Wednesday, November 23, 2005
What Was Jack Kennedy Saying To Lyndon Johnson?
What was happening here? I don't think I have ever seen a photo of President Jack Kennedy with that same look:::::::::::::concern and anguish, woe, or the benign public face of his rage at whatever LBJ was shouting. I think we all extrapolate JFK saying "Okay Lyndon," or "that's enough," or something along those lines. Of all the LBJ pictures I have seen over the years, this one remains a mystery.
Someone must know how this photo was taken, and the circumstances that caused Senator Kennedy to reach out to muzzle Senator Johnson. It feels like a campaign appearance (therefore it happened after the Demo convention in July). After taking office, LBJ was presumably more restrained. The picture was likely taken sometime between September 5th and November 9th, 1960, between Labor Day--the 'old school' day to launch campaigns--and Election Day.
If you know anything about this photograph, please write! I have done searches on different portals and engines, and quite a few of the serious reference to the photo lead back to
All This Is That, which has no information at all! I can find the picture in other places, but no one ever explains it.
/jack
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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Betty Brummet Triumphs Over Lori Sotelo, The Republican Party, And Former Dogcatcher, Republican Chair Chris Vance!
Betty Brummet has won back (and, in fact, never lost because her November 8 ballot was counted), her right to vote in Washington State. The 82 year old grandmother and World War II veteran had her right to vote challenged in a misguided sweep by frenzied Republicans trying to narrow the gap. The G.O.P. focused on evening the score after their hapless gubernatorial candidate narrowly lost a recount in a hotly contested and litigated election.
On being challenged, Betty and her supporters swung into action, contacting newspapers, local politicians, the A.C.L.U., Democratic and Republican Party officials, as well as the King County Prosecutor's Office.
This weekend, Betty Brummet received a self-serving and officious letter from the Republican Party telling her that her right to vote had been "challenged in error."
The Republican efforts backfired. As one citizen put it on the Sound Politics web site, "The only thing Chris Vance and the Republican Party succeeded in doing this election was to use a mean-spirited last-minute voter registration trick which backfired horribly to mint thousands of new Democrats. " ___________________________________________________________
King County Republican Party
November 18, 2005
Betty Brummet
xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear Betty Brummet:
We have found that your voter registration address was challenged in error. It was never our intention to challenge your registration address [1], but it was, unfortunately, included on the forms delivered to King County Records and Elections on October 28, 2005. We have delivered a letter to Dean Logan today asking that your voter registration address be rescinded from our challenge.
It is the intention of the Voter Registration Integrity Project that all legal voters in King County be registered properly. Ensuring that only properly eligible and registered persons can vote is essential to prevent diluting the votes of all citizens. There are tens of thousands of duplicate registrations, illegal registrations and registrations of people who are either deceased or have moved. We trust our government to value the sanctity of our vote. When clean voter rolls and not a priority, our vote is not valued. Out intention is to hold our government accountable to its citizens.
We value the right of every eligible person to vote and have no intention to undermine that right in any way. Please accept my apology for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Sincerely,
Lori Sotelo, Sr. Vice Chair
King County Republican Central Committee
[1] All This Is That Editor's Note: In fact, Ms. Sotelo wrote under oath on the affidavit that accompanied the challenge to Betty's voter registration that Sotelo "has personal knowledge" that Betty did not in fact reside in the house where she has lived the last 52 years.
South Dakotan Charged With Having Sex With Dummy
The victim, or did she
entice him into the
lascivious act?
A Sioux Falls man was charged yesterday with indecent exposure after he was caught trying to have sex with a female mannequin on display at an arts centre.
Security guards found Michael Plentyhorse, 18, sprawled with the dummy on the floor of the Washington Pavillion with his trousers and pants down.
Police spokesman Loren McManus said: "There was inappropriate activity between him and the mannequin. " "That's the only way I know how to put it."
Security at the Pavillion say they've noticed the same mannequin undressed on several occasions. Drugs or alcohol do not seem to have been involved, and there seems to have been no consent given by the dummy.
If you want to visit him, drop him a line, or even send him a blow up doll:
Michael James Plentyhorse
708 N. Dakota Ave.
Sioux Falls, SD 57104-2417
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Keep Washington State Blue -- Vote Democratic
Buy one of their posters here...or just make a donation toward next November's crucial mid-term elections.
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Monday, November 21, 2005
President Bush Has An Unintentionally Comic Moment In Beijing
President Bush performed a comedy routine yesterday. At a briefing in China, The President ducked a question and attempted to leave the news conference. However, he bumped into a set of locked doors.
After the day's meetings with President Hu Jintao, POTUS met a small group of U.S. reporters and and talked about religious freedom, Iraq and the Chinese currency.
One reporter asked: "...you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?"
"Have you ever heard of jet lag?" Bush responded. "Well, good. That answers your question."
President Bush then went over a list of positive developments from his meetings.
When the reporter asked for "a very quick follow-up," Bush cut him off by thanking the press corps and telling the reporter "No you may not," as he strode toward a set of double doors leading out of the room.
The doors were locked. "I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work," Bush quipped. An aide pointed him toward the correct door. You can watch a video of the episode too.
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A.E. Housman And The Poetry Of The Glum
The thoughts of others were light and fleeting,
of lovers meeting, of luck or fame.
Mine were of trouble, and mine were steady
so I was ready when trouble came.
- AE Housman, 1859-1936
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Sunday, November 20, 2005
CIA Torture Techniques
The CIA sources described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" instituted in mid-March 2002 and used, they said, on a dozen top al Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe. According to the sources, only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use the techniques:
1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.
2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear. [the bitch slap is a technique frequently used by pimps against their employees.]
3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.
4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.
5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.
6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.
There is something about this list that makes one wonder where are the next six techniques--the really grisly ones. None of the six recommended techniques include the sort of sexual humiliation and naked pigpiles we saw conducted by army amateurs at the Iraq Prisoner of War camps, Abu Ghraib and Bucca.
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Sixty Years Ago Today, The Nuremberg Trials Began
It was the first trial of its kind in history, and the defendants faced charges ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes of war, to crimes against humanity. Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, the British member, presided over the 216 court sessions.
On October 1946, 12 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death. Three were acquitted, and seven received prison terms. Goering, who was called the "leading war aggressor and creator of the oppressive program against the Jews," cheated the hangman by taking his own life the night before his scheduled execution. Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann was condemned to death in absentia, although he was actually most likely dead by then.
Trials of less well-known war criminals continued into the 1950s. 5,025 other defendants were convicted, 806 were executed.
Nuremberg has always been a litmus test of my resolve against capital punishment. I may not believe in an eye for an eye, but the people put to death here come pretty close to making a compelling case. . .
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A Warning About The House Of Representatives
Another Index To Original Poems Appearing In All This Is That
The Variations
You Rehearse Dying
Sonnet For Hari
Defensive Daydreaming
The Dream
Dogpaddling
The Prostethic Head & The Absence Of Blood
Tetuan - "No Paranoia, My Friend"
The Grey Visitors & Painting: The Grey Ambassador
The Bad Movie
The Bucket
The Man In The Mirror
Liftoff
Optimism
Perspective
A Flight Of Swallows
Audioblog - Poem: The Prevaricator
Weather Report
Your Wooden Leg
The Revelations Sermon At The First Church Of The Mojo Apocalypse
Dosvidaniya, Ivan Ivanovitch
The Late Excavation (Text And Audio)
Jack Kerouac, Meet John Barleycorn
The Gideon Bible In My Nightstand
At The Acropolis
When Aliens Land, Or, The Return Of The King
The sous-chef is a sociopath]
James Wright
Falling
[Life Is Not A Hardy Novel]
Seven
Coyote Comes Home Like A Salmon
Shorts For Jerry Melin ca. about 1988
Bird Poem: Monism
The Golden Rule Poem: The Countdown
When Aliens Land, Or, The Return Of The King
At Hillcrest Cemetary in Kent, Washington I walk by The Grave of Sam The Grasseater
Notes On Flying
Daybreak
Explosions
Not Past Tense Yet
the glass is not half-full
It's Getting Crowded Here
Li Po In Disgrace
The Clock
Love Song
Bad Timing
The Killer
The Absence of Footprints
Growing Up
Gone Fishing
The M.D.s
Acrylic
The Marriage
Driving Home To Seattle, We Watch Deer Drinking from the Skookumchuck River
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Saturday, November 19, 2005
Washington State Republican Chairman Chris Vance's Meteoric Rise From Dogcatcher To Vote Thief
"A major embarrassment for the G.O.P." - Gary Chittim, King 5 News
"We stand by our research” - State Republican Chair Chris Vance
"The only thing Chris Vance and the Republican Party succeeded in doing this election was to use a mean-spirited last-minute voter registration trick which backfired horribly to mint thousands of new Democrats. " - Swifter on http://Soundpolitics.com"Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesman for King County Executive Ron Sims, said the fiasco showed an embarrassing degree of amateurishness on the part of the Republicans. 'This is an unfortunate example of what happens when what is a serious issue, people’s right to vote, is hijacked for partisan advantage,' Kaushik said." - http://thestranger.com
Chris Vance, Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, and the architect behind recent scandal to disenfranchise narly 2,000 Seattle-area voters (see the recent post in All This Is That) worked earlier in his career as the Dogcatcher of Kent, Wash. Yes, before he attempted to throw out the voting rights of 82-year old widowed veterans, he was ordering around stray hounds and beagles that had the bad luck to wind up in "his" dog pound. From the sounds of it, he was a martinet Dogcatcher and never missed a chance to wield his authority to browbeat and cudgel hapless pet owners.
A trustworthy source has just revealed to All This Is That that:
"Vance served at the Animal Control Shelter here in Kent. I recall well how "Yappy" he was, even then, Huffing and Puffing and Blathering away as he chastised and disciplined Pet Owners while exercising his mighty powers.
"There is a certain Poetic Justice to watch him now as he continues to Yap and Rant and sink the Repub's political fortunes. I have searched the Web and King County Data but can not find that info. The reason that I would like to have it is that I have found the Wikipedia Bio on Vance. You probably know that Wikipedia is one more new Web search engine on the net----and one of its hallmarks is that it allows the reader to amend the text and add additional data on the subject."
My source will be amending Vance's Wikipedia entry as soon as he locates the details behind Vance's tenure. Chris, your biography is about to be greatly enhanced.
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Congress Implodes Over Jack Murtha's Iraq Pullout Proposal; Fortunately, They Still Found Time To Vote Themselves A $3,100 Raise
Democrats erupted in fury when House GOP leaders maneuvered the house into a politically-charged vote on Congressman Jack Murtha's call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. This was swiftly voted down after much malignant speechifying. The house voted 403-3 against the measure (with 22 non-votes).
While Murtha proposed a redeployment timetable "as soon as practical," the GOP twisted this into an immediate withdrawal and then forced the pointless vote. There was much mudslinging, yelling, and hand-wringing throughout the night.
Congress was able to get through one important piece of business: They gave themselves a $3,100 pay raise Friday, and then shelved work on bills to curb spending on social programs. Oh, and they also cut the food stamp budget by $700 million.
Don't worry folks. . .they'll be back in two weeks, after a relaxing Thangsgiving break. They will then work a couple of weeks before taking time off for Christmas.
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