I think it’s highly amusing that President Bush spoke today, defending his authorization of spying, without warrants, on American citizens. He says that his powers as president give him this authority.

I studied our Constitution in college and law school, and I’m unaware of this presidential power. Again, Bush is commander in chief of the military, not of civilian authorities. I’m not sure that he has the enumerated power to order eavesdropping on your cat.

I am familiar with something called the Fourth Amendment to that Constitution, which reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I’ve heard the president say more than once in recent interviews that he is not a lawyer. I think that truth is self evident, but you’d think he’d talk to a few, before we went on TV and blandly, arrogantly, confessed to high crimes and misdemeanors.

John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry on The West Wing, has died.  What sad news.  As you all know, WW is my favorite show.  Leo is one of the best characters.  And that’s because Spencer made him totally believable to me.  

I can’t help but wonder what they’ll do on the show to write out his character.  Or maybe they’ll let it die with him.  Maybe that would be for the best.  Nothing lasts forever.  

A fine day in the news for civil libertarians and opponents of authoritarianism, such as myself.  

Major provisions of the nefarious Patriotic Act appears to be going down to defeat in the Senate, on the same day that the media breaks news of government spying on Americans, based on a secret Presidential order.  

The fourth amendment protects us from search without a warrant.  That’s the American way, folks.  The idea that the government can be trusted to spy on us without judicial oversight is absurd.  Of course, the attorney general is using fear language to object to the senate action, as expected.  Fascist.

The quote of the day on Google is:

The power of hiding ourselves from one another is mercifully given, for men are wild beasts, and would devour one another but for this protection.
  – Henry Ward Beecher

It all started yesterday afternoon. I decided to walk the family dog, Happy, through the park in my parents’ neighborhood. Before we left their house, I took this photo of Happy, with Christmas ribbon on her harness.

We went through the parking lot, heading for the pretty gum trees along the west edge of the park, and the soccer field beyond. Suddenly, Happy grabbed something off the ground and started eating it. I tried to stop her, grabbed her mouth, pulling at the stuff and throwing it away. But she wouldn’t stop. Dogs are that way; if you try to stop them, they start chomping in earnest.

I managed to get most of it away from her, but not all. It smelled like chicken. We kept walking on, but I had wedged one finger in her mouth during our little struggle, and soon I looked down and saw I was bleeding. She didn’t bite me exactly, she just kept chewing.

I got some tissue from the park restroom, stopped the bleeding, and headed for home. Figured disinfectant was a good idea. And it’s only a five minute walk, but by the time we got back, Happy was acting sick. She threw up, but just a little liquid. We were off to the vet. I thought what she ate was probably rancid, dangerous.

At the vets, they looked down her throat. Didn’t see anything. We went back in an hour for a more thorough exam. They took x-rays, and we went home. She seemed better. But Happy had a bad night; sleepless, uncomfortable. This morning she threw up again, became weak and seemed in discomfort. This time I had to leave her at the vets, for more tests, medicine, etc.

They called in the early afternoon, to say that the radiologist saw a chicken bone on the x-rays, and Happy needed emergency endoscopy. So I took her to a hospital in Santa Barbara, where an internist removed a relatively huge chunk of bone from her esophagus, near her heart. It was wedged in tight, and they had trouble removing it. But the damn thing’s out now. Happy will be alright. Her esophagus isn’t seriously damaged, thank God. Should be back to her usually happy self in a few days, with rest and meds.

All of this is by way of saying Thanks a Lot to the insegrievious asshat who left chicken on the ground in a public park, where it got mixed with dirt and leaves and almost killed my little friend. And Be Careful to all of you pet lovers out there. Enough said.

Want to see the bone? Here’s a link.

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By the way, according to Blogger’s counter, which I think is way behind, this is officially my 1000th post on this blog. Yay for me! Send presents!

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.

-Gilbert Highet, writer (1906-1978)

Peace activists, keep an eye on your rearview mirror.  The Washington Post reports here on the Talon program, in which the military is keeping watch on American Citizens, in the United States, who are against the war.  This is the kind of thing, in my opinion, that’s generally worse than reported.  It’s like crabgrass or astrocytoma – there’s always a nasty little root that gets overlooked, or is inoperable.  And even paranoid people have enemies, right?

Speaking of which, I watched A Beautiful Mind again last night.  What a good movie, all around.  Nothing but good actors, and Ron Howard can direct.

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Tonight on Larry King they spent the whole hour on the horrors of dogs and cats tortured and slaughtered for their coats, mostly in Asia. It was very compelling, and deeply disturbing.  I had to look away a few times, and I’ve seen a lot of horrible images as an advocate for animal welfare. It’s worse on video than it is in the still photos I usually see, though it all has a profound effect on me.

In the most recent issue of Time, there is this article about the puppy mill industry here in the United States.  Lest we forget we are not blameless, just more … industrial.  

It’s not so hard to feel compassionate from time to time, when confronted with sad stories and vivid images of suffering.  God help us to be compassionate all the times in between.

I have some old journals, which I’ve been keeping not too religiously since 1992, as far as I can tell. Now and then, I get one out and type into the computer. Makes it easier to save and search. So if someone asks, When did we get Happy? or When was it we went to Mt. Lassen and played in the snow? I can look it up. Anyway, among the stuff in my journals are snippets of writing that didn’t live long enough to become poetry. There are good reasons for that, but here’s such a thing.

January 8, 1995

I hear you, ticking kitchen clock; and you, humming refrigerator and descant buzz of light bulbs. Not the friends I would have chosen for tonight, but I am not lonely. The honey colored dog is by the sofa, watching me. Keeping watch. Her instinct to protect the flock. And loudest of all tonight’s companions, the washer is draining the soap from my best white shirt.

The rain has stopped for now, and tomorrow is over Europe, coming soon enough.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
-Albert Einstein

My Cox cable internet connection is pherked up again. I sat on hold for half an hour to find out I’m “in the affected area.” And apparently nothing is available to clear it up without a prescription. So I’m using AOL to dial up, which is giving me conniptions too.

I’m really beginning to lose faith in postmodern life. Because since there’s nothing on TV, I have nothing to do but read a book. Typed on paper. We’re spiraling in, people, and I wasn’t paying attention when they pointed to the exits.

Aaaargh!  What has gone wrong with western civilization?  There’s nothing – and I mean literally nothing worth a miserable s$^t – worth watching on TV tonight.  Why am I paying ninety bucks a month for cable and internet?  Dang.  I’ll bet there’s nothing on the internet either.  

Going to hell in a bucket.