Articles of Impeachment for President George W Bush

Dennis Kucinich just introduced into Congress 35 Articles of Impeachment for President George W Bush.

It is simply staggering reading them all in such dry prose. And to believe we impeached Clinton over a sex scandal. And the Democrats just choose to bury the issue. I'm disgraced that Congress won't even consider these serious charges - it's their job to provide oversight, yet they just rubber-stamp everything W wants.

You can read them all yourself, though I've copied the article titles below.

Resolved, that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against President George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors.

In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power.

1. Article I - Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
2. Article II - Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
3. Article III - Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
4. Article IV - Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
5. Article V - Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
6. Article VI - Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
7. Article VII - Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
8. Article VIII - Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
9. Article IX - Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
10. Article X - Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
11. Article XI - Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
12. Article XII - Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
13. Article XIII - Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries
14. Article XIV - Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
15. Article XV - Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
16. Article XVI - Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
17. Article XVII - Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives
18. Article XXVIII - Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
19. Article XIX - Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to 'Black Sites' Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
20. Article XX - Imprisoning Children
21. Article XXI - Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
22. Article XXII - Creating Secret Laws
23. Article XXIII - Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
24. Article XXIV - Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment
25. Article XXV - Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
26. Article XXVI - Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
27. Article XXVII - Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
28. Article XVIII - Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice
29. Article XXIX - Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
30. Article XXX - Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
31. Article XXXI - Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency
32. Article XXXII - Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change
33. Article XXIII - Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
34. Article XXXIV - Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
35. Article XXXV - Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders
    

CarpoolMatchNW - Car Pool and Rideshare Matching Service, Oregon, SW Washington

Work just clued me into this page, which is pretty slick. You enter your home&work addresses and it'll find people who match your route (as well as times).

CarpoolMatchNW - Car Pool and Rideshare Matching Service, Oregon, SW Washington

I'm only driving to work 2 days a week now (boo-yah!) but still it'd be nice to share the drive.

Fresh Cherry Gelato

Mary picked 10 pounds of Bing cherries the other day - wow, so much tastier than the store-bought ones.

So as not to eat them all in one sitting, we looked for recipes and Mary found Sass & Veracity: Fresh Cherry Gelato.

I made it last night, and ... yum!

Analysis of "What Patriotism Means To Me"

I just read: The Last Psychiatrist: Election 2008: "What Patriotism Means To Me" and what stands out to my (cynical) eye is that McCain's speech easily dove-tails with "trust the President, it's for the good of the country" whereas Obama's message is more that "we the people" are in charge of our destiny.

Mission Accomplished

This story is making the rounds, and is another depressing reminder of our last 8 years...

Ten Years Ago, Bin Laden Demanded Barrel Of Oil Should Cost $144

Fit Bowl Winner!

Fit bowl started five months ago, and thanks to the 10# bump Ron's scale gave me on the initial weigh in, I won!

I'm not necessarily proud of the 10# bump, but I'll take it. Either way, Sam, Ron, and I each lost over 15% of our body weight, and Ingrid lost almost 10% of hers (and gained a bunch of muscle at the same time). In total, we lost almost 150#. Pretty impressive.

My final weigh in was @ 225 pounds, thanks to a double work-out on the last day, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I think I'll continue to try to lose some weight, maybe get down to 215. We'll see. After the peanut butter popcorn, I imagine I've got a little ground to regain.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

On the forth of July I tried this recipe for Peanut Butter Popcorn. Indeed, it was as good as it sounded. The whole crew (Sam, Ingrid, Mary, Mom & Dad) enjoyed it.

Beware of the Peanut Butter Popcorn - for you cannot resist eating it.

Study: Teachers not being taught math properly - Yahoo! News

Study: Teachers not being taught math properly:

Author Julie Greenberg said education students should be taking courses that give them a deeper understanding of arithmetic and multiplication. She said the courses should explain how math concepts build upon each other and why certain ideas need to be emphasized in the classroom.

Sadly, this matches my limited experience with the math education students I met at Cornell. I won't rehash my .999 = 1 story, but let me summarize it by saying the education students appeared to be woefully lacking rigorous math knowledge.

Math is the basis for all science... everyone should really understand the basics.

American Civil Liberties Union : Major David J. R. Frakt's Closing Argument in Favor of Dismissal of the Case Against Mohammad Jawad

American Civil Liberties Union : Major David J. R. Frakt's Closing Argument in Favor of Dismissal of the Case Against Mohammad Jawad:

February 7, 2002. America lost a little of its greatness that day. We lost our position as the world’s leading defender of human rights, as the champion of justice and fairness and the rule of law. But it is a testament to the continuing greatness of this nation, that I, a lowly Air Force Reserve Major, can stand here before you today, with the world watching, without fear of retribution, retaliation or reprisal, and speak truth to power. I can call a spade a spade, and I can call torture, torture.

A well written closing, worth the read.

Wordle!

Awesome! Wordle

The first is of my del.icio.us tags, the second is of this blog.

Simone Is Counting

Simone has been repeating numbers back to us for a while now, but just Sunday she had a pea pod in her hand - exclaiming "pea!" I handed her a second one and she responded, "two peas!" Pretty amazing to see her learning in action. And it wasn't a fluke, she did it twice.

Not Quite Sure How To React

My company may be bought out... the positive side is that they'd be buying Mentor for my department (Calibre)...

Cadence Proposes to Acquire Mentor Graphics for $16.00 per Share in Cash

MENT is up 25% already to $15.40

Interesting Summary Of Weight Loss Studies

Joe Friel wrote the book I'm using to help guide me in training for triathlons, he has an interesting round-up of weight loss studies: Weight Loss

His conclusion:

So what's the bottom line? It appears that when calories are reduced to lose weight, which is more effective than increasing workload, the protein content of the diet must be kept at near normal levels.

Only 2 weeks left in fit-bowl '08.

OPB, Corporate Shill

While driving to work this morning, I heard this story on the radio: OPB News · Online Site Helps Measure Your Carbon Footprint

It's nearly 5 minutes long, and the whole thing is just a big advertisement for Portland General Electric. It's embarrassing.

I've written to OPB, we'll see if they respond:

This morning I heard the radio story (http://news.opb.org/article/2339-online-site-helps-measure-your-carbon-footprint/) about measuring your electricity carbon footprint.

My response is that I sure hope you got a large donation from PGE, because this was one long commercial. (5 minutes!)

While I appreciate the idea there is a place where we can measure our carbon footprint, this story focused solely on the one created by PGE (as opposed to other, independent, web sites). PGE only offers power in a limited area around Portland, much smaller than your where you broadcast (all of Oregon, and SW Washington). Why not do a story on the variety of renewable energy options available in your entire area (Pacific Power, for example, offers similar options to its customers)?

Kristian Fodon-Vencil asked some questions that sounded like they could be probing (how does PGE benefit from this service (web site)? is this mandated by law?) But the questions were softly lobbed to Thor Hinkley who easily turned the answers into yet more plugs for how wonderful PGE is.

I am embarrassed to know my contribution (and my corporate matching dollars) were used to fund this advertisement.

This was not a news piece, it was not even an informational story. It was a direct advertisement.

I expect better from OPB.

My Work In A Press Release

Just found out there's a press release that talks about what I'm working on:

Mentor Graphics Outlines IC Implementation Strategy to Address Sub-45nm Challenges: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:

"A new Calibre nmLVS tool with interactive debugging features (to be released to the general market in the second half of 2008) that will speed layout-versus-schematic checking with automated suggestions for fixing the design, improved short identification, and overall improvements to the environment to reduce debugging time."

I'm the one writing the new LVS debugger. woo-hoo

The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism - Environmental Politics

Just saw this paper. No, I didn't read the whole thing. The conclusion is simply amazing, 90% of the environmentally skeptical books are funded by conservative think tanks. Yet another example of how just because there are two "sides" to every story doesn't mean they have equal weight.

The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism - Environmental Politics:

"Environmental scepticism denies the seriousness of environmental problems, and self-professed 'sceptics' claim to be unbiased analysts combating 'junk science'. This study quantitatively analyses 141 English-language environmentally sceptical books published between 1972 and 2005. We find that over 92 per cent of these books, most published in the US since 1992, are linked to conservative think tanks (CTTs). Further, we analyse CTTs involved with environmental issues and find that 90 per cent of them espouse environmental scepticism. We conclude that scepticism is a tactic of an elite-driven counter-movement designed to combat environmentalism, and that the successful use of this tactic has contributed to the weakening of US commitment to environmental protection."

How It All Ends

Global warming, risk management breakdown. A thoughtful analysis of the meta-argument we should all be having. Oh, and bonus, he's a sports racer.

YouTube - How It All Ends

Run For The Hills 2008

Last year Tom and I ran this race. We were both going to do it again this year, but he decided getting a job was more important. Priorities.

This year the weather was a little nicer (overcast, cool, but no rain), and I finished over 2 minutes faster (average heart rate of 173, gasp). The run felt pretty good considering the 8k was the furthest I've ever run.

The oddest thing about the run was how everyone said the view from the top of Bald hill was so beautiful. A view? After walkingsprinting up the backside, there was no time to take in a view because the race was all downhill after that.

Interestingly, I placed 50th both this year and last (there were more folks this year, I'm not sure how many, but well over 100).

I'll shoot for 49th place next year.

Simone Pics May 2008 (and others)

Finally downloaded some pics from my phone, thought I'd share them.

Simone swinging in the swing with a bag of corn chips. This was after a 3.5 hour nap while driving home from visiting the Mattson's in Yakima.

One of our many walks to see the horses, here she is trying to feed the horse from afar.
She ended up getting close enough to actually hand the food over. Luckily the grass is really long this time of year - letting us feed the horses without too much worry of hand-in-horse's-mouth syndrome.
Instead of riding a horse, Simone likes to ride an elephant. We found one just her size in Newport, where we headed for some RnR. You'd see cute pictures of Simone on the beach, only it was freezing and windy as all get out (we weren't expecting that). We went to the aquarium instead.
Simone loves her mermaid - who we've been trying to name "Frida."
Simone's first breakfast as a 2 year old. That's raspberry jam, not makeup.
The grandfathers and Simone (and my finger?). Sorry about the photo Bob, not real flattering, but the other one was so blurry it made you look like a ghost.
Simone and I took a walk to see Matty's new bunnies. Here are the pictures. This white one was the runt of the litter.
They're keeping the black one (little Davie has already named the rabbit .... Hassenpfeffer? - I kid).
This little guy hung out in my hand the entire time we were there, 20 minutes or so. Matty tried to pawn him off on me, but I told her that by the time I got done with the rabbit hutch, the rabbit would have driven the chickens nuts.
Ah, yes, Simone and I went to the waterfront to play in the fountain. I was a bit disappointed that the regular pattern of water spouts wasn't happening. There just wasn't enough spouting for my taste. Simone seemed to enjoy herself. She ran around for an hour.

Fountain!
More fountain!
Simone helped Mary wash the window screens, and herself.
Very sleepy girls.
I'm not sure, but I believe she challenged me to a Sumo match.
We had a very nice walk on the nearby boardwalk.
Simone and her two favorite companions right now. Frida and ... dolly. Still looking for a name for the doll. They're both growing dolls - as Simone feeds them lots of cookies and cupcakes.
Gotta dry off after playing in the sprinkler.
Quick! I see a bug! Follow me!

They were beautiful, those chickens in the mist...
Getting to know our chickens.
Testing out the new bench (er, old bench, new location).
A family photo - pretty sneaky of me to get myself. It was actually planned.

twitter

I've heard buzz about twitter. People in the blogosphere are using it constantly, and many think it's the neatest thing since sliced bread.



I was listening to stackoverflow (or maybe this one) on my run yesterday and Jeff Atwood was waxing on and on about twitter.

And then it hit me. Twitter is just a way for people to feel connected to their community on the web when they can't be in front of their computers. Or, put another way, people who are not comfortable in their current social setting/community.

Imagine being out with friends - at a restaurant, or sporting event, or rock climbing, whatever. You pause and enter a little twitter message. Who, exactly, are you communicating with and why? Your friends probably think it's rude (I certainly would), and how does "connecting" with your titter community reflect on your current social situation? And receiving other people's twitters in those situations? Are your friends boring you?

Seriously, it's OK to not be connected all the time, it's OK to be alone for a little bit.