Amanda’s Random Rantings

Hutson’s assessment alludes to the fact that the U.S. Constitution does permit Congress to suspend habeas corpus “when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” The newly enacted Military Commissions Act (MCA) effectively destroys the habeas corpus guarantee for non-citizens within the United States accused of being “unlawful enemy combatants,” and undermines that guarantee for any US citizens thus designated by a “competent tribunal” appointed by, and accountable only to, the president.

In 2001, al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was in the United States legally, on a student visa. He was a computer science graduate student at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he had earned an undergraduate degree a decade earlier. In Peoria, he lived with his wife and five children.

But after investigating he concluded that the Twin Towers were brought down by controlled demolition, military personnel were given stand-down orders not to intercept hijacked flights and the 9/11 Commission, ostensibly created to uncover the truth behind the events of 9/11, ’simply ignored evidence’ that the administration was involved in the attacks.

Governor Pawlenty will be walking on egg shells this session. It will be interesting to see how much he moderates over the course of the next few months. It’s clear that he has his work cut out for him if he hopes to keep his political ambitions alive through re-election.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Friday that will force drivers to use a hands-free device when driving and talking on a cell phone.

Although I was intrigued by the candidacies of both Mike Coleman and Eric Fingerhut, Strickland and Flannery remain the only choices available to Ohio Democrats.

 So, apparently, Rick Perry has accused the feds of welching on appropriations to reimburse Texas, and Alabama, and Mississippi, for hurricane damage. And, the justification sounds like a rider to an insurance policy.

A LIE, Mark Twain said famously, can travel half way around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes. With the offensive reality of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib sequestered thousands of miles away, United States President George W. Bush began his speech at the Purana Qila in Delhi on March 3 with a spectacular falsehood. The U.S., he said, was a “brother” to India “in the cause of human liberty”.

Most importantly, as to the McCain Amendment, which would categorically prohibit cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees by all U.S. personnel, anywhere in the world, the President wrote:

Now what’s required in this hack is a way to capture idea’s, feelings and emotions when the picture is taken and post it as the text of the moblog entry. That would make it the perfect dear-diary solution. Maybe even throw in GPS positioning and speech to text and we have a winner. An idea for a web 2.0 startup ?

Well designed and targeted regulation is one of the central tools used by Government to deliver the social, environmental and economic goals of business and the broader community. However, regulation should only be used where it is needed, and efforts should be made to avoid inefficient regulation and minimise that which may be unnecessarily costly, excessive, or overly complex. Regulations that impose unnecessary burdens can impede competition, productivity, investment and innovation.

A toxic, black sludge (petrochemical and caustic soda cocktail) washed up on the Ivory Coast sickening (and killing) local residents. And true to form, those who are responsible for the spillage of this waste are either denying its toxicity or are working hard to point fingers and place blame on someone else. 

Current Gov Jeb Bush is going to have some green competition in the next election - even from some republican candidates going into the primaries.

Speaking of Alaska (see yesterday’s post) - Republican congressman, Don Young, is trying to put through an amendment that would change the siting criteria for wind turbines. This would effectively shut down the proposed, and extremely controversial Cape Cod wind farm, before it even gets started.
 

We had finished our dinner, but our bottle of $35 Italian wine was still half full. So we asked the waiter at Manhattan’s Parma restaurant if we could take it to go. The waiter didn’t blink. He took the bottle, and a few minutes later, placed it back on our table — recorked, with tinfoil over the top, and wrapped up in a plastic “I Love New York” bag.

The Wolverines and the Buckeyes will square off this afternoon in an emotionally charged game following the death of former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. Easily the most-hyped game of the season, the game pits two of college football’s fiercest rivals in an interconference showdown to determine not only the Big Ten Champion most likely, but also who will play in the National Championship in Glendale.

Wow. Yep, it’s official–Ohio State is better than I thought. Watching last night’s North Carolina-Ohio State game gave me an eerily similar feeling to watching the Michigan State-Gonzaga game that occurred around the start of last season. It seemed like every time down the floor someone was draining a big three-pointer, putting on a tough post move, or making a key block. It was two great teams giving one another everything that they had. You’re not going to get too many nights of more entertaining basketball this year. And let’s remember, as we’ve been reminded ad nauseam, the best player for either team wasn’t even on the floor last night.

Like most children from military families, Kelly has an impressive list of places she has lived starting with her birth in Selma, Alabama. Then it was on to California, back to Alabama, then Germany, Mississippi, and Alabama again. Then to England and finally Del Rio, Texas. Kelly started high school in England and graduated in Del Rio. From there she went to SMU in Dallas, graduating with degrees in Political Science and Economics. She went on to the University of Texas Law School where she earned her JD degree.

Just as this issue was going to press, word (albeit, still unconfirmed) came that Southland Tales will in fact be distributed in North America without the drastic cutting rumoured to be inevitable after the film’s Cannes screening. Rather than rework both this interview and the analysis on Southland Tales and its ridiculously controversial reception as found in the Cannes summary, let these pieces instead stand as a monument to the general stupidity of relying on overblown reactions from the international press corps for assessing both the aesthetic and commercial validity of a challenging American feature film. —MP

Back at the Fraternity House it was now almost 6am, and Ms. Professor was kicking on the door with her boot, and we were both shouting. I went around to the side of the building rapping on windows and doors as I went. Without divulging anything that could be used as evidence against me in court–I gained entry to the House.

We are informed that Battle Creek’s own State Senator Mark Schauer will be the guest on WOOD TV 8’s “To the Point” with Rick Albin - former Republican candidate and staffer for 2nd district Republican Congressman Pete Hoekstra who, by the way, was part of the Jack Abramoff affair- a fact ignored by the mass media in West Michigan including Mr. Rick Albin.

Chamillionaire are others who come to mind, who seem to smooth out the regional sounds of New Orleans, Atlanta and Houston for a more accessible sound. It’s not a bad thing, as ya need to sell records to make money; the mixtapes seem to be where you get the realness and more of an attempt to distinguish one’s sound. It’s almost like a dual consciousness thing, two sides to every rapper today.

I was going through some interview archives at howestreet.com and I came across a pretty good interview with investor/speculator and resource pundit Rick Rule. It was originally taped at the start of 2006, but I missed it the first time around. In this audio, Rule gives his opinions on markets, government intervention, and the outlook for natural resources.

The University of Wisconsin has an obligation to hire responsibly, but it also has an obligation to defend the academic freedom, not to mention the First Amendment rights, of those it does hire.

After some hemming and hawing, UW did meet its second obligation. But it does not seem to have met the first one. Barrett was the only candidate for the job, and his principal qualification seemed to be that he had gone to graduate school at UW and had once TA’d for the course in question;

The number of students graduating each year with 2 ‘A’ and 2 ‘AO’ passes (including GP) has been hovering around the 10,000 mark between 1991 and 2004. Since Pre-U enrollment for the same period has been fairly consistent we can expect that for 2005, there can’t be that many more than 10,000+ graduating with the same qualifications.

HJ says: “Please feel free to add this link to your sites. However, it has been created with a program written here on site and I can not guarantee how far into the future the link will remain active. The Information Literacy Program here at ANU is an across campus program.”

Late Thursday night/early Friday morning Lisa and I were driving back home from Raleigh. We wound up going through Elon University, where I went to college. I stopped and took a few pictures, although they really can’t do any justice to how beautiful the campus is lit up every Christmas season.

Below The Bassline - by Jamaican jazzmaster Ernest Ranglin

Kothbiro - by Kenyan lyre (nyatiti) player Ayub Ogada. Haunting.

Soltarlo - jazzy acapella scatting and layered vocal “percussion” from Colombian singer/songwriter Claudia Gómez

So, what am I working on this week? My first freelance music reviews! A local paper found this very blog and now wants me to review 5 albums, each in 50 words. Daunting for a rambler like me, but nonetheless a task I undertake with relish. Do you guys have any recommendations? What albums lately can you not help mentioning to everyone you meet?

“The basic concept behind it is that most “classic” dance music is so formulaic it should be easy for a computer to generate. Generating all patterns and sequences from a small set of rules the unit is able to deliver new and original tracks in realtime.” Obviously this is easy enough to do in software, but Mungo has actually made a hardware box.

He continued: “ROMS has no rights from the record companies whatsoever to licence these pieces of music. ROMS and AllofMP3.com are well aware that record companies have not granted authorisation for this service.”"

9) Trent Reznor plays Billy Idols’ ‘Eyes Without A Face’ sometime in the early ’80s10) Madonna’s ludicrous appearance with Tim Westwood on ‘Pimp My Ride’ (check out the very theatrical cocaine sniff half way through, just before she starts writhing on the floor) BONUS: Delia Derbyshire speaks

If you use Winamp, you can obtain a similar effect by selecting the modern skin and entering the “Windowshade mode”, a mini version of Winamp that could remain always on top. Windows Media Player can also be minimized to a small player integrated into the taskbar.

While the keyboard is interesting, it’s the motion-sensor instrument that responds when you wave your hand over the tubes that floored me. But the best part? The ability to hook your iPod up to them and mix over your favorite songs.”.
It’s hard not to love the design combo of PVC tube, G5 mac and Fisher-Price buttons, but I really can’t wait to see what the circuit benders do with this stuff. (Thanks, Steve in LA)
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When your first impulse is to sue because people are using your product in ways you don’t like, it’s always a good idea to examine the situation to see whether you’re overlooking a new revenue stream.