8:43am
Food Food Food - how sometimes, leaving is good. I arrived today with a heavy heart (not really), walked into my cube area to discover many "Good Job Jalynn" signs, and an abundance of food - a crave case, two dozen doughnuts, shrimp, cheese and crackers, chips and dip. Good food, good people. I will be a little sad to go, I've had fun here, and the money's been good.

9:59am
Off to my meeting with the bosses.

10:53am
Whew. I think I just convinced my bosses to take me back for a month in March. Go me. I was all like, you really need to integrate these systems from a bottom up stand-point, instead of top down. I could do that, but it might take me about a month. Hehehe.

11:12am
MMMMmmm...delicious british woman.... Speaking of lovely british women..."imagine me and you" - excellent movie. angsty yet sweet. no matter what anyone else says, i loved it. and piper perabo is hot - and has also done two lesbo movies now...me thinks that is not a coincidence....

11:39am
Doh! Alito was just confirmed 58-42.

12:30pm
Four and a half hours left before I'm officially unemployed. You maybe asking yourself "what will happen to Adventures?" Well, the adventure won't end with my assignment here, you can be sure that Adventures in Cubeland will continue - though it might be adventures in unemployed land and adventures in politics land before we return to Cubeland. But when we do, we'll have a whole new company's bureaucracy and idosyncracies to dish about.

12:52pm
So you thought that you lost some product of ours, we have a lost and stolen policy, so you make a claim on your lost product and then we send you new ones. You then proceed to find the ones that you thought you had lost, and now you want to know if they're still good. What do you think is going to happen here? OF COURSE THEY ARE NOT STILL GOOD - you reported them missing and we sent you new ones - if your old ones were still good - ten thousand people would just report there's missing, get new ones and DOUBLE UP.

1:04pm
I started reading "It Can't Happen Here" at work today. Here's a snippet from the jacket "A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America ::snip:: It juxtaposes sharp political satire with the cillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a dictator to save teh nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime and the liberal press." I'm 40 pages into it, here are some favorite quotes so far:

"We don't want all this highbrow intellectuality, all this book-learning. That's good enough in its way, but isn't it, after all, just a toy for grownups?"

"there are worse things....a state in which college professors, newspapermen, and notorious authors are promulgating these same seditious attacks on the grand old Constitution."

"Remember our war hysteria, when we called saurkraut 'liberty cabbage' and somebody actually proposed calling German measles 'freedom measles'?"

"Remember when the hick leglistatures ....set up shop as scientific experts and made the whole world laugh itself sick by forbidding the teaching of evolution?"

"The Executive has got to have a freer hand and be able to move quick in an emergency, and not be tied down by a lot of dumb lawyer congressmen taking months to shoot off their mouths in debate."

Oh. Did I mention this book was written in ::jalynn thumbs through pages:: ah yes 1935 - yeah. Seventy years ago!

1:26pm
Why are people always calling and asking if they can replace their lost gift cards --- here's a hint, don't lose it. Can you replace your lost $20 bill? I didn't think so.

2:07pm
Press '1' for existing accounts and '2' for new accounts. This sentence is not difficult. I do not want to hear the words "I have an account, but...." if you have an account, why am I talking to you?

2:33pm
Two and a half hours. 2.5 hours until freedom, until sunshine, until sleepy time. five and a half hours until the State of the Union. oh the excitement!

2:44pm
I don't like when my Gang of 4 corporate friends are busy and don't have time to email all day. Also, there's really nothing for me to do today, but I don't just want to bust out my book and blatantly read....guess I'll just stare at the ceiling and count the tiles, for old time's sake.

2:55pm
I relish the hot water at work because I never know if there is going to be any hot water at home, despite Bob having replaced every part in the water heater, twice. I would really like a hot shower tonight though. Pray.

3:07pm
From Talkleft:

"If you're not by a tv, the State Department will have live audio feeds of the State of the Union address on its Web site in English, Arabic, Farsi, Bahasa Indonesian, Spanish, French and Russian. "

Doesn't that seem like kind of an odd mix of languages? I mean, I'm sure that they are the top languages in the world or something - but on the face of it, it looks like an odd collection.

4:11pm
And sometimes people surprise you - from my coworker, who I previously though was sortof crazy - but I grew to be fond of:


"I just wanted to say it was very nice getting to know you. You genuinely seem to be a very bright spot in our country's future. (Even though you are a liberal : ) I like your personality and professionalism. You did the job well and took it as seriously as you really could- unlike some people. And you are very even keel. If you ever had a bad day, I could not tell. That is rare and valuable. I wish nothing but the very best for you in the future. From all I can tell, your friends and family are lucky to have you in their life. You are very ambitious, so be sure to stay that way and keep your energy and drive. I regret not having kept mine and now may forever be stuck not having lived up to what was once a vast potential. Please do not let that happen to you. I shall miss you.

Do not be afraid to keep in touch if you wish to. You can always email me here.

You will come across allot of bad people in the future- so keep these words in mind.... no "truer" words have ever been spoken....

"Always remember: Others may hate you, but those that hate you don't win... unless you hate them... and then, you destroy yourself."- Richard Nixon. August 9, 1974.

Photo of the Day

i n a c c e s s i b l e
Originally uploaded by Chriseye.

Gone...

8:40am
No new Abu Ghraib pictures, no impeachment talk and the fillibuster stands at 15 votes, of 40 needed....my sister called me on Friday to ask me what a fillibuster was. I ask you, what do high school kids learn these days in civics class? The fillibuster is one of the coolest tricks the Senate can pull, though Rule 21-ing was also fun, whatever happend with that? oh yeah, nothing.

9:45am
Ohhh it's going to be a long week - no wait, no, I just have two days!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA - yay! oh. no money? boo. Anyway, it is going to be a long day, considering that my day started at the lovely pre-dawn hour of 5:30am. Mmm-hmm. I really have no idea how I'm going to stay awake! but, I will keep you posted. This weekend was fantastic, between Jessica being here, Ipi Zombie?, Novaks and steak and shake, great weekend. But now I'm tired, my weekend wore me out. I think that Wedneday, I'm not going to get out of bed, at all. Especially because I'll be hungover - state of the union tomorrow - what does that mean? state of the union drinking game. the official rules have been posted at drinkinggame.us. I'm very excited. Off to doze at my desk.

2:53pm
That was funny - discovering that something that I had worked on for about 3 days had completely disappeared from the computer. I had to redo it for my meeting with my bosses major and minor tomorrow. ugh.

3:13pm
"Press '1' for existing accounts and Press '2' for new accounts."
3:16pmSorry that I'm lame today guys, I'm monitoring the potential fillibuster... 4:04pmLooks like the dems lost this one big-that puts a damper on my day - well fuck, maybe they'll vote him down tomorrow ....::jen wistfully dreams:::

4:28pmNow let's all get drunk and play ping pong.

4:40pmIn other (unrelated?) news, there's a new salad fingers out!

8:35am
Good morning and happy Friday! Also, we have no hot water....again.... for like the eighth time this month. Time to buy a new water heater Bob!

9:24am
If you are a pharmacist and you have a moral problem with filling a person's prescription, you are in the wrong profession. That's like a Jehovah's Witness being a paramedic and having a moral problem with treating a patient - then suing their company for firing them. Your moral views do not give you the right to deny a person medical care - especially if it is your chosen profession.

9:52am
I think that my internet just went down, which means that I am cut off from the outside world. If it doesn't come back up soon, I might die. Did I mention that it's supposed to be 60 degrees today? and snow on Monday? yeah, schizophrenic weather.

9:56am
Ok, apparently my internet just hiccuped - it's back up now.

10:08am
Things we can say hello/goodbye to if (when?) Alito is confirmed...
Goodbye:
Roe v Wade
Gay rights
Civil Liberties
Checks and Balances

Hello:
All Powerful President
More Torture
More Detentions
More Surveillance

10:38am
I need a nap.

11:35am
Sign of things to come - Fatah is demonstrating and protesting the election results.

11:39am
And Bushie denies knowing Jackie (Abramoff, that is) - and suppressed pictures of the two together. The story and here - this smacks of oh, a totalitarian government - I, personally, love when the government suppresses information that might be damaging to their image - it makes me feel all warm and fluffy on the inside.

12:41pm
So, at 8:43pm on January 25 someone from the Department of Defense Network Information Center checked out this post - maybe because it's entitled secret meeting? Once again, I have to wonder if I'm on some sort of watch list. You'll all remember when the US Senate Sergent-at-Arms was checking me out. Glad to know I'm keeping the government on their toes. Oh, and this particular office is located at 3990 E. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43218.

From their website here :

The Defense Information Systems
Agency is a combat support agency
responsible for planning, developing,
fielding, operating, and supporting
command, control, communications,
and information systems that serve the
needs of the President, Vice President,
the Secretary of Defense, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, the Combatant
Commanders, and the other Department
of Defense (DoD) Components under all
conditions of peace and war.

One wonders why they would be poking around my lil ole blog.

12:55pm
Here's what I hate. I get a call from a customer service rep in one of the parent company's departments - they have a client on the line who wants to purchase more than the limited amount of gift cards that they can get online. I explain that they can't get more than the limit but they can get a similar product, called the rewards card - same functionality, for businesses. Then they bring over the caller and introduce me as Jalynn, from the gift card department. (shakes head) This makes it really hard for me to explain that we don't do the gift card, when they've referred to me as being from the gift card department. thanks alot guys.

1:44pm
Great! as a thank your for all the work i've done on the reports, my company gave me: a free lunch at the company cafeteria! and two passes so that i can wear denim on my last two day! well golly gee. now don't get me wrong, i'll take free food - but man, i could've used this job for another month!

3:55pm
News from the gay world, by way of Americablog:

Gay rights in WA

The wrong use of an LBGT discrimination policy.

4:45pm
We'll be back on Monday! Have a good weekend!

9:08am
Like whoa - reposted comment from AmericaBlog
Sources close to the sources tell me

1. Articles of Impeachment on Tuesday, just before State of the Union;

2. New Abu Ghraib photos go public in Europe over weekend; and

3. Fillibuster Friday.

I stick by my earlier prediction - Bush out of White House by May 1st.
No Excuses | 01.25.06 - 9:09 pm | #

9:29am

I really have little interest in being here today. Like, none. And I really don't have to care because they're getting rid of me anyway next week. Thus, I'm going to sit here, do as little work as possible, and continue to draw a paycheck.

10:44am
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." -- Sinclair Lewis and he'll be anointed by the Supreme Court of the United States, and protected by the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division.

Speaking of my new book, I think it comes today - along with my boxing gloves. Hurray!

11:16am
I really hate when I have my email open, but minimized and a (1) pops up to alert me that I have an unread message. I maximize the window to behold the email from my friend filled with wit and humor - only to find that the Democrats want something or a lame ass law school wants to send me to school for free. It is such, a disappointment.

11:45am
Have you taken the Political Compass Test?
-5.88 Left/Right
-4.31 Libertarian/Authoritarian
Comment me your results

1:22pm
So the military has booted 10,000 servicemen under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy - nearly 500 of them sorely needed, highly trained medical personnel. Good job guys! Let's kick out all of the doctors...and just what is wrong with gays in the military? nothing. should the military care? no. as the great bill hicks once said: "anyone dumb enough in the military, should be allowed in, end of fucking story."

1:35pm
Man with a plan - i have to say that I laughed out loud when I read this

1:58pm
Wow. I'm a big lame-o today with updating. There's nothing particularly interesting going on, and I really just want to go to my house, pick up my gloves, beat the shit out of Jen, have her beat the shit out of me, shower (or not), see Jessica (in from DC), eat dinner, go to bed, wake up, go to work, work work work, off for the weekend! yay! but, i've got about three hours and two minutes before that can happen. boo.

3:09pm
How depressing, the dems lost their third vote to alito.

3:47pm
But Kerry calls for fillibuster...

4:10pm
ooooh...I'm all nervous and jittery.

5:00pm
Oh, and Hamas won big in the Palestinian elections.

8:36am
It's Hump Day! - and damn cold out to boot. Which is surprising, given that it was about 57 degrees yesterday, again, well above normal temperatures. I'll be saving my post today directly into Gmail which auto saves every couple of minutes, so we might actually get a whole post posted today around 5pm.

8:59am
Two big stories from yesterday, the Washington Times' (thanks Jess E!) magazine, Insight, has it that the Bush Administration is preparing for impeachment proceedings.

The Pentagon says the army has become a "thin green line"

Oh yeah, and tucked away in the Patriot Act is a provision that would create a national police force that could arrest or search anyone without a warrant: The Secret Service Uniformed Division. If the Patriot Act is reauthorized, it looks like Bushie will get his Gestapo.

9:10am
"Press 1 for existing accounts. Press 2 for new accounts" Why is this hard?

9:13am
Hmm ....don't you just hate when your own administration thinks that what you are doing is unconstitutional and illegal? General Hayden is the Principle Deputy Director of National Intelligence ( here's his picture - doesn't he look kind of creepy?). Ok, so now that's out of the way, in an interview with a reporter recently, he misstated the content of the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment 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."

Hmmm...and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause. Ok, seems simple enough, back to General Hayden.

QUESTION: Jonathan Landay with Knight Ridder. I'd like to stay on the same issue, and that had to do with the standard by which you use to target your wiretaps. I'm no lawyer, but my understanding is that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American's right against unlawful searches and seizures. Do you use --

GEN. HAYDEN: No, actually -- the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. That's what it says.

QUESTION: But the measure is probable cause, I believe.

GEN. HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.

QUESTION: But does it not say probable --

GEN. HAYDEN: No. The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.. . .

Ummm um um General, can you recite the Fourth Amendment for me? And this is the guy who is in charge of "over seeing the day to day operations of the national intelligence program" and he's confused about what's in the Fourth Amendment...no wonder we're so fucked.

Oh but there's more, and here's where it gets really fun (and I'm summarizing from Kos) - back in 2002, Senator DeWine (crotchety old guy from Ohio, currently being challenged by good ole Paul Hackett) offered an amendment to the Patriot Act that would allow the standard of probable cause to be dropped to "reasonable suspicion" for non-US citizens. The Administration's own Justice Department balked at the amendment - concerned about the constitutionality of the amendment.

To recap, the Administration thought that DeWine's amendment that would drop the standard of probable cause to reasonable suspicion, only for non-US citizens was unconstitutional back in 2002 (note that this is after 9/11 -when Bushie now claims he got all of this crazy power from the Congressional authorization to use (military) force against terrorists and while the current wiretapping scandal was going on). But now, they (and by they, I mean General Hayden, who's running the program) seems to think that the Fourth Amendment says that it's already reasonable suspicion and not probably cause. Great, just great. Lies, all lies.

9:27am
"So I can buy 1 gift card at your website which isn't working?" Um, yes, but I'm on the website and it appears to be working just fine...

9:41am
Here's a little blurb from MyDD about the Alito Nomination:

"From what I have heard, right now the "no" votes on Alito are somewhere in the range of 44-47, and the filibuster votes are somewhere in the range of 37-40. In other words, we are close, but not there yet. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the weak Senators are on the filibuster vote, so I can't give you any information which contacts would be best to make."

And Harry Reid's speech at the Center for American Progress was killer- and well worth a read.

9:57am
At least we're openly talking about impeachment now

though this:

"Stanford University historian Jack Rakove, a constitutional expert, said breaking the law on domestic spying would qualify as an impeachable offense, but that Congress should be hesitant to pursue it. The Clinton impeachment was a major distraction for the nation, he said. Some have suggested it hurt the U.S. effort against Al-Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."

is not encouraging. The Clinton impeachment was a political witch-hunt. The would-be Bush impeachment would occur under exactly the conditions that the Founding Fathers might have imagined. The president breaks the law - commits "high crimes and misdemeanors" - as such he is impeached. I don't think anyone is going to argue that the violation of thousands maybe millions of citizens civil rights is not a "high crime"

10:32am
Now the Bush Administration is hampering the congressional investigation into why they fucked up so badly after Katrina -
choice excerpt:

"However, McClellan denied allegations that the White House ignored warnings about Katrina and said Bush's statement about the levees ["I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."] was referring to initial media reports that New Orleans had been spared the worst.

"There were numerous media reports saying that New Orleans had dodged the bullet, and I can pull those up for you and show you those," McClellan said, "so that's what the president was referring to.""

Great! I'm so glad that the President is basing his ideas and comments to reports off of media reports instead of the information that he receives from oh, you know, scientists.

10:36am
My boss major finally talked to me about my assignment being over - and she did say that she had excellent things to say to my temp agency about me, and that if anything came up, she would be sure to ask for me. So that's all good. For anyone not yet in the know, my assignment here is going to be up on Tuesday, so I'll be unemployed again, just in time for the Disarray of teh Nation speech -- I'll be getting hella drunk playing the SoTU drinking game - rules to be posted soon. No word on what will happen to Adventures - though I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to peruse and comment on the news while being unemployed.

10:49am
New girl movie!
Imagine Me & You
Check it. OOHHHHH I'm excited. It's bound to be added to my dvd collection just like Bend it Like Beckham, Kissing Jessica Stein, Better than Chocolate, Bound, and DEBS

11:44am
Actually you couldn't have placed your order at this number, we don't have the capability to take orders here, we only setup and maintain accounts. "yes, i did. I called this number and placed my order- i have the account number" ok - well let me transfer you to one of my colleagues who can look that order up "no thank you, you've been very helpful" click. um, ok.

11:56am
Yesterday a group of about 20 Georgetown law students protest Gonzales' speech by turning their backs on him and raising a sign that read "those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither" - Ben Franklin. At least 4 of the protesters wore black hoods. Surprisingly CNN covered this story on their main page as their main story yesterday and BagNews has a blowup of the picture here

12:49pm
"Do you have a phone number?" i'm sorry ma'am all i have are the addresses "well, i'm in downtown orlando, are there any locations in downtown orlando?" well, ma'am i'm not really familiar with these addresses, so I would be unable to tell you which of these are in downtown orlando.

1:19pm
via ariela - scathing reviews for bitchy people

1:31pm
I think I've been sore for about two weeks now, I blame Jen E.

2:13pm
Great, Bushie doesn't think that Congress needs to reauthorize the Patriot Act for him to get all the powers that it grants.

3:18pm
I would like to go home now. One hour and 42 minutes to go.

3:44pm
Betting on politics

I just might wager some money on the standing O question.

4:03pm
Speaking of tired soldiers, here's one.

Photo of the Day

Let there be light.
Originally uploaded by c00lsh0ts.

2:26pm

147-4769_IMG
Originally uploaded by peter_r.

FUCK! I had a really excellent post going but the power just went out and I lost it all. FUCK.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll post more today, but between this, losing my post yesterday and losing my job today, I may not have it in me.

Photo of the Day

fenced and wet
Originally uploaded by artelisa.

Police State

8:41am
Another cold, foggy, damp January day in the big STL - miserable. Oh, and last night, we didn't have hot water, again. But I did get to see my great grandmother who is about 95 and still as fiesty as ever. She was particularly displeased that the Seahawks coach did not get his due gatorade shower when the Seahawks slaughtered Carolina.

9:15am
Bizarre story about Novak's this past Saturday. Dan, Carissa, Janine and I are sitting/standing in the area directly off of the dance floor - talking, laughing, drinking dancing, minding our own business. Randomly this older woman comes up to our table, picks up Dan's beer and pours, yes, pours it out on his lap. She sets it down, slaps him upside the head, says "sorry" in a mocking way and walks off. We are all stunned into complete silence for about 90 seconds. Then the woman's friend sorta walks up, and we're like "wtf?" and she was like "were you throwing stuff?" and Dan, who was not throwing anything, and was in fact looking fairly close to falling asleep was like "no." Then she was like "well, I didn't know she was going to do that -- see that it doesn't happen again." "And I was like, "you see that it doesn't happen again," and she was like "whatever" and walked off. We ended up speaking to the bouncer, but we couldn't find the woman to have her tossed out. It was the oddest thing. Only later did I have thoughts about what I should have done, most of them ended with me in jail or the hospital. The group of woman she was with was older, more numerous and bigger. But I probably could've taken a couple of them.

People I wish were there: Danielle, Katie, Jessica, Jordan, Ariela. If I had all of those people, that woman would have been on the ground, and all her little friends too.

10:57am

For some lighter reading and girl on girl action (NotSafeForWork):

Fans of Buffy's Eliza Dushku (Faith): Finding the Light
Fans of Law and Order's Angie Harmon (Carmichael): Day In Day Out
Fans of X-Files (Scully): The Phases of Fire

You don't have to even be fans of the shows, they are some good reading, guaranteed to give you pleasant dreams.

11:33am
So, filling out the FAFSA is fun. No really, when you are so poor that your expected contribution is less than $1500 a year, that's pretty nifty. Also, I'm getting a tax refund this year. Praise be. I've never received a refund before, and this is why. The federal government gave me some money to go to school, the state government gave me money too, because the system is sometimes very fucked up, the federal gov wanted a piece of the state's money, and the state wanted a piece of the federal money. So i had to pay taxes to the government on money that the had given me. Ergo, when tax season came around, I owed them money. And you have to ask yourself, instead of giving me the money and then asking for some back, why not just give me less? It's sortof as if someone baked and gave me a cake and wanted the icing back, or, better yet, the eggs. But that is not the case this year, and now the fuckers owe me money. Hoorah.

11:44am
Bush claimes to not know Abramoff, but apparently, there are some very juicy photos of the two together - maybe at the ranch? The photos have not been published yet, but just wait for them to hit the tabloids - and then watch the Bush presidency go up in flames...of course we could have said the same thing when the torture scandal broke, or the lying about going to war, or the wiretapping, etc.

11:46am
Meanwhile, Iran. Oh yeah, the country who's leader that we toppled, infrastructure we destroyed and citizens we abused? Yeah, Iraq. They are teaming up with Iran. Kos has it

due to blogger fuck up, i lost the last half of this entry. and today i failed to back it up like i usually do. fuck.

Photo of the Day

Winter's Stark Beauty
Originally uploaded by jeffclow.

Brr - winter.

Photo of the Day

aguacayendo
Originally uploaded by limeta.

8:50am
Three years after bombing Iraq into the stone age, Bushie announces today that he will srtip reconstruction funds from the 2007 budget. Funny, the radio told me today that most of Iraq only has electricity for 8 hours of the day. Electriciy and oil production are at pre-war levels. Tell me again how good we were for Iraq- by bombing them, disbanding their military, killing their leaders, opening up their country to become a breeding ground for terrorism. Heckuva job there Bushie.

9:03am
IT'S FRIDAY. IT'S FRIDAY. IT'S FRIDAY.

9:10am
Adventures is read far and wide - 34 states and 30 countries. Here's the country list so far - go me:
Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada Chile Columbia Croatia Denmark France Germany India Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kuwait Netherlands Norway Phillpines Portugal Romania Singapore Spain Swedan Switzerland Taiwan Thailand UK Uruguay

9:40am
White House admits Abramoff attended White House staff meetings. (Jalynn dances around with unabashed glee)
dirty war, dirty prisons, dirty money, dirty lies - this is the new American way.

9:45am
Does anyone actually still think that the traditional media leans left?

10:50am
9/11 Conspiracy Theories - because who doesn't like a good conspiracy theory? I don't put a lot of stock in the theories, Popular Mechanics did a spread debunking the major theories - however, like any good conspiracy theory, inconsistances in the accepted story remain, and fan the flames of the theories. The short video Pentagon Strike is particularly compelling.
But you have to ask yourself, however poorly run and downright dastardly you think the Bush Administration is, are they really so malelovent and nefarious enough to carry out the biggest government coverup since Roswell? (wink.)

At first glance you think, how could thousands of people be in on this and no one come forward - the military, the first responders, staffers in the government? Then you think, wait, thousands of people wouldn't have to be in on it. Thousands of people would respond to the disaster, but only a few would have to be involved....NSA wiretapping scandal, a few people involved, thousands/millions effected.

Now, I don't really think that Bush and Co had anything to do with 9/11, other than not taking steps to prevent it, but I'm not entire convinced that they couldn't pull something like 9/11 off if they wanted to - given the extent of the wiretapping scandal.

11:27am
My favorite theory is that United Airlines flight 175 wasn't a real airplane but a hologram.

Other things of note from my sojurn into conspiracy land:

General Tommy Franks says that an WMD attack would result in the suspension of the Consitution.

US Military wanted to provoke war with Cuba

Tapes of air traffic controllers on 9/11 destroyed

11:47am
In other more important news - Maryland strikes down 33 yeard old ban on same-sex marriage. For all you legal geeks out there, the argument was that the law discriminates on the basis of gender wish qualifies for the strict scrutiny reading. The judge ruled that the state had no complelling interest in prohibiting these marriages - and further that "this court is unable to even find that the prohibition of same-sex marriage rationally relates to a legitimate state interest."

11:51am
Add another Dem "no!" to Alito's nomination - that makes 9. Forty are needed to think about fillibustering. There are currently 44 Democratic senators and 1 independent - the dems lost one vote in senator nelson from nebraska.

12:30pm
I just assigned myself another project and I impulse bought a book "It couldn't happen here" - I'll let you know how it goes.

2:22pm
Can I just point out that my manager and director come to me for information? That what I tell them changes policy? Go me. Right so bossman was like "I sure wish we had xyz" so what did I do? I looked at the raw data and produced xyz. More power, to me.

4:36pm
The cat's away....and there's 23 minutes until the weekend!

9:49am
It's supposed to be beautiful today - mid to upper 60s. If I was still in school and not locked up in my cube, I'd be skipping class, donning my swimsuit and laying out in the quad. But, unfortunately, I'm part of the real world now.

10:12am
You know it's going to be a long day when you've finished checking all your internet news sites one hour into getting to work. Yes, they update periodically throughout the day, but still...

10:30am
I'm no longer sore. Time to box again.

10:58am
mmm...surrepticiously reading erotica while at work...

11:41am
My boss just described some more things that she wanted and said that she would set up some meeting time for us next week. As of today, I officially have 8 days left - not nearly enough time for me to do what she wants. I guess they'll just have to keep me for another month. That's $2,000 more dollars for me. Ha huh ha huh haaaaaa!

And I caught another glitch in the system that has been making callers wait for extended periods of time on hold. For my trouble, I now get to come in at 8:30 in the AM, which means I leave my apt at 8:00 and get up at 7:30, ouch. But oh well, I get to get off at 5 now, be home by 5:30pm.

1:02pm
So nice outside....maybe when I get home I'll go for a (gasp!) run. Of course, I've been saying that for about a week now, so we'll see. I mean, it will be pretty dark, and probably cool off alot. Maybe I'll go tomorrow when I get home at 5:30, when it's still light out. Of course, it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Oh well. Maybe next week. (and that is how that goes.)

1:12pm
No no ma'am, we've changed the process and this is how you have to do it now. "Yes, well I think that we would like to continue doing it the way we were" well ma'am, you might like to do that, but you would be unable to place your order that way - we have a new system - everyone orders online. "well I think we would rather print out an order form and mail it in" (Jalynn throws up her hands.)

1:20pm
There's really nothing more disappointing in getting ingrossed in a story, only to discover at a particularly tense moment, that you have failed to print out the remainder of that story. Sure, you've read it before, but it's been years. You want to read the rest, but you're sure as hell not going to pull up your erotic fan fiction on your work computer.

1:31pm
"I want to buy xyz" ok...you're going to have to be more specific, we don't take orders at this number - you can place that order at xyz.com. "There's not a bank I can go into or something" Oh, sure. maybe had your original statement/question been this "I was wondering if you could tell me the location of a bank that has xyz," then I could've helped you in a more timely fashion. BE specific.

2:49pm
Oooh, I just caught a misassigned lead for because I know that Xpedx is spelled xpedx and not Expedex. Go me.

3:01pm
Kos has a constantly updated Alito count. So far, we've got 8 dems voting no.

3:15pm
So Celine Dion/102.5 soft rock lady in the cube behind my computer, was playing her radio again. Fortunately I like Cher. Here's song lyrics for you."If I Could Turn Back Time"
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those words that hurt you and you'd stay
I don't know why I did the things I did
I don't know why I said the things I said
Pride's like a knife it can cut deep inside
Words are like weapons they wound sometimes.
I didn't really mean to hurt you
I didn't wanna see you go I know I made you cry, but baby
[Chorus:]
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those words that hurt you
And you'd stay
If I could reach the stars
I'd give them all to you
Then you'd love me, love me
Like you used to do
If I could turn back time
My world was shattered
I was torn apart
Like someone took a knife and drove it deep in my heart
You walked out that door
I swore that I didn't care
But I lost everything darling then and there
Too strong to tell you I was sorry
Too proud to tell you I was wrong
I know that I was blind, and ooh...

Really, really makes me want to belt it out.

3:30pm
I just want to point out that I think that I've taken my combat boots off about once since I got them in the mail. I almost want to wear them to bed, almost.

3:59pm
I'm becoming indispensible to my bosses.... muah ha ha ha.Unfortunately, I still have an hour and a half to go here today.

4:26pm
Sixty-four minutes left.

4:30pm
If I wasn't so reasonably sure that they were going to keep me on for another month, to the tune of $2000 - I might think about going to check out Tegan and Sara in Kansas City next Tuesday. And I would think about taking off work when Jessica comes to visit. As it stands, I guess I won't because I need for them to love me and keep me for another month, and another month, and another month, all the way until July/August. Cross your fingers - $13,000 would go a long way to helping me pay for law school. Speaking of which, we're still waiting on WashU - I applied early action, so they are supposed to let me know either way by Feb 3rd. I don't know what's taking them so long, if they're going to reject me, they should just get it over with.

5:00pm
The GOVERNMENT wants to know what you've been looking at. They say it's to fight porn. Who thinks that's all there is to it? I don't and Americablog doesn't either.

5:08pm
Even the Vatican knows that intelligent design isn't science

5:11pm
Myware - track everything you do on the internet, store it, and someday, maybe exchange it for something valuable. It's like selling yourself, digitally.

5:13pm
I don't know who to root for, I hate Bobby Flay and Rachel Ray....see them both on Iron Chef America - February 26

5:20pm
Ten minutes left.

Photo of the Day

Clementine consumption #2
Originally uploaded by simpologist.

Spring spring spring

9:07am
No hot water. No hot water. No hot water.
Even though the boys here to fix it yesterday said this would certainly be the last time-and the landlord says that every part in the water heater has been replaced...time to pony up for a whole new water heater Bob!

9:15am
Let's talk about global warming. It was 30 degrees yesterday, it's going to get up to 50 today, and 60 tomorrow. It's the middle of January. Highs on average do not exceed 38 degrees, we don't usually see weather like this until March. The average temperature for the past week has been 13 degrees above normal. Um, yes, GLOBAL WARMING.

9:31am
All of my bosses major are in meetings until 1pm today. While the cat's away, mice will play. I'm the mouse.

9:42am
About that shooting at the corner of Skinker and Wydown...that's my neighborhood. I've walked past that corner... I'm glad that Stud Life says that it was an isolated incident...

10:01am
What with the Social Timeline on Facebook? Is there a use for that? They should make useful features, for instance Ariela wants you to be able to comment when you RSVP to an event a la evite. I want changes mades to a profile to be highlighted in red. There's nothing more frustrating than staring at an updated profile and not being able to figure out what has changed about it. Later your friend tells you that they had misspelled a word and had gone back to change it. So, no, nothing major had changed in their lives. And, if you wanted to know about major changes, you should've just asked. Right. But facebook stalking is more fun...

10:06am
Ok, trauma pills. Take a pill, ease the pain. This development disturbs me, alot. On one hand, Dan pointed out that it's less eternal sunshine and more Men In Black technology. Still, you kind of want people to face their trauma, it makes them stronger, it makes us human? I don't like this trend of popping a pill to get rid of human variation. It's a slippery slope - what if they come out with an anti-gay pill or formula and put it in the water? Or anti-aggression? Serenity anyone? The PAX was supposed to calm the population, instead everyone stopped doing everything and 30 million people let themselves die.

10:12am
Hi, when there is more than one person on the line, it's polite to mention that fact to me. Because when I've been talking to a man, and a woman's voice starts talking, I just get confused.

10:16am
And here's a yummy little tidbit - keyboards are about 250 times more disgusting than your average toilet seat.

10:19am
And just so you all know, pretzels, almonds and m&ms are a delicious combination.

10:39am
I told you I wasn't looney when I said that Rice was going to run.
11:31am
Only 1.5 hours of freedom left!

11:35am
Because who doesn't like napping?
1:05pm
Looking for new apartments is fun. Knowing where you are going to be next year would be more fun. Making a decision that will change your life is no fun.

2:06pm
Remember when I had to listen to a Celine Dion cd played over and over from a cube near mine? Well they've switched. Now, they listen to a steady diet of 102.5. That's soft rock, and love ballads. Puts me in a wonderful mood (Jalynn grits her teeth). Hour after hour of "Sometimes love just ain't enough," "wherever you go," and "white flag," - though, we did have some "rhythm is gonna getcha" earlier. Oh, how I miss the Alito hearings, from the sound of it though, we'll be having some wiretapping hearings sometime soon. If I'm unemployed by that time, I can watch them on CSPAN and flip back and forth with the Olympics.

2:24pm
Fun with Google.

4:05pm
Ever more fun with Excel -- I can't believe that I get paid to just play with the numbers.

4:15pm
A9.com Maps. This is totally cool. For a select number of cities, you can look up the address and pictures of the local area, thus for below, you have pictures from Dupont Circle. How cool is that?I've been to this bookstore, in fact, I bought A Color of His Own, while drunk. Julia's old place of work was across the street. I don't know why the don't have pics of the other side of the street.

4:30pm
One more hour. One more hour.

4:45pm
Check out Lauren's response to the RFT's article on Brie Johnson - That's my kid. Smackdown!

5:08pm
In other news, Chile elects a woman president.

5:15pm
Hmm yeah, that insurgency sure is dying down...

Photo of the Day

Dancing Vases
Originally uploaded by schani.

And sometimes you feel silly.

9:02am
No hot water. No hot water. And I was really looking forward to a hot shower because I am sore sore sore today - due to excessive basketballness and boxing yesterday.

9:28am
For all those keeping track, I'm now 2 for 3 in getting into law schools. To date, I've been accepted at Villanova and Mizzou and rejected from Temple. Stupid Temple, they suck anyway. We're still waiting on George Mason, WashU, Ohio State and SLU.

10:13am
I love my space heater....the State of the Union is on Tuesday, January 31st. Dan and I will most likely be playing a drinking game because I won't have a job to go to the next day, and he doesn't have class until 1:30pm the next day. If anyone wants to join us, it should be fun. And any suggestions on the drinking game would be welcome. I'm thinking drink one for all instances of Iran, Iraq, the war on Terra, 2 for "axis of evil", chug for Medicaid, torture, and wiretapping.

11:15am
There's nothing like a rainy, cold, wet day, right after a sunny and warm day to ruin your thoughts and hopes and dreams of an early spring. January is the coldest month here in the lou, and it's all uphill from here, or so weather.com tells me.

11:21am
Data entry without the alito hearings, how dull.

11:35am
Press "1" for existing accounts and Press "2" for new accounts. Is this sentence hard for anyone else?

Right to Die
Gore's speech
DOD body armor
Paul Hackett
sex story from katie
-fortunately for me 0 divided 2 is still 0
chance of WMD strike
ACLU sues NSA


12:22pm
Mmmm...breathy english women. I love them.

1:22pm
I would like to go home now and crawl into my nice warm bed and stay there until spring.

due to a blogger error, i lost much of this post. so, go check out those stories above on your own, you can find many of them at americablog. and gore's speech is worth a read.

Photo of the Day

Reflection
Originally uploaded by beebo wallace.

9:04am
No hot water..No hot water...

9:15am
Lets talk about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Basically, the idea goes that the days are shorter in the winter, there's less sunlight, it's cold, people get sad. So, the weather affects mood. And what a difference a day can make. Yesterday it was sunny and must have hit 60 degrees. I for one was happy, the sun was shining, birds were chirping, all was right with the world...and then there's today, cold and rainy, no birds. And even thought it's Friday today, my mood was better yesterday...maybe I should invest in one of those special sun lamps that is supposed to treat SAD - your body does need vitamin D.

9:26am
Alito hearings continue today, more testimony from witnesses, ever more witnesses.

11:17am
Damn it's cold outside and snowing too...I've been informed that it's supposed to be 60 degrees on Sunday, and sunny. Schizophrenic St. Louis weather.

12:18pm
Dammit! Specter just announced his support for Alito. Oh, ok, just to send him out of committee, not necessarily as an aye vote on the floor.

1:07pm
The official numbers are in! I've taken 2,470 calls for this company, averaging 2:30 minutes talk time and :30 hold time. Oh, and I've transferred fully 20% of the calls I take to another department. That's 20% of my time that I'm not speaking specifically to the company's customers....maybe I should write a memo or something.

1:13pm
Again, with the scheduling of lunch problem. The time is 1:13pm and I have not gone to lunch yet.

2:00pm
Oh great, several EU nations and the US want to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over the whole nuclear thing...we know what happens when errant nations get referred to the Security Council...nuclear war!

2:05pm
My space heater is sitting on my desk blowing nice hot air across my face.

2:28
Oh god...three more hours of this. I just want to go home, crawl into bed with a nice cup of hot chocolate, and watch movies.

2:42pm
I'd just like to share that one of my friends who I email back and forth will all day, just emailed me a very funny story. I cannot repeat the story, but I will say that I laughed out loud.

2:48pm
I had a plan for the Republicans to clean up, here's someone else's plan for the Democrats to buck up. http://www.dangfunnypolitics.com/manifesto.html

2:54pm
Don't just tell me that you're going to conference in someone else. Ask me some questions to determine if I am the one that can help you. Then, ask if you can conference someone else in. Anything else is just impolite.

3:19pm
Here's what seattlepi.com has to say about the upcoming (and I use that term in the loosest sense - Nov 17) movie "Happy Feet" -

"an Australian-made whimsy directed by George Miller ("Babe") about a tap-dancing emperor penguin." and

"HAPPY FEET: An animated movie about a tap-dancing penguin sounds positively icky, but the director is the reliable George Miller ("Babe"), the voices include Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, and trusted sources who have had an advance peek swear it's "destined to be a classic."

IMDB:Plot Outline: Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!

Looks good to me.

4:00pm
For some reason, I can't seem to focus on my work today...

4:13pm
Speaking of the Alito hearings, here are some anti-choice ministers ANOINTING THE SENTATE HEARING DOORS

4:25pm
Ex-Gitmo chief takes military 5th on abuse scandal

US Prosecuters introduce Padilla's application to join Al-Queda

here's what the form could look like

and for all you people that own airsoft, air, or pellet guns, be warned

4:48pm
I've had one call in the past 2 hours.

5:10pm
Happy Friday! I have Monday off, so if there's news and I feel like updating, I will. If not, I'll see you all on Tuesday.

Photo of the Day

Checkmate
Originally uploaded by Crag Spider.

Alito Hearings Day 4

9:12am
Round 3 of questioning - it's been going on since 8am. I'll update when there is a break.

9:37am
You want a card with no money on it, just with the company's name and our credit card company's logo, what you want is a business card, sir.

10:02am
If you call me for information, turn down your radio so that it is not blaring in my ear, while I try to give you the information you called about.

11:15am
Also, don't call me if you are in a car with the windows open so that the sound of the rushing wind is all I hear, and I can just barely make out what you are saying, even when the volume is turned all the way up-at the expense of my hearing.

12:13pm
Direct questioning of the nominee is OVER!

1:22pm
Ok, here's the roundup of the final questioning by the senators of the nominee:

Leahy (D)
Hits on the jurisdiction of the court and end of life judgements...

Kennedy (D)
Hits Vanguard again-why did you fail to put it on the list of cases you should recuse yourself from immediately after promising this committee that you would? Discusses how the founder of the Unitary executive theory says the theory obliterates the independence of independent agencies, how can we believe that alito subscribes to this theory but in a toned down way - especially given evidence to the contrary? CAP - again, why join in the first place and why put on the job application? Summarizes alitos responses from the past 2 days - "We do expect fairness."

Hatch (R)
Rebuts Vanguard again, says it's not important. Not important that he didn't keep his word ...he's done no wrong...even though we impeached Clinton for telling a little lie...

Biden (D)
Asks what would be necessary to go to war without Congressional approval...dodge dodge evade

Kohl (D)
Concerns about eminent domain...

Feinstein (D)
talks about the plenary power of the president...has alito stumped for several moments...raises environmental issues, alito almost always sides with the government...

Grassley (R)
attempts to rebut the unitary exec theory. no idea what he's talking about, completely loses me...

Feingold (D)
Does an excellent job of getting at who was at the practice sessions and what kind of ethical implications that poses. Hits on inherent presidential authority to ignore statutes..gays and employment .. anti harassment - makes alito look really bad on a case where he supported hate speech as an expression of the 1st amendment in schools. Brings up the ethics of having judges from alito's court testifying later today on his behalf.

Schumer (D)
what's the difference between wiretapping and physically searching American's homes without a warrant? alito sounds cowed during much of schumer's questioning. talks about strict constructionism - forces alito to fail to answer the question about American born illegals getting citizenship as a requirement of the Constitution. Says that he cannot comment on this case because it might come before the court - however, he did comment on one man one vote, even though as DiFi pointed out yesterday, there are four cases before the Supremes related to OPOV.

Sessions (R)
I am such and idiot, I'm going to babble on and on ... here's a softball question: how's your family, show us your non-robot side. Talk about yourself some....
Anyone not mentioned, I didn't hear or else they forfeited the balance of their time. Note that all of the dems took at least part of their allotted time. Schumer and Leahy both expressed their continued reservations about Alito and their hesitation to vote yes on the nominee.

Witnesses!

we won't talk about every witness, I'll comment if something interesting comes up...

Issues that I find troubling:

CAP
Alito can't seem to come up with a good reason why he would have put this on his 1985 application if he was not active in the group. And he doesn't seem to recall being a member of the group.

Vanguard
He promised the committee when he became an appellate court judge that he would not hear any cases having to do with Vanguard. It does not appear that he added Vanguard to his recusal list, and ended up taking and ruling on a Vanguard case. The problem was later corrected, but it is troubling that he did not add Vanguard to his recusal list after promising the committee that he would.

Rule of 4
The rule of 4 refers to the rule that when a death row inmate requests a stay and four justices agree that he should have it, a fifth will concede to be the fifth, because it takes 5 to stay an execution. Alito had no idea that this "rule" existed. It troubles me that he would know so little about Supreme court policy.

Roe v Wade
Alito never gave a satisfactory answer that he would uphold Roe, and all evidence suggests that he would vote to overturn Roe.

Exec Power
Alito never gave a satisfactory answer on the limits to presidential power, and subscribes to an obscure theory, the unitary executive theory, that would give the President supreme power over the Congress and the Supreme Court, forever disrupting the checks and balances that makes our government work.

Pro-Government
Alito seems to have a record of siding with the government - especially, when it comes to law enforcement. Mother Jones has five cases.

FRC Golden Gavel
The Family Research Council awarded Alito their golden gavel award for his rulings..the FRC is a right-wing, anti-gay hate group.

Geneva Convention
Asked what he thought about the Geneva Convention, Alito responded that he was unfamiliar with the document. In addition, he has shown an unwillingness to even consider foreign law, even though much of American law is an outgrowth of English common law.
Bork comparisonAlito's admiration of failed Supreme Court nominee Judge Bork is especially troubling, on the face of it.

2:16pm
Hmmm....no sir, I don't think that I can transfer you to the President of the company, I'll transfer you to his admin.

3:31pm
"I received a gift card and the place that I want to use the card does not accept the credit card company that backs the gift card, so what am I supposed to do with this card?" Uh, use it anywhere else that credit card is accepted, because it is virtually everywhere, unless you live on the moon. And I've just been informed, we are also accepted on the moon. "Thanks a lot" - all snarky-like. GRR.

3:50pm
I can't believe that I have to sit here for one hour and 40 more minutes. This is the first day in a couple of days that it has dragged. Oh, there have been high points today, you gotta love facebook, but this whole "data entry" thing is making my head spin and making me want to vomit. Literally, I feel nauseous.

4:02pm
Did anyone here what happened at WashU earlier this week? So they're adding an extension onto the Psycho, uh, I mean PSYCH building (build build build), and one of those giant cranes fell onto the building! One of the hydraulic pistons gave way, causing the boom of the crane to slice through the new buildings 2 foot thick concrete floor like butter and then impact the Psych building with enough force to open up a 10ft x 10ft whole in the ceiling. No one told WashU for 2 hours after the accident even though the Psych building had to be evacuated because the fire marshal could not vouch for the integrity of the floor where the boom impacted. Oops.

4:05pm
Oh LORD...these witnesses are dull.

4:48pm
Forty-two minutes remain.

Photo of the Day

Xadrez
Originally uploaded by diogomachado.

Alito Hearings Day 3

9:05am
Format will follow as yesterday. I'll update as I can, focusing mostly on the second day of the Alito hearings.

10:08am
I just took a lead for a $2.7 million deal. Why don't I get some sort of commission for this? I was very helpful, how about just .1%? Hell, how about 1%? I'd be set!

11:04am
I think that I have managed to make a ridiculous amount of new work for myself. In addition to the totals reports, the system spits out new fewer than 3 reports for each person, or "agent"....everyday. Not only do I have to file these ridiculous reports away in their physical domain. I have taken it upon myself to make the reports into something prettier, and ultimately more useful. Go me, but it makes for a lot of data entry. Fortunately for me, the hearings are on, and I can happily listen, take notes, and enter data for my company. There are better ways to earn a paycheck, but this one isn't bad.

11:38am
I just talked to a lovely British woman. She had a lovely accent. She was not a distributor of pens, like the one of the last British women that I spoke with.

1:14pm
Hey! Someone who I did not previously know linked to me! Check it out at The Silicon Gadfly - A left-wing political blog which highlights well-written commentary from the far reaches of the blogosphere. This is the highlight of my day, right behind Durbin (D-Il) slapping Alito around on his CAP membership.

Here we are at my lunch, let's do the roundup so far:

Durbin (D-Il)
Asks Alito if he agrees with the majority opinions in Griswold and Brown, Alito responds certainly. Durbin goes on to point out that the Constitution does not specifically mention the right to privacy and the right to of school children to have integrated schools. Durbin - "those cases were based on concepts of equality and liberty within our Constitution." He links this to Roe, in that there is no explicit language in the Constitution that protects a woman's right to choose, and Alito will not answer. Even though there is no explict language supporting Griswold and Brown, and Alito has testified that he supports those. He asks directly "Is Roe settled law?" Alito evades. Durbin brings up CAP again. Alito is wishy washy. The thing about the CAP thing that bothers me is that he says that he was not active in the association, was not an officer, did not attend meetings. And yet, he put the organization on his job application several years later. So either he is lying about not being active and supporting the racist, sexist organization, or he was claiming membership like I would say I was a member of the ALAS because I dropped by for free pizza. And just why was he claiming membership... to a racist, sexist organization. In the words of many senators, this troubles me. In the words of my old history professor, I struggle with this issue.

Brownback (R-Ks)
Talks about judicial activism, at least concedes that Bush v. Gore was a case of judicial activism. Keeps using the term "super duper precedence." Talking about courts making mistakes - plessy was a mistake, alludes to Roe being a mistake. blah blah compares alito to o'connor blah blah Brings up that there are checks and balances on the judicial system, especially the exception clause, that defines the jurisdiction of the courts - talks about how his constituents are urging him to introduce legislation to limit the jurisdiction of the courts...blah blah gay marriage blah DOMA blah nothing new here, not sure he even really asked Alito a question.

Coburn (R-Ok)
Walks Alito through his belief that we shouldn't pay any attention to foreign law, how the "framers would be stunned" I find that particularly amusing given how appalled the framers would be with the wire tapping scandal...but I digress...mentions that relying or even considering foreign law might be a violation of the Constitution and would violate the requirement for judges to have good behavior - alludes to impeaching judges. Ok, he got off his rant about foreign law, but now he's quoting a study from new zealand about the long term effects of abortion (does no one else see the irony that he's quoting a foreign study? no? anyone? ok) so yeah, there are complications to the procedure of abortion - fails to mention the complications of bringing a kid into the world when you can't handle it, which is why people get abortions....blah blah, tosses a couple of softballs to Alito, once he gets of his high horse about abortion. softball ex: tell me about what's in your heart....

Specter (R-Pa)
Questions him on the separation of powers. Alito is non committal. Talks about having open court sessions, ie court on tv "because this isn't Law and Order." blah blah

Leahy (D-Vt)
Hammers hard on what the Pres could and could not do. Could he order and independent agency to do x,y,z? what about FISA? Could he order intelligence agencies to violate the statute? Alito - "if statute was unconstitutional then constitution would trump statute." so in Bushie's world, where any law that attempts to constrain his so-called war powers is unconstitutional, he could pretty much get away with anything and Alito would back him up on it.

Hatch (R-Ut)
Blah blah attack groups blah blah tactics of the left wing. RedHead over at Firedoglake seems to think that Hatch felt that the dems were on to something with Vanguard and the moot court sessions with the Administration that Feingold hit on pretty hard yesterday.

Kennedy (D-Ma)
Hits hard on the CAP thing AGAIN. how could alito not know that one of it's principle pillars was discrimination against women and minorities. Didn't he know about Prospect magazine, that CAP put out? What about hateful articles in the magazine calling for the discrimination of minorities in admissions policy and the disparaging of the AIDS crisis? What about the editorial in the WSJ talking about how hateful and repugnant CAP was, right about the time that Alito was touting it in his 1985 application? Alito has no recollection - so either he's a liar, or he's oblivious. Ok now, even though he doesn't really have any recollection of his membership in CAP, he thinks he joined because of his opinions about the ROTC on Princeton's campus - so he can't remember much about the group, but he can remember, vaguely why he joined - though he didn't bother to see what the group was really about. Ooh, now Kennedy wants access to the CAP records, he wants a subpoena - and Spector just snapped at him - I AM THE CHAIRMAN - watch as I beat my chest with my fists... (video)

Grassley (R-Ia)
blah blah your critics say that blah blah blah. he talks about how much he likes Alito, they have a nice chat.

Biden (D-De)
hits abortion again, not surprising. hits CAP again "why did you put it on your application?" especially years later?

that's it for my lunch, we'll complete the roundup sometime later tonight, it looks like we might be in for a third round of questioning. Today, we still have: Kyl, Kohl, DeWine, Feinstein, Sessions, Feingold, Graham, Schumer and Corryn. Looks like the hearings will run until at least 4:30 CST.

1:44pm
I kid you not, I just spoke to Courtney Love ....ok ok, not the real Courtney Love, but James did speak to the real Tom Brady last week.

2:07pm
Ahhhhhh!!! I keep missing all the best parts because people keep calling me and I have to answer their little questions. Can't they see that I'm much to involved with the political process to answer their silly questions right now?! Extensive review of the transcript of the day's preceding will occur later tonight.

2:11pm
It's really easy folks, Press 1 for existing accounts and Press 2 for new accounts. The first thing out of your mouth should not be "I have an account with you".

2:33pm
C'mon sir, spit out what you need to ask?

2:43pm
Dammit! Stupid people, now I've gone and missed most of Feinstein. Check on the transcript later....whoops looks like a I missed all the fun!

3:05pm
Oh yeah, in other news, that illegal NSA program may have affected millions of Americans. "That would mean for most Americans that if they conducted, or you know, placed an overseas communication, more than likely they were sucked into that vacuum," Tice (the NSA whistle blower) said. Which means me! I've placed an oversees call, I hope they listened in...we have a running joke about only speaking hypothetically in our apartment in case Big Brother is listening. As Lauren sagely pointed out, the TV is watching.

3:31PM
They're breaking again. No word on whether or not we will have Round 3, Leahy seems interested and DiFi asked Specter. Specter seems reluctant and wants to wrap things up sooner rather than later. In Round 2, we still have Feingold, Graham, Schumer, Corryn, Durbin, Brownback and Coburn. I would think that the hearings could run as late as 6:30 CST. We'll catch up with everyone, check the transcript and link all appropriate video (ie. the Specter/Kennedy scuffle) at that point.

5:30pm
It was quite pleasant walking out from work today. The days are getting longer - it was still light out when I left, instead of full dark. Off to Dad's office for a couple of more hours of work. The daily roundup will be forthcoming when I get home.

Kyl (R-Az)
blah blah playing defense on the CAP issue blah blah unfair smear campaign - you've been very forthcoming, nope, not dodging or evading questions at all, nothing to see here America, just move along. 2-4-6-8 who do we appreciate 8-6-4-2 who the heck do you think we do! Judge Alito!

Kohl (D-Wi)
Roe and Casey again, points out inconsistences in Alito's answers. Alito comments that abortion is still an "issue in play" really? cause I thought it was settled law, having been challenged and reaffirmed oh 30-some odd times. but that's just me. Absolutely takes him to task on inconsistencies. Ok, and then something weird, the transcript says "My role is not to substitute my judgment for that of the immigration judge." but I could have sworn that he stuttered before he said immigration and started to say Administration. So it would have read "my role is not to substitute my judgement for that of the Administration." Gotcha! Mentions that when it comes to immigration cases, Alito's record is 1 for 8 and the national sample was more like 50%

++ok, so early Kennedy requested some records and he and specter had a spat over the records and procedure, Kennedy says that he sent specter a letter weeks ago about these records, specter said he never got it, but kennedy's aids came up with specter's response. we're going to get a look at those records. here's more video++

DeWine (R-Oh)
talks about how judges cannot legislate from the bench...speech speech...trying to bolster his plummeting approval rating in Ohio -- oddly brings up free speech and the right to be heard (really? sounds like an interpretation of the Constitution...), free speech zones - funny because this was a Bush innovation - like war protests have to take place in little roped off areas far far away from anyone. or republican convention protesters get penned up and shipped off - so no one sees them...so odd for a Republican senator to bring it up.

Feinstein (D-Ca)
I missed most of this and had to check the transcript, but it looks like she led him through the precedence surrounding Roe and the value of precedence - and asks him why he can speak to one man, one vote when there are four cases before the supremes and yet he cannot speak about roe, using the defense that it might come before him as a supreme? she says it makes no logical sense that he can comment on one and not the other.

Sessions (R-Al)
talks about how forthcoming Alito is... blah blah rah rah Alito! are you going to ask a question anytime soon senator? apparently not ...he's reading some statements in support of Alito, seems like he can barely read. asks if appellate courts can be disbanded? Talks about "doing something" about activist courts...

Feingold (D-Wi)
I missed most of Feingold...he talks about how pro-government Alito's record is...smacks him down again for the Vanguard thing - shouldn't have promised to the committee- there was no time limit on the promise, etc. No fireworks today from Russ.

Graham (R-Sc)
blah blah we like Sam! blah blah blah

Schumer(D-Ny)
Hammers him on CAP, Roe, admonishes Alito not to be argumentative. same old same ole - but it was good, and forceful and passionate. Why didn't he list any other group on that application? maybe one that he had actually been active in? nah...

Corryn (R-Tx)
oh he has a chart, oh it says that Alito has answered 98% of questions asked. yeah, i really accept that from the guys that have been saying that alito has been forth coming. just how did you calculate that senator? talks about the scalito nickname -- asks "are you a clone?"

Durbin (D-Il)
talks about religion in school blah bleh blah blah nothing really new here.

Brownback (R-Ks)
Announces his support for the nominee, before the hearings are over and witnesses have been heard. and all the while the traditional media has admonished democrats for coming into it with their minds made up. Did anyone else just hear the senator from Kansas announce his support for the nominee before the end of the hearings? no one? ok. fine.

Coburn (R-Ok)
Rambles on about abortion and the health of women, because he is so concerned about the health of women-- keeps talking about abortion on demand - a question? ever? senator? doesn't understand why if someone assaults a pregnant women and causes the fetus to be aborted they are guilty of murder, but if the women gets an abortion, there is no crime. and the answer, senator is because the person who assaulted the woman is not the woman and the woman has the right to make choices about her own body. dumbass. he also goes on to breakdown the percentages of why women have abortions, the final reason is "And one percent is they didn't want anybody else to know somebody had sex with them" note the wording, "they(being women) didn't want anybody else to know somebody (a man) had sex with them" not that they had sex with someone, that sex was done to them, as if they were a passive player -- words matter. 21 percent say that they can't afford a child, 21 percent say they don't want the responsibility, 12 percent have bad relationships, 11 percent are not mature enough -- do we really want to force these women to have children...

And that was the end of the hearings for today. Tomorrow, we'll have another round lasting no more than 25 minutes per senator, and then witness testifying should go on for awhile.

I expect everyone of the dems on the committee to vote no on the nominee, they need a strong show of support- and they need to convince one republican, and i don't think that will happen. the dems may have to filibuster this, and that means the nuclear option...stay tuned.

Photo of the Day

Shot glass Chess Board
Originally uploaded by derekslager.

Alito Hearings Day 2

9:10am
Does it make me a political junkie if I brought a radio in to work to listen to the confirmation hearings of Alito? What if I was in the car listening to the hearings and I sensed that one of the questioners was going to get to the heart of one of Alito's lies and I chuckled evilly and yelled "Do IT!" Um yeah.

9:20am
ooh ... he's a slippery one. I hope one of the senators on the committee pins him down on some of his answers. We've talked about privacy,abortion, FISA, and spying on the Quakers.

10:08am
OOOOH you were a jerk. Sir, that's not really our process. Our process is that I take your preliminary information, forward it on to a sales rep and then that rep will give you a call back. "Now listen, I am the customer and I can take my business somewhere else, what I want is the name and number of a sales rep that can help me." Well sir, if I don't take your basic information and forward it on to our rep first, he's not going to know how to address your needs fully. "What I want is the name and number" Ok, that name is going to be suzie doozie and that number is 555-555-5555. "This Suzie, she's an employee of your parent company which I have confused with your company?" No sir, she's actually not an employee with our parent or this company, I made her name and number up just now. Just to annoy you, as you have annoyed me.

10:40am
Oh man, Senator Kennedy is kicking ass on the strip search of a 10 year old girl. He also kicked ass on the Vanguard thing.

11:03am
I'm on break, so here's the round up.

Specter (R-Pa):
Asks about privacy, abortion, Miranda - Alito evades all the of the questions. Discussion of stare decisis and super precedence. Alito comments that he does not like to categorize precedence, ie. super precedence, super duper precedence. All laugh.

Leahy(D-Vt):
Bashes Alito on his decision to uphold a police search of a 10-year old and her mother during the execution of a warrant that did not allow for the search of those persons found on the property that the warrant included. The strip search of a 10 year old girl. Also hits on the Concerned Alumni of Princeton issue. Seems very annoyed and unhappy with Alito's answers to this one.

Hatch (R-Ut):
Praises Alito ... talks about his service in the ROTC...blah blah..kisses ass.

Kennedy (D-Ma):
Hits hard on Alito's promise to recuse himself from any case involving Vanguard and then failing to recuse himself in a case involving Vanguard until someone else raised the issue. Kennedy asks the clerk to count the number of times the name Vanguard appears in the brief. Alito says he doesn't really need the clerk to count - he knows the name appears. So, basically, his promise slipped his mind. Kennedy kicks some more ass - hitting on the strip search thing again. Torture and presidential signing statements. Doing a good job of saying that legislature makes the laws and the president signs them. The president does not get to make statements saying that he is going to ignore those laws and certainly that his signing statements do not have any legal weight. Gets into the doctrine of "unitary executive." What is this doctrine and what does Alito think? The theory says that all power of the executive is vested in the president by the constitution. What does it mean? That the exec can decide to not follow laws passed by the legislature because it would interfere with the President's authority as Commander in Chief. What does Alito think? That's just dandy. He says the theory of the unitary executive is "the gospel." Great.

Grassley (R-Ia):
With regard to Vanguard issue, in defense of Alito - senators don't keep every promise to their constituents...Yes, sir, but senators can be booted out of office if their constituents get fed up with the lying SOBs, a supreme court justice has the appointment for life and his integrity should be beyond reproach.

ok, I have no idea who's talking now, so if I forget someone, I'm sorry.

Biden (D-De):
Hits hard on Alito's rulings in discrimination cases. How in one case, he was the odd man out of 11. Enters into the record the reports that Alito rules against the individual most of the time and for the government most of the time. Never questioned executive power...etc.

Kyl (R-Az):
Kisses Alito's ass for awhile.

Mercifully, lunch break for the senators - be back 1:15 CST

12:27pm
What a difference 2 days makes. On sunday it was sunny and around 65 degrees, today it's cold and rainy. Miserable, the day matched my mood yesterday. But I feel pretty good today - got a decent night of sleep. And the fight for the SCOTUS is on!

12:30pm
The only bad part of my day, is that caller 3 has once again failed to go to lunch when she should, meaning that I should be taking lunch right around 1:30 again. Grr.

1:49pm
Counterpunch.org pegs Iraqi war casualties at near 180,000 with a possibility that it is actually near 500,000 - contrary to government figures of about 30,000. War will cost near $2 trillion.

3:14pm
Kohl (D-Wi)
Bashed him over seeing Bork as a good nominee. Bashed him for his 1985 disagreements with the Warren court (Miranda, one person-one vote, etc). Asked if he thought the USSC was correct in taking Bush v Gore. Alito evades and says he hasn't given it enough thought. Yeah right, the man who wants to sit on SCOTUS hasn't given thought to one of the biggest decisions they've ever made? Right.

DeWine (R-Oh)
Blah blah blah ... your record is being distorted ...blah blah blah

Feinstein (D-Ca)
Scores big on trying to nail alito down on what it would take to overturn stare decisis, alito is very wishy-washy and Feinstein bitch slaps him a couple of times for being evasive. I missed their chat on abortion and electronic surveillance

Sessions (R-Al)
"I can't remember a nominee being this forthcoming" - is this guy living in a different world? Alito is being ridiculously evasive and inconsistent. Repeats the your record is being distorted theme. boo hoo blah blah - I'm waiting for Feingold... now Sessions is making the case that there can be both conservative and liberal judicial activism - which is true - where is he going with this...oh ok, there has been a pervasive liberal judicial activism contrary to the american public -- right tell me again why Roe should be overturned when 60% of Americans agree that it should not - tell me more about the conservative activism you seek in Roe. Ooh, now they're bashing the opinions of foreign courts...Now Sessions is referring to woman as FE-males ...

3:46pm
I've just been informed that the temps will not have to be present at the meeting tomorrow because they are going to be talking about things like where the company is headed and higher level things that "you don't need to worry about" that is not a good sign. On the other hand, she praised me for the work on the workbook that I turned in last week - especially on how fast I got it done. I'm taking a page from Katie, and keeping a log of all the good things I'm doing for this company- I may have to play hardball later.

3:55pm
Sorry, I've got nothing on other news today - the hearings are keeping me hopping and it's really hard to browse other things while you're listening intently to political/legal discourse. We'll resume regular coverage when either a) the hearings are over b) I get tired of hearing the senators talk. Fortunately, they are limited to 30 minutes each round.

Feingold (D-Wi)
Feingold hammered Alito hard on executive power. He asked directly if the president could violate the law. Alito said that the President had to comply with "statutes consistent with the Constitution of the United States." This has been his mantra all day and it sounds well and good, but with the argument being made that the Congress cannot make laws that constrain the executive power, alito could say in good conscience that the president would have to comply with "statutes consistent with the Constitution of the United States," - so if Congress makes laws constraining the exec power, those would not be consistent with the constitution, which in line with the theory of the unitary executive invests the president with lots and lots of authority. Anyway, so I missed how they got into this but all of a sudden Feingold is grilling him on the practice debate sessions that alito would have gone through..."who was at these sessions" "did the offer you advice, suggestions, comments?"evade evade evade - no one told me what to say. "what were the comments about?" style and formatting of the answers - um right judge. After that little exchange, Feingold took him to task over the Vanguard issue. He admonished the naysaying senators, pointing out that Vanguard IS an important ethical issue to discuss. He queried, why not put Vanguard on your list of parties to automatically recuse yourself from? Why not keep your promise to this committee?

Graham (R-Nc)
"And I hope you'll understand if any us come before a court and we can't remember Abramoff, you will tend to believe us."

I was amused with Senator Graham, even if he is a Republican. However, he did harp on how Alito was being very forthcoming again. Really? I don't think so. Asks if 9/11 was an act of war or a crime? Alito evades the question - says he's reluctant to get into it. Graham repeats that even during times of war, especially during times of war the Constitution survives. He asks Alito about the Geneva Convention, alito's wishy washy, he's not so familiar with it. Really! not familiar with the Geneva Convention- they didn't prep you on this? gets alito on torture, asks if it is consistent with the Constitution, alito affirms that it is. (the questions are fast and furious now) asks if alito considers himself to be a strict constuctionalist. alito wishy washy. graham defines a strict constructionalist as someone that doesn't make things up - alito agrees that that describes his judicial philosophy. Graham concludes that Congress with collaboration with the President is when the country is strongest. It is very dangerous to over interpret War Resolutions.

Schumer (D-Ny)
Badgers Alito big time on abortion. Uses the mother-in-law analogy, which i thought was very good:

"But I do have to tell you, Judge, you're refusal I find troubling. And it's sort as if I asked a friend of mine 20 years ago -- a friend of mine 20 years ago said to me, he said, you know, I really can't stand my mother-in-law. And a few weeks ago I saw him and I said, "Do you still hate your mother-in-law?"

He said, 'Well, I'm now married to her daughter for 21 years, not one year.'

I said, 'No, no, no. Do you still hate your mother-in-law?'

And he said, 'I can't really comment.'

What do you think I'd think?

ALITO: Senator, I think...

SCHUMER: Let me just move on.

You have a very nice mother-in-law. I see her right here. And she seems like a very nice person."

(LAUGHTER)

Compares Alito to Bork again. Lists cases where Alito ignored stare decisis, even though he says that stare decisis is fundamental to legal reasoning. Schumer concludes that given all this "You would vote to over rule Roe v Wade."

Corryn (R-Tx)
Keeps comparing Alito to O'Connor, but really, even if their opinions match up 10% of the time, if they don't match up the other 90% of the time - you can't really say that they are that similar. so stop making that absurd comparison? yes yes, senator, he did not urge the outright reversal of Roe, but he did advocate for the slow dismantling, and isn't the end result pretty much they same? and maybe the trimester approach isn't valid anymore, but a woman's right to choose is, and if new guidelines need to be established, so be it. but, a woman must have dominion over her own body- always and without question. oh god he sounds like bush. he just referred to the wire tapping scandal as an early warning system. oddly he refers to al-queda and the taliban as the "supposed perpetrators" of 9/11. Oh, and he managed to refer to Alito by his derogatory nickname, Scalito. hahaha

Specter concludes today with a little speech about how it's important for the US public to see Congress doing its job because "the media is filled with criticism about the Congress." Um, yeah, I wonder why? cough cough abramoff cough cough

Tomorrow, we'll start with the rest of the 18 members: Durbin (D-Il), Brownback (R-Ks), and Coburn (R-Ok). Coburn made the comment in opening statements about how we protect sodomites and prostitutes but not the unborn. You can see that video at Crooks and Liars.

Photo of the Day

Objective
Originally uploaded by gotigersjf.

Alito Hearings...

9:17am
Roofing guys at the building next door must have thought that our apartment building was nothing but college kids on break because they double parked behind my car. Helloooooo! Some of us do have to go to work. They were very nice about moving their truck though - so I forgive them.

9:25am
Monday monday monday.... the week promises to be dull at work but hopping in the news. Abramoff lingers, the wiretapping scandal with the added caveat of spying on journalists continues to break and Alito's confirmation hearings are this week. It should all be exciting...

10:05am
Carl's birthday was last week and we have a cake for him today. It's a very pretty chocolate cake with chocolate covered strawberries on top...I have a piece sitting here on my desk. I'ts been here for about 20 minutes but people keep calling me, just as I'm about to take a bite...damn them!

10:59am
Bossman liked my work! "I like what you've been able to do so far." Yay! Now keep me on until August and offer me a raise...I can integrate last year's data with this year, build the workbook for next year, integrate that, produce charts and scorecards and graphs - I can massage the data. I want to help you, help the company...and more than anything, I want to help myself stay employed.

11:51am
So, in reality, I'm not off of the phones. I'm using my excellent reporting skills, and staying on the phones. I don't actually have less to do, I have more to do and less free time. shrug. I think that I can make myself appear to be busy all of the time, so busy in fact, that I need to stay on and do the reporting because it just takes so much time and no one else has anytime to do it...

12:07pm
I'm convinced that I just spoke to a robot from a different customer service department...

12:26pm
"Yes, I just placed a rather large order for rewards cards and I need an invoice, but it won't let me go back to that screen." Ok, ma'am, where did you place your order? "rewards and benefits for gift cheques and now I can't get the invoice for the gift cards" Ok, wait, did you place an order for gift cheques, or gift cards? "Gift cards." Ok, you placed an order for gift cards at ourcompanyname.com? "Yes." Ok, that is a different department and I'll transfer.

12:54pm
I like people that call and they're just excited about life in generally. Those are the people that make me the happiest - especially if I'm having a shitty day.

2:51pm
So lunch. Right. There are five people in the department. Three are in the main pool and two handle the other line. No less than one person must be in each pool at any given time. Our previous lunch schedule achieved this and I ate at 12:30pm. The most senior people in our department last week decided that we would take 45 minute lunches as opposed to 30 minute lunches and just not tell our superiors. This put my lunch at 1pm. No problem there, the later my lunch is (with in reason) the less time I have after lunch until I am free. Here's the lunch order: Caller 1 goes to lunch at 10:45am, caller 2 at 11:30, caller 3 at 12:15, me at 1:00pm and caller 5 sometime after that. Here's the problem: caller 3 and I are the only ones on that 2nd line; Which means that if caller 1 and 2 go late to lunch, caller 3 goes late, and I have to go after 3, which means I went today at 1:30ish...and I was damn hungry by that time. Solution, caller 3 should wise up and go before 2 gets back. It's ok because 1 and 5 are still on that line and I'm covering the other one. That way, I don't have to wait until 1:30 to eat. Thanks for your attention.

3:28pm
Due to lack of sleep from being too preoccupied to sleep and the rowdy nightly celebrations of my beloved roommates, I'm not really in the mood to blog politics. And there's not really much to comment on today. Look for the Alito hearings to get interesting some time tomorrow.

3:42pm
I'm entering formula's to get weekly averages for nine months. There are 11 categories in those 9 months and the data is for between 20-22 days in a month. There is not really an easy way to copy the formula I need for the different cells which means I have to type a variation of the formula "=june!c4:june!c10,july!f3" approximately 2,000 times. I kind of want to die and hate myself for starting this project. I have to keep reminding myself that this is why they are going to want to keep me....in the past work hours, I've managed to complete the averages for 3 months.

4:25pm
That caller must have had me lookup 5 different zip codes, and I was like "ma'am, ma'am this information is on the website" "just one more" ok.But still, I'm fond of the callers, because without them, I would just be doing data entry, and I've decided that that makes me want to die. I need the human contact that I get through the 40 or so callers that I get throughout the day. I think that if I were sitting in my cubical, all by my lonesome, all day, doing data entry all day, I might have to take a stapler to myself. Fortunatly, I don't. Plus, I get to share emails with my wonderful corporate collegues all over the big STL - I especially like paragraph upon paragraph of food descriptions. Thanks Katie! And here it is reposted:

"Today I had Subway for lunch. It was a delicious 6 inch turkey on honey oat with white american, lettuce, tomato, bananna peppers, red onions, and red wine vinigarette sauce. I usually get mayo, but I'm going on a slight health kick, so I decided to leave it out. The sandwich was 90% as good as usual though, because the red onions were sliced thinly, so I got some on every bite, but they werent overpowering. There is a science to making a sandwich, and my friend at Subway must have a PhD. "

4:35pm
What do you do when the internet holds nothing more of interest to you and you have 55 more minutes before you are free to go?