GinohnNews

G: On Wednesday I bought a new camera at Costco. I'd been a little disappointed with the quality of the photos from the Olympus Stylus Verve I'd won in a drawing a few years ago, when comparing to some of my friend's cameras. I checked out what they had at Costco then checked the web for recommendations. The Panasonic Lumix was highly recommended by Camera Labs, although I ended up buying a different model than their favorites, I figured it had to be just as good.

The next day I photographed almost all the pottery I had (battery ran out before I finished, but it was good enough). I wanted to have pictures of my stuff before I went to sell it.

On Thursday evening we had dinner at Dorian and Amethyst's. Rich came too. We had a delicious salad and curried lentil soup over brown rice, plus cut up mango and pineapple with coconut for dessert. Everything tasted fantastic and I stuffed myself. DnA had missed out on seeing Rich in that play he was in, so he re-enacted his big scene, which was very entertaining.

We saw Luisa briefly before we left there to go over to the Looney's. The household has adopted an adorable dog, Molly, who is a pekingese mix. She was a bit shy but also clingy once she knew you a little bit. She seemed a bit nervous about my advances at first, but later curled up next to me on the couch.

On Friday I continued preparing for my sale at the Hyattsville Arts Festival, packing all my pottery up in boxes. That evening we met up with Alex, Renee, Rich, and Izolda in Silver Spring to see a movie, but with only an hour to eat before the movie started we forgo our usual nicer restaurant choices for a quicker one, Baja Fresh, which was alright. Chris Welsh met us at the movie, and came back home with us.

I stayed up late printing up business cards, which turned out okay. I used a photo of one of my pots and it's all pixelated from being shrunk down a lot.

So Saturday John came with me to help me set up at the festival. We were able to pull right up to my booth. The organizers provided a tent, table w/table cloth, and two chairs. The woman who checked me in said I was the second fasted to unload the car, so I said, "Oh, do I get a prize?" Then I thought a second and added, "Like, a second  table?" Which she was able to provide and as it turned out I would have had a severe shortage of space for all my pots without it. So that was extra nice.

John helped me put everything out and sat there with me for a couple of hours. There was a stage set up just a few feet away, which was a little bit loud but not so much that I suffered. Most of the acts were very nice and enjoyable - all musicians except there was also an Indian dance troupe.

Anyway, it was a very nice day and I saw several people I knew and I sold a good amount of stuff. In fact it turned out to be the best sale I ever had. I haven't done many, and all others I've done were in groups. There was only one other potter there too. So there were many contributing factors that made this a good day for me.

John went back to Greenbelt for the Crazy Quilt Music Festival for a few hours, and then came back to help me pack up at the end. We went home for a while then headed over to Jake's birthday gaming party, bringing Chris. When we arrived the people there were playing Why Did the Chicken...? and we joined in (but I didn't until I got a bowl full of delicious veggie chili).

At the table: Izolda, Rich, Dave, Kristin M., Jake, his daughter Mary, Ingrid, and Satish came in a couple minutes after us. We had a lot of fun. John and Chris both would improv answers into long skits trying to make them better for the judge. For one answer this went on for several minutes - it was very funny.

When that was over the poker players went to play poker and the rest of us played Sketchword. Then Rich and Izolda left and Chris took a nap while Kristin, Ingrid, and I played Qwirkle. By the end I was very sleepy so John finished up his poker game and we went home.

Sunday night I went with Beth to McGinty's at Dorian's request for some swing dancing. He and Luisa have been taking swing classes there every Sunday night, and then there is a dance afterwards, with a live band. There weren't a lot of people there - perhaps the rain kept them at home - Dorian says it's usually packed. So, there weren't a lot of people to dance with, but I got in a few and had a good time.

Monday night we went down the the New Deal Cafe's Reel and Meal deal. We got to try out the new chef's vegan buffet, and it was very tasty, but too oily for me to eat on a regular basis. However once they re-open for real (they are still outfitting the kitchen) I will definitely go there and see what they have to offer. Then we watched a video of a lecture called Rights of Nature. Click on that link for an excellent explanation of what that means from the book Wild Law.

But we left before it was completely over during the question and answer part of the video because we'd already gotten the idea and were getting a bit tired.

J: Transcript from a recent congressional hearing:

Robert Wexler: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Director, in January of 2006, the New York Times reported that the NSA wireless wiretapping program had produced thousands of leads each month that the FBI had to track down, but that no Al-Qaeda networks were discovered. During a July 17, 2007 briefing, FBI deputy director John Pistole indicated that the FBI was not aware of any Al-Qaeda sleeper cells operating in the United States. In August of 2007 Congress passed the Protect America Act, giving the intelligence community greater access to electronic communications coming into and out of the United States. I have two questions in this regard.

RW: Has the FBI found any sleeper cells yet? One… Two. Has the NSA’s wireless wiretapping programs either before the Protect America Act or after led to the prosecution and conviction of any terrorists in the United States?

Robert Mueller: Well, as to your first question as to whether we have found affiliates or, as you would call them, cells of Al-Qaeda in the United States, yes we have. Again, I cannot get into it in public session, but I would say yes we have. With regard to the relationship of a particular case or individual to the terrorist surveillance program, again that is something that would have to be covered in a closed session.

RW: Alright, Mr. Director. An LA Times article from October, 2007 quotes one senior federal enforcement official as saying quote “the CIA determined they were going to torture people, and we made the decision not to be involved” end quote. The article goes on to say that some FBI officials went to you and that you quote “pulled many of the agents back from playing even a supporting role in the investigations to avoid exposing them to legal jeopardy” end quote.

My question Mr. Director, I congratulate you for pulling the FBI agents back, but why did you not take more substantial steps to stop the interrogation techniques that your own FBI agents were telling you were illegal? Why did you not initiate criminal investigations when your agents told you the CIA and the Department of Defense were engaging in illegal interrogation techniques, and rather than simply pulling your agents out, shouldn’t you have directed them to prevent any illegal interrogations from taking place?

RM: I can go so far sir as to tell you that a protocol in the FBI is not to use coercion in any of our interrogations or our questioning and we have abided by our protocol.

RW: I appreciate that. What is the protocol say when the FBI knows that the CIA is engaging or the Department of Defense is engaging in an illegal technique? What does the protocol say in that circumstance?

RM: We would bring it up to appropriate authorities and determine whether the techniques were legal or illegal.

RW: Did you bring it up to appropriate authorities?

RM: All I can tell you is that we followed our own protocols.

RW: So you can’t tell us whether you brought it; when your own FBI agents came to you and said the CIA is doing something illegal which caused you to say don’t you get involved; you can’t tell us whether you then went  to whatever authority?

RM: I’ll tell you we followed our own protocols.

RW: And what was the result?

RM: We followed our own protocols. We followed our protocols. We did not use coercion. We did not participate in any instance where coercion was used to my knowledge.

RW: Did the CIA use techniques that were illegal?

RM: I can’t comment on what has been done by another agency and under what authorities the other agency may have taken actions.

RW: Why can’t you comment on the actions of another agency?

RM: I leave that up to the other agency to answer questions with regard to the actions taken by that agency and the legal authorities that may apply to them.

RW: Are you the chief legal law enforcement agency in the United States?

RM: I am the Director of the FBI.

RW: And you do not have authority with respect to any other governmental agency in the United States? Is that what you’re saying?

RM: My authority is given to me to investigate. Yes we do.

RW: Did somebody take away that authority with respect to the CIA?

RM: Nobody has taken away the authority. I can tell you what our protocol was, and how we followed that protocol.

RW: Did anybody take away the authority with respect to the Department of Defense?

RM: I’m not certain what you mean.

RW: Your authority to investigate an illegal torture technique.

RM: There has to be a legal basis for us to investigate, and generally that legal basis is given to us by the Department of Justice. Any interpretations of the laws given to us by the Department of Justice….
(talking over each other)

RW:  But apparently your own agents made a determination that the actions by the CIA and the Department of Defense were illegal, so much so that you authorized, ordered, your agents not to participate. But that’s it.

RM: I’ve told you what our protocol was, and I’ve indicated that we’ve adhered to our protocol throughout.

RW: My time is up. Thank you very much Mr. Director.