Today marks the official close of the New York State Golden Snowball competition, where Syracuse, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Binghamton vie to see who got the most snow during the past season. As usual, Syracuse takes home the trophy with 149.6 inches (nearly four feet ahead of second place Rochester). Not that we’re necessarily done with snow for the year, of course.
President Obama gets a crack at appointing a Supreme Court Justice, with word that David Souter will be stepping down at the end of the current term. I’d much rather see Fat Tony or Clarence the Clown retire first, but those asses will probably outlive me. Still, it’ll be interesting to see who Obama appoints (I’m personally rooting for Angela Davis; she’s not a lawyer, but so what?), and how much of a hassle the Republicans give him. Anybody wanna bet against the filibuster becoming an acceptable practice regarding judicial appointments again?
As part of the new NYS budget, the excise tax on wine is going up by 30 cents a gallon today, meaning a box of Granny’s favorite wine will jump by 40 cents or so. The excise tax on beer will also increase by 3 cents a gallon (as if it wasn’t already too damn expensive).
Back to regular work today, after four days of training. Too bad, I was kind of getting used to going in an hour later and actually taking an hour for lunch. Seems a shame to go in for one day; by the time I water my plants and sort through my e-mail, it’ll be time to go home again.
May Day! Workers Unite!
Watch out where the huskies go,
And don’t you eat that golden snow.
RIP FZ (sorta)
As the secrets about the CIA’s interrogation techniques continue to come out, there’s new information about the frequency and severity of their use, contradicting an 2007 ABC News report, and a new focus on two private contractors who were apparently directing the brutal sessions that President Obama calls torture.
According to current and former government officials, the CIA’s secret waterboarding program was designed and assured to be safe by two well-paid psychologists now working out of an unmarked office building in Spokane, Washington.
Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, former military officers, together founded Mitchell Jessen and Associates.
Both men declined to speak to ABC News citing non-disclosure agreements with the CIA. But sources say Jessen and Mitchell together designed and implemented the CIA’s interrogation program.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7471217&page=1
There’s video, but I can’t find the embed code.
The real swine (sorry piggies) talk about swine flu:
Congressman Boner asks, “Do you feel?”
More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/religion.torture/
If evangelicals read the Old Testament literally, then I’m not surprised about #5. The Old Testament is replete with torture, killings, and human to human mayhem.
Support a Happy Ending for Women
Great quote, FK of the ?.
I just watched the film The Purple Heart, 1944, with Dana Andrews. In it the Japanese took 8 ( I think) soldiers into custody, saying that they were not POW’s because they had bombed civilians. It is partially based on a true story. The prisoners were tortured (horrifying Americans) and eventually went to their deaths without revealing secrets.
Then came Cheney Inc. to demonstrate walking backwards. Very sad.