I’m incredibly lazy today, so here’s a random 13 in celebration of Friday the 13th:

She Sings Songs Without Words Harry Chapin
Does She Talk? Matthew Sweet
Fame David Bowie
Skrautvål Hedningarna
Unchain My Heart Ray Charles
Sweet Addiction Deb Pasternak
Blame It On Cain Elvis Costello
Big Mess Devo
Corner Soul The Clash
Fun World Mission Of Burma
Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey Little Richard
What’s Going On Hüsker Dü
Final Say Sambassadeur

Yup, not even a link to a video–you can find them on your own (I’d go for Blame it on Cain–great stuff).

And a poem to signify my relation to the predator-prey, quantum, space-time continuum desire of life to laugh at itself and then throw itself in front of a massive gas giant. Or maybe it’s about staring at cracks.

Where is life
And to what ends do we go
To find
Where is life
All around us living
And where is life?

I don’t really like Afghanistan’s President Karzai. He obviously is willing to sell people out for votes and his government is corrupt enough that it might not make sense to back him. Still, I love this push back:

But Afghan officials have begun to push back, complaining the Americans are often overpaid, underqualified, and unfamiliar with the culture of the country. Even the best, most qualified advisers can sow mistrust because they answer to the US government or firms rather than to Afghan officials.

and when you see details like this:

A typical US adviser earns about $500 per day – several times what the average Afghan earns in a month. Add on the costs of security, accommodations, and support, and the cost reaches about $2,000 per day, or $500,000 a year, usually paid to a US firm, according to Paul O’Brien, a vice president at Oxfam America, a Boston-based international relief organization that monitors aid effectiveness.

you see that they have a point. They could get an advisor from India who knows the region better for much much less, but that wouldn’t help US firms. You can see the attitude here:

as evidenced in the case of Yeager, a Colorado geologist hired in 2006 to educate the Ministry of Mines staff about the process of soliciting bids for mineral exploration. Yeager, who was paid by a World Bank fund to which the United States is a major contributor, advocated the creation of investment conditions that would be attractive to Western mining companies.

But Afghan officials ignored his advice and chose a Chinese company in a process Yeager said was too secretive. The Chinese promised to build a railroad along with the mine, something that Afghans badly wanted. But Yeager said he believed that American companies should have been given more consideration.

“The United States has gone in there with our blood and treasure, but the US companies get no credit,’’ he said.

The secrecy complaint has merit (but how many non-bid contracts did the US give out in Iraq and Afghanistan?), but why exactly is an advisor to Afghanistan pushing so hard for US bids–isn’t he supposed to be working for Afghanistan’s interests?

Since I had the day off, I decided to take a walk along the Charles. I started off by crossing the footbridge behind the Shaw’s market on River Street (click on any of the pictures to see the full size):

Behind the footbridge is an old train bridge which is, I think, no longer used. The second picture shows one of the dams built on the Charles for the new manufacturing industry back in the early 1800’s.

I then went east and turned around here (the building in the background is one of the many old industrial buildings in Waltham and Watertown, with this one in Watertown):

I then walked back to the dam alongside Moody Street (but by then it was too dark for a good picture). It’s a nice walk and covers two pedestrian bridges, here’s the second (it looks much better from the side, but it’s hard to get a good picture with all the trees in the way):

and a view from it:

There is another pedestrian bridge just before you get to Watertown square, but I got off to a late start and didn’t go that far.

The paths are mostly wide enough for a few people (in some places they’re paved, in others they’re hard dirt, and in a few they’re elevated wood):

The river is nowhere near as wide as it is in Boston above the Museum of Science dam or above the Moody Street dam, as you can see in the following pictures:

It’s a nice walk/run/bike and you can make it as long as you want (it continues all the way to the Museum of Science dam and for a little ways past Moody Street with one break  just before Moody–it’s not too difficult to make your way all the way to 128 but there are a few places where you’re on the streets).

Still trying out my camera, here’s a picture of Saturn at its once every 15 years equinox:

Ok, this might really be from Cassini and perhaps was taken on August 12, 2009 in a series of pictures over eight hours and then put together (Image Credit, maybe: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute). In any case, it’s a nice picture of Saturn.

I’m still testing my camera, so here’s a picture looking out my office window towards the Prudential

and here’s a picture from the meeting room down the hall looking at part of the West Village here at NU with the Museum of Fine Arts in the background.

 Here’s a better picture of the Museum which is going through renovations:

And since it’s Friday, here’s a poem:

The person I see is such a stranger
With such a baleful stare and evil look
That I get in the mood to kill
Though I notice it’s a mirror there.

Via KD, it seems the CIA lied about ’state secrets’ and the court found out. The judge was not happy:

The judge also criticized CIA Director Leon Panetta, saying he’s given conflicting accounts about what should be revealed in the case. The ruling led to the unsealing Monday of more than 200 unclassified versions of classified filings in the 13-year-old case.

“The court does not give the government a high degree of deference because of its prior misrepresentations regarding the state secrets privilege in this case,” Lamberth ruled.

…

Horn sued Brown and Huddle in 1994, seeking monetary damages for violations of his civil rights because of the alleged wiretapping.

Tenet filed an affidavit in 2000 asking that the case against Brown be dismissed because he was a covert agent whose identity must not be revealed in court. Lamberth granted the CIA’s request and threw out the case against Brown in 2004.

But Lamberth found out last year that Brown’s cover had been lifted in 2002, even though the CIA continued to file legal documents saying his status was covert. The judge found that the CIA intentionally misled the court and reinstated the case against Brown.

In fact the judge was so upset that he decided he could order that an individual had to be given security clearance back in August. This is important, since up to now only the executive branch has been allowed to do that.

The US settled for $3 million dollars. There’s more here.

Remember this when you look at other ’state secrets’ cases: are there really state secrets involved or do the people just not want to be prosecuted or embarrassed? Also remember that the original case that articulated the state secrets provision involved a case where there really weren’t any state secrets involved, the claim was made to cover negligence.

The recall vote on gay marriage won yesterday in Maine (53% voted for the repeal with 83% counted). This is a little discouraging but somewhat expected: polls were showing it would be close. And there is the usual line in the article:

It is currently legal in five states, but only by virtue of politicians or judges.

The US is not a direct democracy, so most of our laws are passed by politicians. It’s the way a representative democracy works. In some ways I’d like a vote in Massachusetts just to shut up all the people calling for a vote. There hasn’t been a vote, because there weren’t enough votes in the legislature, in fact in a vote only 45 out of 196 voted to have a popular vote–if you were logical you might realize that this means people in MA are ok with gay marriage, but I guess some people aren’t logical.

In any case, time is on the side of gay marriage. Let me put up these two graphs again (from here):

The first one shows the percent of people who support civil unions or gay marriage (you’ll see that it has Maine at 49%, so it’s pretty close there) and the second compares the support in 1994-6,  2003-4, and 2008-9. Using the numbers from MA is instructive: in 1994-6 the support was about 34%, in 2003-4 it was about 46%, and in 2008-9 it’s about 56% (in Maine the percents are: about 29%, 40%, and 49%). There was an increase in support in all the states, so things look good for the future.

Also, looking at the percents, I wonder why there hasn’t been a vote in Rhode Island which has the second highest support in the country (about 53%).

Since it was a pretty nice day, I decided to hike up Prospect Hill in Waltham. It’s not a real steep climb (click on the pictures to see the full size)

but it has a pretty good view of Boston

and the Blue Hills just south of Boston (Prospect Hill is the second highest point inside 128, while the Blue Hills are the highest–Prospect is all of 485 feet, while the Blue Hills is 635 feet)

The scale of some of the pictures turned out a little weird. In this picture, it looks like Boston is right next door

while in this picture centered on Waltham, it looks much further away

All of these pictures were taken from the eastern side of the hill. Normally I also go to the western side which has a nice view of the Cambridge Resevoir, but there was a large picnic going on, so I bypassed it today.

There’s a map of some of the trails here.

I got a digital camera recently, so here are my attempts at some pictures.

First, here’s the Waltham Commons as I waited for the bus:

and here are pictures of my brother’s two dogs (Athena and Casper):

and it’s Friday, so here’s a poem:

The walls were crying
As I walked below them
To find my other side
And I wish they’d fall
So I might drink dying.

It seems there is now an agreement to end the coup in Honduras. A couple places have translations for the agreement. Here’s one (for a slightly different one, go here):

The accord contains the following points:

1– The creation of a government of unity and national reconciliation

2– Rejection of amnesty for political crimes, and delay of criminal prosecutions.

3–Renouncing the convening of a National Constituent Assembly or the reform of the Constitution in its irreformable constitutional articles.

4– Recognition and support for the general elections and the succession of Government.

5– The transfer of authority over the Armed Forces to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal

6– The creation of a commission of verification to ensure compliance with the points of the accord.

7– The formation of a commission of truth to investigate the events before, during, and after the 28th of June of 2009.

8– Request of the international community the normalization of international relations with our country.

9– Support a proposal that permits a vote in the National Congress with a previous opinion by the Supreme Court of Justice to return all the Executive Power back to before the 28th of June.

I guess we’ll see if Zelaya really did something illegal since the agreement does not have immunity. The agreement isn’t immediate as it has to be voted on by the legislature, who could try delaying. I wouldn’t expect them to given the pressure on them (obviously I don’t know firsthand, so I’ll see). Boz has a reaction here and has some important results from a poll here (taken October 9-13–so before the resolution, the full poll is here):

Q. 4. Is Honduras moving in the right direction or wrong direction:
Right Direction: 15%, Wrong Direction 81%

Q.13 Do you approve or disapprove of the removal on June 28 of Mel Zelaya as president?

Total approve……………………………………………………………38

Total disapprove……………………………………………………….60

Q.15 Which would have been the best way to deal with the dispute involving President Zelaya,
the Constituent Assembly, and the firing of the chief of the armed forces — to remove Mel
Zelaya as president, as was done; or to have him legally processed in Honduras?

Remove Zelaya………………………………………………………….14

Have him processed……………………………………………………70

(Other)……………………………………………………………………….9

(Don’t know/Refused)…………………………………………………..6

Thus, most of the people did not support the coup (it’s interesting to note that Zelaya is more popular now than before the coup).

And here’s a link to show that it was an unconstitutional coup.

11/6/09 Update: The deal seems to have fallen through and part of the blame lies with the US, because:

That much was clear this week when the deal’s chief U.S. negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon, confirmed that under its terms, the U.S. would recognize the election result even if congress declines to restore Zelaya.

and here:

“We urge both sides to act in the best interests of the Honduran people and return to the table immediately to reach agreement on the formation of a unity government,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

“We’re disappointed with both sides,” Kelly told reporters.

He said “we’re disappointed that both sides are not following the very clear path laid out” in the Costa Rican accords aimed at restoring President Manuel Zelaya to power following his ouster in a June 28 coup.

Zelaya has not participated because Congress has not voted on his reinstatement and doesn’t seem like it will any time soon. It seems to me that the only way Zelaya can force them to vote is to stop the process. And the fact that Micheletti formed the ‘unity’ government by himself and will continue to lead the government seems to say that he’s at fault.