Lex Libertas

She’s got a point:

In an interview on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton called Admiral Jacoby’s statement “the first confirmation, publicly, by the administration that the North Koreans have the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device that can reach the United States,” adding, “Put simply, they couldn’t do that when George Bush became president, and now they can.”*

Unfortunately, that’s very true. At the beginning, when we first found out that the North Koreans had been reneging on our deal and secretly developing nuclear weapons, it was fair to blame Clinton, Albright, and all the other appeasement lackeys. Now, however, we are into the fifth year of the Bush Administration, and absolutely nothing has been done to address the situation.

Sure, we can point out that no other country (besides Japan) seems to care either, and that they would be opposed to force of any kind. Yes, the options are all bad. But none of that erases the fact that in the second Bush administration, that tyrannical little dictator finally developed the theoretical, if not actual, capability to reach the United States with a nuclear weapon. Suck.

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This, ladies and gentlemen, is our illustrious Senate, the greatest deliberative body in the world:

While a filibuster would seem to be more taxing on the side doing the talking, that isn’t necessarily the case. The filibusterers need only one person in the Senate chamber at any one time, prattling away. The other side must make sure a quorum—a majority of all senators—is on hand, a constitutional requirement for the Senate to conduct business. If there’s no quorum after a senator has demanded a quorum call, the Senate must adjourn, giving those leading the filibuster time to go home, sleep, and delay things even more. To ensure a quorum during the rancorous civil rights filibusters [by Democrats], cots were set up in Senate anterooms, and majority senators presented themselves in bathrobes during early-morning quorum calls.*

This is nothing less than an institutionalized temper-tantrum. The requirement of a super majority to end debate should ensure that discussion does not close before everyone has had their say. It should not be used as a back door to raise the number of votes required to approve the matter at hand.

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I don’t even know where to begin on this one:

In a letter posted on its Web site the head of the white supremacist group Aryan Nations offers his thanks to radical Islamic terrorists and extends the group’s hand of friendship.
…
“I offer my most sincere best-wishes to those who wage holy Jihad against the infrastructure of the decadent, weak and Judaic-influenced societal infrastructure of the West. I send a message of thanks and well-wishes to the methods and works of groups on the Islamic front against the jew such as Al-Qaeda and Sheik Usama Bin Ladin, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and to all Jihadis worldwide who fight for the glory of the Khilafah and the downfall of the anti-life and anti-freedom System prevalent on this earth today. … I ask our Islamic fellow fighters against jewry to remember the co-operation between Mufti Haj Mohammad Amin al-Husseini and Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler during the last century and to remember that all that is of the past it is our duty to surpass!”*

Idiots, on so many levels. Maybe I shouldn’t even try to pursue this logically, but do they really think that the system set up in the aftermath of the Jihadis will be “pro-life” and “pro-freedom?” And aren’t these people supposed to be White Supremacists? How can they justify allying with Arabs? Especially against Jews, who are much more White, both in terms of color and culture, than Arabs. (Yes, even the Sephardic ones)

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I think they got this backwards:

The Army is preparing to issue a new interrogations manual that expressly bars the harsh techniques disclosed in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, and incorporates safeguards devised to prevent such misconduct at military prison camps in the future, Army officials said Wednesday.
…
Mr. Gandy said the new manual barred interrogators and other intelligence officials from posing as medics, journalists or chaplains to gain information from detainees. But they are allowed to use ruses, like falsely promising to free a captive in exchange for information, he said.*

I would contend that it’s much better to allow impersonation of medics, journalists, and chaplains, and forbid false agreements. If the detainees know that any given promise may be fake, they would not be likely to agree to any agreement. As bad as it may seem, offering deals to small fish in order to fry big fish is a time tested and honored tradition. It works, and anything that degrades its persuasiveness should be discouraged. By contrast, what real harm is done by impersonating those other people. A “chilling effect” on discussions with real medics, journalists, and chaplains? Oh well, those people probably don’t relay the information to intelligence officials anyways, so the net loss, if any, would be minimal.

Strays run rampant in the district where I live. I never noticed it before because I lived in the center, but now that I’m in the middle of the projects, it seems like at any given moment there are more dogs out than people. Most of them are orphaned, scraggy, and hungry. They’re also big. Though there are plenty of little dogs, they are usually pets. The strays run the gambit from German shepherds to rottweilers, and some look like a mix of the two.

Last night was a cacophony of howling, in five movements. I found the waltz, around 4am, particularly charming. I don’t know what was going on, but I reckon that there was some sort of gathering of the tribes for this region. The conclave didn’t stop until well past sun-up, and the chorus seemed to come from all directions. Fortunately, they’re quiet so far this evening. After the discussion that took place last night, however, I’m convinced they’re up to something.

Here we have some representatives of the Repina clan, taken during a visit of mine to their beach-side territory last August. They are pretty representative of the strays you see around the city. Though mangy, and possibly rabid, the dogs are actually pretty well behaved. I’ve never seen them attack a human, though they walk freely among us. I have, however, twice seen them truly attack one another. I still don’t feel entirely comfortable around them.

Repina is a suburb of Piter, a sort of tourist destination to relax on the beach or in the woods. Yes, this place can be surprisingly beautiful during the summer.

Russia has contributed more than its share to the advancement of scientific knowledge, and it’s good to hear that they keep on making breakthroughs:

Alexei says he was an irredeemable alcoholic until he met Marina. He gave up drinking after the Novosibirsk psychiatrist beat him on the buttocks with a flexible rod.
…
Patients are required to undergo at least one session of 300 blows to the buttocks per week during the first three weeks of treatment. After that, they receive beatings at their own request but no less than once per month.

To be fair, maybe they’re on to something:

Alcoholics and drug addicts, especially those addicted to opiate-based substances such as heroin, suffer from a lack of endorphins, otherwise known as happiness hormones. As a result, the sensitivity of the top layer of skin is reduced, making addicts “uncomfortable in their own skins.” The beatings - which Chukhrova sometimes administers but are usually carried out by male staff - make patients “feel their own bodies” again and reduce cravings for drugs and alcohol.

Skeptics aside, the important thing for Alexei, the patient in Novosibirsk, is that he is no longer drinking after a year in treatment. “You feel like an idiot during it. Imagine being beaten on the ass,” he said. “You cry, scream, curse.”

Though let’s not forget that this development comes from a country whose national pastime is sitting with friends and strangers, naked, in a small wooden room, where the temperature gets close to 90 degrees Celsius, all while hitting each other with birch branches and imbibing copious amounts of a certain clear liquid.

Now doesn’t that sound fun.

(Just to clarify, that’s not me in the pics…)

It’s almost May, and it’s been sub-zero the whole day. I stayed in finishing my NATO paper, that I should have had done this weekend. It’s not so great, but I consider it a rough draft for my research paper due at the end of this semester.

Here are some pictures from my apartment. I’m on the ninth (top) floor of a standard, Khrushev built monstrosity. These pictures were taken a little past noon today. Life at the 60th parallel…

And by the way, I’m not holding the camera at an angle. This close to the pole, you can actually see the curvature of the earth, that’s why the buildings seem slanted

I currently have a backlog of papers that I’m working on. I have a couple of theme-based picture posts, but no time right now to put them up. Some of the ideas are: the library, school, IKEA, churches, and medical. Hopefully I’ll get at least one up this weekend.

This is a picture of the Ladozhskaya Metro Station, which is in front of and attached to the the Ladozhskij Train Station (ладожская и ладожский вокэал):

The train station was very recently renovated, I believe it was done for the 300 year anniversary celebration in 2003. You can see the two pillars of the new train station, and as a whole, I think it complements the metro very well. I like this kind of modern architecture (both the metro and train stations). It reminds me of the 1950’s and 60’s idea of the future. Though I suppose some might see it as imposing and dehumanizing.

In the very center of the shot you can see two police officers conversing. I don’t remember, but there may have been a Zenith game that day. Zenith is the local soccer club, and there is always an increased police presence at the metro stations on game days.

This picture was taken back in January, when we didn’t have snow on the ground. Apparently, this winter we’ve had the warmest January in recorded history, and the coldest March in 25 years. Or perhaps the time periods are the other way around. In any case, it’s been weird.

When I surf the web, I do it in a manic “must-consume-all-information” way. I haven’t restarted my computer in a week and half because I’ve had windows open that I didn’t want to lose. I had five different opera browsers open, with about 20 tabs in each one. So, in an attempt to improve my computer’s sluggish performance, I have decided to clean out my windows and restart.

What’s the Temperature, Kenneth?

We can put people on the moon, but we can’t actually measure the surface air temperature of the earth?

Support the Patriarchy

The National Organization for Women (NOW) does not want women to have the choice to get silicone breast implants because they feel we need a minimum of 10 more years of testing. So, women should not be able to enlarge their breasts without the approval of the government, but it’s perfectly acceptable for a 14 year old girl to get an abortion without parental approval, and without warning of possible physical and emotional trauma. Does that seem incongruous to anyone else? Well, this is the same organization that supported our serial sex-offending ex-president.

Dude, Where’s My Grant Money?

People get paid for this?

A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word “dude.” He points out that dude has many uses: in greetings (”What’s up, dude?”); as an exclamation (”Whoa, Dude!”); commiseration (”Dude, I’m so sorry.”); to one-up someone (”That’s so lame, dude.”); as well as agreement, surprise and disgust (”Dude.”).”

Uh, my friends and I figured that out in high school, as I’m sure that millions of other people around the country did. He’s even missing some, like fear (”Dude, where are you guys?”), warning (”Dude, look out!”), and attention-grabbing (”Dude, she’s hot!”).

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

This is why people shop at Wal-Mart: At Target … 400-thread sheets sell for $69.99 for a queen-size set. At Wal-Mart, the sheets sell for $48.77. Though I suppose that most of the limousine liberals who want to stop Wal-Mart don’t understand that $20 is a significant amount of money to some of us.

Last time I spoke about buckwheat (греча), it was in less than flattering terms. Recently, however, I have become addicted to it.

I was first introduced to this marvelous grain two and a half years ago. I was in Ukraine teaching academic theory and practice, and it was my first experience in Eastern Europe (on that trip I also taught in Romania, Russia, and Moldova). When I arrived in Simferopol (Crimea), I was taken from the train, marched around town a little bit, and sat down to lunch with my hosts.

A bowl was placed in front of me, the contents unfamiliar. The only word that came to mind was “gruel.” I tasted it, and finding it offensively bland, I politely ate about half. Mind - in a situation similar to Cartman’s “What kind of side dishes will we be enjoying this evening with our frozen waffles? Am I to understand there will be no side dishes?” - I thought this was simply the first course. I was unpleasantly surprised when, about 20 minutes later, we all got up and left, leaving me about as hungry as when I came in. It was to be an important lesson in my culinary education, and one that I have kept well. Now, if someone puts food in front of me, unless it’s truly repulsive (eg. cow brain), I usually eat it all.

Fast forward a year and a half to Thanksgiving 2003. I had just arrived in Russia, and was still experimenting with food, trying to find what was appealingly edible. Buckwheat had, by this time, graduated from offensively bland, to simply without taste.

Over the course of the past year and a half, I have had several more chances to try grecha (as I now refer to it, even in English), particularly at the main campus cafeteria. The meat at this place is … how shall I put it … suspect. To illustrate, they do not have knives, only spoons and forks. This doesn’t actually pose any problems, however, seeing as how the forks are more than adequate to cut the maleable “meat.” As a response, I have invented my own main course dish. Normally, one orders “meat,” and a side dish. I end up taking two sides, mashed potatoes and grecha, and just combine them, literally. The grecha gives the potatoes texture, and the potatoes provide flavor.

Here is my standard cafeteria lunch:

The left cup is tea (free for students) and the right is ‘compot,’ a boiled fruit drink which alternates between green and red varieties. There are several “salads” to choose from, all of which have mayonaise as the staple ingredient. Here we have some brown version, presumably mushrooms. And of course, in the middle is my pre-mixing main course. This meal is not bad, reasonably filling and cheap. Usually costs around 60 rubles ($2.20). Not that it matters, but the actual date of the picture is March 25, 2005. Digital camera timestamps have the become the new flashing VCR ‘12:00,’ us average folk can’t be bothered to change it.

When I want higher quality grecha, I go to a good blini (crepes) chain called ‘Teremok.’ It’s pricier, the grecha alone costs 60 rubles, but it’s worth it. I normally order it with a mushroom cream sauce.

The shocking thing is that I haven’t simply come to accept buckwheat as a part of life over here, I’ve adopted it as my own. When hungry, grecha is on the top of the list for foods. Scary …