War Wounds

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Sunday May 18, 2008 · 6:20 PM PDT

2008/05/18 · 18:20

While driving around after church this morning, I heard a brief snippet of Tom Bissell's "War Wounds" on the Selected Shorts radio program.

In the story, according to WNYC,

a son comes to terms with his father’s war, in a moving post-Vietnam memoir.

Follow for a few thoughts.

upstatetimmy

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Thursday May 15, 2008 · 10:55 AM PDT

2008/05/15 · 10:55

According to the Albany Times Union, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY-20) gave birth to a baby boy Thursday morning.

Gillibrand is only the sixth member of Congress to give birth while in office.

Follow for a little more info.

upstatetimmy

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Friday April 04, 2008 · 10:10 AM PDT

2008/04/04 · 10:10

New York's bottle bill turned 25 last year. Fred LeBrun has an interesting column in Wednesday's Albany Times Union regarding an enhanced bottle bill that has been kicking around the NY legislature for a number of years. It has passed the NY Assembly but has been stalled in the Senate.

His column follows on the heels of an article by TU Capitol Bureau reporter Irene Jay Liu about the irony of the bottling industry, the current recipient of unclaimed container deposits [estimated to be $100M-$190M per year], funneling hundreds of thousands of $$ of that money to lobby lawmakers to keep the bill, which would direct unclaimed container deposits to the state's environmental fund, from succeeding.

Follow after the fold for a few thoughts.

upstatetimmy

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Saturday December 29, 2007 · 6:03 PM PST

2007/12/29 · 18:03

I'm an extremely low-profile Kossack--I lurked for several years before finally getting an account this past summer. My infrequent diaries have covered minor topics and have sunk like tiny stones with very few ripples.

However, a diary I posted several days ago, Arguing the War, generated a comment that I think merits further discussion.

upstatetimmy

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Wednesday December 26, 2007 · 9:47 PM PST

2007/12/26 · 21:47

Over at antiwar.com, Scott Horton has posted an amazing e-mail dialogue entitled Arguing the War:

Two weeks ago, Antiwar.com received a letter from a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps wondering what motivated our behavior. One of my jobs for Antiwar.com is handling letters like these, and since he asked like a gentleman, I’ve done my best to represent the site and the case against the war.

What follows is significant not only because it catalogs the many reasons why the U.S. push for global empire is misguided at best and tragic at worst; it shows that someone with an anti-war point of view and someone with a more pro-war point of view can respectfully engage one another without name-calling or brainwashed sloganeering.

upstatetimmy

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Thursday November 08, 2007 · 9:18 PM PST

2007/11/08 · 21:18

I wasn't sure if this topic had already been diaried today, but a search of DKos only revealed several peripheral comments about Canadian "enemy combatant" Omar Khadr.

Anyway, a Reuters report, with the eye-catching title Buried evidence revealed in Guantanamo trial today discusses recent developments in the U.S. government's case against him.

I will leave to others the dissection of the U.S.'s multiple manipulations to try to pin something on this young man. Follow after the jump for a quote that caught my eye...

upstatetimmy

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Sunday October 28, 2007 · 10:20 PM PDT

2007/10/28 · 22:20

Sampling a wide variety of media--from AM radio to the internet--I am always struck by the bald jingoism of so many of our keyboard/microphone commandos ("Thanks, Sean...you're a great American, too.")

An interesting article by David Bromwich at antiwar.com uses J.A. Hobson's 1901 pamphlet The Psychology of Jingoism to draw parallels between British involvement in the Boer War and the United States' misadventures in Iraq [and elsewhere to come?]

Follow after the fold for a quote that stopped me in my tracks.

upstatetimmy

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Tuesday September 25, 2007 · 9:23 PM PDT

2007/09/25 · 21:23

I was mulling the recent news of an upstate NY Iraq vet, Sgt. Taylor Parker, 26, who died over the weekend in an auto accident. Sgt. Parker was not wearing his seatbelt.

According to the Times Union article linked above, the sad irony is that "Parker was on his way home from a formal dinner for noncommissioned officers hosted by the National Guard". The Troy Record reports that "Adding to the irony is the fact that the afternoon before the accident that took his life, Parker was immortalized in a painting hung in the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters that depicted him and other U.S. soldiers in Iraq two years ago."

Follow for some seatbelt-related thoughts.

upstatetimmy

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Monday August 27, 2007 · 11:03 PM PDT

2007/08/27 · 23:03

Here's a story to take your mind off of the current political/economic grind.

My dear friend and colleague Frank Calabria is a retired psychology professor and an avid ballroom dancer. On multiple occasions he's demonstrated the mambo and the cha cha cha for the students in my "Music of Latin America" course. A physically and mentally active guy, he describes growing up in Brooklyn and a host of other adventures in Let It Be a Dance: My Life Story. That's not what this diary is about.

I recall him mentioning a few years ago that one of his grandsons [Nicolai] was born without one leg. I didn't think about that again until I saw a story in Saturday's Schenectady Daily Gazette [subscription only--drives me nuts].

Follow for details.

upstatetimmy

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Wednesday August 22, 2007 · 9:47 PM PDT

2007/08/22 · 21:47

My tax lady is an EA (enrolled agent). My dentist is a DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery). My reproductive health specialist is a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The organists and choir directors I hang out with are certified as Fellows or Associates by the American Guild of Organists.

Credentials are important because they allow a profession or field to set standards and they allow individuals to demonstrate competence by meeting or exceeding these standards.

As a tenured college professor, I've earned my credentials over a long and sometimes grueling career path. I respect those who have earned credentials in whatever field they've chosen, and I expect the people I deal with to possess the appropriate credentials. That's why I just about lost it when I read this article in today's Albany [NY] Times Union. Follow for more.

upstatetimmy

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Saturday August 18, 2007 · 10:17 PM PDT

2007/08/18 · 22:17

in your area?

In upstate NY, we seem to be having better-than-average corn than in recent years--sweet and juicy.

According to the Albany Times Union, the New York Apple Association [I didn't know there was such a thing] is predicting a record harvest this fall.

upstatetimmy

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Monday August 06, 2007 · 6:13 AM PDT

2007/08/06 · 06:13

A New York Times story on earmarks reprinted in my Sunday paper caught my eye this morning. Its provocative lede:

If the idea was to shame lawmakers into restraint, it did not work.

Follow me for a few thoughts.

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War Wounds

Gillibrand: It's a Boy!

Thoughts on NY bottle bill

Meta: "Please don't link _____ supporting sites here."

Arguing the War

George Orwell or Lewis Carroll?

Jingoism Revisited

Please wear your seat belt!

Free Wheelchair Mission

On credentials

How's the produce

Earmarks