I'll be your potiwan!

I'd have a hard time introducing this story any better than MSNBC.com:

Each class at the Idaho Police Officer Standards and Training Academy is allowed to choose a slogan that is printed on its graduation programs, and the class of 43 graduates came up with "Don't suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it."

Roland S. Martin, in a commentary featured on CNN.com, whines:

"This whole push to remove Christ from the Christmas season has gotten so ridiculous that it's pathetic."

Good point. It took two centuries (and just a little bit of plagiarism) to put him there in the first place. Call me nuts but ...I'd have thought the drive to drag it out of its current commercial morass would make you happy.

Look, why can't you just be happy to say whatever the fuck you want to say and worry your pious little head about what I say or don't say. I have never, in my entire 35 years, heard someone receive a "Merry Chrismas" and get offended.

Not once.

So take your imaginary war culture (theism, terrorism, drugs) and stick it up your puckered, self-righteous chimney.

Oh. And Merry Christmas.

"I didn’t get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn’t have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives. […] I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."

Mike Huckabee in 1998 at the National Pastors’ Conference

From an email that's making the rounds. Thanks to Ella for pointing it out.

'Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land
Not a Christian would shut up
'Bout their stupid demands

"Oh, help us!" they shouted in panicky voices
"These days when we shop there are holiday choices!
The children can't sing in their schools about Jesus,
except when they do, but it still doesn't please us

To hear about Kwanzaa and Hanukkah too.
They should know God does not hear the prayer of a Jew!"
Yet the schools and the stores would not listen, it seemed.
And the poor Christian zealots were getting quite steamed.

Some people remained puzzled by this position
They were mad stores stopped cheapening their religion?
"Don't they know mass appeal drives up sales left and right?
We though conservatives were pro-business types."

But the right-wingers screeched "It's barbaric! It's pagan!"
After prayers to twin portraits of Jesus and Reagan
Sure, the stores put up wreaths and play just Christmas music
But exclude the word 'Christmas'and watch everyone lose it.

Belligerent, haughty, but most of all pissed
They whined of a "war" that just doesn't exist.
Now Hannity, Coulter, now Limbaugh and Gibson
On Bill O and bloggers from Reno to Lisbon!

"We will fight through the wires 'bout displays at the mall
So write really bad parodies and forward them to all!"
Oh the Christians, they shouted! Oh the rest, how they scoffed!
"Just where in the hell do these assholes get off?"

The displays in the shop are the owner's decision,
As for schools don't forget there is no state religion
So you celebrate Christmas, and I might do the same
We will try to enjoy it, even though you're a pain
But you know what I'll say if you won't take my hints:

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU ZEALOTS, YOU'RE WORSE THAN THE GRINCH!

"There are some who may feel that religion is not a matter to be seriously considered in the context of the weighty threats that face us. If so, they are at odds with the nation's founders."

Mitt Romney, explaining his Mormon faith.

"...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Article 6 of the United States Constitution

Two of my favorite comedy clips of all time. Doug Stanhope is fucking brilliant

Patriotism:



How to Handle Anti-Abortion Protestors:

This whole mess involving Bush's nomination of Judge Mukasey for the Attorney General position has my head spinning.

Waterboarding -- I'm sure you've heard by now -- is a technique by which a person is subjected to drowning repeatedly until compliance is achieved.

Daniel Levin, then acting assistant attorney general, went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure to inform his analysis of different interrogation techniques. After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn't die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning.

Then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales showed up and fired his ass. Call me impolitic but one might wonder if the two events had anything to do with each other.

Fast-forward to 2007. Senators ask nominee Mukasey what he thinks of waterboarding. Mukasey says he finds the practice "abhorent." OK, that's nice. Pressed on whether it's illegal, he won't say and this is where things, as they say, start to go plaid.

Dana Perino at the White House Press Conference dated November 1st, 2007 said this:

And on this one, narrow issue, I think it is very unfair for somebody who is not read into a program --being briefed on a classified program, who doesn't have all the facts at his disposal, to be asked to render a legal opinion. None of us would want that from a judge, if we were in front of a judge in a court of law, we would not want a judge to render a decision without having all of the facts in front of him.

Somehow -- dear sweet Jesus, don't ask me how -- precious few people seem to be seeing through this incredibly clumsy trick. THERE'S NO FUCKING TOP-SECRET INFO THAT NEEDS TO BE HAD IN ORDER TO MAKE THIS CALL. Here, I can do this on an Etch-A-Sketch.

• Posit: Waterboarding is simulated drowning.
  
• Posit: Simulating drowning is the act of causing someone to fear they're being killed.
  
• Posit: Causing someone to fear they're being killed is torture.
  
• Therefore: Torture is illegal.
  

Therefore, by the transitive property, waterboarding is illegal.

Holy fucking shit, Batman! No CIA memos to parse, no programs to be "read into." No listening to this twat Perino spend five minutes running down the clock, answering a question she wasn't asked. Just plain old common sense.

WATERBOARDING IS TORTURE

The Kansas City Star sees it thus:

Mukasey should have been confirmed as attorney general by now. But now some key Democrats say they’ll vote against him because he wouldn’t rule out waterboarding as a form of “torture.” First, Mukasey declared torture unlawful and contrary to American values. He said waterboarding is “repugnant” but wouldn’t rule it out because he has no idea how or if it is used by U.S. interrogators. That’s classified information.

Who gives a shit if it's classified? Suppose the military decides to classify the details of how or if they use H2O. OK, fine, but that doesn't change the properties of water, does it?

It's still fucking wet, right?

Mukasey doesn't need to know if or how we're waterboarding in order to say whether or not the technique is legal. The mechanics are moot. If it causes someone to believe they're dying, it's illegal.

KCS continues:

Interestingly, senators demanding a Mukasey declaration on waterboarding declined to do so in crafting the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which only vaguely bans cruel and inhuman treatment.

Come again? Crafting? You mean the authors of the DTA? That would be Senators John McCain (R-AZ), John Warner (R-VA), and Lindsay Graham (R-SC), all three of them Republicans and not Democrats, all three of which have stated that they will vote for Mukasey.

It isn't much of a demand if ignoring it doesn't actually involve consequences, does it?

John Hutson is a retired United States Navy rear admiral, attorney, former Judge Advocate General of the Navy and current dean and president of Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire. He had this to say about waterboarding:

You know, torture is the method of choice of the lazy, the stupid and the pseudo-tough. And that should not be the United States. No matter how you define torture. It's unconstitutional, it violates statutes, it violates the UCMJ, it violates Common Article 3, it violates what your mother taught you and it violates what you learned in kindergarten. And we ought not be even close to it. ... Other than, perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, water-boarding is the most iconic example of torture in history. It was devised, I believe, in the Spanish Inquisition. It has been repudiated for centuries. It's a little disconcerting to hear now that we're not quite sure where water-boarding fits in the scheme of things.

I love the neocon dead-enders who blather on about how we're not as bad as al Queda. We're not the savages beheading people, right?

Yeah, maybe, but they chop off heads and then release the videotape. At least they're got the balls to admit to their own atrocities. Can't say the same for us.

Got arrested.

I can taste again, that's good.

Every day, approx 4,000 young adults light their first cigarette.

A study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University indicates that those who begin smoking by the age of twelve are:

   • sixteen times likelier to abuse marijuana,

   • five times likelier to abuse alcohol,

   • three times as likely to binge drink and;

   • seven times likelier to use other drugs like cocaine and heroin.

I guess that would qualify cigarettes as a gateway drug, right?

Obviously there is going to be a rousing chorus of indignant parents demanding that cigarettes be made illegal with stiff, decades-long minimum federal sentencing penalties for those who would peddle this kind of poison to our children.

Any second now. I'm sure of it.

J.K. Rowling read some Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to a packed audience at Carnegie Hall then took questions.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

Love it.

"Our country for the first time in my life time

has abandoned the basic principle of human rights.

We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply

to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo,

and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive

them of an accusation of a crime to which they

are accused."

                  Former President Jimmy Carter

 

One of the best xkcd's ever.

KIM HAD HER BABY!!

And Ella, if you're reading this we wasn't talking to you, this ain't your part of the show right now. =)

And so without further ado I'd like to welcome Mary Grace Harper into the world and, by extension, the nightmare we all known as the "Bush Administration."

Just kidding. Well, ...kinda.

But yeah, wow. Congratulations to my two favorite fundies.

On the other hand, if you don't invite me down to RI for a liberal application of my Nikon you're coming off my top eight MySpace friend's list and nobody wants that...

Quiz time!

Who said, "...intimidation and force ... and reports about very innocent people being thrown into detention where they could be held for years without any representation or charges is distressing."

(a) Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General on Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp.

(b) Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary on Myanmar Buddhist protest crackdown.

But wait, there's more...

Helen Thomas: Would [Bush] tell congress before he attacked Iran?
Dana Perino: Helen, we are pursuing a diplomatic solution in Iran.
Helen Thomas: Does he feel committed to ask Congress for permission?
Dana Perino: We are pursuing a displomatic solution in Iran.

     October 1st, 2007 White House Press Briefing

Reado n. To misread something. Analagous to typo.

Example.

Cira: I love my new emo hair, hahahah

Jason: Ha. Scene kid. *points

Cira: yea, eww. you can't see it in the pic, but the back of my head and the hair underneath is all bright red. fire engine red

Jason: Really! That sounds cool.

Cira: yea. it was my "vision". I love it

Jason: Nice.

Cira: but seriously, I'm the only one in Kentucky / Ohio with dyed hair. even at the show!!!!

Jason: I thought Keoki's hair was cool when it had those leopard prints. His club kid days were cool but as a DJ he sucks.

Cira: haha club kids. Keoki was Alig's bf, right?

Jason: Oh ...dunno about that. One sec.

Cira: ok

Jason: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Keoki

Cira: yea I know who he is. "As a young man he moved to New York City, where he met and began a romance with Michael Alig"

Jason: Oh my god, you're gonna laugh. I thought you were saying "Ali G's" boyfriend.

Cira: ohhhhh hahahahahah

Jason: I just misread it and thought "he's dating ...a character?"

Cira: lollll

Cira: read-o

Jason: New word.

Cira: yea!

Jason: I'm blogging.

My sentiments exactly (religion rant).

Props to Ella for sending this like ...2 months ago. =)

Congratulations, woman.

The girl who lives above Jennie found the camera on the steps and took it to make sure I'd get it back.

I'm back in biz.

*long, slow exhale

I'm gonna have to do something nice for that kid...

I lost my Nikon last night.

Shit happens. I wear a helmet.

Courtesy of Ella.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation Monday in a brief statement at the Justice Department. "I have lived the American dream," said Gonzales, the nation's first Latino to hold the post. "Even my worst days as Attorney General have been better than my father's best days."

That's probably because a construction worker can't fuck the Constitution sideways.

Gonzales described public service as "honorable and noble"...

Alberto, you signed off on the firing of federal prosecutors because they weren't "loyal Bushies" and then claimed you didn't know anything about any of it.

That narrows the options down to "liar" or "incompetent." Take your pick.

You attempted to strong-arm Attorney General Ashcroft in the hospital while he was in excruciating pain, barely conscious and all hopped up on goofballs.

You then lied about it to Congress. We know you lied because former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey was there. It's also flatly contradicted by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

So we can add "asshole" and "perjurer" to that list but sorry, still nothing even approximating "honorable" or "noble." Not exactly surprising, however, coming from the same gaggle of idiots that "planned" (I use that phrase loosely), executed and continue to profess that Iraq is going well.

Last night, post-work, I headed over to Ella's. Left around 11PM to catch the 12:10 home.

Arrived at North Station with about seven minutes to spare, no problem. The monitor that displays the gates has been removed. I look around the corner, the JumboTron thing that displays the gates is turned off. I hear someone say that Rockport is Gate 4. I head over, a female conductor that used to work the Rockport line is at the gate.

I make small talk then board. Geeze, this train is taking a long time to leave...

Fifteen minutes later the train is in motion. About ten minutes after that, I realize I forgot my wallet and I sought out a conductor -- hopefully one who knows me and that I normally have a Zone 8 pass -- to explain.

The good news is I find that Rockport conductor again. The bad news is she isn't working the Rockport line tonight.

"Are you on the wrong train?"
"... Tell me this is the Rockport train."
"...no...

And so there I am. West Medford. At 12:45AM. No busses. No commuter rails back into Boston. Can't find a payphone. No taxis at all and no wallet to pay one anyway.

That conductor was good enough to call Ella a few more times after I disembarked, that was nice of her.

I found a cab, took it all the way to Watertown. Ted was nice enough to front me $20, Ella covered my food and gave me an extra $21 for the trip home. Huge thanks to both for turning a hellish night into a fully tolerable one.

But now I'm home, I smell like a hirsute armpit and my brain can't figure out if it's awake or not.

Ugh.

RIP Phil Rizutto.

Here he comes, squeeze play, it's gonna be close, here's the throw, there's the play at the plate, holy cow, I think he's gonna make it!

"I get tired of people that are holier than thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have."

    Mitt Romney at the GOP debate

"We're pretty tired of people that are holier than thou because they believe in one particular version of God."

    67% of the globe's population who don't believe in Jesus.

"We're pretty tired of people that are holier than thou."

    The horde (2.5%) of atheists, agnostics and humanists who are "oppressing you."

Ella has a new kitten named BamBam that is just straight-up surreal. He has an almost human personality, very precocious, very curious, LOVES to be pet and will, without hesitation, step on your head if it helps matters and head butts if proper attention isn't given. And I don't mean one of those nudges cats do or even an urgent "hey you." We're talking billy goat style.

I'd think it was a reincarnated spirit if I believed in such things.

Wrote and arranged my first techno song. Well, it stands alone but it's really a hook for a longer song. This PSP is the bestest thing I have ever bought, hands down.

The life is beginning to even out, find its keel. Thank god.

They found this on someone's lawn in NJ.

Well that's amusing.

You may have seen the news that Conservative Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisianna has turned up as one of DC madame Palfrey's clients. Well, his wife is whining about the attention.

On MSNBC's Nightly News podcast, Wendy Vitter said, "Our marriage is stronger every day but for our children -- and now I'm going to speak to you as a mother and I hope you will understand -- it's been terribly hard to have the media parked on our front law and following us every day and yesterday the media was camped at our church."

Well Wendy, speaking as a citizen -- and I hope YOU will understand -- your husband is a politician. This means his private life is wide open to public scrutiny and when he is found to have frequented a brothel, while legislating under the guise of "family values" in particular, well ...uh ...tough shit.

Mrs. Vittner, if you didn't want the media attention and you didn't want your kids to endure the scrutiny that's openly and clearly stated in the job description, scrutiny essential to a functioning democracy, then perhaps you shouldn't have married a Senator who likes to stick his married dick in hookers.

Wendy, remember how your kids would do something wrong, you'd ground them and they'd get mad at you? Like the rest of us, you probably reminded them it was their own actions that caused the punishment, not you? Now would be a good time to remember that truism and come to grips with the fact that the only person responsible for your familiy's misery is Senator Vitter, your husband.

I'm not saying his actions are your responsibility but you don't get to bitch about the fallout.

MSNBC drones on:

And with a good deal of sadness in her voice Wendy Vitter said in most families this would have been handled completely privately but she lamented in the politics of today virtually nothing is private.

True but but "most families" don't write our laws or, in the case of your husband, legislate morality while proclaiming "marriage is truly the most fundamental social institution in human history."

Suck it up, buttercup. Life is hard. Wear a fucking helmet.

And speaking of the asshole Senator currently using his family as a shield, two hours after being contacted by a representative from Hustler about his phone number being found in the madame's black book, Senator Vitter released a press statement.

Well he didn't fucking write it in those two hours, it was prepared in advance. Which means if he never received the call, he never would have come clean. That's not "sorry," that's "sorry I got caught."

Sen. Vitter was perfectly content to lie to his entire constituency to save his own skin.

Zero sympathy. None.

On another political front, Harry Reid is going to continue the Senate session overnight in order to force a vote on Iraq and put Republicans on the record.

ABCNews.com calls this "political theater," comparing it to "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" because the effort is unlikely to to garner the 60 votes necessary to force cloture.

Which is kind of funny since I've never seen ABCNews.com call Bush's idiotic "troop surge" "political theater" since it has zero chance of succeeding.

One of these results in a loss of sleep and the other massive loss of American lives but hey, who's counting?

I reminded of a quote by Pulitzer, something about a servile press creating citizens as craven as itself. Or something.

In his defense, Virginia Senator John Warner says he cannot "support a binding timetable for withdrawal because it would usurp the president's constitutional power as commander in chief."

Hey, news flash for you, asshole, THAT'S YOUR FUCKING JOB.

I'm taking an indefinite hiatus from everyone.

If there is a real need, I can be reached either at work or home by phone.

"The prescription drugs allegedly found in Al Gore III's possession Wednesday are favorites among young people, according to drug abuse experts, who say prescription drugs may soon overtake street drugs in popularity. Some young people perceive that prescription drugs are safer than street drugs, experts say. "I wouldn't be surprised if right now at this point in time, there are more kids abusing prescription drugs than abusing marijuana," said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman and president of CASA, the National Center on Alcohol and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

That's what you get for twenty five years of claiming cannabis is just as bad as heroin. Now you're surprised that some teenager four years into discovering masturbation smokes a joint, realizes its harmless and thinks "maybe railing oxy isn't so bad either?"

STOP. LYING. TO. OUR. TEENAGERS.

And stop acting surprised when they act logically in response to those lies.

Douchebags.

The only way Olbermann could have been more flagrant was if he walked up to 1600 and flipped the chimp a double-deuce.

If you click on just one link from my blog this year, this should be it.

And just so I'm not captain bringdown, here, look at this.

"Actually, ma'am, we sh*t ourselves."

     • A pilot -- shot down and hot evaced under fire on the wing of an Apache going 120mph and no helmet -- replying to a CNN's reporters question on what military training instincts kicked in while his aircraft avionics, instrumentation and control surface was being liberally perforated by two fixed heavy machine gun positions and small arms fire (paraphrased)

I'm not making fun of these guys at all. I think it takes a lot of courage for someone in the military to admit blind fear on CNN.

Seriously, listen to these guys. "This is my first tour, ma'am, and I ain't never been shot at before today."

Yipes. That's a fine-how-do-you-do...

So anyway, there is a local skunk that makes the rounds, minds its own business and doesn't spray such that some locals don't even know it exists. I know the skunk exists because I've seen it myself.

Well today there was this little baby skunk walking the same path. And I didn't have my camera. *wince

Oh, almost forgot; don't do what Donny Don't does.

Nick just graduated. Bought a used car, his first, clearly loving the freedom and oblivious to all else.

Laura: Who is this?
Brendan Frye: I won't waste your time: you don't know me.
Laura: I know everyone, and I have all the time in the world.
Brendan Frye: Ah, the folly of youth.

     Brick

some days aren't yours at all
they come and go as if they're someone else's days
they come and leave you behind
someone else's face
and it's harsher than yours
and colder than yours

     Regina Spektor - "Somedays"

Ruby needs to cut back on the American Idol, I think.

Me: Well, look at the bright side. Paris Hilton has herpes.
Ella: Who?
Me: ...good answer...

Dragster loses control and spins into crowd, kills 4.

Dragsters: 4
Marijuana: 0

like an instrument for a song
like the sun for tomorrow's dawn
every moment of time's just an answer to find
what you're here for
what you breathe for
what you wake for
what you bleed for

     - Mute Math ("Progress")

"I loved to go out and shoot in strange places, to talk to the types of people I`d never meet were it not for the excuse of the camera. I love the heft of the black metal in my hands, the way it felt like a weapon. I love to press the shutter, to freeze time, to turn little slices of life into rectangles rife with metaphor. I love to collect the rectangles, like so many souvenir trinkets, to gaze at them, study them, find the one that best summarized a particular lived moment..."

     - Deborah Capaken Kogan

The model I photographed yesterday, her water just broke.

These pics are of someone's mother a day before their birth. And someday that person might look at these photos.

Wouldn't that be a cool thing to have?

It pains me, psychically, to hear Anderson Cooper reporting on Paris Hilton.

Now he's interviewing a Hilton flak who says being let go after two days on a 45-day sentence is completely normal because the jails are overcrowded. Not that its this guy's fault but who the fuck are they overcrowded with, anyway?

1.2 million non-violent drug offenders, that's who.

Thanks guys, thanks for letting the probation-flaunting car-driving drunk-a-holics go free while the guy who just wants to listen to Led Zepplen, ponder life and smoke something that doesn't even cause cancer is safely caged away from us civil folks out here.

Oh wait, the flak just compared Hilton's plight to Jack Nicholson's in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I think that poor man is on drugs himself now that I mention it...

Had my first "real" model shoot today. She's a friend of a friend of a friend. Due Tuesday

Yes, this Tuesday.

I knew what to put behind her, she knew how to be. It was a really good combination.





I was really honored to be asked.

Helvetica turns 50. *throws confetti

When the going gets weird, the weird go pro. So be it.

Speaking of which ...ow, owwie ow ow.

DO NOT WANT. Merf...

If natural disasters are god's wrath over sin, why does he send all the tornadoes and hurricanes to the so-called "Bible Belt"?

Some eleven year-old kid kills a 9ft, half-ton ...pig ...with a handgun. I'm not kidding, it's about the size of a small minivan.

It's odd that he's 11, it's odd that the pig is about as massive as a small minivan, but this statement just takes the cake.

"It feels really good. It's a good accomplishment. I probably won't ever kill anything else that big."

I'm extremely pro-gun but how did it come to pass that the destruction of the most rare and unique animal is cause for celebration? What other activity shares this dubious honor?

Headline of the Day:

"New U.S. Embassy in Iraq is world's biggest"

...which segues nicely into Quote of the day:

"What kind of embassy is it when everybody lives inside and it's blast-proof, and people are running around with helmets and crouching behind sandbags?"

    - a former top U.S. diplomat in Iraq.

Ann Coulter whines:

"Even Falwell's fans, such as evangelist Billy Graham and former President Bush, kept throwing in the "We didn't always agree" disclaimer. Did Betty Friedan or Molly Ivins get this many "I didn't always agree with" qualifiers on their deaths? And when I die, if you didn't always agree with me, would you mind keeping it to yourself?"

Don't worry about us, Ann. When you die the universe itself will smile.

"Let me be the first to say: I ALWAYS agreed with the Rev. Falwell."

What a coincidence! You've always been a twat!

Coincidence? I think not...

"First of all, I disagreed with that statement because Falwell neglected to specifically include Teddy Kennedy and "the Reverend" Barry Lynn."

You can almost hear Coulter wondering out loud, "What's the douchiest thing I can say to get back on the talkshow circuit and revive my delusion of relevance?"

Ah, I can't read any more of this article. It burns.

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- A woman blames the devil, and not her husband, for severely burning their infant daughter in a microwave, a Texas television station reported. Eva Marie Mauldin said Satan compelled her 19-year-old husband, Joshua Royce Mauldin, to microwave their daughter May 10 because the devil disapproved of Joshua's efforts to become a preacher.

Sounds like a rational defense to me. OK, maybe "rational" is not the right word. Perhaps the phrase "consistent with the Bible" is more accurate.

Hey, if God can command Abraham to offer up Issac, his son, to be burned to death, are we to believe that Satan is capable of less?

Since we obviously can't prove that the devil did or didn't put Mr. Maudlin to the task of microwaving his daughter, I recommend the judge pray about it and base his verdict on what god tells him.

And right after the verdict is read, why don't we split the country into two; one side secular, one side the faithful. You can keep the judge, Mr. Maudlin and we'll even throw in half of the space program if (and only if) you make Ralph Reed an astronaut.

Sure, space exploration is important but a faith-based shuttle launch would be worth its weight in gold.

Former President Jimmy Carter has been taking aim at the current chimp saying, "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto indicated that Carter was becoming "increasingly irrelevant" for expressing these views.

Amber Wilkerson, Republican National Committee spokeswoman, said it was hard to take Carter seriously because he also "challenged Ronald Reagan's strategy for the Cold War."

They say victory has a hundred fathers but defeat is an orphan.

We told you repeatedly that Bush's plans for Iraq were fatally flawed, we told you specifically why they were certain to fail and we have been right on every single count.

Carter is right, Miss Wilkerson and your man, the President you are paid to flak for, the sole director of the war who has had precisely ZERO restrictions placed on him for four years -- 1,500 days -- the "decider" who surrounded himself with sycophants assuring us and the complicit so-called "free press" that the war would be simple, the war would be quick and the war would pay for itself, the President who stumbled into Iraq without a plan (but no lack of swagger), the very epitome of Southern Baptist prayer and political might, the alpha and omega of right-wing Conservatism fucked up every single aspect of the war possible to fuck up.

And yet TO THIS VERY MOMENT, you continue to support him Miss Wilkerson.

When you get past the social stigma there's scant difference between Tony Snow et al and a prostitute, I think. Granted, one has something coming out of their mouth while the other has something coming in, but the prostitute has the distinct moral advantage of at least realizing they're for sale.

So tell me, what is it that makes you imagine your president -- much less you, his dutiful and oh-so-willing mouthpiece -- is taken seriously by the country he ostensibly leads?

If you've ever wondered how the various techno genres fit together thematically and chronologically, wonder no longer.

Thanks to Jen for cluing me in to this well-researched, extremely funny sampler.

Lessee, what else...

I ate bison last night and it was the best red meat I've had in my life. A slight char on the outside, red all the way through but not cold, melted in my mouth quicker than an ice cream soaked waffle cone.

The waitstaff explaining food to the adjacent diners was a tad bit weird, though.

"This venison was taken from the flank quarters of 'Bob,' a young but gregarious caribou born and bred on the southern tip of Nova Scotia."

TMI.

I wonder if our waitress heard me, though. She came over, put the food down and said, "your bison." It would have been even better if she simply pointed and said "meat."

I'm leaving Flickr, I'm no longer buying JPG, grr on the former, GRR on the latter.

More later, gotta run. This week has been nothing but...

My epic photo tribulations made it into the papers.

Spinning counterclockwise.

While doing research for another story, a reporter from BostonNOW (an upstart rival to the ubiquitous Metro) learned of my subway photography (and associated problems with the MBTA). A few emails turns into a twenty-minute interview on the phone. I'm told it'll likely be published Monday, maybe Tuesday.

Well this is going to be an interesting week...

In a thread attached to a video of James Randi making Uri Geller look stupid (yes, again), KING777TUTT wrote:

"There is twenty known constants in the universe, the electon volt measured at something like 10 to the power of -34, the speed of light, gravity and so on. If even one of these constant's values were moved one decimal place to the left or right the whole universe wouldn't work. It's sooo finely tuned its incredible. So the scientific community have come up with the theory of an infinte number of universes to explain it."

Nonsense.

Imagine for a moment you're a penny. If a penny could think, you might marvel at your situation...

How many different ways -- most not condusive to copper accumulating -- might the earth have formed? What are the odds of the earth forming at all? What are the odds that you'd wind up on a planet that can host life, much less develops life, much less life capable and inclined to extract ore?

What are the odds that your copper bits would even wind up on terra firma? Realize that copper is created by supernovae so most of it exists in space until gravity (read; mass) tells it otherwise.

And what are the spectacularly unlikely chances of YOUR particular chunk of copper being at the top 1% of the surface that man can reach? What are the odds that your particular rock would be in the 0.001% of copper that humans would extract from that thin crust humans can reach at all?

In fact, think about how unlikely it is that the specific mining company exists at all! If the mining company founder's parents didn't meet, or their parents didn't meet, or THEIR parents didn't meet, or have kids, or not get killed in a duel or by some disease, through dozens of generations, the odds of you existing go down dramatically. How about the specific human that actually pulled you out of the earth and what had to happen for them to be at that spot at that time?

How about the happenstance for the person who wrote the schedule? Really, what are all the things that had to happen for everyone involved in your extraction to exist in the precise state necessary for you to become a penny? What if the foreman didn't have a cold ten years earlier, a cold that caused him to sneeze while waiting for the bus, a sneeze that caused him to meet his future wife three years later?

When you consider your existence as a penny you must also consider every little minor, insignificant action we make that winds up impacting out lives dramatically. It's known more coloquially as the so-called "Butterfly Effect."

But let's get more specific; how about the pocket you reside in right now? Since 1972 you've been passed from pocket to pocket, from person to person, from cornerstore tienda to 7/11 to McDonalds to Macy's, tens of thousands of transactions, ALL of which had to occur with ZERO deviation for you to be in the pocket you're in. If ANYONE in those 35 years decided to split a dollar bill instead of using change, or dropped you into the leave-a-penny cup to save pocketspace, or if ANYONE in those 35 years forgot to empty their pockets before washing their pants at the laundrymat or if ANYONE in those 35 years didn't remember to grab their change before leaving the house ...well ...you wouldn't be in the pocket you're in, would you?

The odds of all these things happening the way they did, with no deviation, are a trillion billion to one.

And despite all this, without any divine guidance, here you are. In this pocket.

KING777TUTT, you probably want to instinctively object and say "but if I wasn't passed from human to human in that exact sequence I'd just be in someone else's pocket." That's correct but now you'd be asking how unlikely it is that you were THERE which only demonstrates that your position isn't actually terribly unique.

On the other hand you might argue, "If I was never mined, or smelted, or formed into a penny, I wouldn't be around to ask the question at all."

And you'd be right!

When broken down your argument takes two forms:

    • If things were different then things would be different.

    • If we weren't here to ask the question, we wouldn't be here to ask the question.

...and both are tautologies.

This is hilarious. Front page of ABCNews.com:

Study Finds Drug Abuse by 10 Percent of U.S. Adults

The researchers based their findings on interviews with 43,093 people in 2001 and 2002. They estimated 10.3 percent of U.S. adults abused drugs during their lifetimes, including 2.6 percent who become addicted.

Ten percent? Really?? I could have sworn the incidence of drug use in high school was waaay higher. And everybody knows that use = abuse. ^[1]

So I headed over to the Google.

Hm. Something isn't right. According to the CDC, 40% of teens have tried marijuana alone.

Now ...call me crazy but if we make the assumption that 100% of adults were once teens and factoring in the official government "drug use is abuse" party line then ...at least four out of every ten adults are or were drug abusers "during their lifetime."

Right?

See, our government can't be consistent and say 40% of Americans have abused drugs in their lifetime because it would become instantaneously and blindingly obvious that (a) drug use must not be so terrible (since society hasn't burned to the ground) or (b) "abuse" is immediately proven to be a meaningless fucking term.

Think about this for a moment; forty percent of the population. Two out of every five. More than one in three. If you've got two neighbors and they're not pill-snorting meth junkies, guess what?

YOU'RE IT.

So they just say "10% of adults." Sounds plausible. Sounds epidemic-ish. And most importantly, keeps the middle class worried enough to keep funneling $20,000,000,000 (that's "billion" if you lose count) into the anti-drug law enforcement cartel.

Besides, nobody has a fucking memory in this country. Dick Cheney, to this very day, continues to claim that Saddam Hussein had WMD and something to do with 9/11.

-----

^[1] To cite just a single example, The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, a government organization and a branch of the National Institutes of Health), publishes a "research report" on "marijuana abuse." The word "abuse" appears 22 times (excluding domain names, citations, etc.) over a whopping eight pages. Use is never distinguished from "abuse" and despite having a glossary, "abuse" is never defined.

^[2] From the U.S. Department of Agriculture website (no, seriously): For the government, any use at all of an illegal drug or misuse of a legal drug is drug abuse.

The latest.



...though it's much more impressive when viewed large on black.

I can't be specific -- because this journal isn't private and there are people who I'd rather not know details -- but something very odd, something very serreptitious happened to me last week. Suffice it to say that when all the dust settles, the hand is going to be on the other foot.

I should mention that large piles of credit go to Jennie for putting me in a state where I could receive it constructively.

PS: If I'm aware that you read this journal, you're not who I'm worried about. Just nudge me and I'll explain.

More people flock to the scene; rush-hour pedestrian traffic backs up; tempers flare; the National Guard is called; tear gas, rubber bullets, etc.

Oliver North v2.0.

Simple political math says whatever is in those emails is more damaging than being brought up on charges of violating the Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978.

The plot thickens.

In one instance, Mr Abramoff, who is serving a 70-month sentence on corruption charges, sent an e-mail to Susan Ralston, executive assistant to Karl Rove, the president's chief political strategist, on her RNC account about a gaming-related decision by the department of the interior.

When the e-mail was forwarded to another official in the White House e-mail system, Mr Abramoff was warned by an associate who said the official "said it is better not to put this stuff in writing in their e-mail system because it might actually limit what they can do to help us".

Mr Abramoff responded: "Dammit. It was sent to Susan on her RNC pager and was not supposed to go into the WH system."

Apparently this administration has been using Republican National Committee funded-and-supplied communication equipment (computers, Blackberries, etc.) which is fine so long as all government communications go through the official computers, in compliance with the with Presidential Records Act.

In the process of sifting through the l'embarras des richesses otherwise known as Bush Administration scandals, something interesting happened:

The private e-mail system came to light in the U.S. attorney controversy because one of Rove's deputies used an RNC-maintained e-mail domain — gwb43.com — to communicate with the Justice Department about replacing one of those prosecutors.

Karl Rove is using an off-the-radar laptop and email address?

And we now know that it's been used to "conceal contacts with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff?"

Well that's interesting. Logically, there are two possibilities...

The first is that Rove didn't know that these laptop's contents weren't making it into the record but it's inconceivable that every single person involved in the purchase, sale, distribution and use of these devices was ignorant of this federal law. In fact it's how they got Clinton.

The second option is that Karl did know these were shadow devices with a de facto invisibility in regards to things like, oh, say, subpoenas. Oh hell, a cynic might even say that's why they existed in the first place!

Now Karl wouldn't skirt the law if he thought there was any reasonable chance he'd get caught and if he doesn't think he'll get caught, he'd consider the communications to be secure.

Now what would Karl Rove do with communications methods that he believed were ironclad?

Oh MY this is going to be a fun April...

But Jesus Christ, don't you all long for the good ole days when our biggest national concern was the president having his dick sucked?

What the heck did I just see?

You saw SCUL, an anti-elite band of pilots testing out experimental ships, exploring the Greater Boston Starystems and occasionally other galaxies. We are an organized battalion of funk. Our routine patrols keep your skies secure. We bust the funk, crush the cup, and hi-five the populous.

Posi.

"I will kill you with my mind. ... Stand still!"

     Ella

No shit, ya think?

And really, do you need a study for that one? It's kind of obvious to anyone with an internet connection, an inclination to wonder if we're being fed obscene quantities of bullshit and the google.

HOW THE FUCK IS THIS NEWS?! Four hundred THOUSAND people in the United States die every year from cigarettes alone. Meanwhile, research indicates that cannabinoids retard cancer growth.

"The smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health."

     the British medical journal Lancet, 1995

"I do this real moron thing, it's called thinking, and I'm not a very good Amercian because I like to form my own opinions."

     George Carlin ("Jammin' in New York")

Photography is protected by the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It also happens to be protected by the 16th Article of the Massachusetts Constitution. Nobody in their right mind would entertain the idea of applying for a permit to associate with their friends. Not in America. At least not yet.

For the same reason, I did not apply for an application to take photographs on the MBTA. It's a civil right. It's already mine.

After being stopped and interrogated by MBTA police for photography in the subway last month, after weeks of hounding the MBTA to actually disclose, in writing, what their policy IS on photography on the subway without a permit, after a dozen (or so) unanswered emails and about as many unreturned phone calls, this morning I spoke to Mary Logalbo, an MBTA lawyer. She specializes in Constitutional law.

Apparently Mrs. Logalbo obtained permission from the MBTA Deputy Police Chief Paul MacMillan to fax me a DRAFT COPY of their photography policy. It expressly allows amateur photography on the MBTA but requires that you provide ID upon request, photography of the subject cannot pose a security risk, the activity of shooting cannot disrupt MBTA operations and the pictures must be for strictly non-commercial use only.

No more background check.

No more one-month expiration.

John Reinstein and the ACLU deserve a lot of credit for forcing the MBTA to reconsider the policy and put it on legally defensible footing. Note the "original issue date" of 2006 -- this policy was likely written in response to Reinstein's letter to MBTA Police Chief Joseph Carter in June of that year. All my yapping did, I suspect, is get me a copy of the draft before anyone else.

You can find a copy of the draft policy here.

One of my photographs is being used by a Boston University a capella group, the Dear Abbeys. The person putting together the art was nice enough to drop me a note on Flickr:

...your photo will most likely be used on the inner pages of the insert. ... Our albums typically sell a few thousand copies so your work will be seen by many.

*beams

Branded city.

Randy Couture has always been my favorite UFC fighter because he doesn't talk shit, he just shows up and (usually) kicks a lot of ass. And that time Couture (literally) spanked Ortiz for all the yapping he did pre-match didn't hurt his cause any.

But ...last I knew he retired. I just watched his UFC 68 fight vs. Syliva fight.

Holy crahp.

Anyway...

So yeah, McCain wants to be a strict constructionist on the Constitution.

But let's go back in time to June of 2005; Raich v. Ashcroft before the Supreme Court.

Raich argues that the Constitution specifically states that the powers not granted to the federal government belong to the state and while one of those rights enumerated is the ability to control interstate commerce, it says nothing at all about intrastate commerce. And it's under the guise of regulating interstate commerce that the federal government outlaws marijuana.

But Raich grows it herself. The government has no authority, Raich argues, since there is no interstate commerce involved.

This is the part where you should sit down because if you didn't already know, you're going to think I'm making this shit up.

The government argues that if people are allowed to grow it themselves, then marijuana consumers won't have to buy it from drug dealers. Nevermind the pesky little detail that this a thing the governmen spends billions trying to accomplish themselves. So if Raich et al don't have to buy it from the street, demand will naturally go down. If the demand goes down, the price will go down and since the market affected is the illegal drug market, which in turn takes place largely across state lines, the government claims this gives it the purview to regulate home-grown cannabis.

Clear as mud, right? No, the Supreme Court thinks this is a perfectly rational line of thought.

But wait, it gets better.

This hearkens back to Wickard v. Filburn in which a farmer argued that the wheat which his family consumed was not taxible since it wasn't sold and therefore didn't qualify as interstate commerce. The government argued that since he wasn't buying it on the open market, the action was indeed affecting prices. And by that same contorted mental judo, concluded their right to tax a snail fart if that odor drifted into another state.

Just to be clear, Justice Antonin Scalia -- a loyal Conservative who once said "I always used to laugh at Wickard" -- voted with the majority in Raich v. Ashcroft.

So would it be too much to expect our free, predictable, incompetent and feckless media to ask McCain a simple question? "If you're for a more strict interpretation of the Constitution when it comes to abortion, would you also be for a strict interpretation on the government's regulation of marijuana that could not ...regardless of how stoned you might make yourself ...be understood as 'interstate?'"

Probably.

Newt Gingrich doesn't see himself as a hypocrite for leading the Republican mob against Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal while engaging in an extramarital affair at the same time.

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."

OK, I get it. Man's laws are sacrosanct. God's laws ...eh, not so much...

New pho7o.com launched tonight. Feedback welcome.

On February 27th, I was stopped by MBTA (Boston subway) staff and told that it is illegal to take photographgs. The police were called, I was told it is a "federal crime" to take pictures on the subways, my notebook was seized without being under arrest and finally, I was informed that asking for the employee information of the MBTA staff who stopped me was "reasonable suspicion" to compel me to provide my ID on upon demand.

(Wrong, wrong and wrong.)

If you want a slightly more verbose version, head here. If I know you personally, email me, I'll send the detailed transcript.

Suffice it to say (a) the ACLU has told the MBTA to knock it off before, (b) they intend to proceed with a lawsuit and (c) I might be the person bringing the lawsuit.

While I'm not a lawyer, my specific incident has a lot of things going for it. It happened almost entirely in the Havard station atrium which is brimming with cameras, I kept my cool the entire time, I did not get arrested, there were witnesses and I was told repeatedly that photography on the subways is illegal.

What's really confused me is the number of people I've encountered who think that a no-photography policy in the subway actually makes sense. Three points.

• A camera merely collects light. It doesn't see what you and I cannot so if it's within public view, it's within view. From a tactical perspective, my camera doesn't see anything a person with criminal intent and a reasonable memory wouldn't.

• With 1.3 MP cameraphones being ubiquitous today, what makes anyone but a fool think that we can actually stop photography?

• Finally, for the "things have changed since 9/11 crowd," a simple phrase essential to our country seems to have been forgotten; "Give me liberty or give me death!"

What these words mean is that there are things worse than dying. A loss of liberty is one of them.

SPECTER: When did you last read the case?

GONZALES: It has been a while, but I’ll be happy to — I will go back and look at it.

SPECTER: I looked at it yesterday and this morning again.

GONZALES: I will go back and look at it. The fact that the Constitution — again, there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution. There is a prohibition against taking it away. But it’s never been the case, and I’m not a Supreme —

SPECTER: Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. The constitution says you can’t take it away, except in the case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus, unless there is an invasion or rebellion?

GONZALES: I meant by that comment, the Constitution doesn’t say, “Every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas.” It doesn’t say that. It simply says the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except by —

SPECTER: You may be treading on your interdiction and violating common sense, Mr. Attorney General.

GONZALES: Um.

______________________


Please do not let this stunning bit of Attorney General ass-hattery overshadow the wonderful smackdown of Tim Hardaway Hardaway courtesy of Mr. Sulu.

Fscking pwned.

(courtesy of ella)

Oh Don Piano.

• Accidentally bleached my favorite shirt while cleaning.

• Managed to dislocate the door on my girlfriend's dishwasher. Fixed it but not after ripping some skin off a finger.

• My computer has developed a virus. About two months of images hang in the balance. Sad about the whole thing, really.

Save for some bright spots, the weekend has been semi-craptacular.

In line yesterday @ Fillipe's, a restaurant in Harvard Sq.

me: Sorry for staring, you look just like someone I know. But ...you're not him.
stranger: I hope he's a nice guy.
me: Ex-boss, actually and yeah, he's nice. Aside from being a Republican.
stranger: [pause] What's wrong with Republicans?
me: Dude, I only have a half-hour for lunch.

So ...a funny thing happened to me yesterday...

sent: Feb 14, 2007 3:21PM from: Jason to: Jane subject: re; sales order These parts (PT1234 x 3) shipped by DHL, tracking # xxxxxxxxxxx

sent: Feb 14, 2007 3:26PM [5 minutes later, this can be forgiven] from: Jane to: Jason subject: re; PT1234 Please ship PT1234 x 3 ASAP.

sent: Feb 14, 2007 4:40PM [74 minutes later] from: Jason to: Jane subject: re; PT1234 The PT1234s already shipped (see email time stamped Feb 14, 2007 3:21PM).

sent: Feb 14, 2007 5:59PM [79 minutes later] from: Jane to: Jason subject: re; PT1234 Please provide a tracking number for 1234's shipment and confirm how many parts were sent.

"I'll bury her. She has never written anything that's been a hit."

     Toby Keith in 2002 on Natalie Maines

Here's a little chart to help Mr. Keith. Maybe the Grammys are past his bedtime, I don't know.

     Grammy count
     ------------
    Toby Keith: 0
Natalie Maines: 5

I've said it for years. People turn their brains off when it comes to computers. So hats off to whoever came up with this skit -- says it better than I ever could.

A shot from the free Jewel show @ South Station:



And the Dixie Chicks got a grammy. Me, I hate country music, I think award shows are generally for artistic whores but I'm really, really glad this goes up the collective asses of every Republican and Clear Channel.

Fuck them. Fuck them right in the ear.

It's kind of creepy that Anna Nicole Smith drops dead and her Wikipedia page is updated before the CNN email alert hits my inbox.

[edit: people are just mean...]

An element of my job is to coordinate with the Mexico office to facilitate movement and orders of parts.

This is an exchange that occurred yesterday, presented in chronological order.

This is why they drive me nuts.

sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 10:34AM from: Bob to: Jason cc: Jane subject: broken 3005s Sixteen of these part arrived broken, please send replacements.

sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:20PM from: Jason to: Jane cc: Bob subject: re; broken 3005s These go out today via UPS, tracking # xxxxxxxxxxxx

sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:57PM from: Jane to: Jason cc: Bob subject: re; broken 3005s Thanks!

sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 5:20PM from: Jane to: Jason subject: re; broken 3005s Sixteen of these part arrived broken, please send replacements.

My bad. It wasn't Dick Cheney that said the child wasn't a prop, it was Mary, his daughter

I thought it was kind of odd that ole Tricky Dick referred to his grandchild as "my child..."

That having been said, my sentiment doesn't change much. I'd elaborate but theStranger.com sums it up nicely.

In today's New York Times Mary Cheney defends her decision to get her lezbo self knocked the fuck up. Like her father, Mary Cheney believes she shouldn't have to answer for her party's attacks on same-sex parents. Nice try, Mary. Yes, it's a baby, not a prop. My kid isn't a prop either, but that never stopped right-wingers from attacking me and my boyfriend over our decision to become parents. The fitness of same-sex couples to parent is very much part of the political debate thanks to the GOP and the Christian bigots that make up its lunatic "base." You're a Republican, Mary, you worked on both of your father's campaigns, and you kept your mouth clamped shut while Karl Rove and George Bush ran around the country attacking gay people, gay parents, and our children in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. It's a little late to declare the private choices of gays and lesbians unfit for public debate, Mary.

Meanwhile, I learned that it isn't illegal to take photographs on the MBTA like I've been told (and thrown out of stations for). Further, there is no written MBTA rule against it. The ACLU threatened to sue the MBTA if they didn't knock off their capricious and utterly ridiculous, selective harassment of photographers.

What does this mean? It means the next time I get told or asked to not take pictures, and assuming I can afford the time to be detained, I'm going to refuse.

re; gay parents:
"This is a baby," Cheney said Wednesday at a forum sponsored by Glamour magazine. "This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child."

That's rich, coming from a guy whose party's policy has been to do precisely that for the last thirty years.

re; Mooninites attack repelled:
Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards "bomb-like" devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged transportation infrastructure in the city.

Yeah, and if the worms had machine guns the birds wouldn't fuck with them. So?

Judge Paul K. Leary told Grossman that, according to law, the suspects must intend to create a panic to be charged with placing hoax devices.

Yay, someone sane enters the fray!

"It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location," Assistant Attorney General John Grossman said at their arraignment.

Ok, so ignore my previous post. The AAG is a shameless, lying political whore. As pissed as some people are at these guys, if you were going to try to cause fear and unrest, is this how you'd do it?

Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 10:39:00 -0500 From: Jason To: Boston Metro, Boston Herald, Boston Globe Subject: Reality Check on the ATHF Advert If thirty of these illuminated, Lite-Brite-esque, page-sized advertisements have been blinking all over Boston for the last two weeks, why weren't they noticed sooner? And if thirty of these can sit in plain sight (in ten major metropolitan cities) for fourteen days, witnessed by tens of thousands of people and dozens (if not hundreds) of cops, none of whom felt concerned enough to raise an alarm, why are some people so eager to say those responsible are criminal charge-worthy fools who should have known better? Fact is, Menino & Co. are screaming at the top of their lungs so nobody notices we aren't actually safe but we have become a nation of robots in the process of pretending we are. Really, does anyone seriously believe a terrorist would decorate their bomb with an obscene gesturing alien that lights up? Sincerely, Jason Desjardins

From a Boston Globe article titled "Froth, Fear, and Fury":

"Berdovsky, who described himself as " a little kind of freaked out," faces up to five years in prison on charges of placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic and disorderly conduct."

Checking Massachusetts General Laws we find:

CHAPTER 266. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY
Section 102A1/2. (a) Whoever possesses, transports, uses or places or causes another to knowingly or unknowingly possess, transport, use or place any hoax device or hoax substance with the intent to cause anxiety, unrest, fear or personal discomfort to any person or group of persons shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than two and one-half years or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

If you don't have intent, you don't actually have a crime, and the Attorney General obviously knows this. So what does it mean when the AG is willing to charge those responsible with a law they know wasn't actually broken?

Everyone needs to get a grip. It was a bone-headed mistake made by some poor sap that, unfortunately, spiraled way out of control. No more, no less.

Shit happens. Get a fucking helmet.

So this morning I'm at the North Station Green Line inbound and the announcer is yak yak yak but I've got Regina Spektor on the phones. Something about the Orange Line being fuxx0red.

I get to work and Ella tells me Boston is paralized due to "suspicious packages" being found all over Boston. She rattles off the locations, I know them all.

Later we catch a screenshot of one of the objects being removed.



Ella: Hey, look, it's a Mooninite.
Me: Holy crap you're right...

So amidst the sirens that have been screaming past my window all day long, we find out that this is an advertising campaign gone horribly, horribly wrong. Even better, this is happening all over the country.

And so Ella sends me this:

"I hope you can see this, Boston, because I'm doing it as hard as I can."


Which reminds me...

I'm an entropy fan, when I first heard of entropy in high school science I was attracted to it immediately. When they told me that in nature all systems are breaking down, I thought what a good thing, what a good thing, perhaps I can make some small contribution in this area myself.

     George Carlin ("Jammin' in NY")

[update] Christ, I really wish I was on that bomb disposal crew.



...because I would have just died laughing.

Me: merfy merfy merf merf.
Ella: Shut up, Muffy, or I'll punch you in the dash.
Ella: ... I got nuthin'
Me: merfy merf.
Thais: You guys are funny.
Me: You should see us when we're stoned.
Ella: That was funny. ... Where's Paul? Don't say that again.

• Got a raise. It was scheduled and it was deserved. Yay.

• Got a small bonus. It was mentioned, once, and described as completely arbitrary. I forgot about it. So that was a nice surprise.

• Apparently the Mexico office loves me. More good news.

• I don't have strep which is good and bad. Good because it isn't strep and bad because I just have to live with it. BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY, I ALWAYS SAY!

That's all for now. My life has been nothing but a blur of commute and shipping stuff so ...nothing worth adding. =)

This is an exchange I had with a co-worker in China. They're extremely nice.

From: Jason To: Sunny Sent: Tue 1/23/2007 3:13 PM Subject: 7-2870 | DS2434 x 1,050 早晨好, Kavin & Sunny!, Your 1,050 x DS2434s ship today via DHL, tracking # [redacted]. 恳切地, Jason

From: Sunny To: Jason Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 4:25 AM Subject: RE: 7-2870 | DS2434 x 1,050 Dear Jason, Noted with thanks! Your chinese is better and better. For good morning, we often say "早上好" not "早晨好". Sunny

From: Jason To: Sunny Sent: Wed 1/24/2007 10:43 AM Subject: RE: 7-2870 | DS2434 x 1,050 Thanks Sunny! It’s funny you should point that out – about ten minutes ago I was thinking, “I should probably ask Sunny if the translator is accurate or if I just asked her something silly. Like "have a large bowl of Polish icecubes." 恳切地!, Jason

From: Sunny To: Jason Sent: Thu 1/25/2007 4:59 AM Subject: RE: 7-2870 | DS2434 x 1,050 Dear Jason, I am very happy I can help you learning Chinese. Would you like teach me English? I am not sure what is meaning for "have a large bowl of Polish icecubes". Could you explain for me? Thank you very much in advance. Best regards! Sunny

Uh oh...

My throat is killing me. Feels like someone took a band-saw to it. But it's the only thing that isn't functioning right, so that's a plus. The downside is that coughdrops are barely helping.

Plus they taste like sh*t after ten hours.

This pretty much sums up the bane of my existence:



well maybe you should just drink a lot less coffee
and never ever watch the ten o'clock news
maybe you should kiss someone nice
or lick a rock
or both

     Regina Spektor ("Ghost of Corporate Future")

"So then she sticks her finger in my asscrack and says woooooOOOOOO."

Oh, this is a riot.

"Britain, Japan and Australia joined the United States on Friday in voicing concern about the rising militarization of space after China successfully carried out a test of an anti-satellite weapon."

This is what drives me absolutely batshit about this country; one set of rules for us, another for everyone else.

"It's politically sensitive, but it’s going to happen. Some people don’t want to hear this, and it sure isn't in vogue, but—absolutely—we're going to fight in space. We're going to fight from space and we're going to fight into space. That's why the US has development programs in directed energy and hit-to-kill mechanisms. We will engage terrestrial targets someday—ships, airplanes, land targets—from space."

     Commander-in-Chief of US Space Command, Joseph W. Ashy, Aviation Week and Space Technology, August 9, 1996, quoted from Master of Space by Karl Grossman, Progressive Magazine, January 2000

"The United States will preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so; take actions necessary to protect its space capabilities; respond to interference; and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to US national interests."

     Bush's National Space Policy

"The United States has been researching satellite-killers of its own, experimenting with lasers on the ground that could disable, disrupt and destroy spacecraft."

     MSNBC.com

Some of the news stories actually point out this hypocritical stance but it's buried at the bottom 1/3rd of every story I could find.

This isn't isolated. The United States government lies, assassinates, installs puppet regimes, you name it -- then musters up enough chutzpah to expresses righteous indignation in the same breath.

We should be indignant. But if we weren't participating ourselves, maybe we wouldn't be laughed off the world stage.

Decided to spend my evening in Boston last night. The plan was to get some long-overdue sheets for my bed and take some shots of the skyline.

Bought the sheets, discovered that payphones no longer exist, shadows are against copany policy in the Apple store, there isn't a single place in that unholy monument to consumerism that sells musical keyboards and chalupas kinda taste like shit if you don't eat one for a long time.

Subway back to Kendall, walked ten minutes and set up my tripod on the bank of the Charles. It was fucking freezing. Cold enough to make you fingers no longer responsive after only a minute of exposure. Spent about :45 in 20°F plus wind to snap off a 9-frame HDR panorama.

Thought to myself, "I wonder if I should check the time? Naaah. ... Hm, maybe I should..." And so my cellphone reads 10:15PM and I stare at it for a few seconds doing the math. "That can't be right" but it is because cellphones don't lie.

I do the math. Twenty minutes to get all the way to North Station. The walk back to Kendall will take 7-8 minutes, the ride from Kendal to Park St. is maybe 2 minutes, the ride from Park to North Station is another nine. That leaves me six minutes of wiggle room to catch my train. I start jogging.

A cab passes which reminds me that cabs exist. I flag the next one down, get to the train with time to spare. Eight bucks. Ow. Cab fares always make me wince.

I process the pics on the train once I convince my fingers to return to active duty. The pictures all suck. The HDRs suck and the pictures won't stitch anyway.

I get home, so happy to be mere minutes away from lala land. I rip open the new sheets, start to put them on and ...they're the wrong size.

Six hours later I wake up for work.

95% of the time I shoot the left side of the train. It's more scenic and there are far less powerlines in the field of view. It also has the benefit of almost always being at right angles to the sun. But sometime around Bevery Farms I look back and see this:



All things being equal, this view is pretty much the most photogenic shot on my entire trip on any given day. This morning it was lit up perfectly with a blanket of cotton candy clouds floating over the water's surface. It was like the sky had landed on the water and it would have been one of my best pics to-date if I'd been set up for it. All I could do is snap off two shots with my camera settings all wrong and watch it float by.

Almost got off at the next stop. Came as close as you can without actually doing it.

My day had better get better. =)

"I've got to support the president," said Rick Johnson, a former serviceman and the store's owner, as he waited on customers. "I jumped in the boat when he jumped in the boat. I am not going to jump out now."

Even if the president left both your lifejackets in the pickup, dropped both oars into the ocean, forgot the map and is currently drilling holes in the hull?

Ok, so they're going to remain loyal. Stupid, but loyal.

But Johnson and other staff members said that even though they backed the Iraq war and the president, it didn't mean their support was automatic or unqualified.

Ok, so it isn't a matter of loyalty, really, it's a difference of opinion about whether or not Bush's mission of achieving a Jeffersonian democracy in Iraq is still possible?

Now they're just stupid.

"He [Bush] is saying we should stay in there until we fix it. It doesn't mean we shall stay in here until we all die," he said, adding that the world should look to the United Nations to solve problems rather than always turning to Washington.

Right, because the U.N. encouraged us to invade Iraq? WTF are these people smoking?!

Bush was apparently upset about the Saddam Hussein hanging video.

What's a bloody shame is ...if the guard didn't take the video, the world wouldn't know that this even happened. Perhaps someone present would speak up only to be squelched by the Pentagon as Iranian propaganda.

Unless, of course, you actually believe they'd admit to anything if there was any way at all to deny it. Remember when they denied using white phosphorus in Falujah until the evidence became too overwhelming? Then the story changed to "ok, we didn't target civilians..."

So why does our president only get upset when shown multimedia of his failures? Katrina, Abu Ghraib, this... Maybe someone should send Bush a documentary DVD about the last six years of his administration.

I've recently been prescribed Adderall. This, for a reason I neither forsaw nor comprehend, has caused me to lose pretty much all desire to smoke weed.

Much to my chagrin, that hole has been filled with another habit; coffee. Specifically, a two large iced caramel latte per day habit.

Ironically enough, my weed habit was cheaper. Go figure.

Best viewed large on black or white.

A quarry @ Halibut Point, Rockport, MA. 65°F in January. The ocean is actually visible between the trees to the right. Always a nice place to see a sunset but this was just spectacular.

I've been told there are a pair of freshwater eels that live here.

This is an HDR spanning -3 to +3EV, processed and tone mapped in Photomatix. I try to make my HDR shots look as close as possible to the scene I viewed and the view really was this amazing. I only applied moderate ("normal") contrast and pretty light unsharp mask.