Waiting for Vizzini

New Year's Miscellany

2011-01-03T04:51:00.003-05:00

So I went to Cafe Europa for New Year's alone. I'm still fairly recently single by my standards. I can't resist talking to new people and I couldn't help but notice that New Year's seems not to be a holiday for single folk. Now it certainly isn't as in your face about it as Valentine's day which manages to be a pushy arrogant and self satisfied holiday which I can't help loving when I have someone to celebrate it with and hating when I don't.

Honestly though New Year's does make you take stock and honestly taking stock is never a good thing as we always seem to concentrate on stocks that tank and can't really think about those that went up. If you're wondering this last year was extremely bearish for yours truly I put all my money on what I thought was blue chip but turned out to be wildcat stock.

When I was there though I found people open and friendly and unfailingly gracious to a lone interloper like myself. I'm glad I went out. I met someone who works in foreign service, a proprietress of a small shop, a behind the camera person from a local news station, really tall people from brooklyn that still love North Carolina enough to be here rather than in NYC donning Mad Hatter haberdashery from a skin care company in Times square. So fervent was this Amazonian's love for the tar heel state and this city in particular that she had had a tattoo of it on her wrist with a star where Greensboro would be. I met a sweet woman who paid me a complement whom I hope I'll talk to again. I met a rapper for the second time and his producer. I paid people compliments and enjoyed the presence of an amiable crowd.

I went home alone happy with the world and with myself as a part of it.

Success Story with the City of Greensboro

2010-03-24T12:21:00.005-04:00

So this weekend my girlfriend and I were returning from an outing and we witnessed what we interpreted as the excessive use of force with a suspect by Lankford Protective Services across the street at the Depot. Concerned I called 911 hoping that uniformed police officers might help but my concern was apparently not taken seriously by the operator. After doing some digging I realized the person I needed to speak with was one Michael Speedling . On calling I was told by the receptionist that he had adjacent calls and meetings scheduled and that he would call back on getting my message. She kindly took my message and I hung up expecting a call maybe late the same day or perhaps the next day. Imagine my surprise when he called back within minutes of my call and took my concern quite seriously. So seriously in fact, that he followed up (again within the hour) to let me know that he'd located the report and that he'd be reviewing a surveillance video of the incident to make a determination as to what actually happened. Sensing that I might have more general concerns with the conduct of the police department we talked at length about the low incidence of complaints against the police relative to the number of contacts with the public and recent crime statistics. Honestly public servants like this guy rarely get the credit they deserve Greensboro is lucky to have such an erudite, responsive, and wildly overqualified person occupying this Assistant City Manager for Public Safety position.

Psalm 109: read the whole thing it isn't that long.

2009-11-19T17:19:00.010-05:00

So you've probably heard about the Psalm 109:8 merchandise on CafePress. Here is what I think.

The people who buy this merchandise are defining themselves as the people David (the Psalmist) is talking about in verses 1-5, 20 of the same Psalm and therefore I guess that means Barack is David.

Psalm 109

Prayer for Vindication and Vengeance To the leader. Of David. A
Psalm.

1Do not be silent, O God of my praise.
2For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking
against me with lying tongues.
3They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.
4In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for
them.*
5So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6They say,‘Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand on his right.
7When he is tried, let him be found guilty; let his prayer be counted
as sin.
8May his days be few; may another seize his position
9May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.

Later, he wishes all the evil they speak against him in verses 6-19 to be visited upon them in verse 20

20May that be the reward of my accusers from the Lord, of those who speak evil against my life.

It is sort of a biblical "I'm rubber you're glue" kinda thing.

Just more evidence these nutjobs can't or won't understand and/or read the Bible.

News 2: Pitting low income people against lower income people.

2009-11-19T14:56:00.025-05:00

Here was the letter I wrote to "News" 2 about their awful story about Foxworth Condominums.

Dear Ms. Bagg et. al,

I found tonight's report to be an horrendous abuse of the public trust. It openly disparaged recipients of public assistance and clearly promoted a selfish and irresponsible NIMBY attitude at the expense of the well being of one's neighbors.

This report was ostensibly focused on the question of the effect that subsidized housing or section 8 householders had on property values. However, even a cursory glance at the facts involved shows that it was more about the perception of who is moving in next door rather than any substantive loss of investment value.

At no time during the report did anyone mention the fact that published reports show this particular condominium development had been in foreclosure proceedings as far back as March 31st of this year which as I will note below would have a much stronger effect on their property value than having renters or section 8 recipients as neighbors.

A recent study by the Metropolitan Studies Group at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte concluded that:

The importance Section 8 households in explaining the change in residential property values is weak. In the research model, less than 5 percent of the explanatory power is attributable to the this factor In the research, 12 other real estate and neighborhood variables displayed a much stronger capacity to explain housing price variability. The stronger performing variables included sales as the result of foreclosure, and the homeownership level of the neighborhood

The story stipulated the obvious fact that these 14 units weren't likely to be bought anytime soon. So home ownership rates in the area were not affected by the GHA purchase.

I found the anchor's suggestion that there had to be special zoning for public housing recipients offensive.

As I've noted previously I found the promo particularly slanted and objectionable.

As a former resident of section 8 and public housing I found the clear implication of this reporting which was "you don't want that element living near you do you?" to be especially vile. This is the kind of despicable product which appeals to your viewers' basest instincts.
No advertiser who values the integrity of their brand would knowingly associate themselves with this kind of tripe.

Perhaps contacting your advertisers might persuade you to correct the inaccuracies omissions, and deliberate misrepresentations that I've noted above.

Apparently we don't Get Answers from News 2 we get opinions. As the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan said "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own fact"

Regards,

Juan

waitingforvizzini

2009-02-04T13:08:00.000-05:00

Murphy in the Morning/ Prison Health Care

2007-09-05T13:09:00.000-04:00

Drive time radio has extensive reach. My market according to Arbitron is the 45th largest. WKZL has a 5.6 AQH share for the most recent quarter. That translates to a particularly loud voice for Jack Murphy of Murphy in the Morning. This morning Jack was talking about the Department of Corrections new facility for inmate health care and well I think you should read the email he sent him. I've emailed him once before correcting him on a missatribution of the term straight edge (he associated it with Mormonism after having seen an episode of Big Love). He was kind enough to read it on the air. Hopefully he'll do the same with this one.

Dear Murphy,

First off, thanks again for reading my previous correspondence on the air.

On your show today you lamented that prisoners get health care while poor people don't and asked "Where is the justice?" The inference if not the implication of this statement is that being allowed to deteriorate physically and mentally is an acceptable punishment for crime.

Prisons have a responsibility to care for those in their custody.

Custody \Cus"to*dy\ (k?s"t?-d?), n. [L. custodia, fr. custos guard; prob. akin to Gr. ?????? to hide, and E. hide. See to cover.]
1. A keeping or guarding; care, watch, inspection, for keeping, preservation, or security.A fleet of thirty ships for the custody of the narrow seas. --Bacon. 2. Judicial or penal safe-keeping.Jailer, take him to thy custody. --Shak. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Your statement also pits two relatively powerless groups against one another. Taking care of our prisoners health care and the health care of the less fortunate in this society are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both. Your statement perpetuates the idea of health care as a privilege rather than a right. Health care is not a perk. You also seem unaware of the fact that the prison population to a significant degree is filled with nonviolent offenders. Human Rights Watch notes that:

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) data, 53 percent of all state and federal prisoners are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. Indeed, an estimated 337,872 men and women are serving state or federal prison sentences because of drug convictions, most of whom are low-level offenders.

Overly punitive prison sentencing practices mandated by legislators (as opposed to judges) desiring to appear tough on crime contributes to an aging prison population which mirrors the outside world in its need for medical care. According to the AP:

A 1994 state law meant to do away with parole has increased the number of inmates who are expected to die behind bars.There are nearly 3,500 state prisoners over age 50. That's about three times what it was ten years ago.

Thank you for at least talking about the issue. I hope that this provides some context for a more informed discussion.

Sources:

here

here

here

and here

Best Regards,
Juan Vasquez

Let me know what you think. Are you keeping Morning Radio honest?

H1-B

2007-06-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

It should also be noted here that H1-B recipients as I understand from a friend of mine who had one are at the mercy of the employer. As any future employment with another firm would involve an expensive lawyer intensive process. My friend was of course underpaid.

Peak Oil

2007-06-15T11:17:00.000-04:00

Cindy Sheehan's Visit to Greensboro

2007-04-23T17:01:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of attending a get together where Cindy was the guest of honor the evening before the protest. While there I mingled with a lot of people I'd first met on the way to the DC protest. When Cindy arrived she did so as she apparently always does with little fan fare. I am struck by her un-celebrity. I've never met someone so salient who seems so unaffected by the attention that accompanies the spotlight.

On the morning of the protest my mom and sister arrived at my apartment complex only a block away from the protest in downtown Greensboro's Governmental plaza. Both my mother and my sister were confined to wheelchairs. My mother temporarily my sister permanently. We took Davie to Washington Street and Washington to Greene Street. At Greene Street we were turned away by a congregation of people calling themselves Eagles but whose cries sounded more like those of chicken-hawks. We then attempted to enter the plaza from the Washington Street side where there was a wheelchair access ramp but we were turned away this time by aggressively rude police officers. The police were out in force and in numbers that seemed disproportionate to the crowds gathered. None of whom could provide a cogent rationale for not allowing us access to the protest. We continued to Eugene Street where our progress was again blocked this time by a fire hose connected to a hydrant. Next we made our way to the Market Street ramp only to be waved off again by police. Finally after walking all the way around the plaza we made our way to the protest proper. Once there we were treated to good music and numerous speeches. Fairly or unfairly none of these speeches were kind to Democrats. The speakers included representatives of the communist party, green party, UNC-G's ad hock anti war group, a young member of the Nation of Islam and a student at NC A&T a labor organizer, an Iraqi-American, A cute little Palestinian girl who read a touching poem, Cindy Sheehan and finally Terri Johnson. Before she spoke Cindy spoke with the media on the steps next to me. I took note that she remembered my name. She was patient with the reporters and listened to my mom and sis. Cindy spoke well and the crowd loved her. After Cindy was Terri who recounted her experience exiting the military on family day. Her talk was informative and touching. There is more information available about her and the event including pics here. The event ended without any violence or arrests. When I returned home I found oddly that the most balanced coverage of the event was on WGHP a Fox affiliate who after doing the interview with protesters and counter-protesters the accurately quoted an Elon University poll that showed anti-war sentiment clearly in the majority. Thanks for reading.

UPDATE: Apr. 24, 09:35:30 PM EDT In the above writing I noted some concerns about the protest since then I've had a chance to talk with the Captain of the Special Operations Division of the event and in a phone conversation this evening addressed many of my concerns.

Me This was a march and I did not show up for the march and thus was not funneled into the access point. It was my responsibilty to read the materials or seek them out and I did not.

Access points/Separation Given Greensboro's history with protests and counter protests a police presence and restriction of access to the opposing groups makes sense.

The fire hose blocking the side walk. He said they could and should have put up ramps over it.

Directions/signage is the responsibility of the event organizer and not the city (this is also true of the port a johns).

Police presence The 150 number seems right although he would not confirm it. The ratio seems high. I told him that it seemed like a "show of force" He explained that he'd calculated the number of police needed based on estimates made by the respective organizers. the World Cant Wait folks mildly underestimated turnout on their side. his estimate for actual turnout for our side was 450. The eagles however, for their part wildly overestimated their turnout. given the estimates he had to work with the police presence seems understandable.

I hope this presents a more complete view of the protest than my initial diary had done.

Because It Is Friday

2007-04-20T13:22:00.000-04:00

They delete emails

2007-04-17T20:51:00.000-04:00

So we have fired prosecutors, deleted smoking guns, and a guy named Fred Feilding. Does this sound familiar?

They write letters

2007-03-25T18:23:00.000-04:00

Live Blogging Daughtry

2007-03-23T19:13:00.000-04:00

Here I am near the intersection of McGee and Davie in downtown Greensboro. Oh the humanity!!! It is 7:23 ET I gots my green tea and my sparks I'm chillin' kickin' it. More lata.

update ok a local radio station is playing the same 5 songs over and over again. LAME What? could'nt find a local indie group(s)? Where's the love?!!!

Ok now there's some kick ass little kid wailing on the drums

ok Athenaeum is playing K daughtry time love each other.

Taking Prosperity Theology Down One Verse at a Time

2007-03-16T15:38:00.000-04:00

Are you sick an tired of seeing Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen and their ilk? Are you tired of having your Christian freinds foist their books on you? We'll you may not ever be able to get your freinds to stop watching T.D. Jakes but you can get them to stop bothering you about the one armed bandit in the sky that is their God. The answer is elegant in it's simplicity the bible. Unless specified my quotes are from the NRSV See ya after the Jump Simulcast at StreetProphets, Waiting for Vizzini, and DailyKos

I had a long exchange with a co-worker about the book he had by Paul Yongi David Cho, a Word of Faith heretic. Anyway, I provided him with alot of what you see below. I thought it might be helpful when you get in conversations with your freinds.

Acts 4:32-35
32 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. 33With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. 35They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Timothy 6:3-15, 17 18
3Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, 4is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, 5and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. * 6Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that * we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

The Good Fight of Faith
11 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made * the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords

17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share

Mark 10:17-25

The Rich Man
17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 18Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother." ' 20He said to him, 'Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.' 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, 'You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money * to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, 'How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!' 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, 'Children, how hard it is * to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.'

Here I am debunking some common cherry picked prosperity verses

2 Corinthians 8:9 (King James Version)
9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Here you might want to read the whole passage. Paul is encouraging his flock to be generous to the poor

13-15... it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,'The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.'

3 John 1:2 (King James Version)
2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Here John is doing a letter intro. e.g. I hope you are doing well. Its a well wish and a compliment nothing more.

Ecclesiastes 5:19 (New King James Version)
19 As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God.

From the same passage:

10 The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.

11 When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

12 Sweet is the sleep of labourers, whether they eat little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep.

Psalm 35:27 (New King James Version)
27 Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
"Let the LORD be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant."

Here's a better translation NRSV

27Let those who desire my vindication
shout for joy and be glad,
and say evermore,
'Great is the Lord,
who delights in the welfare of his servant.'
28Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all day long.

emphasis mine

Deuteronomy 8:18 (New International Version)
18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

again it is instructive to read the entire passage

2Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. * 4The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. 6Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

emphasis mine

I summed up my argument with him this way.

Buddy,

The thing is your words seem to suggest a sense of entitlement that
somehow you were promised or owed something above your basic material
needs by God due to your belief or good intentions but this is not so.
You say I'm making a connection but you are mistaken it is the
scriptures that are doing that. Bottom line is is that every
scripture I can find says that accumlation of wealth is a spiritual
problem to be dealt with not a sign of gods favor per say. Look at all
the evil rich folks the Ken Lay's,The Burnie Ebbers, the false
prophets the Cho's, Joel Osteens, Creflo Dollars, Kenneth Copelands,
and Joyce Meyer's of this world God has stored up judgement and wrath
for them here

2nd Peter 2 1-3

1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be
false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive
opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing
swift destruction on themselves. 2Even so, many will follow their
licentious ways, and because of these teachers* the way of truth will
be maligned. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive
words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not
been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

Malachai 3:5

5 Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear
witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those
who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in
their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside
the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

or James 5 1-6 if you prefer

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are
coming to you. 2Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are
moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be
evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have
laid up treasure* for the last days. 4Listen! The wages of the
labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry
out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord
of hosts. 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you
have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned
and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

To your question I'm not sure what my thithing has to do with how much
money I make. I don't titthe for reward but rather to give to a cause
I belive in. Same as giving to the Dems but more reverent lol. I'm
still waiting on you to answer my question about Mr Cho. Cho is
promoting heresy and the occult wrapped in the guise of Christianity.
He's giving you false hope and putting you in danger. I encourage you
as your Christian Brother to ditch that book you are reading and
instead pick up Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship or
Henri J. M. Nouwen's Making All Things New. I'm sure those will feed
you much better. I'll loan you the latter. Consider Matt 6:31-33 This
is the only material promise we have from god be satisfied with it or
be ever dissapointed. It's your choice.

31Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we
drink?" or "What will we wear?" ... and indeed your heavenly Father
knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the
kingdom of God* and his* righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well.

You might also find comfort in

Psalm 73
A Psalm of Asaph.
1Truly God is good to the upright,*
to those who are pure in heart.
2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.
3For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4For they have no pain;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
5They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not plagued like other people.
6Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.
7Their eyes swell out with fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.

10Therefore the people turn and praise them,*
and find no fault in them.*
11And they say, ‘How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
12Such are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13All in vain I have kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14For all day long I have been plagued,
and am punished every morning.

15If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way’,
I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end.
18Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20They are* like a dream when one awakes;
on awaking you despise their phantoms.

21When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like a brute beast towards you.
23Nevertheless I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24You guide me with your counsel,
and afterwards you will receive me with honour.*
25Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
26My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.

27Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
you put an end to those who are false to you.
28But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
to tell of all your works.

Because it is Friday

2007-02-16T07:59:00.000-05:00

Al Announces

2007-02-14T16:38:00.000-05:00

Go See him at http://www.alfranken.com/

The Real McCain

2007-02-14T15:22:00.000-05:00

Check out The Real McCain

Beer Goggles

2007-02-09T19:57:00.000-05:00

Funny

Walkentalk

2007-02-07T21:10:00.000-05:00

Because it is Friday

2007-02-02T16:12:00.000-05:00

The car industry gets ZAP!ped

2007-02-02T14:34:00.000-05:00

Good News the electric car just got even more plausible.
AutoblogGreen has details. Don't forget to Vote for Volt Update:so the guy from Zap actually called me back and confirms at or about $60,000 and out in 2008. Wow...just wow.

The Horrors of War Mirrored

2007-02-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

They kept Iraqi brains in the fridge for trophies
by Pen
Thu Feb 01, 2007 at 10:40:10 AM PST
That's what former Navy hospital corpsman Chanan Suarez-Diaz testified to at the Citizens' Hearing On The Legality Of U.S. Actions In Iraq: The Case of Lt. Ehren Watada, January 21st, 2007 at Evergreen State College in Tacoma Washington. Suarez-Diaz was stationed with 2nd Battalion 5th Marines, the most decorated battalion in the marine corps. He was attached to weapons company. He was referring to a platoon of his company, whiskey two platoon.

This platoon used to have brain matter from people they had killed from .50
Cals. They used to grab brain matter and bring it on the base and put it into
the refrigerator. They literally went crazy. I know this isn't an isolated
incident, this happens everyday in Iraq.

Well it's time the truth about what's happening in Iraq became known to the public. It's time all the horrors and injustices were spread far and wide. So take this diary and pass it on. Email it to everyone. Let America know what fucked up, unthinkable things are being done in our names. As Mr. Soros said, "Let the De-Nazification begin".

Pen's diary :: ::

There was this platoon, Whiskey Two, which was very notorious in the company. They lost two of their marines from IEDs. This platoon went crazy. They lost two of their buddies and they wanted revenge. And there's one thing you need to understand in the military now: there is a lot of ingrained racism now towards arabs and they indoctrinate that while you're going in. While you're going through bootcamp, through whatever training that you're doing. You are to refer to Arabs, whatever nationality, you're to refer to them as "haji". And this platoon, they used to call themselves the MM"s, Mauers(sp?) Murderers after
their Lt. He was 25. He authorized them to basically unleash hell whenever because when you're in war you can justify anything especially if you have your friends there and everyone complies.

Sort of like conservatives in America. They can justify anything so long as they have their buddies in the MSM, the White House and Congress and everyone complies. Then we get horrors like the ones this former marine wants you to know about.

I remember doing a nightsweep and when I got back on the base at Hurricane Point we got back really late and the guys on this platoon were bragging how they shot up innocent people and they bragged about it, how they just shot up, that night,innocent people and it was kinda like a joke. They were saying 'Look at that guy, I shot him in the stomach and he was running.'
This platoon used to have brain matter from people they had killed from .50 Cals. They used to grab brain matter and bring it on the base and put it into the refrigerator. They literally went crazy. I know this isn't an isolated incident, this happens everyday in Iraq. The news doesn't catch it. No one's going to confess to these things unless they get caught.

The Rules of Engagement got so bad in Iraq that if you did get engaged you just opened up on the city. The day I got wounded we went, in reaction to whiskey two platoon, they were in the marketplace, the souk, and they had one or two pop offs from an AK and they just completely opened up on the whole market. And I remember driving through in the humvees checking out the area and I remember seeing bodies on the sidewalks, broken glass and blood everywhere. At that, at...(he is trying to control his voice)...it's, it's difficult when you see things like that.

Families trying to shop gunned down in cold blood. Imagine if China invaded the U.S. Wouldn't you fight against them? Imagine Chinese troops opening fire on your family while they were shopping at the mall. wouldn't you join the insurgents?

Imagine if they kept your kids brains in a fridge for a "trophy".

Would you EVER stop trying to kill them? Even if they left? Wouldn't you rightfully cry out for justice? I'd try to sneak into China just to get revenge on the motherfuckers. Wouldn't you?

Chanan Suarez-Dias testified to further injustices witnessed in Iraq.

I saw this really beautiful Iraqi family. They were caught up in an engagement. The Mujihadeen attacked a convoy. There's Iraqi's trying to live a normal life, because they can't over there, just walking down the street and a marine just completely mowed down one family, a complete family. All of them. And there was another family next to them. This 13 year old girl was shot in the stomach and her mother was shot two times in the leg. This was from .50 Cal. I don't know if you've seen it, but it's a really long, it's a big bullet and the exit wound was huge. That was an everyday thing over there in Iraq.

I wanted to post this last week. I just couldn't. The whole thought of this story just made me freeze up inside. I couldn't write for a week. I knew I had to pass on his story. I just didn't want to.

I want to wrap this up with some smartass, snide comment, but I just can't. I'm sickened by my countrymen. I'm sickened that any politician can argue with a straight face that we shouldn't pull out of Iraq today.

We need to leave Iraq YESTERDAY.

He's good enough, he's smart enough and dog gone it people like him

2007-01-29T12:34:00.000-05:00

h/t Huffington Post

He's gonna win. Say it with me now everybody "Senator Franken".

VoteVets does it again

2007-01-29T12:16:00.000-05:00

VoteVets is here. Go and see 'em.

Voltage

2007-01-29T11:15:00.000-05:00

AutoBlogGreen has the definitive post(s) on The Chevy Volt. Go read it. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Wow...just wow

2007-01-28T02:40:00.000-05:00

h/t to The Waving Cat

Protest Video from Politics TV

2007-01-28T01:02:00.000-05:00

following a fox news reporter:

Sean has pics up.

Because it is Friday

2007-01-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

Go to The Bonddad Blog

2007-01-24T12:15:00.000-05:00

And check out his SOTU post here

He's Stupid He's Ugly and Nobody Likes Him

2007-01-24T08:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry Atrios. From PollingReport.com

CNN/Opinion Research Corp. 1/19-21/07 34
CBS 1/18-21/07 28
NBC/Wall Street Journal 1/17-20/07 35
ABC/Washington Post 1/16-19/07 33
Newsweek 1/17-18/07 31
AP/AOL 1/16-18/07 36
Gallup 1/15-18/07 36
FOX/Opinion Dynamics RV 1/16-17/07 35
L.A. Times/Bloomberg 1/13-16/07 39
Pew 1/10-15/07 33
USA Today/Gallup 1/12-14/07 34
Diageo/Hotline RV 1/11-14/07 35
CNN/Opinion Research Corp. 1/11/07 35
AP-Ipsos 1/8-10/07 32
USA Today/Gallup 1/5-7/07 37
CBS 1/1-3/07 30

The number in bold is approval. That's right nothing north of 39 this month. As for dissaproval nothing south of 59 over the same period.

The answer is NO dubya NO NO NO

2007-01-23T22:29:00.000-05:00

In the SOTU the Preznit pleaded with Congress to give his strategy (the same one that failed in December of 2005) a chance to work. Allow me to say emphatically loudly and repeatedly NO NO NO NO NO. Bring them home now!!!! Bipartisan commission? Hmmm sounds familiar. Anyone remember the ISG report that he completely ignored? Uh no. To quote the Preznit "Fool me once--fool me--we can't get fooled again."

Playing Politics with Katrina

2007-01-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

h/t to RichM

Brownie

Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking we had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor and we have a chance to rub her nose in it

Monday Monday

2007-01-22T22:36:00.000-05:00

This is why you've been feeling so blue today Or maybe was dread about this

Democrats say dumb stuff too

2007-01-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

Compare this

As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else...It’s being drawn to Iraq and it’s not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don’t want the Eye to come back here to the United States. -Rick Santorum October 17, 2006 1:23 pm

to this

I see a frightening similarty.

I'm just a Bill?

2007-01-21T15:07:00.000-05:00

If you are picking a Prez candidate based on qualifications alone (assuming Al Gore doesn't run) Bill is your man. Despite his milquetoast last name, Richardson would be the first hispanic President.

Because it is Friday

2007-01-19T11:30:00.001-05:00

Making progress on the House Democrat's Hundred Hours Agenda

2007-01-18T09:50:00.000-05:00

First let's be clear about what is meant by 100 hours. Speeches don't count and only House working days count. That said a lot of progress has been made. Americans largely support the agenda. From Newsweek;

...the American public supports their proposed “First 100 Hours” agenda. An overwhelming majority says allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies should be a top priority for a Democratic Congress (74 percent, including 70 percent of Republicans); 68 percent want increasing the minimum wage to be a top priority, including 53 percent of Republicans; 62 percent want investigating impropriety by members of Congress to be a top priority; and 58 percent want investigating government contracts in Iraq to be a top priority. Fifty-two percent say investigating why we went to war in Iraq should be a top priority (25 percent say it should a lower priority and 19 percent say it shouldn’t be done.)

Only two items remain on the list. Good job Madame Speaker.

Timely Advice from Martin Luther King Jr.

2007-01-16T09:52:00.000-05:00

Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on

Because it is Friday

2007-01-12T14:02:00.000-05:00

Enough said

2007-01-11T23:36:00.000-05:00

Williams- But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place;' some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection.- Henry V Act 4 Scene 1 William Shakespeare

Apple's new phone in action

2007-01-11T10:06:00.000-05:00

Movie Night

2007-01-10T08:31:00.000-05:00

I went to Carmike last night and saw Children of Men What a great movie. Go see it no spoilers here. Note this is not a "family" movie.

3000+ and still largely invisible

2007-01-07T02:21:00.000-05:00

h/t to the memory hole

Just so you know. Almost every one of that number arrives in a flag draped coffin at Dover AFB. The Bush administration in an unprecedented move has kept you from seeing them often against the wishes of family members. The images are available only because of a FOIA request. the folks at FAIR tell us why we don't see more.

Stupid People

2007-01-06T22:07:00.000-05:00

h/t to sean

The Joy of January

2007-01-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

The New Year brings with it the promise of the 110th Congress. Already hard at work with the 100 hours agenda. Soon many people will (for some maybe already have) run head long into the folly of overly ambitious resolutions. Two of the joys of this season will greet me simultaneously. As I am Typing on a Mac you might guess that I wait with bated breath for what the great Steve Jobs reputed back dater of stock options, resplendent in his black mock turtleneck, jeans and sneakers, will reveal to us at MacWorld. Far from the Moscone Center in San Francisco, on the banks of the Detroit River, at the COBO Conference/Exhibition Center in Detroit MI car companies will show us their wares at the North American International Auto Show. We’ll see if they learned anything about mileage.

Brad Miller

2007-01-06T17:59:00.000-05:00

h/t to Screwy Hoolie

For Spocko

2007-01-06T17:11:00.001-05:00

Because it is Friday

2007-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

George F Will is for Slavery if at all possible

2007-01-04T11:13:00.000-05:00

I won't debunk Will point by point about the minimum wage because there is no need. But in one passage in his ridiculous OpEd George F Will states his fondness for the good ole antebellum days.

But the minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities' prices. Washington, which has its hands full delivering the mail and defending the shores, should let the market do well what Washington does poorly. But that is a good idea whose time will never come again. emphasis mine

Last I checked getting paid zero dollars was slavery. Now am I being unfair by parsing his statement literally? No, I'm not. Why? Well, because he adds clarification. He calls labor a commodity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Don't believe me? Ask a human resources manager. Ask the United States Code Title 15 Sec 17

The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce.

Just because George F Will thinks workers are chattle doesn't mean they are.

For the Christians in the crowd Smith's Bible Dictionary cites 11 verses about wages in the Bible

This verse is representative.

Malachi 3:5
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress [1] the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

Footnotes
[1] 3:5 oppress: or, defraud

New Year

2007-01-02T11:08:00.000-05:00

For New Year's Eve the woman and I went out to The Melting Pot for a wildly over priced meal. It was very good and the service was good as well. I did not enjoy it as I might because of my ill timed illness. 2007 brings no resolutions as they in the wise words or my girlfriend "give you an excuse to feel bad about yourself". I have allowed this site to lie fallow for to long because of my participation over at DailyKos. Now I think I'll do both. Perhaps some of my buddies from there will do me the great favor of participating and commenting here. I hope you will too. I have included a picture of the coffee bean as I know this year it will be as important as the last. more on the history of coffee can be found here

Waterboarding

2006-10-28T12:40:00.000-04:00

Were Have I been?

2006-08-09T12:20:00.000-04:00

Well over the past 3-4 months alot has been happening on the personal front I've just not had the time. I see that changing sooon so you'll see me much more regularly. Especially considering election day is coming. Talk to you later.

Brad Miller Visits Greensboro Bloggers

2006-04-24T20:31:00.000-04:00

So Brad is here he's talking substanantive policy and he's talking blogging. Brad and I got into it over his PATRIOT ACT vote and why he has not yet filed an ethics complaint. Brad is mostly a progressive. Brad seems to be pro single payer health care as am I. He's an Episcopal as am I. He's very approachable and friendly. Everybody seems to like him. As do I. Above is a pic of Brad and myself at the Green Bean.

Irony

2006-04-19T02:31:00.000-04:00

We live in a world where hockey and the indoor track and feild championships are shown on the outdoor life network. 'nuff said.

Yes Mr. Ridley I know you are black.

2006-04-19T01:11:00.000-04:00

To: 'morning@npr.org'
Cc: 'ombudsman@npr.org'
Subject: Commentary

Dear NPR,

I was appalled when I heard John Ridley's awful, thoughtless, ignorant, and offensive commentary this morning. How dare he equate Rush's Limbaugh's calling the alleged victim a Ho with Jesse Jackson's offering to pay her college tuition?!! Its intellectually dishonest, misogynistic, and maybe even racist to equate the two. Ridley does so in an especially arrogant 'let's let cooler heads prevail' kind of way. Ridley asks why doesn't Jackson wait until he has all the facts before he does this. Perhaps Ridley would do well to read the AP reporting before he bloviates. Rev Jackson states:

"I can't wait . . . to talk with her and have prayer with her, because our organization is committed, when she's physically and emotionally able . . . to provide for her the scholarship money to finish school so she will never . . . again have to stoop that low to survive," he said from Chicago in a telephone interview with The Associated Press."

Also, what Rev. Jackson does with his charitable institution is the business of Rev. Jackson and the board of Rainbow PUSH Coalition not Mr. Ridley's.

Rape is the most under reported crime in the country perhaps because people like Ridley blame the victim and call her veracity into question for no reason. Justice Dept figures show that most rapes and sexual assaults were not reported to the police. For more reading material Ridley should consult this link. Mr. Ridley what if it was your daughter or wife?

Ridley owes the victim and her family a public apology. NPR should apologize for allowing him to sully her in this way.

Best Regards,

Juan Vasquez

Greensboro, NC

Communities online and otherwise

2006-04-17T23:53:00.000-04:00

I've been very active recently at OkCupid and wow are there options or are there options. You should all go there now. Meanwhile, here downtown revitalization continues in Greensboro construction procedes on center city park 2.0 and Elon School of Law. Oh and I finished my taxes with 40 minutes to spare.

immigration again

2006-04-11T20:44:00.000-04:00

hat tip to SusanG at DailyKos

Lev 19:33-34

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

me

2006-04-04T23:47:00.000-04:00

My Left Wing

2006-03-28T10:29:00.000-05:00

Oops almost forgot. Go to http://www.myleftwing.com .

On Immigration

2006-03-28T09:14:00.000-05:00

To those out there who are of the anti-immigrant mindset legal or illegal I say to you that you are Un-American my proof is simple. On the statue of liberty there is a poem.

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
-Emma Lazarus

She's not saying send these the highly educated, high earning potential, whose papers are in order, from just the right countries. All our ancestors (unless we are black or Native American) were immigrants. To say that we dont have room or resources or jobs for them typifies the "I've got mine" mentality that pervades our culture. Make them legal and pay them what they are worth. End of debate.

NC-5 Foxx Hunt

2006-03-24T12:22:00.000-05:00

Hat Tip to Democratic Underground. Here are links to the websites of challengers for NC-5, Mark Glen, Syndi Holmes, Roger Kirkman, and Roger Sharpe (?).

I agree with Richard Land?

2006-02-21T23:32:00.000-05:00

Wow am I in Bizzaro world or what? Click here.

"Such a request is completely beyond the pale of what is acceptable," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Gitmo Barbie

2006-02-21T12:27:00.000-05:00

I knew it. Click here for details.

WTF?!!!!

2006-02-17T18:26:00.000-05:00

This story originally ran at cnn.com under the title "Shooting Victim Apologizes to Vice President" clicke here for proof. Wow

A Valentine's message from the late, great, Bill Hicks

2006-02-13T20:56:00.000-05:00

The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. -Bill Hicks

Disturbing

2006-02-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

I can't say anything more than that. I am nonplussed. Look here.

Why I no longer want to marry Lisa Loeb

2006-02-06T18:24:00.000-05:00

I was flippin channels the other day when I saw this show called #1 single. I'm a big Lisa fan (I named my dog after her song Taffy ) so I decided I'd watch. What a spectacle I was treated to! Lisa proved to me that for all her intelligent, fresh, and poignant lyrics she is just as incapable of appreciating irony as any Republican. I caught it in the middle but it appears she's a New Yorker now. She had gone out a couple of times with Allen Salkin the author of the Festivus book. So she's gonna be nice and show up at his book opening. OK fine. So we're at her house? Anyway one of her friends (sister?) shows up with the copy of the tabloid New York Post. Lisa and Allen are featured in page six (the gossip page). Here's E!'s balanced take on it.

But things sour with Allen after he's quoted in a Page Six gossip item about Lisa. Could he be pimping their relationship to promote his new book? Allen won't fess up to planting the story but admits he likes the free press. Lisa and her sister Debbie's reactions suggest we've seen the last of this dud for a while.

So he gave them a quote big whup. Well I saw her decide that he was not Lisa worthy and basically accuse him of trading off her celebrity while she was followed around by cameras from E!. C'mon she went on a mock date with Isaac Mizrahi and paraded around in a thong. Am I the only one who see hypocrisy in this? Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Megalomaniacal

2006-02-06T02:22:00.000-05:00

"Megalomaniac noun- a person who is obsessed with their own power a person who suffers delusions of their own power or importance. "

So lets review, we have a president who, does not respect the geneva convention, does not respect habeas corpus, does not respect FISA or the Fourth Amendment , and all along has employed the time honored legal argument of because I said so. I, frankly am not surprised by the news that

Current and former government officials said they could think of several scenarios in which a president might consider ordering the killing of a terror suspect inside the United States.

Why does this not surprise me? Lets examine some quotes shall we?

"Things would be a lot easier if this were a dictatorship, just as long as I'm the dictator"-dubya

"See, that's the great thing about being president, you don't have to answer to anyone."-dubya

Further he was knowingly lying to his audience in Buffalo, NY on April 20th 2004 when he said

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so.

He had been authorizing domestic spying since 2002. Why is this serious? Because it is against the law. To quote

Section 1809. Criminal sanctions
(a) Prohibited activities

A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally -

(1) engages in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute; or (2) discloses or uses information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through electronic surveillance not
authorized by statute.

(b) Defense

It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a) of this section that the defendant was a law enforcement or investigative officer engaged in the course of his official duties and the electronic surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or court order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

(c) Penalties

An offense described in this section is punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. . . .

Timely advice from Martin Luther King Jr

2006-01-16T23:52:00.000-05:00

Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on

Why I was gone

2006-01-03T20:29:00.000-05:00

On Christmas Eve while visiting my mom I was stricken with the Flu which really threw a monkey wrench into our family plans. anyway while I was suffering watching commercials on TV tell me how much better the products that I was already using would make make me feel I began to get angry. Then I got to thinking if the garden variety flu could take me a fully grown healthy youngish guy to his knees then what would bird flu do? The answer of course is that it would kill me. Me and likely every member of my family all of whom have immune systems more compromised than mine. That is why it makes me angry that the person charged with keeping me and my family safe is Stewart Simonson. Read the link he's a hack.

Pandora

2005-12-22T20:19:00.000-05:00

Pandora is the new coolest site on the net. Go there. Go now!!! Don't wait for me to describe it. Oh well for those of you who are still here. Have you ever had a converation with somebody and you said "i like ____" and they said "Well if you liked _____ then you'll love ____" (keep it clean kiddies I'm talking about music here)? And then when you listend to ____ you became obsessed with them bought all there records and started a fan site and a fan club and tracked down their lead singer and followed her to her... oh sorry. Anyway you get the idea. You put in a name of a song/artist and then it plays a "station" stuff from that genre and tells you why each song is playing. Don't like something give it the thumbs down. Like it give it the thumbs up. It takes note and makes decisions based on your preferences. You can have multiple "stations" for your moodiness. And no they weren't grouped by computer. They were grouped by music theory majors. I always wondered what they did. Pandora is great especially for aging hipsters like myself.

A better way to fight abortion

2005-12-22T03:07:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be nice here and throw a bone to my conservative friends they might be surprised. I hate abortions. Even though I don't think the bible prohibits abortion click here for more. I have had friends who have had them and they tell me it is traumatic. Actually though, I'm not far from wild Bill (nod to Mitch whose catchphrase I'm stealing) who vowed to make abortions safe, legal, and rare. You know what? He did. They went down every year of his Presidency. The right's strategy for ridding us of abortion is to overturn Roe v Wade. However this has far reaching consequences because the central holding of Roe is our right to privacy, our right to be left alone, our right to keep the government out of the most momentous and profound decisions in our lives. Clearly though, the state has an interest in protecting a viable fetus but it shouldn't trump the life/health of the mother. And if states make it illegal it will happen anyway and be more dangerous. So if we don't overturn Roe then where do we begin? How about we start by making a woman's decision whether or not to have an abortion less likely by stopping the pregnancy before it begins. Those of you who are against birth control there's no help for you here.

Contraception AND abstinence Education- lets face it abstinence education on its own just plain doesn't work every bit of data available proves that abstinence only programs actually exacerbate the teen pregnancy problem and therefore make abotions more likely. Abstinence with contraception as a fall back does work.
Contraception Availability. -Make pharmacy refusals illegal see my post below the Dems are on this. OTC Plan B/EC. Come on, the FDA scientists are virtually united on this and only political appointees are keeping this off the shelves.
Make adoption of domestic children easier-do our prospective parents really have to take vacations to get kids? No.
National Healthcare to make all that other stuff more available and to make having the kid more affordable 'cause lets face it having a kid is an economic decision too.

Fight poverty see bullet point above.

Distilling Religion at Panera Bread

2005-12-22T00:07:00.000-05:00

I was at the blog meetup and I spoke with Chosen Fast, Billy the Blogging Poet, and Connecting the Dots. We talked about Christianity or something like it. Listening to Sean, Michelle, and myself (Billy wisely just listened) I felt as though we were talking past each other. Michelle has a heart for the poor. Sean said he had problems with Christianity's hierarchical structure but it seemed to me that he had more problems with western civilization in its current iteration (and past ills) than he did with Christianity. Me, I tended to sometimes agree with Michelle and sometimes with Sean but I felt like I was talking too much without saying anything meaningful to them. What I need is a distilled Christianity, one not so dependant on theological concepts like original sin, and miracles. Not that those things aren't important to me but they carry little weight with the uninitiated. So here are the most important verses to me. This from the Gospel of Thomas saying number 6

1His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"
2Jesus said, "Don't lie, 3 and don't do what you hate, 4because all things are disclosed before heaven. 5After all, there is nothing hidden that won't be revealed, 6 and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

This from the Bible Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus is here quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

Or how about this one from the Hebrew Scriptures Micah 6:8

8He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

The Policeman's a Person in Your Neighborhood

2005-12-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

All kinds of issues are popping up with the Greensboro Police Department. The News and Record has done some good reporting on them. The rank in file in the Greensboro Police Department seem to have a lot of good reasons to be unhappy with its current leadership. A well rested police force with a good work-life balance is important to us all. I hope the panel's recomendations are adopted.

Comments

2005-12-19T11:01:00.000-05:00

As you might have noticed there is a some lag time (sometimes significant) lag time between when you leave your comment and when it appears on WaitingforVizzini.com. I have to review them because of spam comments from splogs. The only comments I censor are adverts. Flame comments and diatribes reflect poorly on the writer and not yours truly.

Sunday Talk Wrap Up

2005-12-19T10:50:00.000-05:00

Condeleeza Rice went on Meet Tim Russert Sunday and we learned the following: she is not a lawyer. She said "I am not a lawyer" no less than 4 times in her inane defense of White House authorized illegal wiretaps. Even George Will on This Weak couldn't even get behind her. Wow. Later the Prez gave his more of the same speech interrupting my Sunday night cartoonies on FOX.

Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.

2005-12-16T23:22:00.000-05:00

David Wharton from A Little Urbanity (apparently a very very little) seems to make much of the fact that I did not mention the incident on my blog. In so doing he has dragged me into this by saying

Even the blogger whom Roch cites in his article because his apartment was inspected didn't see fit to mention the incident on his blog.

So here goes. In the words of the late great Bill Hicks "Yeah? And? So? What?" I didn't blog about it because A. Roch had already done the work and research and deserved any credit for breaking a story. B. I was unaware that my rights had been infringed upon until it was brought to my attention by Roch. That I did not know that my rights had been ignored in favor of expediency does not make it any less of a concern. Oh and David if you are reading this, the next time you have a question about why I did or did not blog about something have some urbanity send me an email and ask me. By the way David, how in three days did your assessment of the same article change from "great investigative journalism" to "criticism"? Can anyone here say flip flop?

Radio active materials loose but don't worry.

2005-12-13T20:53:00.000-05:00

This story in the Greensboro News and Record would cause some concern but not me. Here is why you really don't have to worry that much about RDDs (Radio-active Dispersal Devices or more commonly 'dirty bombs'). From the Washington Post blog

The Sandia scientists found that although there are millions of licensed radiation sources in the U.S., only about 1,000 domestic irradiation devices in universities, hospitals, and laboratories are of concern in an RDD scenario. Even here, the sources that are the easiest to transport and conceal are the least threatening. The ones that are the most threatening are also the most difficult to move, let alone steal.

Bush may not be the Anti-Christ but he is the Anti-Lincoln

2005-12-08T02:34:00.000-05:00

Lincoln- helped bring the Liberal Republican party to power
Bush-may have done permanent damage to the Conservative Republican party

Lincoln-fired incompetent military leadership (McClellan)
Bush-refuses to fire incompetent civilian leadership (Rumsfeld)

Lincoln-helped to win the franchise for blacks
Bush-his electioneering strategy depended upon disenfranchising blacks

Lincoln-solved a nation's most intractable problem (slavery)
Bush-ignored, indeed exacerbated, the world's most dire long term problem (global warming)

Lincoln-reluctantly entered and won a bloody but apparently necessary domestic civil war that the other side started
Bush-Enthusiastically sought a conflict which has created an unecessary foreign civil war

Lincoln-good debater
Bush-poor debater

Lincoln-worked his way up from nothing.
Bush-"failed upward" toward the presidency dad was prez, granddad was senator

Lincoln-reader
Bush-read to?

Lincoln-consistently great speaker
Bush-it makes me cringe every time he moves toward the podium.

Lincoln-tall
Bush-medium sized?

Lincoln-chopped wood for cabin/fuel
Bush-chain sawed wood for photo-op

Lincoln-rode horses
Bush-afraid of horses?

Lincoln-tragically shot
Bush-out of respect for the office he holds I won't type what I'm thinking

Why I think NC-13 is safe

2005-12-04T03:46:00.000-05:00

Brad Miller's seat will not be competitive in 2006. In 2004 NC had the Governorship a Senate seat and a Presidential election to gotv in a red state. He still won 59% to 41%. We should still give to his warchest to intimidate his opponent.

NC-5 Foxx will see Bush but you won't

2005-12-03T10:29:00.000-05:00

Looks like I gave that Blue haired wingnut Virginia Foxx too much credit in my earlier post. I learned from BlueNC that she is indeed going to be seen with the Preznit but not in public.

My reason for boycotting Target is better than theirs

2005-12-03T08:17:00.000-05:00

All across the country women looking to fullfill their prescriptions for birth control have had stumbling blocks thrown in their way. You want proof? Check here, here, here, and here. What are my buddies the Democrats doing about it? This. So what does that have to do with Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie and other places I now refuse to shop? Well all of these places through their policy's allow the man/woman behind the counter to make that call. The North Carolina Board of Pharmacy has a position statement. Here it is.

Q: Does North Carolina have a “Conscience Clause” for dispensing
emergency contraceptives?
A: The Board has adopted a policy on pharmacists' refusal to dispense prescriptions in certain circumstances: A pharmacist should function by serving the individual, community and societal needs while respecting the autonomy and dignity of each patient. The best practice by
a pharmacist is to promote the good for every patient in a caring, compassionate
and confidential manner. Pharmacists should discuss and resolve any questions about emergency contraception prior to employment. Compassionate care and conscientious objection are not mutually exclusive. A pharmacist has the right to avoid being complicit in
behavior that is inconsistent with his or her morals or ethics. It is unacceptable, however, for pharmacists to impose their moral or ethical beliefs on the patients they serve. Pharmacists who object to providing a medication for a patient on this basis alone, therefore, should take proactive measures so as not to obstruct a patient’s right to obtain such medication. The Board notes that although pharmacists have a right to avoid moral or ethical conflict, they do not have a right to obstruct otherwise legitimate prescription dispensing or delivery solely on the basis of
conscientious objection. Board of Pharmacy staff interprets this policy to mean that if a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription for emergency contraception then that pharmacist has an obligation to get the patient and the prescription to a pharmacist who will dispense that prescription in a timely manner.

Phrases and Concepts From:
American Pharmacist
Association Code of Ethics
May Pharmacists Refuse to Fill Prescriptions for
Emergency Contraception?, Cantor & Baum

New England Journal of Medicine, November 4, 2004, @ Pge. 2008
Rev
4/05

In many states the right wing's lobby has been successful in passing "conscience clause" legislation. Here is their scary Q and A.

Q. Isn't the pharmacist who declines to dispense such chemicals
"imposing" his morality on his client?

A. The pharmacist who declines to
dispense drugs or counseling which he knows to violate his conscience, properly
understood, is resisting an objective evil and, in fact, is doing his client a
favor. On the contrary, those who wish to mandate dispensing of drugs under any
and all conditions or whims are really the ones imposing a false, relativistic,
secular and humanistic morality on the pharmacist who understands that he cannot
cooperate in something objectively wrong or evil. Pharmacists are under no
obligation, even if written in the positive law, to violate the Divine Law. This
would include, but not be limited to any mandate to dispense or counsel for
contraception, abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide. It is a grave error,
which has arisen especially over the past 500 years, that a person may do as he
pleases without negative consequences in both the temporal and eternal
spheres

You know what assface? Don't go doing any favor's for the women in my life or I'll meet you outside in the parking lot. I've got your consequences right here. And anyway if you are truly pro-life or Anti-Abortion or whatever I've got news for you emergency contraception prevents abortions.

Dan Savage has a disturbing story here.

Why are they doing this? Because they can't accept defeat. they lost on Roe. They lost on Griswold. They lost on Brown. They lost on Schaivo. They stubbornly refuse to accept the rule of law.

You might wonder where you can reliably get your pill. Brooks Pharmacy/Eckerd, Costco, Fagen's, Harris Teeter, K-mart, Price Chopper, and Super Value.

So what is the right wing's reason for boycotting Target? The War on Christmas. In their defense Target did kick out The Salvation Army.

And since you can't give to the salvation army at Costco, BJ's, Wal-Mart, Sears/K-Mart or Kohl's now. You can give here.

So what have we learned? Well I think we can all agree that Target is evil, maybe not as evil as Wal-Mart but evil nonetheless.

Diebold Loses We Win

2005-11-29T10:59:00.000-05:00

Check this out.

Under the more strict interpretation, Hanna said, many vendors
— including Diebold — would be eliminated from even bidding on the state’s
voting machine contract.“That ain’t my problem. That’s something that the people
down the street need to address,” Cashwell said, referring to members of the
General Assembly who wrote the law.During arguments and immediately after
Cashwell’s ruling, Hanna said Diebold most likely would withdraw its bid from
the state. He said two other companies of the initial five also had withdrawn
their bids, leaving only two.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T15:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving

go Spartans go

2005-11-23T21:39:00.000-05:00

The Spartans have moved up in the bracket again. They play SMU on Sunday. I care because I'm an alum and because this year's championship is in nearby Cary, NC.

NC-5 don't expect to see the Preznit

2005-11-23T00:32:00.000-05:00

As I've noted in earlier posts Guilford County is represented by not 1, not 2 not 3 but 4 count 'em 4 Congressmen/Congresswomen. Question: what is Virginia Foxx going to run on? Whose coat tails? She's certainly not going to run on Republican accomplishments they have done nothing. Generic congressional preference polls favor Dems by a large margin. Even her conservative district could be competitive with the right candidate (Note to Allen: that pic with the skyline hmmm maybe a bit too phallic). The Prez has proven he's no good at getting people elected lately. He's at 57% dissaproval in NC as of 11/14 according to SurveyUSA. What can you do to get the Foxx out of the hen house as it were? Act Blue.

Alert: Al Franken in Asheville

2005-11-23T00:24:00.000-05:00

Go here for details. I can't make it but maybe you can.

Thoughts about Greensboro

2005-11-22T23:37:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about my city and what I like about it. So in no particular order here goes. Great history; from the revolutionary war to the civil war to WWII to civil rights to this nobody can say that nothing ever happens here. While I think it could be better, public transit here is pretty good. Nice people are everywhere. There's plenty of culture, culture, culture Its a college town. Come live here. We'll be nice. I promise.

Bush goes to China

2005-11-21T20:36:00.000-05:00

Bush went to China and what did he return with? Nuthin'. In fact worse than that. Here locally the trade agreement he set up with China will continue to hurt our textile industry. From the article in the Times

The pending agreement was denounced by Bruce S. Raynor, general president of UniteHere, a union representing textile workers, for being "unnecessarily generous to the Chinese."

"This agreement will cost tens of thousands of jobs in the United States and in Central America, and it gives us nothing in return," Mr. Raynor said.

He said the government should have demanded that China allow workers to organize unions and negotiate for higher wages. "If we are going to give up American jobs, at least we ought to help Chinese workers improve their standard of living," Mr. Raynor said....

North Carolina had 350,000 textile jobs in 1972, but more than 90 percent of them will be gone by the end of this decade, Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia Bank in Charlotte, said yesterday. He said production had not declined as sharply because Chinese imports encouraged the state's companies to make investments in automated machinery, which cut payrolls.

Why I like Brad Miller AND Howard Coble

2005-11-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

I'm in Brad's district NC-13 and because of the vagaries of districting he, Howard Coble-R of NC-6, and Mel Watt-D NC-12 all have offices within a block or two of my residence. The only congressperson representing parts of Guilford County without an office within walking distance is freshman wingnut Virginia Foxx-R of NC-5. If you can, imagine Guilford County as a square shaped pizza. Just imagine the guy cutting the pizza was tripping or saw a particularly cute girl and you'll have some idea of the erratic twists and turns these districts take. To give you an idea, I live in the center of Greensboro, zip 27401 and I had to add the plus four to find out who my representative was. Anyway, I like Brad because he's fairly progressive. According to ProgressivePunch about 85% of the time. His staff is very friendly and patient and happy to answer questions. So why do I like Howard Coble? Two words; constituent services. The man and his staff are practically legendary in this regard. My family has benefited from his staff's commitment to the folks here. While I may disagree with his politics, if I lived in his district I'd probably still vote for him. Maybe that's why last time the Dems didn't bother to field a challenger to him. The security of his seat also allows him to make principled stands from time to time. I honestly don't know much about Mel Watt other than he's a member of the congressional black caucus (good). Here's a joke about his district NC-12. If Mel drove up 85-40 with his doors open he could hit every constituent in his district.

Jean Schmidt and Latino Heat

2005-11-20T23:08:00.000-05:00

In the words of the great Chris Jericho "Would you puhleeze shut the hell up?!!" The most junior member of congress called a bronze star winner a coward. That is chutzpah. By the way Chris has some words about the passing of the Great Eddie Guerrero. If you didn't get to see him perform you really missed something. He was a technical wizard and a fearless high flyer. Once I saw a Smackdown with him and Edge. He was a heel (for non wrestling fans a bad guy) Edge was a face (for those with IQ's under 90 a good guy) Anyway the match seemed to go on for like twenty minutes very entertaining ladders, jumping, self sacrifice for the enjoyment of fans. It was such a performance it transcended the storyline. When a victorious Edge had left the arena to cheers, the crowd spontaneously started chanting Eddy, Eddy, Eddy.... we still chant Eddy, Viva la Raza!!

Map

2005-11-20T17:26:00.000-05:00

Who represents you?

2005-11-19T15:01:00.000-05:00

If you want to know who represents you click here.

Senators
Elizabeth Dole R
Richard Burr R

Congressmen/Congresswomen
G. K. Butterfield (D - 1st District)
Robert Etheridge (D – 2nd District)
Walter B. Jones (R – 3rd District)
David E. Price (D – 4th District)
Virginia Foxx (R – 5th District)
Howard Coble (R – 6th District)
Mike McIntyre (D – 7th District)
Robin Hayes (R – 8th District)
Sue Myrick (R – 9th District)
Patrick McHenry (R – 10th District)
Charles H. Taylor (R – 11th District)
Melvin L. Watt (D – 12th District)
Brad Miller (D - 13th District)

Matthew 7:16-20

2005-11-18T00:09:00.000-05:00

The best argument that these people are not Christians is made by that verse. For those of you who do not have your NRSV with you I've printed it below (red letters because Jesus is speaking). It annoys me that people that claim the mantle of "traditional values" can preside over this (WARNING: don't click on the word this if you are on a public terminal) .

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Java K's

2005-11-17T17:56:00.000-05:00

I'm typing to you from a nice coffeshop called Java K's its nice you should come here. It is in the Food Lion shopping center on Lawndale Dr. Its open 6:30am-6:30pm M-F, Sat open from 9:00am-5:00pm.

Big Yellow Taxi An Inflation Primer

2005-11-16T14:09:00.000-05:00

Many of you may be familiar with the pop song Big Yellow Taxi originally done by Joni Mitchell in 1970. The following line has always bothered me.

"You take all the trees and put them in a tree Museum and
charge everybody a dollar and a half to see 'em"

This song has been done all of the artists below. Next to the date is how much that $1.50 would be when each cover was recorded. The calculations have been provided by The Inflation Calculator . The cover artists never manage to tell us that when we go to the tree museum we'll most likely be turned away at the door.

Joni Mitchell (April 1970) $1.50
Joe Dassin (1970) $1.50
Bob Dylan (November 16, 1973) $1.71
Big Country (1996) $6.23
Tres Tigres Tristes (2002) $7.08
Counting Crows (July 9, 2002)$7.11

The Democratic Agenda

2005-11-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

In my last post I acknowledged that conventional wisdom is that Democrats don't have an agenda. Why is that so? Well because the Democrats do not control the House the Senate or the Executive branch so they cannot as a matter of practicality control the agenda. They don't make the schedule. It is much harder for them to introduce legislation than the Majority. Therefore they rarely make the news. That may all change in 2006 when the pendulum may swing back and the voters entrust the agenda to the Democrats. So if you want to see what we want to do go here. So you went to the site and you did the reading. You are thinking that sounds nice and all but where is the beef? For alot of the bullet points we already have legislation written and ready to go. I'll give you an example Tax Reform. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has written this bill.

What do Democrats Believe?

2005-11-13T18:19:00.000-05:00

So the conventional wisdom is that Democrats have no agenda. Let us put that lie to bed shall we? But before we get to that let's look at the core beliefs of Democrats or at least this Democrat.

Fairness-- I want a world where the playing field is level where a poor black kid from Compton CA can do as well as a rich white kid from Greenwhich CT. I want wages taxed at a lower rate than wealth. I want all public schools to be fully funded and fully staffed. I want existing affirmative action laws enforced. I want labor laws enforced. I want equal acces to public accomodations for my wheelchair bound sister. I think we should be making things easier for the little guy not harder.
Freedom-- I believe in the Constitution in general, the Bill of Rights in particular, and the right to privacy.
Responsibility-- Alot has been said by the other side about personal resposibility. Its just talk. They don't mean what they say. When it comes down to it they haven't been responsible themselves. They say in their paternalistic way that a single mother shouldn't have anymore kids because she can't pay for them. All the while they have run up our collective debt over two trillion dollars in five years. I think government should pay its bills. I think corporations should pay their fair share. I think the rich should pay their fair share. I think government and big business need to keep their promises to the people. I think that the senate and the house of representatives need to do their job overseeing how the executive branch does its job.
Morality-- I belive that this country was founded on the best of the enlightenment ideals.
Like most real Christians I believe we should act in a moral way toward other nations. That means no torture, no chemical weapons use, no attacking nations that haven't attacked us first. Here at home it means universal health care. It also means treating the poor in our society and the world with compassion and respect.
The Common Good--While the other side points to rugged individualism as the source of our country's success. I believe working together is the source of our success and that we are all in this together. That means "provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" I think Senator Barack Obama said it best in his keynote speech to the 2004 Democratic National convention read below or listen here. Get your Kleenex ready.

it's not enough for just some of us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga.

A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper — that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.

Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America — there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

Get us outta there!!!

2005-10-13T13:22:00.000-04:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Lets just get out. I'm saying this to the Democrats that will take the House and or Senate when 2006 or at least 2008. Run on this!!! We've got things to take care of at home.

My Letter to the Editor of the Greensboro News&Record

2005-09-06T05:43:00.000-04:00

Ostensibly there to do whatever it is celebrities and politicians do, Barbara's husband and his new buddy Bill visited the refugees of Katrina. Barbara Bush (perhaps bored?) was speaking to Marketplace Radio reporter Bob Moon and had this to say about her new neighbors, the current residents of the Astrodome, "Almost everyone I've talked to says 'were gonna move to Houston'....What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underpriviliged anyway *chuckles* this is working very well for them" That chuckling you hear is evidence of a disdain for the lives of ordinary people evident in the administrations of both her husband, and son, and the GOP as a whole. On the Senate's agenda when the recess ends- the repeal of the estate tax, by definition a tax cut for the top 2% that the nonpartisan CBO says will empty the coffers of charities like the Red Cross.