Best article ever (VI, VII)

Alison had an article out on Sunday that was the centerpiece of the California section. First, I'll point you toward another article that she helped out with, that was released back on the 5th. I never got to posting about it here.
Go here for the text of the article. It talks about the status of endangered species and the efforts of the administration to gut protections. A few choice quotes:

"The Bush administration has added 58 species to the endangered list, 54 of those in response to litigation. . . By comparison, 231 mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and plants were protected by the president's father, George H.W. Bush, during his four years in office."

"Julie A. MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary of the Interior who oversaw the endangered-species program, resigned last month after the inspector general found that she had ordered scientists to change their findings, and shared internal documents with lobbyists for agricultural and energy interests."

"To date, the Bush administration has taken 15 species off the endangered list — more than any other administration."

America, how is this OK? I am pissed off at you for voting for this man. A-GODDAMN-GAIN. Where is your righteous indignation? Why do so few cry foul when power over the protection of species is given to those who would rather not have those species protected? If you are interested in this issue (you should be), read Bush versus the Environment by Robert S. Devine. Then get angry and do something!

The new article (the aforementioned best article ever) can be found here. The subject is deaths in the All-American Canal, which runs close to and roughly parallel to the U.S.-Mexico border from the Colorado River west into California's Imperial Valley. Basically, what it boils down to is that the Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the canal system delivering water to various sprawling desert metropoli (rather than allowing it to go to the ocean - you may not know that the Colorado River now barely - or doesn't - flows in in Mexico; quote from the Wikipedia article - "The lower course of the river, which forms the border between Baja California and Sonora, is essentially a trickle or a dry stream today due to use of the river as Imperial Valley's irrigation source. Prior to the mid 20th century, the Colorado River Delta provided a rich estuarine marshland that is now essentially desiccated, but nonetheless is an important ecological resource.") doesn't want to bother with making the canal slightly safer. Read it and, if you live in California, write your Congressperson. Rock the Vote, 41.3% of Americans!

Our house

Check it out. I Google-Earthed our house last night. Anybody notice anything strange? I think I might do some exploring.

Sorry about the white borders; I wasn't interested enough to get rid of them.

This is what's it's like when it all comes full circle

I recently wrote about the Bush commuting the prison term of Lewis Libby. Today our erstwhile president gave a press conference, during which he actually called his commutation "a fair and balanced decision". If that's not a shout-out to the administration's favorite "news" service, I don't know what is. See, it all comes full-circle. That is, if you could make a circle by connecting two points.

A fiesta of all-starrish proportions

Tonight I was treated to the 2007 Triple-A All-Star Fiesta here in Albuquerque. I received a free ticket from good friend the Wahi, who received free tickets to said game via his participation in the trombone group Ambush Brass. See below for an action shot.


After they were done, we went into the game complete with smuggled contraband pocket burrito. Oh Baja. Mmmmmmmm. After introductions of all the players we stood for the playing of the anthems of Canada and the U.S. by that other brass ensemble. A group from the local AFB carried out the most incredibly gigantic flag onto the field, and stretched it out for our anthem. See below.


In case you're wondering (you aren't), we had the Canadian anthem because there is still one team in Canada. Also had the flag up next to the berm. You can just see in the picture below the hill in center field at Isotopes Park.


Now, if you're a casual sports fan (I being likely the most rabid sports fan that ever reads this stuff), you may not understand the joy that is Minor League Baseball. I started out going to Omaha Royals games in beautiful Rosenblatt Stadium, also home of the College World Series. Anyway, being a minor league baseball team, the Isotopes have to do all kinds of weird stuff to draw in an audience. One of the things they do in every game, aside from Orbit's dancing, is the Chili Race. Red chili vs. green chili vs. taco. I always cheer for red. Red is behind in the year's race, of course. See below for an action shot from tonight's race.


Now the isotopes apparently thought it would be a good idea to give away terrible noisemakers to the entire crowd. I first knew of these things a few years ago, when the Angels beat the Giants in the world series (2002); they also caused worldwide anguish with their damn rally monkey. See below for a shot of the Wahi with the Bam Bams.


Isotopes park is quite beautiful. Not as nice as Rosenblatt, but this one is hard to beat. We usually try to sit out on the berm in right field, but the view from the lines is quite nice. A great view of the Sandia mountains past the right field fence. See below.


Finally, in case chili races and a specially ambiguous mascot aren't enough for you, they decided that they would bring in BirdZerk, apparently a group that is trying to fill the void left by the Famous Chicken not being there. Rather than being entertaining, they achieve some sort of impressionistic mascotism, which floats in a vague realm between interpretive dance and modern art. Included in the group was a character called "Harry Canary", a take-off on broadcasting personality and noted drunkard Harry Caray. He led us all in the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th Inning Stretch, then came out and danced. See below for an action shot.


All-in-all, a great time. The Pacific Coast League lost the game 7-5, which is unfortunate because the Isotopes and the O-Royals are both in the PCL. At least the Mud Hens are in the IL and helped with the wind (netting the MVP trophy). Glad I got to go, and special thanks to the Wahi and Ambush Brass for paving the way.
Coming soon: More.

This movie be rated arrrrrr.

Note: Credit where credit is due: the title is from a Simpsons episode.

I have a lot of things to blog about, especially re: my week out of state. I'll start with the fact that, during this week, I finished the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Not the first book by him that I've read. It was very good, and I got through it quickly. While it is a good book, it loses some points for bringing such things to us as this and this and this and this. This is all very ironic to me, considering how badly the pirates are actually painted in Treasure Island. I cannot for the life of me understand why people popularized pirates.

Now I'm on to Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. This is, amazingly, my first ever Dickens book, and I am thoroughly enjoying it as well. Hopefully I can get it done in 10 days, when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will magically apparate on my doorstep.

By the by, both of these titles are available on Project Gutenberg, a site that posts the text of books that have passed their copyright date. You can read old books like this absolutely free. I'm not sure whether the construction and shipping of the actual books is worse or better than having your computer on long enough to read them, but it's something to look at.

Update, quickly

I'm in the big SV. Maybe I'll blog why, maybe not. I doubt you really care all that much. L.A. was great, maybe I'll blog about what we did, maybe not. Alison has pictures, and I don't; I have internet, and she doesn't. What to do?
I'll leave you with this, which is pretty much the funniest thing I've read recently. Just the last panel.

Note: If you don't know who Yakov Smirnoff is, this will be significantly less funny to you.

The Blind 29

I was going to write about last night's wedding, but was instead thrown into a rage over a bit of news I just heard. Apparently, our fearless leader has really gone out on a limb, and commuted Scooter Libby's jail sentence. I've written about this case before, and was not at all surprised by the news today. Not surprised, but still angered.
The facts:
- Libby still will have to pay a $250,000 fine
- Libby is on probation for 2 years
The surmissions (by NPR, not me):
- Libby's reputation is ruined
- Libby will not be able to work as a lawyer again
The following quote from Bush's statement on the matter:
"The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged," Bush said. "His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long-lasting."
My reply:
Tough shit. $250,000 would be a lot of money for someone like you or me (assuming you're like me, economically). $250,000 is a lot of money for someone like Libby too, to be sure, no pocket change. But when you make $170k per year (I have assumed an approximately similar per-year raise rate), it's certainly much easier to take. Especially when you have worked as a top lawyer for years and years.
He's going to lose his ability to practice law? Oh no! Of course, considering that he was hired by the conservative think tank Hudson Institute in January of '06, this along with the previous salary thing are probably not that big a deal. (Fun Facts aside! Google hudson institute libby. The first link is to a Hudson Institute staff bio page that is, shockingly, now blank, except for Libby's title at the top, "Senior Advisor." You can bet the farm that anybody working as a Senior Advisor for the Hudson Institute is making a boatload more money than you or I. Another Fun Fact, if you click on the second link in the google search, you get to the Hudson Institute's press release about hiring Libby. He is not listed in their staff directory (despite still having a blank page under their staff bios), but even better if you search for "Lewis Libby" on their webpage, you get 0 results! They are actually covering up the fact that he works for them.)
Furthermore, I am pretty sure that as a direct result of his actions, a certain Ms. Valerie Plame can never again work in her goddamn chosen field. And, unlike the case of Mr. Libby, where he won't be a lawyer again because he was found guilty by a jury of his peers of a number of crimes, Plame was brought down because her husband was a little too critical of the administration for their liking; I don't think anybody denies this. Plame was a victim of the administration's croneyism; in another way, so was Libby.
The speculation is that, what with Bush's poll numbers so low (29% - worst since Tricky Dick!), he had to do something to appease what is left of his base, the real neo-cons ("The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article or section are disputed" I bet they are!). Gotta get Libby out of jail to stop the leaking boat. Well, I for one hope that it doesn't work. Keep your 29%, you douchebag, but I expect that the 5% that were on the fence on that approval poll will now firmly be in the "disapprove" category.
Somebody deserves to go to jail for what happened. I think it criminal that this guy was pardoned.
I know that I have a number of conservative friends, although they may have stopped reading this blog about 25 liberal rants ago, but if they look at this, does anybody think this president character is on the right track? Does anybody approve of anything he does? Inquiring mind wants to know.