What happens when the executive branch is allowed to operate in secrecy and without constraint? This was answered in 1976, by the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, chaired by Senator Frank Church:

The natural tendency of Government is toward abuse of power. Men entrusted with power, even those aware of its dangers, tend, particularly when pressured, to slight liberty. Our constitutional system guards against this tendency. It establishes many different checks upon power. It is those wise restraints which ‘keep men free. In the field of intelligence those restraints have too often been ignored.

The three main departures in the intelligence field from the constitutional plan for controlling abuse of power have been: (a) Excessive Executive Power.

In a sense the growth of domestic intelligence activities mirrored the growth of presidential power generally. But more than any other activity, more even than exercise of the war power, intelligence activities have been left to the control of the Executive.

For decades Congress and the courts as well as the press and the public have accepted the notion that the control of intelligence activities was the exclusive prerogative of the Chief Executive and his surrogates. The exercise of this power was not questioned or even inquired into by outsiders. Indeed, at times the power was seen as flowing not from the law, but as inherent, in the Presidency.

Whatever the theory, the fact was that intelligence activities were essentially exempted from the normal system of checks and balances. Such Executive power, not founded in law or checked by Congress or the courts, contained the seeds of abuse and its growth was to be expected.

(b) Excessive Secrecy.

Abuse thrives on secrecy. Obviously, public disclosure, of matters such as the names of intelligence agents or the technological details of collection methods is inappropriate. But in the field of intelligence, secrecy has been extended to inhibit review of the basic programs and practices themselves.

Those within the Executive branch and the Congress who would exercise their responsibilities wisely must be fully informed. The American public, as well, should know enough about intelligence activities to be able to apply its good sense to the underlying issues of policy and morality.

Knowledge is the key to control. Secrecy should no longer be allowed to shield the existence of constitutional, legal and moral problems from the scrutiny of all three branches of government or from the American people themselves.

(c) Avoidance of the Rule of Law.

Lawlessness by Government breeds corrosive cynicism among the people and erodes the trust upon which government depends.

Here, there is no sovereign who stands above the law. Each of us, from presidents to the most disadvantaged citizen, must obey the law. As intelligence operations developed, however, rationalizations were fashioned to immunize them from the restraints of the Bill of Rights and the specific prohibitions of the criminal code. The experience of our investigation leads us to conclude that such rationalizations are a dangerous delusion.

As you can see, the Committee pointed its finger at the government, the public and the press.  Attitudes needed to be changed all around.

This is yet another parallel between modern times and the the Vietnam War era (I realize that that war had ceased by 1976).  Many other parallels were detailed by the movie “War Made Easy.”

The above passage is analyzed in more detail at Common Dreams.

Absolutely! As long as we teach ALL of the controversies. This is some clever science/religion/humor.

Delightful editing of the candidates’ videos along with Stewartesque commentary:

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner

Mike Lester, The Rome News-Tribune

Parker, Florida Today

Pavel Constantin, Romania

Parker, Florida Today

I was leaving comments on other blogs this morning, and I had a thought. The Blogosphere is not just a platform for pundits, but a release valve for all the potential unabombers and other crazies. So here I am: One of the crazies. As one who comments much more often than I post, I had to feel that the backbone of the blog world is really the commentators.

That’s it. A pun from a cell-phone sel-fportrait.

I ended up with a copy of this humorous problem solving flow chart about 30 years ago. I don’t know who created it or when. I kept it in a folder all these years.  I find its sardonic logic impeccable.

If anyone knows the history of this chart, let me know so I can give proper credit.

You may have heard that the California Supreme Court has ruled that the state has no pressing interest in inquiring into the gender of two people wishing to declare their undying love for each other.

And this time, couples might might end up with something more than a souvenir like this one (the marriages conducted San Francisco’s 2004 spring and summer of love are alas, still null and void.) As Mark Morford writes in the San Francisco Chronicle:

It might not be such an easy trick this time. This is the good news. It is the twilight of the Bush Endtimes and the right wing hate machine is no longer the nasty Hummer of bloviated pain it once was. What’s more, there’s this pesky thing known as a $3 trillion war. There is brutal economic recession. There is environmental collapse. Really, who cares about happy gay people getting married when it costs 4 bucks a gallon to get to Wal-Mart? Priorities, people.

What’s more, it was one thing for an uppity and slick San Francisco mayor to try and make a name for himself and enter the gay history books by allowing all those happy gay people to stand in the rain back in 2004 and get married in City Hall, only to have it all annulled by the courts.

But it is quite another when a powerhouse seven-member Supreme Court — six of whom are moderate Republicans — of the largest and most potent state in the union says, hey, you know what? It appears we’ve had it wrong all along. It appears there is actually nothing the slightest bit wrong or unlawful or even dangerous about allowing people of the same gender to buy overpriced formalwear and drink way too much champagne and dance to crappy ’80s power ballads in the Chardonnay Room of a low-rent winery up in Napa, and call it a wedding.

Who can argue with that? Hell, to this very day, cultural conservatives still have no idea exactly why they hate gay marriage. There is still zero articulation. There is a complete lack of fact or understanding and I have yet to meet a single person of any political stripe who can adequately explain exactly why gay marriage is so dangerous, or who’s threatened, or how. Same as it ever was? Yes. Only now, their misunderstanding feels quite a bit less dangerous, and far more pathetic.

Finally, this is the funniest response to the ruling I’ve seen yet. The joke isn’t exactly new, but they do it so well and they’re just so darn cute!

The difference is that Bill O’Reilly really did explode on the set. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

The Onion News Network is right on top of this trendy story:

In The Know: How Can We Make The War In Iraq More Eco-Friendly?

 Are you Bitter Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?
by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri

Corn Ethanol and Pig-Cars
Simanca Osmani, Cagle Cartoons, Brazil

by Pavel Constantin, Romania

[Note from Erich:  DI has a purchased a license from Cagle Cartoons to publish these cartoons.  We are proud to support the work of these cartoonists. ]

Sometimes, my body has a strong opinion with which I disagree.

Here’s a good recent example:  My body doesn’t like getting stuck with hypodermic syringes.  When I refuse to allow my body to leave the doctor’s office and when I allow my body to get jabbed with a hypodermic needle, it retaliates by fainting.  It’s one of those things that I completely forget about until I’m sitting in a doctor’s office overly aware that I’m about to be stuck again.  At such moments, my body reacts in a way that embarrasses and annoys me. 

Here’s a bit of context. For the past few months, I’ve had some nagging back and arm pain.  On a lark, I signed up for some acupuncture administered by a chiropractor.   Getting stuck with those little acupuncture needles didn’t give me big problems—not that I enjoyed the sensation of those tiny needles being pushed into my back.  After three treatments, I gave up on the acupuncture because it didn’t offer any long-term effect (although each treatment relieved my symptoms a bit, for a few hours).

My next step was to see my family physician, who arranged for x-rays.  He told me that I had “arthritis” and suggested some physical therapy.  [Before going any further, anyone reading this should probably email me a HIPPA form].

I was hoping for more of a pinpoint diagnosis, though, so I visited a doctor who specialized in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.  He arranged for an MRI, resulting in some fascinating pictures that suggested that I had noticeable deformities in several cervical vertebrae and in the discs that separate those vertebrae. It is not an unusual condition for someone in his 50s, but for me it has been quite painful because it’s pushing on a nerve root.  It’s distressing to see such clear pictures of my body’s insides deteriorating.

The physical medicine doctor suggested that I might eventually want to consider some surgical options. Therefore, I visited a surgeon who confidently assured me that the pain I am suffering is due to the spinal deformities evident on the x-rays and the MRI.  It was delightful and refreshing to hear this surgeon discourage surgery, at least for the time being. 

[As many of you might have experienced, many doctors are over-eager to provide you with what they offer.  For example, the chiropractor I visited, a pleasant fellow, appeared content to keep administering acupuncture, with no diagnostic images to inspire a more accurate diagnosis.  Because it is appearing that my problem is a pinched nerve caused by deteriorating bones, additional acupuncture would have been an essentially worthless investment.] 

This brings me to the topic of needles.  The surgeon suggested that I consider special injections by a pain management doctor (as well as continued physical therapy).  All I had to do was get a few “injections” of a cortisone-like slow-acting drug that would be placed near the nerve root that is currently being irritated by the deteriorating cervical disks. I set up an appointment with the pain management doctor.

The pain management doctor was an affable fellow who described the technique he would be using in great detail.    It turned out to be more than simply injecting me with steroids. The procedure was called a Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection. The procedure involved a preliminary injunction to numb part of my back, which allowed a blunt-ended catheter to be pushed several inches through the inside of my body toward the affected nerve root.  The procedure is done under a fluoroscope, which allows the doctor see where the catheter is going. Nonetheless, the insertion needs to be done while the patient is awake so that the doctors can learn if they get too close to a nerve root (I would feel unpleasant sensations in my arms if that were to occur). 

[Above is a fluoroscope image of my cervical epidural steroid injection.]

As my friendly pain management doctor described this procedure (in much more detail than I’m describing for you) I was sitting in a chair across from him, taking some notes.  I found it all interesting, in fact too interesting.  My visual field started to get cloudy as he spoke to me and I started to feel clammy.  I started falling forward out of my chair.  He jumped up to get my legs raised and he called for the nurse to bring in the monitoring equipment.  I was told that my blood pressure dropped from 110/60 down to something like 50/30 (I was at 80/40 for 15 minutes).  I recovered slowly over the next 30 minutes, quite embarrassed.  You see, the doctor was not administering any treatment at the time.  We were not yet even in the x-ray room where the treatment was going to occur.  He was merely talking with me.

Before we had even started talking, had warned him that I was sometimes not good about getting jabbed with needles, and this was proof that I wasn’t exaggerating.  As this fainting episode proved, I’m not even good at discussing syringes. (more…)

Read about it at The Onion.

Sifting through some of my photos from last year, I found a shot that tickled and confused me at the time that I took it, and still does now. I would like to share it with all of you.

But first some background: Last summer, I was watching my city’s Gay Pride Parade in my city’s token “gay area”. Amid the drag queens, Log Cabin Republicans, gay flag teams and buses full of lesbians, stood this curious man:

I still wonder about you, Gay Pride Confederate. Do you bear the flag as a sign of irony? If you do support what this flag represents, why do you live in the “gay” side of town? Do you brandish the flag as a symbol of your southern roots, as you drink wine topless at 10 in the morning? Do you represent life in a modern age full of contradictions? Mr. Gay-Pride-Confederate-Who-Also-Appears-To-Be-Black, you fascinate me.

Does anyone really know the answer? Ever?

That’s the point of this excerpt from a short essay by novelist Harlan Ellison:

. . . [My] fourth marriage just sort of happened: It seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact—and this is the core of all my wisdom about love—whenever we try to explain why we have done any particular thing, whether it’s buying T-bills or why we would live in a house in the mountains or why we took the trip to Lake Ronkonkoma, or whatever it was, the only rationale that ever rings with honesty is: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” We’re really no smarter than cactus or wolverines or plankton; and the things we do, we always like to justify them, find logical reasons for them; and then you go to court later and the judge says, “Well, didn’t you know that it was doomed from the start?” I’m waiting for someone to say to the judge, “Because, schmuck, I’m no smarter than you.”

From A Curmudgeon’s Garden of Love, Compiled and edited by Jon Winokur, p. 50 (1991).

For a world-class prank, check this out:

The group is called “Improv Everywhere: We cause scenes.” This group obviously has a lot of fun, yet takes their work seriously. Check out its website — the right column lists the group’s other “missions” (they indicate that they’ve had about 70 missions so far).

The other missions include “Suicide Jumper”, synchronized swimming and “No Pants 2K8″ (On Saturday January 12th, 2008 nearly 2,000 people took off their pants on subways in 10 cities around the world).

For the other missions by Improv Everywhere, check the Mission Highlights here.

Note from Erich:  DI has a purchased a license from Cagle Cartoons to publish these cartoons.  We are proud to support the work of these cartoonists.  

I thought I’d mention a bit more about Cagle.   It is an organization owned by cartoonists for the benefit of cartoonists.  Cagle publishes the works of hundreds of cartoonists from around the world.  How do I choose which ones to publish at DI?  Many times, a cartoon will touch on a topic discussed in a recent DI post. Other times, I thought the cartoon made a good political point or simply was enjoyable.  I hope you find these worthwhile too.   

Big Daddy Oilbucks
Mike Lane, Cagle Cartoons

Girl Scout Cookies
Mike Lester, Rome News - Tribune

[Note:  See the post entitled "Don't buy Girl Scout Cookies"]

Internet and Identity
Angel Boligan, El Universal, Mexico City

The Violinist
Angel Boligan, Cagle Cartoons, El Universal, Mexico City

Video Games
Angel Boligan, Cagle Cartoons, El Universal, Mexico City

Gender Equality
Ares, Caglecartoons.com

Bush and the snake
Olle Johansson, Sweden

This compilation is provided by Living the Scientific Life.  This is definitely not any sort of ecumenical outreach program.  Here are the first seven slogans:

1. Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers
2. Honk If Your Religious Beliefs Make You An Asshole
3. Intelligent Design Makes My Monkey Cry
4. Too Stupid to Understand Science? Try Religion.
5. There’s A REASON Why Atheists Don’t Fly Planes Into Buildings
6. “Worship Me or I Will Torture You Forever. Have a Nice Day.”­ God.
7. God Doesn’t Kill People. People Who Believe in God Kill People.

As I was sitting in the Jury holding area last week, I began to read volume one of the “Centennial History of the Civil War” by Bruce Catton: “The Coming Fury“.

Between periods of listening for my number to be called, I plunged into the 1860 presidential primaries. Those left wing liberal Republicans had the good-old-boy Democrats running in circles. Except that the main issue was homeland integrity instead of Homeland Security, the machinations seemed quite similar to recent news. That is, allowing for technological and social context.

We now know that the issue was powerful enough to split the conservative party down the middle, the liberal party won the election, and then the country split across the middle. Those were interesting times, in the Chinese Proverb sense.

This year the same formerly conservative party (”Democrats”) have as front runners two Senators who would have been ineligible to vote or own property in 1860. Some things do change.

But to keep this post short, a more recent historical note. I had cut this political cartoon from a paper some weeks less than 16 years ago and found it in my desk recently:

 by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

by Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner

Tab, The Calgary Sun

–

Dangerous Intersection proudly supports the creators of these cartoons, which are printed by permission, pursuant to an arrangement with Cagle Cartoons.

You know who you are!

This one is for Mindy, who loves her Pug.

A proposed new federal statute would prohibit politicians from wearing their pants higher than their current ratings in the polls.

RJ Matson, The New York Observer

[Printed with permission of Cagle Cartoons]

RJ Matson, The New York Observer

Printed with permission of Cagle Cartoons.

This is one of those really funny Onion articles with an extraordinarily sharp edge. Bravo to The Onion.

One of my favorite current cartoonists is Brooke McEldowney. I discovered his work online a few years ago in the form of “A Fairy Merry Christmas”. In the interest of copyright non-violation, I’ll leave it to youse to Google up your own excerpts.

This cartoon series was an NEA sponsored 6 week series. Finally, a use of NEA funds that anyone can appreciate. Except that it only appeared online, and maybe in a few papers. Anyway, I was captivated by the sense of humor. It doesn’t hurt that McEldowney has a magnificent grasp of sensual line in his figure drawing.

After its conclusion, I found his two other strips, 9 Chickweed Lane, and Pibgorn. It took my local paper about another 2 years to discover either one of these, but I’ve been reading them online. (Pibgorn is temporarily without a home as of this writing).

Well, I’ve started reading the cartoonist’s blog, wherein he refers to his teenage daughters as Snark Major and Snark Minor. This led me to one of the Snarks own blog, currently written from her post as a freshman at Aarkvard University (arch rival of Dale, you know).

So, if you want to follow a mental roller coaster of exceptionally twisted and oblique prose, check these out. I had enough fun there to be willing to impose it on yall.