Ah, what the hell do I know?

Bush needs to be impeached

2005-07-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

I've resisted calling for Bush's impeachment. I didn't want the bar lowered to the level the Republicans attained when they impeached Clinton for, um, for...lying about a blow job.

Do you remember the heated 'Publican rhetoric? Any untruth, or even, as with Clinton, a Byzantine /parsing/ of the truth, was the sort of high misdemeanor, the moral turpitude, that would shake the Republic. It could not be tolerated. Truth must be told, boldly and baldly, from the bully pulpit.

That is a wonderfully high-minded, and an astoundingly stupid fundamental policy. While I agree that Clinton ought to have come clean right away, the response to that should have been censure (which Congress did vote for), and political ammunition for future battles.

It's been clear for a long time that Bush lied about something very much more important than ilicit White House sex.

He committed American military personnel to Afghanistan, which I think was the right thing to do. It is true that the Taliban government of Afghanistan harbored and supported the terrorist organization that attacked us. It is true that OBL and the leadership of Al Qaida was living under the protection of that government. It is true that the Taliban were unwilling to cooperate with us in apprehending them. It is true that we were justified in going into Afghanistan, allying with those rebelling against the Taliban and doing what was necessary to excise the cancer that had attacked us.

But Bush did another thing, too. For whatever geopolitical, economic or psychological reasons, he decided to finish his daddy's war. He wanted to do it cheaper, faster and more throughougly than Dear Old Dad. And he wanted to do what he has always done: profit himself and his friends at the expense of the folks who put up the money to get him where he wants to go. I think it is interesting that no one, to my knowledge, compared the Bush and Grant administrations in the matter of corruption of power for the advantage of those close to the President. Anyway....

So, the 'Therefore be it resolved:' arrived at beforehand, it was necessary for Bush and his administration to develop the 'Whereas's' to justify it. Whereas, the international weapons inspectors were incompetent and politically suspect because they were furiners (well, except the ones who were American, and agreed with the furiners), and therefore Iraq had vast stores of WMD's; Whereas, the Iraqi govenment provided aid and comfort to terrorists (well, except that they mostly hated the extreme Islamicists about as much as they hated America); Whereas, the Iraqi government was actively pursuing uranium from Niger (well, except they weren't, and we knew that at the time); Whereas, the Iraqi government was purchasing aluminum tubes that could only have been used for the enrichment of uranium for nuclear weapons (well, except that they were well-known to be used for a type of small rocket we knew the Iraqis made quite legally, and weren't adequate for uranium processing); Whereas, Saddam Hussein was a truly evil man that would improve the world by leaving it; Therefore be it resolved that we need to do better than Daddy did in 'his' war.

No, not /that/ war, the one GHWB flew carrier war planes into real enemy fire. GWB had not the inclination to actually put his own life on the line in combat for his country. (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide whether there was something other than the inclination lacking in the son.)

The other war, Gulf War I. The one Daddy Bush fought with a real coalition, a real mandate, an overwhelming force designed to win the war decisively in a short, violent thrust, and a clear exit strategy. You know, the one where we put the lessons of Viet Nam to work, and the ghost of Viet Nam to rest.

Dubya, on the other hand, knew that he could finish the job with only those he could bribe, cajole or bully; a new unilateral doctrine of pre-emptive war; a force small enough to impress the world with the capability of the lean and mean American military; and a complacent self-assurance that the ultra-nationalistic view of American puiscence was veriest truth, and we din' need no steekin' exit strategy. You know, that which disdained the lessons of Viet Nam, and ressurected the ghost of Viet Nam.

I don't think Bush should be impeached because he made stupid mistakes in the attempt to make us safer, and to lessen the influence of terrorists. I think he should be impeached because he lied to the world, and more importantly to the American people, about the need for the war. I think there are other reasons for impeachment, such as the Draconian and Orwellianly-named 'PATRIOT Act.' But the blood of over 1700 American men and women in our service, as well as the thousands, probably tens of thousands, of Iraqi civilian 'collateral damage,' is adequate to call the President of the United States to account to the American people through the actions of Congress.

Please note that I am asking for impeachment only. I want Bush to explain himself in public, in the dock where he must answer for his decisions and his behavior. If the House convicts, I would not be unhappy. However, that isn't for me the big thing.

The big thing is having the President tell the truth about why our young men and women are shedding their blood and their lives, and our nation its cherished liberties.

2005-07-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

Bone identified (sort of)

2005-04-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

I asked an archaeologist at the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center a the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse named Connie Arzigian about the bone. This is her reply:

"Jim Theler says its distal metapodial (probably metatarsal) of a sheep-sized animal. The hole in it is natural to allow a tendon to pass through, and the wear looks like water erosion. So he doesn't think there's any human modification. Because of the size, it's probably from a domestic animal, but if it's mineralized it could also be Pleistocene."

The bone does seem to be very mineralized, as it makes sort of a ringing sound when struck rather than a dull thud like raw bone. However, as it was found it in an iron-rich river, that may not mean it's older than a couple of hundred years. However, if it isn't recent, and it does date to the Pleistocene, that'd be interesting. The Pleistocene ended about 10,000 years ago, very early in the human occupation of Wisconsin, when there was a very different fauna around here. Adding another "if," if it were that old, it could have been a small horse.

It's probably recent, though.

Anyone know their bones?

2005-03-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine found this piece of a long bone some years ago. He found it where a river empties into a lake, apparently in gravel. It was found in west central Wisconsin. Can anyone help me identify the animal this bone came from?

The bone is worn smooth. The broken end is completely smoothed. There is a circular hole of about 5 mm at the articular end, extending diagonally from the distal end of the dorsal groove all the way through to the opening between the U-shaped space at the articular end.

I'm not sure whether it has been modified by humans. I'd be interested in any comments about that, too.

2005-03-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

Bone of contention: Any ideas what animal this is from?

2005-03-18T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hydolyic Engineering in the Spring-Time

2005-03-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

Lakes on the sidewalk,
Rivers downcutting the drive,
Snow feeding the mess with its melt;
There's a whale of a lot of work here,
And, it seems, no one
(Besides me)
Sees the the disaster swelling and brimming
In the salty brown water.

Resume:

I have worked on the spring floods
In our yard
For the last ten years
(Although for the first couple I was
Apprenticed to my older sister).

I have a lot of energy.

I have a good eye for water levels
And gradients.

I have (actually my family has)
A shovel, a hoe and a big stick.
(The stick is mine, and I don't need
Permission to bring it to the job site.)

Job Order:

Ideally, the swelling flood, the rushing streams
Will be interconnected, controlled, directed
By the Hydolyic Engineer employed,
And hurried on their way to the sea.

Notes on the job:

The first thing I do is, I look at it for a long time.

If I am to make it all go away, I need to know
What's there. And how. And where.

Why is obvious: the sun is whittling the winter's white,
And the shavings are puddling up.

Who, too, is obvious. God did the putting and the taking.
I, as proxy for the other people here, am the other who.

What: Water.
How: Melting from the banks and blankets and roofs.
Where: ALL OVER!

My rubbers are just shoe-high:
I'm gonna get wet.

But the Whittler is out fine,
And the wind is warm and soft from the south;
My parents are gone for the day,
My sister has given the job over to me,
And has gone to the mall.
And, anyhow, the job is too much fun to worry about little things
Like pneumonia.

I can start at the beginning, where there's less;
Or I can go to the end, and begin the lessening now;
Or I can futz around in the middle, making connections
Between puddles and ponds and lakes and streams.

But how I _really_ start is,
I take my stick to the neighbors upstream,
And cut a channel from their mess
to
ours.
3/10/1996

New Year: may it become happy.

2005-01-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

It's hard to be very cheerful today, with the great tsunami in the Indian Ocean having brought so much tragedy so recently. But the heartening outpouring of aid from around the world for the wretched victims, without regard to politics, religion or race, may make the start of this new year one of hope rather than of dread.

There is already wrangling among nations, and among individual partisans of the various nations, about who is doing most to help. The bickering is along the expected lines, or at least lines we've become accustomed to. US officials belittle French efforts; nearly everyone thinks the US ought to do more; and there is the usual squabble about leadership of the relief effort--for many, it's the UN vs the US.

But the heartening thing in all of this is that, about the relief effort, everyone agrees it is necessary. In fact, it is taken as a given that everyone ought to help. If the normal, uncivil, international discourse were more often about who would do the most to help solve agreed problems, I'd be a very happy camper. Maybe this is a start towards that day.

Merry Christmas!

2004-12-25T09:13:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy (belated) Channuka, Happy Kwanzaa, Good Yule, Pleasant Non-denominational Winter Solstice Festival, Adequate Festivus, and any other celebration of the end of the Growing Darkness that there may be!

My own Holiday celebration with my family will be next Wednesday, when my sister and her husband, along with my two excellent neices, and my most excellent son, Scott, come up for the day. I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation. One reason, of course, is that I didn't have to fight the crowds for shopping, and I can get a few last-minute things at a discount!

But the great meaning of this season for me is that God came to us in our form, and let us know we are worthwhile. My view, probably oddly, is that God did this for every creature (and every _thing_) in the Universe, in one way or another. IOW, God isn't some thing or mere Supreme Being (loud, reverberating, distant voice); S/he knows what it is like to be us, all of us, because S/he became us. The "Kingdom of God" is within us, and with us all the time. A shift of perception on our part, somewhat like that needed to see "Magic Eye" images in 3-D, is all that's needed for us to enter the Kingdom.

I am relatively spectacularly catholic (small-c) person when it comes to spirituality. I firmly believe that all spiritual traditions tap into the same root truth. While I am most familiar and comfortable with Christianity, I'm more interested in seeing how every person has the Kingdom of Heaven inside them than in shutting out people who think differently from me on external issues.

So enough sermonizing. I wish you a Merry Christmas, and/or the mid-winter celebration of your choice.

2004-12-18T16:09:00.000-08:00

My best side.

Well, I have to start somewhere...

2004-12-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

I got my regular email newsletter from MoveOn PAC today. The question was what should we look for in the next chair of the Democratic National Committee. The national chair won't be selected until February, but a meeting of state Democratic Party chairs this weekend may produce an heir presumptive. The new chair will face the task of guiding the Party. Whether s/he guides us to a renewed and revitalized vision of what our party is and does, or whether s/he guides us in a continuation of our mad scramble to look like fuzzy Republican Lites, guiding will be done. The manner and direction of that guidance is critical, I think, to the Party regaining its rightful position in the political life of the nation.

MoveOn's view, and one that I share, is that Democratic Party ideals are shared by nearly everyone. At least they are at the local level.

When someone's home burns down, neighbors, churches, businesses, charities, and individuals who wouldn't know the fire victims from Adam's off ox pitch in to help the family. Just at that moment, it is only the sourest ideologue who begrudges the victims help based on their political or other views.

Why do we do this? Because it is the decent thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do: if I pitch in when someone else needs help, then I can expect the community to pitch in when I need help.

Why do politics, religious convictions (or lack thereof) and the character of the one in need matter so little in these cases? Because some things transcend opinion. Urgent need trumps everything. Again, for all but the sourest ideologue.

Then why not tear down the tawdry new additions to the sound fundamental structure of the Democratic Party? They were, for the most part, jury-rigged ad hoc, to meet specific immediate needs; and they look it. Oh, some bits really did both spruce up the place, and replace some bits of crumbling foundation or widow's walk wrought iron railings. It turns out to have been a very bracing and revitalizing thing to both balance the national budget, and to make provisions to maintain a balanced budget and pay down the national debt.

However, it turns out to have been corrosive to try to frame issues such as the increasing corporate control (and most worryingly, the increasing international corporate control) of our nation in moderate, measured tones. While we were being thoughtful and rational, the other side was being shrill and simple. Their sound bites swamped our reasoned thinking.

Why did Republican shorthand attacks do so well? I think it's because they've long laid the groundwork for it by laying out their issues in such a way that they can have one of their guys say, "Tax and Spend", and everyone knows that they mean the Democrats. Even when, as is painfully obvious now, the immoderate, wasteful and unpatriotic taxing and spending programs are almost universally the result of NeoCon's getting their hands on the cookie jar.

We have to remind the nation what it is that we really stand for. We need to tell our story in such a way that, for instance, a person hearing "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work", immediately brings to mind two images: a laborer sweating in the heat, and a CEO running a company. Imagine what we could do with that sound bite in our repetoire.

I think a good model for thinking about how to bring us back to what we do best is the United Way. Not the National United Way, but the United Way you and I contribute to right here at home. The United Way funds agencies and programs that meet specific needs at the local level. United Way donors run the gamut of society, from the richest people and corporations through middle class working folks, right on through the working poor. Donors are from every conceivable political, religious, cultural and ethnic group. Most don't agree with some of the things some groups that get funding through their United Way do.

But they all agree that there are things that decent people do to make their communities kinder, healthier, more tolerant, more interesting, and more just than the way things are now.