December 1, 2010 archive

Dec 01 2010

Wikileaks Release: Torture Prosecution Discussed In Cables

A major worry was a torture case brought by a Spanish non-governmental organisation against six senior Bush administration officials, including the former attorney general Alberto Gonzales.

Senator Mel Martinez, a former Republican party chairman, and the US embassy’s charge d’affaires visited the Spanish foreign ministry to warn the investigation would have consequences. “Martinez and the charge underscored that the prosecutions would … have an enormous impact on the bilateral relationship,” the officials reported.

Officials in Madrid discussed with Zaragoza ways in which a US investigation into the same allegations might be opened in order to force the Spanish court to close its own case. “Zaragoza has also told us that if a proceeding regarding this matter were underway in the US, that would effectively bar proceedings in Spain. We intend to further explore this option with him informally,” they said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…

This is some of the worst high school bullshit: “Oh yeah, we’ll open our OWN investigation and then you can’t investigate!”  

Dec 01 2010

Open Bruce

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Dec 01 2010

In The Sky, B. In The Sky.

Dec 01 2010

Lost Soldier

I know I said I’d never let you go. I didn’t. It was you that let me go, us go, you must know that.

I remember when we were rank and file, warriors on the ground, full of fire, hope, camaraderie.  We recognized the profundity that sometimes it takes an Armageddon to truly win. We were John the Baptist, preparing the way, and The Postman planning the recovery. We breathed one anothers breath, beat of the same heart. I would nestle into your neck and tell you how I couldn’t stand one more moment without you inside me. We renewed eachother for the fight, love feeding honor, spirit feeding truth, vulnerability feeding resolve in the cool morning air in the tents.

Perhaps your star was too bright, because the lure of the officer’s club kept you out longer and longer each night. They tamed that star, with strategy sessions and ever new ways of manipulating the message until the real message was lost. Until your platoon itself became shades to you. Until I became an echo of something theoretical, unreal. The dream became life, and life became dream.



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Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?

Dec 01 2010

On summarily executing Julian Assange and Dick Cheney

Conservatives want to summarily execute Julian Assange for leaking sensitive diplomatic documents that “expose American assets,” and yet that would mean we would have to execute Dick Cheney, as well, for leaking Valerie Plame’s identity.  Is that really fair?  Dick Cheney is already among the walking dead, whereas Julian Assange appears to have a pulse.  Are their lives truly equivalent?  Would taking each life have an equivalent force of law?  Just a philosophical question, as we clearly have no laws to speak of in this country.

Dec 01 2010

Flying Candy in Paktia Province, Afghanistan

Flying Candy

Operation Outreach Gardez volunteers toss candy to local children during a recent mission, October 24, 2010. The mission took place outside Forward Operating Base Lightning near a local Kuchi encampment, Gardez District, Paktia Province, Afghanistan. (Photo by U.S. Army Cpt. Kenneth Stewart, 17th Public Affairs Detachment)

Dec 01 2010

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

Time for a break from poetry…in order to create some art.

In the moment of our creation we receive the stamp of our individuality; and much of life is spent in rubbing off or defacing the impression.

–Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare


Ornamental 8

The following was written for a previous World AIDS Day.


Planet

Days Will Come

Days will come

when sanity will

regain supremacy,

when disease will

be battled without

political consideration,

when people’s deaths

will not be occasions

to seek out

personal advantage.

But not today.

–Robyn Elaine Serven
–December 1, 2005

Dec 01 2010

Late Night Karaoke

Dec 01 2010

exmearden archives

In Memoriam: Kris Froland 1958 – 2010

exmearden (Kris Froland) was one of the original editors here (uid #15).  A standout in an impressive group of writers buhdy invited to be part of Docudharma.  So I decided to compile all of the essays she wrote here to preserve and distribute her work to friends, family and the blog community.    It’s truly a blast from the past to revisit these posts.

Here is a link to all of the essays exmearden posted on our blog – comments included:  

Collected works of exmearden

This will take you to Google Docs where you can download a PDF (6 MB) version to your computer. Look for the File menu and then select “Download Original”.  Or read it there but it looks much better in Adobe.  

Dec 01 2010

Interpol Most Wanted Julian Assange

Having forced Sweden and Interpol to issue arrest warrants, they are now calling him an ‘anarchist’.

If the US gets away with this they have proved that the  rest of us are cowards.

Meanwhile Assange fired back:

In an online interview with Time magazine from an undisclosed location, Assange called on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to resign because of the cables asking diplomats to gather intelligence. “She should resign, if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage in the United Nations, in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up,” he said.

Dec 01 2010

The real state of the economy

  A few days ago Bonddad basically did a call-out diary to all skeptics on the economy. He called everyone who doubted the strength of the recovery a “Zombie Bear” (i.e. unthinking pessimist).

  He then went on to unload nearly three dozen charts.

 The one thing I could never accuse Bonddad of is an inability to read a chart. He’s got that down. My criticism of Bonddad has always been something else – he never asks “Why?”

 Since Bonddad would count me as a skeptic, and since Bonddad felt it necessary to call me out, I feel obligated to respond in kind.

Dec 01 2010

Experiencing Reality

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Most every spiritual system, be it institutionalized religion or various strains of spiritual practice that have survived the millennium in one form or another, all of them say something about the nature of reality itself.

The assumption being that we turn towards religion or spirituality because we have just finally said, “jesus, I just don’t know what’s going on any more and I’m not going to lie about it to myself any longer.”  Yes, pun intended.

Anyhoo, as my ma used to say.