thought stream
Feb 13, 2008 @ 17:09
I have to wonder if comic books aren't the blame for the apathy of Generation X?
X-Men is on TV right now. I tuned in just to catch the scene where the Senator is addressing the chamber about the threat of Mutants.
I mean, it isn't a very tough metaphorical stretch to garner that Stan Lee is talking about the mutant in all of us and the outcasts of society, and how the majority can marginalize and oppress. I'm sure he felt like a mutant growing up. A lot of us do.
But in real life, there are no super heroes. There is no Professor X or Wolverine fighting for anything good in this world. And I don't think the analogy translates so well in the other direction. I don't think everybody looks in the mirror and sees their own personal mutant super hero. I think these Generation X-ers who read these comics came to think that there'd always be somebody else out there to fight their battles for them, and that everything would just be ok in the end.
torture tickles
Jan 30, 2008 @ 18:29
"We've taken steps to address the issue of interrogations, for instance, and waterboarding has not been used in years."
-John Negroponte, former US Director of National Intelligence
Now to me this gives us a simple process:
1. Subpoena John Negroponte to testify under oath to Congress on this quote.
UPDATE:
1. "Waterboarding has been used on only three detainees," CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
2. Pursuant to number one, as waterboarding is a war crime that has been prosecuted by the US and the international community in previous cases, open a criminal investigation.
3. As current Attorney General Mukasey has testified under oath to the Senate that the waterboarding use by the US was authorized, and as waterboarding is a war crime, obtain these authorizations as evidence in the criminal case.
4. Use the names from the waterboarding authorizations as the defendants in the criminal case. Or, if the authorizations are not handed over, bring charges of obstruction of justice against whoever is withholding them.
Of course, I imagine the problem here is that the Justice Department is the only place where this criminal investigation can be opened. And, secondly, the Justice Department is the only body that can issue obstruction of justice charges. (Anybody know if I'm right on these two points?) And, of course, Mukasey won't allow either.
Can Congress impeach an Attorney General? Yes, I do believe so. At the federal level, Article Two of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states that "The President, Vice President, and all other civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
They should just keep impeaching Justice Department officials until one of them starts the investigation.
nasal newts and tonsil toads
Jan 30, 2008 @ 17:06
Those of you not from the cold, romantic North might not be aware of the -40° wind chill blowing through Minnesota today. Fahrenheit or Celsius you ask?
Both.
The air was even colder overnight, and the wind blowier. So I'm guessing that is when it slid, slithered, and slunked out from its snotty hole and decided to winter inside of my skull. Specifically, somewhere in the warm, moist, already slimy region betwixt my sinuses and the back of my throat.
I can feel its horrible mucus-producing-pore covered back curled and pressed firmly up against some space in my head oddly out of reach of my tongue -- yet having the presence of being just there -- and beyond correcting with a snort, blow, or swallow.
When I close my eyes I see nature programming. Frog burrows. Ridged, rubbery, green backs in mud caverns, with a layer of ice above. They can freeze solid in there, did you know that?
But with the average temperature in my head being well above freezing (most days), it would seem the unwelcome amphibian is having a hard time falling asleep. Will it leave? Or will its restless limbs continue to maintain a constant upwards pressure?