mjh’s blog

Where I’ve been and where I’m going

Almost two weeks ago, I accepted a big project from Wiley Publishing. I’m co-authoring a book on digital cameras and photography. The schedule is crazy — crazier than my Vista book, in fact. (If such things can be measure, it’s 4 times crazier.) I’ll report more about the project in a few weeks — when it’s over.

Immediately upon accepting a killer schedule, I left town to go camping. (Wiley knew.) Six of us went camping just north of Chama in a favorite spot. It rained several times every day and every hike ended in the rain — one ended in hail. It was green, cool, and wet, none of which New Mexico is right now, as the monsoon pauses.

The high point of the trip was having hummingbirds sit on my finger for up to a minute at a time as I held my hand over my head, next to a feeder. Pure delight — one of those top ten joys, though, I suspect, anyone could get the hummers to do the same with enough hummers, food and patience.

The second great thrill of the trip was sighting a magnificent hummingbird, both a description and the species name. The magnificent is two to three times larger than its cousins. Our trip ornithologist (we know how to travel) says the farthest north the Mexican magnificents have been reported is the Gila, in New Mexico. This female was way off-course.

There are pictures and more commentary, all of which have to wait a few weeks.

I’ll just take one moment to give the finger to Jason Daskalos, who thinks the world is out to get the poor-little-rich-boy. I’ll roll my eyes at Tim Cummins, who uses more water in a year than we do in ten. I grin at John McCain sacking groceries while Obama addressed 200,000 Germans — er is doch Berliner.

bis spaeter,
mjh

[cross-posted to all my blogs]

Our New US Poet Laureate

Even dim Duhbya supports poetry, when the chimps are at the vet. A hearty welcome to Kay Ryan! peace, mjh

Dana Gioia Online - Kay Ryan

Here is “Paired Things” from Flamingo Watching in which image and abstraction dance so consummate a pas de deux that one wonders why modern poetics ever considered the two imaginative impulses at odds:

Paired Things

    Who, who had only seen wings,
    could extrapolate the
    skinny sticks of things
    birds use for land,
    the backward way they bend,
    the silly way they stand?
    And who, only studying
    birdtracks in the sand,
    could think those little forks
    had decamped on the wind?
    So many paired things seem odd.
    Who ever would have dreamed
    the broad winged raven of despair
    would quit the air and go
    bandylegged upon the ground,
    a common crow?

“Paired Things” displays Ryans characteristic style: dense figurative language, varied diction, internal rhyme, the interrogative mode, and playful vers libre, which elusively alternates between iambic and unmetered lines. One of Ryans signature devices is the counterpoint of sight and sound in the placement of her poetic language. Her hidden rhymes and metrical passages only became fully apparent when the poem is spoken aloud. “Paired Things” also hovers, as so many Ryan poems do, on the edge of allegory.

Dana Gioia Online - Kay Ryan

PS: In farewell, thanks to her predecessor, Ted Kooser.

After Years

Today, from a distance, I saw you
walking away, and without a sound
the glittering face of a glacier
slid into the sea. An ancient oak
fell in the Cumberlands, holding only
a handful of leaves, and an old woman
scattering corn to her chickens looked up
for an instant. At the other side
of the galaxy, a star thirty-five times
the size of our own sun exploded
and vanished, leaving a small green spot
on the astronomer’s retina
as he stood on the great open dome
of my heart with no one to tell.

Rock Port, Missouri, First 100 Percent Wind-powered Community In U.S.

Rock Port Missouri, with a population of just over 1,300 residents, has announced that it is the first 100% wind powered community in the United States. Four wind turbines supply all the electricity for the small town.

Rock Port, Missouri, First 100 Percent Wind-powered Community In U.S.

I’m an atheist neo-Darwinist

The Radical and Religious Right may appear as weak and laughable as Duhbya, but they will be around longer and they are relentless in their mission to dominate this nation. peace, mjh

New legal threat to teaching evolution in the US - opinion - 09 July 2008 - New Scientist by Amanda Gefter [7/9/08]

The [Louisiana Science Education Act] is designed to slip ID in “through the back door”, says [Barbara] Forrest, who is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University and an expert in the history of creationism. She adds that the bill’s language, which names evolution along with global warming, the origins of life and human cloning as worthy of “open and objective discussion”, is an attempt to misrepresent evolution as scientifically controversial. Forrest’s testimony notwithstanding, the bill was passed by the state’s legislature - by a majority of 94 to 3 in the House and by unanimous vote in the Senate. On 28 June, Louisiana’s Republican governor, Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, signed the bill into law. The development has national implications, not least because Jindal is rumoured to be on Senator John McCain’s shortlist as a potential running mate in his bid for the presidency.

Born in 1971 to parents recently arrived from India, Jindal is a convert to Roman Catholicism and a Rhodes scholar - hardly the profile of a typical Bible-belt politician. Yet in a recent national television appearance he voiced approval for the teaching of ID alongside evolution. He also enjoys a close relationship with the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), a lobbying group for the religious right whose mission statement includes “presenting biblical principles” in “centers of influence”. It was the LFF which set the bill in motion earlier this year.

“We believe that to teach young people critical thinking skills you have to give them both sides of an issue,” says Gene Mills, executive director of the LFF. When asked whether the new law fits with the organisation’s religious agenda, Mills told New Scientist: “Certainly it’s an extension of it. …

The strategy being employed in Louisiana by proponents of ID - including the Seattle-based Discovery Institute - is more subtle and potentially more difficult to challenge. Instead of trying to prove that ID is science, they have sought to bestow on teachers the right to introduce non-scientific alternatives to evolution under the banner of “academic freedom”.

“Academic freedom is a great thing,” says Josh Rosenau of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California. … “To apply ‘academic freedom’ to high school is a misuse of the term.”

“It’s very slick,” says Forrest. “The religious right has co-opted the terminology of the progressive left… They know that phrase appeals to people.” …

So far, representatives from six states have taken up the idea. In Florida, Missouri, South Carolina and Alabama, bills were introduced but failed. An academic freedom bill now in committee in Michigan is expected to stall there.

Louisiana is another story. A hub of creationist activism since the early 1980s, it was Louisiana that enacted the Balanced Treatment Act, which required that creationism be taught alongside evolution in schools. In a landmark 1987 case known as Edwards vs Aguillard, the US Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional, effectively closing the door on teaching “creation science” in public schools. ID was invented soon afterwards as a way of proffering creationist concepts without specific reference to God. …

When Jindal was elected governor last year, the stage was set. The LFF approached Ben Nevers, a state senator, who agreed to introduce the Louisiana Academic Freedom Act on their behalf. “They believe that scientific data related to creationism should be discussed when dealing with Darwin’s theory,” Nevers told the Hammond Daily Star in April. The bill was later amended and renamed the Louisiana Science Education Act. Its final version includes a statement that the law should not be taken as promoting religion.

That way, those who wish to challenge Darwinian evolution have “plausible deniability” that this is intended to teach something unconstitutional, says Eric Rothschild of the Philadelphia-based law firm Pepper Hamilton, which represented the parents at the Dover trial. “They are better camouflaged now.” …

The Louisiana Science Education Act

WHAT THE LAW SAYS:

The state… shall allow and assist teachers, principals, and other school administrators to create and foster an environment… that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied, including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning. (Section 1B)

WHAT OPPONENTS FEAR:

Any Louisiana school official is now free to present evolution and other targeted topics as matters of debate rather than broadly accepted science. Books and other materials that support this view can be used in class alongside standard science texts. The onus will be on parents to spot violations of the rules on separation of church and state.

New legal threat to teaching evolution in the US - opinion - 09 July 2008 - New Scientist

PS- The notion that Jindal will be VP is crazy. He’s less experienced than Obama and he’d cost McCain the racist vote.

Who’s the brightest star of all? - space - 15 July 2008 - New Scientist Space

That is close to the output of Eta Carinae, the current record holder, which shines with the light of about 4.7 million Suns.

Who’s the brightest star of all? - space - 15 July 2008 - New Scientist Space

The Evil Dead

I’m ready to fly to North Carolina to piss on the grave of Jesse Helms. I’ll have my dancing shoes on.

Jesse Helms was evil, vile and hateful. Full of hate and ugly rage. You won’t have to search far for endless examples of what an ugly man he was. What’s more amazing are the paeans and elegies you’ll find for him. As if, there was something redeeming in the unredeemable beast. At least, George Wallace showed some regret. Helms was wicked to the end.

Helms wasn’t “just another southern bigot” — a dismissal that rightly chafes decent Southerners while ignoring bigots everywhere else. Senator No was a fucking HERO to the Republican Party. (He saved Raygun’s career.) Helms represented those angry white males who fled the Democratic Party rather than accept that all people are equal before the law. Good riddance to them and to him. See you in Hell, you monster. I just hope I have a particularly rusty pitchfork in hand. mjh

The Turd in Our Fishbowl

Jason Daskalos — Daskaloser — is on the front page of the Albuquerque Journal again. Ooh, I hate seeing his smug mug. (Curiously, at 11am, that article is not anywhere on the website. I’ll link if it ever turns up.)

This time, Daskaloser was stopped by a cop while weaving down the road in a black humvee. (Of course, he’s practically a caricature of the rich-as-leeches.) Drunk? Drugs? Blow-job? Daskalos admits he was driving while talking on his cell phone (oh! was it the new iPhone?!!). This is a crime in Albuquerque, though the Journal doesn’t mention that. Instead of that crime, he was written up for “failure to maintain a lane.” You might think: BFD, but Daskalos is hell-on-wheels and destined to kill someone. (Only himself, one can hope.)

This ticket should be enough to get Daskalos thrown in jail based on a judge’s ruling earlier. JD’s not worried. The cop who wrote this up dated the ticket “11/7/08.” Daskalos attorney says the wrong date invalidates the ticket. Perhaps the cop is recently from Europe or, more likely, the cop knows that same bit of law. (”Don’t worry, Mr Daskalos, here’s how were going to get you off this time.”)

Daskalos fancies himself a race car driver and a big fish in our little pond. He’s really a spoiled punk with way too much money and — is there a connection here? — many friends in high places. It must be his money, because Daskalos shouldn’t have a friend in the world; he should be shunned until he grows up and apologizes to the entire planet for his astonishing self-centeredness. peace, mjh

See also: Criminally Stupid (Sat 06/16/07) and
Idiot on Board (Sun 01/14/07)

Small Web

[updated 7/8/08]A friend emailed today. One of my webpages came up as one of the few results when he searched Google for a phrase no one could ever associate with either of us: “bear tranquilizers” rape. Even more curious, the link Google provided was a dead-end, perhaps related to changes in blogging software over the years. My own site-search had trouble matching the complete search string.

I found the main entry and the secondary entry that probably created the match when the two entries were merged in an archive that may no longer exist, except in Google’s memory. I re-read both of these entries (the second is a series of four to five entries) and I enjoyed them again. Perhaps, you will, too.

http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/mine/you-are-what-you-eat/
http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/mine/left-undone/

peace,
mjh

PS: Testing that Google link above turned up another of my pages for the first time. No, not this one, which should appear in search results eventually. Instead, this page was listed — and it’s still out there. The Web is the trash heap future archaeologists and comedians will mine.

PPS: CKO points out that 12 hours later, Google lists *this* entry in that search — that’s fast. See Behind the Scenes of a Google Query, By Brian Ussery, to see just how fast Google is (responding to a search, not indexing, which was quite fast).

Think Progress » FLASHBACK: Ten Years Ago, Bin Laden Demanded Barrel Of Oil Should Cost $144

Think Progress » FLASHBACK: Ten Years Ago, Bin Laden Demanded Barrel Of Oil Should Cost $144

In a 1998 interview, Osama bin Laden — the terrorist who organized 9/11 — listed as one of his many grievances against the U.S. that Americans “have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims” by purchasing oil from Persian Gulf countries at low prices. The real price of a barrel of oil should be $144, bin Laden demanded.

Ten years ago today, the price of a barrel of oil was just $11. Heading into this holiday weekend, the price of a barrel of oil rested at $144 — a thirteen-fold increase. …

Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last May, Anne Korin, the co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, reminded Congress about bin Laden’s goal:

[A]bout ten years ago, Osama bin Laden stated that his target price for oil is $144 a barrel and that the American people, who allegedly robbed the Muslim people of their oil, owe each Muslim man, woman, and child $30,000 in back payments. At the time, $144 a barrel seemed farfetched to most. […]

I would like to impress upon this Committee that $144 a barrel oil will be perceived as a victory for the Jihadist movement and a reaffirmation that the economic warfare component of its campaign against the West is a resounding success. There is no need to elaborate on the implications of such a victory in terms of loss of U.S. prestige and our ability to prevail in the Long War of the 21st century.

Indeed, ten years later, a mission accomplished for bin Laden.

Alecto Says:

---

Boooosh caved into OBL back 2 days before the Mission accomplished speech, or have we all forgot that the ONLY thing OBL wanted, was to remove the bases from Saudi Arabia. And on April 30, 2003 we announced we would do just that.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/ org/ news/ 2003/ 030430-psab01.htm

Think Progress » FLASHBACK: Ten Years Ago, Bin Laden Demanded Barrel Of Oil Should Cost $144

NewMexiKen: Worth knowing

That title is true in more than one sense. NewMexiKen notes another flaw in the “Let’s drill our way out of this hole” argument. Ask a Republican to sponsor legislation requiring all domestic production to be consumed domestically and watch him or her sputter about the Sacred Free Market (half-Santa Claus, half-Old Testament god (the one you really don’t want to piss-off)).

NewMexiKen: Worth knowing

“A record 1.6 million barrels a day in U.S. refined petroleum products were exported during the first four months of this year, up 33 percent from 1.2 million barrels a day over the same period in 2007. Shipments this February topped 1.8 million barrels a day for the first time during any month, according to final numbers from the Energy Department.” (Forbes)

Put another way, we are exporting more than twice as much oil now as we could expect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to produce when it came online in 15-20 years.

Exporting.

More than twice as much.

NewMexiKen: Worth knowing

ANWR represents a pot o’ gold for BushCo — nothing more than that. Point that out — again and again and again — along with the fact that oil companies already have many leases they aren’t drilling (I thank god, but that’s beside the point). peace, mjh

mjh’s blog — Let’s Finish Destroying What We’ve Started Before Destroying Something New

In other words, 10,000 well permits have been stockpiled by the already cash-bloated oil and gas industry. In addition, 47.5 million acres of onshore public lands are leased by oil and gas companies. Only 13 million of those acres are actually in production. …

NATHAN NEWCOMER
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, Albuquerque

A Quiet Night at Home

For us, the Fourth of July is like Halloween to fundamentalists: A night when evil is abroad, a time when seemingly decent people become devils. At the very least, a time when one realizes just how out of step one is with the broader culture.

My own dislike of the noisy Fourth is magnified by the terror it strikes in poor Lucky Dog. He cowers; he trembles; he slinks from spot to spot, finding no escape. I have held him shaking, his heart pounding; it is hell for him.

When I was a kid, I loved fireworks, of course. I had little interest in snakes and sparklers: I liked flying things, like helicopters and rockets or the spinners one nailed to a tree. I recall wheedling my father into buying a huge assortment of fireworks for an outlandish price. As I got a little older, I bought my own fireworks. There was an afternoon I methodically studied the effect on various objects of single firecrackers extracted from the long chains favored by the Chinese. As you would expect, the effect was delightfully destructive — and in the name of science, yet. I had no sympathy for the neighbor who called to complain and threatened to call the police. Old fart.

But I grew up. While I haven’t put away all childish things, I have turned my back on the destroyers and those who love loudness. I sit here, all the doors and windows closed, the stereo up, the swamper rattling futilely overhead as it sucks in sulfurous smoke, wishing to drown out the noise that so delights others.

A year ago, after a very long period filled with extremely loud, explosive rockets that flew directly over our house, littering our yard, I stormed out into the street and charged my neighbors in a rage, a human Roman candle. For days now, I’ve wondered what to do, where to go, how to escape. Is there anyplace people don’t go mad over pyrotechnics? Dare I take Lucky to the woods or the wilderness. What if there is a passel of patriots where we end up? (I’ve had many camping experiences ruined by gun nuts delighting in noise and destruction. And those were regular days, not even the Day of National Ejaculation.)

The way we celebrate the Fourth is the epitome of Americanism: Short-lived, loud, flashy, expensive, destructive. Underlying it all, the smug certainty that we Americans live in the Shining City Upon the Hill, the Greatest Nation on Earth and of All Time. Add in an aggressive indifference to anyone who doesn’t like the way we do things — We’re Number One, Screw You!

Still, we’re not the only nationalists and chauvinists; it’s as natural to our species as murder. Years ago, in a beautiful campground in Canada, we were awakened by booming music thumping from a stereo as some local began his drunken celebration of Canada Day at 6am. There are loud idiots everywhere. Today is one of their high holy days. peace, mjh

PS: The clearly illegal rocket racket — Operation Slackened Jaw — lasted almost until midnight. The streets and park are littered with debris.

KOB.com - Dozens cited for illegal fireworks

Fire officials show off fireworks confiscated in the past three days

In the last three days, Albuquerque police and fire marshals say they have given out more tickets for illegal fireworks than all five days of enforcement last year.

Since Tuesday, 69 tickets have been written. Additionally, they have confiscated a large amount of fireworks, some of which officials liken more to small explosives.

Fire marshals said they are planning a massive enforcement operation on the night of Independence Day to keep everything safe and legal. They say it will be no small task.

“It appears to be much busier and we anticipate with the fourth being on a Friday night, that it’s gonna be real busy,” an official said.

Firefighters say if you are lighting off your own fireworks, keep it safe and legal.

“If you’re gonna do fireworks, please just do the ones that are sold in the city and not any of the arials or anything because its fun for a while but the whole department is gonna be out tonight,” an official said.

If you are caught with illegal fireworks, you could face a $500 fine and 90 days in jail. If authorities see you launching one, it is punishable with a second ticket of $1000 and up to six months in jail.

KOB.com - Dozens cited for illegal fireworks

How Atheists Grieve

Updated 7/4/08: We got Miss Kitty from the Humane Society 18 years ago. The choice was made easy when she stood on her hind legs to place a paw on each side of my face. Perhaps she was hunting my goattee, but it seemed an affection gesture. Kitty and I both sneezed on the drive home. Years passed before I discovered I am allergic to cats. When I asked the allergist what I could do, he said, “get rid of your cats.” I replied, “Time will take care of that.”

A year and a day has passed since our sweet Miss Kitty died. Her photo appears on my screen frequently. Like most of us, she deserved a better end. peace, mjh

Atheists grieve with anguished sobs, like anyone else. Today, we euthanized Miss Kitty. We returned from 6 nights in Colorado to find she had deteriorated too much. (We thought she might die while we were gone. Our cat-sitting friend and neighbors did the best they could for her while we were gone.) This morning, I found her asleep with her head hanging over the edge of the water dish. For the next hour, she wandered from dish to dish, thinking the next one would quench her thirst. Like Tantalus, whose eternal damnation is largely forgotten in the modern meaning of tantalizing, there was no relief for Kitty. None she could find on her own, though she looked in every dark corner for solace.

I accept we did the humane thing, but I also believe death is final and I don’t wish to hasten it. (And, yet, I am an omnivore. I thrive on the death of others.) There is no heaven and we will never see Kitty again, except on the screensaver. It is terrible to let her go; it is misery to lend a hand, no matter how humane. Now Daedalus pushes Tantalus from my thoughts.

One experience is shared by all: death. Grief is a measure of our capacity to love — they are inseparable. mjh

Green Fire

I love her
and I know
she loves me
though we are
so different
gazing in her eyes
I see the green fire
and believe
she can see it
in mine. mjh

See Merri’s eulogy for Kitty:
Merri’s Dance and Music eNews » Kitty the Cat 1988-2007
http://merridancing.com/wp/2007/07/kitty-the-cat-1988-2007/

[Originally Published on: Tue 07/03/07 at 5:50 pm.]

The 2nd Biggest Asshole in America?

The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME

Speaking to National Right to Life in Virginia, the top GOP strategist says:

“This is a man who stands up and says he is going to bring Republicans and Democrats together….How can you claim to do that if you are at the same time supporting the divisive practice of using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion?”

Obama team: “Senator Obama is running for president to bring the country together and end the type of divisive politics perfected by Karl Rove.”

The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME

Think Progress

Think Progress is a frequently updated accounting of the American political scene. Take your meds before you read it. peace, mjh

Think Progress » American Spectator: Obama would lead to ‘fascism’ in America.

In a recent American Spectator article, former Reagan White House political director and QubeTV founder Jeffery Lord gives his vision of what “America would look like in an age of Obama.” According to Lord, “The word is fascism“:

What freedoms will next be targeted with that deadliest trademark of an Obamalander — moral superiority? What do we have when the sole purpose of the government as run by the chilling principles of Obamaland is to “use the political process” to remove freedoms large and small one by one by one?

Someone needs to speak it plainly.

The word is fascism.

Lord isn’t the first conservative to make such wild claims. Last month, former Newt Gingrich aide Tony Blankley wrote in the Washington Times that Obama might be a “dictator” in waiting. (HT: Andrew Sullivan)

Think Progress » American Spectator: Obama would lead to ‘fascism’ in America.

Think Progress » WSJ Editorial Page Ludicrously Claims That Obama Is Running For ‘George Bush’s Third Term’

In an editorial this morning, the Wall Street Journal stretches the limits of credibility and audaciously claims that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is the candidate running for “George Bush’s third term.”

Think Progress » WSJ Editorial Page Ludicrously Claims That Obama Is Running For ‘George Bush’s Third Term’