ouch

I read footnotes 20 and 21 here and my heart breaks a million times in a row.

"amazing"

I've seen this in a few places, and it seems worth repeating here.

KABUL, Afghanistan — American and NATO troops firing from passing convoys and military checkpoints have killed 30 Afghans and wounded 80 others since last summer, but in no instance did the victims prove to be a danger to troops, according to military officials in Kabul.

“We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat,” said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

Later in the article:

The persistence of deadly convoy and checkpoint shootings has led to growing resentment among Afghans fearful of Western troops and angry at what they see as the impunity with which the troops operate — a friction that has turned villages firmly against the occupation.

They hate us for our freedom! turns out to be correct — our freedom to kill them with impunity. Sorry, "what they see as" our freedom to kill them with impunity.

Donkeys

Any poor souls still suffering under the delusion that government represents the interests of the people really ought to read this story. The whole thing is about how Nancy Pelosi is "twisting arms" to ensure that enough democrats vote in favor of Obama's stupid healthcare reform bill. Enough representatives must do the "heavy lifting" to ensure that the Democrats win the "argument between Democrats and their own constituents."

The contempt these people have for democracy is obvious.

For an example of the criteria she uses to decide who will be "given absolution to vote no," Pelosi won't "grant a pass" to Representatives whose "districts have smaller black populations," because black votes are "traditionally reliable," so their Representatives can afford to support the bill. Because once you know votes are reliable, YOU DON'T HAVE TO EARN THEM BY ACTING IN THE INTERESTS OF PEOPLE WHO CAST THOSE VOTES. This is what Democrats do. Stop voting for them, you fucking idiots!

almost certainly all I'll say about the NCAA tournament this year

So I've been trying to cut down on how much attention I pay to sports. Its been gradually dropping over the last few years, and is probably down to "not very much" from a high of "a whole fucking lot." But I still check in at ESPN.com every once in a while, more out of inertia and temporary boredom than actual interest. Today I stopped by and this was the front page:



Breaking news! His Majesty hath spoken! Jesus fucking Christ. Needless to say I closed the page and resolved not to go back for a long time.

Coincidentally, last night I read a passage from Understanding Power where Chomsky says some smart things about non-participatory sports. This blogger has excerpted the highlights.

let's not talk about it

March 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama probably would veto legislation authorizing the next budget for U.S. intelligence agencies if it calls for a new investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, an administration official said.

A proposed probe by the intelligence agencies’ inspector general “would undermine public confidence” in an FBI probe of the attacks “and unfairly cast doubt on its conclusions,” Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

Scrutiny of government activities would make the government look bad, so Obama would prevent scrutiny of government activities. Sounds about right!

fish and future

Students in my animal behavior lab class this semester are doing some experiments using fish, so I've been trying to keep 120 guppies alive for them. They all lived 3 days on my watch, but today I found 4 dead ones. They were all the same kind of fish, and the others of that type are looking pretty unhealthy, so I'm betting I'll lose more over the weekend. The deaths are frustrating, but aside from that, I'm finding fish-keeping to be a surprisingly enjoyable endeavor. There's something soothing about sitting and watching them swim around, listening to the water run through the filter.

In other news, I received word that I will be accepted to the Psychology PhD program at the University of Guelph, to work with this guy, so that instantly becomes my leading option for next year. There's really only one competitor, and I'm still waiting to hear from them.