http://www.betweenthecolumns.com/2008/10/obamas-infomercial-live-blogging.html

hi Jon

Thanks for your note, as well!

Yes, Barack Skywalker may have learned the ways of the Force, but the "Death Star" of DC has a way of leaving no good things unpunished.

There's nearly infinite inertia in that dense matter, and it will take a leader of epochal stature to bring enough of We the People's conscious energy to bear on it to change the direction.

I think that our Man is on to an extremely important principal, though: one cannot confront such mass directly. In the same way that a tiny tugboat can turn a giant tanker, you approach it from the perpendicular dimension. Again the principal of transcending the unidimensional dichotomy of right-left, finding a vector which the 'traditional' operators never suspected, never heard of, had never imagined.

NO doubt, however, that Barack will be challenged to the extremes of his capacity. I'm praying for him and his family, and for all sentient beings... and I'm not the praying type.

The thing is that the Matrix is not controlled by the President. Unfortunately, it has taken on a will of its own, modeled after that of the private interests which have greatly usurped the commons (see Jefferson's and Madison's concerns about moneyed interests versus democracy)

So, yes, I think he understands that there is only so much one can do. But FDR and TR took on those interests and set them back for a while. It takes a magnificent disaster for the People to wake-up sometimes....

You gotta love it, though, when GWB says yesterday "Capitalism is not broken..." Oh. My. God. Now the SH*T must REALLY be gonna hit the fan!

After a nearly flawless campaign, in both strategy and tactics, Barack Obama and David Axelrod have clearly left both their opposition and the 'pundit class' gasping for air in their dust.

Obama projects an air of confidence and inner clarity which seems to derive from something akin to advance knowledge of outcomes. His focus goes beyond garden variety IQ. It becomes apparent that he is, in addition, simply more conscious than the typical pundit, or politician, from either party.

The best analogy I can think of is from a long time favorite book, Flatland by Edwin Abbot

In the book, the three-dimensional Sphere has the ability to stand inches away from a Flatlander and observe them without being seen, can remove Flatland objects from closed containers and teleport them via the third dimension without traversing the space in between, and is capable of seeing and touching the inside and outside of everything in the two-dimensional universe; at one point, the Sphere gently pokes the narrator's intestines and launches him into three dimensions as proof of his powers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland

Obama's keen observation of human behavior, political behavior in particular, gives him a raised vantage point from which he has been able to ascertain the motives and trajectories of his opponents and adversaries. He has been able to anticipate and frustrate every attack, and simply step aside, like a kung-fu master, as his opponent misses swing after swing.

His understanding of the power of language gave the lie to both Clinton's and McCain's whining about "he's all just pretty words".

After all, leadership is exactly about finding the words to invigorate and empower ones listeners. Without language, we have no polity, no public, no common good. This is, of course, also the danger, for, as George Lakoff said, there is no other weapon in the struggle of ideas.

George Lakoff, in fact, must be feeling pretty well vindicated himself, after his disabuse by the DLC centrists. His star shown during Howard Dean's campaign, but was quenched by the 'realists' who claimed that his message was 'only about words'.

Barack Obama understands the Force of human political strategy, like a Jedi Knight, he able to re-frame powerful attacks by dynamically altering the dimension in which the battle occurs.

I expect that there will never have been a human more conscious of the pitfalls and potentials of power as he enters the People's House, as our next President, our leader and our humble servant.

Parlortricks Subscriptions: http://www.eiotx.net/mailman/listinfo/parlortricks

Quantum Magick & Love Quarks Blog: http://fraterdeus.com

Unfortunately, most astrologers don't either.

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/your-astronomical-sign.html

My response to the article follows:

This is old news, of course... ;-)

Nonetheless, IMHO:

The qualities of the signs are based on the relationship to the equinox itself (and, in my view, the length of the daylight hours), not to the background "wallpaper" of the fixed stars. There are four 'elements' and three 'qualities' which iterate through the twelve signs.

Aries is "Cardinal" (containing the initial signature qualities of its season) "Fire", appropriate enough for the Vernal Equinox, as the lengthening days raise verdant. (Of course southern hemisphere astrology would need to invert the cycle, not a problem, since the length of the solar day is the appropriate 'impulse' here, not the "effects" of distant points of light). Taurus, the "Fixed, Earth" middle of the vernal season is traditionally associated with the fecundity of the Earth, a time for planting...

Gemini, the mental "Mutable, Air" sign comes as the season changes (mutable) into summer, and the breezes of late spring invigorate the mind (poetically speaking, of course) (and "Cancer" the first--Cardinal--sign of Summer brings Water to finish the elemental cycle, etc)

While I am not an apologist for astrobabble, I can easily see that the diurnal and lunar cycles have an effect on biological scales, and seasonal affective disorder shows the same on neurological and psychological scales.

What unbiased scientist would discard the 'old wives tales' of astrology, now that we see the economic and therapeutic value, for instance, of herbs used for millennia by Amazon shamans? 19th and 20th C arrogant Euro-centric academics imagined that they already knew everything there was to know, dismissing the iterative and augmentative observations of 1000s of generations of intelligent humans. We do so now at our own peril, both intellectual and global!

:-)

http://fraterdeus.com Quantum Magick and Love Quarks

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/wanted-intelligent-aliens-for-a-research-project/

Any more takers for the Burns quote? :-)

Thanks to one very perceptive human (O.J.) for these regular reminders that piercing intelligence need not be stuffed into a dry old shirt...

Speaking as a part-alien, Olivia makes me proud of my human part!

Symbolic consciousness is not a particularly good fit with biological neurological systems, but humans have selectively evolved brains which are better able to hold abstract symbols in contemplation. This is not at all to say that other intelligent earth creatures have no such ability, but the human brain is highly adapted in its attempt to do so.

Language and symbolic consciousness are 'alien' in the sense that they have arrived only after billions of years of biological evolution.

However, the match is by no means perfect! The Buddhist and other contemplative practices are tools for self-calibration and have developed and thrived due to their success at moderating the neuro-symbolic conflux.

http://fraterdeus.com Quantum Magick and Love Quarks

PF

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/diamond-and-kashyap-on-the-recent-financial-upheavals/

My comment on the good points and information raised there:

Thanks to Ronnie Reagan for the good times, eh? The 'free-market' dogmatics seem to think that the Law of Gravity is also subject to their whims. But what goes up must come down.

The sad thing is that the same lessons are given decade after decade, even century after century, but the reality is that humans are not wise. Our perspective, neurologically, is barely 24 hours. The global economy is much too large to be entrusted to the selfish biological drives that covet McMansions and $10 million condos in Manhattan or Houston.

Unfortunately, American politics panders to the lowest common denominator, with the results of the last eight years a clear example.

Peter Fraterdeus blog: fraterdeus.com

Thanks to a number of Parlortricks readers for insightful replies to my previous post "George Lakoff: Don't think of a Maverick"

Howard wrote:

Peter, It's not a simple problem...I don't know how they should deal with it, either. I think that dignity goes a long way, but people are somehow snowed by Palin. Part of it is that she is a FRESH FACE. Great strategy to unleash someone who nobody had seen or heard, so she sounds fresh.

Yep. It's a pure Karl Rove masterpiece. However, I think that Obama has known such a moment would arrive, and they are responding with the plan. It's ok to be boring with policy wonkishness for a couple of weeks. I'm hoping that he will save the best for last... three weeks from mid-October onward of soaring inspirational dynamism. It will be time then to leave McPain in the dust of herstory.

The campaign is so long that it wears out the public, and the candidates, too, I think.

Indeed.

In some ways, Obama needs to grab the ball and then hold it to run down the clock.

His ground plan and operation will be executed successfully, as it was in the primary campaign. He struggled against Hillary in the late primaries but never gave up his early lead and stunning early success. This was the strategy and it was executed as it needed to be. It don't matter if it's pretty, what matters, in this game, is whether you win!

Ren wrote:

Peter, I kinda like the idea of "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". It really bugs me when the supporters start criticizing their own people. That's all people who can't think for themselves need to hear... "Sarah Palin is effective and Obama is not effective" (they don't even hear the rest of the sentence...that the Obama campaign is not effective in dealing with her...whatever that means). What crap. She's an idiot and he's not. That's all they need to say. ...

Yes, I agree. And you are effectively criticizing Lakoff using his very own idea!

I do feel like George Lakoff has a very important point, though, that it's not about numbers or policy or issues.

It's about who can be a leader of hearts and minds together. A leader whose personal commitment and ideas should inspire us all, American, Earthian, Human. That we aspire to make manifest an awareness of the inter-relatedness of all life and to make being a good American about being a good human being, and a responsible citizen and inhabitant of Our Only Home Planet.

Not about McPain's "Country First" but "We the People".

LEADERSHIP >> IS << ABOUT THE SPEECHES YOU MAKE

Building consensus, pointing direction and raising optimism is what a leader does! Obama does that very well, and I look forward to his returning to that role full time.

Dorothy sent this link to Andrew Sullivan's article in The Atlantic : "McCain's Integrity"

For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest person. When he knows, as every sane person must, that Obama did not in any conceivable sense mean that Sarah Palin is a pig, what did he do? Did he come out and say so and end this charade? Or did he acquiesce in and thereby enable the mindless Rovianism that is now the core feature of his campaign?

Full article: http://www.truthout.org/article/mccains-integrity

And now, with Beyond the Palin having finally deigned to be interviewed by the fourth estate, we see, as the New York Times Editorial Board put it:

"""It was bad enough that Ms. Palin’s performance in the first televised interviews she has done since she joined the Republican ticket was so visibly scripted and lacking in awareness. What made it so much worse is the strategy for which the Republicans have made Ms. Palin the frontwoman: win the White House not on ideas, but by denigrating experience, judgment and qualifications."""

Full editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/opinion/13sat1.html?em

I am seriously beginning to wonder if the Republican strategy is built on mental illness. Maniacal delusions of grandeur in those raising this intellectual light-weight nutcase Governor to an undeserved pedestal, added to the denial-of-reality psychosis of glazed over lower-middle-class sub-racists ("I'm not racist, but I'd never vote for a Muslim") creates a hot bed of know-nothing populism that only a Hitler could know and love.

John McPain has sold whatever was left of his soul to the reigning demons of Pennsylvania Avenue, hoping in exchange to get the keys to the mansion. By recruiting a full fledged neo-Aryan Amazon to his side, he diminished himself into irrelevance. How dare the Repuglicans complain about references to his age. If Sarah Palin isn't a good enough reason to consider McCain's health and welfare, what the hell is?

"Country First"? What a load of * * * * coming from these obscene neo-fascist theocratic panderers.

Fortunately, there are hundreds of millions people, Go Team!, who now see through this crap.

I just hope they get out and vote in November. ESPECIALLY in IA, WI, PA, OH, MI, CO, MO, FL, VA, etc etc!

Both MoveOn and the Obama campaign have rolled out voter contact tools, which enable supporters to contact both current supporters as well as 'undecided' voters in critical swing states.

http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/create.html

http://my.barackobama.com/n2n

Resist Cognitive Dissonance!

Keep the faith!

P

PS Keep writing!

http://www.alternet.org/election08/98453/

Must reading for the Obama Movement.

--

Don't Think of a Maverick! Could the Obama Campaign Be Improved?

By George Lakoff, AlterNet. Posted September 11, 2008.

Obama's task is to reveal McCain as an elite DC insider and to convince conservatives to believe in Obama's leadership abilities.

Throughout the nomination campaign I was struck by how well the Obama campaign was being run, especially how sophisticated the framing was. But recently I have begun to wonder. It looks like, in certain respects, the Obama campaign is making some of the same mistakes of the Hillary campaign and the Kerry and Gore campaigns.

The Dayton speech on education had fine policy, but was the first really deadly dull Obama speech I've heard. It started out with lots of numbers. True, but dull. And he is promising more of the same policy wonk speeches. He's right that we are facing serious realities, and he's right to say what he intends to do, but the old inspiring Obama just isn't there. And the surrogates -- Biden and Hillary -- are policy-wonking it too.

I hope I'm wrong. Given my great respect for those who ran the nomination campaign so well, I wonder if I should say anything at all. But, as I predicted, Palin has turned out to be effective and the Obama campaign has not been effective in dealing with her. I've been getting loads of email asking me to say something to the campaign. So with some hesitation and a great deal of respect, I will simply point out what I see.

Four years ago I wrote a book called, Don't Think of an Elephant! The title made a basic point: Negating a frame activates that frame. If you activate the other side's frame, you just help the other side, as Nixon found out when he said, "I am not a crook," which made people think of him as a crook.

Read the whole essay:

http://www.alternet.org/election08/98453/

George Lakoff is the author of Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate' (Chelsea Green). He is Professor of Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and a Senior Fellow of the Rockridge Institute.

My comments at NYTimes Opinionator blog:

"No Quiet During the Storm"

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/no-quiet-during-the-storm/

Thanks to commenter, Jenny (comment #16), which I repeat for emphasis:

Why is there absolutely no coverage in the Times about the unlawful, violent arrests of journalists covering the RNC protests?

Or the SWAT team-like, pre-emptive raids on lawful protesters and journalists over the weekend? This is a HUGE civil liberties story.

Here’s a link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

Yes, why IS there no coverage???

Amy Goodman, an accredited and widely respected progressive voice from Democracy Now, was arrested with two of her crew while trying to cover this travesty.

http://freepress.net/

Sign petition here: Take action at: https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?id=281

We have become Iran, China, Russia. If the same thing were happening in Bejing, Moscow or Teheran, the main stream media, our great "Fourth Estate" would be shouting from the mountaintops about the denial of basic human rights.

Our "Fourth Estate" has largely abdicated its former honor in favor of the slinking mien of the lackey of the "Ministry of Information"...

"No Quiet during the Storm" -- a misleading headline if there ever was one.

I assumed that here finally the Times would report on the neo-fascist police action taking place in St Paul.

PREEMPTIVE ARRESTS of amateur videographers? Professional Journalists???

What country am I in???? This is an insult to all Americans, a vile insult to the Constitution, and a massive dereliction of duty on behalf of both the "Fourth Estate" and the Constitutional Officers, whether Fed, State or City who are allowing this police action.

High School Politics at the Highest Level...

Oh, and by the way, Sarah Palin's drama queen entrance is having exactly the effect planned. Firstly, to foment delirious outrage amongst liberals, progressives and anyone who's actually paying attention. That creates a perfect backdrop to distract and deceive...

As Bob Herbert notes in his excellent column today:

Palin is the latest G.O.P. distraction. She’s meant to shift attention away from the real issue of this campaign — the awful state of the nation after eight years of Republican rule. The Republicans are brilliant at distractions. Willie Horton was a distraction. The chatter about gays, guns and God has been a long-running distraction. And we all remember the Swift-boat campaign.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/opinion/02herbert.html?em

Palin is not an attempt to gain PUMA Hillary voters, but an extremely calculated and targeted bait for the evangelical 'influencers' who would have sat this one out, because they are disgusted with both Bush and John McCain (McSame).

Please see George Lakoff's sharp and clear analysis here:

Lakoff: Palin Appeals to Voter Emotions -- Dems Beware http://www.alternet.org/election08/97193

The initial Democratic response to Palin indicates that many Democrats have not learned the lessons of the Reagan and Bush years.

Fortunately, I think the Democrat who does matter, Barack Obama, DOES get it.

So, onward. It's going to be a great season...

I'm optimistic that the Repuglicants will swing wildly and never connect. May Gustav be their prophet.

Go Cubs! gObama!

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Peter Fraterdeus Exquisite Letterpress http://slowprint.com

New! SlowPrint Newsletter! Signup: http://tinyurl.com/slowprint Current: http://slowprint.com/slowprintnl

Please take four minutes NOW to help preserve the People's Freedom from Government Surveillance. The House is voting this afternoon on the FISA Reauthorization "compromise".

While I'm a political moderate, at least in terms of what I think is possible, given the history of human self-government, I am absolutely disgusted with the current capitulation being engineered by the Congressional leadership on the issue of the (p)Resident's illegal wiretapping, and the illegal collusion of the giant Telecoms allowing this to take place.

I highly urge every Parlortricks reader (and every concerned citizen!) to have a look at the urgent update from Moveon.org (below), and CALL Senator Obama's office and tell him to stiffen his resolve against such a deal. (Last October he said he would support a filibuster against it)

Senator Barack Obama
Phone: 202-224-2854

Senators Feingold and Leahy are as outraged as I am about this, and I think our Nominee must come down on this question with a very strong statement that it is NOT time to turn our backs on the Constitution.

The ACLU, EFF, and many other groups have been working for months to defeat this, only to have the Democratic "leadership" -- in particular Rep. Steny Hoyer (see Greenwald article reference in MoveOn footnotes below)-- undermine ongoing efforts to define and determine culpability in the question of ILLEGAL SURVEILLANCE of Americans, and the COLLUSION of the major telecoms in this matter.

While I am a strong supporter of Obama's candidacy, it would be a serious undermining of his credibility on civil rights and constitutional issues were he not to reject this "Telecom Immunity"

I highly recommend Glenn Greenwald's series of posts at Salon.com (See MoveOn footnotes below)
Greenwald has been reporting on this issue for many months now, including the numerous times it was thought that public pressure had killed the threat.

However, we see now that just like Count Dracula, these things can arise from the dead unless there's a very dramatic stake put through its heart.

It's time to kill the FISA Capitulation Bill once and for all.

NOTE: Please CALL YOUR SENATORS AS WELL AS OBAMA.
While the House may have already voted, the Senate is the final barrier to this bad law.

Tell Obama (and your other own Senators if you're not from Illinois) that there is noever a good time to turn your back on the Constitution.

Thanks for caring.

Peter

PS, you may very well get voice-mail at Obama's number. I did when I called a few minutes ago.

Just leave a short message, saying you are a supporter of his candidacy, and a constituant (if you are in Illinois), and that you are outraged by the potential Democratic capitulation regarding Telecom Immunity in the FISA reauthorization.



Today's MoveOn.org statement is here:
Yesterday, some congressional Democrats cut a deal to let companies that helped President Bush break the law off the hook. Barack Obama's promised to oppose such a bill in the past. Can you tell him we're counting on him to stand strong against "immunity" for lawbreaking phone companies?

Senator Barack Obama
Phone: 202-224-2854


Dear MoveOn member,
Yesterday it was announced that some congressional Democrats cut a deal with President Bush to give a get-out-of-jail-free card to phone companies that helped Bush illegally spy on innocent Americans.1 Senator Russ Feingold says the "deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation."2

Barack Obama took a bold stance on this issue last year, vowing to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies."3 We need him to announce that he'll continue this strong position when the bad "deal" is voted on in the Senate.

Can you call Senator Obama today and tell him you're counting on him to keep his word and stand strong against immunity for lawbreaking phone companies?

Senator Barack Obama
Phone: 202-224-2854

Please help us track our progress by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSIL_2&cp_id=759

These companies helped the Bush Administration illegally spy on the emails and phone calls of innocent Americans. By giving "immunity" to these companies, all lawsuits brought against them by civil liberties groups would be thrown out of court. That means we may never find out how far Bush went in breaking the law. And once it's done, it can't be undone.

Supporters of today's deal say it doesn't guarantee immunity—it just kicks the issue to a court to decide. But that's deceptive. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) points out:

"It gives [Bush's] attorney general the power to decide if cases against telecommunications companies will proceed. The AG only has to certify to the FISA court that the company didn't spy or did so with a permission slip from the president. A note from the president is not a legal defense. Allowing phone companies to avoid litigation by simply presenting a 'permission slip' from the president is not court review."4 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group working with the ACLU to hold these companies accountable, adds, "whatever gloss might be put on it, the so-called 'compromise' on immunity for phone companies that broke the law is anything but a compromise...no matter how they spin it, this is still immunity, period."5
President Bush and the phone companies know that the facts are against them. A judge appointed by President Bush's father already wrote one opinion finding that "AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believed that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal."6

But we'll never know how far their illegal actions went unless we fight back now. Can you tell Barack Obama you're counting on him to keep his word and stand strong against immunity for lawbreaking phone companies?

Senator Barack Obama
Phone: 202-224-2854

Please help us track our progress by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSIL_2&cp_id=759

Thanks for all you do,

–Nita, Adam G., Patrick, Ilyse, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
  Friday, June 20th, 2008

Sources:

1. "George Bush's latest powers, courtesy of the Democratic Congress," Glenn Greenwald on Salon.com, June 19, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3820&id=12919-1021210-C9I7Bbx&t=5

2. "Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On the FISA Deal," Statement of Senator Russ Feingold, June 19, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3822&id=12919-1021210-C9I7Bbx&t=6

3. "Obama Camp Says It: He'll Support Filibuster Of Any Bill Containing Telecom Immunity," Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central, October 24, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3828&id=12919-1021210-C9I7Bbx&t=7

4. "Facts on the Senator Kit Bond's (R-Mo.) FISA Proposal," June 13, 2008 http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/35652res20080613.html

5. "Prepared Statement of Eff Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston on Immunity 'Compromise,'" Electronic Frontier Foundation, June 18, 2008
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/EFF_bankston.pdf

6. "Targeting Steny Hoyer for his contempt for the rule of law," Glenn Greenwald on Salon.com, June 17, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3821&id=12919-1021210-C9I7Bbx&t=8

Peter Fraterdeus
Exquisite Letterpress
http://slowprint.com

Strange how Eros moves us,

in paths bright and dark,

from ecstasy to despair.

At once soaring,

    wings lifting, graceful effort

    among the winds

And then, once again,

    folded under to plummet,

    as only a heart can fall,

    towards a frightening yet

    familar gloom.

In the atmosphere of desire

fly the raptors of love

sharpened talon and eye seeking

the vulnerable and careless heart.

Yet how often has this hungry hunter

become the prey, in turn, as the

surface of the mirror dissolves

and opens onto a different sky.

This set begins with the lovely air and two jigs I first learned on the whistle from Brighid Malone.
An raibh tu ag an gCarrig, continues with jigs, Morrisons, and Trip to Sligo, which then launches into some original composition and exploration in modulatory lightly dissonant space  (yeah, that's what it is...) before returning to an ancient lullaby...

Performed on the mahogany 1956 Martin 0-15, recording with Abletron Live 5  on  Mac Powerbook G4 and Digidesign mBox, Shure SM57 microphone. A bit of post-processing to separate channels and add a tiny bit of reverb.

The mp3 file is hosted here (download for iTunes)

Morrisons Set-23feb08.mp3

You should be able to play it right there on the page, or download it, either way.

Kindly forgive the rough spots, as this was a one-take test...
Indeed, the music.fraterdeus.com site is not ready for prime time, either, but it's a quick Plone 2.5 site which has the Plone4Artists Audio product installed, allowing for the cool features...

Obama's Campaign: An Emotional Escape Hatch from the Bush Era

Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbaraehrenreich.com http://www.alternet.org/election08/77193/

and

Is a Liberal Renaissance in the Making?

By David Michael Green, AlterNet http://www.alternet.org/election08/77271/

--

As a young Cubs fan in 1969, I learned the hard way about leaning too hard into ones hopes and wishes.

Progressives are notoriously hard to placate, and even if Obama were to gain the White House, his time will be spent picking the incredible burden of ten thousand nits from the left along with the typical constant barrage of bullshit from the right.

Let's not burden our good fellow human with the curse of great expectations, but agree to first consider what we... I ... am willing to do to lighten his load when the time comes for leadership. When each and every citizen accepts the responsibility to lead by example and to help those in need, and to share the gifts of mind and nature for the greater good, we will deserve the boon of the finest leader the generation has to offer.

My darkest fear is that Obama will be too good for the country, the promise he offers becomes a sacrificial offering to the demons of selfishness.

On the flip side of all the optimism, I fear deeply for him and his family, including his Kenyan grandmother...

--

I find much of the commentary online to be miserably depressing. There are millions of people shooting from the hip, writing for the sheer idiocy of it.

In addition, while the supposed Hillary supporters bitch constantly about Obama, and how "the Obama groupies" are bad-mouthing Hillary, I have yet to find anywhere that this is actually happening.

I am extremely suspicious of anyone who posts ugly defamatory language about either Obama or Hillary. As a looong time internet user (since like 1984) it seems very likely to me that much of the vitriol is coming from 'agents provocateur' who are deliberately setting fires to start a flame war.

These people may very well be right-wing hacks deliberately fomenting antagonism in the Democratic camps.

The real struggle is not between East and West, or capitalism and communism, but between education and propaganda. Education means teaaching people to see the reality around them, to undersand it for themselves. Propaganda is exactly the opposite. It tells the people, "You will think like this, as we want you to think!"

Education lifts the people up. It opens their hearts and develops their minds so that they can discover the truth and make it their own. Propaganda, on the other hand, closes their hearts and stunts their minds. It compels them to accept dogmas without asking themselves, "Is this true or not?"

The trouble is that this is not only a conflict of ideology. It is a conflict of tempo. The tempo of propaganda is feverish, nervous. It is the pace of television and radio. It is the pace of the newspaper headline, the cry of the vendor in the street. Whereas education goes at a slow pace. It is the pace of teachers talking with their students. It is the pace of a man reading by himself in a room. It cannot be hurried or speeded up and remain education."

What I want is your gentle voice in my ear

What I want is a fine friend at my side

What I have is a heart full of love

and loss and longing.

To wander the roads of you...

With my fiddle and your stories

to the quays and mohrs and lachs

along the byways colored with autumn...

Is what I want.

(for someone special)

(23 Nov 2007)

This is my comment to this blog post: http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/men-and-women-different-but-equal-whats-the-problem

Culture, of course, is a product of the interaction of humans of all genders and all levels of intellectual capacity. It is also the social expression, at the most fundamental level, of primate behaviors which underlay 90% or more (has it been measured?) of human behavior.

It occurs, if one gains some distance from the idea of the implicit supremacy of the human animal, that male or female, humans operate pretty much just like other organisms, that is, they tend toward self-preservation, reproduction, and pecking order, in roughly that sequence.

Interestingly, the ancient Hindu thinkers describe exactly this, as these represent the first three "chakras" which are, in essence, those domains into which we channel our energies.

Of course, the next (fourth) chakra represents the network, the idea that what's good for the whole is good for me. This idea of transcendence, which is embodied in empathy and compassion-- the altruistic impulse-- also has biological roots, but in fact, can not be enjoyed without a certain loosening of the demands of the first, most primitive, and most divisive, focii.

Men and women, different? Not very much, in my view. Overly aggressive men are in large part a biological response to selection by women over tens of thousands of years.

Fortunately, men are beginning, at least in the West, to respond in kind to lower demands for physical strength, and more verbal skills. (Unfortunately, our worst are still as bad as ever)...

Give us a few generations, we're slow learners

:-)

(Times Select required to read the original,unfortunately)

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=50

The fact that the monothestic religions all purport to address 'doubt' (not atheism) in their dogma is not an argument which supports the treatise proposed (or implied) by Prof. Fish, which seems to be that atheism discounts the possible validity of religious writing by not crediting it with its own internal discussion. Perhaps a better analogy is that of the neurotic or schizoid personality who has to constantly argue with himself over whether to believe the voices in his head.

Man, if anything, is the only creature who assigns himself such self-importance in the universe so as to presume the ability to debate original causes.

Pure observation, as Lucretius wrote and Epicurus taught, dissolves the need or the desire for a single Author. The scientific method of reason and observation, although weakened by the often excessive egos of its apologists, is nonetheless that through which the most true expression of original cause may be eventually discerned.

All the rest is comfort against mortality... Pleasant enough, but fairy tales nonetheless. When these are magnified through the manipulations of alpha-male primate behavioral patterns into "Divine Writ", upon which all manner of evil may proceed unimpeded by love or reason -- THAT is the original sin.

http://www.fraterdeus.com/qmlqblog/archive/2007/05/12/a-short-visit-to-galway

A two hour train ride this noon down to Galway to see some water, then back to Tullamore on the 6:05

In four hours I met three memorable characters... the youngest perhaps about 60, by the name of Peter Mackew. I met him sitting along the quays drinking Guinness with his friend Santy, who is called Santy on account of his enormous white beard and mane....

They sat a ways up Mill Street looking over the old millstreams, where the flow of the River Corrib is divided with lichened granite, hewn stone walls covered with tiny flowers, ducks paddling, and the roar of the old spillway. I said, must be a good view from here, and sat down with them.

Peter said, with a wave of his hand, "Here's my garden... it is lovely isn't it" Santy sort of mumbled something... I learned that he doesn't speak at all, after a stroke, but nonetheless very communicative, offering observations (mummo mumo) with hand movements referring to the ducks, the rain, the people walking by.

After a while I pulled out the whistle and played a little something, a cappella (so to speak), not really a tune, but just how I like to play in such a scene... Santy applauded, Peter says "good man"... and Santy, being Santy, of course, gave me a gift...

A lovely white marble pebble the size of a fig from Galway Bay, I presume. Worn and warmed for who knows how long in his rucksack. They noted that having sat on the rain wet ground, I would also be carrying some Galway mud back to Tullamore.

--You'll be needing to get back to the station, we're walking that way. Santy saw some friends across the way, Peter said, he'll catch up, he knows where I'm going...

We walked up to the far end of Eyre Square in front of the station, to Richardson's Pub [1] where it was indeed my honor to buy a round for my street wise friend. Peter and I sat for an hour talking about the state of the world... and how it got this way. After a long chat, we parted ways with an exchange of addresses, and I wandered toward the station.

With fifty minutes before the train, I had time for another Guinness, and turned the corner north of the station to see what options appeared. Murtagh Rabbitt's seemed a good spot to step out of what had become a steady soaking rain. Moments later I was talking to (or trying to understand the very softly spoken strongly Irish English of) an elderly fellow who looked at my beret and my fiddle case, and said, so you are against the nukes, eh? I display the traditional peace symbol on both, and of course, that "chicken foot" is originally the sign of the nuclear disarmament movement.

Eventually we talked about bees* (they are in the air, appropriately, Peter and I having covered this topic earlier), and oh, many topics, indeed. I, in turn, then had a pint of stout thanks to this old railway man, who worked for years on the London Underground. The bartender was French, young and beautiful, with her raspberry-fringed hair and strategically placed mole (how is it?). She reminded me that I've never seen Notre Dame. I've seen San Marco in Venice and the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, Notre Dame should be 'de rigeur'...

At five to six, your man and myself head for the platform, about four minutes away, only to find a long queue of day tourists waiting to get past the collectors. No panic... Made our way through the line, and onto the train, into the seats and within thirty seconds we're on our way...

P.J. (Patrick Joseph ) alighted in Athenry, with a sparkle in his eye...

*Bees, the wingéd one. Not a typo about beers.

[] http://www.galway.net/galwayguide/showyp.shtml?id=696 [2] http://www.athenry.net/history.html

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AzByCx DwEvFu GtHsIr JqKpLo MnNmOl PkQjRi ShTgUf VeWdXc YbZa&@ -:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:-*

Peter Fraterdeus http://www.fraterdeus.com http://www.galenaphotos.com Galena, Illinois http://www.alphabets.com

Photography Irish Fiddle Political Observation Philosophy Fonts Lettering

http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2007/03/lunar_refractio.html#comment-63688172

Non-overlapping magisteria, eh? This was Stephen Jay Gould's lukewarm suggestion for how religion and science could co-exist. Not sure I believe it in his case, but regarding the eternal dichotomy of time vs space, I don't believe it at all. As the line moves through a new dimension it defines the plane... If it refuses to move, it doesn't negate the reality of the new dimension...

Yes, poetry is sequential, as is all language, spoken or written, and painting is planar and spatial, as is all depiction in the higher dimensions. That a picture is worth 10K words is an interesting observation of the attempt of the one dimension to become the next. (Fractal space is the result of course)

What, at the root of it really, is 'thought', or more generally, consciousness? Is it sequential, a stream of thoughts with constant reference to memory creating an illusion of continuity through time? or Spatial? More likely transcendental, when we let go the reins and the sequence, and allow awareness of the vast interconnectedness of events and things and discrete actors and cosmic trends to flood the mind in an instant.... Yet, remaining is the sequential narration of the observer. Clearly the dichotomy is a convenient illusion. Nature knows no such hard and fast boundaries, she prefers the subtle gradation of fields to the illusion of separateness.

Strangely, the very questions regarding painting and poetry can be asked about typography VS graphic design. Typography is fundamentally linear (and in essence quite nearly monochrome), as it is fundamentally a representation of sequential language. I would argue that this is also, in the classical sense, Apollonian and of the nature of reason. Graphic design is fundamentally planar and spatial, simultaneous rather than sequential. Indeed, the rise of dramatic color and imagery appeals to the primary visual cortex and thence directly to the 'gut' reaction. I argued ( AIGA Journal 1996) [1] that the great appeal of grunge typography to advertisers is that it triggered the subconscious fear of being run over by a truck, thus assuring rapt attention and thus subliminal messaging becomes more effective.

There are many facets to this idea, but of course, I'm much more the useless philosopher, producing neither painting nor poetry ;-)

Thanks for the very interesting reading on this crisp March morn I hope your Equinox is lovely, and the same for the rest of the seasons! ciao! p

[1] http://www.fraterdeus.com/typeontheedge/ Some comments from students here http://www.advancedtypography.blogspot.com/ (thanks to Google!)

Welcome to the first Parlortricks of 2007!

We pause to acknowledge the 3000 American service members killed in Iraq, ringing the toll at the end of a bloody year. And the six hundred thousand Iraqis killed one way or the other, and the death of the tyrant, conveniently no longer around to be asked embarrassing questions about his buddies in high places in the US government.

In response, we are hearing about a "surge" of additional troops to be sent to Baghdad. In a ploy with Rovian fingerprints all over it, the White House began planting "surge" stories in the national media with barely a pause to acknowledge the Fall of the Rummy after the Thumpin' (a reporter at the White House asked Bush, is that thumpin' without a 'g', or thumping with a 'g'?) in November.

It's a textbook case of media manipulation and contextual framing, using the innocuous word "surge" which has all kinds of positive connotations. Metaphor is the mechanism with which we understand the symbolic world around us. "Surge" is a metaphor which brings to mind images such as "cleansing", "oceanic", "powerful", "electric", "instantaneous", "momentary", and so forth. How convenient to be able to describe a major ESCALATION of a disastrous war as a "temporary, powerful, cleansing of the inSURGEnts" which will give the Iraqi 'government' the instant control over their streets, water and electricity which has thus far eluded them.

Will this ESCALATION be momentary? Cleansing? Instantaneous? Not at all. But in the world of metaphor, the ten second sound bite can utilize our fractional attention spans to plant a fuzzy feel-good image of a Clean, Sparkling, Effective, Powerful Spark which will vaporize the inconvenient truths that we, and the world, confront in Iraq.

Fortunately, there are powerful voices coming back to deny this image its power and to throw off the wizard's cloaking and show the 'magic' for what it is.

Barak Obama called this 'the McCain Strategy' -- a good pre-emptive strike against the supposed front-runner on the reborn right-wing side of the Repub party.

If the Democrats and progressives can continue to quickly recognize and destroy the Rovian wolf-in-sheep metaphors, the public will help keep the media honest. But it takes constant vigilance to preserve the language, and protect our sacred honor.

/.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:.

OK, so NASA under the Bush regime is a cover for space wars, and money wasted on sending a guy to Mars (Why? so we can open opportunities for WalMart?)

But this is a great piece of astro-photography, from a master of the genre.

http://www.astrophoto.fr/iss_atlantis_transit.html Yummy telescope ;-)

/.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:./.:.

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Tidal wave? Well, maybe not, but I figure there had to be at least 10% better totals for the Dems, since Karl (Slither) Rove was so damned sure he had this one in the bag also. His vote stealers just couldn't keep up.

In an even race, the one who cheats better will win. Since Rove and his thugs have voter intimidation and electoral manipulation down to a science, the Democrats must have had a far more substantial victory than showed up at the polls.

Of course, having had their "God's Opportunist Party" majority thumped soundly and sent home with their tails between their legs (and in some cases their hands between the legs of teenaged congressional pages), the right-wing bloggers are kicking and screaming about the communist global jewish conspiracy, and generally showing exactly the type of psychopathic behavior we've come to expect from three year olds whose mommy spanks them and sends them to bed for kicking the dog, lying, screaming, and shitting all over the new Persian (or Iraqi) rug.

These pathological idiots are a threat to humanity, let alone the rest of the living creatures in the world, and the sooner they stamp themselves into a hole in the ground the better for all the rest of us.

As far as the up and coming Democrats, it seems to me that a Grandmother is the perfect one to put our national House in order. If you can raise five kids, and still have love in your heart and the desire to serve your nation, that's pretty damned impressive if you ask me.

A hip San Francisco Grandmother in the House and an Organic Wheat Farmer in the Senate. Yep, this ain't W's year, that's for sure.

One thing I absolutely expect of the Congress: that they hold the feet to the fire, and make sure somebody is held accountable for the absolute disasters and utter incompetence shown by the Bush cabal.

And I don't mean 'held accountable' like 'shown the door to go get a lobbying gig.' I want these bastards in prison for at least as long as the poor kid down the street who got busted passing a nickel-bag of pot at a party. In fact, they should make sure that kid gets out of jail, so there's plenty of room for these traitorous anti-american unconstitutional pirates.

Sorry, this is far more angry than most of my writing, but all this talk of becoming non-partisan and 'bi-partisanship' is making me nauseous. Let's not forget who we're dealing with here. The recently vanquished are NOT honorable, they are utterly dishonest, shameless, cold-blooded criminals. Karl Rove, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and all the rest should be in chains on their way to The Hauge for war crimes trial. If not, at the very least, let's not let them slither off without a public flogging, figuratively if not literally.

Hallo, fans ;-)

It's a photo of me with renowned Irish Piper Paddy Keenan, down in Hanover (15 miles SE of Galena) a couple of weeks back.

I'd just finished playing a set of jigs on stage with Paddy, his guitarist John Walsh and Maurie Grafton (our host, also an excellent guitarist!)

After two great sets on his Uilleann Pipes or on the Low Whistle, Paddy had said, well, that's all we've got, but if anyone's brought their instruments, bring them out!
I said, well, I might have my fiddle in the car!
"Go get it!"

A great and unexpected pleasure and an honor to share the stage with such a renowned player.
Of course, you can tell by looking at him that he's a refined and gentle soul, most happy in a quiet hall, I think, although he's played to stadiums filled with thousands!

I thanked him for the honor, of course, but he insisted that the pleasure was his, that "It's just great to play some of those good old tunes...haven't thought of some of those in years..."  No rock star attitude there!

You can probably also tell that we'd had a few beers at the bank across the street at intermission :-)
(The bar in Hanover is the converted bank... I asked what they had used the bar for when it was a bank?)

Paddy's maybe a bit worn from being on the road, he and his guitarist had arrived from St Paul, en route to St Louis (and Hanover/Galena are almost exactly half way, right along the Mississippi!).

Thanks to Maurie Grafton and Patricia at the Artful Lodger B&B in Hanover  IL for making the concert possible.
A great treat for maybe three or four dozen people in an intimate, homely setting at the Hanover VIllage Hall.

Inspired me to finally pick up a low D whistle when I was in Seattle, at the Lark in the Morning shop at Pike St Market.

By the way, be sure to get out and vote Democratic while you can! (If you're in the US, that is)! It may be the last chance we get.

I've been on this issue for decades. It's a serious deficiency when the stars are lost to us. Not to mention the ugly repercussions of light pollution and trespass.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4794249.stm

This article from the BBC is a good reference, and makes some of the points I've been arguing for years, ie, that brighter lights don't make the streets or yards more secure. They merely make the shadows darker, and improve the surveillance opportunities for malefactors.

A good slogan for this ongoing concern:

"Light Pollution: It's a Glaring Problem"

By the way, in the US, this Tuesday is Election Day, as most of my readers will already have known :-)

Please get out and VOTE, that is, only if you vote Democratic! We desperately need to clean House and Senate both. The current Republican Congress is a rubber-stamp complicit in the criminal abuse of the Constitution being perpetrated by the current cabal in DC.

Progress for a brighter tomorrow... during the daytime, please!

p

Listen! The tree frogs

fill Mid Summers Night with joy

and eternal song

"Sunset tonight and Wednesday, and sunrise on Wednesday, are the northernmost of the year, as summer begins on Wednesday at 8:26 a.m. EDT"

Mercury about 10 degrees above the horizon, just barely over the tree tops when I climb up on the roof. My porch roof facing west-northwest gives a perfect vista of the long solstice sunset, and lingering dusk. In the binoculars, the messenger god and thief of Apollo is a bright spot in the peach colored afterglow.

The sour cherries are ripening this week, the first decent crop for some years. The wet spring and lack of a late frost set up the abundant blossoms for a good batch. Now, if the ants and birds don't eat them before I can get to 'em...

Got a good crop of red-raspberries coming too, it looks like, the brambles are thick with green berries, and new fresh stalks coming up in abundance!

Planted in the herb garden (a month late) a handful of basil seeds that Andy had left by my door before he took off for Wales. I hope they will have time to kick in to gear in July and August. I just used up the last of last year's pesto on Saturday!

Those cats are tracking mulberry purple paw prints across the deck and into my butterfly chair. I think it's time to dye that cover anyway. This morning, they sit like sphinxen silent and still awaiting the rustle of the food bag. I have inherited more cats, as the smoke-gray seems to have had a single black kitten under the lean-to. Not that I ever asked for more cats...

Note also that Mercury is at its greatest elongation, about 25 degrees behind the sun, which means that it will soon be retrograde (around July 4th, through the 28th moving back from Leo into Cancer -- next one is 28Oct-17Nov in Scorpio).

Please note that there's an election in November -- during that Mercury retro, as it happens.

Don't forget to throw the bums out, there's no better time for a wholesale house (and Senate) cleaning!

I take the blame for the idiots in power, although I have never once voted for an idiot. (I've voted for some miserable candidates, but that's another issue) But I figure if I don't take the blame, nobody will, certainly, the people who vote for them never seem to get it.

Sorry, I'll try not to let it happen again.

February 7, 2006.

Mr. President, last week the President of the United States gave his State of the Union address, where he spoke of America's leadership in the world, and called on all of us to "lead this world toward freedom." Again and again, he invoked the principle of freedom, and how it can transform nations, and empower people around the world.

But, almost in the same breath, the President openly acknowledged that he has ordered the government to spy on Americans, on American soil, without the warrants required by law.

The President issued a call to spread freedom throughout the world, and then he admitted that he has deprived Americans of one of their most basic freedoms under the Fourth Amendment -- to be free from unjustified government intrusion.

The President was blunt. He said that he had authorized the NSA's domestic spying program, and he made a number of misleading arguments to defend himself. His words got rousing applause from Republicans, and even some Democrats.

The President was blunt, so I will be blunt: This program is breaking the law, and this President is breaking the law. Not only that, he is misleading the American people in his efforts to justify this program.

How is that worthy of applause? Since when do we celebrate our commander in chief for violating our most basic freedoms, and misleading the American people in the process? When did we start to stand up and cheer for breaking the law? In that moment at the State of the Union, I felt ashamed.

Congress has lost its way if we don't hold this President accountable for his actions.

The President suggests that anyone who criticizes his illegal wiretapping program doesn't understand the threat we face. But we do. Every single one of us is committed to stopping the terrorists who threaten us and our families.

Defeating the terrorists should be our top national priority, and we all agree that we need to wiretap them to do it. In fact, it would be irresponsible not to wiretap terrorists. But we have yet to see any reason why we have to trample the laws of the United States to do it. The President 's decision that he can break the law says far more about his attitude toward the rule of law than it does about the laws themselves.

This goes way beyond party, and way beyond politics. What the President has done here is to break faith with the American people. In the State of the Union, he also said that "we must always be clear in our principles" to get support from friends and allies that we need to fight terrorism. So let's be clear about a basic American principle: When someone breaks the law, when someone misleads the public in an attempt to justify his actions, he needs to be held accountable. The President of the United States has broken the law. The President of the United States is trying to mislead the American people. And he needs to be held accountable.

Unfortunately, the President refuses to provide any details about this domestic spying program. Not even the full Intelligence committees know the details, and they were specifically set up to review classified information and oversee the intelligence activities of our government. Instead, the President says - "Trust me."

This is not the first time we've heard that. In the lead-up to the Iraq war, the Administration went on an offensive to get the American public, the Congress, and the international community to believe its theory that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction, and even that he had ties to Al Qaeda. The President painted a dire - and inaccurate - picture of Saddam Hussein's capability and intent, and we invaded Iraq on that basis. To make matters worse, the Administration misled the country about what it would take to stabilize and reconstruct Iraq after the conflict. We were led to believe that this was going to be a short endeavor, and that our troops would be home soon.

We all recall the President's "Mission Accomplished" banner on the aircraft carrier on May 1, 2003. In fact, the mission was not even close to being complete. More than 2100 total deaths have occurred after the President declared an end to major combat operations in May of 2003, and over 16,600 American troops have been wounded in Iraq. The President misled the American people and grossly miscalculated the true challenge of stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq.

In December, we found out that the President has authorized wiretaps of Americans without the court orders required by law. He says he is only wiretapping people with links to terrorists, but how do we know? We don't. The President is unwilling to let a neutral judge make sure that is the case. He will not submit this program to an independent branch of government to make sure he's not violating the rights of law-abiding Americans.

So I don't want to hear again that this Administration has shown it can be trusted. It hasn't. And that is exactly why the law requires a judge to review these wiretaps.

It is up to Congress to hold the President to account. We held a hearing on the domestic spying program in the Judiciary Committee yesterday, where Attorney General Gonzales was a witness. We expect there will be other hearings. That is a start, but it will take more than just hearings to get the job done.

We know that in part because the President's Attorney General has already shown a willingness to mislead the Congress.

At the hearing yesterday, I reminded the Attorney General about his testimony during his confirmation hearings in January 2005, when I asked him whether the President had the power to authorize warrantless wiretaps in violation of the criminal law. We didn't know it then, but the President had authorized the NSA program three years before, when the Attorney General was White House Counsel. At his confirmation hearing, the Attorney General first tried to dismiss my question as "hypothetical." He then testified that "it's not the policy or the agenda of this President to authorize actions that would be in contravention of our criminal statutes."

Well, Mr. President, wiretapping American citizens on American soil without the required warrant is in direct contravention of our criminal statutes. The Attorney General knew that, and he knew about the NSA program when he sought the Senate's approval for his nomination to be Attorney General. He wanted the Senate and the American people to think that the President had not acted on the extreme legal theory that the President has the power as Commander in Chief to disobey the criminal laws of this country. But he had. The Attorney General had some explaining to do, and he didn't do it yesterday. Instead he parsed words, arguing that what he said was truthful because he didn't believe that the President's actions violated the law.

But he knew what I was asking, and he knew he was misleading the Committee in his response. If he had been straightforward, he would have told the committee that in his opinion, the President has the authority to authorize warrantless wiretaps. My question wasn't about whether such illegal wiretapping was going on - like almost everyone in Congress, I didn't know about the program then. It was a question about how the nominee to be Attorney General viewed the law. This nominee wanted to be confirmed, and so he let a misleading statement about one of the central issues of his confirmation - his view of executive power - stay on the record until the New York Times revealed the program.

The rest of the Attorney General's performance at yesterday's hearing certainly did not give me any comfort, either. He continued to push the Administration's weak legal arguments, continued to insinuate that anyone who questions this program doesn't want to fight terrorism, and refused to answer basic questions about what powers this Administration is claiming. We still need a lot of answers from this Administration.

But let's put aside the Attorney General for now. The burden is not just on him to come clean -- the President has some explaining to do. The President' s defense of his actions is deeply cynical, deeply misleading, and deeply troubling.

To find out that the President of the United States has violated the basic rights of the American people is chilling. And then to see him publicly embrace his actions - and to see so many Members of Congress cheer him on - is appalling.

The President has broken the law, and he has made it clear that he will continue to do so. But the President is not a king. And the Congress is not a king's court. Our job is not to stand up and cheer when the President breaks the law. Our job is to stand up and demand accountability, to stand up and check the power of an out-of-control executive branch.

That is one of the reasons that the framers put us here - to ensure balance between the branches of government, not to act as a professional cheering section.

We need answers. Because no one, not the President, not the Attorney General, and not any of their defenders in this body, has been able to explain why it is necessary to break the law to defend against terrorism. And I think that's because they can't explain it.

Instead, this administration reacts to anyone who questions this illegal program by saying that those of us who demand the truth and stand up for our rights and freedoms have a pre-9/11 view of the world.

In fact, the President has a pre-1776 view of the world.

Our Founders lived in dangerous times, and they risked everything for freedom. Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death." The President's pre-1776 mentality is hurting America. It is fracturing the foundation on which our country has stood for 230 years. The President can't just bypass two branches of government, and obey only those laws he wants to obey. Deciding unilaterally which of our freedoms still apply in the fight against terrorism is unacceptable and needs to be stopped immediately.

Let's examine for a moment some of the President's attempts to defend his actions. His arguments have changed over time, of course. They have to - none of them hold up under even casual scrutiny, so he can't rely on one single explanation. As each argument crumbles beneath him, he moves on to a new one, until that, too, is debunked, and on and on he goes.

In the State of the Union, the President referred to Presidents in American history who cited executive authority to order warrantless surveillance. But of course those past presidents - like Wilson and Roosevelt - were acting before the Supreme Court decided in 1967 that our communications are protected by the Fourth Amendment, and before Congress decided in 1978 that the executive branch can no longer unilaterally decide which Americans to wiretap. The Attorney General yesterday was unable to give me one example of a President who, since 1978 when FISA was passed, has authorized warrantless wiretaps outside of FISA.

So that argument is baseless, and it's deeply troubling that the President of the United States would so obviously mislead the Congress and American public. That hardly honors the founders' idea that the President should address the Congress on the state of our union.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed in 1978 to create a secret court, made up of judges who develop national security expertise, to issue warrants for surveillance of terrorists and spies. These are the judges from whom the Bush Administration has obtained thousands of warrants since 9/11. The Administration has almost never had a warrant request rejected by those judges. They have used the FISA Court thousands of times, but at the same time they assert that FISA is an "old law" or "out of date" and they can't comply with it. Clearly they can and do comply with it - except when they don't. Then they just arbitrarily decide to go around these judges, and around the law.

The Administration has said that it ignored FISA because it takes too long to get a warrant under that law. But we know that in an emergency, where the Attorney General believes that surveillance must begin before a court order can be obtained, FISA permits the wiretap to be executed immediately as long as the government goes to the court within 72 hours. The Attorney General has complained that the emergency provision does not give him enough flexibility, he has complained that getting a FISA application together or getting the necessary approvals takes too long. But the problems he has cited are bureaucratic barriers that the executive branch put in place, and could easily remove if it wanted.

FISA also permits the Attorney General to authorize unlimited warrantless electronic surveillance in the United States during the 15 days following a declaration of war, to allow time to consider any amendments to FISA required by a wartime emergency. That is the time period that Congress specified. Yet the President thinks that he can do this indefinitely.

In the State of the Union, the President also argued that federal courts had approved the use of presidential authority that he was invoking. But that turned out to be misleading as well. When I asked the Attorney General about this, he could point me to no court - not the Supreme Court or any other court - that has considered whether, after FISA was enacted, the President nonetheless had the authority to bypass it and authorize warrantless wiretaps. Not one court. The Administration's effort to find support for what it has done in snippets of other court decisions would be laughable if this issue were not so serious.

The President knows that FISA makes it a crime to wiretap Americans in the United States without a warrant or a court order. Why else would he have assured the public, over and over again, that he was getting warrants before engaging in domestic surveillance?

Here's what the President said on April 20, 2004: "Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires - a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."

And again, on July 14, 2004: "The government can't move on wiretaps or roving wiretaps without getting a court order."

The President was understandably eager in these speeches to make it clear that under his administration, law enforcement was using the FISA Court to obtain warrants before wiretapping. That is understandable, since wiretapping Americans on American soil without a warrant is against the law.

And listen to what the President said on June 9, 2005: "Law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, a federal judge's permission to track his calls, or a federal judge's permission to search his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of these tools. And these standards are fully consistent with the Constitution of the U.S."

Now t