Michael Totten has a hopeful post this morning about the Prime Ministers of Israel and Lebanon both talking publicly about the possibility of formal relations between their two countries.  Truly, there are two Lebanons. On one hand, there is the forward-thinking majority who embraces modernity and wants security and peace with their neighbors.  On the other, there is Hezbollah and their followers who are completely focused on blaming Israel for all of their problems and exacting revenge.

Pitchfork Media recently ranked the 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s.  They made an excellent choice placing The Beach Boy’s “God Only Knows” at #1.  In honor of that, here’s a link to a Gorilla vs. Bear post with a delightful rehearsal session version of the song.

And while you’re downloading that, check out everybody and their brother covering “God Only Knows” over at My Old Kentucky Blog.

Aquarium Drunkard posted a live bootleg of My Morning Jacket covering Erykah Badu’s “Tyrone” a few weeks ago.  It would be a crime not to point you over there for this great version of this song.  Check it out.

It’s a win for the U.S. Constitution as a federal judge rules the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional and issues an injunction to halt it immediately.  (The injunction was stayed on appeal.)  But what’s of most interest to me is what the judge had to say about the White House’s argument about the inherent power of the Executive.  The opinion is here with the Inherent Power section on page 40.  It boils down to this:

The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to violate not only the laws of the Congress but the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, itself.

We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all “inherent powers” must derive from that Constitution.

I have to ask, would supporters of this program support it if Al Gore were president?  How about Hillary Clinton?  No?  Me neither.  As Arlen Specter prepares to introduce legislation that may enable the NSA to continue the program, I say let’s have laws that we feel comfortable with no matter who is in charge.

The thing about sheds is that they are built to withstand falling down. That’s great if you have a shed you like, but it makes it hard to dismantle one. I didn’t exactly think I could just kick it and knock it over, but dismantling it was considerably more difficult than I imagined. The situation was complicated by rusted bolts that needed to be cut around with metal sheers forcing me to remove one aluminum panel at a time. But after a few days work, I was able to take down the entire thing and the sanitation department was nice enough to haul the scraps away the next day.

What remains is the frame of the foundation. Most of the wood is rotten, so this can easily be broken up with an axe. But as you can see in the photo if you click on it, years of flooding have deposited an awful lot of mud between the slats. All of that will have to be moved in order to make room for the new foundation. But what will I do with all this mud? Maybe I’ll slip a little over my neighbors’ fences each day.

Another cause for concern is that the shed’s location is obviously a low point in my yard. If I build it up, will I not inevitably create another low point? Is the low point I know better than the low point I don’t? It’s a bit like the war in Iraq I suppose; do I want to fight the rainwater over there, where the shed is, so that I don’t have to fight it over here, near my patio? I just don’t know. It’s a bit of a quagmire. The low point, I mean.