Posts from — June 2008

Today at 3:59PM [CDT] was the Summer Solstice, technically considered the “first day of Summer”, but the mid Summer by much of Europe.

Many Wicca celebrate the day as Litha, while computer programmers honor their predecessors, the druids, who build the first solid-state computing devices, the megaliths, like Stonehenge.

The Slavs celebrate St. John’s Night, Иван Купала [Ivan Kupala], the battle between the White god [Белобог – Belobog] and the Black god [Чёрнобог – Chyornobog] for control of the Sun. The Black god always wins and the night begins to expand.

The sound track to the battle is Иванова Ночь на Лысой Горе [Night on Bald Mountain ] by Модест Петрович Мусоргский [Modest Petrovich Musorgsky], which everyone should play very loudly.

Via Andante from some time ago, I ran across Archaeoastronomy which tracks all of the important solar events.

…and they are rants, not raves. Some might call them shrill and they are not G rated.

Atrios names Obama, Wanker of the Day.

upyernoz says: “it’s official, obama backs the bullshit FISA ‘compromise.'”

Emptywheel notes Obama Replied – “He told me to fuck off.”

Digby wonders if we have been Sistah Soljah’d ?

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Democratic House Leadership

The full list of 105 Stalinists is below the fold.
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CNN reports: House approves overhaul of wiretap laws

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The House on Friday approved a bipartisan plan to overhaul the nation’s wiretapping laws.

The House vote was 293-129, with more Republicans than Democrats voting for it. The bill now moves to the Senate.

Here’s the House votes page, so you see the names of the Stalinists, including Nancy Pelosi, who approved violating your rights under the Fourth Amendment and allowing criminals to walk free.

Nice leadership on this issue from the “presumptive” Democratic nominee for President. I guess the supporting the Constitution would have interfered with his “bi-partisanship”.

Great Outdoors

I need my space.

[Editor: Ringo is outside pretty much full time. She likes to dash around and climb trees, so the inside cramps her style.]

Friday Ark

CBS had this up in their technology section: Court Rules Against Work E-mail Snooping

(AP) A federal appeals court has made it more difficult for employers to snoop legally on e-mails and text messages their workers send from company accounts.

Under Wednesday’s ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, employers that contract an outside business to transmit text messages can’t read them unless the worker agrees.

Users of text-messaging services “have a reasonable expectation of privacy” regarding messages stored on the service provider’s network, Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote in the three-judge panel’s unanimous opinion.

The ruling limits employers’ access to employee e-mail on internal servers.

I think everyone should understand the part about texting, i.e. it is an outside service and there is a presumption of privacy. The employer doesn’t own the equipment or establish the privacy rules, the outside company does.

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From WKMG again, this time from their police beat: Palm Frond Used As Weapon In ‘Most Bizarre’ Central Fla. Store Robbery

Police said Gelando Olivieri attempted to rob the V&F Discount Beverage store in DeLand by threatening harm with a spiked Spanish bayonet, a palmetto-like plant with sharp points on its leaves.

“The man came in with the branch. I have never seen anything like this,” owner Goutam Sarkar told the DeLand-Deltona Beacon Thursday.

Surveillance video showed Olivieri wildly waving the palm frond in front of a worker’s face.

Investigators said Olivieri threatened to use the leaves to stab if he wasn’t given $50.

“(The plant) was sharp,” Sarkar said.

Before any money was exchanged, Oliveiri was chased out of the store by a man armed with a bar stool.

Oliveri was arrested a short time after the crime and charged with armed robbery.

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They really are going to give the telecoms and Hedgemony a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card according to CNN: Deal clears way for wiretap-law overhaul

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A bipartisan deal that clears the way for a sweeping overhaul of domestic wiretapping laws will let telecommunications companies escape lawsuits over the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program, congressional leaders announced Thursday.

The measure could be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives as early as Friday.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said the bill is “not perfect” but “strikes a sound balance” between intelligence-gathering and court oversight.

Democrats have managed to kill previous efforts in Congress to revise the Watergate-era law governing domestic spying.

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McClatchy has finished its five part series: Guantanamo: Beyond the Law, explaining how badly the Hedgemony has messed up the search for terror suspects and the lawless tactics they have employed in their monumental failure.

Added to that mix is the recent report by Major General Antonio Taguba, USA (retired), who probed Abu Ghraib, saying Bush officials committed war crimes:

“After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” Taguba wrote. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

No General, they won’t because Nancy Pelosi has other priorities than holding criminals responsible for their actions. They will be pardoned by the criminal in chief, and find themselves hiding from the International Criminal Court for the rest of their lives.

What people don’t understand is that the ICC doesn’t get involved unless a nation shows itself unwilling or unable to deal with war crimes on its own. Well, the US has joined that list of rogue nations.

Republicans, especially Reagan, liked to talk about the waste represented by “welfare queens”, mythical urban dwellers in “liberal” states who were soaking the Federal budget dry. Of course this ignores what a truly tiny portion of the Federal budget is spent on assistance and the the fact that the largest group that receives the aid are rural white children, but they continued to put out their lie.

If you take the trouble the Tax Foundation does to see where Federal money goes, you will notice a pattern: the money goes to states with senior Senators on certain important committees, like Appropriations.

It’s amazing, most people probably wouldn’t picture Pete Domenici, Trent Lott [this is from 2005], and Ted Stevens when you say “welfare queen”.

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CNN reports on a return to the Reagan years: McCain wants to lift ban on offshore drilling

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain on Tuesday proposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling as part of his plan to reduce dependence on foreign oil and help combat rising gas prices.

“The stakes are high for our citizens and for our economy,” McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president, said at a press conference Tuesday in Houston, Texas.

Hours later, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said President Bush on Wednesday will ask Congress to lift the ban on offshore drilling.

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Bryan Walsh of Time writes about The Gulf’s Growing ‘Dead Zone’

The American Midwest is essentially the granary of the world, supplying corn, wheat and other crops to markets from Chile to China. But all that food doesn’t grow by itself. In 2006 U.S. farmers used more than 21 million tons of nitrogen, phosphorus and other fertilizers to boost their crops, and all those chemicals have consequences far beyond the immediate area. When the spring rains come, fertilizer from Midwestern farms drains into the Mississippi river system and down to Louisiana, where the agricultural sewage pours into the Gulf of Mexico. Just as fertilizer speeds the growth of plants on land, the chemicals enhance the rapid development of algae in the water. When the algae die and decompose, the process sucks all the oxygen out of the surrounding waters, leading to a hypoxic event — better known as a “dead zone.” The water becomes as barren as the surface of the moon. What sea life that can flee the zone does so; what can’t, dies.

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CNN is reporting a good result from its story about FEMA giving away needed supplies: FEMA gives hurricane supplies back to Louisiana

(CNN) — Some of the $85 million in hurricane relief supplies given away as federal surplus will be sent back to Louisiana and given to nonprofit agencies for distribution, the state’s hurricane recovery office said Tuesday.

“Today we can report that we have been notified that some of the surplus property has been located in Texas and will be coming to the state of Louisiana for distribution by Unity New Orleans,” said Paul Rainwater, the executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

A CNN investigation revealed last week that FEMA gave away the supplies as government surplus, even though agencies like Unity — which works to resettle hurricane victims — were still seeking the kind of supplies given away.

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The BBC reports on the latest “insult” to Russia: Lithuanian ban on Soviet symbols

Lithuania’s parliament has passed the toughest restrictions anywhere in the former Soviet Union on the public display of Soviet and Nazi symbols.

It will now be an offence in the Baltic state to display the images of Soviet and Nazi leaders.

This includes flags, emblems and badges carrying insignia, such as the hammer and sickle or swastika.

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