Slow week

I'm down in LA for a conference, so things will be a little on the slow side. Apologies.

Fog/Schmog

Word from our intrepid China correspondent James Fallows is according to the IOC and the Chinese government the Bejing air "does not pose any health risk for athletes, officials and other visitors."

Mr. Fallows doesn't have the expensive air monitoring equipment employed by the Chinese goverment, so he must rely on his own eyes, which seem to show this

His assessment:

FWIW, view at noon today in downtown Beijing. No scientific or medical judgment implied here -- it could just be a kind of fog. Simply chronicling how it looks with two days to go.

Now, I'm not an atmospheric scientist, but I can throw in a few things I know about weather:

1. Water vapor is in fact, invisible.


2. Fog, smog, vog, you name it, is a condensed water vapor suspended in the air.


3. Among other things, water vapor usually needs nucleating particles to condense on.

In my opinion, Mr. Fallows, the Chinese government, the IOC, and the athletes who see fog, or haze, are seeing the effect of particulates in the air, which aren't necessarily "safe."

Anamorphic Tango

If you were intrigued by the bridge illusion in Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade, then this artwork on display at the Cardiff Bay barrage is for you.

My wife sent me a link to a blog posting of a Felice Varini artwork entitled 3 Ellipses for 3 Locks.

Photos in the posting are of the pieces from various viewpoints, including the particular spots where the illusions are most effective.

Is it a flop, without the flip?

Kevin Drum finds out in the LA Times that Obama's willing to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help offset high gas prices and to him, this is another volley in the McCain/Obama energy panderfest:

And we can't blame this one on the media, folks: Obama really is flopping around on energy policy, and he's doing it in the most craven possible way, switching from correct but politically risky stands to dumb panders.

He may be right, and Obama may be cravenly reversing a long-held position. My question is: are you sure that Obama ever held a different position, or did you perhaps project your own opinion onto Obama? It can be shown that Democrats as far back as last year have been talking up using the SPR to stabilize prices, so he's not exactly breaking from the party on this issue.

I don't have access to the Nexis, but with some crazy searches in the Google News, I did dig up an article from the March 20, 2008 Globe and Mail entitled "Obama would intervene on oil: adviser"

Mr. Obama would also consider tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down prices while recognizing that such a move is normally meant to aid in the case of an acute supply disruption, Mr. Grumet said.

"It would be on the table," he said.

Just sayin'.

DemConHisFit 2008

Atrios wants us to peer into our crystal balls and predict the Republican hissy fit during upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Now, I'm not going to be able to do that due to the nature of the HissyFit^TM in that it must 

1. be sufficiently arbitrary so that every potential trigger can't be anticipated, and


2. occur within milliseconds of the actual event so that any attempt to manage the fit can only be reactive in nature.

However, I am willing to go out on a limb and predict the major theme (I hate the term "meme"):

the Democrats are making a colossal mistake by not picking Hillary.

To use an antiquated term, it will be the mother of all concern trolls.

Can't you already envision Pat Buchanan holding forth with Chris Matthews about how he always believed that Hillary was the better pick? Republicans and their media apologists will cast their eyes downward, sigh gently, and after clucking their tongues in disapproval announce what a tragedy it is that the Democrats missed the opportunity to nominate a woman (so now we know who the real feminists are), with such vast experience (that's why we picked a geezer), and having such Presidential bearing (as opposed to that uppity…).

Oh, and the hissy fit will be over the ritual burning of the Star of David into Joe Lieberman's forehead. Hey! What's he doing at the convention?

Dana Milbank KO'd

From Atrios, it looks like Dana Milbank's recent episode of quote-cropping and followup WaPo chat whine-fest has resulted in a parting of the ways over at Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

The headline: Dana Milbank won't be on the news hour any more.

Good on KO. Milbank's snark-fest was getting tiresome, especially some of his recent #1 segments.

Honest Tea is such a lonely word

According to McCain campaign assassin Rick Davis, Barack Obama has a yen for that most decadent of drinks: "hard-to-find organic brew — Black Forest Berry Honest Tea."
Since Rick is having such a hard time finding, I thought I'd help him out. Hey Rick, here's a link you can use to order it directly from Kroger.

BA to head JREF

Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer) has a little announcement to make:

James Randi has offered me the position of President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. I am extraordinarily honored, and I have accepted this duty.

Congratulations to Phil!

Clarkmania!

If you want to register support for an Obama/Clark ticket, click on over to the website.
I'm not sanguine about an online petition having any substantive effect on the Obama campaign, nor on Gen. Clark's chances after the spanking he got for daring to question McCain's qualifications for president, but hey, at least it's an opportunity to register a preference.

Moving On

The McCain campaign wants to move on:

By the day’s end, Mr. McCain proclaimed that he did not want to dwell on the issue either, although he repeated his campaign’s central charge that his probable opponent had injected race into their battle.

But we should also remember who started it:

“He brought up the issue of race; I responded to it,” Mr. McCain told reporters in Panama City, Fla. “I don’t want that issue to be part of this campaign. I’m ready to move on. And I think we should move on.”

So when McCain forced to run negative ads with racial overtones, it's because they had no choice, you see.

Tin-Foil Hat Theatre

If this were a movie:

1. Bruce Ivins didn't kill himself.

A top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him for the attacks, the Los Angeles Times has learned.

2. Bruce Ivins didn't send the anthrax.

In her July 24 petition, a copy of which you'll find below, Duley referred to Ivins as a "client" who "has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans, threats & actions towards therapist." Duley added that Ivins's psychiatrist called him "homicidal, sociopathic with clear intentions," and that "FBI involved, currently under investigation & will be charged w/ 5 capital murders. I have been subpoena to testify before a federal grand jury August 1, 2008 in Washington, D.C.."

3. If Bruce Ivins did send the anthrax, it wasn't his idea.

In the early days after the letter attacks, in September and October 2001, Dr. Ivins joined about 90 of his colleagues at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in a round-the-clock laboratory push to test thousands of samples of suspect powder to see if they were anthrax. Later, in April 2002, he came under scrutiny in an Army investigation of a leak of potentially deadly anthrax spores outside a sealed-off lab at Fort Detrick. He later admitted he had discovered the leak but not reported it.

Of course, if this were a movie, a packet should be arriving at the New York Times right about now, but I'm sure they'll want to first check with the White House to make sure it's okay to run the story.

Shot down?

Okay, this is darn weird. A Navy prosecutor claims in his opening statements the the 4th plane in the 9/11 attacks was "shot down"

But prosecutor Timothy Stone, in an attempt to draw a link between Hamdan and the al Qaeda leadership in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial, told the six-member jury of U.S. military officers who will decide Hamdan's guilt or innocence that Hamdan had inside knowledge of the 2001 attacks on the United States because he overheard a conversation between bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

"If they hadn't shot down the fourth plane it would've hit the dome," Stone, a Navy officer, said in his opening remarks.

In the alternate universe I live in, flight 93 was prevented from reaching Washington D.C. when a brave gay, ex-football player prayed to Jesus, said "Let's roll!" and forced the terrorists to fly the plane into a Pennsylvania field. I know because I saw it on the teevee.

We're Back!

I'm going to give this another go.

Seems like years…

Welcome to tortureland

Mark my words. We pass this torture bill, we will rue this day...

Last Tango In Paris (Hilton)

An attempt to end Senate debate and proceed with a vote to repeal the estate tax failed 57-41, with a few Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues to start looking at where they are going to get the money to pay for George Bush's endless War on Terra.
According to the Washington Post, this tax effects only 1.17% of the taxpaying wealthiest, but according to Bill Frist it's really Mom and Pop, Inc.:

"The 'death tax' is an unfair burden inflicted upon America's small businesses, farmers, and families during a time of grieving and pain," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a leading proponent of repeal. "This won't be the last time this year the Senate votes on this important issue."
Frist and other leading Republicans argued that the estate tax forced closely held and privately owned businesses to sell out to public corporations, depriving family members of the benefits derived from the hard work of their elder relatives. As a result, they said, rich people wasted billions of dollars trying to avoid the tax, money that might better have been used to expand the businesses and create jobs.

Cry me a river, Bill. There is not one documented case of someone losing their estate because of this tax, but Frist has tried to convince us that he and the rest of millionaire's club on the Hill are only looking out for the Waltons, when in reality they're just trying to keep the IRS from prying the hard-inherited cash from their cold, dead hands.

Suitable for framing

While I know that getting rid of al-Zarqawi was supposedly a huge military victory that sadly will have no real effect on ending the violence over there, what's up with showing off the giant picture of his dead head?
Is this a crazy psyop that some genius at the Pentagon thought would reduce the insurgents and their supporters to quivering bowls of jelly, ya know because that's how you send a message to that kind of people.
I got news for you, they already know that if they aren't careful we'll shoot at them or drop bombs on their houses; they got that message loud and clear. Probably is the reason why there's an insurgency.
I'm just sayin'.

I'm back

Sorry for the lack of postings. I got kinda busy, and evidently Blogger has been up and down a lot.
More tomorrow.

"birth control is selfish"

So says this year's student commencement speaker at St. Thomas University. The speaker, a recipient of the "Tommy of the Year" award, picked his moment to lead a tirade on "selfishness," apparently in reference to a controversial school policy forbidding unmarried employees from rooming together on student trips.

If you want to hear the speech (and get an idea of the crowd reaction):

A portion of the controversial speech has been posted online at YouTube (be forewarned that several loud expletives from audience members are also audible). The speaker is Ben Kessler, who was elected by students and faculty members as “Tommie of the Year,” earning the right to address his fellow graduates. Kessler was a 4.0 student and a star on the football team. He is moving to Rome to study for the priesthood.

It's probably out of line for me to say this, but a boy that righteous has had own share of "selfishness," and Rome may not be far enough for him to get away from it.

Attorney general thinks we are idiots

Abu Gonzales has an answer for all of you who think you have some expectation of privacy when it comes to your phone records: shut up:

But Gonzales told reporters that, under the Smith v. Maryland ruling, "those kinds of records do not enjoy Fourth Amendment protection. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in those kinds of records."

He seems to think we are idiots, because the FISA statutes were passed in direct response to Smith and include a provision specifically intended to address the nature of business records (50 U.S.C. § 1861):

Section 1861. Access to certain business records for foreign intelligence 
and international terrorism investigations

  (a) Application for order; conduct of investigation generally
    (1) The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a
  designee of the Director (whose rank shall be no lower than
  Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an application for an
  order requiring the production of any tangible things (including
  books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an
  investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not
  concerning a United States person or to protect against
    international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities,
  provided that such investigation of a United States person is not
  conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the
  first amendment to the Constitution.
    (2) An investigation conducted under this section shall -
      (A) be conducted under guidelines approved by the Attorney
    General under Executive Order 12333 (or a successor order); and
      (B) not be conducted of a United States person solely upon the
    basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the
    Constitution of the United States.
  (b) Recipient and contents of application
      Each application under this section -
        (1) shall be made to -
          (A) a judge of the court established by section 1803(a) of
        this title; or
          (B) a United States Magistrate Judge under chapter 43 of
        title 28, who is publicly designated by the Chief Justice of
        the United States to have the power to hear applications and
        grant orders for the production of tangible things under this
        section on behalf of a judge of that court; and

My reading of Sec. 1861 seems to include a judge, but hey, I'm not the attorney general, so I don't get to interpret the rules how I please, nor do I get to break them whenever it seems expedient.

Update: ThinkProgress adds not only a violation of FISA, but also the SCA.

NSA update

I haven't had much to add in the last few days, mostly because I keep running across other blogs covering NSA issues as well. As I'm still new to this whole blog scene, it's sometimes hard for me to see what I could possibly add. Nonetheless, I plunge on.

I've found a treasure trove of information on the NSA wiretap controversy over at DefenseTech.org. It's going to take me a little while to sort it all out, but as I delve more deeply into this, I find some common themes emerging:

1. This program is bad from the legal perspective. The program flies in the face of the separation of powers, violates a whole host of laws, and has exposed several large corporations to legal liability.
2. This program is bad from the PR perspective. Recent polls show that people are quite skeptical of the program, and are concerned potential invasions of privacy.
3. This program is bad from the security perspective. It is counterproductive, and is diverting resources from more effective means to track, thwart, and capture terrorists.