July 2008 archive

Jul 26 2008

She Had Some Horses

I am not a perfect person, in fact, my flaws continue to groove deeply into my being despite a nearly lifelong attempt to smooth the edges, soften the edge of the blade.

My life story is only mildly interesting to me, and I live it.  There is no way I will attempt to sum up who or why I am such a prickly character, despite a ready quip and grin.  I survive, like we all do; half-in-consciousness, half-out-of-consciousness. I stumble, I fall, I wake up… late.

I have played a major role in the events on this blog these past few months.  In the process, I have wounded people.

I am sorry for the very real pain and annoyance I have caused by being a giant pain in the ass, by being a prickly character, for not shutting up when the good sense angels suggested a breather.

The poem below is posted without permission from the author.  I would hope someone, maybe two people, would purchase either a book from the author or the cd to offset my thievery of the artist’s work.  The poem is written by an ageless woman poet who is alive in our time.  She has long been an inspiration and her words a goalpost for my own work.  And this poem, well, it’s me.

Jul 26 2008

Friday Night at 8: Pearl Fishing

This essay speaks of the political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt.

All quotes are from Elisabeth Young-Bruel’s wonderful biography of Arendt, For Love of the World.

And my method in writing on this difficult (at least to me!) subject are taken from Arendt’s own hard won sensibility about philosophy — that after two World Wars, so much of the theories and philosophies that were given such respect showed their own inability to reach the people, to prevent war, and so the question arose, what use were they?

For a Jew who was brought up in Germany and studied philosophy at the finest universities in Marburg and Heidelburg, and who after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 spent years as a stateless person in Paris and the United States, her “ivory tower” learning left her with a far different view of the value of the learning of the past.


She stopped looking for either categories of thinkers or historical influences, thought genealogies, and she developed a method as informal as the title she gave it, “Perlenfischerei,” pearl fishing.  The pearls that were full fathom five beneath the historical surface were the sea-changed, rich and strange jewels she sought.

I think we are at a similar time in history now, and I find Arendt’s words resonate with me.

Jul 26 2008

EPA Says Global Warming Is Now Endangering Americans

Today it was revealed that EPA administrator Stephen Johnson told Bush last December that there is “compelling and robust” evidence that our recent temperature increases are caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions which endanger the American people.  Bush did not open the email with this dire warning contained in a 38-page document because the US Supreme Court ruled that if the EPA finds that greenhouse gases endanger the public, then the government must regulate them.

Undaunted by Bush’s cover-up, last week, the EPA issued a refreshingly honest, detailed 283-page report which details how global warming endangers Americans.

Two days ago, the EPA Inspector General issued another report that Bush’s voluntary programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industries is a flop.

How many warnings must Bush’s own EPA issue before Americans stop ranking global warming on the bottom of the list of important issues?

Jul 26 2008

Friday Philosophy: Waging Peace

The WeaveMothers, one and several, saw the thread snap.  It whipsawed through the firmament as the tapestry of reality sagged and fragmented.  Like so many other wherewhens, the place of weakness involved the worldtime of the brighter spot.  As much as they could experience Fear, they feared another stillbirth should the loose cable strike the brightness.

And, one and several, they wondered if it didn’t seem dimmer.

_ # ^ &  _ # ^ &  _ # ^ &  _

The Engineer seized the braking lever suddenly and pulled with all hir might.  The giant wheels locked and a plaintive squeal proclaimed the rending of the fabric.

The Storyteller ceased singing the song.  The Listener’s head turned to watch the Passenger fall from the seat and awaken suddenly.  On the Passenger’s head there was what could have been blood…near where there could have been other scars.  Some of the Passenger’s face came away in its forelimb.

Jul 25 2008

Four at Four, at Five

Special guest host?  Nah, It’s just me.

Special edition?  You bet.  We’re in Central time now, folks.

Welcome to the Four at Four, at Five (Four Central).

  • Foreclosures in the second quarter this year were up 121% from the second quarter last year, and up 14% from the first quarter this year.

    Foreclosures were filed against 739,714 properties in the second quarter. One in every 171 U.S. homes was filed against, the report said.

    …

    The states posting the highest foreclosure filing rates were Nevada, California and Arizona. Nevada had the highest per-household foreclosure rate, with 24,657, or one in every 43 households, nearly four times the national average.

    California posted 202,599 filings, or one in every 65 households. That is a 19 percent increase from the previous quarter and nearly three times the level reported in the second quarter of 2007.

    Foreclosure activity in Arizona, which had the third-highest number of filings, increased 36 percent from the previous quarter and almost four times the level reported in the second quarter of 2007. Arizona reported 37,230 filings, or one in every 70 households.

    The states with the lowest foreclosure activity were Vermont, North Dakota and West Virginia.

  • Seven synchronized small bombs were detonated in India, killing two and wounding at least five in Bangalore.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

    The government condemned the blasts and vowed to catch those behind them.

    “Such incidents will not deter the government from pursuing its policy of dealing with terrorists in a resolute manner,” Patil said.

  • California Terminator Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a ban on trans fats in restaurants.

    “California is a leader in promoting health and nutrition, and I am pleased to continue that tradition by being the first state in the nation to phase out trans fats,” Schwarzenegger said. “Consuming trans fat is linked to coronary heart disease, and today we are taking a strong step toward creating a healthier future for California.”

    The law, AB 97 by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), will ban cooking with artificial trans fats in restaurants by Jan. 1, 2010, and bar their presence in baked goods by Jan. 1, 2011.

  • Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch, whose diagnosis with terminal cancer turned him into a widely popular inspirational speaker, has passed away at the age of 47.

    The lanky, energetic Pausch talked about goals he had accomplished, like experiencing zero gravity and creating Disney attractions, and those he had not, including becoming a professional football player.

    He used rejections he was handed when he applied for jobs at Disney to comment on the importance of persistence.

    “The brick walls are there for a reason … to show us how badly we want something,” he said. “Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

Jul 25 2008

Live-blogging House hearing on Executive Power II

Continued from First essay here

Hearing can be watched at CSPAN

House Judiciary Committee members have made their opening statements, and witnesses have made their opening statements.  House members are now questioning the witnesses.  Here is the witness list:

Panel One

The Honorable Dennis Kucinich, Representative from Ohio

The Honorable Maurice Hinchey, Representative from New York

The Honorable Walter Jones, Representative from North Carolina

The Honorable Brad Miller, Representative from North Carolina

Panel Two

The Honorable Elizabeth Holtzman, Former Representative from New York

The Honorable Bob Barr, Former Representative from Georgia, 2008 Libertarian Nominee for President

The Honorable Ross C. “Rocky” Anderson, Founder and President, High Roads for Human Rights

Stephen Presser, Raoul Berger Professor of Legal History, Northwestern University School of Law

Bruce Fein, Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82, Chairman, American Freedom Agenda

Vincent Bugliosi, Author and former Los Angeles County Prosecutor

Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law

Elliott Adams, President of the Board, Veterans for Peace

Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr., Senior Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

UPDATE:  I overlooked jimstarro’s excellent essay this morning, “Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations”

Please, go give this some ponies  : )

Jul 25 2008

Klavan, via WaPo: “George W. Bush is like Batman.”

Cross-posted at DailyKos.

I swear I’m not making that up, and I urge you to go and see if you don’t believe me:

There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war.

I cannot tell you how sad this op-ed makes me.

Jul 25 2008

Through the Darkest of Nights: Testament XXIX

Every few days over the next several months I will be posting installments of a novel about life, death, war and politics in America since 9/11.  Through the Darkest of Nights is a story of hope, reflection, determination, and redemption.  It is a testament to the progressive values we all believe in, have always defended, and always will defend no matter how long this darkness lasts.  But most of all, it is a search for identity and meaning in an empty world.

Naked and alone we came into exile.  In her dark womb, we did not know our mother’s face; from the prison of her flesh have we come into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth. Which of us has known his brother?  Which of us has looked into his father’s heart?  Which of us has not remained prison-pent?  Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?      ~Thomas Wolfe

All installments are available for reading here on Docudharma’s Series page, and also here on Docudharma’s Fiction Page, where refuge from politicians, blogging overload, and one BushCo outrage after another can always be found.

Jul 25 2008

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall

I have a nicely aged six foot cedar fence that runs across the back of my house. The backyard extends around 25 feet from the back of the house to the fence; the fence’s length along the back of the lot is close to 100 feet. The back fence, it keeps things out and keeps my dogs in. The north side connector fence is a cyclone fence, see-through and lacking in privacy.


Before I built a wall I’d ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That wants it down.

Jul 25 2008

Pony Party

Words of Advice

(W.S. Burroughs and Material)


Build up a kindly, avuncular, benevolent image.

Interdependence is the key word.

Enlightened interdependence.

Life in all its rich variety, “take a little, leave a little”

Jul 25 2008

United Farm Workers Calls for Manslaughter Charges Against Company in Death of 17 Year Old

I’ve written in the past about the preventable death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez and her unborn child.  California’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency recently issued a $262,700 fine against the Central Valley farm labor contracting company that employed Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, the 17-year old farm worker who died of heat stroke because of the company’s negligence in following the law.  That’s not enough. United Farm Workers President, Arturo S. Rodriguez, thinks criminal prosecution is the only way to deter companies so that no more will die:

“This is a case of manslaughter – there is no difference between a driver killing someone while breaking our traffic laws and a labor contractor breaking the law and killing this beautiful young woman. Anything less than criminal prosecution is a desecration of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez’ death.”

UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez

More, after the fold.  

(also in orange)

Jul 25 2008

Live-blogging House hearing on Executive Power I

It’s starting – hope you can join me in discussions here and at ConyersBlog

The hearing can be watched on the House Judiciary Committee website or at CSPAN

For some background, check out afterdowningstreet

Live-blogging continues at Live-blogging House hearing on Executive Power II

Sorry, I’m having trouble with formatting for some reason…

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