Knowing Grief

From page 35 of my copy of Melville's Moby Dick:

Oh! ye whose dead lie buried beneath the green grass; who standing among flowers can say - here, here lies my beloved; ye know not the desolation that broods in bosoms like these. What bitter blanks in those black-bordered marbles which cover no ashes! What despair in those immovable inscriptions! What deadly voids and unbidden infidelities in the lines that seem to gnaw upon all Faith, and refuse resurrections to the beings who have placlessly perished without a grave.

Proper Checks and Balances or is it a Supreme Court packed with Activists?

Given that this is the same court full of Activists that put W, Rove and Co in the Whitehouse, I'm just wondering what the reichwing spin will be on the latest Supreme Court decision not to intervene in the tragic Terri Schiavo situation.

Seems to me, the legal route being exhausted, that the fair extent of justice has been meted out. Time to grieve, if you must, and get on with life.

Life is, after all, for the living.

Slice:

"That is not an exercise of legislative power, but trial by legislature. ... Any law that suspends, nullifies, or reverses a final court judgment is an exercise of judicial, not legislative power," the filing said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Republican Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mel Martinez of Florida filed a friend-of-the-court brief late Wednesday siding with Schiavo's parents.

"This is not about Terri anymore. This is all a political view," Scott Schiavo, Michael Schiavo's brother, told CNN on Thursday. "They're being bullied, actually, by these right-for-life people, basically telling them, `If you don't go our way, you won't get our votes.'"

Yahoo! Windsurfing Season has Hit

Finally, the wind gods are with us and the rain has stopped. By the sychronicity of it, I managed to wrangle my dear Mother-in-law to sit the kids and the wind cooperated.

Out for the first time this season: Crissy Field luanch. Winds SW about 18 or so, gusts to about 21 with stronger on the outside. Rigged the 5.4 North XXX, slapped it on the Exocet 85 liter Original Wave. Ripped it up on the outside for about an hour. That's about all I can handle until later in the season and I have burned off the Winter Excess.

I always forget how much fun it is to participate in life and get out on the water rather than be a spectator...which is hard not to be given that the College Hoops sesaon is winding down.

Remember: Shred Until your Dead.

Ah, Those Silly Bush Boys

Finally have another new vid published on GNN. Check this out if you need a break from pointing to the the hyporcicy of the Schiavo Situation:

How can their women stand living with them?

Copy of the Intro page:

DJ Danger Mouse's video assault on the first family

GNN is proud to publish the first of many videos from independent video group subMedia TV.

In early 2004, DJ Danger Mouse became world famous for his “Grey Album,” the Jay Z/Beatles mash-up that sent hundreds of lawyers into convulsions. Months earlier, Danger Mouse had dropped his acclaimed hip-hop record Ghetto Pop Life. “Bush Boys,” an anti-Bush anthem with lyrics by MC Jemini, was part of that masterpiece. The video for “Bush Boys” is a collaboration between Danger Mouse and his longtime friend, video producer Alex Motlagh, who had access to CNN’s vast library. The video was first seen in “Under the Influence,” a compilation DVD by Atlanta’s film collective YETI. subMedia put the video online on April of 2003 and since it has been downloaded over 100,000 times. “Bush Boys” will be included in subMedia’s upcoming DVD/Zine “Molotov.”

Links:

Grey Album Download

POP Films Latest Project

Danger Mouse

submediaTV

Credits

Music: Danger Mouse and Jemini

Director/Producer: Alex Motlagh, POP Films

Submitted by Franklin Lopez, Submedia TV

The Search for The Right Kind of Activist Judge Continues

Terri's parents and team of well healed lawyers are, if nothing else, tenacious. Still searching after 15 years for their brand of Activist Judge. Not requited by the many layers of legal proceedings already pursued, and not content with the amount of taxpayer buxs already spent on their daughter.

Slice:

The parents also have vowed to take their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida legislature. They have long battled their son-in-law over whether their daughter's feeding tube should be disconnected. State courts have sided with Michael Schiavo, who insists his wife told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially.

End slice:

Why does this particular family warrant such special treatment and attention when there are so many others hanging on by a simliar or thinner thread?

And, once again, the hypocracy is so self-evident, even the Republicans are pointing it out:

"My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing."CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Republican congressman of Connecticut, on the Schiavo case.

P.S. By the way, if you haven't looked at Terri's husband's viewpoint on the matter, perhaps you should. I found this article via BE and another blogger (tiny grain of sand):

Slice:

...Instead of worrying about my wife, who was granted her wishes by the state courts the past seven years, they should worry about the pedophiles killing young girls," Schiavo said, referring to a local case. "Why doesn't Congress worry about people not having health insurance? Or the budget? Let's talk about all the children who don't have homes."

He said U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is leading a charge to extend Terri Schiavo's life, is a "little slithering snake" pandering for votes.

"To make comments that Terri would want to live, how do they know?" Schiavo said of the members of Congress who want to keep his wife alive.

"Have they ever met her?" Schiavo said. "What color are her eyes? What's her middle name? What's her favorite color? They don't have any clue who Terri is. They should all be ashamed of themselves."

Schiavo said he was going to stay at his wife's side through the entire ordeal and said he wouldn't back down in his fight to have her wishes carried out.

"Terri died 15 years ago," Schiavo said, referring to the collapse and cardiac arrest that doctors say virtually destroyed her brain. "It's time for her to be with the Lord like she wanted to be."

The Sanctity of Life

Since when has human life been considered sacred to the degree that people in positions of supposed authority are allowed to purport themselves as representatives of god and move people to action simply because they believe in the "sanctity of life?"

Furthermore, why is it that people who hold human life in the sacred continuously disregard the reciprocal sacredness of other lives that they would and do willingly sacrifice for their cause (e.g. military deaths in Iraq heading toward 1600, Civilian Deaths in Iraq uncountable large numbers)?

Actions speak louder than political hot air. The constant elevation of issues through litigious means simply because you don't agree with the outcome is tantamount to going to the mob to inflict real justice on one's enemies. The trotting of Terri Schiavo through the courts over the last 15 years and the rolling of her corpse out through the House and Senate is plain and simply, appalling and at the same time embarrassing.

Assassination is final, yet death is a fact of life. If you truly believe in a benevolent god, perhaps euthanasia would be less of a sin and more of a kind and humanitarian action. Certainly, it is much more humane than murder by lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad, or for that matter Carpet Bombing an entire City (just ask the folks on Death Row and the fine upstanding citizens in Iraq).

Why is it that the moral outrage is on flagrant display for one poor, unfortunate political football? Where is the outrage for the innocent children in Iraq dismembered by our tax dollar sponsored weapons of mass destruction? Is it simply by the miracle of being born in Florida rather than Baghdad that one deserves more attention and protection? Shouldn't the children and innocent citizens in Iraq and around the globe deserve and equal, or grander, display of protection?

W, the Texas Baby Killer

Found this post on DailyKOS on a tip from a friend:

Slice:

By now most people who read liberal blogs are aware that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.

End slice:

We also know that W, presided as Governor of Texas during a period of numerous executions. We also know the horrendous record he has of being pro-life for innocent individuals in Iraq.

So, in action, W, Rove and Co are certainly in favor of murder (justified or not), and killing innocents. In words, they espouse a pro-life agenda. This is stupefying if anything else.

I am sure others have better words to explain this. Please comment to this post.

Activist Judging: In the Eye of the Beholder

With the latest punt by Congress regarding their favorite poor, unfortunate, political football, Terri Schiavo is being used as a shuttle to root out and find Activist Judges that the Reichwingers enjoy.

What it means to be an Activist Judge and whether it is bad, is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Like art and pornography, will we know it when we see it? Or, will the politicos bucking for reelection keep searching about until they find a judge that decides the way their constituents feel?

More tax payer dollars have gone to waste bringing our congressional reps to the fore on a rare and unusual Sunday Session. You would think we were going to war with North Korea.

More Domestic Terrorists We Can't Predict

Another tragic day for America's schools. Lessons from Colombine didn't help the folks in Minnesota.

Slice:

Eight people were shot dead on Monday by a student who killed his grandparents and opened fire at a school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota before killing himself in the deadliest U.S. school shooting in six years, authorities said.

General George Patton Knew More About War Than Most

Had this to say about war:

"Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning"

& "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his."

Others also knew more about war that those of us sitting in our comfortable homes tiptapping away on the blog

Bertrand Russel also had a point:

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."

Douglas MacArthur:

"The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."

Questions ring for me:

1) Are we gaining anything by fighting the Iraq war?

2) Were we right to go in?

3) Was there another alternative?

4) Are people praying for peace?

5) When & how will it end?

Guilt by Association

Aparently, the Marines are having a PR problem with their Dress Uni.

Slice:

With the toll of Marines killed in Iraq mounting, the Marine Corps is no longer requiring the Marines notifying families of such deaths to wear the Corps' distinctive dress blue uniform.

The change, authorized by Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee, was made because the public was beginning to associate the blue uniform, usually worn during ceremonial or joyous occasions, with death and tragedy, officials said...

...But Gunnery Sgt. Cindy Grubb, operations chief for the Corps' casualty branch, said wearing the dress blues while notifying families had begun to associate the uniform unfairly with bad news.

"We want to keep that positive image of the blues," she said.

The latest casualty count shows 1,513 members of the U.S. military killed in Iraq, including more than 460 Marines. Most of the Marines were part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton.

End slice:

I know many a military family dreads the silent approach of a men in dress uniforms.

The Aging Commie Pinko

Lately, certain slang terms used primarily in a derogatory manner have been recycled (like W, Rove and Co. judge appointees) by the reichwingers in their atempts to discredit otherwise insightful commentary. Like the use of the suffix -gate to indicate scandal (e.g. watergate, fajita-gate, etc..) it is time to put these tired old aphorisms to rest. They simply don't apply nor did they really hold any water when it comes to discrediting individuals.

Two of my favorites are "Hippie," and "Commie," or "Pinko Commie." These tired old terms simply don't apply to folks in this Millenium. Moreover, using such slang to attempt to discredit an argument doesn't work. Try for a change, calling things as they are, and using logical rhetoric and factual references to tell us that you think we are wrong.

Slinging hate, and in partucularl, using out-dated words and phrases to do it is just plain unoriginal. Let's put these terms to rest, and invent some new ones.

List your favorite terms that should be retired in a comment below.

Thank you

What is a Patriot?

Have you ever been blogging and have an urge to comment, but then find your comment actually might make a fine post on your own blog? This happened to me this evening. I was reading Ken Grandlund's Common Sense - which really do have to slice out some time to read as his posts are very well thought out and lengthy - not your usual blog fodder....

So, I came up with in interesting angle on his recent post as I found myself thinking about how to become a better Patriot.

First off, I know that there is a difference in how people define it and what it means to each person can vary. So, my first question naturally flows:

1) What's the definition of Patriot?

Here's one: One who loves, supports, and defends one's country.

But that is a fairly broad definition, so, as we have the www at our fingertips, I thought I would google it. "What is a patriot" provided numerous hits, and at the top of the list was the USA Patriot Act.

Now, for the life of me, I scanned the thing, and couldn't find any definition of the term patriot. There was a lot of talk about terrorists, and what is terrorism, but missing was a good, clean, definition of Patriot.

Unrequited, I copy and pasted it into word and did a search, and did you know that the word "patriot" only appears three times in the whole of the 132 pages? And each time, it was to name the act.

This left me empty on what it means to be a patriot, except to turn in suspicious individuals.

Looking further, I found references to football teams, and the movie the Patriot, and finally hit on an "official" White House page where you can actually register yourself as a Patriot. Did you know you could do that? I didn't. This is something like the "do-not-call list, but better (if you take a look at the page, it really is a satirical piece, as in funny, ha ha):

Looking further, I found a self proclaimed watch dog group called the Patriot Watch.Interesting.

Slice from their page:

"As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." Justice William O. Douglas

Before my eyes blured over, I found the Fallen Patriot Fund, perhaps the most worthy of your review and spare cash/time to volunteer - interestingly, located right next to the Rightwing e-rag, the Federalist Patriot.

Still, I have not come away from my search with a fantastic definition of Patriot. So, I thought I would pitch it to the blogiverse - What are your thoughts about being a Patriot?

Before I leave this post, let me give you the preface - I was commenting on the environmental post on Common Sense and got to thinking how one could be Patriotic - read further if you like as here's the salient portion of my comment originally posted on Common Sense:

Anyway, I think the solution has to start with the individual. If we each pledge to go as green as we can and reduce consumption, we would do well.

Keep in mind, this simple thought - the most strategic reserve of oil sits parked in the driveways and parking spaces of America. Every time you make a decision to fire up the combustionable, you burn up another chance to save and increase our reliance on OPEC oil. So, perhaps the most Patriotic thing one can do is ride a bicycle, or walk or take public transit to work....or use only clean/efficient vehicles....

That's my idea on where to start. We can all do our part, now isn't that Patriotic?

The Fallacy of Abstinence

Humm, it is rather spurious that some group called the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, located in Sioux Falls, S.D is being given federal dollars to support their work (read: tax payer bux), when abstinance doesn't actually lead to the holy grail of chaste lives until "marriage."

This cherished "christian" result is misleading and again been poven a lofty, unobtainable goal. In fact, yet another emperical study shows that those who pledge abstinence are more likely to have anal sex. Hummm, is that what they Clearinghouse wants?

Of course, they say, these folks who pledge abstinence had not pledged "true" abstinence. So, now there are qualifications to the term abstinence?

Slice from the article:

Teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are more likely to take chances with other kinds of sex that increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, a study of 12,000 adolescents suggests.

The report by Yale and Columbia University researchers could help explain their earlier findings that teens who pledged abstinence are just as likely to have STDs as their peers.

The latest study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that teens pledging virginity until marriage are more likely to have oral and anal sex than other teens who have not had intercourse. That behavior, however, "puts you at risk," said Hannah Brueckner, assistant professor of sociology at Yale and one of the study's authors.

Among virgins, boys who have pledged abstinence were four times more likely to have had anal sex, according to the study. Overall, pledgers were six times more likely to have oral sex than teens who have remained abstinent but not as part of a pledge.

...Millions of teens have signed written pledges or verbally promised to abstain from sex, part of a church-led effort to discourage premarital sex and the spread of disease.

President Bush has boosted funding for abstinence-only education in schools. Critics say that education needs to be coupled with safe-sex education to be effective.

"If adolescents only had sex in monogamous, married relationships, by definition there would be no STDs," Brueckner said, echoing President Bush's remarks in last year's State of the Union address. "

But the majority of adolescents don't live like that. They do have sex." Last year, the same research team found that 88 percent of teens who pledge abstinence end up having sex before marriage, compared with 99 percent of teens who do not make a pledge.

End slice:

Sounds like another Spend and Spend program (the kind that grows the National Debt) sponsored by W, Rove and Co. that doesn't work, and in fact, would actually work better if it didn't exist.

Wrong War and Vice Versa?

A good thought for the weekend, from page 97 of my copy of Melville's Moby Dick:

"But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself."

Slice from Iraq:

By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - When U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq two years ago, Adnan al-Eiby was thrilled. He thought that once Saddam Hussein was toppled, Iraq would become a flourishing Western-style democracy.

"But now, I walk down the street and all I see is death — innocent people blown up by terrorists and others shot by the Americans," said the 32-year-old chauffeur. "I'm fed up with life. We pinned our hopes on the Americans but they let us down."

End slice:

Is W, like Ismael, weaving his own tourniquet and tightening it about his neck and eyes?

No More Lumps for now

Good news from the Cancer Battle front. Our friend's second surgery went well, and she is feeling good and the fetus is doing great. So, the non-invasive eradication of the two lumps last friday is over. No lymphnode traveling. And, yesterday's removal of pre-cancerous cells is done and hopefully we are done with it. Now, it is recovery and watching carefully.

Cronyism, Nepotism, and Narcisism, Oh, My.

W, Rove and Co. are at it again. Hey, let's give some folks we know a no-bid contract and hope the public won't find out. We are all deeply familiar with the modus operandi re: Halliburton.

This just in from the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Mercyhurst College, a small Roman Catholic institution in the hometown of the former secretary of homeland security, Tom Ridge, has been awarded a no-bid contract to train intelligence analysts for the department.

A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department said on Wednesday that Mercyhurst, a liberal-arts college in Erie, Pa., was the only institution qualified for the job. Mercyhurst began training a class of 20 analysts last week at a department facility in Northern Virginia.

"The college was the one able to meet our time lines and bring their established program to a local training location at no additional cost," said Thomas P. Burke, the spokesman. He said the department had consulted with other colleges before making its decision. Mr. Ridge did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

But the $90,000 deal has raised eyebrows at the Center for Public Integrity, a government-watchdog group based here. The nonprofit group says the department should have conducted an open review that would have allowed larger, local programs to compete.

Mercyhurst's Institute for Intelligence Studies has been around only since 2004, although the 4,000-student college has been training undergraduates for intelligence jobs since 1992 and has offered a master's degree with an intelligence concentration since 1995. Georgetown University and George Washington University, both located here in Washington, have had security-studies programs in place for at least two decades.

Officials at Georgetown and George Washington said they had not been approached by the department but would have been interested in applying for the contract had there been a competition.

"There may be legitimate reasons why Mercyhurst was a better candidate, but you're not going to find that out without an open competition," said William A. Allison, a spokesman for the Center for Public Integrity. "This does create an impression that there is some favoritism" at play.

End Slice:

Humm...Georgetown, GW? Don't we know these institutions a bit better than Mercyhurst? Let's see, a program that is less than three years old, versus, well established programs at very substantial institutions that have been around a lot longer?

The way this administration works, no wonder they went with Mercyhurst. Regardless whether it is cronysim or nepotism, the narcisistic boys and girls of W, Rove and Co don't see the wrong (as in hear no, see no, speak no). Ah, but we do! For shame.

The big Dick Cheney Rubber Stamp - Sub title: Activist Judges on the Right wing are called? What?

Found this via Move On. Any one have $ 25K to get this thing aired?

Also, the text of Robert Byrd's speech at a recent rally can be found at Move On.

Slice:

An ill wind is blowing across this country. That wind blows the seeds of destruction. Our Constitution is under attack. We must speak out and kill this dangerous effort to rewrite our precious Constitution.

Our freedom of speech is in jeopardy. Some in the United States Senate want to “bully” the American people and the Senate and force feed us far right wing judges.

End slice:

If folks on the reichwing think judges who rule in favor laws that they don't agree with are "activist judges." Well, turnabout is fair play. What shall we call the rejects from the last term that W, Rove and Co. are trying to shove down our necks? Any suggestions?

Blue Sky Above

Image Copyright Windspike 2005.

I do apologize for those of you still frought with winter, but I took this shot mid-day on the Ides of March. Thought some might like a dose of cherry blossoms to brighten the otherwise mundane repetativeness of St. Patrick's salubriousness.

Letting Terri Go

Found this quote via blogexplosion:

"Please Pray forTerri Schindler-Schiavo,she only has one day before she is to be murdered"

It is rather interesting that those who claim to be "for" Terri Schiavo only advocate that she be artificially fed and kept alive. Don't you think that one could also be "for" Terri and advocate for her to be let go in a humane way?

Those who advocate keeping her alive artificially invariably argue that her husband has no legal basis for making decisions for her or that she couldn't have indicated that she didn't want to be kept alive artificially. In the end, how could the general public know the wishes of this poor, unfortuante woman? They don't; nor is it their business.

Let her go, and grieve if you must, but is long time for people to stop using Terri as a political football.

For those who disagree, would you trade places with her?