This a drink with a lot of interesting liquors and subtle variations. What's common to all of them is Gin and Crème de Violette.
Gin is a lot older than you think and involves re-distilling neutral spirits with juniper berries for a piney flavor. I'm terribly allergic to juniper so I can't drink it. The recipe calls for a Dry highly distilled modern clear Gin.
Crème de Violette is actually made from flowers and has the scent and deep purple color of its namesake. Based on brandy or neutral spirits it's not easy to find, but you don't need a lot.
It is pretty clear that this is just an Atty cocktail renamed in favor of the Kesselring play and subsequent movie. You might create a distinction in the substitution of Pastis for the temporarily unavailable Absinthe of the original.
Either one contributes a strong anise flavor that can also be found in the 'London' variety of Gin and compliments it.
Finish with some Dry Vermouth if you like it (and I happen to).
The color ranges from a clear purple to a faint opalescent green depending on the substitutions and quantities. If you use one of the 'milkier' recipes you can serve it 'on the rocks' in a short (Old Fashioned) glass and the melting ice will create lacy streamers.
Humanitarian warfare. Conducted not by stupid, lazy humans, but by indefatigable professor drones, wherein any old pile of programmable junk becomes a universal Töten machine. Because piles of robot junk are more ethical than humans. Because they are rules-based logic devices merely programmed by unruly humans. Robots do not metaphorically "flip-flop" their ruling creed. Without an extra logic gate, block of programming, or "fat-fingered" meltdown that inexplicably passed the compilation test. We could bypass humans and have the robots program themselves, with the "thou shalt not hurt humans" proviso, modified to exclude the humans we want to kill. Never to be confused with the humans we don't want to kill. Unless they happen to be double-agents.
Let me suggest that a state of confusion reigns concerning warfare, technology, humanitarian impulses (as literal flip-flop switches), and ethics.
Hello, World! I am your new emotions-based, fully-embodied killer app designed to avoid unnecessary tit-for-tat death spirals, meaning I sure as fuck didn't start it.
I mean, if autonomous assassin robots are not godzwounds-a-flopically compounding the problem of human ethics, I will vote affirmatively for the newly-shed, post-debate exoskeleton of the Willard Mechanism AND the fur ball-coughing incumbent.
There will be no perp walks, or got that matter even arrests, in the civil suit against JP Morgan Chase for flawed mortgage-backed securities issued by Bear Stearns that was filed late Sunday night by Eric Schneiderman, New York State's Attorney General. It's the first lawsuit filed by Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group that was formed in January following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
The complaint contends that Bear Stearns and its lending unit, EMC Mortgage, defrauded investors who purchased mortgage securities packaged by the companies from 2005 through 2007.
The firms made material misrepresentations about the quality of the loans in the securities, the lawsuit said, and ignored evidence of broad defects among the loans that they pooled and sold to investors.
Moreover, when Bear Stearns identified problematic loans that it had agreed to purchase from a lender, it was required to make the originator buy them back. But Bear Stearns demanded cash payments from the lenders and kept the money, rather than passing it on to investors, the suit contends.
Unlike many of the other mortgage crisis cases brought by regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the task force's action does not focus on a particular deal that harmed investors or an individual who was central to a specific transaction. Rather, the suit contends that the improper practices were institutionwide and affected numerous deals during the period.
The decision to pursue civil charges under New York's Martin Act means that the state's attorney general will not have to prove fraudulent intent, only that the firm was negligent in making any false or misleading disclosures. While easier to prove, that also indicates that the evidence to prove fraud was not strong enough to bring more serious charges.
Like so many cases related to the financial crisis, no individuals are named in the complaint. Nor does it appear that any criminal charges will emerge this long after Bear Stearns was pushed into the arms of JPMorgan by the federal government in a transaction routinely described as a fire sale.
It looks like Eric Schneiderman is living up to his track record as an "all hat, no cattle" prosecutor. Readers may recall that he filed a lawsuit against the mortgage registry MERS just on the heels of Obama's announcement that he was forming a mortgage fraud task force. Schneiderman's joining forces with the Administration killed the attorney general opposition to the settlement, allowing the Administration to put that heinous deal over the finish line. The MERS filing was a useful balm for Schneiderman's reputation, since it preserved his "tough guy" image, at least for the moment, and allowed his backers to contend that he had outplayed the Administration. [..]
Schneiderman has churned out another lawsuit that the Obama boosters and those unfamiliar with this beat might mistakenly see as impressive. It's a civil, not criminal suit against JP Morgan he conduct of Bear Stearns in originating and misrepresenting $87 billion of mortgage backed securities (the link takes you to the court filing). And also notice no individuals are being sued. Being a banker apparently means never having to be responsible for your actions.
This suit appears just in time for an "October Surprise" and right before the first debate that will focus on domestic policies. This looks like more campaign PR.
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train, the route for which has changed considerably in modern times. The first run of The Orient Express was on 4 October 1883. The train travelled from Paris to Giurgiu in Romania, via Munich and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Ruse in Bulgaria to pick up another train to Varna. From here they completed their journey to Istanbul by ferry.
The Orient Express was the name of a long-distance passenger train originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Its route has changed many times, and several routes have in the past concurrently used the name, or slight variants thereof. Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name has become synonymous with intrigue and luxury travel. The two city names most intimately associated with the Orient Express are Paris and Istanbul, the original endpoints of the service.
The original route, which first ran on October 4, 1883, was from Paris, Gare de l'Est, to Giurgiu in Romania via Munich and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Rousse in Bulgaria to pick up another train to Varna, from where they completed their journey to Istanbul (then called Constantinople) by ferry. In 1885, another route began operations, this time reaching Istanbul via rail from Vienna to Belgrade and Nis, carriage to Plovdiv and rail again to Istanbul.
In 1889, the train's eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Istanbul. On June 1, 1889, the first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l'Est). Istanbul remained its easternmost stop until May 19, 1977. The eastern terminus was the Sirkeci Terminal by the Golden Horn. Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across the Bosporus Strait to Haydarpasa Terminal, the terminus of the Asian lines of the Ottoman railways.
The onset of World War I in 1914 saw Orient Express services suspended. They resumed at the end of hostilities in 1918, and in 1919 the opening of the Simplon Tunnel allowed the introduction of a more southerly route via Milan, Venice and Trieste. The service on this route was known as the Simplon Orient Express, and it ran in addition to continuing services on the old route. The Treaty of Saint-Germain contained a clause requiring Austria to accept this train: formerly, Austria allowed international services to pass through Austrian territory (which included Trieste at the time) only if they ran via Vienna. The Simplon Orient Express soon became the most important rail route between Paris and Istanbul.
The 1930s saw the zenith of Orient Express services, with three parallel services running: the Orient Express, the Simplon Orient Express, and also the Arlberg Orient Express, which ran via Zürich and Innsbruck to Budapest, with sleeper cars running onwards from there to Bucharest and Athens. During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles, diplomats, business people and the bourgeoisie in general patronized it. Each of the Orient Express services also incorporated sleeping cars which had run from Calais to Paris, thus extending the service right from one edge of continental Europe to the other.
The start of the Second World War in 1939 again interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945. During the war, the German Mitropa company had run some services on the route through the Balkans, but partisans frequently sabotaged the track, forcing a stop to this service.
Following the end of the war, normal services resumed except on the Athens leg, where the closure of the border between Yugoslavia and Greece prevented services from running. That border re-opened in 1951, but the closure of the Bulgaria-Turkey border from 1951 to 1952 prevented services running to Istanbul during that time. As the Iron Curtain fell across Europe, the service continued to run, but the Communist nations increasingly replaced the Wagon-Lits cars with carriages run by their own railway services.
By 1962, the Orient Express and Arlberg Orient Express had stopped running, leaving only the Simplon Orient Express. This was replaced in 1962 by a slower service called the Direct Orient Express, which ran daily cars from Paris to Belgrade, and twice weekly services from Paris to Istanbul and Athens.
In 1971, the Wagon-Lits company stopped running carriages itself and making revenues from a ticket supplement. Instead, it sold or leased all its carriages to the various national railway companies, but continued to provide staff for the carriages. 1976 saw the withdrawal of the Paris-Athens direct service, and in 1977, the Direct Orient Express was withdrawn completely, with the last Paris-Istanbul service running on May 19 of that year.
The withdrawal of the Direct Orient Express was thought by many to signal the end of Orient Express as a whole, but in fact a service under this name continued to run from Paris to Budapest and Bucharest as before (via Strasbourg, Munich, and Budapest). This continued until 2001, when the service was cut back to just Paris-Vienna, the coaches for which were attached to the Paris-Strasbourg express. This service continued daily, listed in the timetables under the name Orient Express, until June 8, 2007. However, with the opening of the Paris-Strasbourg high speed rail line on June 10, 2007, the Orient Express service was further cut back to Strasbourg-Vienna, departing nightly at 22:20 from Strasbourg, and still bearing the name.
I'm sure you're all looking forward to this with the same breathless anticipation I am. Stop holding your breath, you'll turn blue and pass out. What about...
I'm thinking Red Sox/Yankees last day of the season pre-play-off Baseball followed by How Booze Built America, so we can certainly chat about that. Of course if you want to talk politics I'll ask you to step to the back of the bar and try not to disturb the other customers.
Join us tonight at 8 PM EDT for live coverage of the first of three presidential debates. We hope to have an embed of the live stream from Democracy Now!. Host Amy Goodman has invited Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson to respond to the same questions given to President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. It should be interesting to hear their answers.
The 2012 Quebec student protests in the Canadian Provence of Québec has won big. The nightly demonstrations in the streets that began in February over tuition hikes, won the support of the general population, fought an unjust law that criminalized protests, did not back down. They ousted the government of Premier Jean Charest, replacing him with progressive Pauline Marois. This is what they have accomplished for the citizens of Québec and Canada:
Beyond politicizing a generation, it has spurred a more socially and ecologically progressive political climate. It is within this context that Pauline Marois' government has adopted more progressive reforms in its first days in office than any other provincial government in recent Canadian history.
After rescinding the Charest government's special bill that criminalized student demonstrations, they abolished the tuition increase that universities had already begun charging (many students have received a rebate). The Parti Québecois also eliminated a highly regressive two hundred dollar per person health tax and have moved to shut down a controversial nuclear power plant. In another decision prioritizing the environment and people's health, they placed a long-term moratorium on hydraulic fracking and eliminated subsidies for asbestos mining, which prompted the federal Conservative government to announce it would no longer block the Rotterdam Convention from listing chrysotile asbestos as a toxic product. [..]
(T)he PQ appears to be reevaluating the $3 billion Turcot Interchange highway expansion that the Montréal city council has criticized and the Plan Nord resource extraction initiative, which has been criticized by environmental, socialist and indigenous groups. [..]
To pay for abolishing the health tax and tuition freeze the government announced a tax increase for those making over $130,000 and another higher tax bracket for those making over $250,000. Additionally, the government announced that it will increase certain corporate taxes and reduce capital gains tax exemptions, which allow those who make their money from investing to pay lower tax rates than those who make their money from working. [..]
For those in Québec, recent gains should inspire further mobilizations. For those outside, the PQ's reforms are a reminder that determined grassroots movements can create a political climate in which governments place environmental concerns and social rights over the interests of corporations and the wealthy.
Voting doesn't need to mean choosing between two candidates who don't represent their views, but backing someone who participates in their struggle, like frequent Occupy arrestee and Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein.
2. Expose Injustice
American protesters must showcase the police brutality and unlawful arrests intended to discourage demonstrations to prove how the rights Americans take for granted are actively being taken away, hopefully enlivening them to take action and build support
3. Popular Movements Require a Populace
Find ways to encourage people out of their homes and places of work and into the streets so that their numbers cannot be ignored.
4. Persistence Is Key
A constant presence was essential in reminding authorities that they were not going anywhere and that their concerns were not to be taken lightly. Protests every six months are nice, but protests every evening show you mean business.
5. Find Common Ground and Align
Two of the largest student organizations in Quebec, CLASSE and FEUQ, employed different tactics and different end goals. At the same time, however, they had a significant amount of overlap in their desires and chose to focus on the similarities to work together and bring about change.
6. Stand By Your Allies
Hoping for compromise, Quebec's government agreed to hold talks with the more temperate student groups, but would not allow representatives from CLASSE to participate in these discussions. Instead of taking the opportunity to put their own interests first, these student groups walked out on the talks altogether.
7. Reach Out to Unions
When mobilizing a movement, one of the quickest ways to grow your numbers is to connect with large groups of people who are already politically active, namely unions. While the student unions themselves were the most crucial, their networking with labor unions was also important.
8. Pick a Cause
The Canadian students adopted a single cause to rally around, which proved effective in achieving change. [..]
That does not mean abandoning reform on all fronts, but rather dividing to focus on specific issues, while still coming together to support peers' efforts on days of action.
9. Champion Education Specifically
If you're looking for one particular cause to rally people behind, education is a great place to start. Not only does offering affordable education to everyone give opportunities to people who would otherwise be impoverished, but it also encourages people to think critically and question the status quo.
10. Do Not Become Complacent with Your Victories
If the government has tried to screw you over before, chances are they'll do it again. [..]
Sure, the recent election seems promising, but a consistent, diligent presence by the student unions will help to dissuade the government from trying to backtrack a couple of years down the road.
Don't let the conventions distract you from the real lesson of 2012: America is becoming increasingly undemocratic
Ultimately, we're seeing that both parties are rotten. This rot is rooted in economics. Despite the bitter rhetoric, Obama and Romney are basically in agreement about how the country should be governed. Both Romney and Obama want to see the same core economic trends continue. These are, most significantly, a transition to an energy system based on hydro-fracking of natural gas and oil deposits (and some renewable energy), a large national security state, the sale of public assets to private interests, globalized financial flows, a preservation of the capital structure of the large banks, free rein of white-collar behavior and austerity in public budgets. This policy agenda is a reflection of the quiet coup that IMF chief economist Simon Johnson wrote about in 2010. [..]
Whether Romney wins or Obama wins, both Social Security and Medicare are on the table for deep cuts. Romney is explicit about this, whereas Obama couches this in terms that liberals will not understand. When he talks about popping a blister of partisanship by winning an election, what he means is cutting a deal with the Republicans to restructure these programs. Sen. Dick Durbin has been telling reporters that the Obama administration is going to give the entitlement-gutting Simpson-Bowles budget framework another try if he wins, and close Obama advisers are looking for a grand bargain on taxes and entitlement reform. Obama already tried to raise the Medicare eligibility age and cut Social Security benefits during the debt ceiling negotiations. Meanwhile, corporate titans and Democratic elites like Andy Stern and Steny Hoyer are already gathering to put this framework into place in the post-election environment, regardless of who wins.
There's a fault line between the parties on this - particularly on Medicaid, where there's a legitimate difference - but overall the fault line is not at all worthy of being called a "great debate." One side (Republicans) wants to transform safety net programs and would probably get no further than cutting them; the other side (Democrats) wants to cut them and will use its power to force their allies along. Democrats have become the party of austerity, and they see the question as, bizarrely, one of credibility. You don't earn your stripes in Washington unless you hurt a poor person, I guess. [..]
But Democrats have truly embraced this policy of fiscal austerity. What saved us from this once is the total intransigence on the part of Republicans to accept a good deal and provide the cover in the form of a modest tax increase. If Democrats let the Bush tax cuts expire, however, they can get what they term a modest tax increase through a tax cut bill, and layer on their spending austerity changes, including social insurance. So even if there's no warp-speed "deal" after the elections, you would have to look out for one shortly thereafter.
Judge Simpson said in his Tuesday ruling that for the presidential election of Nov. 6, voters in Pennsylvania could be asked to produce the newly required photo IDs, but if they did not have them could still go ahead and vote. The decision could still be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
"While we're happy that voters in Pennsylvania will not be turned away if they do not have an ID, we are concerned that the ruling will allow election workers to ask for ID at the polls and this could cause confusion," said Penda D. Hair, co-director of Advancement Project, one of the groups that challenged the law. "This injunction serves as a mere Band-Aid for the law's inherent problems, not an effective remedy."
Just think of the scenarios. A voter is asked for ID, and producing none, instructed to write a provisional ballot. Technically that ballot must be counted, but the voter might leave, suspecting their vote won't count. Or they may not follow the provisional ballot instructions closely enough. Or poll worker error could easily lead to a voter being asked to leave without voting. [..]
So this all relies on poll workers knowing that the provisional ballot process is not in effect for voter ID, but that they have to ask for a voter ID anyway. I'm not necessarily confident in that approach, but it's better than how it initially looked.
I tried to read the ruling, but it's written in gibberish. The smart lawyer people on the internet seem to agree that the judge has decreed that poll workers will ask for IDs, but if people don't have them they should let them vote anyway. In other words, better than nothing but untrained poll workers are not going to have any idea what they're supposed to do so this election in PA will be a complete mess.
In 1963, Bob Dylan was asked by the authors of a forthcoming book on Woody Guthrie to contribute a 25-word comment summarizing his thoughts on the man who had probably been his greatest formative influence. Dylan responded instead with a 194-line poem called "Thoughts on Woody Guthrie," which took as its theme the eternal human search for hope. "And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin'?" Dylan asks in the poem, before proceeding to a kind of answer:
You can either go to the church of your choice
Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital
You'll find God in the church of your choice
You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912 - October 3, 1967) is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his guitar. His best-known song is "This Land Is Your Land", which is regularly sung in American schools. Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Such songwriters as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton have acknowledged their debt to Guthrie as an influence.
Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs. Many of his songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression, earning him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour". Throughout his life Guthrie was associated with United States communist groups, though he was never an actual member of any.
Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. He is the grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of Huntington's disease, a progressive genetic neurological disorder. During his later years, in spite of his illness, Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement, providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.
Folk revival and Guthrie's death
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new generation of young people were inspired by folk singers including Guthrie. These "folk revivalists" became more politically aware in their music than those of the previous generation. The American Folk Revival was beginning to take place, focused on the issues of the day, such as the civil rights movement and free speech movement. Pockets of folk singers were forming around the country in places such as Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. One of Guthrie's visitors at Greystone Park was the 19-year-old Bob Dylan, who idolized Guthrie. Dylan wrote of Guthrie's repertoire: "The songs themselves were really beyond category. They had the infinite sweep of humanity in them." After learning of Guthrie's whereabouts, Bob Dylan regularly visited him. Guthrie died of complications of Huntington's disease on October 3, 1967. By the time of his death, his work had been discovered by a new audience, introduced to them in part through Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, his ex-wife Marjorie and other new members of the folk revival, and his son Arlo.
I found this listed as a brandy drink, but it's actually the grandfather of many drinks.
The essential ingredients are a few dashes of a sweet liqueur (about half a shot) usually citrus flavored though not always, some citrus juice (half a lemon or lime's worth), superfine (sometimes called Bartenders, it's quick dissolving) sugar, and a generous jigger (about 2 ounces) of whatever spirit you happen to be using.
This is poured into a shaker with ice and shaken (not stirred) then strained into a tall (Collins) glass and topped with seltzer or served over rocks (a more recent variation).
12,000 babies are born each day in the United States. Strangers in a strange land, they get weighed, finger-printed, and are sent on their way with a bottle and a blanket and a bunch of balloons.
If you show any sign of life when you're young, they'll put you on Ritalin. Then, when you get old enough to take a good look around, you'll get depressed, so they'll give you Prozac. Meanwhile, your steady diet of trans-fat-laden food is guaranteed to give you high cholesterol, so you'll get a prescription for Lipitor. Finally, at the end of the day, you'll lay awake at night worrying about losing your health plan, so you'll need Lunesta to go to sleep.
They'll tell you prescription drugs are just fine, but they'll warn you about marijuana and restrict your access to mind-altering substances like the truth. They'll tell you all about the dangers of illegal drugs, but for some reason, they always forget to warn you about the most potent, destructive drug of all.
There is a passage in Derrick Jensen's newest book, Dreams, in which he bridges the gap between his usual anarcho-primitivist plain talk and the more "expert" advice of scientists such as James Hansen and populists such as Bill McKibben. It goes as follows:
We all know what we must do to curtail global warming. We must dismantle every oil refinery, every pipeline, every oil and natural gas well. We must dismantle the infrastructure that is killing the planet. (p. 249)
The first step in such a process, were it actually to happen, would be to phase out the pumping of the oil, the coal, and the natural gas. I pointed this out some time ago in a blog entry over at Docudharma/ DailyKos.com. If we really wish to mitigate the disasters that global warming will bring us, we need to keep some of Earth's fossil-fueled heritage in the ground, rather than pumping it into the atmosphere.
The problem, in real life, is that nobody's talking about such a solution. Oil, like oil-consuming infrastructure, is a commodity, as are petroleum-based instruments such as cars, airplanes, furnaces and so on. The solution proposed above would be a wholesale divergence from the capitalist system, which accumulates capital (i.e. money and the good things it buys) through the circulation of commodities. The change that's needed, in other words, is a change nobody dares to advocate.
Enter Paul Loeb, published in some reading circles as Paul Rogat Loeb. Loeb wants to explore what makes some people activists, in order to assure that there be more activists. Certainly if we are to have a movement that will push through the changes that are needed to curtail global warming, we will need more activists.
I found Loeb's most recent piece (written with co-authors Alexander Astin and Parker J. Palmer) in a glance at the blog Docudharma, where it had been cross-posted. It's titled ""My Vote Doesn't Matter": Helping Students Surmount Political Cynicism." The problem, of course, is that students today have good reasons to be politically cynical, especially if the solutions to their problems are not on offer. We are not going to get past the cynicism, then, by encouraging participation in a system which does not cater to real human needs.
Moreover, we can establish a rational cause for the cynicism that infects American politics. In the frontstage of American politics is a spectacle, sometimes regarded as "Kabuki theater," in which candidates offer rhetoric calculated to woo the votes of the public. In the backstage is the world of meetings in Washington DC, in which deals are made between actors of various ideological persuasions and financial needs. The ultimate source of "cynicism," in this regard, is the belief that what happens in the political frontstage might have very little to do real policy as formulated backstage. Here I will explore, with Loeb and his co-authors, what it would take to change this situation.
The 2012 term of the US Supreme Court traditionally begins on the first Monday in October. If the 2011 session is any indication, this term should be even more interesting as the court considers some of the most controversial issues facing this country from affirmative action to civil and voting rights.
When last we saw the chief justice of the United States on the bench, John Roberts was joining with the Supreme Court's liberals in an unlikely lineup that upheld President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Progressives applauded Roberts' statesmanship. Conservatives uttered cries of betrayal. [..]
Many people on both the left and right expect Roberts to return to the fold and side with the conservative justices in the new term's big cases. If they're right, the spotlight will be back on Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose vote typically is decisive in cases that otherwise split the court's liberals and conservatives. But Roberts will be watched closely, following his health care vote, for fresh signs that he's becoming less ideologically predictable. [..]
Voting rights: Several challenges to the 1965 Voting Rights Act are moving through district and appellate courts, and the high court is expected to take up one or more.
At issue is Section 5 of the law, a landmark civil rights achievement that prohibits nine states and municipalities in seven others from changing their voting laws without approval from the Justice Department or a special federal court. [..]
Same-sex marriage: The big question as the term begins is whether the justices will accept one or more cases involving the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. If they do, it may offer the best chance for a landmark ruling.
There are two possibilities. The most likely is that the court will accept a challenge to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which has been declared unconstitutional in lower courts and which the Obama administration is refusing to defend. [..]
The other option is for the court to consider challenges to California's Proposition 8, a 2008 referendum that overturned the state's support for gay marriage. A broadly worded ruling against the referendum could pave the way for legalized gay marriage elsewhere, rather than just in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Iowa. More likely is a narrowly worded decision that affects only California.
Even if the court declines to hear the Proposition 8 challenge, that decision would be important, because a lower court has ruled against the referendum. Without high court review, gays and lesbians soon could marry in the nation's most-populous state.
The SCOTUS calendar begins with Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum a major case about corporate accountability for extreme violations of human rights. The case was argued last term on narrow grounds but not decided.
At issue in the Kiobel case is the proper interpretation of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which provides, in relevant part, that foreign citizens may bring civil suits in U.S. district courts for actions "committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." Enacted as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789, the ATS lay almost forgotten
for nearly two hundred years. But in 1980, in Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit breathed life into the statute, holding that the ATS conferred jurisdiction over a lawsuit brought by one Paraguayan national against another Paraguayan national (residing in the United States) for torture that occurred in Paraguay. Since then, victims of human rights violations that occurred overseas have sought to rely on the ATS to press their own claims in U.S. courts.
An affirmative action case that wound its way from Texas will be heard. Under consideration is the court's previous decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the court will address how and perhaps whether the university can take race into account as a factor in student admissions. In a way, the case is a rehearing of a 2003 case (pdf) in which it ruled that the University of Michigan Law School could do so as part of assessing the whole of a candidate's application. That decision seemed to reflect a national consensus that race, narrowly applied, could be used to ensure a diverse student body.
In Florida v. Jardines, the issue is whether the police violated the Constitution by using a dog trained to smell for drugs to sniff at the door of a house where they suspected marijuana was being grown. Was the sniff test unreasonably intrusive because there was no hard information that illegal activity was probably occurring, as the Florida Supreme Court properly found, or was it not a search because it occurred outside the house?
Similarly, in Missouri v. McNeely, the issue is whether the police could order a blood test on a man suspected of drunken driving without obtaining a warrant because the delay in doing so would result in loss of evidence. The Missouri Supreme Court sensibly ruled otherwise: that the test constituted an unreasonable search because there was no accident to investigate and because there was plenty of time to get a warrant and test the driver's blood before the alcohol in it dissipated.
Ryan v. Gonzales raises the question of whether the defendant himself needs to be mentally capable of assisting his own attorney in challenging a death penalty conviction. [..]
Chaidez v. United States asks whether a 2010 ruling (pdf) of the court - that criminal defense lawyers must advise their noncitizen clients that a guilty plea carries the risk of deportation - applies to someone whose conviction became final before that ruling was announced.
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising plot twist and was usually brought to closure with some sort of message. The series was also notable for featuring both established stars (e.g. Cliff Robertson, Ann Blyth, Jack Klugman) and younger actors who would later became famous (e.g. Robert Redford, William Shatner, Mariette Hartley, Shelley Fabares). Rod Serling served as executive producer and head writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show's 156 episodes. He was also the show's host, delivering on- or off-screen monologues at the beginning and end of each episode. During the first season, except for the season's final episode, Serling's narrations were off-camera voiceovers; he only appeared on-camera at the end of each show to promote the next episode (footage that was removed from syndicated versions but restored for DVD release, although some of these promotions exist today only in audio format).
The "twilight zone" itself is not presented as being a tangible plane, but rather a metaphor for the strange circumstances befalling the protagonists. Serling's opening and closing narrations usually summarized the episode's events in tones ranging from cryptic to pithy to eloquent to unsympathetic, encapsulating how and why the main character(s) had "entered the Twilight Zone".
(Jets owner Woody) Johnson, in a statement likely to irk Jets fans unhappy with the team's 2-2 start, said: "Well, I think so you always have to put country first, so I think it's very, very important, not only for us but for particularly our kids and grandkids, that this election come off with Mitt Romney and Ryan as president and vice president."
...
In that statement, Johnson stepped back from throwing more fuel on a debate he has played a role in fanning in the past. While at the Republican National Convention, Johnson said in an interview with CNBC that, "I think you can never have too much Tebow," despite Sanchez being acknowledged as the starter and the team trying to keep a quarterback controversy from breaking out with every Sanchez incompletion.
Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, had the best game of his career in the team's 34-0 blowout of the Jets, and looked more like how New York Jets fans might have envisioned Tim Tebow would be after their team traded with the Denver Broncos for him.
Kaepernick's only pass attempt of the day was an incompletion.
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Tebow, on the other hand, connected with Dedrick Epps for a 9-yard pass -- his first completion of the season -- who subsequently fumbled the ball to the 49ers.
Tebow's two rushing attempts of the day went for a combined total of 0 yards.
One of the mainstays of many a Sunday dinner is Roast Pork. A favorite is one crusted with garlic and sprigs of rosemary and sage, served with roasted potatoes and carrots. Recent news that because of this Summer's drought and the rising cost of corn feed, pork will initially be plentiful and inexpensive but the price will rise later. For those lucky enough to have a large freezer, buying a whole pork loin and other cuts, cutting the loin into 2 1/2 to 3 pound roasts and freezing would be an economical idea.
I've used this recipe for Roast Pork many times, preparing it both indoors and out on the grill over indirect heat. Hickory charcoal imparts a special flavor to pork. I also like to start the roasting at a high heat, 425ºF, for about 30 minutes to sear in the juices and impart a golden color to the roast.
Roast Pork Loin with Garlic, Rosemary and Sage
Equipment:
Temperature probe
Butcher's twine
13 x 9 x 2-inch roasting pan
Aluminum foil
Ingredients;
4 large garlic cloves, sliced thin
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh sage
Vegetable oil, preferably canola
1/2 teaspoons coarse salt, Kosher is good
ground black pepper
1 2 1/2 to 3 pound boneless pork loin roast, well trimmed
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line 13 x 9 x 2-inch roasting pan with foil.
Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Cut 4 to 6 lengths of Butcher"s twine, long enough to tie around the roast, excess twine can be trimmed, so better too long than too short. Space the ties under the roast but don't tie them yet. Rub the roast with about a table spoon of vegetable oil. Sprinkle lightly with the salt and pepper. Place the garlic slices over the top of the roast, then lay the sage and rosemary sprigs over the garlic. Carefully tie it all into place, as snug as possible.
Place the roast in the foil lined pan and into the oven. Roast at 425°F for 30 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350ºF. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 155°F, about 45 to 55 minutes longer. Remove from oven, tent with foil and let stand 10 minutes before slicing.
Serves 6 to 8, or 4 with leftovers for sandwiches.
To make this a one pot meal add red skinned potatoes and carrots to the pan with the roast.
Cut 4 medium potatoes and 4 carrots into 1 1/2 inch pieces tossed with a little vegetable oil, chopped garlic, rosemary, sage, salt and pepper. Add to the pan after temperature after the first 30 minutes of cooking. Or, place in a separate foil lined pan and roast during the last 45 to 55 minutes.
When I remember what happened, I remember the beauty first. The blue sky, the soaring hawk, the oak sapling mangled by the backhoe we'd stopped. That oak was very inspirational to us as we awaited our fate. By surviving TransCanada's clear-cutting, it symbolized our own plans to weather the forces marshalled against us.
It was Tuesday, September the 25th. I was anchored to the back of heavy machinery with someone I'd just met. We'd both travelled to East Texas to help derail TransCanada's massive tar sands pipeline. Climate change is a global problem, but this terribly destructive project was coming right to our backyard; how could I sit idly by?
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It started with the arrival of TransCanada's senior supervisor. The regular employees became scarce as the supervisor called for a huddle with the police. The huddle broke and a phalanx of officers marched on us to announce that we were under arrest. Failing to unlock immediately was resisting, which would result in additional charges and justify the officers' use of "pain compliance." I suppose TransCanada had grown tired of waiting.
They started like schoolyard bullies - taunting us while twisting my arm behind me, and jumping on my back to put me in a choke hold. The lieutenant asked, "Is your goal just to go to jail? You can go to jail without the pain; it's your stubbornness that's making us do this." I had to stop myself from replying, "I wish this cup would pass me by." I didn't say it because I was sure they would misinterpret it as blasphemously casting myself as Jesus, but I meant it; I wished there was another way to accomplish our goals. I wasn't looking forward to what my time with the ACLU led me to expect they would do to us. But I don't believe in giving in to terrorism; to follow one's moral compass in spite of extreme challenges is the way we move forward.
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A taser is sold as a weapon-tool for halting controlled motion: to make someone stop. While the torture device was on, I was able to remain standing and silent, but the pain was intense. I could not have gathered the concentration required to detach the carabiner even if the pipe hadn't twisted it out of my grasp.
I had a few seconds to clear my head, then he switched to my upper left arm - the arm where they had handcuffed me. It's hard to describe. The world was pain, and I repeated Valerie's quote from V for Vendetta to myself as I heard the lieutenant speculate to the TransCanada supervisor that my fat was insulating me, making it harder for the taser to "bite into the meat," which is why it wasn't hurting me as much as they were hoping. The pain was fluid, and by the fifth second, my left pectoral muscle was tingling. But like all things, it passed. The pain, like the fear, washed through. The taunting, however, continued.
The officers informed us that I was too "mule-headed" to be chivalrous and spare Rain pain I had just experienced. When they moved on to torture Rain, the young Wood County deputy who had been selected to taser her was reluctant. He asked if he really had to; he interrupted his count to ask if she was sure she wouldn't let go.
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As soon as we were fully in custody, the TransCanada supervisor thanked the Wood County lieutenant for "a job well done." The lieutenant's reply? "If this happens again, we'll just skip to using pepper spray and tasing in the first 10 minutes."
I spoke with Sprague today about the use of physical force against two protesters, Shannon Bebe and Benjamin Franklin, who handcuffed themselves to equipment being used to cut down trees so that the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline could be built.
According to Sprague, Bebe and Franklin began their peaceful protest yesterday at 10:30 am, along with several observers. Sprague indicated that the group's interactions with the police had been amicable and peaceful until TransCandada representatives showed up and encouraged the police to "run off" the observers.
Once there were no cameras in sight, Sprague says that TransCanada officials huddled with police. Shortly thereafter, the police commenced putting Bebe and Franklin in stress positions by bending their free arms backwards as far as possible and twisting their handcuffed hands backwards, and holding them there for 10 minutes.
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Police then tasered both Bebe and Franklin. Franklin was tased a second time, and the two relented when police threatened to keep tasering them until they did so. Sprague said that because of a heart condition, one of the protesters feared for their life. Franklin described the pain as "immense and almost physically unbearable."
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There is no way to classify the use of such tactics against people who cannot defend themselves other than torture. Which the protesters indicate was carried out, by the police, and the specific request of TransCanada.
I do not have the words to fully express my admiration for what Franklin and Bebe were willing to do in order to stop this pipeline from being (literally) railroaded through the country, against the will of its citizens - especially those whose lands are being seized. They are true heroes and their courage and conviction are inspirational.
Activists climbed 80 feet to set up "Tree Village" and locked themselves to critical machinery directly in the path of the planned oil pipeline. They have pledged to stay there until construction has stopped once and for all, but living in a tree or chained to machinery, exposed to the elements, is no easy task.
Work on the Keystone XL pipeline can't continue until the Blockaders have been removed, so Firedoglake is sending supplies to help demonstrators stay in the way for as long as possible.
Today we launched calls into TransCanada's offices protesting the treatment of Tarsands Blockade activists, who report they were tortured by police after a huddle with TransCanda representatives.
WikiLeaks Mirror Sites
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train, the route for which has changed considerably in modern times. The first run of The Orient Express was on 4 October 1883. The train travelled from Paris to Giurgiu in Romania, via Munich and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Ruse in Bulgaria to pick up another train to Varna. From here they completed their journey to Istanbul by ferry.
In 1963, Bob Dylan was asked by the authors of a forthcoming book on Woody Guthrie to contribute a 25-word comment summarizing his thoughts on the man who had probably been his greatest formative influence. Dylan responded instead with a 194-line poem called 
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by 
Equipment:
