digital detritus

There’s a bumper sticker that reads something like If you aren’t angry then you’re not paying attention

I’m having one of those days. Seems like as soon as I got up this morning and started paying attention to what was going on I was furious. Major props to Michael Isikoff who wrote this story in the current issue of Newsweek.

It goes like this:

On March 8th (2006) at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland Antonin Scalia was asked questions about the state of things at the Guantanamo prison and the rights of the folks there. Scalia completely dismissed the questions and said that the folks currently being held at Guantanamo don’t really have any rights. Let me say that again, Scalia said that the prisoners at Guantanamo don’t really have any rights. Seems that Scalia thinks that the prisoners don’t have rights to civil trials and they don’t have rights under the geneva conventions.

Scalia also seems to be confused about the folks who are being held prisoner at Guantanamo. Scalia made reference to his son fighting in the war against the folks who are being held. His son has served in Iraq, however, there are no Iraqis being held at Guantanamo.

I suppose that a supreme court justice stating that prisoners of war don’t have any rights and being confused about who exactly is being held at Guantanamo might not bother everyone. Now consider the fact that the supreme court is going to hear arguments in the case of at least one of the folks currently being held at Guantanamo, I don’t know about anyone else but this kind of thing makes me nervous.
So let’s review:

• Scalia thinks that the folks in Guantanamo don’t have rights
• Scalia is confused about who is being held at Guantanamo
• Scalia is about to decide on a case involving someone being held at Guantanamo

This kind of behavior gets right up my left nostril.

For further reading check out:

• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
• Should Scalia Recuse Himself From Gitmo Case?
• OYEZ U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia

Check out Scalia in his on words (mp3). Is it me, or does this clown, yes I called Antonin Scalia a clown, does this clown sound pompus, arrogant and dismissive of anyone elses opinion?

Red-tailed Hawk 5
Originally uploaded by colinj.

I had just sat down to eat my breakfast and out of the corner of my eye I caught some movement and when I looked out the window I saw that I had a guest for breakfast.

A red-tailed hawk and settled in the tree outside my window with what looked like a pigeon in its talons. It’s not often that in an urban setting I get to share breakfast with a raptor.

I may sound crazy but I’m really glad that the larger predators are returning to urban environments. This is a good sign.

Recently, while I was visiting my family, my mother and I were having a chat and I mentioned that many of the students (undergrads) that I work with had never heard the term midwife before. I mentioned this as it demonstrated some of the limitations in our educational system in highlighting work that has traditionally seen as done by women.

Today my mother sent me this story. I thought I’d share it here.

The Middle Wife (By an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher)

I’ve been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell.So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they’re welcomed to.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.
She holds up a snapshot of an infant. “This is Luke, my baby brother, and I’m going to tell you about his birthday. First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom’s stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.”

She’s standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I’m trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.
“Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, ‘Oh, oh, oh, oh!’ ” Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans.

“She walked around the house for, like an hour, ‘Oh, oh, oh!’” Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.

“My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn’t have a sign on the car like the Domino’s man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.” Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.

“And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!” This kid has her legs spread and with her little hands are miming water flowing away. It was too much!

“Then the middle wife starts saying ‘push, push,’ and ‘breathe, breathe..’ They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff, they all said it was from Mom’s play-center, so there must be a lot of stuff inside there.”

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.

I’m sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, if it’s show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another Erica comes along.

So many peeps
Originally uploaded by colinj.

While I was visiting family I came across this. More peeps than I had ever seen in one place ever before. And so many colours. I’m still not clear on what marshallows shaped like infant birds have to do with the christ myth. I never could figure out superstitions anyway.

Technorati Tags: religion, atheism, peeps, superstition, easter, mythology