Different Strokes

Old-time Washingtonians keep remarking that the Dick Cheney they knew, as a deputy chief of staff to President Ford, as congressman, as secretary of defense, is the not the Dick Cheney they see sitting in the West Wing today. The old Cheney was a reasonable, yet conservative man. The new Dick Cheney cannot be reasoned with and is still a conservative man. Why is that? Did Cheney snap? What caused it?

I talked to a former journalist (he was once the WH correspondent for WSJ during Reagan) friend of my parents, who had met and interviewed the old Cheney too and told me his theory: Lots of people, he said, undergo a personality change post-stroke. Some become less cautious and more eager to live whatever life they have left. Others, of course, have trouble talking or walking because of their strokes. Many like Cheney change, from being kind gentle souls (regular old staffers and bureaucrats) to becoming angry, disgruntled characters of their former selves. It is a Dr. Hyde and Mr. Jeckyll result, and exactly what he and I think happened.

In the early 90s Cheney was hesitant on expanding the first Gulf War. The Cheney of the late 1990s and early 2000s couldn't wait to go to war with Iraq and overthrow Saddam, evidence or reality be damned. The old Cheney never would have been caught calling the Time's Adam Clymer a "Big Time [a@@hole]" But that is exactly what the new Cheney did campaigning in 2000 in Naperville, IL (earning him the nickname "Big Time" ever since). The pre-stroke[s] Cheney was sensitive, the post-stroke[s] Cheney is making fun of Kerry for being sensitive while his boss is nearly simultaneously using the same word in the same context (meaning diplomatic/judicious).

So in a way, I feel sorry for the Cheney family. Their dad/husband has changed overnight into what Jon Stewart called "the personification of a grumble." Then again, they don't seem to have tried to help him; if anything, they have embraced and encouraged the radicalized Cheney (especially his wife Lynn, who somehow was in the situation room on 9/11, thinking she could give orders). On second thought, I feel sorry for the American people who were baited and switched, they were sold the old Cheney, who was supposed to temper hot-blooded George W. Bush, but they got new Cheney, who has pushed Bush's buttons to go to war.

Our Pet Peeve (and then some more of my own peeves)

We got him at PetCo today, his accessories cost more than he did. (For those who are curious, he is a male Beta Fish. Other interesting tidbits on the adventure can be found here.

Here's another look:


OK now on to intelligence scandals. The first involves Valerie Plame and the Journos that are hiding the name of the scumbag in the White House who revealed Former Ambassador Wilson's wife was a covert CIA agent (something the scum would sit in jail for). TIME's Michael Cooper is making himself the martyr to the journalistic shrine. This way, we can all write about him and magazine, newspaper, and TV people can get up on a pedestal and remind us mortals of how wonderful and ethical journalists are. If a politician did this, we would all scoff and ignore it, but since journalists do this worshiping, we all have to listen to this crap. I am sorry but if you are covering up in a crime by not revealing a source, then you should go to jail too. Another problem is the over-reliance on unnamed sources, who can slander and lie without real repercussions. The Plame Affair is the apex of the phenomenon (and hopefully the end of it).

The second is Chuck "Hey I am the senior Senator from New York" Schumer and his fuss over the leaking the news of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan's capture (who as a double agent in Pakistan) and blaming it on the White House. But reading the tea leaves of another unnamed source it seems that this is a person at State maybe CIA/FBI, but definitely not the White House.

The third is another Senator, Republican Richard Shelby, who like Schumer is going to coast to reelection and is hoarding his multimillion dollar warchest despite public groans from other senators and their party's campaign committees. The Senator from Alabama was the source of intelligence leaks that were fussed over last summer (and he was the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time).

Well, ok I lied, we got 4 things. Retiring Florida Republican Congressman (and ex-clandestine service CIA agent) Porter Goss has finally been named by President Bush to replace disgraced and departed DCI George "It's a slam dunk" Tenet. Finally, Democrats are growing what Bush calls cajones (he speaks 5 words of Spanish remember? Of course, that alone means Hispanics should vote for him right? Viva Bush indeed.) and will be grilling the crap out of Goss, just in time for the election. The committee vote (with John Edwards having a seat) will be soon so that the full Senate (and more importantly John Kerry) will have a vote on Porter by September.

Not such a great move Bush. Lets just all remind everyone what a crappy job the CIA did on Iraq and WMDs and lets recall that Goss and his House Committee (he was chair of the House Intelligence Committee) rubber stamped the intel to the house and possibly other senators in the rush to war with Iraq. Goss was also supposed to be asking the tough questions to intelligence officials in making us safe before 9/11, but I guess being one of the guys might have compromised things just a bit.

You see Porter, Congress has a role in government, they are supposed to look out for the people and be watchdogs over government agencies to make sure they keep us safe and don't rip us off. I think you failed on both accounts sir. We were charged hundreds of billions, not to mention the loss of over 900 of our young men and women, or our standing in the world for a war that actually made us more vulnerable to attack from terrorists. Somehow I don't think he deserves a promotion to DCI.

Playing Dumb

Tonight I watched Nightline, where they discussed Vietnam and the presidential race. Turns out that there are more obvious connections between the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth than I previously thought, despite Bush camp protestations that they have no control over them (and cynically call on Kerry to tell off Democratic 527s).

The head of the group also headed the 2000 anti-McCain group that smeared his good name in South Carolina, saying that he went nuts in the so-called Hanoi Hilton after years of torture and was therefore unfit to be President. Not only that but this woman’s husband is good friends with Karl Rove, having run for LG of Texas in 1994, the same year Bush successfully ran for governor himself.

If that weren’t bad enough, we learn that not only did almost all of the veterans who claimed to have served with Kerry never actually did so (they were near him but not on his boats), but also one guy who said Kerry can’t be trusted during the $500,000 ad buy was singing his praises in that infamous 1996 Senate race. Why are they all now coming out of the woodwork against Kerry?

[To be fair, the left has its attack hound group with tight links to Kerry. Jim Jordan, the spokesman for the 527 called the Media Fund, was Kerry’s presidential campaign manager until he was unceremoniously fired in the fall due to Kerry’s then-faltering campaign. I don’t think the Media Fund has called Bush a coward for not serving in Vietnam though, they left that up to MoveOn.org PAC, which Kerry has no real ties to as far as I can tell.]

I can see how many Vietnam Vets might feel betrayed by Kerry for speaking out against the war the way he did. And I can see why they might not like him for that or not want to vote for him, that’s fine. What isn’t acceptable is calling into question the Naval records and testimony of the men who served with Lieutenant (junior grade) John Kerry. How can you doubt the fact that he got injured three times and got three purple hearts? Or the fact that he saved a man’s life, and then possibly saved more by going after a would-be rocket launcher.

Senator Kerry annoys me too when all he talks about is Vietnam. I understand what his staff are trying to do and that it was a defining moment in the life of the junior senator from Massachusetts. Having said all that, I still find it disgusting that men who never served in war (DeLay, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Bush, Rice) would not only send men and women off to an optional war, but would also use men who had served as weapon to defeat political opponents.

Have they no shame? Have they no sense of decency left at all? Are they so intoxicated with power that all bets are off? Sure looks like it.

Doesn't sound good for 43

I had been reading on blogs that the Kerry-Edwards turnout to all these events in the past weeks had been huge, but I know from experience that supporters in a room tend to overestimate crowds. So when the Times did three articles on the race today, one on Kerry, one on Edwards, and one on Bush, I was pleased to see that image had been confirmed.

"In Harrisburg, Pa., on July 30, more than 15,000 people mobbed the Capitol plaza. In Grand Rapids, Mich., home of the Republican former president Gerald R. Ford, Mr. Kerry drew close to 10,000 people near where President Bush had attracted just 4,500 a few days before."

Bush's article is about Karl Rove playing out his theory that 1,000,000 Christian conservatives stayed home in 2000, which made Bush lose the popular vote and made it so close overall. The shamelessness with which they are pandering to conservatives is pervasive in the article. They are hoping for The Passion of the Christ-like mobilization with their "moral action teams." Too bad that it is illegal for churches to endorse or do GOTV for you (they would lose their tax-exempt status). The most they can do is speechify and register voters. Equally unfortunate for Rove, most of those million people live in neon red states, ones where he will win easily.

That said, even red ol' Kansas seems riper for the pickin' than it did four years ago. First off, they have a Democratic Governor (Kathleen Sebelius) . Edwards' train blew past the state once, had to reshedule/relocate after that but "Come over they did. Hand-drawn signs in the park and a message on the local cable channel sent about 1,000 people to the former barbed wire factory on the banks of the Kaw River, filling it to capacity and leaving more than 2,000 people stuck outside."

"For all those politicians and pollsters who say, wait a minute, why are you taking one valuable day to come back to Kansas to campaign, Kansas is a red state,'' Edwards said. "To John Kerry and I, there is no red state, there is no blue state, there is only one United States of America.''

Afterwards, the Republican bar owner (where they staged the event) said, "I voted for Bush in the last election but let's just say I am undecided for now.''

Two observations; one, the Kerry-Edwards advance team is good. They are getting big crowds in conservative areas, including some small town in Missouri the President's motorcade was supposed to stop in but didn't (very shrewd and quick planning to turn on a dime and show up there). Second, if Bush is still worrying about and shoring up his base, and Kerry is busy chipping into Bush's, then obviously Kerry is sitting on better numbers.

The Democrats aren't worried about their base, after all, they would vote in droves for a ham sandwich over Dubya. Middle America is growing increasingly weary of Bush too. Even in the evangelical article, some Baptist preachers where wondering why the poor had to send their children off to war while the rich got sent their massive tax cuts.

So the Bush campaign sent Mr. [Ralph] Reed [former spokesman for the Christain Coalition, now head of the GA GOP] to recruit pastors at the annual meeting of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention. According to campaign memorandums, it has asked "people of faith team leaders" to help identify thousands of "friendly congregations" around the country. It asked religious outreach volunteers to petition their pastors to hold voter registration drives, and to speak on behalf of the campaign to Bible studies and church groups.

The campaign has asked volunteers to send in copies of congregational directories for comparison with voter registration rolls - a move some conservative religious leaders have denounced as a violation of the privacy of the church and its members.

The Republican Party has sent has organized a special Catholic outreach tour, including a speech by the party chairman, Ed Gillespie, in St. Charles, a St. Louis suburb.

All this sounds like they are working their butts off for sure, but they sound pretty fearful they might lose. As well they should be, since their man is below 50% and big crowds are showing up for Kerry in every neck of the woods.

41's Son is a Preacher Man

Slate's Chris Suellentrop points out that George W. Bush's recent campaign rallies have the feel of a revival-tent traveling preacher more than of an incumbent president.

"'All of you are soldiers in the army of compassion,' the clergyman-in-chief tells the crowd. 'And one of the reasons I'm seeking the office for four more years is to call upon our citizens to love your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.' After his usual endorsement of the Golden Rule, Bush speaks of souls, which also isn't unusual for him: 'We can change America one soul at a time by encouraging people to spread something government cannot spread, which is love.'"

The whole session gets creepier and creepier after that. Maybe over-religiosity makes me nervous, especially when it comes from our commander-in-chief. Maybe I am just not his audience, which is a of a conservative Christian bent. Nevertheless, the turn out numbers of Kerry-Edwards events and the types of people coming to them versus a Bush/Cheney audience are very different.

The Democratic ticket seems to be gaining strength in moderate to conservative areas, with lots of people turning out just to see the train pass by, whereas, Bush/Cheney events are so tighly controlled they make the Soviet May Day parades look disorganized.

All of this give me hope ("Hope is on the Way"), especially the news that Marylander Alan Keyes is going to challenge IL State Senator Barack Obama for IL's US Senate seat. Republicans, just because Keyes is also black doesn't make him a good candidate. First of all Keyes is a nutto, although entertaining to listen to in debates like the Reverend Al (both ran/are running to up their speaking fees). Secondly, he is a carpet bagger who himself slammed Hillary Clinton in 2000 for shopping for a Senate seat saying, "I won't imitate that." Well guess what Alan? You just did.

Another Alan, well Alexander, is in the political news too. Rodney Alexander (LA-nee D) just switched parties immediately following the filing dateline so that Democrats could not run someone against him. I was wondering why no GOPers were thinking about challenging him. After all, his win last time was a surprise and he had flirted with becoming a Republican earlier this year. Rumor has it that he sold his soul to the GOP for a plum committee seat. Wouldn't it be ironic if the Democrats won back the House and he didn't get his seat after all that? Would he come crawling back to the Donkeys?

Speaking of irony, Slate's Daniel Gross thinks that Bush will ultimately lose reelection because of his tax cuts...which also went to rich liberals who gave generously to Kerry et al. Study up Atlantis.

A different kind of meetup

Today marks the second time my online self and offline self met up. The first was when I went to a Draft Clark Meetup and met legendary bloggers. The second was when a Stanford student stopped me today and asked, "Are you the Third Avenue?"

No one has ever called me that before, but in my shock I managed to say yes. One of my readers had reached out via this student to encourage me to keep on posting, despite my fear that law school will consume my being. And to this reader I say, thanks. I also want to [very] belatedly thank those who read my blog during the gay marriage debate in the Massachusetts legislature. Your words of encouragement and personal stories emboldened me to keep on and feel a sense of justice in the cause my boss was working towards.

Without you, dear reader, I would merely be shouting into the wind. It is good to know that I am not alone in my opinions. Today's encounter reminded me of the awesome power and potential of blogs to connect people who otherwise would never find each other in this planet crawling with people.

My goal in all this is to share my thoughts and frustrations so that they may be used towards a great cause of making this place just a little bit better. I know, it is cheesy, but that's just the kind of guy I am.

Something I already knew

I just called in this morning and found out that the University of Utah has deemed me to be a resident of the state, saving me over $10,000 in tuition per year.

Thank goodness. The state gave me a hard time because I went to school out of state and lived out of state on and off for two years. But I never made any effort to establish residency in any other state, nor did I consider myself anything other than a Utahn.

This will give me more time to focus on the terribly misleading anti-Kerry ads put out by pro-Bush groups (who, like Nixon before him, are hiding behind Vietnam veterans to smear Kerry) . They found other swift boaters who were never more than 50 yards from Kerry and claim that old Johnny is a coward.

John McCain, who was tortured by the Vietnamese for years, has denounced the ad calling it "dishonest and dishonorable" and "the same kind of deal that was pulled on me" by the Bush camp in the 2000 South Carolina GOP primary. Then, Bush's surrogates hinted that he was a traitor, and fathered an illegitimate black child. McCain called on Bu$hCo to denounce the ads and ask for them to be pulled down.

The Senator from Arizona really could still turn on and destroy Bush. And I sure hope he does. I don't get what he gets out of supporting Bush in TV ads and in speeches. McCain is already the most powerful senator around. Almost no big piece of legislation leaves the floor without either his name or his tacit approval. He doesn't need the GOP, they need him. And since McCain seems to not want to be a Cabinet or VP man for either ticket (or a Presidential nominee in 2008) what's to gain? Maybe there is some grand strategy I am missing, an October Surprise if you will.

And you thought Karl Rove was clever. I would love to see McCain get his revenge this fall.

PS: I return from the South Lake Tahoe region on Saturday night; hope the weekend treats everyone well.

This is the last time, I swear

This week (July 31st-August 7th) I will be in the Sierra Nevadas doing some R & R at a Stanford Alumni Camp South of Lake Tahoe.

There are no TVs, and as far as I can tell, my cell phone can't pick up a signal (maybe in the middle of the lake will work).

This morning I got up at 7 am PST to row a skull for 20 minutes. Even though I was one of the last ones out, the water was still pretty glassy and you could still imagine it was just you, the water and the sun. Usually, I am not a morning person but this camp's clock goes by the sun in a sense, and it really energized me except for the big headache I have from not much sleep. An army of ants has decided to make Christina and my bedroom their base camp. So far, 10-15 were KIA by yours truly, but they keep on coming.

I still enjoy some parts of the camp, which I have gone to every summer on and off for two decades, but it is starting to get old. I outgrew the kids groups about 9 years ago and I am not especially close with campers of my age group, who are coming less and less anyway. This is the last year I will be here, I promise and this time I really mean it. Law school and the law will become my life for at least the next three years and after that, I really shouldn't be going camp with my parents when I am nearing thirty.

From reading BOPnews and watching my fair share of C-SPAN, I think Kerry and the Democrats had a pretty good week. The Daily Show hit the nail on the head with their Mockumentary of Kerry: he was the least objectionable candidate to everyone in the party. Or to put in Current Events SAT-style

Kerry:Dem Nominee::WMDs:rationale for going to war with Iraq

My two Johns will go dark this month and the 527s will try to keep pace with Bu$hCo. I have been reading the Cook Report and he makes some pretty good points that my nervous nelly Democratic friends should pay attention to: incumbants that went on to win had high approval ratings than GWB but ones that went on to lose had lower ratings. You shouldn't be tied if you have spent $150M+ attacking the other guy. Plus, if is 45-45-3-2 (bush, kerry, nader, undecided), then it really is 45.3-47-1.6, since usually at least two-thirds of undecideds break towards the challenger (as Charlie Cook says, if they are undecided it means they have decided not to support Bush but haven't decided whether to vote for the other two) and Nader's 3% is highly over inflated given that the overwhelming majority of his 2000 supporters will vote for Kerry, if at all (and that Nader won't be on every state's ballot).

In sum, I am cautiously optimistic about Kerry and the Democrats in general. It seems like they finally have their sh@t together, so to speak.

13 months

Back when we signed the lease for our old apartment in Cambridge, we thought that we would want to stay in Boston for the convention and want to volunteer, so we signed a 13-month lease.

That was a dumb move, because we never used the apartment in July either time. We were also happy to leave Boston for Salt Lake because of the idiosyncrasies of the place. The inability of construction workers to finish a project, the constant traffic, the unfriendliness of the natives, the difficulty in navigating the city, etc.

While it might have been fun to fill up balloons, I seem to be enjoying the fruits of other people's labor by watching it on C-SPAN. A friend or two from the Clark campaign will be there a first-ever blog-correspondent and I will be curious to see how it all turns out.

Meanwhile, I keep trying to stay busy here. Maybe I should volunteer or something. I just have trouble staying motivated these days. The looming pile of unknown work is really frightening. Hopefully, 13 months from now, I will married, much more knowledgeable, and happy.

Oh Pioneers!

Today is the day, in 1847, Brigham Young and his troop of Mormons came into the Salt Lake Valley via Emigration Canyon (the same route that the Donner party lost so much time on) and famously said, "This is the Place."

Every year since, Mormons have made this day (Pioneer Day) a state holiday, complete with a pathetic parade through downtown with everyone and their mother's float made out of foam and crepe paper.

In that spirit, my fiancee, her old high school friend, and my cousin from NYC (who strangely also is friends with her) set off fireworks in our high school faculty parking lot Thursday night. The grand finale was a row of whistlers as we sophomorically peeled away. My fiancee, who grew up in suburban Chicago, and the New Yorker had never set off fireworks for some reason, so us Utahns had to show them how it was done.

Speaking of being Utahn, I am a sixth-generation Utahn and I finally found out more about our family legend about how we left the LDS church. My grandfather's grandmother's father was Mr. Long (can't remember his first name but it was long and biblical sounding like Jebediah) was Brigham Young's personal secretary. As such, he got to see how Young ruled his colony of Mormons with a ruthless, iron fist. He saw how Young had dissidents asssasinated by his goon squad, led by Porter Rockwell, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and other stuff we don't even know about.

Family legand has it that he was going to spill the beans on all this stuff, finding it to be out of keeping with the principles of the religion. So Rockwell's squad murdered him. His picture still hangs in our house. Of course, there are also family stories that we had the rights to Bingham Canyon (which is now the world's biggest man-made hole in the ground and copper mine) but my grandfather's grandmother had to pay for college for the children. So maybe both tales are a bit exaggerated for two key effects: distrust of the Mormon heirarchy and feeling guilty over your great education.

3rd Ave version 3.1

Well here we go again...another long gap in coverage and sinking hits. I am just about finished moving into the apartment and finally my back and upper body can rest.

Meanwhile, I hope you noticed the photo on the top right so you can see where I get the title of the blog and my mug. The layout and style of the blog has also been revamped to look a bit nicer, I trust. Please comment to tell me what you think if you feel up to it.

Reading the newspaper today (I have been doing that a lot lately, but sadly only the two local papers my parents subscribe to), I was really annoyed with the Deseret News' front page, top-of-the-fold article: "Edwards 'rarely present'" This article is clearly nothing but a RNC press release that the incompetent Lee Davidson plagiarized. Who in Utah cares that North Carolina Senator John Edwards wasn't there at Judiciary Committee meetings? Maybe North Carolinians might, or would-be federal judges, but it is pretty small potatoes. I have been to my share of committee meetings and most members/senators aren't there for them even if they aren't running for (Vice) President.

Below the fold was the obvious above the fold article (the Salt Lake Tribune had it in the right place anyway) : Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun's mysterious abstains and return (whose family happens to live in South Jordan, Utah). This is the kind of thing big newspapers like the Globe, Times or Post will get the scoop on but it is a big story.

The Muslim Marine will have some big questions he needs to satisfactorily answer: Did he go AWOL? How did he get 500 miles to Beirut? How was he abducted from such a secure location? Did he escape from the captors? In sum: what the h-e-double hockey sticks happened to him?

In fairness, let's include his complete statement:

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun's statement:
Good afternoon. In the name of God, I am glad to be home and thank you all for your prayers and support.
I understand that there are many questions . . . and respectfully ask that the media respect my need to spend some private time with my family.
I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days.
This was a very difficult and challenging time for me. Since my release, I have been fully participating in the repatriation process.
I thank everyone who was looking for me and give thanks to God for everything.
I would like to tell all the Marines as well as all those others serving in Iraq to keep their heads up and spirits high.
Once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper fi.
Thank you.

I don't know about you, but I still got questions.

On a personal note, I am going to dinner at my grandmother's house to see my cousin from NYC who went to college with me for two years (I was older) and the rest of the family. Have a nice day everyone.

Another long inexcusable gap

Boy the blog is really getting as out of shape as I am. In the past week, I have really been busy though, honest.

Moving stuff into our new apartment, buying a new TV (we sold our old one in Boston) and office chair. My back, arms, and shoulders have been taking a beating from lifting all these heavy boxes and furniture, but we are mostly done and it is starting to look like someone lives there.

This weekend, my mom is already in Jackson Hole with her friends the Cummings, whose Lucadia Corporation has made a bid to buy half of the ailing MCI (nee MCIWorldcom). The Cummings, incidently are also major donors to the democratic party, especially the Utah state branch. And the real reason she is up there is it is Ian's birthday.

My father meanwhile is being shipped off to Boston again for a labor arbitration case (he visited Christina and I last fall for part one of this case) Early in the morn on Saturday. I , of course have to deliver him to the airport at the crack o'dawn. My reward though for this is to have the house to myself...ourselves for the weekend.

This afternoon, the cable guy will come and we will have a million channels and a 3MBS internet connection in the apartment. To copy a cheesy movie title, I can't hardly wait.

Absense makes the heart grow...

Appologies for not posting in many moons. My blogging seems to have turned extremely personal as I tend to read the news less and less. Kerry-Edwards seems to be off to a good start and Bush-Cheney seems to be spinning their wheels (despite throwing all the mud they can scrape up) until the GOP convention in late August.

We seemed to have settled on an apartment and are looking forward to moving in soon. It is one of the more expensive ones in SLC but very nice and three blocks from the law school. You can't beat that. Maybe next year, we can get a condo and all that, but for now, we will live it up in this luxury apartment.

Just went golfing with the folks at the Country Club. I didn't play the "sport" but I love driving the cart around, it is so much fun. Dinner was standard WASP fare. The wife-to-be is off seeing "Anchorman"...barf. I hate how they promo these movies now.

Off to watch Tivo-ed Washington Week. This is my family.

How sad for you

Bush and his hatchet men are at it again. Only this time, everyone is starting to notice how inept they are. Ruy Teixeira compares what Bush claims on the economy vs. reality and then what the public believes via polls. The result? People know that the economy still sucks, and the White House can't spin its way out of that one.

Meanwhile, Mark Schmidt takes apart Bush's latest ineffectual (and, of course, negative) Ads. Here's the meat:

"These ads all aggressively fail the most basic test of any political ad: What do you hear when you're watching it out of the corner of an eye, doing dishes, talking on the phone, trying to stop one kid from taking the other one's Power Rangers, etc. I look at the "Yakuza" ad that way and all I hear is 'Kerry had a plan to fight terrorism [blah, blah, some Japanese thing I never heard of, blah blah], 'plan to fight crime [blah, blah]'. OK, sounds good, Kerry's against terrorism and crime. I watch the ad called "Patriot Act" like that, and the only thing I notice is the middle frames: 'Wire Taps' [Clang!] 'Subpoena powers' [Clang!] 'Surveillance' [Clang!] Bad things, scary mean government. But the point of the ad is supposed to be that those are good things, and Kerry is against them, except he sort of isn't ... Getting the point of this ad requires a logic even more nuanced than Kerry's own position, which begins to seem quite reasonable."

National Review's Jim Geraghty tries to task.

"Hope those New Hampshire dairy farmers were paying attention. The senator's explanation:

'I plead guilty. I did vote for it, because I represented Massachusetts,' Kerry said. 'I was a United States senator, and I was working in a context that we were living in a number of years ago, and that's the way we saw the world.

'We don't see the world that way now,' he told the crowd at the Dejno farm. 'I guarantee you that as president, I'm not going to be president of New England, or president of Massachusetts; I'm running to be president of the United States of America. And I'm going to stand up for farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Iowa and other parts of the country just as hard as I did before.'

But Senator, the point is that you weren't standing up for farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Iowa before, you were sticking it to them to benefit farmers in your home state." I dunno, sounds to me like those are two different things, what you did in congress as a representative of Massachusetts and what you would do as President of the USA.

On some issues, that line of reasoning is sound. For example, how one voted on the war, or No Child Left Behind, the PATRIOT Act (alas, Kerry voted for all of them), or the $87 billion (Kerry voted no). But others are purely local issues. The Northeast Dairy Compact is one that pits New England (and upstate NY/Rural PA) against the Midwest.

After a while, they just start to get pathetic.

crossed off my list

Sorry for not writing in a couple days. Since I last blogged, I have joined CostCo, opened a absolutely free joint checking/saving account with the University of Utah Credit Union, taken my fiance to two job interviews, gotten a gift for my now ex-boss, and purchased an automobile. (see below for pictures and details)

I haddn't needed a car for the 6 years I was out on the East Coast (DC to Boston region) but out here in the Salt Lake Valley it is must that between the two of us, we have at least a car of our own.

Oh, by the way, happy birthday America. True patriots question authority and work to make the USA live up to the founder's ideals (or our ideals of them, since they were also slave-holding elitists).

It is an automatic, which is a must for the wife-to-be. I actually prefer manual, but this car still has nice power. 

Not a bad booty either. This car's trunk (or if I were to use the British terminology, the boot) is very large. The rear seats fold down easily for skis and what not. Overall, very practical and sturdy car for the next 5 years or so. 

Here is the car we bought, I think it fits our combined personality. 

It has a cloth interior. My future father-in-law says we should get seat covers to prevent stains which will hurt resale value. I wonder how long a "no food or drink in the car" order will last. 

First day of the rest of my life

Last night I got into Salt Lake at 1 AM MST, (which is 3 AM EST) yet somehow I woke up at 7 am MST, so I am still really tired but now I really can't fall asleep since their are workers re-stucco-ing my family's house.

Christina is off with an old friend from High School, who I've known since pre-Kindergarten. Meanwhile, I will sit and contemplate what to do with myself in my new surroundings.

All my big purchases (car, apartment/condo) are coming up soon and setting up steps (opening a bank account) will begin tomorrow. But for now, I am taking trips down memory lane via my old desk in my old room, which is not a museum but a storage bin. My bed has been disassembled and new furniture and boxes abound.

Looking at old pictures and letters and notes reminded me of all those thoughts I had at one point in my life. About what I was going to do with myself, what I thought was profound at the time. Makes me smile and wince, and often times agree.

I still am an idealistic person who wants to change the world, now I just know better what has a chance of working and how to do it. Or maybe I haven't changed as much as I thought I have, but merely have gotten older and more cynical.

Last Post for a couple days

Despite wanting to talk about the Sumpreme Court ruling on "illegal combatants" (go Supremes!) I thought my last post on EST should explain why I am leaving. My essay for Utah Law School really sums it up nicely.

I have spent most of my life trying to get away from Utah and law school. Maybe this seems like a strange way to start an essay for admission to the S. J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, but to me it all makes sense. Let me explain.

My journeys outside Utah began my junior year of high school, when I spent a year abroad in Germany to avoid the state. I had lived my entire life in Utah and wanted to experience someplace, anyplace, else. In my considerations for college, I sought out schools where I could be as distant as possible from Utah. I have spent the last two years working in Washington, D.C. and Boston. For the last seven years, I have been home only for Christmas and a few weeks in the summer.

Furthermore, I told everyone that I would never go to law school. I did this because I thought I couldn’t be my own person if I followed in my family’s footsteps and became an attorney in Utah, so I tried everything else. One summer during college, I worked in Germany as an auditor for a Salt Lake-based company, American Linen. I savored catching the “bad guys” who were trying to cheat the company and other customers. Having had my anti-law school blinders on, I didn’t realize until this summer that this thirst for justice could be applied towards a career in law.

Yet something changed this summer, and I started dreaming and longing for Utah. I realized that I had incessantly talked about it to everyone I had met in the last seven years who wasn’t from the state. I constantly sounded like a travel agent or a tourism official, bragging about the climate, the ethos, the community, the skiing, the environment, and yes, even the easy-to-navigate grid system, especially to my friends from Boston (home of the cow-paths).

For the last seven years I groped in the dark, searching for a place and occupation that made me happy. After awhile, I realized I wasn’t missing just the mountains or the snow, but a part of myself. For all my trying to be different, I was denying who I was: someone is fascinated and excited by philosophical and practical sides of the law. That’s when things started to change. I found myself reading Supreme Court Briefs and Rulings, and loving every minute of it. In my job at the Massachusetts State House I had to pore through the law code for my constituents, I began to appreciate the importance of defining what the meaning of ‘is’ is. It quickly became apparent that the law is simultaneously an art and a science.

I now come before you a changed man: one who is no longer afraid of going back home and becoming a lawyer. In fact, I am looking forward to it, personally, academically, and professionally. I am reminded of the monument I pass by every time I drive home: This Is The Place. And now, I finally believe it.

Reflections and ruminnations

Bill Clinton's week in the limelight is winding down and it made me remember that while I think he was the best president I have lived through, his presidency is still be tinged with disappointment and sadness.

I read Joe Klein's "The Natural" and it hit the nail on the head. And Jon Stewart said about the same thing on Larry King last night. What a wasted opportunity is the best summary. So much charisma, so much intelligence, so much political wisdom, and yet a series of half-efforts when one thinks of what could have been.

We could have had universal health care 10 years ago, a Democrat House of Representatives, and a president Al Gore (well maybe not that either, the tragic figure.) Don't get me wrong, Clinton accomplished a whole lot economically and everything else.

All these woulda coulda shoulda thoughts got me thinking about how it was my last day on the job yesterday, my last days in Boston and the whole East Coast that matter. There is a whole 1-way ticket feel about all this. I am not just turning a leaf, but switching trees back. OK sorry about all those metaphors but I get all sappy these days.

My hope is that the next three years change me in a good way, and that I can preserve the good things about me and not let the irritating features of Utah and law school get to me. I will work hard on my schoolwork and myself. Hopefully, you all will enjoy the result.

I will attempt to keep on posting as often as I can. To me it is therapeutic and a necessary technology. Please stay in touch via email, phone, IM, comments, or even coming in person. From my Third Avenue to yours.

Quote of the LAST DAY

last day of work that is....

• CNN's Begala: "Look at it this way, though. Maybe Cheney was just telling Leahy the Republican version of safe sex" ("Crossfire," 6/24). On the Vice President telling the Ranking Member of Senate Judicary Committee Pat Lehy to go F%&@* himself on the Senate Floor.


Best Newspaper allusion to what Cheney said:


• According to the New York Times, Cheney "turned and stalked away, using an obscene phrase to describe what he thought Mr. Leahy should do" (Stolberg, 6/25).


How proper!


• Bush was questioned in the Oval Office for 70 minutes 6/24 by atty Patrick Fitzgerald and his team who are investigating whether Bush admin. officials "illegally leaked the name of" undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame.

And finally AP's Fournier recounts the "disastrous year" for Bush so far:

1. An "unremarkable" SOTU where his "opposition to performance-enhancing drugs in sports" stood out "against a bleak roster of new policies."
   
2. Ex-Treas. Sec. Paul O'Neill's book "claiming Bush was determined from the get-go to overthrow" Saddam Hussein.
   
3. Bush's "shaky performance on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'"
   
4. Ex-counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke "undercuts the president's tough-on-terrorism claims" before Congress.
   
5. NSA Condoleezza Rice "at first refuses to testify" before the 9/11 commis., "then bows to pressure."
   
6. Econ. adviser Gregory Mankiw says outsourcing "is sometimes a good thing."
   Bush "scuttles plans to name" businessman Anthony Raimondo manufacturing czar after Dems note he "laid of 75 workers" in '02 while building a plant in China.
   
7. "The death toll in Iraq mounts through the spring." GOP govs. "warn" the WH that "voters are getting antsy."
   
8. "Four U.S. contractors are killed and mutilated near Baghdad."
   
9. "Train bombers strike Madrid. Voters throw the Bush-backing" govt. "out of power" and Spain later "withdraws its troops from Iraq."
   
10. VP Cheney "comes under fire" for business dealings with Halliburton, "secretive deliberations on energy policy and unsubstantiated suggestions that his office might be behind the leak of a CIA operative's name."
    
11. Weapons inspector David Kay "concludes that Iraq did not have stockpiles" of WMD, "undercutting Bush's main justification for the war."
    
12. Dems "untie behind [John] Kerry after a short nomination fight."
    
13. Dem lawmakers "call for an investigation into whether" Bush's Medicare chief "pressured a subordinate to withhold estimates" of the full cost of the '03 Medicare bill.
    
14. Clarke "follows his testimony with a book claiming Bush ... failed to effectively confront" al Qaeda.
    
15. "Gas prices top $2 per gallon."
    
16. "Revelations that U.S. soldiers abused" Iraqi prisoners "fuel anti-American sentiment" abroad and "raise questions at home about U.S. moral authority in Iraq."
    
17. Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq behead American Nicholas Berg.
    
18. "The leader of Iraq's governing council is assassinated."
    
19. "A Memo reveals plans" for the Bush admin. to "slash domestic programs" should they win a second term.
    
20. Al Qaeda terrorists in Saudi Arabia behead American Paul Johnson.
    
21. Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq behead South Korean Kim Sun-il.
    
22. On 6/24, terrorists in Iraq "launched coordinated attacks that kill more than 100 people, including three U.S. soldiers."

Who needs enemies when you can shoot yourself in the foot on your own?

buried deep in a DKos thread

[x]Democratic Party that stands up for progressive principles, and win those voters back.

[y]I don't even think that's true anymore. These guys have jumped the shark into LaRouche territory.

Anybody who hangs around to watch Ralph masturbate his way through the most crucial election in decades isn't going to be "won back," and frankly I'd rather not have them around anyway. They keep crying that they don't have a seat at the table, but I haven't seen anything lately to convince me that they can keep their pants on through the entire meal, anyway.

Fun quotes

• A group seeking to legalize marijuana "announced that they had submitted sufficient signatures to qualify" for the NV ballot. But the group's pres. "subsequently discovered a box of about 6,000 signatures that no one remembered to turn in"



• "People ask me if I'm L, G, B or T. ... I tell them that I am 'S&M' -- straight and mayor" -- NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg (R), at a party celebrating gay pride last night



• "If someone wants to talk politics, I will certainly do that. If they want to talk about sex, I'll do that, too" -- ex-CA GOV candidate Mary Carey, who's appearing at Aurora's Star Bar and Grill for a "Halfway to New Year's Party"



• "You're an idiot" -- Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), after Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) said during a heated gun debate "that perhaps investigators should check into Chappaquiddick" Remember that was his Dad (Teddy) not him. Patty just slaped a security guard in 2000 and hit his yacht against stuff.



• "Honestly, unless your name is in it, or he banged you, there is no reason to wait in line" -- Jon Stewart, on Clinton's book ("Daily Show," Comedy Central, 6/22/04).

PS when I get done with moving, I will get some pictures up to show the world the origins of the name of the blog...Ohh lobster day at the state house, gotta live it up while I still can.

Un-shockingly

Super-low turn out in GOP-pledged primaries (voters must sign a loyalty oath to the Republican party) in UT and SC produced predictable results.

In Utah, John "My dad plastered his name on every third building in the state" Huntsman, Jr. won the gubinatorial primary against former board of regents head (and former UT house majority leader) Nolan Harris, who had sold his soul to the devil by teaming up with Enid Greene Waldholz. Scott Matheson, Jr has his work cut out for him.

The Congressional primaries were similarly unsurprising. In the 2nd district, ex-state rep. John Swallow won again narrowly over the same oponnet Jim Bridgewater 53-47/6,000 votes, who had a super scary voice. Rep. Jim Matheson (yes, they are related) will have to get over his deja-vu and beat Swallow by more than the 1,600 he did last time. Look for lots of outside money this time. In the 3rd, the incumbent and resident moron Chris "Geneva Steel" Cannon won easily against anti-immigrant Throckmorton (can't remember his first name).


In South Carolina, Rep. Jim DeMint, a darling of the hard right-wing, bested washed up ex-Gov. Beasley. DeMint will get lots more money from the Club for Growth and other super-conservative groups. SC Education Superintendent Inez Tannenbaum, the Democratic nominee, while hammer DeMint on trade (DeMint is a free trader, which doesn't sit well with all those hundreds of thousands of unemployed factory workers who blame China and Walmart for their troubles) so DeMint will in turn change the subject to abortion.

After all, Utah and South Carolina are fighting for the right to be the most conservative state in the union, yet moderate Dems have a good shot in all three of the races I mentioned (the UT 03 race is not even worth talking about).

With any luck, this fall I will be signing "Oh Tannenbaum" with Governor-elect Matheson and still-Rep. Matheson.

Scandal sheet

Most people like reading about politicans, not for the visions, policies, or bills they espouse but for the trouble they get themselves in. To accomidate those with rubber necks, I point to the two biggest ones that happens to Pols yesterday:

1. IL SEN GOP nominee Jack Ryan lost his bid to seal papers of his custody battle between his ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan, and it doesn't look good. According to the Chicago Tribune, Jeri "accused him of taking her to sex clubs in New York and Paris, where he tried to coerce her into having sex with him in front of strangers."


The Sun-Times says she specifically cited "a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling." Ryan "said he has no plans to step down" despite the fact that US House Speaker Denny Hastert and other IL GOP have been openly shopping for ways to dump Ryan.

This man is not the guy from the Tom Clancy novels, he has been a rather inept campaigner, yet he still won the nomination in a landslide. But if he is still on the ticket, Obama will cruise.


2. CT Gov. John Rowland, also a Republican, (no party comment here) finally gave up last night trying to fend off a bipartisan investigation on whether to impeach the Governor for all the kickbacks, and other ethics violations that have found him under investigation also by the FBI. According to the Hartford Courrant, Rowland "offered no explanation for his resignation or its timing in a five-minute, 45-second speech." The only nod to the personal and political crisis came when John said, "I acknowledge that my poor judgment has brought us here"



3. And finally not to be outdone, Slick Willie is back, this time selling his book and legacy all over the country and dial. In "My Life," the former President tells how Hillary and him had counciling for years afterwards and how he wrote the book so that Chelsea wouldn't be so ashamed of him.


Yeah, can you imagine going through HS and college with EVERYONE knowing your Dad had oral sex with his intern? Poor kid.

Speaking of the intern, the NY Post reports that Monica Lewinsky "was invited to tour the Clinton Presidential Library," but "she declined"

I hope you all had fun with that, now wash your eyeballs out with soap.

weak-end

Well another weekend done and my second-to-last one here in Boston. Sunday was a whirlwind tour: from the JFK museum in Southie to the Cheesecake Factory in Prudential Center/Copley Place Mall to the Blue Man Group in the Theatre District and back home to Cambridge for some pork chops.

One thing I won't miss about the Bay State and all the other states in the East Coast his all their old, decaying crap. Like all these subway stops that look like they are about to rust off the bridge, stairs etc. Another thing is the old stuff designed before people had proper nutrition (AKA low ceilings and clearance).

Like when we were finding our seats at Blue Man. I was wearing my Red Sox hat forward on my head, which was the style at the time, whereupon I smacked right into the balcony made out of wrought iron with my forehead. Maybe I couldn't see it because it was a dark theatre and the balcony was pained black, or maybe it was the curse of the Bambino, or the fact that my fiancee and were row H, but it sure hurt. I tried to sit down and keep the world from spinning but the usher lady made me come out and sign a form saying I had injured my head and was fine, thank you very much. Of the options for injury, they had "shot" and "cardiac arrest" first of all, who is going to be able to fill that out. And secondly, why is shot even an option? "You never know in Boston," she said. Like Boston is Silver City, Nevada circa 1870. It has some of the toughest gun control laws in the country. And who would bring a gang fight or a gun fight into the Blue Man group?

Anyway, other than my ongoing headache and slight nausea at the time, I enjoyed the show and my Dunkin' Donuts coffee afterwards, which I will miss. While I sat in the food court of a place across from the theatre I listened to a homeless lady have an angry conversation with herself, which I will not miss.

On Thursday, I was involved in the contact lens scam. I went in for an eye exam and came out with a $90 bill (the exam was supposed to be covered 100% by insurance) and a pair of overly soft contacts that took me 30 minutes to insert into my eyes. My South African doctor, it seems deals only in Accuvue contacts, which allows him to go to a Enrique Iglesias concert and get his picture taken (guess who sponsored the concert series?). So my Johnson & Johnson Whore Doctor gave me these "blink them out" contacts which came out while at lunch at Cheesecake (and yes I did have cheesecake this time) and seem to be trying to escape this morning, making my vision horrible. The $90 is for fitting which includes these crappy lenses, a plastic case and small rise bottle and another trip there to the Doctor so he can con me into buying a years supply of lasts 2 weeks lenses. I feel compelled because if I don't switch brands, I will have to fork over another $90 to another Dr. in SLC to fit those. What racket these guys have. Can't wait until I learn about RICO and bust their sorry Suave butts.

Sorry all this blinking and dull pain in my forehead seems to make for angry postings.

On a lighter note, Bush's DC fed appeals court (which is one below the Supreme Court in many cases) nominee Thomas Griffith "has been practicing law" in UT "without a state law license for the past four years" according to the Washington Post. As long as they agree with you, they don't actually need to follow the law themselves or be qualified, right?

A Distraction?

For most of 2002, President Bush argued against the creation of the 9/11 Commission created saying the investigation would only distract his administration from the post-Sept. 11 War on Terrorism (c). Now to anyone who hasn't chugged down all the Bush Kool-Aid already knows that A)that never was the case and B)The commission have provided a much needed service to our country.

To remind readers, Bush opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in early 2002, then decided to do a 180 and use DHS to beat Democrats like Max Cleland over the head with in the fall. Bush also was opposed to the commission, first making that bogus non-argument above and secondly putting Henry Kissenger, who isn't exactly known for his penchant for Open Government, in charge. Both backfired and Bush did a 180 again.

Now the WH is upset that the 9/11 commission restated the obvious: THERE IS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN AL-QAIDA AND THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN Sorry about the caps, but appearantly 49% of the population still hasn't gotten the information. Even though their own anti-terrorism czar Dick Clarke told Bush repeatedly in 2002 and 2003 that there was nothing, as did Joe Wilson, they still flat out lied to the congress and the public in the "marketing" of going to war in Iraq. The sole example Cheney cited of "numerous contacts" between Hussein and Al Qaida was a meeting between a senior Iraq intelligence agent and bin Laden in Sudan in 1994, one that the commission said went nowhere. Why would an Islamic extremist and a securlarist get along?

The Times' Douglas Jehl's second key graph: "Far from a bolt from the blue, the commission has demonstrated over the last 19 months that the Sept. 11 attacks were foreseen, at least in general terms, and might well have been prevented, had it not been for misjudgments, mistakes and glitches, some within the White House." Some is putting it mildly, although I think the FAA and FBI stunk the most after reading the staff statements and watching the public hearings.

Former Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey, a Republican, and Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana , deserve tons of credit for toning down the partisanship of the other panelists and getting the most information possible out of this secretive White House through subtle pushing and the help of the 9/11 families' media savvy.

Hats off to the staff too, whomever those toiling men and women are. While their bosses go on TV, they wade through thousands of pages of semi-classified stuff, memos, chatter, tapes, bureaucracy, and more. The families want to know more for sure, like why the radios didn't work between NYPD and NYFD that faithful day, but they surely got much more than they would have if Bush had had his way...Which would have exactly nothing.

It's not just a river in Egypt anymore

Of course, I am talking about denial. Specifically, George W. Bush et al's refusal to face the facts on the utter lack of connections between Al Qaida and Saddam Hussein something that is obvious to slightly more than half the population (the other half voted for Bush in 2000 remember) and anyone in the intelligence community.

Maria Newman of the Times has this in the lede: " day after the commission investigating 9/11 reported that it had found no evidence of a 'collaborative relationship' between Al Qaida and Saddam Hussein, President Bush reiterated today that there were nonetheless links between the terror group and the Iraqi dictator.

"'The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al Qaida is because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaida," Mr. Bush told reporters after a cabinet meeting today."

Such as? The truth is, all the wackos at AEI and other neoconservative think tanks can't find any proof that can stand up to the light of a table lamp, and the White House knows. Yet, they think they can still con John Q. Public (and not Jane, but Mr. White Male Middle Class voter in the exurbs) into thinking that was the reason for this horribbly botched occupation of Iraq.

Like the sand dunes in Saudi Arabia, the rationale for this war has shifted almost daily, each less credible than the next. And the most laughable one of them has floated back up the top because it seems to be the most powerful argument, if it were actually true (which it isn't).

Just sit back and think for a second. If were a secular, communist-lite despot of a 3rd world county sitting on a pile of oil (the 3rd largest proven reserves in the world) would A) make friends with Islamic radicals who want to sever Arabs ties to(what in their view is) the corrupting influence of crude that creates cozy relations with the "Infidels" in the West or B)Invade a weak nation with lost of oil to your south (which used to be part of your country many decades ago) and then use weapons or the threat of weapons to expand your control over the Middle East and become a much bigger despot.

Obviously, Saddam chose B...Isn't it what you would do if you liked money, power, writing romance novels, and letting your son strap electrodes to soccer players' testicles? If you chose A, you would have been invade 5 years ago at least and there would have a lot more evidence to prove it.

George W. Bush is a man of convictions alright. He becomes convinced of something, no matter what evidence presents himself, he will never change his mind. As long as he "knows in his heart" that it's true, then that should be good enough for the American people and world, even if its the most obvious and boldfaced lie the world has ever seen.

So why does Bush and Cheney still like to dust off and wheel out this old, tarnished lie? Because it scares the crap out of us and that's still what many of our poor soldiers believe who are dying to avenge 9/11 while getting shot at and blown up in Baghdad.

George W. Bush is a man of convictions alright. He becomes convinced of something, no matter what evidence presents himself, he will never change his mind. As long as he "knows in his heart" that it's true, then that should be good enough for the American people and world, even if its the most obvious and boldfaced lie the world has ever seen.

Alberto Desereto

WH Counsel Alberto Gonzales was, once upon a time, reportedly being considered and groomed for a seat on the Federal Bench and eventually even the Supreme Court. Supposidly he was on Bush's short list for a seat on the Supreme Court even.

Now he doesn't stand a chance in h-e-double hockey sicks in getting confirmed by the senate to be the President's Dog Catcher. Why? Slate's Alan Berlow explains:

"In the burgeoning Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Gonzales has surfaced as the author of one highly controversial memo and co-author of a second, both of which raise serious questions as to whether the president authorized or condoned the use of torture, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Although the president said he's only approved actions consistent with U.S. and international law, that hasn't settled the matter because the main thrust of the memos crafted by Gonzales as well as Justice, Defense, and intelligence agency lawyers, seems to have been to come up with justifications for torture within the law. It remains to be determined whether these memos, individually or collectively, provided the legal go-ahead for the policies that culminated in the abuses at Abu Ghraib. "

This wasn't the first time Gonzales had written currious legal opinions regarding international law. Back when Bush was governor of Texas, Alberto decided that these same Geneva Conventions didn't apply to the state of Texas, even though Texas is a part of the US via that whole constitution thing. The issue was a Mexican National who had put on Death Row and the Mexican Consolate in TX had never been notified of even his arrest. And just for fun, let me add that this man, Irineo Tristan Montoya, signed a English confession to brutally stabbing and murdering John Kilheffer in Brownsville, Texas, in 1985, despite the fact that he spoke only Spanish (he thought it was an imigration form, gee I wonder how he got that idea). By the way, two days after Gonzales' memo, Montoya was executed, over protestrations of Mexico and the State Department (even Albright herself tried to get involved). What's worse, Gonzales' interpetation of the constitution, or Bush's apparant repeated agreement with his interpetations?

Berlow sums up the longer term implications of Gonzales and Bush nicely: "Much more will be at stake if Gonzales' interpretation of the Constitution and international law is allowed to take root in the loosely defined war on terrorism. With the U.S. image worldwide at what may be an historic nadir, it is hard to imagine how a decision by the president to abrogate one of the cornerstones of international human rights law would either enhance that image or encourage other nations to shoulder any of the costs of the ongoing Iraq adventure. In the end, however, what is most important is what these memos say about who we are as a nation. If the president has, in fact, rationalized a decision to abandon the Geneva Conventions on Prisoners of War and the U.N. Convention Against Torture for the poisoned promise of torture, he should explain to the American public how that squares with this country's commitment to the most fundamental principles of justice and decency."

Dick and Scooter's Haliburden

It seems that not only has no-bid contractee Haliburton overcharged the Pentagon for gasoline to the tune of $61 million (by buying it on the cheap in Kuwait and then charging several dollars more per gallon in the field in Iraq). But now the LA Times reports that the Department of Defense (DoD)'s Contract Audit Agency "found that Halliburton's system of billing the government for billions of dollars in contracts was 'inadequate in part,' failing to follow the company's internal procedures or even to determine whether subcontractors had performed work." And four Halliburton employees "signed statements charging that the company had routinely wasted money." Among the overcharges, the employees said that Halliburton had paid $45 for a case of soda, $100 "per bag of laundry" and had "abandoned nearly new, $85,000 trucks in the desert for lack of spare parts." Ex-Halliburton employee Marie De Young: "There was this whole thought process that we can spend whatever we want because the government won't crack down in the first year of a war."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), (the guy who would be grilling the Bush administration into next Tuesday if the Democrats were in power in the House)on the reported involvement of Cheney's office with the Halliburton contracts: "He has insisted for months now that he and his office had nothing to do with the award of the sole source contract to Halliburton, and people in the administration have also insisted that this was done by the career people in the Army and not by political people. Well, we now have information from a briefing our staff received last week that, in fact the whole thing was brought to a meeting of the political appointees, including Scooter Libby, who is Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, and the reason it was brought to them is that they wanted to be sure that they didn't have any objection that they were going to go to Halliburton, even though there are other companies that could do the job. So I've written to Vice President Cheney and asked him for a full explanation."

More Waxman: "I've made no allegations. I'm simply reporting what the fellow that works for the Defense Department has told us in a meeting, that he brought this to Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, he brought it to the political people, and the decision was not made by the career people, but by the political people. So I've asked Vice President Cheney, without making any accusations about him, because we don't really know the truth at this point, we don't know the full story. But we do know that what he's been saying is inconsistent with the facts as we've now learned them."

CNN's Lou Dobbs responded: "Congressman Waxman, only in Washington could that be considered not an allegation, to suggest the facts are not in accordance with the statement. ... In other parts of the country, that could be called an outright lie"

So is Lou, who is on a personal cursade against job exporting companies, saying Cheney and Libby are liars? These are also the two who are under investigation by a grand jury for revealing the identity of Valerie Plame to scare ex-Ambassador Joe Wilson and others like him to reveal the truth about intelligence on Iraq. Something tells me these two are the center of all the bad things coming from this White House.

Best President in my life time, and Best First Lady




Prove me wrong Dubya, prove me wrong.

Quote of the Day

"Everybody knows that I've been given a gift by God, by God himself, to lead" -- ex-DC Mayor Marion Barry, announcing his DC Council bid (NPR.org).

Runner up

"It's to draw attention to the fact that the media wants to draw attention to naked people, but the fact that there's an illegal war going on is not important. Plus, it's really fun to ride your bike naked" -- World Naked Bike Ride spokesperson Sasha Webb

Go Granny D!

According to the Manchester Union Leader, 94-year-old Dorris "Granny D" Haddock (a big advocate of Campaign Finace Reform) and two others filed for the NH SEN Dem nod after the lone Dem "suddenly dropped out" (PoliticsNH.com). Burt Cohen dropped out "after his campaign manager disappeared."

From the "Yeah Right" Department

There have been 17 car bombs in Iraq this month. And several members of the Iraqi Government (current and post-June 30th) have been either killed or targeted.

Meanwhile, a State Dept report claimed that said terrorist attacks worldwide had decreased in '03 According to the LA Times, Sec/State Colin Powell "blamed mistakes in data collection, not political considerations," for a "very embarrassing" report.

See post below in which I refer to Mah Jong. 

Hiatus

I spent the last two days with my future in-laws. Thursday was Harvard's 353rd commencement, so you'd think they would have it figured out by now.

My father-in-law-to-be and I crammed in with everyone else on the rain-swept slopes of the Harvard Yard and never really got to see anything other than the jumbotron and jerky parents.

After that, we went to the more intimate setting of 635 graduates of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where my wife-to-be was getting her masters in Pyschology and Human Development.

We rested a bit after that whole drama and photo session, and then went out again for dinner with 10 of our friends from Harvard and our college years. I nearly lost my cell phone in the Indian resturant, but thank goodness the 4th waiter came clean. Then some more bubble tea so that I just about exploded.

Friday we took the rental car to southern Maine, "The way life ought to be" and relaxed in a touristy village on the seacost. The skies were almost spotless and it was only 70-something with a seabreaze mixed in. It was very relaxing and enjoyable, but maybe I had too much sun or buttery food or something because I could hardly eat dinner or play Maj Jongg when we got home. Driving and Harvard Square never mix, by the way.

Today was the morning nighmere of mailing two heavy boxes filled with books from Porter Square. Of course since the nation was busy embalming Reagan yesterday, the line was twice as long with half the staff and our boxes were 85 and 40 pounds respectively (so we had to buy another box and divide up the heavy one) After that, we journeyed to Watertown/Newton for a special Chinese Brunch place that looks like a dump on the outside but is really nice with amazing food inside.

As her parents are all packed up now and taking one last look at the Coop (to see if there is anything else there with the word "Harvard" on it for them to buy) before they head to the airport, I am able to catch up with current events.

Someone spilled the beans that Kerry had semi-asked McCain already and Johnie Maverick said no. At least McCain's people and hopefully Kerry's people kept it quiet for about a month. I am not surprised that it came out or the news but dissipointed in both. So much for keeping the whole thing under wraps. I really hope the Kerry people know what they are doing because things aren't going that great for them right now considering.

Basically, George W. Bush is losing this election all by himself, with no help from Kerry. That is, Kerry isn't winning so much as Bush is losing. Then again, I really don't care as long as Bush isn't reelected. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend of nice weather.

Bye-bye Boston Countdown

On June 25th, I will enter and leave the Massachusetts State House for the last time as a legislative aide. Bloggers who want to get an inside view of the next ConCon on gay marriage will have to find another person. While I am excited to go off to Utah and start a new life as an adult with a car, a house, a JD, and a wife (well some will come in 1 or 3 years), I am a bit sad to see this old life go by the wayside.

In the meantime, here is something for your amusement:

"Expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned or that one has just said or done something foolish" -- OED definition of "Doh"

Let the worshiping begin

Remember how I said that Ronald Reagan is the GOP's Kennedy, a man idolized and almost worshiped? Well, now we are getting closer towards worship.

OH state Rep. Ron Young (R) introduced a resolution requesting Congress add Reagan to Mount Rushmore.

Ex-Reagan speechwriter/Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who wants to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 said he has "no qualms about replacing Jackson, whom he said "is 'not standing up to the scrutiny' of time." But Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) spokesperson Bob Stevenson said Frist "wants to keep Jackson on the currency": "Obviously, folks in Tennessee view Ronald Reagan as having accomplished so much for this generation of Americans, he deserves a much higher denomination than the $20" (Friedman, Long Beach Press-Telegram, 6/7). Higher than $20? Does that mean that Grant is on the chopping block? Or will it be Franklin?

Actually it is John F. Kennedy, who some GOPers consider a "comunist." Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) will propose to replace JFK on the half-dollar with Reagan. Miller spokesperson Dan McFaul noted that JFK replaced Benjamin Franklin on the coin in '63," and Miller "merely felt it was time for a change." Said McFaul: "Nothing's wrong with Kennedy. ... The tradition at the U.S. Mint was for coins to remain unaltered for 25 years, and we're looking at about 41 years." A Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) aide said Kennedy "had no comment" (Long Beach Press-Telegram, 6/7). Meanwhile, a House GOP aide said: "Having a living member of the Kennedy family in a prominent role on the Senate side is an assured death sentence for any effort to remove JFK from the 50-cent piece" (Roll Call, 6/8).

Not to be out done, "Once Reagan's body has been interred" on 6/11, Americans for Tax Reform pres./Ronald Reagan Legacy Project pres. (and over crazy right-wing nut) Grover Norquist "will launch a campaign in Congress" to put Reagan on the $10 bill in place of Alexander Hamilton. Said Norquist: "Hamilton was a nice guy and everything, but he wasn't president." He added: "As a board member of the NRA, I can also tell you that he was a bad shot." (Oh, that's witty. Did you know that Hamilton is my ancestor? You best not be steppin')

USA Today's Page writes, unlike Reagan, "Hamilton lacks a modern-day political constituency -- one reason the $10 bill is being targeted." Hamilton's Federalist Party is "defunct," whereas Reagan's GOP controls the WH, House and Senate.

Majority Whip Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says he will "sponsor the proposal when the time is right," and Frist spokesperson Stevenson said there "'could be a head of steam behind the idea.'" But Dems "aren't quite ready" to go along; Senate Min. Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) spokesperson Todd Webster said: "Ronald Reagan did many things during his presidency that deserve to be remembered, and Democrats and Republicans will discuss how best to honor his legacy." Ultimately the decision is "up to" Hamilton's "successors," currently Treas. Sec. John Snow. Norquist said he "already has met with Snow" and senior WH officials, saying: "Everybody thought it was a good idea, and nobody thought it was a bad idea."

GOPers ran into "resistance in recent years" when they tried to replace FDR on the dime with Reagan. Dems "flipped," and even Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY), whose CD "includes Roosevelt's Hyde Park home, fought it." The effort "fizzled after Nancy Reagan said she wouldn't endorse" it (Long Beach Press-Telegram, 6/7). Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) said on 6/7 "he's reconsidering the fight he led in Congress to block" GOPers from putting Reagan on the dime. Said McGovern spokesperson Michael Mershon: "we're reviewing the situation. No decisions have been made. This week is a time for mourning and celebrating Ronald Reagan. We will come back to this later." Mershon did note that FDR has "always been associated with the dime due to his fundraising work" for polio with an org. that "came to be known as the popular 'March of Dimes' campaign."

Also, some have "suggested a compromise of putting Roosevelt and Reagan on alternating sides of the coin" (Miga, Boston Herald, 6/8). Enough with the coinage and currency!

At the same time, they are going to have state mourning for about a week and basically do the Lenin thing to his poor body so that all worshipful "movement" conservatives can pay homage to Dear Leader.

I think the Daily Show's Jon Stewart best summs up the hidden angle on the Reagan coverage: "The people I really sorry for here are Carter and Ford. Because, you know they're watching this and thinking, 'I'm not getting that'" By the way, President Ford and former First Lady Betty will be on Lary King Live tonight. I pity him sometimes.

name that building
No, its not a game show. The Third Avenue is now permitting Congress and the government in general to name stuff after President Ronald Reagan, who died on Sunday at the age of 93. Too bad GOPers decided to do this 10 years ago, when the man was still alive but not the same Ronnie they once knew in the 1980s.

On one level I can understand why they did it, Reagan is the Republicans Kennedy, only Democrats didn't name everything under the sun after him until after he was killed, not years before he died of a long-drawn out disease.

True, Alzheimer's disease is a horrible way to go. It must be hard to watch loved ones melt away into a living corpse. Personally, I can't really think of a good thing he did as president. I guess reforming the tax code was good in 1986, and bankrupting the USSR was great too, but at what cost? We also bankrupted ourselves. He cast out millions with mental illness and made them the problem of state prisons and societies. Ronnie conducted a war without congressional consent, armed Saddam Hussein with WMDs and other more conventional weapons. He tried to eliminate the Department of Education, and his secretary there of (Bill "Vegas" Bennett) systematically undermined education and its funding. Reagan tired hard to break and weaken unions, subtly supported racism through his choice of campaign stops (at sights of famous lynchings in Mississippi), blamed women on Welfare for their plight, and a host of other things I can't think of at the moment because I was 9 when he left office.

One shouldn't speak ill of the dead I know, and I wish his family peace and well that Ronnie is no longer suffering. I also will let GOPers have their moments of silence and mourning this week, as they shuttle Dutch's body to and from Southern California (and the Rotunda in DC on Thursday). Its a big deal that he died, but in a sense, he was dead 10 years ago when they started naming airports, buildings, anything they could after Reagan.

1 George down, 1 to go

CIA director George Tenet resigned his post late Thursday, in time for the weekend "take out the trash" Friday bad news dumping of the Bush administration. Tenet claims it was for "personal reasons" which one blogger really goes to town with this Washingtonian cop-out. So while Bush is in Italy visiting the pope to get more Catholic voters, the other George fell on his sword.

The question is, why did it take so long? [Slate's Chris Suellentrop has also wondered this for a long time] Why wasn't this man fired on say September 12, 2001? Or right after the 6th month of no WMDs? Why now, when it is painfully obvious he did a horrible job, presiding over two of the Agencies biggest intelligence blunders in history. And if you count Chalabi (which I don't blame him for) there's three.

Douglas Jehl of the New York Times thinks that the 700-page Senate Intelligence Committee report on all the failings of Tenet's CIA is what prompted Georgie to high tail out of there. The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler hints that Tenet is going to be the Administration's scape goat for Iraq and 9/11.

If Bush and his pals decide to do that, I just can't wait for the 60 minutes interview and series of articles on what he told Bush and Bush told him back. There has to be a reason, other than how cool it is to know secret stuff, that George Tenet stayed on all this time. He must have a couple Aces up his sleeve. Some public comments on this event are semi-revealing.

Former CIA Director Stansfield Turner said, "I'm very surprised. I certainly thought that the president was not going to acknowledge that there were problems in his own inner circle. I certainly thought that Tenet, being a very loyal-type of civil servant, would not walk out on the president in the middle of an election campaign. I think the president feels he's in enough trouble that he's got to begin to cast some of the blame for the morass that we are in in Iraq on to somebody else and this was one subtle way to do it."

Fred Kaplan of Slate makes a point few have noticed: "So, what would happen if the 9/11 commission or any of the other boards of inquiry dealing with the various intelligence scandals were to re-call Private Citizen Tenet to testify? Would he suddenly remember meetings and conversations that had earlier slipped his mind? Years ago, Tenet worked as a staff member for Sen. John Heinz, whose widow is now married to John Kerry. Do they keep in touch? (Just asking.)" Will Saletan coins the phrase "Informer Without Results" for Tenet.

AP has this: "A year and a half before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a British Muslim [named Niaz Khantold] the FBI that he was trained to be a hijacker for Osama bin Laden and was in the United States to carry out attacks, NBC News and The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday"

So all it all, I am looking forward to the fall of Bushism and the end of this charade of his "sucessful" War on Terror and "leadership" after 9/11.

Fun facts

• Bush "has consulted" an outside attorney "in case he needs to retain him in the grand jury investigation of who leaked the name" of Valerie Plame last year. Sounds like this crime goes all the way to the top.



• Minutes before leaving for Europe this a.m., Pres. Bush, announced CIA dir. George Tenet is resigning for personal reasons: "Today George Tenet, the director of the CIA, submitted a letter of resignation. I met with George last night in the White House. I had a good visit with him. He told me he was resigning for personal reasons. I told him I'm sorry he's leaving. He's done a superb job on behalf of the American people. I accepted his letter. He will serve at the CIA as director until mid-July at which time the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John McLaughlin, will serve as the acting director. George Tenet is a the kind of public servant you like to work with. He's strong, he's resolute. He served his nation as director for seven years. He has been a strong and able leader at the agency. He's been a strong leader in the war on terror and I will miss him. I send my blessings to George and his family. I look forward to working with him until the time he leaves the agency and I wish him all the very best" Two words: Yeah right



• Monica Lewinsky "is denying a report that she wants to make a movie" about her WH affair with ex-Pres. Clinton, "in which she hopes she'd be played by Mandy Moore." I am sorry but not only is Mandy Moore too thin and pretty to play Monica, she is also a blond. What has America come to when they can't find an actress with moderate talent who looks like Lewinsky to play her in the trashy made-for-TV movie? Why do all roles have to go through Britney Spears and her clones?



• ex-Washington DC Mayor and former crack addict Marion "The B*tch set me up!" Barry "would not confirm" on a radio show whether he is running for City Council, but he "urged listeners" to call 678-6979. Callers to that number are told to press 3 if they are calling for "Marion Barry for Ward 8 City Council." Ward 8? Isn't that the "I wish we were in Montgomery County, Maryland" section of DC where my Uncle lives? I don't think they will go for you Barry. Afte all, last time there was a "big" snow storm in DC and you were mayor, you were on vacation and didn't help out all those morons who can't handle the snow.

Playing the role of "Dumb Blond"

James Fallows writes an interesting article for the 7-8/04 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, noting that Pres. Bush "has been far more skillful in his debating career than is generally appreciated, and his successes in that realm put his widely noted lack of eloquence in a different light. During his career George Bush's speaking style has changed significantly. ... But his underlying approach to political communication has been constant -- and extremely effective."

Fallows watched "dozens of hours' worth" of Bush and John Kerry "in action." But he writes, "it was the hour in which Bush faced Ann Richards" in '94 "that I had to watch several times. The Bush on this tape was almost unrecognizable -- and not just because he looked different from the figure we are accustomed to in the White House. ... This Bush was eloquent. He spoke quickly and easily. He rattled off complicated sentences and brought them to the right grammatical conclusions. He mishandled a word or two ... but fewer than most people would in an hour's debate. More striking, he did not pause before forcing out big words, as he often does now, or invent mangled new ones."

"The man on the debate platform looked and sounded smart and in control" in '94. If you had to guess which of the two candidates had won the debate scholarship to college and was about to win the governorship, you would choose Bush." So the question is, what happened? Did Bush suddenly, like Algernon become stupid [again]?

I think Dubya is again much smarter than liberal Bush-haters give him credit for. He knows what people like, and that is a simple man with a clear vision. He appeals to what many Americans think he is "like them" and average by talking simply and having trouble with big words, especially foreign ones. By seeming dumb, Bush has made winning debates easy. Because no matter how good Gore (or Kerry) is/will be, Bush is still the mouse that can talk, and his performance is pretty good for a mouse.

Plan C

The FDA overruled its own scientists last month, preventing the "morning after" pill known as Plan B to be available over the counter. So far so typical for the Bush administration, who favors ideologs over actual science [please read the article; he is an old friend of mine from the DLC]

Today's Slate points out a large fallacy in the FDA administrator's logic for blocking Plan B: that sex is very rare for 11-14 year olds after all, despite his claims.

"A North Carolina research group called Family Health International placed ads in public places, announcing a hot line that anyone could call to have an EC [the shortened, chemical name for Plan B] prescription phoned in to a pharmacy. Over two years, 121 calls came from women 40 or older; 845 from women 30 to 39; and 4,000 from women 20 to 29. There were 783 calls from 19-year-olds, 840 from 18-year-olds, 612 from 17-year-olds, 409 from 16-year-olds, and 167 from 15-year-olds. From there the call volume plummeted: Just 31 calls came from 14-year-olds and four from 13-year-olds. No 12-year-olds called in. One 11-year-old did. Combined, girls ages 11 to 14 made just 36 out of 8,000 EC requests, less than .5 percent of the total." Of course, that number may get higher if you can get it like aspirin instead of calling in for it, but other studies show it to be pretty small.

Well how about the CDC's own study, then? A 2003 report, called Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, "just 7 percent of today's adolescents have sexual intercourse before the age of 13. Among these, the vast majority are boys. For girls-- the population Galson [the FDA Administrator] is talking about [when he decided not to let Plan B go over the counter]-- the figure is much lower: The 2003 data show that only 4 percent of girls have sex before they are 13." Slate's Lisa Mundy points out that most of these girls are in the most need of the morning after pill. They are less likely to use condoms (partially because many of their encounters at this age consists of forced sex by older men) or other birth control and are unlikely to get abortions because of parental notification laws, which means they will become teen mothers and high school dropouts.

During the Clinton years, teen pregnancy dropped dramatically; during the Bush presidency, you guessed it, it is going up. This not only reflects the worsening economic conditions but further hinders our future competitive ability. High School dropouts don't usually found successful, dynamic 21st century companies, let alone industries. In fact, they will probably be more of a drain on public funding than support to it. Isn't it worth a little effort now to save big bucks in the end?

And just so you know, Plan B is actually a combo of several birth control pills and not is RU-486. "B" is something people used to make at home until a company started making it is cheap large batches. So if you think Abortion is murder, but take the pill, you can't have any qualms with Plan B. But if you are stricter pro-lifer, then perhaps it is still murder to you to prevent a fertilized zygote from attaching to the lining of the uterus.

The reason it is called the morning after pill is of course because it is most effective immediately afterwards or the next morning. And precisely because sex is the type of activity that doesn't comply with doctor's hours, getting a prescription is overly burdensome.

Due to Galson's ruling, the company that manufactures Plan B is now going for plan C: asking for it to be sold "semi-over the counter" to 16 year olds and up. This will make the morning after pill like cigarettes and condoms in some places, you have ask for them and show ID. This just another way of discouraging their use, really counteracts the whole point of making them over the counter anyway. Then again, our more liberal neighbor to the north, Canada, does the same thing.