Driving at Night

Driving at night is something I haven't done in awhile, but I just finished up a half hour mix of music that should be great for driving country roads at night. There's one really awful transition, but guess what, this is just for fun, so I don't really care. Anyway, you'll find some new stuff, some old stuff, and stuff that you'll find strangely addictive for reasons unbeknown.

Click here:

Portishead - Nobody Loves Me
Clint Mansell - Aeternal (from Requiem for a Dream, which is a fantastic film)
Operatica - Ave Maria (new take on an old song)
Radiohead - Idioteque
Zia - Resolution (written in a 19 note scale instead of the normal 12... just don't try to play the solos on the guitar or piano... unless you have a very special piano)
Wir Sind Helden - Guten Tag (this with Zia is the part of the night where you get your 2nd kick)
Steven Jesse Bernstein - No No Man (he "committed suicide by stabbing himself in the throat three times with a knife")

My response

If you haven't been here in a few days, you'll need to start at the beginning. Scroll down a few posts.

_____________________________

Senator McCaskill,

Firstly, thank you for your response.

While I also hope that impeachment is the rarest of cases, the decision to impeach or not should only be made Constitutionally. In this case, the integrity of the Constitution depends on measures being taken. I'm sure you'll agree with me that popularity should not be taken into consideration when the Bill of Rights is at stake. I only mention the polls to bring up the fact that supporting impeachment is not only Constitutional, but also shouldn't have negative effects politically (I'd like others to follow my lead and vote for you again). I compel you to support impeachment solely on the Constitutional basis, with no personal malice for the individuals under scrutiny (and if upholding the Constitution doesn't lose votes, that's just bonus).

I believe President Bush and his appointed officials are doing what they truly believe is best. I do not fault the current administration for their beliefs or for mistakes made; they are human. I do fault them for repeatedly putting their own beliefs ahead of the Constitution to the point of illegally overstepping their bounds.

I take heart in your statement about providing stronger oversight. Retroactive oversight is needed also; while it cannot change the past, it can prevent unconstitutional precedent from remaining unchecked. It will change the future.

I appreciate your desire to use resources for other productive means... I love progress, and don't think it can happen fast enough. Although, until a party can secure a 2/3 majority. I have to ask if much progress can really happen under this administration? I'd like to be optimistic, but history doesn't always allow for that. However, the way I understand the Constitution, it is not in your role as a senator to call for articles of impeachment. Until you are asked to weigh the case please just don't, "take the idea off the table."*

Good luck with your fight for balance, and the betterment of our still great nation.

Sincerely,
Your constituent. -Brady Beckham

________________________

These are the words used twice by Speaker Pelosi referring to the probability of impeaching Bush. At least once was within the last 6 months.

In all this context it should be mentioned: The house of Representatives must call for impeachment... write the articles, and pass it. The Senate then tries the case.
Also, Dennis Kucinich (a democratic presidential candidate) has already presented House Resolution 333, 3 articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney.

OK. I'm done with impeachment until "certain things have come to light."

The first letter

Senator McCaskill actually responded. Kit Bond and KennyHulsof, have not yet responded (but I wouldn't necessarily expect a response from a Republican when I'm asking them to support the Republican administration's impeachment). Anyway, Senator Claire McCaskill's response.

______________________________

Dear Mr. Beckham:

Thank you for sharing your views regarding the impeachment of the President and Vice President. I appreciate hearing from you.

Like many Americans, I am disappointed with the direction that the Bush Administration has taken our country. The Administration has repeatedly misled Congress and the American public on issues critical to the safety and prosperity of our nation, such as using false intelligence to lead us into war in Iraq. At the same time, Congress over the last 6 years has failed to uphold its Constitutional duty to provide proper oversight of the Executive Branch.

Yes, this administration has made some serious mistakes and has lost credibility with the American people, but impeachment should be used in only the rarest of cases. Only twice in the history of our nation has Congress carried out impeachment proceedings in attempts to move a President from office, and in both cases the President was acquitted. This country was founded on the principle that the democratic process is the best means of choosing leadership - and that is done through the American people and their right to vote. American voters recently expressed their desire for a change in leadership by voting a Democratic majority into Congress. We now have much important work that must be done for America and impeachment proceedings would consume most of the time, resources, and energy of Congress with little likelihood of success.

As your Senator, I will continue to work with my colleagues to provide stronger oversight of this Administration. Since the 110^th Congress began in January under Democratic leadership, already dozens of oversight hearings have been held on everything from the war in Iraq to the botched Federal response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress continues its important oversight role. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.

All best,
Senator Claire McCaskill

____________________________

Pretty stock dialog, but not too bad. I'll admit I hadn't thought about the resources that would be tied up by impeaching. Of course, I do remember Clinton's process, and it sure didn't seem like he got much of anything done during that time, but that's OK with me. Doing nothing is better than being detrimental (once again, just a pragmatic reason.... if the Constitution calls for impeachment... that should be the end of the discussion).

Letters to senators

When I say I'm going to do things on my blog, like write my representative (last post) or my grandmother, I mean it. I sent this letter to the office of Senator Claire McCaskill.

____________________________

Senator McCaskill,
I'd like to express my support and move you openly support the impeachment of those in the administration who have committed actions that constitutionally allow for impeachment. Without using names it's plain and simple. The executive branch has repeatedly placed itself above the law. I'm sure you're well aware that recent polls show a near majority calling for impeachment of President Bush and over 50% calling for the impeachment of VP Cheney. Now consider the number of people who say "no" to impeachment just because of apathy and the answer is clear, the people are calling for it (trends suggest I soon won't need the pragmatic help of the apathetic).

The administration has committed actions that constitutionally demand impeachment.
Other pragmatic reasons: (that really don't matter in lieu of the first)
-Restore much international faith in the US
-Prevent the next president(s) from entering office with powers over stepping constitutional bounds
-Retain democracy and civil liberties in the United States of America

If the course of impeachment is not taken before the next election, precedent will have been set and left unchecked; this cannot stand.

Thank you for your time.

____________________

Once again... for those of you who are pissed at something, and have never written a letter to your representative, it's this easy... they might even write you back.
Resources:
Find out who your representatives are with links to their page... based on your voting addy
Easily review the voting record of your representative (by addy or name) or any other representatives they have special coverage of the presidential candidates.

Im-peach-ment

Say it with me... im-peach-ment. It's got to happen.
I've been researching this on an off for about two weeks. I've been hesitant to believe any pro-impeaching sites because most of them have sneering pictures of Cheney; Sneering pictures usually mean that person didn't like the guy from the beginning and therefore is biased, or they have to use sneering pictures to drum up support, if the argument was that good, sneering pictures wouldn't be necessary. Anyway, after reading plenty of reasons to impeach Bush and hearing the arguments against, I have come to the conclusion...Bush must be impeached. Why? He has committed actions that constitutionally demand impeachment.
Other pragmatic reasons: (that really don't matter in lieu of the first)
-Restore much international faith in the US
-Prevent the next president(s) from entering office with powers over stepping constitutional bounds
-Retain democracy and civil liberties in the United States of America
-Most likely protect us from terrorism.

This seems pretty black and white to me. Other Americans are jumping on board now also. Why has it taken us so long as a country to come around to this? Bush has been overstepping his bounds for at least 5 years. Plain and simple 9/11. This video perfectly sums up Bush's presidency and the people's support thereof.

Start loading this now: Video from PBS: Kind of long, but worth it. Hold on until the end, because there's a lot of good stuff in the last 5 minutes. One of the two guests comes from a conservative think tank, and wrote the first article of impeachment against Clinton (he's calling for impeachment). The host actually does a good job of playing the devil's advocate. Found via this blog.

They don't say it exactly, but in the interviews above evidence abounds for the idea that 9/11 is what has changed everything. Meaning, it's why the president has been allowed to create unprecedented power. It's why congress hasn't impeached yet, and it's why the people elected him twice (I don't think I need to argue this anymore, but if you need more just remember the graph that I posted a few posts back).

Everybody knows about frogs and boiling water right? If you don't it's real simple. Well this is the similar. Sept. 11th was a slap in the face, and Bush has just been reminding us of how much our face stings to make us forget that he's drawing blood elsewhere.

OK people... here's the lesson. Don't forget 9/11 out of respect, but move on. It's time reassess the situation and realize that we are waist deep in quicksand and if the next election comes before we impeach, the rope to pull ourselves out of the quicksand will be gone forever.

Especially if you don't agree with me. Please watch that PBS video, in it's entirety. Bring all the skepticism you like, but listen to what they're saying. It's really a well done piece of journalism. It puts the current scene in good perspective, without Bush bashing.

OK I don't know about you, but I'm done with the blog because I'm going to send an email to my representative. If you don't know your representatives email addys... Here's a map of the US... click on where you live, I think you'll figure it out. If you have time to read my blog, you have time to write an email.

What it is?

Jive turkey.
I'll apologize for the ADDness of the post ahead of time. I'm just not pissed, so I can't focus.

So for those of you who don't care... the 2007 Tour de France is underway.

So a little update on Brazil... I had been chilling out to prove to myself that I could. You see, my mother once confronted me in high school, asking me if I had a mental problem because I socialized so much. Well now I know for certain that I don't, it is possible for me to chill out. I chilled out for a few months here. Two weeks ago I made the observation that my learning curve was leveling... so back to the social it is.

I've been out and about, going to soccer games, been doing some undergraduate research, went to a big art exposition and bought some stuff... the coolest in my opinion is that I've incorporated a break in the middle of my evening runs, a break to play pickup games of chess with some old dudes that hang around this art market (I have not won yet, their experience is killer, but they do not walk all over me).

I am starting to miss some things. I haven't ridden a bike or played a piano since I left, and I miss those. I was really missing sports in general until the football and fresco ball (beach squash.. kind of) today. Running give me the burn, and chess gives me the strategery, but I need the combination.

Has anybody else picked up with the Presidential debates yet? I think the best thing is, there are candidates on both sides that I would really like to see as our president. Ron Paul is pretty amazing, I don't know if the public can handle it. They're just so overcome with fear of terrorism they can't think logically. Then again, I don't think they could think logically before Bush started using scare tactics to drum up support for decreasing our civil liberties and growing the government two sizes larger than my ego. A couple of weeks ago I watched a conspiracy theory movie on 9/11... it's really well done, and I couldn't go to sleep that night. I hope it's not right, and I feel powerless if it is. I've had to remove the thought of it from my mind to function normally.

Anyway, Ron Paul knows the constitution like the back of his hand (I read it again yesterday... not the amendments, but the boring stuff about powers allocated to congress and what not). He wants to abolish the IRS... and then central bank. Ron Paul wants to slash our federal budget like Jack the Ripper would a prostitute. If anarchists are going to vote, they should vote for Ron Paul (I say that in a good way, and yes, I realize the contradiction). After the first rounds of debates he got a lot more cash than he had previously. Good luck to him.

Here's my problem with Dr. Paul.... he's pro-life. With all his knowledge of the powers of congress I don't know how he can really want to repeal Roe vs Wade and take away the right of women to choose. Do the babies have rights? I don't know, but repealing Roe vs Wade will only grant rights to unwanted unborn babies while removing rights from women.

There are only three ways to end the Roe v Wade conflict.
1. Global, thermo-nuclear war
2. Create an infrastructure to support raising these unwanted babies (after we eradicate, poverty and become progressive enough to find ourselves with a surplus of resources)
3. Somehow vastly reduce the number of abortions that are happening... any new age alchemists are welcome to take their shot at that one.

Speaking of the end of the world. Global warming excites me. What if the Greenland ice shelf goes soon? It will be such an exciting time of change.

Wow, two super ADD posts in a row... sorry, I need to get angry about something, then I'll focus.

mmmmmm... sex

This post in summary:
-at least 66% of americans suck
-you can't make a broken theory work (abstinence education)
-142857
-rabbits have sex like people

Here's what got me started. Here's the actual survey.
Among others, interesting tidbits:
96% of US adults have had sex.
11% of never-married adults remained chaste
20% of adults have tried cocaine, or other street drugs (mj not included)

I always wanted to know in church how many people were actually devoting themselves to the religion, and how many just came for God knows what reason... Let's give Christians the long straws here, assume only Christians abstain until marriage... which might not be a long stretch from the truth. Given that 77% of Americans call themselves Christian...

At best... 66/77 Christians are either liars, hypocrites, bad christians, or born again virgins ( I bet this term comes as a surprise to some people who have never been deep in the Christian sphere... but yes... this is what you call yourself if you a converted or reformed christian who isn't a virgin, but will now abstain until marriage)... There's definitely some overlap in those terms, but I'm going to guess the majority are just bad Christians.

66/77 = 6/7 and if you don't remember your fraction to decimal equivalents... that's .85714285714285714 (or 86% of "christians" had pre-martial sex)... Which brings us to an interesting bit of mathematical trickery. Remember this number: 142857

The great thing about this number is when multiplied by an integer you have an 86% chance of the digits just kind of shifting around....What... yeah, I know that doesn't make much sense without a picture

142857 = 142857 x 1
285714 = 142857 x 2
428571 = 142857 x 3
571428 = 142857 x 4

See the pattern... all the numbers on the left are just the digits 142857, just in different orders, BUT, 142857 x 7 = 999999.... An implication of the fact that 1/7 = 0.142857 repeating. There are tricks to make the trick continue working for much larger multiples... but you can figure those out on your own... does this have application? Definitely not, but will it help you to remember the decimal equivalents of 7? Absolutely.

Back to sex... Bush is an idiot... so is anyone else who thinks abstinence programs are the best solution. In the words of Scott Adams:
Apparently the following message is not effective: “Everyone LOVES sex. I love, it. All the other teachers love it. Your older friends love it. We all do it whenever we can because it’s frickin’ GREAT. But you should ignore the burning in your loins.”

I don't know if this is still going on today... but I heard a lot of old people slamming on my generation, and generation Y as I was growing up.... I'm guessing nothing has changed (except for the legalization of abortion which cut way back on my generation's criminals).

Anyway, rabbits have been having sex like people for a long time now. Although it's not proven... the popular school of thought believe Columbus and his crewmen contracted syphilis from the indiginous people they encountered... Then syphilis spread pandemic style from western Europe to east china in a very short amount of time, considering the fact that it can only be sexually transmitted and given the amount of people that would jump on the weekly jet to Tahiti... you know that we've been doing the wild thing... and doing it a lot for at least 500 years.

I've been pretty busy lately.... college is kind of time consuming when you don't speak the language, and I've been playing a lot of chess, I bought a peruvian chess set at an art show last week that has the Incas vs the Spaniards... it's pretty cool. The Spainish have knights and the Incas have llamas.

Van Gogh, Kramer, Brady

What do those three people have in common? At one point in their lives they've all tried to replace the one big sleep with shorter but more frequent cat naps.

Here's the short version. Saturday I went to the beach for a few hours, and I guess the sitting around doing nothing took it out of me, because I went to sleep when we got home at 4Pm. I slept for 4 hours, then surprise surprise, I couldn't go to sleep later that night. I laid in bed from 1:15 to 2:00 AM ... and that just didn't work, so I got up. The sun rises early here, and the beach during sunrise is fantastic, so at 5:30 I set out for a little walk. Little meangin, I walked for 3 hours. Upon returning I found I was tired, so I went to bed (this is 9AM on Sunday). I woke up around 1:30 feeling refreshed... and went out with some French cats and got to bed about 2 AM... then I slept for another 5 hours, waking up at 7.

Since I was up early, I decided to make the best of my day, meaning I decided to skip all my classes and not go to work so I could play on the computer all day long. The result being, I learned the basics of mixing music. You see Charlie has been making some mixes lately, and I just couldn't let him have all the fun. Charlie's mix/mixes are much better than my only mix, but whatever. Anyway, I got into it, I sat at the computer for around 15 hours, I only ate once, and never used the bathroom until the last possible instant. If you read this blog you know , sometimes I focus a bit too much. This mix is a pretty good depiction of me: it's completely ADD, a bit sloppy, first it rubs you the wrong way, then leaves you feeling almost satisfied.

Clicky here
Main Tracks:
Navras - Juno Reactor
Pistoleros - Juno Reactor
O Vos Omnes - De Victoria (as sung by Mizzou's choir)
Soldier Side, BYOB - System of a Down
Resurrection - PPK
Cantaloop - Us3
Brooklyn is Burning - Head Automatica
Renagades of Funk - Rage Against the Machine

Just remember, this is what happens when I don't sleep.