Pour Ségolène Royal...

"Pour Ségolène Royal et contre Nicolas Sarkozy", un appel d'intellectuels de gauche avant le second tour de la présidentielle.

Pour, parce que Ségolène Royal porte la parole et la promesse d'une gauche qui a appris de ses échecs et de ses divisions, qui s'est remise en cause, réinventée et renouvelée. Son pacte présidentiel, sa campagne participative et ses engagements socialistes l'ont montré : elle incarne une France qui ne renonce ni à ses valeurs sociales ni à ses ambitions démocratiques, une France en mouvement, ouverte et créative. Pour, parce qu'elle place la question sociale au centre de ses préoccupations, soucieuse du sort des travailleurs et opposée à l'oligarchie financière. Parce qu'elle s'engage sur une rénovation profonde de nos institutions, mettant fin à l'abus de pouvoir présidentiel et restaurant la démocratie parlementaire. Parce qu'elle représente une France nouvelle, féministe et écologiste, métissée et universaliste, protectrice et dynamique. Parce qu'elle veut une République de tous et de chacun(e), associant l'intérêt général au droit des minorités, combattant toutes les formes de discrimination, soucieuse du sort des autres et de la paix du monde.

Contre, parce que Nicolas Sarkozy incarne une droite durcie et radicalisée, sous le poids de l'extrême droite, de ses peurs et de ses haines. Sa campagne, ses excès et ses provocations l'ont montré, comme l'avait déjà illustré sa virulence au sein de son propre camp face à ses rivaux. Ses discours opportunistes et ses promesses fallacieuses ne sauraient faire illusion : tout lui est bon pour conquérir le pouvoir. Et tout lui sera bon pour le garder. Car nous le savons d'expérience : tant que nos institutions n'auront pas changé, l'Elysée restera un fortin inexpugnable. Confier la présidence de la République à un tel démagogue, c'est donc prendre le risque d'une confiscation durable du pouvoir au profit d'une caste, d'une bande ou d'un clan. Contre, parce que, loin d'apaiser les crises dont souffre la France, l'élection de Nicolas Sarkozy les aggraverait. La crise sociale d'abord, parce qu'il entend donner beaucoup plus à ceux qui ont déjà trop, augmenter les privilèges privés et réduire les solidarités publiques. La crise politique ensuite, parce qu'il veut renforcer le pouvoir présidentiel, se donner les pleins pouvoirs au détriment de tous les contre-pouvoirs. La crise identitaire enfin, parce qu'il a une vision ethnique, communautariste, voire religieuse, de la politique, celle-là même qui nourrit le désastreux choc des civilisations.

Aux électeurs du Parti communiste et de l'extrême gauche, qui portent une exigence sociale et internationaliste, aux électeurs des Verts et de José Bové, qui portent une exigence écologiste et altermondialiste, aux électeurs de François Bayrou, qui portent une exigence démocratique et éthique, aux électeurs de droite et du centre, qui portent une exigence de sérieux et de modération, nous disons que seule l'élection de Ségolène Royal peut garantir l'ouverture de ces possibles et le dialogue de ces espérances, dans le respect de leur diversité.

Voter contre Nicolas Sarkozy, c'est éviter le péril d'une France en guerre contre elle-même, en conflit et en crise, divisée et déchirée.

Voter pour Ségolène Royal, c'est faire le pari d'une France réconciliée avec elle-même, en dialogue et en ouverture, élevée et apaisée.

Signataires : Marc Abélès, anthropologue, Gabriel Aghion, réalisateur, Paul Alliès, politiste, Louis Astre, syndicaliste, Raymond Aubrac, Marc Augé, anthropologue, Jean-Pierre Azéma, historien, Jean-Pierre Bacri, comédien, Jeanne Balibar, comédienne, Sébastien Balibar, physicien, Christian Baudelot, sociologue, Guy Bedos, artiste, Samuel Benchetrit, écrivain-réalisateur, Charles Berling, comédien, Carmen Bernand, anthropologue, Dominique Besnehard, producteur, Philippe Besson, écrivain, Mario Bettati, juriste, Didier Bezace, metteur en scène, Luc Boltanski, sociologue, Daniel Borrillo, juriste, Jacques Bouveresse, philosophe, Michel Broué, mathématicien, André Burguière, historien, Marilyne Canto, comédienne-réalisatrice, Arnaud Cathrine, écrivain, Philippe Caubère, comédien, Stéphane Célérier, distributeur, Claude Chambard, écrivain, Noëlle Châtelet, écrivain, Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, juriste, Patrice Chéreau, metteur en scène, Christine Citti, comédienne, Albert Cohen, mathématicien, Catherine Corsini, réalisatrice, Constantin Costa-Gavras, réalisateur, Pierre-Louis Curien, mathématicien-informaticien, Olivier Delbosc, producteur, Robert Delpire, éditeur, François Dubet, sociologue, Bernard Faivre d'Arcier, ex-directeur du Festival d'Avignon, Cynthia Fleury, philosophe, Antoinette Fouque, psychanalyste, Gérard Fromanger, peintre, Françoise Gaspard, sociologue, Julie Gayet, comédienne, Christian Gilain, historien des mathématiques, Christophe Girard, producteur, Jean-Yves Girard, mathématicien, Christine Gozlan, productrice, Anouk Grinberg, comédienne, Etienne Guyon, physicien, Françoise Héritier, anthropologue, Stéphane Hessel, ambassadeur de France, Liêm Hoang-Ngoc, économiste, Angélique Ionatos, musicienne, Jean Jamin, anthropologue, Catherine Jeandel, océanographe, Philippe Joutard, historien, Axel Kahn, généticien, Cédric Kahn, réalisateur, Marcel-Francis Kahn, médecin, Sam Karmann, comédien-réalisateur, Camille Kouchner, juriste, Julia Kristeva, psychanalyste, Catherine Lamour, journaliste, Nicole Lapierre, sociologue, Armelle Le Bras-Chopard, politologue, Michèle Leduc, physicienne, François Luciani, réalisateur, Dominique Méda, sociologue, Eric Michaud, historien de l'art, Jean-Pierre Mignard, avocat, Marc Missonnier, producteur, Ariane Mnouchkine, metteur en scène, Sarah Moon, photographe, Jeanne Moreau, comédienne, Janine Mossuz-Lavau, politologue, Georges Moustaki, musicien, Gérard Noiriel, historien, François Ozon, réalisateur, Michelle Perrot, historienne, Christine Petit, biologiste, Thomas Piketty, économiste, Evelyne Pisier, juriste, Marie-France Pisier, comédienne, Denis Podalydès, comédien, Michèle Ray-Gavras, productrice, Natacha Régnier, comédienne, Joël Roman, éditeur, Jean-Paul Scarpitta, metteur en scène, Fabienne Servan-Schreiber, productrice, Philippe Sollers, écrivain, Marc Soriano, acteur-auteur, Dan Sperber, philosophe, Maria Stavrinaki, historienne de l'art, Benjamin Stora, historien, Bernard Stora, cinéaste, Martine Storti, écrivaine, Pierre Tambourin, biologiste, Bernard Teissier, mathématicien, Sylvie Testud, comédienne, Alexandre Tharaud, pianiste, Irène Théry, sociologue, Philippe Torreton, comédien, Pierre V. Tournier, démographe, Jacques Treiner, physicien, Lucette Valensi, historienne, Eliane Viennot, historienne, Daniel Vigne, réalisateur, Fabienne Vonier, productrice, Emmanuel Wallon, sociologue, Patrick Weil, historien, Lambert Wilson, comédien.

Site : www.appel6mai.net

She Served the Countess Well ...

From Mourning the ...

... and I will be ever grateful to her : art in Rocky Mount.

Answers from the Playpen

New York Times - Editorial
Still Waiting for Answers
Published: April 29, 2007
Why, after all this time, are Americans still in the dark about many of the Bush administration’s most important decisions? [...]
The country does not need any more myths. It needs answers.

Memorial for the Countess

Rose Tyson Gardner

August 30, 1926 - April 21, 2007

Memorial services will be held Saturday, April 28, at 4 p.m. at West Haven Presbyterian Church, Rocky Mount, conducted by the Rev. Connie Button. The family will receive friends in the Fellowship Hall at 3 p.m. before the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials are made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Nash General Hospital, West Haven Presbyterian Church or leukemia research.

Buying the War

Bill Moyers Journal . Buying the War . Additional Interviews PBS
Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a flight suit and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. He was hailed by media stars as a "breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neo-cons now;" NPR's Bob Edwards said, "The war in Iraq is essentially over;" and Fortune magazine's Jeff Birnbaum said, "It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context."
...
"Buying the War" examines the press coverage in the lead-up to the war as evidence of a paradigm shift in the role of journalists in democracy and asks, four years after the invasion, what's changed? "More and more the media become, I think, common carriers of administration statements and critics of the administration," says THE WASHINGTON POST's Walter Pincus. "We've sort of given up being independent on our own."

They deserve praise...

Guantánamo is Unamerican !

After the Lawyers - New York Times
Editorial
Published: April 27, 2007

It can be hard to tell whom the Bush administration considers more of an enemy at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp: the prisoners or the lawyers. [...]
Mr. Bush thinks that he has the right to ignore the Constitution when it suits him. But this is a nation of laws, not the whims of men, and giving legal rights to the guilty as well as the innocent is a price of true justice. The only remedy is for lawmakers to rewrite the Military Commissions Act to restore basic rights to Guantánamo Bay and to impose full accountability for what has happened there.

Still No Justice in the "Justice" Department

As this report on the antidemocratic, unjust, and unconstitutional - and completely arrogant - "requests" of the Justice Department from the New York Times confirms, the bushbaby playpen still blocks any and all efforts to bring suspected terrorists to justice, which of course means charging them, providing a speedy and fair trial, and a judgement on guilt or innocence from a fair and impartial court.
(And why is anyone in favor of Gonzales keeping his ill-fitted post?)

The New York Times
Washington
Court Asked to Limit Lawyers at Guantánamo
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
Published: April 26, 2007
A Justice Department filing in a federal appeals court proposes limits on lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to secret evidence in their cases.
[...]
“These rules,” Mr. Hafetz of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University said, “are an effort to restore Guantánamo to its prior status as a legal black hole.”

Rose Tyson Gardner

Rose Tyson Gardner, 80, of Rocky Mount, NC, died Saturday, April 21, 2007.

Born in Farmville, NC, she was the daughter of the late Henry Calvin Tyson and Mary Ida Edwards Tyson.

A longtime Presbyterian, she was a member of Edgemont Presbyterian Church for many years, serving as that congregation’s first female ordained elder. She was an active Sunday School teacher, served as Clerk of Session and treasurer. At the time of her death, she was a member of West Haven Presbyterian Church. A member of Lydia Chapter #109 of the Order of the Eastern Star for many years, she served three different terms as Worthy Matron and in several other offices while her health would permit. At the time of her death, she was a member of Nashville Chapter #332.

She is survived by a son George Richard Gardner Jr. and husband Detlef Siegel of Berlin, Germany, and daughter Teresa Anne Gardner Price and husband Jeffrey Price of Taylors, S.C.; grandchildren Jennifer Michelle Price and Christopher George Price; sisters Carrie Bess Davis of Hickory, N.C., Sally Tyson Mozingo and husband Willy of Farmville, N.C., Mary Tyson Smith of Farmville, N.C., and Addie Parker Williams and husband Thomas of Sanford, N.C.; brothers Amos Joyner Tyson of Farmville, N.C., and Henry C. Tyson Jr. and wife Wilma of Greenville, N.C.; sisters-in-law MaeBelle Gardner Hudgins of Nashville, N.C., and Anne Gardner Williams and husband David of Ahoskie, N.C.; and brothers-in-law Julian M. Gardner and wife Inez of Weldon, N.C., and W. Thomas Gardner and wife Margaret of Swansboro, N.C.; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband George Richard Gardner, her sister Lou Tyson Streetman and her brother the Rev. Aaron G. Tyson.

---

Rose Tyson Gardner, 80, died Saturday, April 21, 2007, following a brief illness.

[...]

Memorial services will be held Saturday, April 28, at 4 p.m. at West Haven Presbyterian Church, Rocky Mount, conducted by the Rev. Connie Button. The family will receive friends in the Fellowship Hall at 3 p.m. before the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials are made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Nash General Hospital, West Haven Presbyterian Church or leukemia research. Arrangements are entrusted to Bowling Funeral Home and Crematory, 661 English Road, Rocky Mount, NC 27804.

Published in the Rocky Mount Telegram on 4/25/2007.

And now elect Mme La Présidente !

Les résultats du premier tour de la présidentielle par département
LEMONDE.FR 22.04.07

©

LIBÉRATION
Présidentielle. Les leçons du scrutin. Editorial
Le choix de la clarté
Par Laurent JOFFRIN
QUOTIDIEN : lundi 23 avril 2007
La France a sauvé la gauche. En dépit d'une campagne incertaine et des poignards venus de son propre camp, Ségolène Royal approche les scores de François mitterrand au premier tour, ce qui lui laisse tous les espoirs au second, dans cette élection où on la disait mal placée, malhabile, maladroite. Vote utile ? Pas seulement. Après tout, beaucoup pensaient que le vrai vote utile s'appelait François Bayrou. Les Français ont jugé, d'abord, qu'on ne pouvait pas effacer de notre mémoire tant de luttes populaires, tant de conquêtes chèrement obtenues, qu'on ne pouvait pas rayer de l'avenir l'ancienne espérance d'un monde plus juste. Royal qualifiée sans conteste, le rêve vit toujours.
La France a aussi choisi la clarté. Une droite franche affrontera au second tour une gauche qui doit faire le pari du renouveau. Ce duel salutaire est celui de toutes les démocraties modernes. La France a inventé la configuration droite-gauche pendant la Révolution. Fidèle à elle-même, elle a jugé que l'outil pouvait encore servir, dans un monde où la question sociale et celle de la liberté individuelle face aux pouvoirs restent les deux grands marqueurs de la civilisation des droits de l'homme. La vaste mobilisation civique survenue dans une nation qu'on disait désabusée, fatiguée de la classe politique, ajoute encore à l'aveuglante clarté de la volonté populaire. Au-delà du souvenir douloureux de 2002, les Français ont voulu que s'ouvrent devant eux deux chemins, nettement dessinés sur la carte de l'Histoire. Ce choix n'enlève rien au
mérite des autres candidats, hommes et femmes de talent éliminés dans une compétition loyale. Ils ont exprimé des sensibilités fortes. Ils pèseront sur le choix ultime. Encore faut-il que ce choix reste clair. On le sait, l'élection de Sarkozy serait une rupture. Faisant preuve d'une roublardise certaine ­ n'est-il pas aussi l'homme du passif ? ­, l'intéressé n'en a pas fait mystère. Pour la première fois, une droite qui dit son nom se présente à visage découvert devant l'électeur. Autorité de l'Etat, fermeté policière, fermeture migratoire, ouverture marchande, repli identitaire : le programme est affiché. Tant mieux, au fond. Nous savons à quoi nous en tenir. La France veut-elle de cette droite-là au pouvoir ? La question est limpide. A condition que les masques restent au vestiaire. Lesté d'une bonne part des électeurs de Le Pen, le candidat de l'UMP va maintenant chercher à rassurer. A son projet néoconservateur, Nicolas Sarkozy va, à coup sûr, accrocher quelques guirlandes progressistes, quelques fanfreluches sociales. Laissez venir à moi les petits centristes. Dans la campagne qui commence, il faudra se souvenir de la campagne qui s'est achevée samedi. Dans son discours inaugural ­ fort bon au demeurant ­, Sarkozy avait évoqué les mânes de Victor Hugo et de la république valeureuse. Puis, au fil des meetings et des incidents, il a droitisé son discours. Il avait débuté avec Jaurès. Il a fini avec Le Pen. Ne l'oublions pas. Pour autant, la gauche ne peut pas se contenter de ces utiles rappels. Sarkozy est très à droite, d'accord. Mais cette élection ne saurait se changer trivialement en référendum sur un homme, aussi symbolique soit-il. A un projet négatif, il faut opposer un projet positif. La madone des meetings ne peut pas se contenter de pointer du doigt le méchant Sarkozy. Elle doit défendre des mesures, des propositions, des décisions. Pas celles de la vieille gauche, épuisée par la gestion et une certaine forme de cynisme. Il faut réduire ­ vraiment cette fois ­ la fracture sociale, réconcilier une France fragmentée, mettre le service public au service du public, relancer l'entreprise pour relancer l'embauche, rassurer les faibles et intimider les forts, bref, au-delà d'une posture démocratique et d'une sensibilité à l'opinion, avoir une vision. Le combat s'engage. Un combat Royal.
© Libération

Deadlines, War Money and Pork - New York Times

Deadlines, War Money and Pork - New York Times

Editorial
Deadlines, War Money and Pork

Published: April 23, 2007
President Bush is taking every opportunity to rail against the troop withdrawal deadlines in the war-spending bills that Congress is readying for passage.

L'amore que muove ...

A l'alta fantasia qui mancò possa;
ma già volgeva il mio disio e'l velle,
sì come rota ch'igualmente è mossa,
l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.

Here vigour fail'd the tow'ring fantasy:
But yet the will roll'd onward, like a wheel
In even motion, by the Love impell'd,
That moves the sun in heav'n and all the stars.

L’imagination perdit ici ses forces ;
mais déjà mon envie avec ma volonté
tournaient comme une roue aux ordres de l’amour
qui pousse le soleil et les autres étoiles.

Hier war die Macht der Phantasie bezwungen,
Doch Wunsch und Will’, in Kraft aus ew’ger
Ferne, Ward, wie ein Rad, gleichmäßig umgeschwungen,
Durch Liebe, die beweget Sonn’ und Sterne.

- Dante Alighieri

For Rose, as we look at the stars

Her Journey's End

The Countess has peacefully and gracefully completed her journey.

Two kids could have never had a better mother.

Sisters and brothers could have never known a better sibling.

Brothers- and sisters-in-law had a true blood relative in her.

Nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews enjoyed her doting admiration.

And two grandchildren learned of her overpowering affection.

We all knew her boundless love.

Thank you, Countess.

We all love you, too.

Rose Tyson Gardner

August 30, 1926 - April 21, 2007

A film, a warning...

If this doesn't make you understand that fundamentalists are something beyond either Islam or Christianity, then your world may well be ending tomorrow!
Watch the trailer and I'll be looking for the film in total.
Hopefully we may have a chance to teach some of those kids, because up to now they're only being indoctrinated.
Teach them literature! Teach them to READ books, ALL books, as many as they can get there hands on.
And beware of people ready to die for their gods!

"Jesus Camp" documentary Trailer
Hochgeladen von moviemax1

The documentary film is called "Jesus Camp" and portrays a fundamentalist summer camp run by evangelicals training kids to be soldiers to take over the country for Christ. Sounds like the sort of thing they were doing in Afghanistan to me: resulted in a couple of towers less in NYC. And we have also recently learned how a student in Virginia can react to what he considers decadence...
Here as well a link to the official website for the film which includes more excerpts, information, and photos.

Zeit und Ewigkeit / Time and Eternity / Le temps et l'éternité

Appropriate to be quoting now, as it was appropriate for me to read it on my way to give lessons this morning, is this extract from MH, GA Bd 67, Metaphysik und Nihilismus, 1. Die Überwindung der Metaphysik, §118. Zeit und Ewigkeit; Frankfurt aM: Klostermann, 1999; S. 125. Following the original German is my quick-draft attempt at an English translation, while recalling always that Italian proverb, "tradutore traditore".

Das Ewige ist das Einstige und zwar in dem wesenhaft-einigen Doppelsinn des vormalig-gewesenen Anfangs und des einstmals Kommenden. Nicht die Langeweile einer still gelegten und überallhin endlosen Gegenwart.

The eternal is the former (or: what "once was") and, to be precise, in the intrinsically united (or: the "essentially being one with itself") double meaning of the beginning that has previously been and of that which formerly was ("once was") to come. Not the boredom (or: "long enduring while") of some present rendered motionless (or: "laid to rest", or: "closed down") and endless in all directions.

L'éternel est le jadis (ce qu'il y avait une fois) et, précisément, dans le sens double essentiellement unifié du commencement qu'il y avait auparavant et de ce qui une fois était à venir. Non pas l'ennui (la durée longue, le perdurer) d'un présent figé et partout sans fin.

The Countess had decided to have no more transfusions; the strain provides her no benefit though her counts be low. The Countess is resting a lot, from pain medications and from the sapping of leukemia. The Countess is at peace and peaceful and nearing peace.
Time-Space is not endless, but eternal, not long, but vast, always beginning. And man is there to realize this, to be human, to share.
It was the Countess who taught me how to read.

Other Territories of Concern

In homage to the late Susan Sontag, I would like to provide a quotation from her essay "The Conscience of Words" included in her last book, At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches, published by Farrar Straus Giroux of New York in 2007, page 147. I completed the volume just after returning from my last visit to the Countess and Chicora Court. It is in harmony with so much of what has always moved me to be as I am that I must at least share with as many as I can possibly reach this one observation from it.

I don't believe there is any inherent value in the cultivation of the self. And I think there is no culture (using the term normatively) without a standard of altruism, of regard for others. I do believe there is an inherent value in extending our sense of what a human life can be. If literature has engaged me as a project, first as reader and then as writer, it is as an extension of my sympathies to others selves, other domains, other dreams, other words, other territories of concern.

Reading to Write Others

Writing is reading what I am not, as is reading a contact with what I am not. In both expressions, the key words are BEING and NOT, or nothingness.
There where I am not is where I write and read to and from. So that not is not nothing: nothingness is certainly not nothing.
BEING essentially from the abyss of enowning truth into being from nothingness, only apparently a circle, indeed a gigantic spiral: the screw turns down into its base while spiraling upward with each turn. The base does not precede, it is enowned: from abyss to "byss", from the truth of being to the being of truth. Man is enowned in being-there to catch flashes of that enowning, Being, Nothingness, Truth.
It isn't confused; it is different:
The other beginning.
Welcome.

Close Guantanamo Prison

In the hopes the bushbaby might listen finally if the whole world petitions him directly, check out this short petition from avaaz.org calling for immediate closure of the lawless prison in Guantánamo.

Here, the text of the petition:

Petition to US President Bush: We call upon US President Bush to close Guantanamo Bay prison forever. Every detainee should be charged with a crime and tried in a legitimate court or immediately released. We further call on President Bush to respect international law and basic human rights in the handling of all current and future prisoners in US custody.

Here, a link for you to sign the petition online:
SIGN THE PETITION

Here, brief information on the group (more easily available through the link above):

Avaaz.org is a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today. The aim of Avaaz.org is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decisions. Avaaz.org members act for a more just and peaceful world and a globalisation with a human face.

Another Way to Miss a Flight

As Harper's reports, the playpen sometimes denies those who disagree with the bushbaby access to their flights at times - or at least displaces their luggage. So watch out what you say or write or maybe even read and just keep hoping you can board your next flight!

Harper's Magazine
No Comment
Tales from Stasiland: Making the No-Fly List
by Scott Horton, April 9, 2007

Meet the latest addition to the Bush Administration's Enemies List: His name is Walter F. Murphy. He is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence emeritus at Princeton University, and perhaps the nation's leading scholar working on the frontier turf between public law and political science. He's also a retired Marine Corps colonel, wounded in combat
for his country and decorated for valor under fire.

Over at Balkinization, Mark Graber treats us to Prof. Murphy's first-hand account:

On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American Airlines to Newark, NJ, to attend an academic conference at Princeton University, designed to focus on my latest scholarly book, onstitutional Democracy, published by Johns Hopkins University Press this past Thanksgiving.
When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk...
I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: “Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that.” I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. “That'll do it,” the man said.

Murphy relates that he did eventually get a boarding pass and caught his flight. An attendant warned him: “they're going to ransack your luggage.” On the way back, his luggage was “lost.” Writes Murphy: “Airlines do lose a lot of luggage and this 'loss' could have been a mere coincidence. In light of previous events, however, I'm a tad skeptical.”

So it's not just a speech in a cornfield that can cause you delay when flying as long as bushbabies and their playpens are still around.

Airport Blues - or at least Violets - And a Chick for the Countess

Well, made it out of RDU only 30 minutes late, which didn't matter, since we've planned this return with so much slack not even the bushbaby should be able to cornfield speech it out of whack, and got here on time anyway. Here is Boston, the airport at Logan, where this is going out to the web. Seems they plan to fly out of RDU late in any case. Anyway.

Good we had a lot of time to be able to get past the illiterate marble mouthed mumbling woman checking boarding passes before allowing passengers to proceed to the security check outside the gates of our depature terminal for our next leg, to Paris CDG, as she couldn't understand why there were two boarding passes in my possession with the word Boston on them (one was from the flight we arrived on, one for the one we'll depart Logan on) and wanted to know, I discovered after getting her to repeat her mumble some 5 times, "Where you get these?" At the airport I started from of course and added that she only needed to look at the one to Paris, not the one from RDU nor the one to Berlin! "I can't understand why there are two with Boston on them," she mumbled, and I explained that some people change planes here, just pass though, especially in view of the sort of reception she was giving... "Thank you, Sir." This lady works here everyday, I assume, and has never before seen anyone with two boarding passes !!! ???

Anyway. We've made it, eaten burgers, and can calmly wait forever for our Paris flight knowing we have plenty of time there before continuing to Berlin.

And leaving the Countess was not easy, not saying goodbye, only "see you later", hugging her, exchanging I-love-you's, driving off with the Lady-in-Waiting, saying bye to her over hot chocolate at that southern airport, knowing that the next time my Consort and I see the L-i-W will surely be even sadder, approaching a box of ashes instead of a Countess with a Chick.

Cause we gave her an Easter basket with salty pretzels and a Walking Hippy Chick that lays jellybean eggs, tickled her fully, enjoyed seeing her absorbed in something for a few minutes, fully out of her waitingroom mode, watching her proudly demonstrate it for everybody, laughing genuinely and freely, accepting our present, none too silly, just right, and not trying to give it away to the next person who walked through the door.

Perhaps weak, perhaps mottled with platelet-deficiency blotches, perhaps waiting eagerly for each next dose of anti-pain meds, the Countess is still there, waiting, sometimes impatiently, sorrowing, that the farewells are becoming ever more final, but laughing still over a silly plastic chicken.

We love you Countess !!!

Here We Are...

THE COUNTESS WITH HER FAMILY

From Tysons Gather...

Draft Report on New Court Reporter

Though the Lady-in-Waiting is opposed to the designation, Court Reporter is what the Countess transformed Doll Baby (a 96-year-old Chick of Chicora Court) into yesterday to determine the accuracy of her determination of the identity of the itinerant preacher man who showed up here yesterday, while we (L-i-W, Consort, and Page) were out fetching an Arbied lunch, only to be refused entry upon not giving the attending sister of the Countess his name. The cameraman at his side was also part of the Countess' decision to tell him, when he announced he had come to pray with her, that it was not a good time.

Now, there had been a missionary-like communion session up at the Court’s rec-room immediately prior to this, and the Countess knew from Consort and Page that Doll Baby had been among those who went up there. So, when the latter came by for a visit, checking on her neighbor, later that afternoon, the Countess had her sit at the foot of the throne and answer her questions about the “service”, who was there, who was not, who the preacher was, what he looks like, if he had come up this way afterwards, etc.

An uninterested Court Reporter, Doll Baby nonetheless replied tersely to the queries, all clearly of no import to her, and confirmed that Mark the prayer man had even insisted on walking her up to her door adding, “So I had to go back home.” Evidently that had not been her plan.

Perhaps the Countess had also accomplished her subtle mission of spreading work back through her Court that someone, even to pray, who doesn’t identify himself will not be admitted into her presence. (Not to mention the fact that the Countess has a Court Pastor of her confidence and stands in no need of being the subject of missionary efforts.)

At any rate, her brief role as Court Reporter accomplished despite herself, Doll Baby left clearly in her own role, the only one at Court old enough to admonish, albeit it mildly with a wagging crooked finger, the Countess at all.

Auntie Times Got It Right !

The New York Times
Editorial
Guantánamo Follies
Published: April 6, 2007
Each development in the show trials of Guantánamo Bay inmates brings fresh evidence of how urgent it is for the courts to strike down the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and for Congress to rewrite it.

Evidently Lucky It Didn't Come to a Real Blowup !

Apparently the world was very lucky (again) that one of the "bad guy nations" of the world didn't know, before releasing Her Majesty's Sailors, what one of the world's "good guy countries" was really up to.

SKY NEWS
In His Own Words
Updated: 17:22, Thursday April 05, 2007
Captain Chris Air of the Royal Marines revealed to Sky News that he and his colleagues had been gathering intelligence on the Iranians.
Here follows the full transcript of that interview.

'We Gathered Intelligence'
Updated: 22:05, Thursday April 05, 2007
The captain in charge of the 15 marines detained in Iran has said they were gathering intelligence on the Iranians.
Sky News went on patrol with Captain Chris Air and his team in Iraqi waters close to the area where they were arrested - just five days before the crisis began.

Chance for More Courts to Protect Freedom of the Press

Because a couple of organizations (see below) are appealing the dismissal of "charges" against Charlie Hebdo, now some further courts in France and Europe will have the chance, the duty to guarantee freedom of speech and press. No ideology or religion, freely exercised, may be allowed to legislate or judicate what others in a civil society are allowed to say or write. An ideology or religion can operate in a civil society with means of persuasion, as do we all, but never with means of coercion or prohibition. What such a group does to or with its own members is of no interest to a civil society as long as the individual is not denied his civil rights. A member of such a group who freely chooses to rein in his freedom of thought or opinion is surely lamentable but nothing legislatable or judicable.
Here the information on the appeals against freedom of speech:

Procès Charlie Hebdo : La Ligue islamique mondiale fait appel
La Ligue islamique mondiale, a annoncé vendredi qu'elle faisait appel de la relaxe prononcée en faveur de Charlie Hebdo.
L'Union des organisations islamiques de France (UOIF), l'organisation intégriste qui avait été élevée par Nicolas Sarkozy au rang de partenaire incontournable avait fait appel quelques jours auparavant. Lire
Dans un communiqué la Ligue islamique mondiale délcare : "Il s'agit d'une question de principe, et la Ligue islamique mondiale (LIM) qui ne désespère aucunement des hiérarchies pense que les juridictions supérieures ne pourront faire deux poids et deux mesures dans les questions touchant aux injures raciales (...) En outre, la LIM veut se ménager l'accès vers la Cour européenne des Droits de l'Homme, en cas de déboutement généralisé par les cours françaises".
La mosquée de Paris, défendue par Maître Szpinner, avocat de Jacques Chirac et d'Omar Bongo, n'a pas fait appel.
samedi 31 mars 2007

SOURCE: © www.prochoix.org

Countess Staff at Work

Just prior to discussion of final crematory arrangements with the Countess and the representative of her preferred facility for same, the Lady-in-Waiting and the Page were busy online behind her back (no rearview mirror granted despite her jocular requests for same from her throne in the invisible foreground of this court image. The Countess was able to secure answers to all her questions from the representative summoned to Court, and he was instructed to bring papers for signature on Friday afternoon. Simple sealable vault for the cremains, family in charge at Pineview, West Haven for wake and memorial. And we hardly choked up much at all.

Courts Should Uphold Justice

Coming Up Short on Habeas for Detainees
JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild, says that the Supreme Court's failure to marshall enough votes to review the habeas-stripping provisions of the Military Commissions Act at this stage shows that the court cannot be relied upon to consistently provide justice and that Congress should pass rescinding legislation...
-An excellent article deserving of wider attention

Countess Welcomes Back to Court...

... the Page and Consort after a near 24 hour journey capped by a derouted Lady-in-Waiting fetching them from the airport only after a (for her) nerve-wracking delay, by a smile from the Countess, when they arrived at Court, which radiated out into the parking lot in the twilight, though she was so tired she could hardly stay awake while they ate Brunswick stew, chicken salad, and pecan pie.
The Countess can now sleep peacefully, and here the Page and Consort will do the same.