I mean, hey...

if they werent incurious tunnel visioned oafs who have no reasonable understanding of the world they actually live in they wouldnt be saying most of the infinitely clueless bonehead slobbermouthed things they be spewing now would they???

my guess is they'd have a hard time spelling 50% of the words in that last querstion.

Anti-Reform Demonstrators Unable to Locate Iraq on Map of Middle East

Many town hall protesters enjoy boasting to federal lawmakers about how knowledgeable they are about public policy. For example, at a town hall meeting with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) yesterday, an attendee stood up and declared, “I have taken the time to look at certain provisions of a bill on the Internet and I can quote…the sections and the page.” But the Omaha City Weekly went to a recent town hall hosted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and found that the health care protesters actually aren’t all that informed about public policy. They asked 40 pro-reform and 40 anti-reform attendees to locate Iraq on a map. The results:

A full 75%, 30 of 40 pro-reform attendees, could identify Iraq in its rather eye-catching, dead center position on the map. Only 52.5 %, 21 of 40 anti-reformers could do so. [...]

More telling was the startling reactions I got while conducting the test. Pro-reform people, even those geographically challenged few who laughed out loud at the futility of the task before them, portrayed a uniformly agreeable front. Most gave a knowing, touch_-like nod and smile. I received no negative comments, none at all, from that group.

The same could not be said of the other camp. Far from it.

One gentleman practically knocked the clipboard out of my hand in jabbing - angrily and correctly – at the country that (John Kerry was right) represented the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place.

Many sneered. Most at least glowered. Four accused the test itself of being somehow biased.

One anti-reform Vietnam veteran also responded, “Why the hell should I care where Iraq is?”



story from Thinkprogress.org

well, okay, back from taos. dammit....oh, it's cool. first week of class outta the way. hugely busy and rewarding year ahead. time to get busy even if I Am in dallas. at least I'm not in hoostun.

still in taos

I've been in taos since august 3rd teaching at ft. burgwin...which I have to leave tomorrow. dammit. love the 1000 hand dance video. quite a production. quality stuff there.

my class has been a combination rock history/drum circle/facebook thing. I had 4 kids, then 1 got kicked out for drinking on campus. this is an abnormally upper class bunch o kids who think they're on vacation yet still most are respectful and take class time seriously so whatever.

the cool thing is the vibe. we dont lock our doors or our cars. the beauty and sanctity of the place creates a trusting environment that demands a kind of family respect. it's ineresting cause it's nothing like dallas where I tend to mistrust my neighbors cause you just dont know.

one other cool thing is I'm teaching in one of the archeology labs where the shelves are full of boxes of artifacts from the digs, including human skulls and bones...ooo.

I had my friend Lauren Camp up from santa fe to read her poetry while we played drums last thursday and it was so cool for both performers and audience. I really like her stuff and her voice has a lot of character.

the pictures are obvious...all the drums I brought and the town at dusk.

Dance of the Thousand Hands

DANCE OF 1000 HANDS...
Read the paragraph below FIRST before you watch the video

There is an awesome dance, called the Thousand-Hand Guanyin, which is making the rounds across the net. Considering the tight coordination required, their accomplishment is nothing short of amazing, even if they were not all deaf. Yes, you read correctly. All 21 of the dancers are complete deaf-mutes. Relying only on signals from trainers at the four corners of the stage, these extraordinary dancers deliver a visual spectacle that is at once intricate and stirring.

Its first major international debut was in Athens at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Paralympics. But it had long been in the repertoire of the Chinese Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe and had traveled to more than 40 countries.

Its lead dancer is 29 year old Tai Lihua, who has a BA from the Hubei Fine Arts Institute. The video was recorded in Beijing during the Spring Festival this year.

People vs. Peterson

I did not write this, but found it in the comments on the Peterson family web site.



Proof Of Insufficient Evidence To Support The Verdict

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt was needed to support the jury’s finding that the killing of Laci Peterson was a first-degree murder by Scott Peterson. Jury instructions defined the necessary murder-one elements that must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt; i.e., willful (intended), premeditated and deliberated. Moreover, jury instructions also defined the necessary element for second-degree murder; i.e., malice aforethought.

In whole or in part, proof of premeditation, deliberation, intent and malice aforethought must be based on inculpatory evidence. Standing alone, corroborative evidence (consciousness of guilt, flight, dog evidence) is not sufficient to prove premeditation, deliberation, intent or malice aforethought.

An analysis of all possible sources of inculpatory evidence shows there is no inculpatory evidence the jury could have used in reaching its finding.

An eyewitness can not be a source of inculpatory evidence in this case, for no eyewitness testified at trial.

A confession can not be a source of inculpatory evidence in this case, for Scott has always maintained his innocence.

Time of death can not be a source of inculpatory evidence in this case, for there was no testimony that established either the day or the time of Laci's death or Connor's death.

Place of death can not be a source of inculpatory evidence in this case, for there was no testimony that established where they died.

Cause of death can not be a source of inculpatory evidence in this case, for the medical examiner, Dr. Brian Peterson, testified it could not be determined.

Neither a crime scene nor forensic evidence from a crime scene can be a source of inculpatory evidence in this case, for no one testified that a crime scene had been found.

Given that the above sources were void of inculpatory evidence, the only possible remaining source of inculpatory evidence would be motive.

On December 14, 2004, a juror, Greg Beratlis, took part in Larry King’s TV show on CNN. During the show, Larry King asked Greg Beratlis the following question.

”KING: And what do you think his motive was?”

”BERATLIS: You know, Larry, I think if we all knew the motive, if there was this one thing that stuck out, we'd probably have the answer to the whole thing.”

Greg Beratlis' "if/then" statement conditions deduction. Greg Beratlis, himself, is included in "We". At the very least, motive was unclear in his mind. For motive to have been used to support the jury’s first-degree murder verdict twelve jurors had to agree. Greg Beratlis proved that did not happen, which proves the jury reached its verdict absent motive.

Having eliminated motive as a possible source of inculpatory evidence, there are no other sources of inculpatory evidence that could have supplied evidence of premeditation, deliberation, intent and malice aforethought.

When all sources of inculpatory evidence cannot be the source the jury used to support its finding that premeditation and intent were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then of logical necessity, the jury’s verdict either had to rely on impermissible speculation or had to be fallaciously derived.

Based on insufficient evidence, the verdicts should be reversed with jeopardy attached.

33 Vague Reasons to Assume the Worst of Scott Peterson

I have a fascination with all things that aren't as they appear to be.
I know what it's like to be wrongly accused. I know what it's like to be punished for things you didn't do. And, especially, I know what it's like to be accused of calculation, when all you're doing is experiencing so much pain and confusion, you can barely breathe, much less defend yourself.

So this is slightly about my own ghosts.

But, now I'm curious about the Peterson case. I bought the book by Anne Bird, "33 reasons my brother Scott Peterson is Guilty" because I like crime books. I especially like books that contain personal analysis of others, because sometimes they tell you something about the person being analyzed, and sometimes they tell you more about the person doing the analyzing---in fact, it goes both ways. My conclusion was that the author has known great darkness in her life...but not from Mr. Peterson.

This is audio and it's in two parts.

I have now bought a few other books on the case, to learn more. Maybe he did it...but halfway through the book the jury wrote (12 jurors, only 7 of them wanted their names on this book..even though it takes twelve to convict); and so far all I can see is a freak show of egotistical smalltown, smallminded bungling, with giant loonies like Nancy Grace breathing stench of hysteria into every corner of the entire television-saturated circus. And you know how I feel about television.

So for now, in case you're curious, here are Ms. Bird's 33 reasons, with some commentary.

PETERSON WAS FRAMED. JUSTICE FOR LACI

I just finished "Presumed Guilty" by Matt Dalton. This is the biggest unreported
story of a railroaded jury that I have ever heard.

I'm not going to write about it right now, but I will put up some audio files. Download the windows media player and you should be able to listen. It's free.