Progresso - it's not just a soup

OK, I just cleared books off the comfy chair in the library (which looks like a bookstore explosion - books scattered everywhere in addition to ranged on shelves), sat down, and read the first chapter of Mark out loud in Italian.

I am sure there were numerous errors of pronunciation but I'm guessing 80% was correct enough. I had my new dictionary at hand but did not bother opening it. The text is too familiar not to know what is being said. Verb forms, prepositional phrases, and fine-tuning of vocabulary will come later, but it was a pleasant exercise. I shall let that suffice for self-assigned "homework" today.

The lavender is another shot from this evening (and because I believe you can never have too much lavender). In the yard are French, Spanish, and English lavender. Several new little plants of French lavender were put in along the south border this year. They are still quite small but that is how the lovely bush in the photo above began. I trust that in three years there will be masses of it.

It may be my favorite thing to water on a warm day because a moist scent of lavender rises in the air to refresh body and spirit. It is always gentle, never overwhelming. Ahhhhhhhh. This is true even watering just the greenery, before blossoms appear.

Sweet dreams, chipmunks.

--the BB

Lordy, I tire of bringing updates; I do.

If you're looking for charity, don't come here. I've had it with people in power who lack decency, morals, or a lick of common sense and I'm in no mood for nicey nice.
It would seem that Senator John Warner no longer has the sense God gave a goose, as my mother would have said. He actually asserted on the Senate floor today that because the telcoms volunteered they should be granted immunity. Let me get this clear. If I volunteer to break the law, then I should be granted immunity for breaking the law.

On what planet does that make sense? Would someone please send him there, because he isn't being helpful on this one.

Kagro X writes about it here.
We have a Justice of the United States Supreme Court getting all soft on torture. Yes, Nino Ratf**k Scalia is out there saying things like this:

SCALIA: Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to find out where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited under the Constitution? Because smacking someone in the face would violate the 8th amendment in a prison context. You can’t go around smacking people about. Is it obvious that what can’t be done for punishment can’t be done to exact information that is crucial to this society? It’s not at all an easy question, to tell you the truth...

[Emphasis mine]
Torture not an easy question? Let me help you, s**t-for-brains: Torture is not acceptable EVER. End of discussion. Would you please go duck hunting with Dick Cheney. Maybe he can "pepper" some sense into you.

Smintheus writes about the disgusting slimeball here.

Mcjoan shares a statement from Speaker Pelosi that points out we are NOT in crisis mode over FISA legislation (no matter how much Pres. Pissypants stamps his feet):

All Members of Congress fully understand and support our responsibility to protect the American people and the need for the President, the Congress, and policymakers to have the best possible intelligence to fight terrorism.

On Friday, a surveillance law insisted upon by the President last August will expire. Today, an overwhelming majority of House Democrats voted to extend that law for three weeks so that agreement could be reached with the Senate on a better version of that law. The President and House Republicans refused to support the extension and therefore will bear the responsibility should any adverse national consequences result.

However, even if the Protect America Act expires later this week, the American people can be confident that our country remains safe and strong. Every order entered under the law can remain in effect for 12 months from the date it was issued.

Furthermore, the underlying Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which provides for the surveillance of terrorists and provides that in emergencies surveillance can begin without warrant, remains intact and available to our intelligence agencies. Unlike last August, the FISA court has no backlog of cases, and thus can issue necessary court orders for surveillance immediately.

Want to pressure some Blue Dog Dems? Mcjoan has the contact info here.


Kagro X discusses the issue of criminal contempt of Congress here. As Kagro X discusses, Rahm Emmanuel's point about the risk of an adverse court decision is real but certainly no greater a risk than doing nothing.

Here, it might be time to borrow a page from the White House playbook, and pursue a "flood the zone" strategy. When the White House has multiple outrages to perpetrate (as is so often the case), it does so in overwhelming waves, with no mind paid to pacing or any insistence on decent intervals in between. Indeed, the strategy seems to be to flood the public, the media, and the Democratic opposition with everything it can throw at them, all at once. And each time they've done it, the national media have been for the most part unable (or uninterested) in keeping up. Light five fires at once, and four go relatively unnoticed.

So perhaps it's time to bring out all the grievances against the executive now roiling beneath the surface inside the Congress. Why not deal with contempt at the same time as we (hopefully) fight on FISA? And why not encourage the Senate to add its pending contempt votes to the pile as well? And why not get down to issuing subpoenas aimed at the "administration's" stonewalling on questions surrounding the missing e-mails? The destruction of the torture tapes? The withholding of key documents and testimony by the Department of Education? By NASA? In fact, by virtually every department of the executive branch that's been asked to comply with Congressional oversight over the past several years?

If George W. Bush's judiciary is ready to validate all of this, perhaps that's something the public would like to know, heading into the next election. Let's get at least some of this -- the most egregious parts, anyway -- out on the table.

Let's face it, something's got to be on that table.

Bonddad simply says (with reference to the Fourth Amendment): "To Congress: You Suck."
Clammyc has a message for Senator Schumer:

Allowing for retroactive immunity in a FISA bill that had no business even being brought to the floor is not progressive. Folding to Mister Bush on Iraq over and over and over when the vast majority of the country is on your side is not progressive. Sending a big "F-You" to MoveOn.org on the Senate floor is not progressive. Allowing extremist appointment after extremist appointment by Bush is not progressive. Caving to an unpopular President and an even less popular Congressional minority is not progressive. Allowing non-progressives to continuously set the tone of the debate is not progressive.

John Aravosis says this:

The surveillance law is so important that they're trying to kill it, in order to prove how important it really is. Now who doesn't care about catching Osama? Then again, these are the same people who haven't caught Osama in 7 years, and don't really seem all that interested in doing so.

John also talks about some anti-torture legislation:

Today, McCain voted with those opposing the Intelligence bill because it uses the Army Field Manual (something he used to support) to effectively outlaw torture (something he used to oppose). In the end, McCain lost and we won. The Senate passed the bill (vote count here) making the Army Field Manual the law of the land for the entire US government.

Emptywheel notes that "Conyers has gotten cranky." About time, say I.


Well, that's enough bitchin' for tonight. I try to keep y'all abreast of some things I think matter to us, big time, whether we pay attention to them or not.

Sleep well and get your strength up. We have lots of politicians to whack upside the head tomorrow. And the day after.
--the BB