Dirac Angestun Gesept

I just saw an interesting BBC article on the Nepal Wireless Networking project.

This is a creative use of Wi-Fi gear to bring remote villages in Nepal online, allow the residents to learn about computers and the Internet, and cross the digital divide by crossing the mountains and cultural differences. This is being done on a total shoestring (donated gear and effort, combined with grant money) and is helping the villagers communicate and trade with the rest of the world.

Very neat stuff. You can even buy bags, shawls, and handmade paper items from Himalayan Handicraft, which they hope to have the rural Nepalese students themselves running in the future.

With all the bad news around, don’t forget that there are folks making a real, positive, difference around. You can contribute too.

I’m set for Noreascon and next year’s Boskone. Happy happy.

Mitt Romney is at it again, chasing after out-of-state same-sex couples who’ve married in Massachusetts.

Of course, he hasn’t told anyone to check if his son Craig and his new wife, who don’t live in Massachusetts but got married here, violated any laws; he also hasn’t gone after some gubernatorial candidate who hadn’t been living in Mass for the required seven year period. Hmm, wonder why.

One of the letters from today’s Globe was somewhat amusing.

AS OF May 17, my family will not patronize any Massachusetts business, purchase any products originating there, or visit, for any reason. You are driving our nation down the path of decadence. JOHN C. O’NEILL Keystone Heights, Fla.

Now, who wants to bet that this guy will still buy things made in, say, China? You know, forced abortions, Tienanmen Square, et cetera?

But hey, that’s not as bad as letting same sex couples marry, is it?.

I had to rebuild four entries from Google caches and syndicated feeds, but Dirac Angestun Gesept is back on line.

Lots of stuff happened, and lots of stuff didn’t happen (no plague of frogs, for example, despite those claiming Biblical apocalypse was about to strike Massachusetts); it’s unlikely that I’ll ever go back and in-fill the posts I would have made during the past few days. Onward!

Much has been written on this topic. This article, however, was written by a former commander of the 372nd MP Company.

Some choice quotes:

• “These actions were the result of huge command failures.”
• “I refuse to believe that no leader above Frederick was aware of or complicit in the abuses”
• “All these leaders failed in their most basic responsibilities of supervising their soldiers in the performance of their duties.”
• “Is special training needed to show a soldier that this sort of thing is contemptible and contrary to any standards of decency?”
• “We have a right to expect more from our military.”
• In response to the widely quoted Rush Limbaugh comment: “To minimize the egregious conduct of some members of the 372nd (and their superiors) dishonors those men and women who honorably serve their country. We must not, as some commentators have said, deem this to be soldiers “blowing off steam” and equate it to a fraternity initiation. To me, that sort of response dishonors those who strive each day to serve their fellow soldiers and complete their missions — and who risk their lives to do so.”
• and, last but not least, “If our claim is merely that we are better than the terrorists, we leave a tenuous legacy for a budding democracy in Iraq.”

This is not some left-wing commentator, either; this is the former commander of the unit. Add that to the Army Times editorial and see that both sides of the conservative-liberal divide have people very, very angry about what has happened, and the failures that have become clear.

So, not content with repeatedly trying to stop same-sex weddings, Mitt Romney is now using playground taunt tactics to make them less enjoyable for the participants.

In this case, A petty win for Romney points out that the governor’s made it harder to have your wedding presided over by a person of your choice, even though the one-day waivers have been routine in Massachusetts for years.

According to a Romney spokeswoman, applications have been reviewed; they’re just not releasing the decisions until May 17th. “I know something you don’t know, nyah nyah!!”

Sheesh. Grow up, Governor.

Hooray #1, returned the overdue library book.

Hooray #2, Operation Gigabit Basement is complete.

Romney’s backed down a bit and is no longer going to require proof, just the standard affidavit, to show Massachusetts residency for couples getting married after May 17th.

The article does say:

Neither Winslow nor Romney’s spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman would say whether penalties might be imposed on out-of-state couples who lie on their applications. Under Massachusetts law, the maximum penalty for lying on a marriage application is $100.

If this is enforced on anyone, I would be interested to hear if anyone brings up the case of his predecessor Jane Swift, who lied on hers in 1994. The lie was eventually revealed, and even though it was after the statute of limitations had expired, she and her husband paid the fine.

The lie? They’d said he’d been married only once before; in fact, his marriage to her was his fourth.