Outlined

Crack in the Earth

Aztec Mother

Hope

Let's hope it's not dashed...

Galaxies #20,000

Night Ocean

City Swirl

I'm back with a great new job and after a summer of gardening. I've been creating, just not posting.

Here's an example...

He's Terrified of Something Not Even There

Hayes Wicker of Naples, Florida.

Where I Want To Be

Hope

"I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out."

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Torture: Still Wrong No Matter What John Yoo Says!

Yesterday, one of the torture memos written by John Yoo of the U.S. Justice* Department was declassified and released. It uses reprehensible language and misreasoning to justify torture. For example, mistreatment of prisoners is justified by some weird form of proactive self-defense where harming an Al-Qaeda member was being done to prevent attacks to the U.S.

So, just forget about 'innocent until proven guilty'! That's as quaint a notion as the Geneva Convention!

The memo also renames torture as "...to harm an enemy combatant during an interrogation in a manner that might arguably violate a criminal prohibition..."

So, that's all right then! Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

It's hard to pick out the worst bit, although this one comes close:

"Whether conduct is conscience-shocking turns in part on whether it is without any justification," Yoo wrote, explaining, for example, that it would have to be inspired by malice or sadism before it could be prosecuted.

So, according to Yoo, as long as the torturer is nonplussed and/or doesn't enjoy it, he or she can do whatever they want. D'ya think there's a connection between that misreasoning and this kind of thing?




My drawing recycled from here. Torture is still unacceptable.

UPDATE: What looseheadprop says.

Eschacon '08

I spent the weekend in Philadelphia in the midst of a gathering of Atriots and I'm glad I did. They are a group of creative, intelligent and well-educated people who care deeply about our nation (well, except maybe for NTodd). They should be the ones on the Sunday morning talk shows, on the Op-Ed pages and on the 24-hour-a-day cable networks instead of the same old pundits puking out the same old neocon talking points.

Let's work to make that happen! Read them! Comment! Get involved!

Atrios
Jane Hamsher
Scott Horton
Digby
Ted Rall
Watertiger
Echidne of the Snakes
Paul Krugman
Susie Madrak
Thers
KagroX / DailyKos
Douglas K. Smith
Athenae
Will Bunch
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters
Lambert of the Mighty Corrente Building

Some photos here, although none of me, thank goodness! Sinfonian did me a favor in exchange for my doodling all over his conference ID!

(Artwork by the handsome, talented, and charming Atriot known as Walter Neff)

UPDATE: Mithras liked his doodle! Aw, shucks!

Cutout

My humble homage to Matisse.

Conduits

Blue Skies and...

What the heck are those?!?!?!?!?

Black Sheep

Riding the Frickin' T

Now that I've dealt with the Malignant Narcissist*, riding the T (public transport in Boston area), is the biggest stressor in my life. Hmmmm... What to do? What to do?


*Well, except for the inevitable retailiation, that is!

Disturbances

You know how there are some people in your life who are narcisstic and not at all nice? They do nasty stuff, then weep and whine that they are the real victims and why are you treating them so badly you are the real problem you horrible, horrible person you?

Yeah, I've got one in my life right now. Reminds me of the villian in a Sherlock Holmes episode* I saw recently who whines something like, "Don't turn me in! Please don't turn me in! I'll have to go to court! I've been branded a thief and I don't think I can bear the strain!!!!"

Boo frickin' hoo!


*Jeremy Brett version, natch!

Wreckage --- Stuck

Want to Escape

Bermuda would do it. Bermuda or Barbados or the Caymans or the Virgin Islands or...