Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

The House Judiciary Committee has a new and better way to unravel the long, tangled phone-jamming coverup. Thats the real news in this letter from Conyers to Attorney General (pdf)–something reporters seem to have missed, so far.

“What did the White House know and when did they know it?” Several million Republican dollars and years of Department of Justice “slow-walk” (detailed timeline here) kept investigators from tracking NH’s phone-jamming scandal up into Washington.

Meanwhile, Republicans who were in NH in 2002 all seem to have lawyered up and/or lost lots of memory.

So Conyers will pull on the string’s other end, at last! He will pull on the DC end, not the NH end.

On behalf of the House Judiciary Committee, he wants to get answers from the US Department of Justice about incident after incident in their non-pursuit of the Republican phone-jammers.

• Why did all decisions regarding the phone-jamming prosecution have to be referred directly to the US Attorney General’s office?
• Why was the FBI agent assigned to the phone-jamming case (there was only one, and she worked part-time on it) ordered not to trace any leads that led to Washington?
• Why did the US Department of Justice help Republicans block enquiries in the NH Democrats civil suit in 2004?

Thanks to Congressman Paul Hodes (NH-Dem), a member of Conyers’ committee, for setting this investigation in motion. Let’s hope Congress goes further and faster than the DOJ!

That’s what the US Postal Service claims, on its tracking website.

October in Sweden can get (I’m told) pretty darn chilly–is it unpatriotic to hope that no “Foreign Customs” will hold up my cozy longjohns very much longer?

Thomas “TheWorld Is Flat” Friedman (with whom I rarely agree) wrote something good in today’s New York Times. “9/11 is over“:

9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

Friedman was inspired by an Onion article, “Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11.” The Onion article notes that, if elected,

“Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world’s conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.”

The bullhorn of 9/11 has been used to justify Iraq and Guantánamo, political corruption of government function, huge national debts run up while rich people’s incomes soar and their taxes tumble. The bullhorn of 9/11 has been used to justify torture and to dilute habeas corpus.

And anyone who speaks out against any of this is quickly accused of treason to 9/11.

I agree with Friedman, 9/12 is long overdue.

Norway stone bridge

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

After two days in the fjord country of Norway, I’m saturated by visions of beautiful landscape.

Tunnels under mountains, stone bridges over salty sea-filled fjords, waterfalls pouring down steep and stony cliffs. Tiny towns with their upside-down reflections. Full moons as big as the snow-splashed mountains beneath them.

If people smash champagne glasses after a wedding, so that no glass will never be used for a less-noble toast–shouldn’t I on that principle smash my digital camera?

Noooooo, I don’t think so. Maybe I’m not that idealistic. But I surely am awed by Norway’s lovely fjord country.

I could say more, and maybe I will tomorrow, but right now it’s already late at (Norwegian) night.

September sunlight. Big and dignified architectural ideas. Broad public spaces. Water. Interesting old Hanseatic wooden buildings around a historic harbor.

Delicious codfish with berries for dessert.

Good night, and thank you for listening.

Some people calling themselves the “New Hampshire Justice League” just opened a store at CafePress where you can buy funny Tshirts, etc.

There are some fine choices including a cranky Democrat donkey, slogans like “Keeping the GOP honest in 2008,” and one of those no-don’t graphics with a phone in it.

For NH, GOP phone pranks don’t just mean phone-jamming. In 2006, NH voters got thousands of deceptive robo-calls that (in violation of FCC rules) gave the (false) impression that Democrats were the ones harassing them, again and again. NH was not the only state hit by this tactic.

I’ll be happy to donate my own handsome elephant graphic to the New Hampshire Justice League. By the way, I do have a birthday coming up in December, so if anybody is wondering what I would like…

Frank Wilczek with young Strindberg

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

Now here is a truly multi-purpose photo, where you can see within a single frame:

• How beautifully September sunlight shines in Sweden..
• …but nevertheless, chilly air makes us wear our raincoats…
• …and (another favorite thought of mine) Swedish landscapes, especially big glacier-scrubbed rocks like this one, remind me of NH, and last but not least…
• …how very sweet-natured Frank Wilczek is to be willing to pose for me in so many different odd places over the years.

Frank is a physicist–I am an engineer, which means I can’t help looking at all the world to see what practical changes would somehow improve it.

Today we walked miles into beautiful Stockholm through beautiful September sunlight. Our goal was the Saluhall market at Östermalmstorg, with Frank’s favorite vegetarian restaurant, the Örtagården.

No, there will not be a quiz on those Swedish names.

It was wonderful, and I’ll be posting some photos over at Flickr, but what I can’t resist writing more about is the Örtagården’s truly clever chair-covers.

Chairs that get lots of wear will start looking worn. Normal slipcovers drape over the top of a chairback–even though the chairback itself rarely gets worn or dirty. Furthermore, any time someone sits down on the chair, it pulls the slipcover cloth down–so before you know it, you have a slipcover that looks worn or frayed or even ripped.

The Örtagården re-covers just the seat of each chair, using flat pieces of cloth (with corners cut out) that tie onto each chairleg. With the same amount of material and effort needed to make one normal slipcover, they can spruce up six or seven chairs!

And their food is delicious, even to this non-vegetarian.

A plow spared this daisy, but November will not

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

Right up against the edge of this plowed field, one small daisy plant celebrates its so-improbable survival with a few flowers.

I’m guessing that late September may be too late for these flowers to set seeds–but what do I know? I’m not a botanist and, for that matter, I am not a little Swedish daisy.

Good luck, little plant.

We who are about to blog salute you.

autumn leaves

Originally uploaded by martinaph

Plenty of work and writing I should be doing, but — look at that blue sky! Imagine the sunshine. Imagine this morning’s crisp but also welcoming air.

So (here comes my excuse) I still don’t really know my way around Stockholm–and the best way to learn strange cities is to set out with a map in your hand and get lost. Hmmm, number 43 bus heads south from Nordita–wonder where that goes?

So I jumped on the bus and found out, with a map in my hand. It went almost all the way down to the Grand Hotel, where the Nobel Committee kindly put us up back in 2004.

Anyway, when stuff around the bus started looking like maybe good place to get off and eat lunch, that’s what I did. I then wandered back more or less toward where I came from, but up different streets.

Eventually, my feet started getting tired. Then I mapped my way to the busline and 43-ed back to my office.

Back to work, back to work–that’s enough blogging, Betsy Devine!

p.s. But first…thanks to Martinaph for taking this photo and letting me blog it. And thanks to Flickr for hosting so many great images!