As the Congress returns this week, it appears that there are two Senate confirmation hearings that will receive a great deal of media attention.

First up is Robert Gates’ confirmation as the new Defense Secretary. Most analysts suggest that Gates will be confirmed easily, if not after a few hard questions from the (current) minority on the Senate Armed Services Committee. I was listening to the Diane Rehm show this morning on my way to work, and the consensus appeared to be that Rumsfeld has to go, and Gates is the person that will make that happen. The more I read about Gates, the more I’m confident that a new direction will in fact occur under his leadership.

The second confirmation hearing will be John Bolton’s position as Ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton was appointed by President Bush as a recess appointment, which means he has to be confirmed now, or never. Recess appointments expire at the beginning of new congressional sessions. Given it is unlikely that the Senate will confirm his appointment, it appears that Bolton will be out of that job in January 2007. Of course, one may speculate that he will be reappointed during the next recess of the Senate (which would keep him in the job until January 2009.)

Either way, both of these hearings will be interesting to watch given the recent election results.

NPR, Politics

Tuesday on NPR, I was driving to work, I was listening to the Diane Rehm show (with guest host Susan Page) and an interview with Lisa Takeuchi Cullen who has written a book on new and wacky death rites called, “Remember Me.” The interview covered some of the stories that Cullen has written about ways people want to be remembered after they have died. They ranged from caskets in the shape of Formula One racing cars to mummification. What really sparked my interest was the story of a father who turned his daughter’s ashes into diamonds. Yes, there is a company – Life Gem – that extracts the carbon from the ashes of someone who has been cremated and processes them into a certified diamond (normally blue or yellow). How cool is that!
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NPR, Philosophy

Monday while driving from Denton, I heard this commentary from this girl who, according to the NPR site:

is a high school student with an online journal. Her mother reads the journal — but Bly thinks she shouldn’t.

The piece covers a little about the phenomena of MySpace, and how parents are connecting online to this network to keep an eye on their kids (in particular, this girl’s mother).

As I was listening to this, I decided to jot myself a note (which I’ve just found) and blog about this. One, I applaud parents for getting involved with their child’s online activities; it’s what parents should do. Secondly, as you listen to this piece you realize the potential for parent’s to understand their children more by reading their online journals. And, C. (This is directed at the “youngings”) If you don’t want your parents to read your journal, don’t post them online for the world to see.

As my very wise friend Ian commented, it’s the equivalent of writing a journal, and then pasting the pages on your front door (his words were more descriptive, but it was the best a mind could do after consuming a number of glasses of wine).

Side note: I hadn’t heard that MySpace had overtaken Google and Yahoo as the most visited site (which apparently happened a week or so ago).

NPR, Observations

I was listening to NPR the other day, and they were discussing the insanity defense being used by Andrea Yates attornies (a defense that appears to have worked). After listening to this, I was left wondering – what is the apparent connection of “doing God’s work” and insanity. Yates, by her own admission, said that she needed to protect her children “from damnation” as she apparently had a vision that indicated that at least two of her children were on a pathway towards sin. In November 2004, a mother who cut off her baby’s arms in God’s name, as she wanted to give her children to God (she was later found not guilty by reason of insanity), and earlier that year, another woman from East Texas was found not guilty (by insanity) by bashing in the heads of two of her children with rocks (again, by carrying out God’s will). The women’s attempted to murder her third child, but according to the mother, he just “wouldn’t die.”

NPR, WTF?

On NPR today, I heard a brief update on an interesting article in The Boston Globe, by Charles Savage, about President Bush’s claim to have the authority to disregard over 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office. In the article, Bush is reported to assert that “he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.”

Further in the article, “Many legal scholars say they believe that Bush’s theory about his own powers goes too far and that he is seizing for himself some of the law-making role of Congress and the Constitution-interpreting role of the courts.”

Interesting read. Helps explain some of the reasons about issues that have been in the press recently.

NPR, Politics

This story from NPR’s All Things Considered discusses the conservative black clergy getting all excited from the pulpitt.

Also during ATC, there was this story about Judas Iscariot’s gospel that has recently been translated.

NPR

One of the more interesting discussions I have with my friends during dinners, and stuff, are related to what each of us have heard on NPR.  It appears that there this is one other thing that we have in common with each other.  It's always interesting to find out what they listened to, and if the same story was heard, what their take on that particular story was. 

Anyway, yesterday I was driving home from the office (leaving a little earlier as I still wasn't feeling the best), and was listening to The World.  What is great about this show, apart from the Geo Quiz, is the variety of stories that they produce – and yesterday was no exception.

This is a rifle that has been converted into a guitar.  Can you believe that?  This story focused on a peace activist in Colombia that got the idea of turning weapons (ie. guns) into musical instruments as he stood next to a soldier while playing his guitar (to find out why he was doing this, listen to the article).  Anyway, his idea has been transformed into reality by a local craftsman, and guitars are being made out of weapons that have been donated by the United Nations, and other govermental agencies (apparantly the AK47 gives more room for sound controls).  One order has come from the Dalai Lama himself.  What a phenomenal idea, and what a message.

Another story featured on The World, was about Mark Hunter, a Scot who runs tartanpodcast, which features bands and music from Scottish performers.  My first reaction to the story was, will anyone understand this guy (he has a very strong accent).  My second was, what a great sound some of these bands have.  I'm currently listening to a band called Gum (their website has the nifty URL, www.choosegum.com), and they have a great sound – even when recorded in Mark's living room.

Finally, as I've posted before, I've recently discovered Soduko (or Sudoku), and yesterday's Geo Quiz was about this.

Today's Geo Quiz — requires just a little reasoning and logic. We're searching for a city in Tuscany. It's ground zero for an unusual competition. Some of the world's top Sudoku puzzle solvers have gathered there to match wits. There are no special formulas or math needed to solve the 3 X 3 grid, Sudoku number puzzles. Just intense concentration.

Like I said, I (heart) NPR.

NPR

This morning I was listening to NPR (as you do), and heard a story about a speech given by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor yesterday. In it, she takes aim at the many attacks that have been occuring towards the judiciary over recent years. Specifically she is concerned about the focus of possible retaliation that could be directed towards the judiciary when decisions are made that are not supported by an elected official. A loose connection is also made towards how interference with the judiciary could lead to dictatorship, if that path was chosen to be followed.

You can hear the story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5255712

I'm a little surprised that Justice O'Connor made these comments during her speech, however I am glad that she said it. The above story starts by saying that Justice's opinions (personal) are rarely shared, and I am comforted that such a well respected Justice has taken a strong stand on the attacks directed towards her fellow (former-)Justices, and the many other judges in the country. Justice O'Connor gets it. Sadly, she's not there anymore.

NPR, Politics