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Saturday, June 14, 2003

Say, Johnny, what you dances? Is it is drôlement owl, A. Comment that called? It is Mashed Potatoes (translation courtesy of altavista) 11:40:47 PM    comment []

I don't know how to love him. What to do, how to move him. I've been changed, yes really changed. In these past few days, when I've seen myself, I seem like someone else.I don't know how to take this. I don't see why he moves me. He's a man. He's just a man. And I've had so many men before, In very many ways, He's just one more. Should I bring him down? Should I scream and shout? Should I speak of love, Let my feelings out? I never thought I'd come to this. What's it all about? Don't you think it's rather funny, I should be in this position. I'm the one who's always been So calm, so cool, no lover's fool, Running every show. He scares me so. I never thought I'd come to this. What's it all about? Yet, if he said he loved me, I'd be lost. I'd be frightened. I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope. I'd turn my head. I'd back away. I wouldn't want to know. He scares me so. I want him so. I love him so. 6:18:13 PM    comment []

Why Google Caches Are Valuable (Material Breach Birth Edition)  (How soon we forget) December 5, 2002 U.S. set to cite Iraq for breach By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES (Rev Moon's rightwing outlet)      The Bush administration is set to declare Iraq in violation of the U.N. resolution requiring Baghdad to give up weapons of mass destruction, The Washington Times has learned. ("The Washington Times has learned" - there is hope for all of us who ride the short bus!) Top Stories • CIA prepares early analysis on Iraq report • North Korean ship seized • Investment banker Donaldson named to head SEC • Ramsey links PCP to rise in homicides • Mrs. Blair regrets ties to convicted con artist      "It is going to be 'material breach,' not as a casus belli [cause for war] (you dumbfucks) but as a basis to begin hammering Unmovic to do more," said an administration official familiar with the internal debate. Unmovic, or the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, is the arms-inspection group for Iraq.      Administration officials said a material-breach declaration will depend on whether Iraq fails to mention in its U.N. report some banned weapons programs identified in U.S. intelligence reports.      Iraq's report detailing everything it possesses related to weapons of mass destruction, which is due by Sunday, is required under a U.N. Security Council resolution passed Nov. 8.      A meeting of the White House National Security Council (NSC) is scheduled for today, and the Iraqi arms declaration will be the key topic. The president will not attend the gathering of senior officials of national security agencies, known as the principals committee. (He probably has a fear of principals left over from high school detention, not to mention an amorphous fear of homonyms or any word that sounds a bit like one)      U.S. officials said the administration has been withholding detailed intelligence on hidden Iraqi arms programs from U.N. inspectors. The information deals mostly with Iraq's covert chemical and biological arms. (They also withheld them from themselves)      "We do not want to tip our hand," the official said. (Looking at two deuces)      One piece of intelligence includes details on a cache of more than 1,800 gallons of anthrax spores, the officials said. Even tiny amounts of anthrax can be lethal. Less detailed intelligence has been gathered on Iraq's efforts to build nuclear weapons, the officials said. (1,800 gallons, that couldn't possibly be an estimation or an outright lie)      The intelligence on the hidden weapons is said to be reliable and will be used to verify whether information presented by Iraq in its declaration is accurate. (Gotta run the spell-checker on it)      An Iraqi general told the Associated Press yesterday that Baghdad will hand over the list of chemical, biological and nuclear programs Saturday, a day ahead of the U.N. deadline.      Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin said the report will not disclose any banned weapons, "because, really, we have no weapons of mass destruction."      The U.S. position on how to respond to the Iraqi weapons list is being debated because of Baghdad's history of using deception to hide its arms programs, the officials said. (Those derned officials, always "saying")      A U.S. policy of material breach, however, will be a key step toward the use of military force to oust the regime of Saddam Hussein, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. (Nobody wants to be the liar who gets caught)      The issue of declaring a material breach was discussed earlier this week at the NSC principals committee meeting, which, one official said, ended in "chaos" over disagreements on how to respond to the Iraqi declaration. ("Bomb The Towelhead Assholes" was difficult to translate into diplomatic language)       The administration expects Baghdad to turn over documents related to civilian programs that could be used to make chemical or biological arms, but nothing about covert weapons programs, the officials said.      President Bush said Tuesday that "any act of delay, deception or defiance will prove that Saddam Hussein has not adopted the path of compliance and has rejected the path of peace."      State Department and Pentagon spokesmen had no comment on the internal debate. A White House National Security Council spokesman also declined to comment. (Unnamed)      Today's principals meeting will include Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who missed the first meeting because he was in South America. (That excuse never worked for me)      U.N. weapons inspectors so far have not uncovered any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs or any illegal missile-development work. (Hmmmm)      Those in the administration who want to oust Saddam favor issuing a material-breach declaration soon after Iraq presents the list. (Or just bomb the fuck outta them for no apparent reason whatsoever)      These officials include representatives of the Defense Department, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, along with Vice President Richard B. Cheney and his key national security aides. (At last - some officials with real human names!)      Officials from the State Department, including Mr. Powell and Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, oppose that view and favor slowing the timetable for military action.      These officials want to study the documents provided by Iraq and then continue U.N. arms inspections as a way to hold off military action.      Officials said Mr. Powell and Mr. Armitage are the leading opponents of using military force to oust Saddam. Both favor using the threat of force to compel Iraq to disarm, however.      According to the officials, Mr. Powell disagrees with administration officials who view Iraq, as Mr. Bush put it in an October speech, as a unique and "grave threat" to the United States.      Mr. Powell also does not share the view of Mr. Bush's senior advisers who say Saddam is likely to use weapons of mass destruction or share them with terrorists, the officials said. (Which officials?)      "Powell favors endless inspections," one official said. (simulating masturbation)      Mr. Powell is the main advocate of the argument that if Iraq gives up all its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs it would be tantamount to "regime change," even if Saddam remains in power.      Other officials say the secretary of state's position undermines efforts within the administration and among American allies for removing Saddam and setting up a democratic government in Baghdad. (not counting the Shiites) 5:24:21 PM    comment []

Bubbling Beneath The Hot 100 Celsius. Those would be some chicken thighs sitting in the Euro-Pro underneath the olive oil once used to deep fry artichokes. The paradigm of confit is to slowly and non-destructively use water to slowly cook just below the boiling point. This is a cheap experiment to see how the process works on chicken thighs. It used to be that chicken wings were the cheapest meat around, but then that Buffalo wing thing caught on. One more source of po' people food eliminated. But, in a free market economy, when the price of one thing rises another will fall. Legs and thighs can frequently be found at under 30 cents a pound! If the Euro-Pro does well by these, I'll try duck. 4:40:31 PM    comment []

Zen For Cats: Lacking a distinguishable navel, Twyla contemplates instead the kitchen towel draped over a barstool. 1:42:20 PM    comment []

Still Waiting. This is day two. I turn the pork loin over every 12 hours or so, just to say I am helping the process of curing. 1:29:52 PM    comment []

We have SARS right here in Chapel Hill. A guy from Hillsborough caught it in Canada and now three of his co-workers at UNC Hospital are showing symptoms. As usual, we're depending on the Kansas City Star to keep us abreast of developments since the local media are not reporting it. 10:18:16 AM    comment []

What does Bush love? I know he likes the flags and jets landing and statue of liberty backdrops. He likes to exercise too, and golf with his daddy, and wearing funny looking suits. Sometimes mannequinish Laura poses with him, but I wonder if he ever listens to her. I wonder if he has a pet nickname for her or if he ever sneaks up on her and pinches her on the butt. He believes in Jesus and money, but does he ever try to sing along with the Oak Ridge Boys on the stereo? Does he harbor a secret passion for either Audrey or Katherine Hepburn? Food? A self made omelet with cheese in the middle of the night, a chili dog loaded with onions? Does he ever sneak up on Dick Cheney and pinch him on the butt? I wonder if he really loves America. I know I do. Sometimes I fear I love it more than he. Update 12:41 : Listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, I just learned that he likes peanut butter sandwiches - specifically Jif peanut butter. Someone else makes them. 4:44:18 AM    comment []

Insomnia What might go wrong? What would be the worst possible outcome? Through many sleepless nights, these questions kept coming back. Powerless to stop the insane rush to war, my mind would still not stop working through the scenarios.   If this sounds overly dramatic, let me say that I am an insomniac and lose sleep even in cheerful times. There are various scenarios for these “sessions.” The worst, in terms of sleep, are sudden bursts of anger. These begin as verbal fugues. Snippets of unsolicited political conversation, spoken to me during the day, swarm in my mind until an imaginary thread of dialogue begins with one of them. Emotions escalate until I reach a breaking point and think an imaginary sentence like “Republicans have become Nazis” or something equally absurd. I’ll feel a wave of anger and instantly become wide-awake. These sessions are useless and self-destructive.   Another insomniac scenario is a precious one. It leads to sleep. Rather than words, pictures and patterns create a landscape. With a little bit of luck, these progress seamlessly into dreams. I see visual artifacts, geometric shapes in primary colors. They move in a definite universe with directions forward and back, up and down, left and right. I turn one of these directions and there is a canyon, a wide road, a bridge over a river, or any number of things from the dream world – but while consciousness, of the kind that is an awareness of where really are, remains. Eventually, consciousness slips away and sleep begins.   In between, there is the problem solver. The impetus can be a technical issue at work, a political issue, or a problem in my personal life. My mind voluntarily works through situations in a spontaneous and unstructured journey. This is what I wish were happening when the other verbal insomnia, the one with anger, occurs. But I have no control. It is as if someone else has the remote. There are three channels I watch when I try to sleep.   When the war in Iraq was forced to inevitability, like all wars, with a plastic olive branch extended to fool those like myself of a peaceful nature, I had some nights of outcome explorations in problem solving mode. I did not voice these at the time, but take me at my word – I have no reason to fabricate. As with the war itself, the inevitability of the overwhelming US victory was obvious – so what could go wrong?   For one, the premise might be flawed. Even without the red herring of imminent threat (WMDs, etc.), the moral justification was enforcement of UN resolutions. That was our white hat, so if the facts and our allies did not support it, our moral credibility would be soiled. Another flaw in the war plan was the assumption of strong opposition. This is the stuff dreams are made of for political leaders. Your enemy stands up and fights you to the death and you kill him, to wild applause. The nightmare is the rope-a-dope. You appear to roll over the enemy and he disappears like a ghost. It appears you have won, but there are lingering specters. In the night, when you try to sleep the comfortable sleep of a victor, your enemy slips up on you and slits your throat.   We have arrived in the worst of all possible scenarios. The absence of a moral imperative has been exposed. Those who questioned US judgment (France, Russia, Germany, and China) have been villianized and are unlikely to lend a helping hand. That’s bad, because we are an occupying army at this point. Our soldiers will be targets for a resistance. No matter how much as our local media calls them “terrorists,” these people did not invite us into their country. We went there by force. Had we gotten the international seal of approval for this expedition, we could ask UN or NATO troops to replace Americans, thus diffusing the rationale for retaliation.   So we have a large chunk of our overstretched military sitting in hostile territory and the sympathy of no one. That is what I imagined as the worst possible outcome, given the overwhelming weapons advantage the US had. I did not wish for this outcome, I do not endorse it, and I sincerely hope all turns out for the best. That's only natural, only human, but shit happens. Right now, we have more enemies than friends. 4:07:09 AM    comment []