William Jefferson's Confession

Memorial Day

Dirge for Two Veterans

by Walt Whitman

The last sunbeam

Lightly falls from the finish'd Sabbath,

On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,

Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,

Up from the east the silvery round moon,

Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,

Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession,

And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,

All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,

As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,

And the small drums steady whirring,

And every blow of the great convulsive drums,

Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,

(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,

Two veterans son and father dropt together,

And the double grave awaits them.)

Now nearer blow the bugles,

And the drums strike more convulsive,

And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,

And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,

The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd,

('Tis some mother's large transparent face,

In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march you please me!

O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!

O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!

What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,

And the bugles and the drums give you music,

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,

My heart gives you love.

That's Torture, You Fucking Idiots

Well, at least they're not waterboarding like those monsters at Gitmo. More on real torture here.

May Day: Students Hop School Fence to Join March/Parade/Protest/Whatever

Picture from the LA Times

I was going to add a funny caption, but it's completely unnecessary. It's just too easy.

Senator Reid: Do You Really Believe the War is Lost?

Sound Logic

"False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.

Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, the most important of the code, will respect the less important and arbitrary ones, which can be violated with ease and impunity, and which, if strictly obeyed, would put an end to personal liberty... and subject innocent persons to all the vexations that the guilty alone ought to suffer?

Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. They ought to be designated as laws not preventive but fearful of crimes, produced by the tumultuous impression of a few isolated facts, and not by thoughtful consideration of the inconveniences and advantages of a universal decree."

--Cesare Beccaria
Dei delitti e delle pene, [On Crimes and Punishments] ch.38 (1764)Translation is as quoted by Thomas Jefferson in his Commonplace Book.

Mr. President, Put Your Damn Foot Down for a Change

While some pundits claim Speaker of the House Pelosi is simply irritating President Bush with her unauthorized visit to Syria, she’s also playing patty-cake with one of the world’s major sponsors/supporters of terror (Bashar Assad has built four terrorist training bases in Syria, which crank out terrorists who travel to Iraq and attack and kill our troops) and breaking the law.

Under the Logan Act, Nancy Pelosi has committed a felony. In my humble opinion, Mr. President, you should quit fucking around and throw the goddamn book at her … and anyone else behaving similarly—Rep. Darrell Issa (R, CA), for example.