Kid Fishing

With friends from Germany, at Brainard Lake near Ward. Great place to take kids fishing because the brookies are hungry! This was in July 2007.

"Belgium"

Always struck me as a fictional place, especially after having lived in Brussels for a year.

Ingrid Robeyns has a great analysis.

About freaking time.

In an interview with the BBC, Professor John Marburger, Bush’s chief science adviser, said it was an “unequivocal” fact that climate change is man-made and that greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are to blame.

h/t: Think Progress.

An American Hero ...

... who shall remain nameless. And a few buddies.

The Shadow Warrior says this: "it is very bad here on all levels from the highest policy levels to the guys with boots on the ground".

Come back safe and soon, my friend. Godspeed.

CU as "public authority"

From the Colorado Daily:

CU may take yet another step to free itself from controls imposed by the state of Colorado. The university may file to become a “public authority,” a public corporation contracted by the state to fulfill a public benefit or service. CU is currently an “enterprise,” a governmental organization that executes state power and responsibility. Moving from an enterprise to a public authority would loosen CU from limits imposed by the state.

Also found this little tidbit interesting:

"Colorado is ranked 48th in the nation for higher-education funding as a share of personal income, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities."

Delicious Beer Alert

West Coast IPA from Green Flash Brewing Co. in San Diego is deliciously hoppy. That is all.

Summer Surge Data

Nice job, Kevin Drum.

Violence Metrics

	June/July 2006	June/July 2007	Change
Iraqi Military and Police Killed	349	429	Up 23%
Multiple Fatality Bombings	110	82	Down 25%
# Killed in Mult. Fatality Bombings	885	1,053	Up 19%
Iraqi Civilians Killed (All violent causes)	6,739	5,300	Hard to say1
U.S. Troop Fatalities	104	187	Up 80%
U.S. Troops Wounded	983	1,423	Up 45%
Size of Insurgency	20,000+	~70,0002	Up ~250%
Attacks on Oil and Gas Pipelines	8	143	Up 75%

¹Methodology changed dramatically between 2006 and 2007, so numbers are highly suspect.
²Number is for March 2007.
³Numbers are for June only. No July numbers are available.

Infrastructure Metrics

	June/July 2006	June/July 2007	Change
Diesel Fuel Available	26.7 Ml	20.7 Ml	Down 22%
Kerosene Available	7.08 Ml	6.3 Ml	Down 11%
Gasoline Available	29.4 Ml	22.2 Ml	Down 24%
LPG Available	4,936 tons	4,932 tons	Down 0.1%
Electricity Generated	8,800 Mwatts	8,420 Mwatts	Down 4%
Hours Electricity Per Day	11.7	10.14	Down ~14%

⁴No numbers available for June/July. Figure is extrapolated from May and August numbers.

h/t Yglesias, who adds that

the surge is working if your definition of "working" doesn't require a decrease in violence or an increase in the viability of Iraq's basic infrastructure.

Nicely done.

This is just nuts

Man, shit is totally out of control. I am actually frightened. Just a tidbit from Glenn Greenwald:

McConnell clearly described that in 1978, we enacted a law prohibiting warrantless eavesdropping; the Bush administration broke that law repeatedly; and the telecommunications companies actively participated in that lawbreaking. And now -- as a matter of national security -- the Bush administration is demanding that Congress pass a new law declaring that telecom companies are immune from any and all consequences -- both civil and criminal -- in the event they are found to have violated the law. It is hard to imagine open contempt for the rule of law being expressed more explicitly than this.

Sometimes I am of two minds ...

Legal wiretaps on rise in Colorado

The number of phones secretly wiretapped by Colorado law enforcement hit a 10-year high last year, leading to large drug busts statewide while raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.
The increase in the court-authorized wiretaps was led by the U.S. Attorney's Office, which used 108 wiretaps in its first year under U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid. That's four times the number used in the 12 months prior to Eid's August 2006 arrival, according to data from his office.
State prosecutors, meanwhile, got permission to use 43 wiretaps in 2006 - more than in the previous nine years combined, according to an annual report by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

... but actually, I think I'd rather err on the side of civil rights, thank you very much.

Mark My Words

Brandon Marshall is going to be a star receiver in the NFL.

Worried about the Broncos defense, though, I have to admit.

This'll kill you, part II

Part II:

This'll kill you

And if it doesn't, you might want to check for a pulse. A dying man giving it his all: So Many Roads, 7/9/95, pt. 1

Unuterrably poignant

Jerry doing Visions of Johanna on 3/18/95, pt. 1

Potter Post

Just finished reading Harry Potter books 1-6. Have #7 ordered and will probably read it on Sunday.

Not sure where things will go. There's a great blogpost somewhere that has given me some ideas, so what little is below is probably not of my own devising. Anyway, a few thoughts.

1) R.A.B. is Regulus Black.
2) The Hog's Head barman, Dumbledore's brother, has a role to play.
3) Harry is, himself, a Horcrux. I believe he's the one from Godric Gryffindor, because I believe he is descended from GG.
4) I had thought that HP would have to sacrifice himself (Jesus-like) to get rid of the Horcrux, but it's been made clear that the 7th bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit residing in his body, has to be destroyed last, so I don't see how that will work. But I do think Harry vanquishes V and dies in the process.
5) The International Relations/diplomacy angle will figure in, as both sides compete to form coalitions with the various other kinds of magical creatures.

Really neat books, good to read them all again.

Update: here's one of the posts I cribbed from.

And this one by Russell Arben Fox.

Some Colorado Camping

Summer 2006, Turquoise Lake. Wildernet. Beautiful, to be sure. But a little overcrowded. Running water was a big plus for TW.



On the way home, K#4 got to go horseback riding on "Hawken" ... with Mount Massive in the background!

Summer 2006, Pearl Lake State Park. Wildernet. Gorgeous, serene, tranquility!!! Highly recommended if you are looking to escape for a few days. Didn't catch any fish, but lots and lots of crawdads there to keep the kids entertained. We did some canoeing thanks to TW's friend and had a great old time.

Summer 2007, Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Wildernet. I thought this would be a cheesy day-visitor type of place, since it's so close to Denver, Golden, Boulder, etc. But boy was I wrong. We were in the Aspen Meadows area, which is tent camping only, at about 9,000 feet. Beautiful spot, nice and serene. No action at all on Dude's Fishing Hole, though the views from there are pretty nice, with some especially nice rock outcroppings. Big downside, not mentioned in any guides or descriptions that I saw, was that cars are parked away from campsites. So, for our campsite (#35), we had to hoof our stuff maybe 200 yards to our campsite. D'oh! The creek isn't much either. But this was a beautiful, tranquil spot.

Summer 2007, Pawnee Campground on the shores of Brainard Lake, near Indian Peaks Wilderness, in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. Wildernet. Ahhh, the Rocky Mountains. This place is incredible. Gorgeous views of glaciers and glacier trails. Snow still on the ground at the campground (elevation ca. 10,300). Easy catching of brookies on Powerbait in Brainard Lake -- Ks 1-3 all caught, #s 1 and 2 totally on their own. K2's was actually a beatuful 14" rainbow. Massive hailstorm put a damper on our second day, but this places is truly glorious. We'll definitely be going back, if only for day trips.

Up second week of July 2007, fly fishing on the Arkansas!!

'zackly

Farls, in a long post considering various things having to do with the case some are making for invading Iran, says this about Iraqi WMD:

While the allegations about chemical weapons formed the center of the administration's case for war, the real problem is not that the administration was lying (although it was), but rather that Iraqi WMD, even if they existed, did not furnish a plausible reason for war. It doesn't excuse the administration to say that its sin was two-fold; on the one hand, it lied about the existence of WMD, and on the other it lied about the implications of WMD. Even if the United States had found a rump WMD program, it would not have justified the war, and I doubt very much that it would have affected the course of the insurgency. Like an attack on Iran for supporting Iraqi insurgents, invading Iraq for having WMD was stupid on its own merits.

Exactly. This was, in my view, the soundest reason for opposing the Iraq War at the time. It just wasn't necessary.

"Sack up, people"

Classic.

Battle of Algiers, again

Saw Battle of Algiers again today. Great stuff, and so resonant with US in Iraq. You've got your torture, and your generic willingness to forego legality at the altar of lethality and alleged effectiveness. You've got Mathieu telling the media to toe the line (though US MSM ca. 2007 would never dare to ask such tough questions, nor politicians to give such frank answers). You've got moral ambiguity all over the place. You've got your major power unleashing and eventually losing to forces that it seemed not at all to understand. Etc. Really strong film.

Tenure!

'nuff said.

Parlez-vous EU?

This here is some classic EU-speak. Still, it's amazing and imporant to see ridiculous, artificially-precise and seemingly legalized procedural arcania representing the presumptive response to disagreement -- as opposed to, oh, I dunno, war.

In addition, until 31 March 2017, if members of the Council representing at least 75% of the population or at least 75% of the number of Member States necessary to constitute a blocking minority as provided in Article [I-25(2)] indicate their opposition to the Council adopting an act by a qualified majority, the mechanism provided for in the draft Decision contained in Declaration nº 5 annexed to the Final Act of the 2004 IGC [shall apply]. As from 1 April 2017, the same mechanism will apply, the relevant percentages being, respectively, at least 55% of the population or at least 55% of the number of Member States necessary to constitute a blocking minority as provided in Article [I-25(2)].

From Council Conclusions to the recent summit, via James Wimberley at The Reality-Based Community.