March 20, 2004

Saturday, March 20, 2004
What Appears To Be A Fairly Innocuous Article...
...really hints at something sinister, even today. In this article about Eisenhower's use of top civilians in the event of a nuclear attack, we find this interesting paragraph at the end.

During the Reagan administration, then-Rep. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who was chief executive of the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co., were key players in a secret program to set aside the legal lines of succession and install a new president in a catastrophe[emphasis added], The Atlantic Monthly reported this month.

Maybe it's just coincidence that these two are in positions of high power now, with devastating terrorist attacks on American soil and institutions now a distinct possibility. And of course, I'm sure the Dickster and Rummy wouldn't dare subvert our institutions and cancel elections in case of emergency.

Please tell me I'm right about the last part.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 3:27 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
She Deafened Me With Science
Ok, so I'm jumping the gun on dKos's Science Friday, but this is just too dang cool:

NASA Hears Words Not Yet Spoken

Apparently, they hook up sensors to the vocal cords, tongue, etc., and then:

"What is analyzed is silent, or subauditory, speech, such as when a person silently reads or talks to himself," Jorgensen said.


"Biological signals arise when reading or speaking to oneself with or without actual lip or facial movement."


On early trials, the program could recognize with 92 percent accuracy six words and 10 numbers that the team repeated sub-vocally.

Again, too cool for words. Science!

WF


// posted by Wes @ 9:41 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Happy Anniversary
On March 17, 1984, David Flinn married Kimberly Young in a small ceremony at Pinhook Church of Christ in Pinhook, Indiana. My brother and sister-in-law have been together ever since. Today they celebrate 20 years of marriage.

Congratulations. Would that all marriages (of all types) were as strong.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 5:04 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Paging Clarence Darrow
From the folks who gave you the Scopes Monkey Trial...

Rhea County, TN is petitioning the state legislature to allow charges of "crimes against nature" to be brought against homosexuals. Apparently, one of the county legislators is also trying to figure out how to ban gays from the county.

As a commenter over at dKos pointed out, these people didn't evolve from monkeys. Monkeys are smarter and more tolerant than the citizens of Rhea County, TN.

The vote was 8 - 0.

I guarantee you this county will vote for George W. Bush.

Am I implying that every Bush voter is a slackjawed fundamentalist moron?

Of course not.

I'm outright saying it.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 4:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
If You Can't Get 'Em For Murder, Get 'Em For Tax Evasion...
Via Covington Jim, we find that the city of Covington is suing Clear Channel for tax evasion.

Remember - that's how they got Al Capone too.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 11:06 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
And I See Peter Bronson Is At It Again
In his column today, Bronson pulls out his favorite canard - "Conservatives are the victims of bias on campus!!!"

There's a telling paragraph in this, though...

Student Government President Natasha Hamilton said a decision on the request would be made this week. "The reality is the college Republicans are unprofessional,'' she said. "They didn't file the proper protocol and procedures.''

This is the new reality of College Republicans in the age of Bush - like their Dear Leader, the PROCESS is only good when it helps them. If it doesn't, then it can be circumvented - first by not following the procedures, and then by yelling that you're being discriminated against, with the idea that the noise will force the people in charge to do what you want, procedure be damned. It worked in Florida 2000. It worked in the buildup to Iraq. And apparently, it's going to work at Xavier.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 10:45 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Survey Of Letters To The Editor
When I read the Enquirer in the morning (only online), I usually start with the Letters to the Editor. Today's letters are a real cross section.

The first is just a letter of support for the Bearcats in the tourney. I'm not a HUGE UC fan (even though I have 1 2/3 degrees from there), but hey, I hope they do well.

The second takes Portune and Heimlich to task for suing the Bengals as County Commissioners when they held up the process for the stadium as City Councilors.

The THIRD one bothers me. Linda Fox of Lebanon takes Jim Borgman to task for drawing a cartoon comparing Intelligent Design in biology to the Flat Earth theory in geography. Here's the second paragraph:

Borgman is an artist and a good one. What does he believe about creation? If he believes in the "big bang" as an explanation to how the universe began, would he think one of his cartoons with all his cute drawings and captions could appear as the result of an explosion at the Enquirer? He is a creator himself but doesn't believe in creationism? Something isn't right here.

My response to that is a quote from Julian Barnes, from his exquisite book A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters:

We are just a grander version of that beetle bashing its head in a box at the sound of a tapped pencil. Do we believe this? Well, let's believe it for the moment, because it makes love's triumph the greater. What is a violin made of? Bits of wood and bits of sheep's intestine. Does its construction demean and banalize the music? On the contrary, it exalts the music further.

Letter No. 4 concerns Bush's lies in his campaign ads. Suffice it to say, I agree.

Letter No. 5 says that a vote against Bush is a vote for al Qaeda. Can we kill this idea once and for all? This is how Bush is going to try to win this time - vote for me or "turrists" will getcha. He's already using the "Muhammed Horton" ad, and it's only going to get worse.

The final letter chastises the Enquirer for showing only the anti-amendment side of gay marriage in a recent article.

So all in all, an interesting morning.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 10:31 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Monday, March 15, 2004
Beware The Ides Of March
On this day (more or less) in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated at the hands of a conspiracy.

It is not known if there were extra swordsmen on the grassy knoll overlooking the Colosseum.

That's my last post for today. The song cycle is coming along nicely.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 10:16 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Slight Adjustment
To signify the new political reality, I have removed the Dean For America link (though it may reappear after March 18, when the Good Doctor announces further plans for his organization) and added John Kerry for President to the side.

I'm keeping the Blog For America link up, though. Good stuff still happens there.

I may decide to try to raise some funds for Kerry too, as well as other candidates (to be determined).

WF


// posted by Wes @ 9:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)

March 20, 2004

Saturday, March 20, 2004
What Appears To Be A Fairly Innocuous Article...
...really hints at something sinister, even today. In this article about Eisenhower's use of top civilians in the event of a nuclear attack, we find this interesting paragraph at the end.

During the Reagan administration, then-Rep. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who was chief executive of the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co., were key players in a secret program to set aside the legal lines of succession and install a new president in a catastrophe[emphasis added], The Atlantic Monthly reported this month.

Maybe it's just coincidence that these two are in positions of high power now, with devastating terrorist attacks on American soil and institutions now a distinct possibility. And of course, I'm sure the Dickster and Rummy wouldn't dare subvert our institutions and cancel elections in case of emergency.

Please tell me I'm right about the last part.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 3:27 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
She Deafened Me With Science
Ok, so I'm jumping the gun on dKos's Science Friday, but this is just too dang cool:

NASA Hears Words Not Yet Spoken

Apparently, they hook up sensors to the vocal cords, tongue, etc., and then:

"What is analyzed is silent, or subauditory, speech, such as when a person silently reads or talks to himself," Jorgensen said.


"Biological signals arise when reading or speaking to oneself with or without actual lip or facial movement."


On early trials, the program could recognize with 92 percent accuracy six words and 10 numbers that the team repeated sub-vocally.

Again, too cool for words. Science!

WF


// posted by Wes @ 9:41 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Happy Anniversary
On March 17, 1984, David Flinn married Kimberly Young in a small ceremony at Pinhook Church of Christ in Pinhook, Indiana. My brother and sister-in-law have been together ever since. Today they celebrate 20 years of marriage.

Congratulations. Would that all marriages (of all types) were as strong.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 5:04 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Paging Clarence Darrow
From the folks who gave you the Scopes Monkey Trial...

Rhea County, TN is petitioning the state legislature to allow charges of "crimes against nature" to be brought against homosexuals. Apparently, one of the county legislators is also trying to figure out how to ban gays from the county.

As a commenter over at dKos pointed out, these people didn't evolve from monkeys. Monkeys are smarter and more tolerant than the citizens of Rhea County, TN.

The vote was 8 - 0.

I guarantee you this county will vote for George W. Bush.

Am I implying that every Bush voter is a slackjawed fundamentalist moron?

Of course not.

I'm outright saying it.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 4:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
If You Can't Get 'Em For Murder, Get 'Em For Tax Evasion...
Via Covington Jim, we find that the city of Covington is suing Clear Channel for tax evasion.

Remember - that's how they got Al Capone too.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 11:06 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
And I See Peter Bronson Is At It Again
In his column today, Bronson pulls out his favorite canard - "Conservatives are the victims of bias on campus!!!"

There's a telling paragraph in this, though...

Student Government President Natasha Hamilton said a decision on the request would be made this week. "The reality is the college Republicans are unprofessional,'' she said. "They didn't file the proper protocol and procedures.''

This is the new reality of College Republicans in the age of Bush - like their Dear Leader, the PROCESS is only good when it helps them. If it doesn't, then it can be circumvented - first by not following the procedures, and then by yelling that you're being discriminated against, with the idea that the noise will force the people in charge to do what you want, procedure be damned. It worked in Florida 2000. It worked in the buildup to Iraq. And apparently, it's going to work at Xavier.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 10:45 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Survey Of Letters To The Editor
When I read the Enquirer in the morning (only online), I usually start with the Letters to the Editor. Today's letters are a real cross section.

The first is just a letter of support for the Bearcats in the tourney. I'm not a HUGE UC fan (even though I have 1 2/3 degrees from there), but hey, I hope they do well.

The second takes Portune and Heimlich to task for suing the Bengals as County Commissioners when they held up the process for the stadium as City Councilors.

The THIRD one bothers me. Linda Fox of Lebanon takes Jim Borgman to task for drawing a cartoon comparing Intelligent Design in biology to the Flat Earth theory in geography. Here's the second paragraph:

Borgman is an artist and a good one. What does he believe about creation? If he believes in the "big bang" as an explanation to how the universe began, would he think one of his cartoons with all his cute drawings and captions could appear as the result of an explosion at the Enquirer? He is a creator himself but doesn't believe in creationism? Something isn't right here.

My response to that is a quote from Julian Barnes, from his exquisite book A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters:

We are just a grander version of that beetle bashing its head in a box at the sound of a tapped pencil. Do we believe this? Well, let's believe it for the moment, because it makes love's triumph the greater. What is a violin made of? Bits of wood and bits of sheep's intestine. Does its construction demean and banalize the music? On the contrary, it exalts the music further.

Letter No. 4 concerns Bush's lies in his campaign ads. Suffice it to say, I agree.

Letter No. 5 says that a vote against Bush is a vote for al Qaeda. Can we kill this idea once and for all? This is how Bush is going to try to win this time - vote for me or "turrists" will getcha. He's already using the "Muhammed Horton" ad, and it's only going to get worse.

The final letter chastises the Enquirer for showing only the anti-amendment side of gay marriage in a recent article.

So all in all, an interesting morning.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 10:31 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Monday, March 15, 2004
Beware The Ides Of March
On this day (more or less) in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated at the hands of a conspiracy.

It is not known if there were extra swordsmen on the grassy knoll overlooking the Colosseum.

That's my last post for today. The song cycle is coming along nicely.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 10:16 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
Slight Adjustment
To signify the new political reality, I have removed the Dean For America link (though it may reappear after March 18, when the Good Doctor announces further plans for his organization) and added John Kerry for President to the side.

I'm keeping the Blog For America link up, though. Good stuff still happens there.

I may decide to try to raise some funds for Kerry too, as well as other candidates (to be determined).

WF


// posted by Wes @ 9:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
The First Non-Story Of The Campaign
(coming close to the end of an amazingly productive day...)

You've no doubt been hearing that Sen. John Kerry said that "foreign leaders" were pulling for him to win the election. Of course, the Right has reacted with apoplexy over this. Foreign leaders aren't supposed to comment on OUR politics, goshdarnit! And who does this Kerry fella think he is, subvering Dubya like that in the eyes of the International Community?

Well, one small issue here: HE DIDN'T SAY THAT.

And, as Kos says, kudos to Patrick Healy for having the guts to fess up.

WF


// posted by Wes @ 9:28 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)
There Will Be A Collection Following
I discovered the Church Sign Generator today.



Have fun in Hell, kids. Save me a seat.