tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88777292011-07-07T19:26:58.747-07:00anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.comBlogger451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-4921991944046030682008-11-06T08:09:00.000-08:002008-11-06T08:18:52.212-08:00

This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York Island From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and me. As I went walking that ribbon of highway I saw above me that endless skyway I saw below me that golden valley This land was made for you and me. I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps To the

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-27236853652091469612008-06-17T08:28:00.000-07:002008-06-17T08:45:16.124-07:00

Note: I wrote the following to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Sunday mostly because I really do like the idea of constitutional government, but also because so much of the political discourse from the Right has been wrapped in the flag in recent years. I wanted to frame Impeachment as a patriotic action, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.The Sun-Sentinel is published in Rep. Wexler's

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-58864676450405482022008-06-02T12:55:00.000-07:002008-06-28T15:37:15.830-07:00

This is from an email I wrote to my friend Ian Macdonald, a very fine photographer, about a show of photographs by three British photographers, Graham Smith, Chris Killip and Martin Parr. Ian knows Graham, and kindly got me an invitation.My invitation finally came this week, and the show closed yesterday, so I went down and had a look. I couldn't afford any of the pictures, the Killip pictures

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-41007037088243241092007-12-17T08:01:00.000-08:002007-12-17T08:17:48.586-08:00

Dear Senator Dodd,I am spurred to write to you by a request at the Crooks and Liars web site, where there is an invitation to provide you with material to read on the floor of the senate today during your filibuster of the FISA bill with the section on immunity for the Telecommunications corporations which plainly broke the law by allowing the NSA to tap network communications wholesale, without

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-58782937234717984612007-11-06T08:06:00.001-08:002007-11-06T14:39:40.527-08:00

Language is a luxury. What a privilege!Someone told me we live as fish in a sea of language, unaware of the substrate around us. It's not quite right: languages evolve and mix, like different kinds of soil. Every now and then there's a flood of language, enriching the culture.But what is language? I'll go back to basics, and start with Saussure. I disagree with him in a couple of areas.First, the

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-9444624974483788502007-11-06T08:04:00.000-08:002007-11-06T08:06:34.357-08:00

I don't know. I know there are things I want to write, things I've puzzled over for a long time, and things I've learned.

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-9122887505396901432007-11-06T07:30:00.001-08:002007-11-06T08:04:17.904-08:00

Over the course of the first act of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days, Winnie laboriously reads the words on her toothbrush. What she finally reads is "Fully guaranteed, genuine pure, hog's setae." When she makes out the last two words, she puzzles: "A hog? A sow of course I know, but a hog?"I like this for two reasons. First, the interesting word, the rare word, is setae; but Winnie is only interested

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-90668639144510426812007-10-01T18:58:00.000-07:002007-10-01T21:13:52.478-07:00

The guided meditation was excellent, and the UNESCO statistics on US food production were jaw-dropping. I'd like the cite, but I well can believe what he told us: that the amount of food eaten by animals which are slaughtered for food consumed in the US is greater than the food required to feed 8 billion people. That our civilization is dying, and will die, and that therefore we should accept and

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-28745034523414826492007-09-13T02:23:00.000-07:002007-09-13T02:26:10.295-07:00

This just inLocal poetry producersAre finding it hard to competeWith subsidized poetry From industrialized nationsA spokesman saidThese subsidies undermine the competitivenessOf locally produced poetryIt is hard to see how we can sustain A modern poetry industry in the long termWhen the market is flooded with cheap poetry productsFrom overseas(The spokesmanAnd some poets no doubtCalled for a ban

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-11570506090462050672007-09-02T01:00:00.000-07:002007-09-02T21:25:13.081-07:00

"I have lost my origin" - no: sadly, as you had to, you lost your vocal range. One scale, one octave. No leaps, no gymnastics. But the raw musicality is still there. As it always will be.(SNL repeated tonight from May 2)Update So what is Bjork up to now? She's taking Ayn Rand on tour - "declare independence, don't let them do that to you, make your own flag, make your own flag, make your own flag

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-50651418082721431752007-03-07T08:24:00.000-08:002007-09-13T02:34:15.299-07:00

The introductory piece to the Ask... story at http://blogs.reuters.com/category/from-reuterscom/ask/?src=030707_1023_DOUBLEFEATURE_more_top_news (UPDATE: now archived) provides an astonishing and unbalanced misrepresentation of what has been happening in the blogs around the Scooter Libby trial. It verges on the irresponsible.Perhaps the biggest blog story is that there was a team of bloggers

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1170023255880439272007-01-28T14:13:00.000-08:002007-01-28T14:27:35.890-08:00

We ate one of the puddings for dessert on January 5: it was excellent. I steamed it in a tall enamel pot, the kind that is used for steaming tamales, on the theory that the temperature gradient in the pot would be less steep. The result was that the pudding wasn't soggy, and didn't stick to the bowl. We have no holly around here, but the brandy burned as it should. The brandy butter was light in

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1166569265802198702006-12-19T14:59:00.000-08:002006-12-19T15:01:05.816-08:00

If only it weren't true.

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1166512262220772272006-12-18T18:14:00.000-08:002006-12-18T23:11:02.273-08:00

I made the candied peel, and bought a couple of pudding basins. I got string to tie down the linen tops from the butchery counter at Whole Foods.I mixed the batter. My son, my girlfriend and her son weren't around, so getting them to take a turn with the spoon was not possible. I worked at home all day to monitor the six hour steaming. I think they're going to be fine: they worked out well.Next

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1165823644033891292006-12-10T23:53:00.000-08:002006-12-11T11:53:08.826-08:00

I am late to start this task, but I have an excuse: you cannot buy suet in America. At least, not for people. For months I've been looking in Froogle for mail-order suet for months, and asked in local stores; even the well-heeled Bristol Farms shopper can't get suet from the imposing butcher's counter. Or kidneys, for that matter, which would give them enough suet for my simple pudding needs. (

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1159517937405528122006-09-29T00:42:00.000-07:002006-09-29T01:18:57.416-07:00

God save King George (DG), who was officially placed above the law today by the Senate. If history doesn't mark September 28, 2006 as the end of the democratic experiment begun here in 1776, then history will have let our children down.The necessary machinery of tyranny in the United States of America is in place: indefinite detention without trial, no executive accountability, and easily fixed

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1158126951299090192006-09-12T22:55:00.000-07:002006-12-02T02:28:35.236-08:00

We've all heard this, and we all hate it. Something goes wrong: so you call one of our great corporations, and wander through the voice prompt system. You're told to expect a long hold time. You pick the wrong one of eight options, and forget to press pound at the end of your account number. You redial. You're kept waiting long enough to listen to a sales pitch for a product you don't want. Twice

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1157989369111186502006-09-11T08:16:00.000-07:002006-09-11T08:42:49.126-07:00

This isn't the Ob911 I thought I was going to write: I thought it would be about where I was when it happened, and all that blah. That I will write, for the record: but not today.Today, Bob Cesca writes at the Huffington Post that Dick Cheney justifies the war in Iraq by saying that there hasn't been another attack in the past five years. Last year, four; next year, six. He means "on US soil", of

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1155840327242979302006-08-17T11:43:00.000-07:002006-08-17T11:45:27.256-07:00

Federal Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled today that the NSA wiretap program outside of the Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) is unconstitutional, and has ordered it to be halted immediately.No kidding! Hooray!

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1153011490447655232006-07-15T17:20:00.000-07:002006-07-15T17:58:10.493-07:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,As your records must show, we have been corresponding on the matter of the NSA's illegal wiretapping programs since February, and I have been following the scanadal since December of last year.You most recently replied to me on July 12th, very soon after the momentous Hamdan decision, and told me that you are cosponsoring Senator Specter's bill. This bill was described in

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1153007732486784852006-07-15T16:55:00.000-07:002006-07-15T17:02:52.863-07:00

Thank you for writing to me about recent revelations that the United States Government has engaged in domestic electronic eavesdropping without going through the process required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). I welcome the opportunityto respond.As a member of both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, I have been briefed on the operational details of the

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1147361503922168982006-05-11T08:27:00.000-07:002006-05-11T08:33:22.240-07:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,I have written to you several times this year about the illegal wiretaps being conducted by the NSA on behalf of the Administration. You wrote to me on April 8, and said:"There will be further hearings in the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. Once the facts are clear, we can decide on appropriate corrective action."Today we learned that the Administration has

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1145375345181166242006-04-18T08:54:00.000-07:002006-04-18T08:56:13.443-07:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,Thank you for your reply to my emails of February 7, March 1, and March 4. I am glad to see that you agree with me that the President has overreached himself in the matter of the NSA wiretaps outside the FISA framework: I must say this was obvious to us outside the Beltway in December, and I hope that you will accellerate the process of holding the Administration

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1145375548805162112006-04-18T08:49:00.000-07:002006-04-18T08:52:28.823-07:00

April 12, 2006Thank you for writing to me about recent revelations that the United States Government has engaged in domestic electronic eavesdropping without appropriate legal authority. I welcome the opportunity to respond.On February 6th, the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first of a series of hearings into this matter, at which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified about the

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1142273170748098122006-03-13T09:57:00.000-08:002006-03-13T10:13:58.976-08:00

This is the true storyOf an unlucky crewThey lived in Sierra MadreAnd their number was fewSo that's why we call themThe Sierra Madre TwoWho were these boys? I hearA voice call from the backThese two kids are twelveThey're called Tyler and ZackAnd they skated round townWith their school back packsThey're straight-A students:These are the factsNow I can tell that somethingIs puzzling youWhat was

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1141497266857602312006-03-04T10:30:00.000-08:002006-03-04T10:34:26.856-08:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,I am writing to you again regarding the Select Committee on Intelligence, and Senator Rockefeller's motion to hold hearings on the Administration's authorizartion of wiretaps by the NSA outisde the FISA framework.The Administration is so desperate to prevent any attempt to investigate their unwarranted wiretaps of American Citizens that Senator Frist wrote to Senator Reid

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1141229478351975352006-03-01T08:10:00.000-08:002006-03-04T10:31:35.646-08:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,I wrote to you on February 7 this year (see http://anwaya.blogspot.com/2006/02/email-to-senator-feinstein-on-first.html) that I was concerned that in the Attorney General's testimony to the Judiciary Committee, he referred more than once to the "particular programme" he was there to answer questions about, and when Senator Sessions began to address domestic surveillance, he

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1140419940454660402006-02-19T23:17:00.000-08:002006-02-19T23:19:00.466-08:00

Num.Space code.Backspace.Jesus.OK, OK, Gotcha.Ah! Here we go

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1139337401130335112006-02-07T10:34:00.000-08:002006-02-07T10:36:41.143-08:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,Like many Californians, I am appalled by the present Administration's assumption of unsupervised power, and am following the hearings before the Senate Judiciary committee on warrantless wiretaps by the NSA closely.During yesterday's hearings, Attorney General Gonzales said two things that were of concern to me: first, during Senator Schumer's questioning on privilege,

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1134981460240791622005-12-18T20:30:00.000-08:002005-12-19T00:44:47.956-08:00

Paragraph 8 of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution of the United States is:Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."This

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1134949584702251272005-12-18T15:23:00.000-08:002005-12-18T16:38:48.203-08:00

It's time to make my Blogroll.There's the inspiration of Dear Leader's Daily Thought, and the comic relief of Jesus' General. To find the General's Republican Jesus cartoons, use the search at the top - the General's been lobbying hard to make sure that the Top Weblog awards went to leftie blogs. He did very well, but his recent posts have lowered the level of the comedy. Look for your favorite

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1134835578826135762005-12-17T08:04:00.000-08:002005-12-17T08:41:28.473-08:00

Dear Congressman Schiff,First, thank you for your stand calling for a GAO investigation of the IRS' attack on All Saints. I heard George Regas' sermon that day, and I have read the sermon again since, and I am dismayed by this blatantly partisan action by the IRS.But this instance of co-option of public servants to serve party political ends is a small example of this Administration's reckless

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1133886145322567552005-12-06T08:11:00.000-08:002005-12-06T08:22:25.343-08:00

Daily Dissent has a video of Jon Stewart on a CNN interview of Kenneth Bacon, a Former Pentagon Spokesperson.I think that Former Pentagon Spokesperson Ken Bacon is also President of Refugees International. But this doesn't in any way undercut the surrealism that Jon's piece catches, because Ken Bacon was a Pentagon spokesperson, and he did tell the "reporter" (what is her name? I didn't catch it,

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1133767148025578852005-12-04T20:12:00.000-08:002005-12-04T23:25:19.966-08:00

At Thanksgiving two years ago, I was talking to a Caltech astronomer about the war in Iraq. I said then that I thought that invading Iraq was bad chess, that Iran and North Korea were greater threats. Now that we have created a greater threat in Iraq, we are still playing bad chess.The author of President Bush's Strategy for Victory has been identified as Peter Feaver of Duke University. His

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1130201282234022642005-10-24T17:38:00.000-07:002005-10-24T17:56:01.930-07:00

Bill Maher's show "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO has a section called New Rules, which is about How Things Should Be In A Perfect World, rather than the crappy beta version we put up with. Here his panel includes Ben Affleck (actor and celebrity), and Salman Rushdie (novelist, genius and hero).MAHER: New Rule: Women have to meet me halfway. How do you expect me to masturbate to your fashion

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1130110344945419732005-10-23T16:14:00.000-07:002005-10-23T16:32:25.396-07:00

Crooks and Liars has Senator Hutchison trying a talking point: that indictments for lying to the Grand Jury in Traitorgate may not be fair if they are for a "perjury technicality".In Senator Hutchison's statement on the Senate Trial of President Clinton (February 12, 1999), she said:"Lying is a moral wrong. Perjury is a lie told under oath that is legally wrong. To be illegal, the lie must be

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1129531684071271022005-10-16T23:28:00.000-07:002005-10-16T23:48:05.433-07:00

Opening remark:In this article, Sam Harris claims that a limit position involving acts of terror can be taken at which torture is ethical.OK, here are a couple of counterarguments. You just can't get good torturers these days, can you? You simply can't get them trained. Sure, there are people who'd really like the work, but mostly, we don't encourage them. You see, we just can't - don't want to -

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1129214913695082862005-10-13T07:26:00.000-07:002005-10-13T08:04:17.780-07:00

Opening remark:The AskPhilosophers blog is at http://www.amherst.edu/askphilosophers/, but there's also a google group, AskPhilosophers, which is much like an old fashioned Newsgroup. As a philosophical blog, how do the panel members become members?"prima facie" evidence is just something that apears as it is on first sight, or on its face: there's no priority as such, no "before others", so a

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1129130104227954872005-10-12T08:13:00.000-07:002005-10-12T08:18:56.903-07:00

Posted at onegoodmove on Hitchens' Slate piece:Lovely! Hitchens slags off Miers! I think there's a chance he's a Trotskyite Entryist, myself; and if he's not careful, the atheism evident in this article will be enough to get the neos to brand him a leftist heretic.It's time to get religion, Christopher. And don't worry about the hypocrisy: you take advantage of the fact that hypocrisy is an easy

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1128975583844682372005-10-10T13:19:00.000-07:002005-10-10T14:00:24.993-07:00

There have been many attempts to bring the tale of the injustices of the McCarthy era and McCarthyism to the screen, usually through the lens of those HUAC hearings which targeted celebrities and the creative community in Hollywood. This is the first time that the intense drama around McCarthy's fall from grace in the public eye has been addressed, and it's executed with authority and attention

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1127720978284434452005-09-25T16:53:00.000-07:002005-09-26T09:45:29.366-07:00

Well, maybe not bad, but certainly mean, shameful, and knowingly transferring wealth from the poor to the rich.On Saturday, after the AYSO13 Opening Ceremony, I went to the demonstration in Downtown Los Angeles against the war in Iraq and in opposition to Bush's Administration, organised by ANSWER LA. There was a small, ten-man Protest Warrior counter-demonstration which included one Yellow

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1126324965961615872005-09-09T21:02:00.000-07:002005-09-09T21:02:45.966-07:00

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1125640926843385482005-09-01T21:44:00.000-07:002005-09-01T23:02:06.860-07:00

There have been some astonishing reports that some people are advocating a "shoot to kill" policy for "looters" in New Orleans.To be sure, the concept of private property is a cornerstone of organized, civil society. But there is no good reason for us as human beings to impose such standards on human beings in extremis: we let them down if they can't all come home again, and we should allow what

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1125285615930603242005-08-28T20:14:00.000-07:002005-08-28T20:20:15.936-07:00

There's live streaming news from the CBS affiliate in New Orleans here. The studio's staying up as long as it can.

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877729.post-1125141788088495202005-08-27T03:06:00.000-07:002005-08-27T04:29:49.196-07:00

I start here, but it isn't the beginning.I just watched Cindy Sheehan on Bill Maher's Real Time off the indispensable Crooks and Liars, and I am moved.From time to time, some poor bastard gives voice to a clear message. They don't necessarily like it when it happens: it's an inconvenience that others hear it, pick it up, and won't let the message die; and the messenger has simply to pass it on,

anwayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753192442750223075noreply@blogger.com0