Archive - Jun 2008

Months ago, I watched PBS's Frontline series called "Bush's War." I meant to put up a well thought-out post, discussing the insanity of the last 7 years since 9/11 when the Bush Administration and Congress began wetting the bed each night due to fears of terrorists.

This series offers many insights into the war and how the Bush Administration made the worst foreign policy decisions in the history of this country. And I might note that this never should have happened - the Republican Congress, aided by Democrats, refused to honor the Constitution and simply allowed BushCo to do whatever they wanted sans oversight.

You can watch the entire series online - and more. Please do. The first amendment is meaningless if citizens refuse to educate themselves and take advantage of these investigations.

A final note - the same people who have steadfastly refuse to admit that anything was going wrong in Iraq are now telling us that everything is better. It isn't. And Afghanistan is heating up. Just because Iraq is no longer on the nightly news does not mean we can now ignore it.

The next administration had better investigate the hell out of Bush and friends.

The explosion was more of a CRACK than a BOOM or even the KABLOOMY I hoped for. It was actually a stunning experience. Missed what this is about? Read about it here.

I put my smokestack demolition photos on flickr and in my gallery.

And finally, the smoke drifted over downtown St. Paul.

Update:The best video I've seen thus far is from the Strib which shows just how slow it goes down.

Also, a video from the explosion...

Photos from visiting the Klinks in Texas. With captions!

I allowed KARE11 - the local NBC affiliate to use a photo I took of Macalester's golf coach for a story about her competing in the LPGA Tour this weekend.

Watch for the Sport Shot Photo credit.

God, I am pumped to see this movie. Also, Will Smith is awesome. But maybe not that quick? Does Stephen stump him at the end? He looks damn confused, not sure if he is acting or not. Don't think he was...

Historically, laws relating to things like obscenity have skirted first amendment concerns by using "community standards" to decide when something is beyond the pale and receives less legal protection.

But how does one know what community standards are? Is it what people confess to or what they really do when they think no one is watching? Well, Google is ALWAYS watching - if you are someone like me who has traded privacy for the stunning array of services that google offers.

So, can a court use a community's search history to decide what community standards are?

I hope so - because the community standards are traditionally defined by what people would admit to in church, not what they really do. If people really admitted to what they do in private, you would know that outrage against things like pornography is largely theatre.

Too long without posting photos. This is from a batch that is nearly ready for posting online - my trip to Texas where I visited the Klinks. I'm nearly done adding captions and will publish them in a few days.

I just read about a local bike shop / coffee shop / bike art gallery in Minneapolis called One on One Bicycle Studio. I guess they have new and used bikes. I'm gonna have to stop by over there to see what it is like. Sounds interesting!

Wanna see something big go boom? I do! Saturday morning, June 28, a smoke stack near the High Bridge in St. Paul will be imploded at 7:30 AM. I read about it first on MPR.

The bigger story is that Xcel Energy has been converting a coal plant to natural gas, which will result in fewer emissions and make St. Paul a better place to live, even if the electricity is a tad more expensive. It is still insanely cheap relative to its utility!

Fareed Zakaria explains why Islamic terrorists have literally killed their own support.

The Simon Fraser study notes that the decline in terrorism appears to be caused by many factors, among them successful counterterrorism operations in dozens of countries and infighting among terror groups. But the most significant, in the study's view, is the "extraordinary drop in support for Islamist terror organizations in the Muslim world over the past five years." These are largely self-inflicted wounds. The more people are exposed to the jihadists' tactics and world view, the less they support them.

The situation is an obvious result to the trend of terrorism. These people ultimately offer no vision for the future and cannot succeed in the long term. Another reason the overreaction of Bush and the roll-over and play-dead Congress is really really bad.