Tannock.net

Here is the text of the speech given by Rep.Barbara Lee (Democrat) of Oakland, I believe, the lone dissenter in the vote to give G.W. Bush blanket authority to go to war against terrorism.

While I know that war-crazed mania is sweeping the US, and that the difference between republicans and democrats has never been smaller, I remain shocked and appalled that only one politician dissented. I don’t know anything about Barbara Lee, but I am impressed by her speech here and glad that someone said this at least. That she recalls the similar vote that led to Vietnam, perhaps America’s greated embarrassment, I hope that she is not equally prescient as her dissenting predecessors were.

So CNN has posted a 3D graphic about the extent of the damage in NYC. It’s really quite impressive/apalling. I say both as the cold observer in me enjoys the sheer spectacle of human engineering failing, the power of rubble to do further damage, while the emotional core in me is horrified at the extent of the damage, and is further amazed that the death toll is so low, really.

It’s funny, that both reactions are really kicking in now that I’ve seen this pleasant, brightly colored graphic, which I find much more affecting than crass, flashy TV-coverage. Maybe it’s like the difference between a good book and a good movie. I’ll take the book any day because it leaves so much more to my imagination.

So last Tuesday a friend of mine, Margaret, went east to Maine, where she’s spent some time previously. Margie is one of these people who is always peripheral to my life – never in my ‘core’ circle of friends, or whatever, but someone who I care for greatly. We had been pretty good friends back in 1996 – we had a class together and hit it off really well. However, due to each of our respective partners at the time (though for different reasons), our relationship strained. Margie had a bout with an eating disorder that was simply heart-wrenching to watch and has come out a vastly different person. If she wasn’t who she is, I’d probably term her flaky: she’s very artsy, kinda new age-y, etc. However, there is a certain – umm – earnestness about Margie that makes you realise that everything she does is carefully considered before being acted upon. She’s truly a marvellous person. So, while I don’t see her, or even talk to her terribly often (I think we got together twice this last stint of hers in Vancouver), I always feel saddened, feel like I’m losing a friend when she goes away (Oddly enough, I don’t think I’ve ever exchanged email with Margie. And really, I feel like I’d be missing out on so much in an epistolary conversation with her). So Margie, I hope you have a great time in Maine, and know that I miss you out here.

So Leah and I got digital cable today, which is great – sort of.

We already watch a fair amount of TV. Well, really, the TV is often on while we’re doing other things. The fact that we only have one working computer probably exacerbates this, as we both use the computer to do pretty much anything, and so while one person is working, the other person often watches TV. Plus, I tend to watch a lot of sports – hockey all week, football on sundays.

Also, we don’t go out that much. This is partially a financial thing, but mostly, I think it’s just that I enjoy Leah’s company more than pretty much anyone else’s, and so if she’s home, I really have little incentive to go out and be with anyone else. While at home, we can listen to whatever music we want, watch movies, read books, read the news, discuss any of the above, or just give the cats catnip and watch the ensuing chaos. All the things I like to do, and I like to do with Leah. One of the ‘perk’s of digital cable is the movie channels. There is now guaranteed to always be a movie on somewhere. If there’s not one on the regular channels, there are 40-odd pay-per-view channels that I can now apparently order at the touch of a button. So basically, there’s always movies. I don’t know if they broadcast these in dolby digital, but our receiver can certainly handle that, which means dvd-quality broadcast movies, to me.

The day that I can get DVD-on-demand, that is, choose the movie, watch it when I want, watch the exta features (yep – I’m one of those geeks who’ll watch the whole movie with the [person X]’s comments to learn just that little bit more about the movie (if I like it)), etc, is the day that I no longer leave the house. I kid. But I’d probably go to the video store less, and buy less DVD’s, which might be a good thing.

So, we’ll see how this thing goes. Channel’s I’m the most stoked about?

National Geographic Channel

Movie Channels (all of them)

Book Television

Toon

Comedy Channel (whatever it’s called)

The WB!!!

BBC World

Probably others as I discover them.

Oh, this is an unconfirmed thing: Pride TV, which is apparently part of my package, does not appear to work. I was told by Leah that you have to ask them to turn it on, because it offends their religious customers. So, we’ll have to ask for that. However, I’m offended that NOW TV, which is a religious channel, is on channel 10. A plain old, lower-tier cable channel. I don’t want religion entering my living room unannounced, and if I had children, I certainly would much rather they watch Pride TV than any religion-based programming. So WTF? I should start a letter-writing campaign, I tell ya. Get Religious programming onto channels that you have to ask for specifically, if they make Pride TV a channel you have to ask for specifically. Either one is a way of life that makes some people uncomfortable. Hetero/christian-centric double standards suck!

So I got a comment from yesterday’s post from someone I don’t know. And boy, did that throw me for a loop! Of course, I realise that a website is a public place and that anyone could conceivably come across it and read it. On the other hand, I never really expected anyone to. So it was a shock. I momentarily went ‘holy fuck! I gotta shut this thing down! Anyone could read it!’ But then, I remembered, one of the draws of the blog is exactly that: anyone could read it. There’s nothing like semi-anonymous confessions, or whatever these can be considered to make me feel better about things.. I think it’s a 5 thing. Anyhoo, I of course followed the link back to the poster , and from there, found what this post was going to be about – StorTrooper. Here’s the Stor Trooper me:

In the Globe & Mail letters section today:

“Why are we calling Infinite Justice a code name? Is it being used to

deceive the bad guys and keep them from learning its secrets? That’s what a

code name is supposed to do. Infinite Justice is a brand name. A logo. An

icon. A rallying point. There. I’ve broken the code.”

Ted Schellenberg, Lions Bay BC

Thanks to Nicole for sending this to me. This pre-empts something I’d been thinking about, which is the branding of this attack, so maybe I’ll post something about that sooner than I was going to.

So several statements about last night’s Presidential Address really, really bother me. First, let me refer you to the following compilation of Q & A’s by Noam Chomsky. K. Read that? Now, The Taliban, currently in power in Afghanistan, have asked to see some evidence about Bin Laden’s involvement in the WTC attack. Which seems pretty reasonable to me. That whole international law thing. (On a side note, does the fact that CNN’s headline the for the above-linked article read ‘Taliban refuse to back down’ bother anyone else? No mention that maybe, maybe seeing the evidence that U.S. has so far refused to share with anyone, including it’s own people, is a reasonable request? The U.S. would not extradite someone from U.S. soil without the foreign government making a case that would, I presume, include some evidence against the suspect). Of course, the U.S. probably doesn’t have anything beyond circumstatial and questionable evidence against Bin Laden, and so can’t produce any facts, so simply ignores any laws and forges ahead.

Continue reading “Ah, to be above the law!”