Both the NY Times and the Washington Times are reporting on various memos between Pentagon officials and the White House. The memos, issued between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, describe how international law regarding the treatment of suspected terrorists and 'unlawful combatants' doesn't apply to US troops. The documents are very telling after the recent scandal at Abu Graihb and amidst continuing allegations or torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay. As noted by Josh Marshall one passage in the Washington Times is particularly revealing of Administration thought on the matter:

To protect subordinates should they be charged with torture, the memo advised that Mr. Bush issue a "presidential directive or other writing" that could serve as evidence, since authority to set aside the laws is "inherent in the president."

Basically a blanket statement saying the Pres. has "got your back" to anyone accused of committing war crimes in the name of the War on Terror. It's really frightening. These are purely fictitious powers that are specifically not given to the President through the Constitution. Bushco has shown repeatedly that they have little regard to any norms of conduct or the separation of powers. According to them, the President can declare war, hold foreign troops (and in a few cases even Americans) for indefinite amounts of time, and now against all international laws (ie: Geneva Convention) decide what actions by our troops-if any-constitute war crimes.

The last point I'll make is that there was one quote describing how the detainees in Guantanamo Bay are not subject to regulations of the Geneva Convention because they are being held in a US-controlled area. Maybe true, probably not, but the problem is that they have been vociferously claiming for years that these same suspects should not be granted access to due process/lawyers/courts because they are not being held in American territory. Which one is it? Or maybe which one is more important to Bush, the ability to torture with impunity or to hold indefinitely without access to a court? The audacity to claim both "rights" under conflicting definitions is outrageous. These guys gotta go. They are the real terrorists.

A line from a story by Denis Johnson: "...the spring air hit me like a foreinger's breath." Seems apt for our Buffalo situation. Though I've not so much associated spring with garlic or kimchi. Basra the tortoise has for the last two days walked around with a string of poo trailing from his behind. It's weird cause it should be pretty disgusting, but he's so cute he can get away with just about anything. Yesterday, in the garden (we too garden Lucysmom!), we watched him drag it around for like 10 minutes, it was a real conversation stopper. No one could think of anything to say except to comment on Basra and his extension. He did it again this morning. Gross bug! I love to draw and smear with colored chalk sticks. We had four or five of us going at it last night. Trisha came, for barbecue and fun. Great to see her, we need to hang out more. Off to work now, 10 hours of excitement!

this is so totally funny.

This guy builds himself a custom steel-plated bulldozer and proceeds to bulldoze town hall the mayor's house and 5 other buildings. Police "set off three explosions and fired at least 200 rounds at the steel plates welded to the bulldozer, which looked like an upside-down Dumpster. After the third explosion failed, officials cut their way in with a blowtorch..." Crazy dude! The "bulldozer's armor plates consisted of two sheets of half-inch steel with a layer of concrete between them." Of course he then killed himself before the man could get him. Sad, but what a way to go.

• Whoah!** ms. cateyes that's grotesque! I say put his name up for all to see. You have a judgment againt him from a court of law and photo evidence of his obvious total slumlordiness. What a bastard! Like Paul said the same thing happened with the same guy to hodown a couple years ago. If she had published here maybe it needn't ever have happened to you.

Gay pride seemed to have more people than ever. I am constantly surprised to see tha amount of gay people in one day that appear in Buffalo, I wonder if there are just so many gay people here or if we're just louder than in other towns. I mean we're pent up for the winter for so long maybe everybody feels the need to just get up and out. The parade lacked creative floats but had much enthusiasm. I am very egoistic by saying this, but I had like three floats divert their entire attention to me as I was waving off my balcony. It actually made me a bit embarrased, they were the parade, I wasn't the special attraction. I pretend to complain but it was a nice ego booster in these times of post-winter fatness-depression. I need to ride my fucking bike more. I will go before work tomorrow, that's a promise to myself. Go boy go. Ride like the wind. I love riding the bike it's so great. Here we come winds of the East, bear me to Oklahoma. Or at least around town.

Can't we just start calling all people it? It's neutral. You might say it would be confusing, like you're talking to your friend and they don't know whether the stories about Shelly the checkout girl or the magazine in the rack. But it's all about context, you'd get used to it. In German it's quite noraml to call people 'the'. You say "Der ist suess" and it means "the is hot" but really it means he's hot. It's weird. Maybe it doens't work so well, we do need a word that at least means person. It has to be one-syllable for convenience and easily contractionable. Howabout "ze"? it's not already a word and can be contractioned like he/she. Ze's a hottie. I went out with zerm last night and we had an awesome time. There you go Robin, problem solved.

The dyke march was purty neat. We waved/hooted/hollered from the roof-porch and then joined the procession down to Bidwell. Then we stayed a while until Toriani started to play (who was not to bad but a litle rehashed). What's on the agenda now you might ask? I would have to say it's entirely up in the air. Rumor has it there's the triquel to the anything but clothes party tonight. I had an awesome time last year with my balloons and tortoise sweater. Didn't have a single balloon by the time I left.

Oh yeah: welcome all new peeps, I am glad to get some fresh blood in here. Even through the evil advertising mechanism. Which is probably nor evil but just over exploited nowadays. Got to start getting drunk now, toodle-ooh.

I've been thinking a lot about rent lately. I really hate it. As an institution. I can't help but think that it's a total usurious act that takes from someone and gives to another at unequal levels. Its origins must be somewhere near the time property itself was established. It couldn't have been too long before someone thought, "well, if I now own this land (which of course had at one time been ownerless or owned-by-all) I might as well let someone else live here...for a price." And so the people that first owned the land, probably some kinda tribal chiefs or respected war leaders, decided to let other people live and work it if a portion of the fruits of their labor was apportioned to the owner for the use of the land. We know where this leads of course, feudal systems-or in worst case scenarios, slavery systems-where the cost of living on a property becomes equal to the wages allotted the workers. This is where rent was invented, it doesn't have pretty origins.

So, I was trying to argue against rent and came up against pretty hard-core reasons. There was the idea that some people just don't want to own their own land (we're talkin current America here). But I don't think that's the case. Given the fact that to have some way to provide shelter and food for self and family a place to live is essential (and in America you can't just opt out-just try to find an arable bit of soil that isn't owned by someone/thing). So everyone has to have it, why not own it. The advantages are obvious. You own capital-something tangible that can be exchanged for other items/services in our society-it has appreciable value. You have control over the use of your property (if you wanna erect a shrine to Hades in the back and take out the back wall for a view, it's your choice). You can use your property as collateral in obtaining credit towards other purchases. With rent you get non-responsibility. You pay the bill and you get occasional repairs. That's the part that bites though. Rent is constantly paid to the owner. When you buy, even through mortgage, every one of your dollars (or at least some percentage) goes back into your pockets as capital. You are paying to own something. When you rent you are paying to be owned by something. You have a landlord to answer to, strict rules of conduct, and you may even get a random visit. And your money is going into their pocket.

For example in my current situation, at the end of this year we will have paid the landlord over $20,000 total for two years. We could have bought a $60,000 house with a mortgage, paid the same amount over two years and our mortgage would be down to $45,000 (interest eats $5,000 or so). Even if now we moved and only got $55,000 for whatever reasons (bad market/neighborhood or whatever). We could pay off our mortgage and have $10,000 to spare, which means our total expenditure for two years was $10,000, half as much as renting. If we imagine making improvements and such (which we did a ton to our apartment without recuperation) so that we could sell for $65,000 (just $5K more than we bought it for), our profit after paying off our mortgage would be $20,000 which is what we spent on mortgage payments. In other words, if our property appreciates less than 10% over two years than we have broken even.

This is not to say that the above process is easy. Obtaining a mortgage is not easy as pie. There're lengthy forms to fill out, incomes to substantiate, and months of finding the house itself. It's a process made much easier if you can initially afford it. So I agree that the process of renting involves a lot less stress and a lot less wherewithal in the first place. It's skewed (as is the US of A in general) to favoring those with the initial capital resources. But, I think my point remains, that it is hard to justify the practice of renting. All it does it take ownership to the next rotten capitalist level of class and caste. Some people are o
wn
ers and some not. And those that are can now make money off those that aren't. It's beautifully and brutally logical. I just can't justify preying on fellow men, even in the name of shelter.

next Tuesday, but god-awful early, like 7ish, ick. I would like to see the glorious transit but... My head hurts, blast you flacidness and your dang tasty sweet-drinks. Shoulda stuck with the beer, which doesn't pummel my bod the next day. Pin was fun. I usually spend the wole time wandering around, as if I have an aversion to barstools or lengthy bar conversations. I stumble from one friend to the next, checking to see that they're still there, and as sson as I find them I wave and am gone. Hm. I did talk a lot about girls for some reason (in a naughty way). Might be the space porn we watched at southernyankee's place. Groovy 90's computer graphics and trick camera angles make porn even better. Oh yeah the sneaky aliens with the flashing red eyes helped too. The humans couldn't even tell they were being taken advantage of, who's to say that aliens aren't getting it on with us all the time without our knowledge.

Oh <groan> work in a half hour. Friday though then the weekend, and gay Pride. I wonder if the Christians will creep out of the woodwork again. Can't decide if it's more annoying that they're there at all or fun cause we get to harrass them with our filthy gayness. We'll see.

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whoopie. these random word things are so strange, how they almost make lunatic sense.

-sidenote: Tenet resigns . Another fall-guy for our corrupt administration. Not that the guy wasn't a creep, but he was doing exactly as he was told, by Clinton (who focused on terrorism) and Bush (who virtually ignored it-before 9/11). Who next? Who else need to go to alleviate some pressure? Already calls have been made for Rumsfeld, but so far the Bush says that is out of the question. As Iraq goes down the tubes with torture and mounting casualties we shall see if dear-old Rummy may also need to face the sacrificial altar. I hope so, that guy's evil to the core.

The Independent has a great article about the lying game: an A-Z guide to misrepresenting the prewar intelligence . Fun stuff. So many lies, so many lives, it's sickening. I've decided that what we need to secure that Bush doesn't get re-elected is a terrorist attack. The catch is it can't be here, that would almost guarantee his reelection as the country stands behind our leader. No, what we need is a big fat bomb that blows up a key pipeline or two in Saudi Arabia. Our gas prices would climb to unseen levels (gotta sacrifice to get what you want) and an easy connection can be made between the Iraq war and angry terrorists hitting America's foes. Even business leaders would have to admit the errors in Buscho foreign policy, right? Whatev...

Here's some pics of us camping. Here's holly and I swimming, somehow she looks much less intense (cold?) than I do. I look like a beaver without a cozy dam.


And here's the rip-roarin' blaze. I really like the flying spark debris in the air.

We camp along a long-abandonned strip-mine, the perfect setting for our post-industrail lifestyle. It's me and the boys and Holly. We take an hour or two to visit the relatives and shop for the essentials, food food food and beer. We reach our destination around three loaded down, it takes two trips to get it all down. The campsite is just as we remembered it. The firehole has a few more random metal scraps from autumnal highschool scavenging and the chairs are partially dissembled for last-ditch fire scraps. Otherwise, it's camp sweet camp. We haul enough wood for a week long excursion, the forest is ripe for its first plundering of the new season, whole trees lie dead standing at our fingertips. I wondered as we plucked entire hulks from the ground if we were acting our part out in nature, clearing the ground of deadfall, making room for new trees to grow, or if at this point in history it was hard to justify even small-time logging operations. Back to a point I made in an earlier entry, it is easy to justify almost any action as genetically inspired; the reasoning that animals do it so it can't be all that bad, that somehow it's all quite natural. Seems to me that in current times your place in the world is based far more on location and environment than any genetic inclinations. Especially regarding tribal animals it is imperative to always weigh an individual advantage against a societal one, in other words, is this decision based on personal survival or survival of children and entire species. Maybe were supposed to work toward maximum fitness, not for ourselves, but for our entire alive environment.

We ate very well. A little too well. I ate so much I had to take a mile-long jog in the morning to pep up my engines, burn out some congealed grease. It was pleasureable too. I love garnering pleasure from my body through using it. It really likes to be used. It likes to be stetched and active, and to grow stronger. It's such a great system that you're rewarded with not only excellent health, but also an overwhelming sense of immediate joy and well-expended energy. It's sad that we're all getting fat, we've forgotten how good it feels to move, because it's so much easier to get happy eating. As I type I can feel my body yearning for a deep sleep to knit back muscles into stronger formations, it knows just which ones by how hard I used them. I should keep it up and get in shape. Stay away rain and let me get my bike out!

Oh god, Holly's mama was there, and she's just the best. So far she's made me three pecan pies, need I say more??? She decided to come out and eat dinner with us on Sunday-she ended up sleeping-over, tucked into Holly's tent with Cintra and the dogs. She's so funny, and it's so great when she tells a story and the girls take over side stories, all about life in small-town Smethport, PA. Hilarious.

I wanna talk about Chemistry and String theory for a minute too. About restructuring the mind to accept subatomic theory. Just think, wall to wall fuzzy guitar-strings! Must pee though... K, I'm back. Dislaimer for any who may understand a lot more about this shit than I: I have only taken a couple of chemistry/physics classes in my life, but I've read a slew of books about it. So chemistry tries to describe life through the interactions of molecules. They form bonds with one another and release various forms of energy, their combinations form everything in this room and the universe(?). Standard beginner models include circles on rings orbitting an inner core (think solar system) or you use their atomic initials, little dots representing electrons, and dashes between signifying bonds. It is a very useful model and it can be used to accurately predict real-world reactions. Along comes quantum theory, which cuts atoms to shreds and dissects the innards: quarks, neutrinos, etc. We find whole new properties (like spin and color), basically a new system for understanding chemistry at a primal(?) le
ve
l. We know we're on the right track because we can now "see" many of the predicted particles and their behavior through experiments (with telescopes and particle accelerators).

A paradigm shift is in the process, and these are the best times for revolution. If everything is the rippling of energy strings, operating under the uncertainty principle, flitting through space and anti-space, than isn't our chemical system a bit antiquated. Learning has many hurtles and a major one is counterintuition. If something is learned and then must be relearned under a new paradigm much energy is wasted in the unlearning. It is much better to incorporate new knowledge into the learning pool. God this is getting way to over the top, I sound like I'm preaching to a convention of college science professors. I still have more to say about the relationship of philosophy to science but will save it for a less exhasusted audience. Stop reading and go contemplate the endless beauty of an iris, they won't be here long.