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July 26, 2008

NASA Images Archive

Very tired after a long day with the family, but I wanted to share this, precisely because it's so very beautiful.

Enjoy.

July 13, 2008

Time for The Hague to Convene a Tribunal

Law professor Jonathan Turley interviewed on MSNBC Friday night


I never thought I would say this, but I think it might, in fact, be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought, in my lifetime, that I would say that, that we have become like Serbia, where an international tribunal has to come to force us to apply the rule of law. I never imagined that a Congress, a Democratic-led Congress would refuse to take actions, even with the preeminent institution of the Red Cross saying, this is clearly torture and torture is a war crime. They are still refusing to take meaningful action.


So, we've come to this ignoble moment where we could be forced into a tribunal and forced to face the rule of law that we've refused to apply to ourselves.

His comments come in response to a secret, Red Cross report that concludes that our government is guilty of torture. (I'd recommend reading the entire Glenn Greenwald blog post for a perspective on the several issues which inform Turley's assessment.)

I'm not normally one to argue for the prosecution and incarceration of anyone. However, the current administration's human rights violations are so grievous that there is no other remedy which has a prayer of restoring the rule of law other than prosecution.

Blanket pardons are likely forthcoming during the last few days of the administration, and a spineless Democratic congress seems averse to prosecuting its constitutional duty.

The only entity that will not be constrained to honor the president's pardon would be an international tribunal convened to prosecute the war crimes of the past 7 years.

Read the Greenwald post. It's a road map to a just government and an America I could support.

July 12, 2008

Cowboy Junkies: I Don't Get It

Long live The Trinity Session. An incredible album:


I Don't Get It
(Margo and Michael Timmins)


Breaking away to the other side
I wanna make sense of why we live and die
I don't get it, I don't get it


I ask my friends if they understand
They just laugh at me and watch another band
They don't worry, they don't worry


Lookin' for a way to lose my load
I wanna make it easy to walk this road
I can't find it, yeah I can't find it


Yeah, I'm looking for answers in so many places
I open my mind
I don't get it


Walkin' this earth and keepin' my peace
I do what I want but the price is steep
It don't seem right, it don't seem right


My mama she told me "One step at a time
and sooner or later you'll walk that line"
I don't want to, I don't want to


Takin' my time to live and die
I wanna find a way to do it right
and I ease on, and I ease on


They say "One thing always leads to another"
I open my mind
I don't get it


Breaking away to the other side
I wanna make sense of why we live and die
I don't get it, I don't get it
I don't get it, I don't get it
I don't get it

July 03, 2008

Witness: Sarah McLachlan

A simple portrait of deep metaphysical doubt.

Have you ever been ransacked by it? Were that it weren't necessary, but it seems that it is, and, without it, we mortals don't appear to have the capacity for the quality of humility, compassion, nor caring that really matters.


Witness
by Sarah McLachlan

Make me a witness.
Take me out
out of darkness
out of doubt.

I won't weigh you down
with good intention,
won't make fire out of clay
or other inventions.

Will we burn in heaven
like we do down here?
Will the change come
while we're waiting?

Everyone is waiting.

And when we're done
soul searching
as we carried the weight
and died for a cause,
is misery
made beautiful
right before our eyes
will mercy be revealed
or blind us where we stand?

Will we burn in heaven
like we do down here?
Will the change come while we're waiting?
Everyone is waiting.