October 3, 2007 archive

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News THE TOP STORIES

1 Blackwater chairman defends his company
By RICHARD LARDNER and ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 41 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – Blackwater chairman Erik Prince vigorously rejected charges Tuesday that guards from his private security firm acted like a bunch of cowboys immune to legal prosecution while protecting State Department personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I believe we acted appropriately at all times,” Prince, a 38-year-old former Navy SEAL, calmly told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

His testimony came as the FBI is investigating Blackwater personnel for their role in a Sept. 16 shootout that left 11 Iraqis dead. The incident and others, including a shooting by a drunk Blackwater employee after a 2006 Christmas party, led to pointed questions by lawmakers about whether the government is relying too much on private contractors who fall outside the military courts martial system.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

U.K. judge: Gore film biased but OK in schools

An update to this earlier essay, the UK Judge reviewing AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH in response to a lawsuit brought by a Dover truck driver, as determined that the film will be allowed in schools as long as the teacher do not endorse it.

I can see it now.  ‘Hey, lads, watch this film but don’t ask me what I think of it, as I am only your professor…’

More below the jump.

MAPS: Psychedelics and Self-Discovery



Artist: Michael Brown

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classifed LSD and other psychedelics as Schedule I (no medical use) and effectively prohibited psychedelic research by scientists and mental health professionals in the US.   Now, more than 30 years later, it is still exceedingly difficult to get funding, support, or approval for this kind of research.  The very few studies that are going on today are in some part sponsored or supported by MAPS – the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Drugs.  “[Their] mission is to sponsor scientific research designed to develop psychedelics and marijuana into FDA-approved prescription medicines, and to educate the public honestly about the risks and benefits of these drugs.” 

Please Show Madame Speaker The Door

Sweet Jeebus.

Impeachment is off the table. Defunding is off the table.  And now, it seems that even raising taxes to pay for the war is now off the table. 

Sure, Raising taxes can be scary. Any potentially politically unpopular decision can be scary. But, that’s kinda what leadership is all about.

Bummer (poor title choice)

C’mon people, this isn’t the place I’ve come to know and love lo these many, uh, weeks.  You’re going to ruin our reputation as sycophantic lightweights that have no clue about the real world.  I for one will not stand for it! 
I am a clueless lightweight! 
I’m just a -50-something lonely guy with no job and no future- who just wants to have some fun.

maybe weeks…

death. yeah, it really does happen. it’s just hard to believe. and in no way can i understand it.

the full impact of death didn’t really penetrate until my mother died. then i got it. there is nothing personal to it. it just happens.

The Tin Foil Hat Report

How does one explain what goes on in this country. 
Humans are most illogical as Star Trek’s Mr Spock would say.

http://people.csail….

A response I used in response to comments on the net while 911 truthing.  No, it’s not me but my lab does have some of this equipment.

http://zone.ni.com/d…

This one features a device for receiving and interpreting signals from the brain and driving a computer to act upon those requests.  The software package used to do this has amazing capacity plus does not require years of study to learn.  Now with this wonderful technology to aid people afflicted with neurological impairments what would you think this country would do with it.
Keep in mind these are students, the “kids” can do it.

Reversing the situation, if one can receive, can one transmit.  Links are definitely not CNN so many will be unmoved.  Then again in following scientific topics for 40 years some of the books I read as a kid you won’t see in any US library.
http://www.whale.to/…

http://www.us-govern…

So if you can’t sell the concept of Demonic possesion in this day and age you can always blame it on those mind control cell phone towers.

a poem inside a dream

This is a poem for buhdy and all of the other dreamers who have made docudharma a reality.

Thanks Everybody

Just wanted to say a gigantic “Thank You” to everyone in this “Community in Action” who hoped and prayed and thought positive thoughts for my young son, who is back home safe and sound after emergency surgery.

Forming powerful communities is essential to political influence

It is probably going to be difficult to stop the party of complaining about Congress, the media and the political culture generally and move towards a party of organizing a strong disciplined movement towards change. I believe our country needs a strong left, right and center. I believe the center and right show signs of strength and vigor but the left seems to be still weak. This is shown by the way Congress in particular has treated the concerns of the left-progressives even loyal Democrats. Many net-based activists have worked very hard to bring a Democratic majority to Congress and keep the election of 04 close despite and poor campaign strategy (as usual) from the party hacks. The realization that the Democratic Party has little interest in the sorts of concerns voiced in the left-blogosphere seems to have shocked many people. Well, clearly something isn’t working. So what next?

Profiles in Literature: Haruki Murakami

Greetings, literature-loving DharmeniansLast week we let ourselves be absorbed into the beautiful incomprehensibility of Job, and nearly every commenter had a different take on that crotchety Old Testament god.  This week we’ll zip ahead thousands of years to a writer who’s still churning out novels today – how’s that for a flash forward?

Here’s a situation to consider: it’s the middle of the night in an abandoned temple in the middle of metropolitan Japan, and Colonel Sanders (yes, that Colonel Sanders) is telling you that the fate of the world relies on your flipping over a rock.  There’s nothing underneath the rock, and nothing seems to happen when you move it, but the man from the chicken bucket seems awfully insistent.  What do you do?

Welcome to the wonderful, weird, and occasionally horrifying world of Japan’s most (internationally) popular novelist.

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