What the fuck happened in the past eight years?

I am absolutely furious about this torture thing. Really. When did we stop being a nation that gives a shit and turn into this current one, which is apparently A-OK with war crimes, blatant human rights abuses, and violent, despicable activity by our previous administration?

Torture, no matter who is on the business end of it, should infuriate anyone who has a human soul, and I say right here and right now that if you think it's okay to torture people—even after it has been proven time and time again not only to be illegal, not only to be immoral, but also to be wholly ineffective for the garnering of any usable intelligence—you are not human, you are disgusting, you have no soul. I'm serious. The very idea that this issue is even being debated just turns my stomach. If the Bush administration had extensive proof that their techniques worked and provided actionable intelligence in adequate time to save many innocent lives (spoiler alert: they haven't, and I doubt they will be able to provide any that isn't made up just like every other lie of the Bush administration), I might waffle on this, but the vast preponderance of evidence contradicts this notion.

People like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh disgust me greatly. They are subhuman and should be despised. They do not deserve our attention. They only deserve psychiatric help, as I believe they are both in desperate need of it. I saw Glenn Beck speaking on his show in his pouty, derisive voice, mocking those of us who have more than a single gramme of compassion in our hearts, saying that he doesn't think waterboarding is torture. Know what, Glenn? Nobody gives  a fuck what you think, because we already have hundreds of years of history, including the Japanese in WWII, Chinese communist forces in North Korea during the Korean war, even the fucking Spanish Inquisition (bet you weren't expecting that, asshole; nobody ever does), who were all called torturers because of their use of waterboarding. As Paul Begala averred to Ari Fleischer, who is also rapidly climbing my shit list, we hanged Japanese soldiers who waterboarded our POWs. We didn't do it because we won the war; we did it because what they did was morally reprehensible and if nothing was done about it justice would never be served.

A recurring theme in the opinions written about this: we are a nation of laws, not men, or political parties. I would express exactly the same disgust if it had been Democrats in charge, and if we find out that there were some who knew about this and gave it their blessing I say let's go after them too. No one who was in favour of this, who pretended it was legal, who covered it up, or who otherwise condoned it should be spared from justice that is as bipartisan as it is brutal. Seriously. When did we become a country that condones this kind of behaviour no matter how golden the intentions? Not in my name, assholes.

Let's hang 'em high, space cadets.

A stormy harbinger of Spring's arrival in Chicago.

One of my earliest childhood memories that I can recall was a thunderstorm, or maybe several, in Macomb, IL. We lived in a big house with a front porch large enough for multiple rocking chairs, and it was covered by an overhang such that you could sit and watch a storm go by. In retrospect it sounds very peaceful but at the time I was about 2 or 3 years old and terrified of thunder. My parents and our neighbours were out on the porch watching the storm and I remember being torn between being safe from the thunderstorm in the house, but alone, and being outside with the thunderstorm but being with my parents. I'd have to ask my mom to be sure but I think I remember running between the house and the porch every time there was a lightning strike.

It's funny thinking about it now, since my usual reaction to thunderstorms nowadays is to want to be out in them. I always like having a window open so I can hear them. The window next to me right now is cracked just enough so that my living room is filled with the storm's sounds.

Sometimes I lament that I'm no longer scared of thunderstorms, because now that I'm all grown up I have grownup things to be scared of, like economic meltdowns, nuclear war, and the icecapades. Sigh, loss of innocence, and all that. Stay dry, space cadets.

An unexpected snowstorm ... in April

Yeah. It's snowing outside, like a motherfucker no less, and it's April. I am so over this Chicago weather. I miss the bay area tons times like this. If you're somewhere where it's nice outside, go out and play a little, for me, space cadets.

A most fascinating coincidence

Went to Dollop earlier to meet up with Sarah. I got a text from the illustrious Chris Coté saying that a friend of his had recognized me in a photo on his friend's Flickr photostream. Apparently she'd been taken by the adorableness of my wee laptop and took a picture.

This sequence of events, from the photo being taken to me receiving the text message from Chris, couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes. I am awed by this, because each element is so commonplace now. The 21st century is, I've got to say, pretty bitchin'.

Creep on, space cadets.