Thursday, January 25, 2007
to the beach
I went to the beach and she wasn't there. I went to the forest and she wasn't there. I went to the mountains and she wasn't there. I went to my house and opened the door and there she was. Together we went to the beach, the forest, the mountains.
Monday, January 22, 2007
The good wrought by imperialism
Buc'hoz, Pierre-Joseph (1731-1807)
Dissertation sur le durion, arbre des Indes orientales, qui donne un fruit bon à manger et qui mérite d'être cultivé dans nos colonies
Dissertation sur le durion, arbre des Indes orientales, qui donne un fruit bon à manger et qui mérite d'être cultivé dans nos colonies
Friday, January 19, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
I am so not from Chicago, guys
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." | |
| The Midland | |
| The Northeast | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The South | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
American Constitution, acticle 1, section 8, in part
Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress . . .
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress . . .
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Cowardice among the powerful
In today's Financial Times is an excellent opinion piece by Jacob Weisberg, an FT columnist and the editor of Slate.com. Weisberg points out that the constitution of the United States of America very specifically grants the legislative branch sole authority to declare war and the power to create, fund, and regulate the armed forces. The 1973 war powers resolution, Weisberg reminds us, "creates a 60-day period after the onset of hostilities for presidents either to get congressional approval or withdraw troops." Plus, "a provision of the war powers resolution states specifically that the president must remove forces when Congress so orders." This provision was invoked again and again by Republican Congresses under Clinton. So enough with the whining, Democratic senators, the time has come to stop this war.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Renditions
I am reading "Ghost Plane," which opens with an imaginary visit to a secret prison in Damascus that was, in 2002 and 2003, home to a number of suspected terrorists abducted from various places around the globe. These prisoners, tortured daily, were part of the now well publicized CIA covert renditions program authorized by George Bush after September 11. At the same time that he was publicly excoriating Syria for human rights abuses, including torture, Bush was enthusiastically supporting a program that took advantage of the the willingness of the Syrian government to torture terrorists. Or suspected terrorists. Many of whom proved to be innocent, as investigations in Canada and elsewhere have shown. The CIA and the SIS (aka MI5) would fax lists of questions to the interrogators at the Syrian prison. I have a lot more to read.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Remember Haditha
In the vast list of wartime atrocities, Haditha ranks very low, but the remarkable transparency provided by the American media permits us to look closely at a small massacre (fifteen people) to understand how men act in war.
Here are a few passages from the New York Times article of 7 January 2007:
"An American government report on the killing of 24 Iraqis, including several women and children, by marines in the village of Haditha in 2005 provides new details of how the shootings unfolded and supports allegations by prosecutors that a few marines illegally killed civilians, government officials said yesterday.
"The report, by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, contains thousands of pages of interviews with marines, Iraqi Army soldiers who had accompanied them and Iraqi villagers who had seen the attack. The shootings followed a roadside bombing that killed a young lance corporal and wounded two other marines, said a senior Defense Department official and another official who had read the report.
"The evidence contained in the report, the most exhaustive of several inquiries begun by the military last year to determine what happened in Haditha that day, led prosecutors to charge four enlisted marines with murder. Four marine officers, who were not present during the attack, were also charged with dereliction of duty and other crimes for failing to properly report details of the episode.
"The four enlisted men charged with unpremeditated murder, all members of a squad of Company K, Third Battalion, First Marines, are: Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich of Meriden, Conn.; Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, 24, of Chicago; Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, 22, of Carbondale, Pa.; and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, 25, of Edmond, Okla.
"The attack on the Iraqis began after the roadside bomb blew up one of four Humvees the marines were traveling in on Nov. 19, 2005. Minutes after that, the report portrays Sergeant Wuterich, the squad leader, and Sergeant Dela Cruz as killing five men who had nervously piled out of a taxi that had stopped near the marine convoy, the officials said.
"The men 'were shot by Wuterich as they stood, unarmed, next to the vehicle approximately 10 feet in front of him,' the report said, according to a person who has read it.
"Sergeant Dela Cruz said that as he approached the taxi, he saw some men standing near it with their hands in the air, officials said. After Sergeant Wuterich shot them, he continued shooting as they lay on the ground, and later urinated on one of them, an official said.
"The marines, taking small arms fire from several locations near homes on either side of the convoy, attacked a home nearby, killing six people, including a young boy, a woman and two elderly people, none of them armed, the report said, according to officials and people who have read it.
"In one of the houses the marines raided, the report said, a 13-year-old girl, Safah Yunis Salem, said she survived by pretending to be dead after marines killed several family members, including her 3-year-old sister and 5-year-old brother, government officials said."
Here are a few passages from the New York Times article of 7 January 2007:
"An American government report on the killing of 24 Iraqis, including several women and children, by marines in the village of Haditha in 2005 provides new details of how the shootings unfolded and supports allegations by prosecutors that a few marines illegally killed civilians, government officials said yesterday.
"The report, by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, contains thousands of pages of interviews with marines, Iraqi Army soldiers who had accompanied them and Iraqi villagers who had seen the attack. The shootings followed a roadside bombing that killed a young lance corporal and wounded two other marines, said a senior Defense Department official and another official who had read the report.
"The evidence contained in the report, the most exhaustive of several inquiries begun by the military last year to determine what happened in Haditha that day, led prosecutors to charge four enlisted marines with murder. Four marine officers, who were not present during the attack, were also charged with dereliction of duty and other crimes for failing to properly report details of the episode.
"The four enlisted men charged with unpremeditated murder, all members of a squad of Company K, Third Battalion, First Marines, are: Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich of Meriden, Conn.; Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, 24, of Chicago; Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, 22, of Carbondale, Pa.; and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, 25, of Edmond, Okla.
"The attack on the Iraqis began after the roadside bomb blew up one of four Humvees the marines were traveling in on Nov. 19, 2005. Minutes after that, the report portrays Sergeant Wuterich, the squad leader, and Sergeant Dela Cruz as killing five men who had nervously piled out of a taxi that had stopped near the marine convoy, the officials said.
"The men 'were shot by Wuterich as they stood, unarmed, next to the vehicle approximately 10 feet in front of him,' the report said, according to a person who has read it.
"Sergeant Dela Cruz said that as he approached the taxi, he saw some men standing near it with their hands in the air, officials said. After Sergeant Wuterich shot them, he continued shooting as they lay on the ground, and later urinated on one of them, an official said.
"The marines, taking small arms fire from several locations near homes on either side of the convoy, attacked a home nearby, killing six people, including a young boy, a woman and two elderly people, none of them armed, the report said, according to officials and people who have read it.
"In one of the houses the marines raided, the report said, a 13-year-old girl, Safah Yunis Salem, said she survived by pretending to be dead after marines killed several family members, including her 3-year-old sister and 5-year-old brother, government officials said."
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Martin Scorsese's list
Among the movies to which Scorsese makes admiring mention in "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies" are the following.
All That Heaven Allows (written by Peg Fenwick, directed by Douglas Sirk, 1955)
All That Jazz (written by Robert Alan Arthur and Bob Fosse, directed by Bob Fosse, 1979)
America, America (written and directed by Elia Kazan, 1963)
Anna Christie (written by Frances Marion from a Eugene O'Neill play, directed by Clarence Brown, 1930)
The Bad and the Beautiful (written by Charles Schnee, directed by Vincente Minnelli, 1952)
The Bandwagon (written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, directed by Vincente Minnelli, 1953)
Barry Lyndon
Bigger Than Life (written by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum and Ray and Mason and others, directed by Nicholas Ray, 1956)
The Big House (written by Frances Marion and others, directed by George Hill, 1930)
The Birth of a Nation
Bonnie and Clyde
Broken Blossoms
The Cameraman
Cat People
Citizen Kane (written by Pauline Kael)
Colorado Territory (written by John Twist and Edmind H. North, directed by Raoul Walsh, 1949)
Crime Wave (written by Crane Wilbur, directed by André de Toth, 1954)
The Crowd (written by King Vidor and others, directed by King Vidor, 1928)
Death's Marathon (written by W. E. Wing, directed by D. W. Griffith, 1931)
Detour
Double Indemnity
Duel in the Sun (written by David O. Selznick, directed by King Vidor and William Dieterle, 1946)
East of Eden
Faces
The Fall of the Roman Empire (written by Ben Barzman and a guy with the wonderful name Basilio Franchina, directed by Anthony Mann, 1964)
Footlight Parade (written by Manuel Seff and James Seymour, directed by Lloyd Bacon, 1933)
Force of Evil (written and directed by Abraham Polonsky, 1948)
42nd Street (written by James Seymour and Rian James, directed by Lloyd Bacon, 1933)
Forty Guns
The Furies
Gold Diggers of 1933 (written by Erwin Gelsey and James Seymour, directed by Mervyn Leroy, 1933)
The Great Dictator
The Great Train Robbery
Gun Crazy
Hell's Highway
Her Man (written by Tom Buckingham, directed by Tay Garnett, 1930)
High Sierra
Intolerance
I Walk Alone
I Walked with a Zombie
Johnny Guitar
Kiss Me Deadly
Land of the Pharoahs
Leave Her to Heaven (written by Jo Swerling, directed by John M. Stahl, 1945)
The Left-Handed Gun (written by Leslie Stevens from a teleplay by Gore Vidal, directed by Arthur Penn, 1958)
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Lolita
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Man with the Golden Arm
Meet Me in Saint Louis
Murder by Contract
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
My Dream Is Yours (written by Harry Kurnitz and Dane Lurrier, directed by Michael Curtiz, 1949)
The Naked Kiss
The Naked Spur
One, Two, Three
On the Waterfront
Outrage (written by Collier Young, Malvin Wald, Ida Lupino, directed by Ida Lupino, 1950)
The Phoenix City Story (written by Crane Wilbur, Daniel Mainwaring, directed by Phil Karlson, 1955)
Pickup on South Street (written and directed by Samuel Fuller, 1953)
Point Blank
The Public Enemy (written by Kubec Glasmon, John Bright, directed by William Wellman, 1931)
Raw Deal (Anthony Mann, 1948)
The Red House (written and directed by Delmer Davies, 1947)
Regeneration (written by Raoul Walsh, Carl Harbaugh, directed by Raoul Walsh, 1915)
The Roaring Twenties (written by Jerry Wald and others, directed by Raoul Walsh, 1939)
The Robe (written by Philip Dunne, directed by Henry Koster, 1953)
Samson and Delilah (written by Jesse Lasky, Jr., Fredric M. Frank, directed by Cecil B. De Mille, 1949)
Scarface (Hawks)
The Scarlet Empress
Scarlet Street
The Searchers
Seventh Heaven (written by Benjamin Glazer, directed by Frank Borzage, 1927)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Shock Corridor
Silver Lode (written by Karen De Wolfe, directed by Allan Dwan, 1954)
Some Came Running
Stagecoach
A Star Is Born (written by Moss Hart, directed by George Cukor, 1954)
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sullivan's Travels
Sunrise
Sweet Smell of Success
The Tall T (written by Burt Kennedy, directed by Budd Boetticher, 1957)
The Ten Commandments (1923)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
T-Men (written by John C. Higgins, Anthony Mann, directed by Anthony Mann, 1948)
2001: A Space Odyssey (written by Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, directed by Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
Two Weeks in Another Town (written by Charles Schnee, directed by Vincente Minnelli, 1962)
Unforgiven (written by David Webb Peoples, directed by Clint Eastwood, 1992)
The Wedding March (written by Erick von Stroheim, Harry Carr, directed by Erich von Stroheim, 1927)
Wild Boys of the Road (written by Earl Baldwin, directed by William Wellman, 1933)
All That Heaven Allows (written by Peg Fenwick, directed by Douglas Sirk, 1955)
All That Jazz (written by Robert Alan Arthur and Bob Fosse, directed by Bob Fosse, 1979)
America, America (written and directed by Elia Kazan, 1963)
Anna Christie (written by Frances Marion from a Eugene O'Neill play, directed by Clarence Brown, 1930)
The Bad and the Beautiful (written by Charles Schnee, directed by Vincente Minnelli, 1952)
The Bandwagon (written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, directed by Vincente Minnelli, 1953)
Barry Lyndon
Bigger Than Life (written by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum and Ray and Mason and others, directed by Nicholas Ray, 1956)
The Big House (written by Frances Marion and others, directed by George Hill, 1930)
The Birth of a Nation
Bonnie and Clyde
Broken Blossoms
The Cameraman
Cat People
Citizen Kane (written by Pauline Kael)
Colorado Territory (written by John Twist and Edmind H. North, directed by Raoul Walsh, 1949)
Crime Wave (written by Crane Wilbur, directed by André de Toth, 1954)
The Crowd (written by King Vidor and others, directed by King Vidor, 1928)
Death's Marathon (written by W. E. Wing, directed by D. W. Griffith, 1931)
Detour
Double Indemnity
Duel in the Sun (written by David O. Selznick, directed by King Vidor and William Dieterle, 1946)
East of Eden
Faces
The Fall of the Roman Empire (written by Ben Barzman and a guy with the wonderful name Basilio Franchina, directed by Anthony Mann, 1964)
Footlight Parade (written by Manuel Seff and James Seymour, directed by Lloyd Bacon, 1933)
Force of Evil (written and directed by Abraham Polonsky, 1948)
42nd Street (written by James Seymour and Rian James, directed by Lloyd Bacon, 1933)
Forty Guns
The Furies
Gold Diggers of 1933 (written by Erwin Gelsey and James Seymour, directed by Mervyn Leroy, 1933)
The Great Dictator
The Great Train Robbery
Gun Crazy
Hell's Highway
Her Man (written by Tom Buckingham, directed by Tay Garnett, 1930)
High Sierra
Intolerance
I Walk Alone
I Walked with a Zombie
Johnny Guitar
Kiss Me Deadly
Land of the Pharoahs
Leave Her to Heaven (written by Jo Swerling, directed by John M. Stahl, 1945)
The Left-Handed Gun (written by Leslie Stevens from a teleplay by Gore Vidal, directed by Arthur Penn, 1958)
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Lolita
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Man with the Golden Arm
Meet Me in Saint Louis
Murder by Contract
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
My Dream Is Yours (written by Harry Kurnitz and Dane Lurrier, directed by Michael Curtiz, 1949)
The Naked Kiss
The Naked Spur
One, Two, Three
On the Waterfront
Outrage (written by Collier Young, Malvin Wald, Ida Lupino, directed by Ida Lupino, 1950)
The Phoenix City Story (written by Crane Wilbur, Daniel Mainwaring, directed by Phil Karlson, 1955)
Pickup on South Street (written and directed by Samuel Fuller, 1953)
Point Blank
The Public Enemy (written by Kubec Glasmon, John Bright, directed by William Wellman, 1931)
Raw Deal (Anthony Mann, 1948)
The Red House (written and directed by Delmer Davies, 1947)
Regeneration (written by Raoul Walsh, Carl Harbaugh, directed by Raoul Walsh, 1915)
The Roaring Twenties (written by Jerry Wald and others, directed by Raoul Walsh, 1939)
The Robe (written by Philip Dunne, directed by Henry Koster, 1953)
Samson and Delilah (written by Jesse Lasky, Jr., Fredric M. Frank, directed by Cecil B. De Mille, 1949)
Scarface (Hawks)
The Scarlet Empress
Scarlet Street
The Searchers
Seventh Heaven (written by Benjamin Glazer, directed by Frank Borzage, 1927)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Shock Corridor
Silver Lode (written by Karen De Wolfe, directed by Allan Dwan, 1954)
Some Came Running
Stagecoach
A Star Is Born (written by Moss Hart, directed by George Cukor, 1954)
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sullivan's Travels
Sunrise
Sweet Smell of Success
The Tall T (written by Burt Kennedy, directed by Budd Boetticher, 1957)
The Ten Commandments (1923)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
T-Men (written by John C. Higgins, Anthony Mann, directed by Anthony Mann, 1948)
2001: A Space Odyssey (written by Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, directed by Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
Two Weeks in Another Town (written by Charles Schnee, directed by Vincente Minnelli, 1962)
Unforgiven (written by David Webb Peoples, directed by Clint Eastwood, 1992)
The Wedding March (written by Erick von Stroheim, Harry Carr, directed by Erich von Stroheim, 1927)
Wild Boys of the Road (written by Earl Baldwin, directed by William Wellman, 1933)
Monday, January 01, 2007
07.01.01
Morning light is streaming through my front windows, warming me and the cat, lighting up boxes and piles of books and the deserted saucers for the pots still dripping on the back porch. No music, just the susurrus of passing cars and motorcycles and the bass of upstairs voices and shifting furniture. Can the world really be as peaceful as this? Might it be?
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