For want of a scapegoat

What's so wrong about torture?
Simple: it presumes guilt.

Almost universally on this planet (and increasingly since the 20th century), two ideas are central to the notion of Justice: 1) the presumption of innocence until proof of guilt, and 2) the right of the accused to a robust defense. Can you imagine a trial without those assumptions? What a joke! Can you imagine being on trial without those assumptions? What a nightmare. Kafka, anyone?

In a normal world, my country would sanction, or possibly even organize international action against a country which operated its justice system like this. In Bushcheney's post-Raygun Amerika, we join them.

By definition, the victims of torture are not yet guilty: people are tortured to get information that would allow others to prevent illegal acts from being planned or executed. There is no trial, no opportunity for defense; guilt is presumed, and the victim is immediately punished for either Presumed Guilt By Association or Presumed Thoughtcrime. Torture after a trial would be considered "cruel and unusual punishment." Doesn't that say enough, by itself? Hello?

Fear is the mind-killer. Fear of ill-defined "terror scenarios" made many of us inclined to allow "whatever's necessary" to prevent said ill-defined scenarios. For want of a scapegoat, the Constitution was lost.

I can't imagine why anyone would want anyone else to be so afraid that they would allow such mistreatment of other humans, or such distortion of Justice, but apparently some people think they have their reasons.

I can't imagine how anyone, given the order to waterboard, could do so knowing that the victim was never given the presumption of innocence, or a robust defense. This blows my mind.

But in the face of colorfully-described but poorly-defined terror scenarios, we ran like children to the neighborhood bully* for protection. And now he's come for us.

We are all innocent until proven guilty. This is as fundamental to this planet's idea of Justice as is the right to a defense (which is also, incidentally, abrogated in the case of torture). Justice demands this presumption. Justice requires it.

I can't believe we're still talking about this. Why is this concept so difficult to grasp? Why did your congressman and senators support this crap? Why did mine? I keep asking, and still keep getting unsatisfactory answers. Rep. Baird, YOU WILL BE FIRED for this. Pack up your shit; you're going home.


On this day in 1864, George Washington Carver is believed to have been born. Thanks for the peanut butter!
In 1895, Buckminster Fuller and Oscar Hammerstein II were born.

The following two are apocryphal; I cannot confirm their validity. I found them in the Fortean Times.
In 1738, a strange creature was fished from the water around Exeter. It resembled a man about four foot tall, 'with a Genital Member of considerable Size - with Fins at his thighs, and larger ones like Wings - at his shoulders - and two spout holes behind his eyes.' And in 1978, a garage in Galax, Virginia, was bombarded by nails of various sizes for the third day running. Many were observed flying from the front and back doors, sometimes from both at once. Mechanics collected almost 400. The police were completely baffled.


*They f*cking redacted their own biographies!?!?! It's significant that they didn't just edit them- no, they had to leave the blacked-out parts there so we would know that there are things we're not allowed to know.

Bawm that thorn!

7-11 day! Most 7-11s offer free 7.11 oz smoothies today. It’s Bawming the Thorn Day in Appleton, Cheshire, England. It's the Feast of St. Olga in Russia. In 1656, Ann Austin and Mary Fisher became the first Quakers to come to North America, and were promptly arrested, to be deported to Barbados five weeks later. Let freedom ring!

In 1881 George, Prince of Wales (later King George V), as a 16-year-old naval cadet on HMS Bacchante off the Australian coast, wrote in his log book: "At 4 a.m. the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars, and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow, where also the officer of the watch from the bridge clearly saw her, as did the quarterdeck midshipman, who was sent forward at once to the forecastle; but on arriving there was no vestige nor any sign whatever of any material ship was to be seen either near or right away to the horizon, the night being clear and the sea calm. Thirteen persons altogether saw her...At 10.45 a.m. the ordinary seaman who had this morning reported the Flying Dutchman fell from the foretopmast crosstrees on to the topgallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms." In 1975, Chinese archaeologists began to excavate a large burial site with 6,000 individualized terra cotta statues of warriors. The site had been discovered by local farmers the previous year. It's now believed that the site is over 3 acres in size, and probably contains more than 8,000 distinctly individual sculptures of warriors, their weapons, horses, chariots, commanders, and associated personnel. In 1995, Srebrenica –a UN-declared safe zone-- fell to the Bosnian Serbs. As many as eight thousand people disappeared; witnesses reported tremendous brutality, including mass executions.

pending a bending

A judge ruled that Google subsidiary YouTube must provide Viacom, which is suing over copyright claims, with details of the viewing habits of everyone who has logged in and watched a video. Is that OK with you? It's not with me. Anthropology be damned: we document too much of our lives already. Leave a puzzle or two for the future already. Geez.

Lots of UFOs over the UK lately. Someone else noticed, too.

Psychologist Himanshu Tyagi claimed that children raised to use online social networking sites will "put less value on their real world identities" and may be in danger of "impulsive behavior or even suicide." Almost exactly what I've been saying about them, myself: that they denigrate the idea and nature of friendship. When 'relationships' begin and end with the click of a mouse button, they're probably not very fulfilling or rewarding.

What's Karl Rove up to these days?

Why, you may wonder, am I not all bent out of shape over Bushcheney's wiretapping plan? Because I've presumed that the USGov't has been listening in on our phone calls and mining our data since Reagan was in office. Why haven't you? What possible reality-based reason could you have, for trusting our government? Pray tell.

This attitude of mine does leave me wondering, though: how naive do our senators think we are? I appreciate the work of people like Senator Levin, but really- isn't this like offering an aspirin for a broken hot water heater or something? I mean- nice gesture, but ...how/what is this supposed to help?

Today is the Melon Holiday (Turkmenistan). Muskmelon for everyone!
On this day in 1040 CE, in an early precursor to Melon Day, Lady Godiva rode bare naked, sidesaddle one would hope, to force her husband Leofric, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes. Some say she did it on a dare from ol' Leofric, irrelevant of the tax issue.
In 1509, John Calvin was born. History began to slow down, and eventually reversed itself entirely as Calvin's ideas became religious doctrine.

No, really.

In 1856, Nikola Tesla was born. A truly amazing intellect.
In 1850, Millard Fillmore assumed the Presidency, after Zachary Taylor’s death.
In 1895, Carl Orff was born.

Somebody's gettin' sloppy. Simple exhaustion, or has the preponderance of lies finally destroyed their ability to communicate?

Bristly insects

I went to the Antir-West War (SCA) over the weekend. These guys in the picture were my good neighbors. They were quiet, didn't block the road (or the entrance to my tent, ahem) with their tents, and didn't make any pretense of being friendly when I tried to be friendly, myself. They also didn't snore, have sleep apnea, or vomit in full view of my front door. Like I said, they were the good neighbors. I'd have been more careful about where I put my tent, but I was among the first people on site. I thought I'd end up in the suburbs, but it turned out to be the projects.

Eh, I had fun anyway! It was my second event in An Tir; my second SCA event ever at which I knew exactly no one. I half-expected to see a familiar face or two (Avery, Alyx, Idanthrysus, maybe Cire or Elizabeth...?), but no dice. All told, this made for a very different experience of the SCA. Hard to put my finger on it exactly, but I like it. 'Tis da bomb. Look for me on merchants' row from now on: that's where the fun is.

Unfortunately, being away for the 4th meant that I missed some really interesting anniversaries:
July 4th saw the birth of Stephen Foster (1826) and Louis Armstrong (1900), as well as the retirement from Baseball of the great Lou Gehrig (1939, my number-one hero).
Also, in 1845, Henry David Thoreau took up residence at Walden Pond.
And in 1862, the Rev. Charles Dodgson told a little story to some young friends while on a boating excursion- a little story which would later be known as Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.
And in 1946, the Republic of the Philippines achieved independence from the United States (though our forces still occupy the country in spite of their constitution's strict doctrine forbidding foreign forces on their soil. Go figure).

On July 6 1855, Andrew Crosse, electrical experimenter, died. He is remembered for at least one experiment in which dissolved flint and potassium carbonate were subjected to an electrical charge, which apparently resulted in the birth of “bristly insects.” Amazing, and a little frightening.

Now on to today: it's Percy Grainger's birthday, so if you see him, wish him well. Raffi, Anjelica Huston, and Kevin Bacon also celebrate their birthdays today.

And for one second, it was 1234567890 (12:34:56 on 7/8/90).

Many, many projects underway in goatland...