Emily’s Neighborhood

I'm resurrecting this idea from last summer.  Here are the things that I'm most looking forward to:

• July 30 - 5pm when I will be done with the bar exam!
• Breaking Dawn on August 2
• The Detroit Tigers coming to Tampa Bay the first week of August
• Visitors in August/September - my mom, Janelle, and maybe Karen
• Trying out a dance class tomorrow (I had to add something that happens a little sooner, even if it's something small like this).
• The new 90210 spin-off that starts this fall and all the other tv shows that will finally be new again after the writers' strike.

Paige Toon: Johnny be good (LOVED IT!!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie Price: Jordan - Pushed to the limit 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and one book in finnish (Osmo Soininvaara - Fillarilla Nizzaan)

 

 

 

Is the Administration preparing to attack Iran?

Given the catastrophe in Iraq and economic recession, the idea of anther war sounds crazy, but does the Iraq war seem rational? What if W. yet wants to go out with a bang? Maybe it's time to suspend disbelief. How many things happened in the last eight years seem believable? 

The scenario may vary:
1. Direct preemptive strike or Iraq II. This will certainly incite domestic oppositions, but how strong will the oppositions be? Why did the Congress--under Democratic control--pass the funding in the first place? (See article.)

2. War by proxy, i.e. America will not attack, Israel will. Will people in America care about a "middle east" war? Elsewhere Hersh argues that last summer's Israeli strike on Lebanon was a dress rehearsal for America's military intent on Iran.

3. Coup either directly instigated by secret American task force or funded and supported by Bush government. Will people in America care about Iranian "domestic" politics? In any case, when we hear about, it will be done already. There will be no time to protest or say no.

It occurred to me that events of world historical significance may well be nonevents, or events that take place precisely around an empty center where, to our habitually thinking, an intention should preside. "Someone has blundered." Who gives the marching order? Perhaps no one has ordered the torture of prisoners, just as "gas-chamber" is a word that must be struck out (see here). (This explains why, upon seeing the Abu Ghraib photos, the immediate temptation is to attribute the act to the intention of soldiers, while in fact the soldiers are themselves evidence of something larger yet absent.) After 1989, there were also discussions as to whether anyone had given explicit order to shoot the students and civilians in Tiananmen. Where does this leave us? Namely, how do you resist a void? Connecting dots helps, but knowledge does not automatically lead to action. Something else is needed. (Unless you are one of Henry James's  characters who "so intensely knew"--and yet the strange thing about them is that they are precisely not in a position to know.)   

Read this article by Seymour Hersh.
 

Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program.

Note that "some members of the Democratic leadership—Congress has been under Democratic control since the 2006 elections—were willing, in secret, to go along with the Administration in expanding covert activities directed at Iran, while the Party’s presumptive candidate for President, Barack Obama, has said that he favors direct talks and diplomacy."

“The Finding was focussed on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” a person familiar with its contents said, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.”

This despite the fact that "a National Intelligence Estimate, released in December, that concluded that Iran had halted its work on nuclear weapons in 2003."

A Democratic senator told me that, late last year, in an off-the-record lunch meeting, Secretary of Defense Gates met with the Democratic caucus in the Senate. (Such meetings are held regularly.) Gates warned of the consequences if the Bush Administration staged a preëmptive strike on Iran, saying, as the senator recalled, “We’ll create generations of jihadists, and our grandchildren will be battling our enemies here in America.” Gates’s comments stunned the Democrats at the lunch, and another senator asked whether Gates was speaking for Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Gates’s answer, the senator told me, was “Let’s just say that I’m here speaking for myself.” (A spokesman for Gates confirmed that he discussed the consequences of a strike at the meeting, but would not address what he said, other than to dispute the senator’s characterization.)

Under the Bush Administration’s interpretation of the law, clandestine military activities, unlike covert C.I.A. operations, do not need to be depicted in a Finding, because the President has a constitutional right to command combat forces in the field without congressional interference. But the borders between operations are not always clear: in Iran, C.I.A. agents and regional assets have the language skills and the local knowledge to make contacts for the JSOC operatives, and have been working with them to direct personnel, matériel, and money into Iran from an obscure base in western Afghanistan. As a result, Congress has been given only a partial view of how the money it authorized may be used. One of JSOC’s task-force missions, the pursuit of “high-value targets,” was not directly addressed in the Finding. There is a growing realization among some legislators that the Bush Administration, in recent years, has conflated what is an intelligence operation and what is a military one in order to avoid fully informing Congress about what it is doing. ...The claim was that the military was ‘preparing the battle space,’ and by using that term they were able to circumvent congressional oversight.

I spent the early part of the Fourth of July over at Ault Park.  I went for a run around the trails.  It had rained all the night before and was still raining, so the trails were muddy and slippery.  I had to walk them in places.  It was fun, though.  There's something very enjoyable about being alone in the woods in the rain.

Here are some pictures I took while I was there (l-r): imprisoned flowers, muddy trail, muddy legs, muddy shoes, non-muddy snail

And here's another batch (l-r): stairs w/foam, shelter that didn't actually shelter, rock stairs, little sun w/flowers

Next it was time for the graduates to receive their diplomas. Up they trooped, solemn and radiant, in many sizes, all beautiful as only the young can be beautiful. Even the ugly ones were beautiful, even the surly ones, the fat ones, even the spotty ones. None of them understands this -- how beautiful they are. But nevertheless they're irritating, the young. Their posture is appalling as a rule, and judging from their songs they snivel and wallow, grin and bear it having gone the way of the foxtrot. They don't understand their own luck.

- Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

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I kept waiting for this kid to set himself on fire - I'm pretty sure these canisters are supposed to be placed on the ground to be lit ....

An entry for the Writing Prompts group.
This weeks prompt: Write a scene that turns on a ransom note - for something other than a human being.

Josh plops into his chair, kicks off his sandals, and swivels around to the computer. He taps the space bar and pulls his microphone into speaking range. Taps it again. How strange; he doesn't remember shutting it down. He reaches under the desk and presses the power button on the tower. Still nothing. The timing couldn't be worse. He's got plans to enter a three-on-three tournament with Matt and Len. Maybe there's a blown fuse. No, that can't be it. The desk lamp is working. He crawls under the desk and checks the power strip. Wait a minute! He pulls the tower forward a bit, turns it toward him. There's a folded piece of paper taped to the back. He opens it and starts reading.

Josh -
As you may have figured out, I have taken the power supply cord from your computer.  I'm sure you're aware that desktop computers do not operate without electricity. Sadly, this may pose insurmountable challenges to your gaming plans for this afternoon. As a backup precaution, your wireless card has also been confiscated. I regret it has come to this. But as you have not responded to polite requests, impassioned pleas, or irritated nagging, you leave me no choice. If you wish to see your computer components returned to you safely, please carefully read and complete the following steps:

1) Pick up your clothes from the floor. Dirty items are to be placed in the hamper in the laundry room. In case you have forgotten, it is located at the end of the hall.
2) Clean your cat's litter box. He has been hoping you'd do it for days, but he is much to timid to ask you. I am not, as evidenced by my numerous prior requests.
3) Take out the trash. All of it.
4) Remove your shoes from the kitchen, your t-shirt from the sofa, and the plate with dried-on salsa from the desk in your room.
5) Return the movies you rented and pay the fine. Yes, the ones the rental store left you messages about.

It's a lot to remember, which is why I've taken the liberty of writing it down for your convenience. Once these tasks have been completed, I will gladly return the aforementioned items. And remember, no cops.

Fondly,
The Kidnapper

Apparently the Terminator, Governor has declared our fire, Gap Fire; number one priority over the rest of the fires in California. (couldn't be because he owns property here?) We've packed what we can so we're ready for evacuation.  The power comes and goes here, I found flashlights and a radio that does not require batteries, you just hand crank it!   Double Click on the map for information on the different fires in California.  

In honor of Independence Day, show us something patriotic.