22. I'm a grammar nazi, but I can't spell to save my life.

23. I am having difficulty thinking of anything else to say...

24. I never watch TV unless I'm over at someone's house, and then we talk through it anyway

25. When my dad asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I answered that I wanted to sleep 18 hours a night.

'Bucketize' Gets A New Meaning

Some say that being bucketized means that you've had your first encounter guitarist Buckethead's music.

In business and computing, it is a way of lumping certain transactions together. (categorizing basically)

But now because of innovations in fashion, a new dominant meaning is emerging. To be bucketized will be a fashionable new way of dealing with bad hair, or poorly tweezed eyebrows. See below. (Left-click to enlarge the images; I couldn't manage to make them the right size.)











And I thought they'd never make a hat I did not like!
I suspect the feckless designer of this headgear may opt to wear it himself to avoid recognition.

Everything I hated about being a teenager

in one simple website! So useful! And who thought so little would have changed after all these years. You just have to click. After taking a deeeeeep breath.

I especially appreciate the scarf-tying examples.

I'm practicing that sultry look. I assume if I master it I can walk freely around town at any time of day or night (picture the poor robber--"Aaaahhh!!!! Run for your life!!!! Did you see that hair?, and why is she strangling herself with some innocent piece of cloth?" This is the point where they fall over laughing.) Of course, we have a higher class of criminal here in Portland.

I'm now wondering if I actually saw this creation walking around downtown Salt Lake and took her for someone in Relief Society drag. Please forgive me, all you unfairly impugned drag queens.

25 things, and excuses for, thereof.

I totally love "25 things," as anyone who has seen my site in the last, oh, you know, 3 1/2 hours can tell. Why? I think because all those random people on the street (OK, not all of them, but let's pretend to be nice) actually have fascinating stories to tell, with just a bit of prodding.

The 25 things allows us to expose those clever/embarassing/mispelled (that would be me)/humerous (is that the leg or the funny thing?) /profundities we all carry inside us but have difficulty working into an average conversation.

Thank you humanity; you rock.

You want your list posted, drop me a line.

Oh, a whine, a fine whine, of course. (Sorry, all) I find Facebooks new notes interface (where the 25 thing are located) pretty much impossible to work with. Bad Facebook.

25 favorite things from the one and only Calla Lily

My (Djinn's) oldest, and I must say, it's about time prime numbers got their comeuppance.

1. My favorite smells are rain, stone, and dirt. Looove me some dirt.
2. My favorite word is "anthropomorphize" and I try to anthropomorphize things as often as possible.
2.5. My second favorite word is "haberdashery." Say it with me: "hab-er-DASH-er-ree." See? It's good.
2.75. I stole this numbering system from Katie. Very clever, Katie, fitting more things in like that.
3. My mother's apple muffins are the best in the world. This is not an opinion; this is a fact.
4. I'm very fond of transcendental numbers. I think it's because they transcend, although to be quite honest I'm not sure what exactly it is they transcend.
4 1/2. I dislike prime numbers. I know they're "cool" and "interesting," but really, they've been getting a lot of press, and I gotta tell ya, it's gone to their heads. They are very egotistical numbers.
5. I'm not very squeamish, and I've eaten some strange things in my life, but being served shrimp with the heads still on FREAKS me out. I don't know why, I just don't like it.
6. Fuck the FCC!!
7. My favorite quote: "Everything's already been thought. The trick is to re-think it." I think that's how it goes. That's me paraphrasing Newton. Or I'm 80% sure that's Newton. Damn. I have a lot of jokes memorized.
8. My favorite platitude: When life gives you AIDS, make lemonades!
9. I'm interested in the lines between things; life/death, life/not-life, art/not-art, art/porn, awake/asleep, male/female, etc.
9.1 Speaking of art, the reason I love art is because art knows people try to draw lines around it, and it actively (and gleefully) resists, and refuses to be categorized. I heart art.
10. I support Sam Adams!
11. "She read voraciously. I once caught her in the bath, after unexpectedly finishing a novel early, desperately reading the back of a Listerine bottle." Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys (which I'm now reading.) This quote made me laugh because that's me! I've read the back of every item in the bathroom due to boredom.
12. I passed my last math analysis class with an A-. I was drunk the whole time (hey; it's a night class). I'm not sure whether to be proud of this.
13. I found God: a glass of fine Italian wine, fine cheeses, a good cigarette, Ornette Coleman on the stereo, a friend, an interesting sky.
14. I'm delighted by the fact that my kitty has white whiskers except for one, all black whisker on his left side.
15. I have this rational fear I'm turning into my mother.
16. Sometimes, if it's late at night, and the light is just right, and I'm riding the bus, I'll spend the whole bus ride posing in the glass across from me, and think how fabulous I look.
17. (a) Every once in a while I'll pick my teeth in reflective glass on a building and only later realize it's that kind of glass that's only reflective on one side. I know I'm not the only one that does this.
17. (b) Sometimes I'll pick my teeth in glass that I know is reflective on only one side and not care.
18. There aren't many things in life that I truly hate. But I HATE, and I mean truly DESPISE automatic flush toilets. The reasons are too numerous to list here. I also hate genocide.
19. I thought Janis Joplin was black for really long time. Like, embarrassingly long.
20. My favorite activity is walking. I could walk for days and days and days and be happy. I am going to walk from one end of England to the other. This will happen one day. (It's a pretty small country. The routes I've looked at take 1-3 weeks. And you can stroll the whole time. And there are pubs every coupla miles. My kind of 'hike').
21. I once had an Irish man tell me that, yes, indeed, the Irish are the hairiest men on Earth, but don't worry, it's a fine, soft hair, good fer keepin' ya warm at night, and then he made me feel his leg. It's true; the hair was very soft.
22. I don't like chocolate. I don't know why.
23. One day, I would like to see the aurora borealis. I think I might find God there, too.
24. If I saw Buddha on the road, I don't think I'd have the heart to kill him.
25. There is nothing in this world I love more than my sisters.
25.2.0. I would give the world and more for them.

25 favorite things from my one favorite Russian

1. I secretly believe that I am 23 years old
2. I learned to read music scores when I was 5. I learned to read books one year later.
3. My voice is very unpleasant. Thank you for putting up with it.
4. I love to take dance classes , even though I suck badly at dancing.
5.Coming out finally, I think it's time to let the world know. Straight, boring straight, nothing to be done..Gosh, so straight!
6. I dress in black. when you see me wearing something colorful, it means that I had to make an effort. Maybe I need therapy?
7. It's not that I never tried to talk to a shrink. My first attempt ended up with a job offer, the second person got so upset that almost had a heart attack and I had to comfort him.
8. I miss SLC more that I am willing to admit. I think Heaven must look like Red Door or at least the Starbucks on the 4th. Guess I miss my friends...
9.Which tells me that you can make friends at any age!
10. The thing I don't really believe in is a pure friendship between a straight man and a straight woman. But so what ? I still enjoy it every time!
11. I dream in broken English with an accent.
12. I watch TV with captions. Lame!
13. I don't find Jewish men attractive. How do you girls do it? : )
14. My least favorite food is ice cream. ewwww...
15. The only place where I can tolerate classical music ( that is not played by me) is symphony. I hate to drive and listen to the "easy classical" radio station. Another thing that I hate is "smooth jazz station" . The worst and cheesiest pop music ever!
16. My musical vices are ( brace yourself, Genie): Jobim, Cake ( sheep so go to heaven! ) and 60th rock and jazz. My favorite jazz standards is "Round Midnight" and "Night and Day" ( weird, right? ) and my favorite jazz musician is Coltrane. And no, I don't like Bill Evans. I know I should...
17. I want to make a movie for as long as I remember myself. Maybe I will?
18. Speaking of movies - I seriously cannot understand action movies, just cannot tell what is going on! But they out me to sleep right away! I can tolerate a chick flick though - but only if I have moral support from my daughter.
19. I am what you would call a "cheap date" : )
20. My favorite season is Fall ( doesn't apply to Vivaldi) . Fall in MA is magnificent. Come visit me?
21. I have been asked how I identify myself so many times. Jewish I guess - otherwise, why would I find Chagall so disturbing?
22. I always miss "home" but I don't know what and where it is. That's OK...
23. Things I like to buy but never really use are nail polishes ( I have an impressive collection! ) and rings. As for the rest of the material objects- I like to buy them too!
24. Genie, I don't want to mention these devices - they are out of control, and I am mad at them! : )
25. Just so you guys know - Russian version of "25 random things" is "100 random things" . I tried to write it last year, and couldn't get past # 34.