I'm still on my crazy finals-week sleep schedule, which is further compounded by the hour time change between DC and Mpls, so I'm awake and active before the sun rises. Early enough to sneak some quality internetting, and what better time to respond to a tag from my old pal Incertus?
Seven Things To Do Before I Die
1. Build the world's tallest sky scraper
2. Have a breakfast cereal cartoon mascot based on me
3. Finish learning to juggle fire
4. Change my last name to "The Conqueror"
5. Jump out of a plane (may need to be moved to bottom of list, depending on availability of parachutes)
6. Lose a race around the world to Henry Rollins
7. Own a pet octopus
Seven Things I Cannot Do
1. A back handspring
2. Eat mandarin oranges
3. Avoid buying a PS3
4. Respect Jessica Simpson
5. Stay mad at Joss Whedon
6. Compose smooth jazz
7. Yodel
Seven Things That Attract Me to...Blogging
None, really. I was attracted to internet journaling because I wanted to share my greatest passion: me. I've never found blogging terribly attractive, though I spend a reasonable amount of time doing it anyhow.
Seven Things I Say Most Often
Gotta do this one count-down style, of course
7. "Sucks to your asmar!"
6. "Jackarse."
5. "Will you marry me, John Stewart?"
4. "RED 40?!?"
3. "Medial vestibular nucleus." (I am a professional nerd)
2. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
1. "No."
Seven Books I Love
1. Demian
2. The Cat Who Walked Through Walls
3. The Battle of Zormla
4. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
5. My bound collection of Philip K Dick short stories
6. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
7. America (by Jon Stewart)
Seven Movies I Watch Over and Over Again
1. Batman (starring Adam West and Burt Ward)
2. We're No Angels
3. The Long Kiss Goodnight
4. Sneakers
5. The Philadelphia Story
6. The animated short about the baby on the Incredibles DVD
7. Wallace and Gromit, "The Wrong Trousers"
Seven People I Want to Join In
1. Aerosaucer
2. Liebeslied Engel
3. Slushpupie
4. Bistromath
5. Playahatasball
6. Mike the blogless wonder
7. *Seventh spot available on a first-come, first-served basis*
UPDATE: My own special seven...
Seven Best Handmade X-mas Cookies, as made at the ZDK household
1. A hedgehog
2. A monkey covered with jellybeans
3. A raptor covered with hippie flowers
4. A nude gnome
5. Lady Godiva and her consort
6. An anti-Bush elephant cookie
7. A unicorn with wheels
4 Comments:
*gasp!* I is special! :P
Author,
When I said I would see the LWW movie twice just to spite you, I hadn't realized quite how long it is.
John Ashcroft: Relative Civil Libertarian
Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program
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By ERIC LICHTBLAU
and JAMES RISEN
Published: January 1, 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 - A top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and refused to sign on to its continued use amid concerns about its legality and oversight, according to officials with knowledge of the tense internal debate. The concerns appear to have played a part in the temporary suspension of the secret program.
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The concerns prompted two of President Bush's most senior aides - Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now attorney general - to make an emergency visit to a Washington hospital in March 2004 to discuss the program's future and try to win the needed approval from Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, the officials said.
The unusual meeting was prompted because Mr. Ashcroft's top deputy, James B. Comey, who was acting as attorney general in his absence, had indicated he was unwilling to give his approval to certifying central aspects of the program, as required under the White House procedures set up to oversee it.
With Mr. Comey unwilling to sign off on the program, the White House went to Mr. Ashcroft - who had been in the intensive care unit at George Washington University Hospital with pancreatitis and was housed under unusually tight security - because "they needed him for certification," according to an official briefed on the episode. The official, like others who discussed the issue, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the program.
Accounts differed as to exactly what was said at the hospital meeting between Mr. Ashcroft and the White House advisers. But some officials said that Mr. Ashcroft, like his deputy, appeared reluctant to give Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales his authorization to continue with aspects of the program in light of concerns among some senior government officials about whether the proper oversight was in place at the security agency and whether the president had the legal and constitutional authority to conduct such an operation.
It is unclear whether the White House ultimately persuaded Mr. Ashcroft to give his approval to the program after the meeting or moved ahead without it.
http://nytimes.com/2006
/01/01/politics/01spy.
html?hp&ex=1136091600&en
=51dcd73cfc5cb1a6&ei=5094&partner
=homepage
You know, respect is never the verb I've seen between I aspire to and Jessica Simpson .
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