Archive for December, 2006

I never really followed Saddam’s trial.  Frankly, it was too much to watch.  I didn’t know what I was watching either.  Was it “Iraqi Justice”, or some other extension of the US Justice system? Or even some other newly formed mechanism?  Well, Darryl sorts it out over at Horsesass.org and I think even if you are among the last remaining Bush supporters, the trial and its results are alarming.

The IST is at the root of the court’s kangarooness. The laws under which Hussein was tried were, largely, a U.S. concoction that fails standards of international law, Iraqi law, and even U.S. law.

You may recall an awkward period following the capture of Hussein when the Coalition had no idea what to do with their prized prisoner. Would there be an international tribunal in The Hague (a la Bosnia)? Would there be an Iraqi tribunal with assistance of the International Criminal Court (a la Rwanda)?

In fact, neither of these happened. The Coalition (i.e. the U.S.) could not accept oversight by an international court for a number of political reasons, like the fact that the Bush administration had been openly hostile to and attempted to undermine the ICC, and eventually withdrew from the treaty. Perhaps the most important political consideration, though, was that any oversight by the ICC would exclude the death penalty for Saddam Hussein. That was “unacceptable to the Iraqi people,” as the Bush administration told us. But more importantly it was unacceptable to the Bush administration.

If you feel like I do, you probably feel a bit uncertain and annoyed that you weren’t paying more attention.  And your probably not feeling sorry for Saddam, but rather sorry for the process that flew in the face of the rule of law that is so vocally cherished by the Bush administration, yet rarely practiced. 

Only 14.5k Mom! 

I am really not sure how to feel about this.  Not that I care about Saddam.  He had it coming.  

Bush lied us into this war, thousands dead and wounded for this lie.  Burned, shot and blown up they were and all over, as most the people in the free world now understand, power.  I am trying to understand the difference between Saddam and George W. Bush.   

I am pretty sure they won’t let a corn fed white boy like me into the fold… but they let me in their store!!!  The store I am talking about is Fiesta Foods in Pasco and it is fantastic.  A quick google when I got home and I found an old PI article from 2004 from Jeff Larson.

While we were in Pasco, Lund insisted we visit Fiesta Foods, a large grocery outlet that caters mostly to the area’s Hispanic population. Not exactly a tourist destination, I thought, but I was wrong. The store’s little stone-fresh corn-tortilla factory pumps out thousands of fresh-baked tortillas a day that are packaged and put on the shelves still warm from the oven. The colorful produce selection includes more than a dozen different chili peppers, cactus leaves and tasty-looking burro baby bananas.

Larson didn’t even get to the really cool authentic cheese section, or meat department where I just bought a slab of NY Steak for $2.69 a pound.  Our local Safeway store sells ground beef for more than that.

A couple things really struck me about this place.  While Hispanic culture is very prevalent in downtown Pasco this place offers a different view of that culture in what would be considered the familiar setting of a grocery store.  It’s not the sterile Safeway type of atmosphere.  It is alive with color, sound and smell.  It exudes a sense of community and culture.  Something I wish city planners in my town would consider when courting new business.  Two blocks from my house a new Walgreens is being erected… across the street from a Rite-Aid. Every time a new Walmart or an Applebee’s is opened around here I feel the urge to pull up the steaks and make a run for it.    

If you ever get a chance to go to Fiesta, especially if you are from out of town, do so.  You will understand what I mean.  

Not much for politics right now.  You know… being the holiday’s and all.  So instead I will share.

Somewhat of a backcountry hike….

Nice powder shot…

One is legal and taxed…

Or whatever you wish to celebrate… just have a good one!

[Image courtesy of the Seattle PI via my Mother]

I stole that title from an editor’s post in Skiing Magazine.  But I am.  I can’t help it.  The image in this post is a parody of those infamous motivational posters.  It is one of my favorites but it does come with a warning.

We riders all know that some of the best stashes of powder are behind the ropes.  And we all know just how irresistible they are.  Riding the freshies for most of us, is what it’s all about.  But should you cross that line your patrol put up?  When you do, do you understand the risks?  Are you prepared for trouble?  Are you prepared to lose your lift ticket?

This year I bought a season pass at my rather small hill Bluewood.  Rarely do we see runs closed there with the exception of early season.  But there is an outstanding hike to Vintner’s Ridge where you can drop down into a semi-steep, untracked run and if the buckbrush covered near the bottom, all is good.  There is minor avalanche danger and plenty of trees to the side to run out of the danger.  I can do this hill in the worst of conditions without fear.  But the problem is, it is usually posted as closed. 

I ponder the question whether it is worth losing my season pass to take the hike this year.  Or whether I should buddy up with patrol and let them know I am hiking, that I will radio in etc… I still wonder if I risk exposing myself as a ”rope jumper” and therefore a suspect rider.

Many areas I have been to such as Bachelor or Snowbird have gates for backcountry like this where the level of responsibility is put upon the rider to have the right skill level and the right gear to survive a mishap.  This I understand and have generally been well prepared and skilled enough to manage. 

The image above doesn’t exactly illustrate my question.  What this shows is a group jumping the rope in what could be confused as not a closed or gated backcountry area, but rather a run that had been deemed by patrol to be dangerous within the ski area boundaries.  As much as I love this poster, I think that could use some clarification.  If you are a rope jumper like me, I am sure you understand.  When you look down the slope and see a semi-hidden stump or a steep slope with a severe potential for avalanch you always think twice.  Just like hitting the backcountry, you have to know the limits.

But isn’t that just the coolest poster? 

It’s Tuesday and you know what that means.

Drinking Liberally is tonight and every Tuesday at O’Callihans at the Shilo Inn.

50 Comstock Rd. Richland

I won’t be there tonight (must shop) but some of the other regular’s should be there.

This is probably the funniest thing I have read from General JC Christian Patriot.

There could be only one explanation for OfJoshua’s pregnancy: immaculate conception. It was a miracle. OfJoshua was chosen by God to be the vessel for our Lord Jesus’ second coming.

We were ecstatic. I immediately reached for my CB radio so that I could begin witnessing Our Savior’s imminent return. But before I uttered my second “breaker” into the microphone, the Holy Ghost intervened, filling my thoughts with visions of Klinton dressed in the robes and crown of Herrod. The Spirit was telling me that I had to guard the secret of the Second Coming to prevent Klinton from murdering our baby like he murdered Vince Foster and the entire population of Mena, Arkansas.

I asked Of Joshua if she had confided in anyone else knew. She said she’d only told Mr. Garcia, our sad neighbor man. That made sense. He’s been distraught since his divorce, so she visits him after dinner every night to cheer him up with scripture readings and old Lou Rawls albums. The news of her pregnancy probably filled him with joy.

Oh man… I love The General… in a manly heterosexual kind of way of course.

Avoiding it like a bad cold.  It’s a miserable state to let yourself get into for too long.  The tendency to become a bit jaded is almost unbearable.  But today I turned on the news only to see once again that “W” is still the same ignorant asshole he has always been despite all his promises to actually listen to new and alternative ideas in Iraq.  Clicking that link and you will notice, since I sorted by date added, the unusual amount of non-US news links.  Makes me think this latest in the long case of Bush’s ’state of denial’ of the Iraq situation is making our fellow planetary inhabitants increasingly nervous.  Maybe he is trying to hasten Armageddon in his own special way… you know… pushing that fear, fire and brimstone agenda, or pushing a certain perception or religious belief so that it becomes reality.  Kinda scary when you think of it.  One man, against the world, much less the people he purportedly represents and attempting to define reality for the rest of us…  

That was all I could bear for today. 

But our local news has been much more entertaining.  Recently, we had the Mayor of Benton City Washington tossed in the pokey for… well… being an asshole and lying to the police.  The latter part I highly recommend since it seems no matter what you are doing around these parts, so much as having a good time can become a police investigation unless there is a real crime involved.  But Benton City Mayor Brian Robinson was having a different kind of his own personal fun and was sentenced accordingly.  You know… the truth of the matter, amongst my personal bias, I don’t know if Robinson claims to be a Democrat or Republican.  I frankly don’t care.  An asshole is an asshole and we have our share in these parts.

And speaking of assholes.  Ken Harvey of the Tri-City Newspaper Blog, Tri-City Citizen believes a report from Arther C. Brooks that conservatives are more compassionate than liberals: 

Liberals frequently suggest that those of the religious right are ungodly selfish — that they are hypocrites.

However, giving away other people’s money is not the true test of charity. Some of the strongest conservatives I know are also among the most charitable with their own money. Many pay more than a full 10-percent tithe to their church-sponsored charities and then give more to the United Way, the Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army. Arthur C. Brooks, a professor of public administration and director of the Nonprofit Studies Program at Syracuse University, confirms from his years of research that conservative churchgoers are far more charitable with their own money and with their time than secular liberals. And their charity even surpasses secularists when it comes to non-religious charities.

Brooks’ research, reported in his new book, Who Really Cares: America’s Charity Divide (Basic Books, New York, N.Y., 2006), says a religious person is 57 percent more likely to help a homeless person than a secularist. And conservative households — religious or not — donate 30 percent more money to charity than liberal households, no matter their income class — poor, middle-class or rich.

Of course Ken wouldn’t go on beyond that report from the up and coming poster boy for the ever dwindling Christian Conservative base as it has been. 

I ask… It’s just a statement of your belief… Right Ken? 

What I find most disturbing, and nobody seems to be talking about, is the crisis in Darfur.  It seems for all the religious rights fervor to defend it’s charitability, they are never the ones to stand up to this administration and question our motivations in the world… when, you know…  genocide is happening. 

Christian Conservatives could do well asking those questions, giving their money to those causes as well as those ever exclusive pet charities.  It just seems to me that if the Christian Right wants to have a crusade, that would be the place to do it… you know… for something that benefits all of mankind.  And the funny thing is… many do.  It’s just not noted in Ken’s or Clark’s report.  I guess it just wouldn’t serve their purpose.

Unlike Ken, I will qualify my thoughts:  I perceive charity as an act of giving and not an opportunity to “one up” anyone.  Each year, as a liberal, I give back to my community and try my best to give something back to the world.  I don’t do it because I am a liberal, I do it because I am a member of the human race and it is the right thing to do.  There is only one study that could qualify me as a liberal or conservative in my giving and that is that of Arthur C. Brooks. 

And Ken, it’s purpose is as dubious and divisive as you are. 
 

I am easily taken away from my football woes by my complete and utter worry for my fellow adventurer’s on Mt. Hood…

Guys… Hang in there.  Please be alive.  There are a bunch of us here with aching hearts wanting you to be alive. 

We know the dangers… it is what makes us alive!

If you got a second, give them your thoughts… 

I just sat down to watch the Seahawks and guess what?!!!?  Unless you live in the Seattle area, or have Sattelite TV and a subscription to NFL TV, you don’t get the game.  I say fuck the fucking fuckers.  A big fuck you to the NFL.  Did I mention FUCK YOU!!!!  We subsidised your asses, we voted for the big fat cash cow called Quest Field, where OUR fucking Seahawks play and you want to make another buck off of us in Eastern Washington and elsewhere in the Northwest????  Fuck You!!!!!

Next time you ask for a dime of taxpayer money you better think twice about this blogger supporting a taxpayer subsidised stadium.

end rant….. you fuckers. 

Update of sorts:  Dammit I am a fool for my team.  C’mon Seahawks.  I had to watch you lose the Superbowl last year amidst a bunch of Steelers fans at Big Mountain Montana last year.  Help me!!!

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities is tonight, and every Tuesday night at O’Callahans at the Shilo.

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities
O’Callahans - Shilo Inn
50 Comstock Rd. Richland

Want to find out more about Drinking Liberally? Then check out Drinkingliberally.org.

And if you want to join the Tri-Cities Chapter of Drinking Liberally e-mail list? It is as simple as just clicking here.

According to the Seattle PI probably so. 

By many accounts, including some not self-created, bloggers are the front line of an advancing wave of independent communications. Bloggers also provide a good bit of narrow political advocacy, with rather surprising ties to specific politicians or parties.

If you haven’t had the Tri-City Citizen dumped on your door stoop, or found large stack of them at your local coffee shop and convenience store, you, well… must not live in the Tri-Cities.  And when the PI describes bloggers as those who “provide a good bit of narrow political advocacy” they are certainly describing the Citizen’s Managing Editor Ken Harvey.  And what makes this even more interesting to me is that while the Citizen is a print publication, it’s main focus is the online version.

“We don’t ever anticipate becoming daily in print,” says Harvey, “because we believe technology will soon do away with most printed publications.”

Hmm… narrow political focus; online publication… Sounds like a blog to me! 

While the PI’s editorial focus wasn’t solely on what constitutes a blog.  And was more to the focus of paid advocacy of bloggers the following has a couple of compelling statements for the Harvey and the Citizen.

There’s also a back-to-the-future aspect to the one-sided advocacy. American newspapers began as organs dedicated to serving particular political parties. Advocacy is a political right and a fundamental source of U.S. strength. But it’s not the main thrust of journalism. And in the journalism generally practiced in America, accepting pay from politicians — disclosed or not — is about as far off the map as one can go.

Now I wouldn’t think that the Citizen, purportedly a publication whose mission is to provide a balance to the Tri-Cities media, has taken money from any political organization directly (although it would be interesting to see who is making payroll).  It does give Doc Hastings free reign to publish his slant on issues of the day.  And at best Harvey’s latest undertaking is certainly an outlet for his outlandish commentary which includes everything from religion to his very own pet issue: Bringing down the Tri-City Herald.

The Herald’s staff is confused as how to respond to our challenge. They know that if the Citizen really takes root, it could cost McClatchy tens of millions of dollars. So, on the one hand, they are working harder to cover local news better than they ever have. In other cases they are using their position of power to try to bully and punish those who do not worship at their feet.

The head of a local charity to fight juvenile cancer took her story to the Herald and was rejected because the Citizen had already done a story on the subject. How can they be so petty or so bullying as to reject a juvenile cancer charity! Another community leader took his concerns to the Herald that the Columbia Park duck pond might spread the avian flu once the ducks and geese become infected. He, too, was shown the door. How in the world do they ignore a local issue that could mean death to local citizens!

Not to digress from my point here too much but here is a small bio on Harvey…

Harvey — a former college journalism instructor, an editor at the Herald and editor/publisher of several other newspapers — says the purpose of the Citizen is to balance the news coverage in the Tri-Cities. 

“The Herald likes to say it is moderate, but its biases show the chain-owned newspaper to be right in line with most newspapers in the country, 90 percent of which slant the news considerably to the left of center, according to researchers at UCLA, Dartmouth and other institutions,” Harvey says.

And another…

Harvey — president, editor and publisher — is a 30-year news and publishing veteran, previously working as an editor at the Tri-City Herald, editor of the Tri-Cities Republic, owner of the Franklin County Graphic in Connell, journalism instructor at Columbia Basin College, and Kennewick city councilman.

Pretty distinguished career huh!  So why would someone with serious journalistic credentials write something like this?

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warns that the House will be controlled now by “the San Francisco values of would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”

Pelosi is one of the most liberal members of the House, receiving a 95 percent “liberal quotient” from the Americans for Democratic Action. She voted against the Republicans’ $70 million tax cut, against renewing the Patriot Act, against reducing the estate tax, against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, against making it a crime to desecrate the U.S. flag, and against efforts to strengthen immigration laws.

Pelosi supports gay marriage and use of overseas military facilities to provide abortions for women in the military and military dependents.

Pelosi claims to be a staunch union supporter, and she received the Cesar Chavez Award from the United Farm Workers Union. And she assails the Bush administration for being “union-busting [and] family-hurting.”  And she is the top recipient among members of Congress in campaign contributions from labor unions.

That my friends, are walking, talking, neo-conservative talking points.  And a quick read of the Citizen turns these type of quotes up at nearly every turn of the page.  And given the amount of cheap advertising (I am seriously jealous by the way), it looks like the Citizen may actually have a foothold in the Mid-Columbia Market (or at least they have convinced some folks they do).  But does offering up such far right rhetoric make the Citizen a news source?  Is the PI’s ”Back to the Future” factor of one sided advocacy among “serious” journalists now in play?  Maybe, just maybe, the Tri-City Citizen… is just another blog. 

Ken, welcome to the blogosphere!  Cross your t’s and dot your i’s.  (I don’t have to… I was never a journalist)
 

It looks like we might get a report on the House Ethics Panel investigation into Mark Foley today at 11:00am PST.  Not sure who is going to pick it up.  Perhaps everyone, perhaps nobody.  I wonder if our boy Doc Hastings is going to make an appearance?  Will it be a watered down report or will somebody be smacked for willfully ignoring Mark Foley’s behavior? 

Any predictions?