Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Archive for May 2013

What are you reading? May 15, 2013

For those who are new … we discuss books.  I list what I’m reading, and people comment with what they’re reading.  Sometimes, on Sundays, I post a special edition on a particular genre or topic.

If you like to trade books, try bookmooch

I’ve written some book reviews on Yahoo Voices:

Book reviews on Yahoo

Just finished

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1848 US invasion of Mexico by Amy Greenberg. What the subtitle says, but very interesting. For instance, the 1848 war was the first US war to have a substantial group of anti-War Americans. This was a really good book.

Now reading

Cooler Smarter: Practical tips for low carbon living  by the scientists at Union of Concerned Scientists, a great group. These folk make sense, concentrating on the changes you can make that have the biggest impact with the least effort.

Thinking, fast and slow  by Daniel Kahneman.  Kahneman, most famous for his work with the late Amos Tversky, is one of the leading psychologists of the times. Here, he posits that our brains have two systems: A fast one and a slow one. Neither is better, but they are good at different things. This is a brilliant book: Full of insight and very well written, as well.

On politics: A history of political thought from Herodotus to the present by Alan Ryan. What the subtitle says – a history of political thought.  

He, she and it by Marge Percy. Near future dystopian SF set on Earth.

Visions of Infinity by Ian Stewart. A nontechnical look at 11 famous problems of math. So far, it’s a little too nontechnical for my taste.

Woodrow Wilson by John Cooper, Jr. A fairly admiring look at Wilson.

Measurement by Paul Lockhart. About mathematics and, especially, how it should be taught and learned. Lockhart is wonderful; his first book A Mathematician’s Lament was, in my view, the best book on teaching math ever written.

Just started

Lake Views: The world and the universe by Steven Weinberg. Essays by this leading physicist.

Silken Prey by John Sandford.  The latest Lucas Davenport novel. Starts with the murder of a political operative.  

Wednesday Watering Hole: Check In & Hangout for the Herd

Good morning, Moosekind. Don’t forget to let your peeps know where to find you.

The common Moose, Alces alces, unlike other members of the deer family, is a solitary animal that doesn’t form herds. Not so its rarer but nearest relative, Alces purplius, the Motley Moose. Though sometimes solitary, the Motley Moose herds in ever shifting groups at the local watering hole to exchange news and just pass the time.

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Getting out the vote to stop Stop and Frisk


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Though this story is about specific organizing in NYC, I think it’s important to share the steps that are being taken there by a broad based coalition of progressive activists, which can be applied across the U.S.

New York City’s Stop and Frisk laws are racist, and negatively affect black, brown, and gay New Yorkers. A majority of those who have been targeted are young people. Communities United for Police Reform is organizing to stop this.

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those most unfairly targeted by the NYPD. This groundbreaking campaign is fighting for reforms that will promote community safety while ensuring that the NYPD protects and serves all New Yorkers. We are a movement that is here to stay – a Campaign that will be a visible, lasting presence on the streets of neighborhoods citywide. We will be in communities and on the streets, educating people about their rights; and in the courts and on the steps of City Hall and the state capitol, demanding change to the NYPD — until these policies end.

So You Want to Impeach the President




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First, let’s start with what the Constitution defines as offenses warranting impeachment and removal from office.  Those can be found in Article II, Section 4:

The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Treason and bribery are pretty straightforward, but what, exactly, constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors.  Here’s what former House Minority Leader (and former president) Gerald Ford (R-Michigan) said about them:

An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office.

On Becoming an Officer

Speeding along the track, the car dropped with the grade, coming to a full stop at the bottom. The boy timed it, stopwatch in hand, programmable calculator and notebook nearby. For hours the time trials continued, one car at a time. For hours the boy converted inches per second to miles per hour, determining which Hot Wheels car was fastest in real-life proportions.

An engineer by nature, he was especially fascinated with mechanical motion. Trains, planes, automobiles, rockets. His interests with them came and went in a cycle, each mode of transportation in its turn. Rockets were rich for experimentation, with opportunities to change engines, payloads, to note wind shifts and humidity. Awe for the power of lift-off, delight for the trajectory of flight, the interest in rockets continued into college years, when the boy helped design ones of larger scale.

Model trains had their place, the HO track laid out or taken down numerous times over the years. Scale mountains and buildings were built and destroyed. Grandfather’s expensive engines and cars now wait until his interest turns back to them.

Aside from paper airplanes, it’s harder for a child to play with planes than the others. It’s not harder to appreciate them, their speed and grace, their miracle of lift, their sleek lines. Airplanes were best of all. At age nine, he was allowed in the cockpit with pilots of a commercial flight. Prior to take-off the pilots let him turn on cabin lights. As a fifth grader, the boy wrote a letter to the local Air Force recruiter, asking for posters of the jets. With no response to his request, he was disappointed but moved on. Then one day two recruiters showed up at his school, surprising the secretary when they asked for the boy. He went to the office, where they presented him with posters, folders, and pencils, enough for himself and to share with classmates. He still has the posters.

He talked with his parents about entering the military, about trying for an appointment to the Air Force Academy. And then when he was almost 13, the nation suffered an attack.

By chance he was in Washington, DC on the day U.S. forces entered Iraq. By chance he met Senator Tom Harkin that day. His parents, attuned to the inspections, the claims, the lies, understood the folly of the war of “liberation,” the plan to force democracy on a nation that had not attacked us. His parents discussed it in front of him, with him.

And all three stopped talking about military service.  

The Daily F Bomb, Tuesday 5/14/13

Interrogatories

Mother’s Day has just come and gone. How many of you still have living parents? For the orphans among us, what do you miss the most about either parent?

It’s National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. Do you make your own from scratch, use Bisquick, or break open one of those “cans”?

How long does it usually take you to get moving in the morning?

The Twitter Emitter

Known Knowns: Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi

The terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia was immediately associated with the Benghazi tragedy and reliable reports of their involvement were confirmed within days; this is often cited in accusations that the administration was remiss in their early appraisals presented to the media. How is this not compelling evidence of a terrorist plot? And how could this same militia gravitate back to Benghazi and assume their previous security role after such a blatant act?

The answer may provide some insight into the conditions in Benghazi at the time of the attack and help further our understanding of what actually happened that resulted in the death of our US ambassador and the apparent abandonment of CIA operations in Benghazi. There seems no question that Ansar al-Sharia militiamen, and their motor pool, were involved:


The trucks bore the logo of Ansar al-Shariah, a powerful local group of Islamist militants who worked with the municipal government to manage security in Benghazi…

Paul Schemm and Maggie Michael – Libyan witnesses recount organized Benghazi attack AP 27 Oct 13

So we have ample evidence of their involvement, and reports they took credit for the attack on 12 September 2012, yet their leadership lived freely in Benghazi and even gave interviews with Western media in the aftermath. What gives?

Earth’s Labored Breathing




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Earth’s climate is changing. It affects our weather, the oceans, ice, ecosystems, and society. Some of it is natural. But, humans are contributing to climate change in profound ways. Billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases that trap heat are released into the atmosphere each year. These greenhouse gases are measured and monitored by several agencies. The level of CO2 is currently at 400 ppm (parts per million) and continues to rise.

This is not new information. It has been known for the past 50 years that Earth’s CO2 is trending upward. What is new is this particular number. It is going to be higher in the future. The issue should have been addressed by the global community in a comprehensive way back then and through the decades that followed to the present. My fear is that the story will get some news coverage for a few days, and then fade away like it has in the past. 

The Daily F Bomb, Monday 5/13/13

Interrogatories

(Questions suggested by Melanie) Most of the holidays listed at the bottom of this diary aren’t real Congress-mandated holidays. What kind of holidays do you think the present Congress would propose? What holiday would you propose if you had that kind of power?

Speaking of those holidays, today is National Fruit Cocktail Day. Do you actually eat that flavorless, overly sweetened, canned fruit? Or did you think they meant Daiquiris?

Do you still have hope in mankind? If so, what is it that gives you that hope?

The Twitter Emitter

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