The years of devotion eventually pay off, although AFTER I move 100 miles away from the Fleet Center and can’t afford to go anyway. One game I managed to convince my father to attend with me during the Antoine-Pierce-O’Brien years was against Minnesota. We lost and Garnett was primarily the reason - rebounding on both ends and managing to will his team up a notch higher than its talent would put it otherwise. Back then he was running with Joe Smith, Troy Hudson, Wally…but they could beat us more often than not whether in Minnesota or at home.
Now he’s playing alongside Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Nothing could convince me that it was a done deal until today, and even then I was anticipating some sort of letdown. I suspect this is the real deal, and somehow from the Draft Lottery to today, Danny Ainge has pulled off something the ping pong balls were determined to deny us. Of course, Bill Simmons puts a perfect column together on this deal, so I’ll leave it at that and direct you to his words. (McHale adds another notch to his Celtics legacy)
Posted by Al Swearengen as Sports at 10:50 PM MDT
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From an appearance on Chapelle:
Posted by Al Swearengen as Music, Video at 2:50 PM MDT
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I’m not sure how many, if any, of the readers of this blog actually watch these long videos I post from time to time, but my idea in doing so is that a single viewer is enough to justify posting them. This one here is especially important, as it covers something the corporate media would rather ignore. The disparity in Ohio when it came to the distribution of voting machines, is something that was covered everywhere, but since then it has become a figment of the nation’s imagination. What took place in Ohio is something that must be exposed at the highest level (looking at you Mr. Waxman), and prevented from happening in the future by there being federal laws in place that ultimately strip a state’s ability to run elections as if the United States was a third world authoritarian wasteland.
Cynthia McKinney, a former Congresswoman from Georgia, is also prominent in this film. I’ve taken her case over to Control Congress, a blog that is run by a Republican radio host in Georgia. John Konop is the host in question, and his blog is an absolute open forum where nothing is censored. I urge everyone to check out the video, and also the thread it prompted me to start over on John’s blog. Open primaries…there will be more to come on this topic from me, time permiting…btw, the Yankees are now 9 games behind after Boston’s 6 run 12th inning in Tampa Bay.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Justice, Video, Politics, History at 12:19 AM MDT
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UPDATE: State Dep’t Ends Baghdad Electricity Updates
President Bush 6/15/2006: “I do think we’ll be able to measure progress. You can measure progress in capacity of Iraqi units, you can measure progress in megawatts of electricity delivered, you can measure progress in terms of oil sold on the market on behalf of the Iraqi people.”
Chart Source
Marine Corps Time 7/27/07: “A key aide says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s relations with U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus are so poor the Iraqi leader may ask Washington the withdraw the well-regarded U.S. military leader from duty here. The Iraqi foreign minister calls the relationship “difficult.”…Al-Maliki has spoken sharply — not of Petraeus or Crocker personally — but about their tactic of welcoming Sunni militants into the fight against al-Qaida forces in Anbar and Diyalah provinces.”
7/24/2007: “Most of the bodies found by the police — an average of 20 a day — are bound, blindfolded and shot execution style, victims of sectarian violence carried out by both Sunni and Shi’ite death squads. Many also bear signs of torture or mutilation, according to medical sources in Baghdad. Despite official Iraqi and U.S. statements to the contrary, the reports indicate that the number of unidentified bodies in the capital has risen again to pre-surge levels over the last two months.”
Posted by Al Swearengen as Military at 12:49 AM MDT
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TPMmuckraker features some top-notch analysis concerning Gonzo and the NSA wiretapping program(s?): “There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that Gonzales’s careful, repeated phrasing to the Senate that he will only discuss the program that “the president described” was deliberate, part of a concerted administration-wide strategy to conceal from the public the very broad scope of that initial program…”
Harpers reporting on Blackwater: “…In court papers, Blackwater states that the lawsuit from the four families “unconstitutionally intrudes on the exclusive authority of the military of the federal government to conduct military operations abroad.” Blackwater’s attempt to shield itself behind the military is interesting, as the aftermath of the killings highlighted a huge difference between contractors and the military. Had an officer sent four lightly armed soldiers into Fallujah, he would likely have faced public scrutiny in the military justice system. …”
Classic Clip - Samantha Bee interviews Frank Luntz
Posted by Al Swearengen as Justice, Military at 5:54 AM MDT
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Dig it
Posted by Al Swearengen as Music, Video at 9:56 PM MDT
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Two foremen on the project tell a House committee about how the USA goes about building something like this under Bush/Cheney. Rory Mayberry, a former subcontractor employee for First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting Company, gives opening testimony:
John Owens, a former employee of First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting Company, gives opening testimony:
Posted by Al Swearengen as Video, Military at 9:18 PM MDT
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7/25/2007: “Guard’s Border Mission to be Halved” — The number of National Guard troops along the Arizona-Mexico border will be trimmed in half by the end of next month. As the presidentially mandated Operation Jumpstart mission begins its second year in support of the U.S. Border Patrol, the number of troops is being reduced as planned. It will be trimmed from 6,000 to 3,000 nationally and from 2,400 to 1,200 in Arizona, said National Guard Capt. Kristine Munn. The pullout began July 1 and is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 1.
Hired Guns at the Border? The Contracting Has Begun: I take it that a private contracting company, DynCorp International of Virginia, is sending out press releases (basically advertising itself) hoping to be hired by Homeland Security in this border region. It is offering ‘to train and deploy 1,000 private agents to the U.S.-Mexican border within 13 months, offering a quick surge of law enforcement officers to a region struggling to clamp down on illegal immigration.’
It’s starting to look like that movie we’ve already seen too many times during the Bush/Cheney regime. A caller to the Ed Schultz show named “Captain Bob”, former USMC officer, informs us that a fellow jarhead he’s friends with is working for Blackwater, and that Homeland Security is currently working on a contract negotiation with them to patrol the US-Mexico border. They’re (right at this very moment) arranging for Blackwater personnel to be deputized! Where did this money come from?
7/26/2007: “Senate Passes $3 Billion For Border Patrol” — The money approved Thursday would go toward seizing “operational control” over the U.S.-Mexico border by using additional Border Patrol agents, vehicle barriers, border fencing and observation towers. In addition, there is Cornyn’s effort against people who overstay their visas. Graham said the $3 billion would pay for “more boots on the ground, more people patrolling our border making it harder for somebody to come across illegally. We should have done this a long time ago.” The deal, approved by an 89-1 vote, resurrects a GOP plan to pass some of the most popular parts of Bush’s failed immigration bill. That includes money for additional Border Patrol agents and fencing along the southern border.
Was this the plan all along? Starve the beast until the clamor for border security grew loud enough that they could justify outsourcing it? Let’s check the archives:
2/9/2005: “Bush budget scraps 9,790 border patrol agents” — President uses law’s escape clause to drop funding for new homeland security force — Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. Roughly 80 percent of the agents were to patrol the southern U.S. border from Texas to California, along which thousands of people cross into the United States illegally every year.
But Bush’s proposed 2006 budget, revealed Monday, funds only 210 new border agents. The shrunken increase reflects the lack of money for an army of border guards and the capacity to train them, officials said. Retired Adm. James Loy, acting head of the Department of Homeland Security until nominee Michael Chertoff takes over, said funding only 210 new agents was a “recognition that we need to balance those things as we go on down the road with other priorities.” The White House referred questions about the border agents to the Homeland Security Department.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Politics, Military at 6:03 PM MDT
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Van Helsing emailed this story today, and since we’re living with 2 toddlers each, it pertains to both of us especially. Here is his chosen excerpt:
…There is now a concerted effort to spread adult-child play beyond its stronghold in the upper- and middle-classes of wealthy countries. To this end, many cities and states support programs of some sort. Massachusetts will give the Parent-Child Home Program, which has 33 sites in the state, $3 million this year (up from $2 million last year). Through the program, staff members visit the homes of low-income residents and offer tips not just on good books for toddlers but also on “play activities” for parents and kids…
With my kids I’m primarily a jungle gym/amusement park ride/book reader. A lot of food for thought…here’s the article:
(Source-BostonGlobe) The idea that adults should be playing with their kids is a modern invention — and not necessarily a good one — WHAT COULD BE more natural than a mother down on the rec-room floor, playing with her 3-year-old amid puzzles, finger-puppets, and Thomas the Tank Engine trains? Look — now she’s conducting a conversation between a stuffed shark and Nemo, the Pixar clown fish! Giggles all around. Not to mention that the tot is learning the joys of stories and narrative, setting him on a triumphal path toward school.
A “natural” scene? Actually, parent-child play of this sort has been virtually unheard of throughout human history, according to the anthropologist David Lancy. And three-fourths of the world’s current population would still find that mother’s behavior kind of dotty. American-style parent-child play is a distinct feature of wealthy developed countries — a recent byproduct of the pressure to get kids ready for the information-age economy, Lancy argues in a recent article in American Anthropologist, the field’s flagship journal in the United States.
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Posted by Al Swearengen as Words at 3:06 PM MDT
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(h/t Andrew Sullivan)
Posted by Al Swearengen as Video, Words at 12:35 PM MDT
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This is pretty funny. karl emailed it yesterday.
KAMIAH, Idaho — Do you envision a dream home that shields you from nuclear holocaust? Marauding outlaws? Agents of Satan? You’re in luck. A $230,000, two-story, three-bedroom beauty nestled amid rolling pastures eight miles north of here is on the market. The “Survivalist Home,” as advertised in north central Idaho newspapers, was built in 1998 on 21/2 acres and designed as a haven from nuclear fallout and roving bands of outlaws, said owner Mike (Big Mike) Molesworth, 62.”You won’t find another one like this up here,” he said.
His self-sufficient home is in part of Idaho that has drawn many people seeking havens from the world, such as those who came 13 years ago with constitutionalist Bo Gritz to form the Christian covenant communities, Almost Heaven and Shenandoah, which are on 600 acres nearby in the Woodland area.
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Posted by Al Swearengen as Comedy, Religion at 3:18 AM MDT
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This should be interesting:
(Source) A Federal Court judge has agreed to reveal portions of the Maher Arar report that were censored by the government. Mr. Justice Simon Noel ruled Tuesday that he will uncensor some – but not all – of the 1,500 words that had been blacked out. The passages are to emerge within 10 days, unless any of the parties launch an appeal. “In the end, I have agreed in part with the Attorney-General and in part with the [Arar] Commission,” Judge Noel wrote in a 64-page ruling Tuesday, without revealing further details.
My piece on this topic - The Murder of Maher Arar
Posted by Al Swearengen as Justice at 3:06 AM MDT
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Bill Moyers Journal: The Yes Men Part 1
Bill Moyers Journal: The Yes Men Part 2
Posted by Al Swearengen as Video at 12:17 AM MDT
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Posted by Al Swearengen as Video, Military at 12:25 AM MDT
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Justice at Stake: Ensuring That Prisoners in the U.S. Are Never ‘Disappeared’- by Shahid Buttar, posted at The Peace Tree
Hadrian’s Forum: “The American founding fathers were well versed in Roman history. People such as Washington, Madison and Jefferson, were all very aware of the evils done by Sulla. When they designed the constitution, and ensured a separation of powers, they were specifically thinking about how they would prevent the rise of an American Sulla.”
Paul Krugman: All the President’s Enablers - by Paul Krugman, posted at Welcome to Pottersville
“I don’t know why the op-ed article that General Petraeus published in The Washington Post on Sept. 26, 2004, hasn’t gotten more attention. After all, it puts to rest any notion that the general stands above politics: I don’t think it’s standard practice for serving military officers to publish opinion pieces that are strikingly helpful to an incumbent, six weeks before a national election. In the article, General Petraeus told us that “Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously.” And those security forces were doing just fine: their leaders “are displaying courage and resilience” and “momentum has gathered in recent months.”In other words, General Petraeus, without saying anything falsifiable, conveyed the totally misleading impression, highly convenient for his political masters, that victory was just around the corner. And the best guess has to be that he’ll do the same thing three years later.”
Exec pleads guilty in Iraq contractor bribery scheme - As the New York Times reports in its Saturday edition, at least eight people connected to former Halliburton subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown and Root), so far receiving $20 billion for war-related services, have been implicated in an investigation into kickbacks and bribes stemming from a scheme to overcharge for freight services to Iraq. Kevin Andre Smoot, managing director for KBR subcontractor Eagle Global Logistics Incorporated, pleaded guilty to dispensing the bribes along with lying to investigators.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Justice, Politics, Military at 10:45 PM MDT
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