- Today, the Congressional Black Caucus screamed at Ralph Nader because he refused to consider withdrawing from the race, proving once and for all that the CBC has no knowledge of or concern for disenfranchised Americans.
- I think I’ve got it straight now: The President didn’t authorize the use of use of torture, although he was told that he could, though not exactly torture, per se, but whatever was necessary to authorize in his prosecution of the war, which he did authorize - whatever was necessary, that is, but not torture, which it turns out must not have been necessary because he didn’t authorize it. Donald Rumsfeld did, but only once, and you have to do it twice to really count as an authorization, and anyway, it wasn’t strictly torture, even if it kind of fits all the definitions of torture, and anyway it wasn’t done and wasn’t strictly authorized and the only torture that was done was the kind that wasn’t authorized.
- LA is treating me very well, and some of the colorful local news is just as interesting as the stuff that the rest of the country hears. For instance, there’s an athlete out here named “Koby” whose job it is to repeatedly walk into and out of a courthouse in Colorado. I’m not quite sure what the object of the game is, but whenever he does it they replay it endlessly. So much to learn…
Fanny Roborat
16 comments
gtc
June 23, 2004 at 6:12 am
1The game is known as “Agincourt”. It is sometimes confused with the place name referred to by William Shakespeare in HENRY V where a great battle was fought in defense of the homeland. In this case it is used with its American pronunciation, (a-gin’ -ker), the shortened form of the phrase “Again in the clinker”. The origin of this phrase is obscure, but it is thought to be a reference to the town drunk, who was perpetually in and out of jail. In the case of your note, it is a game played in (and out of) a ‘court’, usually by two teams (but often more) of lawyers. The rules exceed the limits of this blog, but to sum up: money, publicity, more money, intrigue, pawns and preening, and oh yes, a crime. The winner is determined by most dollars made, and often there are several, with additional winners who receive book and film rights awards. Losers are harder to identify, and it has been argued that everyone who is not a winner is a loser. The appeal of this game to its fans remains a mystery, though many have theorized — diversion, prurience, law study, etc.
gtc
June 23, 2004 at 6:38 am
2As to the rest of your post –
There is sometimes a connection between self-absorbtion and blindness and good intentions and brains.
And this administration is simply playing through, as it assumes its obligation to make the wise decisions for the masses who just don’t get it. And lying is intrinsic, justified as being for the higher good. For the wise at the very least.
Mary
June 23, 2004 at 11:19 am
3Adam, you found the WMDs!!!!! (Weenies of Mass Distraction)
Has anyone noticed how similar all three of the “games” are?
tess
June 23, 2004 at 1:20 pm
4so agincourt is kinda like “where’s waldo?” except with bush hiding behind cheney where no one can find him?
Don
June 23, 2004 at 1:28 pm
5It will be interesting to see if the moves of “Koby” in the Colorado Court are more effective than the moves he executed (Oops! Did I really use that word?) recently in those other courts in L.A. and Detroit.
Murray
June 23, 2004 at 8:23 pm
6Speaking of living and learning, I thought that it would be a mistake to let the Cicadas pass with out a word.
In a rap style
They got big orange eyes that can barely focus,
Some folks call them 17 year locust,
But that’s the wrong data,
The name is cicada
And they’re here now but they won’t be here later.
They got 4 wings but aint supposed to fly
Just come out the ground, have sex and die.
I can dig their ridge, I like their style,
They may go quick, but they go with a smile.
Check it out, Cicada serenade,
Check it out Cicada serenade,
There’s Cicadas on the sidewalk, cicadas on the ground
Place look like a little tiny Jones Town,
I always hate to see a thing go to waste,
And was wondering how a cicada might taste.
Cicada, Potata, They sound the same,
To let em go to waste would be a crying shame.
So I got a couple of hundred of em, took em in side,
Got some catsup and ate em french fried.
I ate every one with out hesitatin
Next thing you know I’m halusinatin
Freaking out, Cicada serenade
Freaking out, Cicada serenade
I was out of my mind, my head was in a fog
Next thing you know I’m sick as a dog.
My friends came over they said “lets get high”
I said “no way” and they said “by-by”
I don’t need no lovely, no reefer, no cocaine
Cause I still have those cicadas buzzing round in my brain.
So eat your cicadas with every snack,
They can also help you say NO TO CRACK!
Bugs, not drugs.
The Pheromones on “So Far, So What”.
katie
June 23, 2004 at 9:45 pm
7First – those two sentences (and I use the term VERY loosely) that comprise the second paragraph are two of the best (worst?) examples of language torture ever written. If one could actually commit grievous bodily harm to a language, you just accomplished it. Huzzah.
Second – Murray, from the cicada-filled Midwest, thank you; thank you oh so much. I may not sleep until Hard Frost. EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am going to go drink now and see if I can erase this episode from my mind forever.
Anonymous
June 24, 2004 at 9:10 am
8katie -
you sure you haven’t been drinking already?
Mary
June 24, 2004 at 9:24 am
9Yo, Murry. You da bomb.
Sam Le Dily
June 24, 2004 at 10:31 am
10Wait, does that work? I once heard that if you smoke like 500 morning glory seeds you can get high. Hmm, the only problem might be my life long fear and hatred of cicadas. This isn’t gonna be a good summer.
Landis (blissfully unaware on the west coast)
June 24, 2004 at 11:58 am
11What’s a ‘cicada’?
tess
June 24, 2004 at 1:52 pm
12Landis:
we have them on the west coast — they just dont’ have the long hibernation thingie so we get them every year from late july-august.
KATIE
June 24, 2004 at 5:03 pm
13Landis,
I’d be happy to box up a bunch and send them to you…. :>
Murray
June 25, 2004 at 12:37 am
14Landis,
Go to Ebay, they are selling them by the hundreds.
Sam Le Dily, give smoking banana peels a try.
The cicadas are already about over here. Their month of glory every 204 has about come to an end.
Jerry
June 25, 2004 at 4:01 am
15Sorry—off topic, but I had to jump in with:
Thomas B. Griffith is the Yellow Rose’s nominee for the federal appeals court in Washington. He practiced law in Utah without a license for four years. He couldn’t get a license there because he had practiced law in D.C. for three years without a license starting 1998 (remember this date!), due to an “oversight” in paying his dues to the Bar Association.
“What was he doing in D.C. after 1998?” you may ask. The Washington Post noted, without mentioning the dates, that he was THE LEAD COUNSEL FOR THE SENATE DURING THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON. Yeah, in January and February of 1999!!!!
Mark Adams
June 25, 2004 at 4:10 pm
16Ah, now everything makes sence.