is premature.  When I drop by I've been so surprised to see people suppose I have various sock puppets.  I couldn't figure that one out until I heard today that someone was saying I've been banned.  Well, not really.

My shareable news consists in the sad demise of dear Coriander:

Her litter mate, who was the sub-subordinate cat, has since gained two pounds, despite having the same renal problems, and is living it up being an only cat.  Nearly 18 and she's turned into a kitten.

And I blog a lot on another site, which is especially feminist.  You really don't want to know.

Of course, everyone will vote, so I can only say,

Best wishes to you all (really!),

jpete

I've learned a great deal from DKos and I've really valued a lot in my experience here.  I don't want just to fade away, but I now have a lot less time to track diaries and comments.  And I think that taking up time and space here really should be met by some commitment to keep abreast of the site.  I do plan to pop in once in a while, especially for some of the stellar series that people have going, and to keep up a little bit with the world-changing events here, but I can't do much.

I'm not finding the world cruel at all, however.

This was just too hard to resist.  I was looking on the BBC web site for news of the recent floods, especially in Oxford.  Now our CNN is perfectly capable of doing animal stories, but the lovely smallness of this story is a good example of British animal news.  And on Saturday we can take a break for a moment.

So from the BBC:

Firefighters who have been saving people from the floods have rescued a goldfish washed away by rising waters.
The six-inch fish was spotted swimming down Earl Street in Oxford as crews helped residents hit by the floods.

This may be the fish, named "Pearl".

 ["Earl/Pearl"?  I didn't get it at first.]

Join me below the fold for the rest of the story.

Bill Moyers has reminded us.  The president has greatly extended the claims for power for the president. That is a fundamental challenge to the checks and balances our constitution provides.  He will hand over to his successor a "tool box" full of very new powers for the presidency that will not benefit the country.

Moyer's guest, Fein and Nichols, one who drew up the articles of impreachment and the other with the Nation agree:  the Congress has the obligation to protect the country and our constitution.  They are failing.  They care more about their parties and their careers than about the country.

It is very hard to imagine a failure for the legislature that is worse.

I've spent a lot of time both reading others' papers and manuscripts, writing my own stuff and then reading what others think of what I've written.

In thinking about reading something you think is really, really wrong, there are a couple of things you might find it useful to keep in mind.  Or not.

First of all, Anne Lamott's comments in Bird by Bird about first drafts.  She says that with the exception of a few impossible people, writers produce awful first drafts.  In fact, she's talking about fiction writers, and I don't write fiction, but I was really cheered up by that, because when I read my own first drafts, I typically think I should find another job.  I mean, we are talking pretty awful.  Lamott says to take comfort in the fact that you can hide them and NO ONE will see them.  That's just fine, but surely she's let some first drafts out.  Rushed, feeling you need to say something rather than nothing, you put down what seems pretty good, and hand it in, send it off, etc.  And too often you live to regret it.  

I just discovered that a cool experiment, which was devised in 1999, can be done on the web.  AND you can take part.  Your results may end up surprising you a lot.  In fact, if you haven't heard about it, you'll be VERY surprised at what most people's results are.

Unfortunately, I can't say what it is about without spoiling the whole thing, but it is easy and harmless.  In the comments, I can say a bit about what it's taken to show, though I certainly am not a vision scientist.  As for more general implications about whether we do understand ourselves very well, your opinion is probably more interesting than mine!

BTW, I give the DVD form of the test to my students; the students who do what you might think is "failing" tend in general to have higher grades.  But that's for the discussion.

The silly news can be a relief on a day like today, with Sotus dismantling Brown v. Board of Ed, and removing a 96-year old protection for consumers.  True, they did block the execution of a possibly mentally ill person who tried to get Jesus Christand Kennedy to testify for him, though you can guess who of this jolly crew were for ending his life.

So enjoy the rubber duck story, if you need something light!  It's better for you than potato chips!  

There is an hour long interview with Michael Moore today on Democrycy Now.  The site says that it is about the making of Sicko and health care policy issues.

If you go to the site, you'll find lots of options:  you can listen to the interview, watch it, read it and even email it.

Cindy Sheehan's diary here on Memorial Day has gotten some press attention.  Tomorrow she'll be on Democracy Now.  

I just got this email:

On Wednesday, Cindy Sheehan will join us for an exclusive interview to talk about her decision to step down from her role as a leading campaigner against the Iraq war. She made the announcement in a letter
(http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/28/12530/1525) released on Memorial Day. Cindy set up Camp Casey outside President Bush's Crawford estate in August 2005 in memory of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. If you have any suggested questions for Cindy, please email them to askcindy@democracynow.org.

It was very hard to see today that Europe is capitulating to Bush on global warming.  To say this is not at all the blame the messanger; Jerome has important news.  But if despair can just hit you suddenly, then I expect I wasn't alone in feeling hit by despair.  Is the whole world lost to the corrupt views and disasterous policies of BWB?

Until, that is, I remembered a Democracy Now segment from Wednesday

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Geoff Hoon, British defence secretary during the initial phases of the Iraq war/occupation, details fatal errors in planning.

Geoff Hoon reveals that Britain disagreed with the US administration over two key decisions in May 2003, two months after the invasion - to disband Iraq's army and "de-Ba'athify" its civil service. Mr Hoon also said he and other senior ministers completely underestimated the role and influence of the vice-president, Dick Cheney.

O boy, I really don't want to do this.  But since Hillary is being skewered for saying "I'm going to leave that to others to conclude" about the morality of homosexuality, it really is worth noting that her comment is subject to different interpretations.  It's my best guess that she was not leaving the question of morality open.  She was indicating her position and criticizing the question.

How can that be?  Well, there are a couple of ways of seeing this is at least a reasonable interpretation.  One way is to look at what Tapper, on his blog says she said:

Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude," she said. "I'm very proud of the gays and lesbians I know who perform work that is essential to our country, who want to serve their country and I want make sure they can."

What she says following the "conclude" comment rules out the idea that she was leaving the question of morality unanswered.  Unless, that is, you really think she was saying "Well, maybe they are immoral, but I am very proud of the gays and lesbians doing this splendid work."  

According to Drudge,

NY TIMES PLANS TUESDAY HIT ON GORE, NEWSROOM SOURCES TELL DRUDGE: 'Scientists argue that Gore's warnings are full of exaggerated claims and startling errors'... Developing...

The first time I heard of the developing consensus in the scientific community about global warming was in the early or mid-1980's.  The story was mostly word of mouth, because few scientists would run the risk of making the exaggerated claims and startling errors that their knowledge at the time would allow if it were pushed into definite claims and predictions.  So is the NY Times going to blast Gore for taking the leap before we can yet see the details for certain?  Well, I looked at the NYTimes science section that is published in print on Tues, but much of which is on the web on Monday.

The NYTimes just reported that breast cancer rates in the US "dropped dramatically" in 2003.

The "experts" conjecture that it is due to women's stopping taking HRT for menopause symptoms.

Find some snippets and a comment below:

I did a search on DKos on comments for "psychotic" (36) and "sociopaths"(93)for the last week  It's hard not to understand the impulse to see Bush as a sociopath; his justifications seem so phoney that he looks like he has a reckless disregard for human life on a pretty big scale.  

But there are some problems with calling him a sociopath, and with dismissing the rethug leaders as a bunch of psychotics who enjoy the thought of torture.  Let me recognize one that others have brought up, and then move on to some others I haven't seen here before - or at least not put the way I will.

We've had some discussions about whether DKos is furthering the stigmatizing of some of suffering people; see, e.g.,  http://www.dailykos.com/...  This is an important issue.  For families living with people going through psychotic episodes, for example, there is not a lot of joking fun to be had.  Laughter at the images of mentally ill people voting republican is offensive to some of our members, for very good reasons.

And there are other reasons that appeal more directly to our self-interest.  

Well, this was fun.  I was commenting on an article in a very academic journal; it was about tenure.  The authors were arguing that tenure for professors didn't serve much purpose.  I strongly disagree, and argued so.

My comment had to be pretty short, and so it really is something only an academic with the original article at hand could like.  And the sentence structure is merciless.  But there a few snippets that I'm fond of.  See below.

It starts with a quote from Jimmy Carter that he made on Daily Kos.  In fact, it was in response to a question of mine.  It was pretty cool, I thought.

The comment itself probably won't be in print until the spring or summer.

This is an escape diary.  It's also an invitation to slow way down.

One way to do that is to watch hens. (We're talking really slowing down.)  You can look at the yard or go inside the hen house.  Don't forget to have a look at the hens' biographies.

Update: If you look at the hens' biographies, you'll see how you can go from DKos to animal cams.

From the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/

Boy who killed dad gets 10-year sentence -- A jury decided today that a 12-year-old boy who shot his father to death two years ago as the man waited outside his ex-wife's home in Katy should remain in custody for 10 more years...

Channel 12 says that it will report later on reasons why the boy may actually serve less time.