Seabiscuit

Speaking Truth to Power ... on Fitzmas Day

2007-02-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, from today's summation in the Libby perjury trial

He stole the truth of the judicial system.

You return guilty, you give truth back.

If I Wanted to Read, I'd Go to School ...

2007-02-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

Back in the day, when MTV still showed music videos, Beavis and Butt-head had a binary comments system, things either sucked or they were cool.

If a video had text elements, Butt-head had one additional comment: "If I wanted to read, I'd go to school."

Well, that was then, and this is now.

A professor in Kansas has put together a strangely moving text video, of how we got to where we are. I've seen it more than a few times now: The Machine is Us/ing Us

Make Them Stop Saying I'm Not Cool

2007-02-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

Poor, unhappy Bill Gates. All those billions, but the fact that Apple is cool and he isn't ... well ... it's just bugging the living crap out of him. This interview in Newsweek lays it out, proving that even for billionaires, there's no escaping high school.

Q. Are you bugged by the Apple commercial where John Hodgman is the PC, and he has to undergo surgery to get Vista?

A. I've never seen it. I don't think the over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are.

Q. How about the implication that you need surgery to upgrade?

A. Well, certainly we've done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done. You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There's not even the slightest shred of truth to it.

Full story here.

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Trial Lawyers: Who They Hurt, Who They Help

2007-02-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

I heard someone say the other day that John Edwards is a trial lawyer, as if the words were synonymous with thief or murderer.

I know where it came from: the right wing noise machine.

But I didn't know why.

Then I figured it out: it's another example of the right wing's ability to convince ordinary people to identify with the rich and the powerful, instead of with their own interests.

Hearing the epithet trial lawyer hurled at John Edwards, like that made him a bad person, reminded me of one of his most celebrated cases: A little girl who was disemboweled by the filter system on a pool -- and lived.

It was not just a horrible accident.

It was one of many similar horrible accidents.

The company that made the filters knew about the problem, and did not issue an instant warning and recall to anyone who ever bought the product.

At the time the girl Edwards represented was so grievously hurt, there were already 12 other cases pending.

You can read about it yourself here.

This is the citation: Lakey v. Sta-Rite Industries(Wake Co. Superior Ct., NC, 1996)

This is the summary: A 5-year-old girl was disemboweled, but survived, after being caught and suctioned by a wading pool's defective drain. Despite 12 prior suits with similar claims, the manufacturer continued to make and sell drain covers lacking warnings.

This was the outcome: A $25 million settlement.

Are settlements like that too high? I think they are too low. The people that let a child get hurt like this long after the danger is apparent should live in fear of losing everything.

If it was my kid, I'd want the money for the round-the-clock care she would need for the rest of her life, and I'd also want something more: for the people who knowingly let this happen to go to jail forever and ever and ever.

So, the next time I hear someone say trial lawyer like it's a bad thing, I'll be ready to say what's on my mind.

It's simple, really.

You can be on the side that helps people who are injured, or you can be on the side of people who intentionally let children be disemboweled in pools.

I know which side I'm on.

And, for the record, my father was a trial lawyer -- on the plaintiff's side.

The Way Forward -- for Media

2007-02-05T08:25:00.000-08:00

I would like to see newspapers expand instead of contracting, but I don't think it's going to happen ... their survival strategies seem to be a race to the bottom, and people will always be able to see more embarrassing pix of celebrities online for free than a paper is going to publish, even in its digital editions, so that game is lost before it starts.

Back when this country was founded, newspapers were wildly opinionated party organs, written for very targeted audiences, and they spoke from a clear agenda.

You were free to agree or disagree, but it was absolutely clear where they were coming from: my party good, your party bad.

With the advent of technology -- that would have been the telegraph -- media became mass and went "objective" to widen their advertiser appeal and audience, and attempted to capture larger markets, both geographically and politically.

It worked for a while, until it didn't anymore.

I've believed for a long time that the way for print media -- online or digital -- to be successful again is to be clearly and strongly partisan, whichever direction the agenda is coming from, to effectively compete for and win people's passions and loyalties.

Objectivity worked for a while, as mass media worked for a while, but passion is already overtaking it, whichever side people are on.

And Web 4.0 hooks it all up together -- restaurant reviews, concerts, dinner dates, movies, invites and your calendar

Patriotism IS Dissent

2007-01-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else.

But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", 149May 7, 1918

> Source

Two Posts in One

2007-01-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

1. On Convergence

Me, to Little One: "Can you tell Mommy what a computer is?"

Little One: "A computer is what we watch things on."

2. On Princesses and the Relentless Use of Male Pronouns

Although I was initially appalled by and resistant to the Princess Industrial Complex, I now think it's something of a good thing, in that the Princess world is one place -- and, to my knowledge, the only place -- where Lttle Girls totally Rule.

Why does that matter?

Well, because Lttle Girls don't rule in most other places; in fact they barely exist.

We were reading a pile of Winnie the Pooh books after a long hard day of playing Princess, when it dawned on me that while the books are sweet and harmless on the outside, they are filled with the relentless and unending use of male pronouns on the inside.

Every last character, from the bear and the kangaroo to the donkey and the owl -- plus, in this sequel, the frog -- was male, male, male, male, male.

He said this.

He did that.

He, this.

He, that.

So I decided that Princesses are at least an alternative to that.

At least until Her Majesty threw a fit because I opened her cheesestick at variance with her instructions.

Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now

2007-01-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
By Rev. Martin Luther King 4 April 1967
Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City

Somehow this madness must cease.

We must stop now.

I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam.

I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted.

I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam.

I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken.

I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation.

The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Recently one of them wrote these words:

"Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism."

The Democrats' best slogan: "Bush lost the war"

2006-11-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

"If I was a troop, the support I would want back home would mainly come in the form of people pressuring Washington to get me out of this pointless nightmare. That's how I would feel supported."

-- Bill Maher, Salon, Nov. 5, 2006

Exactly right.

Support the troops: Bring them home NOW.

It's Fried. It's Coke. You'll Like It.

2006-10-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

What's Next? Fried Diet Coke

Fri Oct 27, 8:34 AM ET / Reuters
A new fast food is making its debut at U.S. fairs this fall -- fried Coke.

Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, tried about 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe -- a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.

Balls of the batter are then deep-fried, ending up like ping-pong ball sized doughnuts which are then served in a cup, topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry on the top.

Gonzales ran two stands at the State Fair of Texas and sold up to 35,000 fried Cokes over 24 days for $4.50 each -- and won a prize for coming up with "most creative" new fair food.
Now other fairs in North Carolina and Arizona are following the trend, and other people are trying to emulate Gonzales' recipe.

Gonzales didn't say how many calories are in his creation. He did say he wouldn't patent it.
"The best I can hope for is that it's the original and hopefully the best fried Coke out there," he said.

But Gonzales said the success of his fried Coke had inspired him. Next year's fair-goers can look forward to fried Sprite or -- for those watching their weight -- fried diet Coke.
"We are trying to cut a lot of the sugar out of it. It has less calories but it's still very, very sweet," he said.

Ray Crockett, a spokesman for Coca-Cola Co., said: "We're constantly amazed at the creative ways folks find to enjoy their Coke and make it part of celebrations like fairs and festivals. This is one is definitely different!"

Amen and Hell, Yes

2006-10-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

Salon Interview: Why are we here on earth?

To Richard Dawkins, that's a remarkably stupid question.

In a heated interview, the famous biologist insists that religion is evil and God might as well be a children's fantasy.

By Steve Paulson

Are you saying if parents belong to a particular church, they should not teach their children about that religion?

I would say that parents should teach their children anything that's known to be factually true -- like "that's a bluebird" or "that's a bald eagle." Or they could teach children that there are such things as religious beliefs. But to teach children that it is a fact that there is one god or that God created the world in six days, that is child abuse.

Full Story here.

Overheard in NY ...

2006-10-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Careful, this site is a-d-d-i-c-t-i-v-e.

> http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/

Maybe Next Time ...

2006-10-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

From Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead:

There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said -- no. But, somehow we missed it. Well, we'll know better next time.

Source: http://atrios.blogspot.com/

Lies, Lies and Lies: Terrorism Edition

2006-09-28T05:38:00.000-07:00

At war, in Denial

Sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies contributed to the NIE report that concludes Iraq "has become the cause célèbre for jihadists." Bush ignores them all.

By Sidney Blumenthal
Salon: o9.28.06

The collective product of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, the first on Iraq since the invasion in 2003, the NIE was delivered to the White House this April. "The Iraq conflict," it said, "has become the cause célèbre for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement."

Not only is the Iraq war inspiring terrorism, but the jihadist movement has metastasized into spontaneously generated cells apart from the original al-Qaida organization, which itself is vastly reduced. In this struggle U.S. policy is inadequate to the task of containing terrorism's spread.

"We assess that the underlying factors fueling the spread of the movement outweigh its vulnerabilities and are likely to do so for the duration of the timeframe of this Estimate."

> Full Story

From Bumper Sticker to Official Report

2006-09-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

The bumper stickers and assorted collateral have been out there for a while.

Now, it's official.

Iraq War Fuels Islamic Radicals: Retired U.S. General
By REUTERS September 25, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The conduct of the Iraq war fueled Islamic fundamentalism across the globe and created more enemies for the United States, a retired U.S. Army general who served in the conflict said on Monday.

The views of retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste buttressed an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies, which intelligence officials said concluded the war had inspired Islamist extremists and made the militant movement more dangerous.

> Full Story

Photo Credit: http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/media/B-WereMakingEnemiesFast.gif

Lookback -- 911: What Falwell Really Meant

2006-09-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

Rewind to 9/19/01

What Falwell Really Meant
by Michael Gerber and Jonathan Schwarz
September 19th, 2001 4:30 PM

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians...the A.C.L.U., People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' " — Jerry Falwell, September 13th, on The 700 Club about last week's terrorist attacks

"I sincerely regret that comments I made ... were taken out of their context." — Jerry Falwell, September 14

Nine Possible Contexts:

1. "...NOT."

2. "You know, I'm really high right now, so this may not make any sense, but..."

3. "Keeping in mind that today is Opposites Day, I emphasize that..."

4. "My son showed me this cool thing on Alta Vista, where you type something in English and then have the computer translate it into French and then into Spanish and then into German and then back to English—it's kinda like 'Telephone,' you know?—and something that made sense at the beginning will come out sounding like..."

5. "If an infinite number of monkeys typed on an infinite number of typewriters, one of them would write..."

6. "I want to take a break from the grim events of this week, and salute the brave people who've spent years making America a better and more tolerant place. Who's done this, who's helped this happen? Well, I'll tell you: ..."

7. "An insane man off camera is pointing a gun at my head and forcing me to read this statement. Quote ..."

8. "Please join me in praying that, in the wake of this horrific tragedy, Christ's message of peace will prevail, our entire country can unite in compassion, not aggression, and that no misguided person will state ..."

9. "I truly believe that if Osama bin Laden had been born in America, right now he'd be saying..."

Photo Credit: Andre Souroujon, The Village Voice, September 19 - 25, 2001

Speaking Truth to Power: Olbermann on 911

2006-09-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Keith Olbermann on 911: Published Sep 11, 2006

Here is the video.

Here is the text:

"Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.

All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and -- as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul -- two more in the Towers.

And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.

I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft,"or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.

However, of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast -- of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds -- none of us could have predicted this.

Five years later this space is still empty.

Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.

Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.

Five years later this country's wound is still open.

Five years later this country's mass grave is still unmarked.

Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.

It is beyond shameful.

At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial -- barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field -- Mr. Lincoln said, "we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.

Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. "We cannot dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground." So we won't.

Instead they bicker and buck pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they're doing instead of doing any job at all.

Five years later, Mr. Bush, we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir, on these 16 empty acres. The terrorists are clearly, still winning.

And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.

And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation. There is its symbolism of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.

The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.

Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that.

Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that.

Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.

History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.

Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.

The President -- and those around him -- did that.

They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."

They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.

The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."

The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."

Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space, and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.

Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.

Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible for anything in his own administration.

Yet what is happening this very night?

A mini-series, created, influenced -- possibly financed by -- the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.

The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.

How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you -- or those around you -- ever "spin" 9/11?

Just as the terrorists have succeeded -- are still succeeding -- as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero.

So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.

This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney's continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things.

And long ago, a series called "The Twilight Zone" broadcast a riveting episode entitled "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."

In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm. Suddenly his car -- and only his car -- starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man's lights go on. As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced. An "alien" is shot -- but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help.

The camera pulls back to a near-by hill, where two extra-terrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there's no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and then, "they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves."

And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight: "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men."

"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children, and the children yet unborn."

When those who dissent are told time and time again -- as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus -- that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American ... When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"... look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:

Who has left this hole in the ground?

We have not forgotten, Mr. President.

You have.

May this country forgive you."

911: 5 Years Later

2006-09-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

I have nothing to say, except that, as the bumper sticker says, we are now creating enemies faster than we can kill them.

This is an astounding collection of photos: the title comes from an old E. B. White essay.

> Here is New York

"We suddenly saw an American president ... just descend into failure"

2006-08-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

"I think Katrina -- the response to Katrina was effectively the end to the President's presidency in the sense that people all of a sudden saw the small man behind the curtain.

People in America and throughout the rest of the world for a long time have believed that Americans can fix anything, that we're better organized and better managed -- managed better than anybody, and that if something really awful happens, call on the Americans.

And for the first time in our lifetime and in the world's lifetime, since World War II -- since before World War II -- we suddenly saw an American president ... just descend into failure.

And I don't think he's ever recovered from that."

-- Howard Dean, CNN interview, 8.23.06

Oooooooooooh, Oh, Oooooooooooh, Jokerman

2006-08-23T08:06:00.001-07:00

Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks

Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain.

False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin.

Only a matter of time 'til night comes steppin' in.

-- Bob Dylan, Jokerman, 11.01.83

A Very Old Joke

2006-08-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

According to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5788.

According to the Chinese calendar, the year is 4703.

That means for 1,085 years, the Jews went without Chinese food.

Full story here

Photo Credit: This Is Broken

When Pigs Fly...

2006-08-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

Question: Does you believe that President Bush:

(a) Quit drinking
(b) Is not drinking
(c) Quit drinking and started again, plus the other stuff

Why I ask: My brain started itching yesterday when some otherwise rational and disbelieving friends kept referring to Bush as someone acting like a textbook "dry drunk."

When I asked, "Who says he's dry?" my companions looked a bit surprised, as in: "Doh! Those bastards lie about everything else all the time; why not that, too?"

I'm just saying.

When pigs fly: "A flying pig is a symbol of an impossible event coming to pass. The popular saying "[it will happen] when pigs fly" (or "when pigs have wings") is traditionally used to mean that the specified event will never occur." -- Wikipedia

There May Yet be Hope for the World ...

2006-08-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

... as of right this minute, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (paperback) is bestselling book #495 on Amazon.

So many have been touched by His Noodly Appendage.

But there are still doubters.

"The onus is on the people who want to believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster to find evidence that [He] is there." -- Richard Dawkins

Journalism Should Do This All Day, Every Day

2006-08-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

All around the world, the oceans are sick, and the LA Times has a five-part series that goes far beyond the typical Pulitzer bid to make the case that things can't go on as they are.

It's a shame that the photos, videos and graphics are behind the registration wall, but signing up is free.

If newspapers did packages like this every single day ... I know, I know; and if I had wings, I could fly.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

The Reverse Domino Theory

2006-08-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is the "reverse domino theory" in action:

Rumsfeld Warns Against Early Iraq Pull-Out
Thu Aug 3, 2006 3:59 PM BST
By Kristin Roberts and Vicki Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned on Thursday against pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq prematurely, saying it would be seen as a victory by extremists who want to control a region extending beyond the Middle East.

"If we left Iraq prematurely as the terrorists demand, the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing.

"And if we left the Middle East, they'd order us and all those who don't share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines," he said.

---

So, what would winning look like?

Do You Feel Safer Now?

2006-08-02T06:20:00.000-07:00

It's almost five years since 9/11.

Do you feel safer now?

Photo Credit: One of those things I found on the Web; if someone knows who made this, please tell me so I can give this brilliant piece of work its rightful attribution.

By Accident or on Purpose?

2006-08-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

When human beings make mistakes that reveal a profound lack of foresight -- at work and at home -- the fix is what comes next.

While a deeply dumb mistake can happen by accident, choosing a crappy, fast fix over a solid solution is a conscious decision.

So, the question: Was that by accident or on purpose?

Accidents are forgivable.

On purpose, not so much.

"The War to Create More Terrorists"

2006-08-01T05:19:00.000-07:00

George Bush has apparently done what nobody else could do: he has created Arab unity.

Analysis: Bush Mideast Stance May Flop

By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
Mon Jul 31, 6:07 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration may have badly miscalculated in insisting that any Mideast cease-fire be tied to long-term objectives.

As the toll on Lebanese civilians has soared, even moderate Arab governments have turned into U.S. critics, and Hezbollah's support has climbed across the region.

Same as it ever was?

2006-07-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's worse.

Read it and Weep ...

2006-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

(What's So Funny 'Bout)Peace, Love And Understanding
Nick Lowe/Elvis Costello

As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity.
I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?
And each time I feel like this inside,
There's one thing I wanna know:
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.
'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.
'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?

Back in the Day ...

2006-07-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

I was updating my resume when I fell into remembering the pioneering digital skunkworks in TriBeCa where I walked through the door to the Internet, before the information highway was a going concern, back in the day.

The office was across the street from a bookstore/cafe that sold dark coffee all day, fresh bagels in the morning, and turkey-apple-brie sandwiches on chewy sourdough bread for lunch.

Back then, nobody knew from content strategists and content providers, and the place was filled with writers and editors. I was one. There was a great mix of geeks and creatives, plus the inevitable visionaries.

10 years later, I still remember walking past the landmarked lobby's murals of the ever improving future, when everything seemed as new to me then as it must have to the artists who worked on the optimistic declaration facing the elevator doors: ''Telephone wires and radio unite to make neighbors of nations."

And when you get to where you're going, well, there you are.

Photo Credit: Google Satellite, TriBeCa

Give Peace a Chance

2006-07-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

There was a time when I thought that the subtleties of diplomacy could only be disentangled by the hushed yet authoritative voices discussing the Paris Peace Accords on the radio.

But that was a long time ago.

Now, it seems both simpler and more complex.

War does not bring peace. War brings war.

Peace brings peace.

And while I believe, as the Israelis say, that there is no negotiating with people who want to drive you into the sea, I also think Israel could have better responded to the latest Hezbollah attacks by reaching out to the world instead of immediately going with the boom, boom, boom.

What if Israel IM'ed the world and said this: Look. Those people fired rockets at us. Again. It's the latest step in a longrunning, bitter fight. There are wrongs and grievances on all sides. We know that. We just want the killing to end. We want peace. What do you think we should do? What would you do? Will you help? Now?

What could it hurt?

Best case scenario: The world responds with loud, strong support for the violence to end on all sides, and peace brings peace.

Worst case: There's always the boom, boom, boom.

I also have a two-part reconstruction program for the Middle East that is part secret weapon, part psyops, and part economics.

The secret weapon/psyops part is really pretty easy. Just carpet the area with high end wireless laptops loaded with unlimited free access and PayPal accounts stocked with, oh, $500 USD cash. Presto! Now the unemployed young men who turn out by the thousands to protest their many real grievances and blame, well, the Jews, will turn their attention to what really matters: downloading porn, making MySpace pages, shopping online, and finding out what's up with Britney and K-Fed.

The economics part is a continuation of the secret weapon/psyops program: Do everything possible to help those unemployed young men spend their time making money and shopping instead. The women too, for that matter. Get them out of the house. While it's true that you never see the women at the protests, they should have better lives too.

The sooner they all can emulate the frivolous West, the sooner peace will come.

Presidential Dignity, Poise ...

2006-07-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

The grownups here seem to be tolerating the current president as one would a defective pet.

Oh, well.

Maybe next time we'll have a president who deserves to be in office, in terms of, you know: experience, knowledge, skills, actually winning the election instead of stealing it, and having 51 percent of a clue.

Photo Credit for this July, 2006 summit shot: Reuters and watertiger.

The Garden Does Look Great ...

2006-07-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

... but I do wish that Mr. Seabiscuit had left the wild plants that grew up from the winter's spilled birdseed.

Why do people feel compelled to pull out the weeds?

Why are some plants more cherished than others?

I thought the weeds looked just fine.

And if we're buying birdseed to attract the birds to eat the spiders, why not let the seeds grow into plants that will produce more birdseed?

So I was greatly pleased to discover a sunflower growing after the weeding was done.

It's Been An Interesting Few Days in the News ...

2006-07-14T10:41:00.001-07:00

... and here are three completely unrelated items:

Item 1. Barbaro, the mighty racehorse, goes from stable to critical condition, and I am more affected by the news than the latest body count from Iraq.

Why is this? I know it's not just me, and I have a theory: It's all about the specifity of the individual case vs. the incomprehensibleness of multiple and ongoing miseries: war, famine, genocide, global warming/climate crisis, etc.

Similarly, I react with the opposite of emotion -- annoyance, really -- when sappy movies turn on the string section and the horns.

And, to this day, Astro Boy makes me cry.

> More on Barbaro

> More on Astro Boy

Postscript: Is horse racing really just cruelty to animals? I tend to think so. Discuss.

Item 2. The Republicans are officially a menace to this country: "With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule."

That took way longer than it should have, but there you have it.

> Source

Item 3. The ambassador and his wife have both a lawsuit and a website, and they will donate all proceeds beyond costs to benefit government whistleblowers. Righteous, righteous, righteous.

> The website for the lawsuit

Yes, They Really Are This Crazy

2006-07-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

If anyone has any doubts about what the rightwing, so-called Christians are all about -- well, yes, they really are this crazy:

"I decree the spirit of conviction on this intersection," Mr. Williams boomed from a podium decorated with red, white and blue bunting.
"This statue proves that Jesus Christ is Lord over America, he is Lord over Tennessee, he is Lord over Memphis."

> Full Story

My God Can Kick Your God's Ass

2006-07-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

Religion and politics is just such an ungood combination.

Right now, living in the habitat of mega-churches, and working among the people who attend them, it has become more than just an abstract annoyance.

Thus, these statements, and a link:

1. The louder people yell about Jesus, the less they actually act like him.

2. The finger pointing, raving lunatic, so-called Christians can be summed up in a phrase: "Jesus died so I can tell you what to do"

3. If Jesus came back now, he'd never stop throwing up.

For further advice, or if you are seeking a spiritual advisor, please see: http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/

Open Letter to Michelle Malkin

2006-06-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

dear michelle:

hi.

i just wanted to let you know something, and i'm telling you this before you hear it from someone you think is your best friend forever.

michelle: you're not white, dear. really, you're not.

now, don't get me wrong -- i like people who are not white. and i also like people who are white. i'm really just a people person.

but a lot of the people who *don't* like people who are not white are the people you think are your friends.

and one of these days, some of those so-called friends of yours are going to tell you that you are not white.

so i thought i'd tell you first.

Deny It for a Billion Dollars, Sure ...

2006-06-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have some questions about the people who pretend climate crisis is not the growing disasater it is, and if it will be too late to change directions when they realize how badly they are being duped.

First, a statement of rational if reprehensible behavior: If you are the president of Exxon, and you're getting paid a billion dollars to deny that what you do when you go to work every day is damaging the future of every living thing on the planet, you're just protecting your very very very large paycheck. While that's not honorable, decent or nice, it does fit into some kind of framework of putting your bank account first, and the hell with everyone else.

But what is driving the angry, ranting, barely coherent people -- see the Amazon.com comments on Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," for plenty of examples -- who are not getting paid a billlion dollars to deny what is happening to the planet before our very eyes? If they’re not getting paid to deny the poor prognosis of polar bears, coastal cities, and the planet, what is driving them to do it?

And which will happen first -- that the people who are not being paid to deny that glaciers are melting and the ocean is rising will see that they have been badly duped, or that when there finally is a consensus to change directions ... it will already be too late?

Political Science

2006-06-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

Today's thesis is that Iraq and Vietnam are similar in many ways, and not so much in other ways. Discuss:

Similarities: The propaganda point that "fighting them over there means that we won't have to fight them here" corresponds very closely to the "domino theory" of why we had to stop Communism in Vietnam before it spread somehow across the ocean.

While it is true that there are now a great many more Vietnamese restaurants in the US outside of major cities than there used to be, I think the owners and their families are generally not attempting to spread Communism here.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, we are making enemies faster than we can kill them, as the bumper sticker says, which actually increases the possibility that we will have to fight them here the longer we stay there.

Differences: People who want the Iraq misadventure to end don't hold it against the troops, as people mistakenly did in Vietnam; that's a good thing. Support the troops, bring them home, is the new formulation.

Conclusion: Here's what the people who want to keep sending soldiers into this failed effort in Iraq just don't get:

Keep sending soldiers, and more soldiers will die
Stop sending soldiers, and no more soldiers will die

Questions?

Had enough? Had enough!

2006-06-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Slogans. Catch phrases. 2-4-6-8, who do we appreciate. And so on.

Here are some suggestions for the good guys:

-- Had enough? Had enough!
-- More of the same? No way. End the lies. Troops home today.

Try it yourself -- it's really pretty easy.

Why isn't Al Gore the President?

2006-06-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Just got back from an Al Goore booksigning. Being a former newspaper reporter, I can't help but run storylines through my head when I go places, especially when there's politics involved.

Here are two ledes to a booksigning story, each objectively true, and each spun differently:

Lede 1: Booksigning a Huge Success for Gore: Al Gore signed copies of "An Inconvenient Truth" today for an enthusiastic crowd that snapped up all 1,000 available copies, with about 500 people more in the store than there were books.

Lede 2: Gore Runs Out of Books: There were more people than books in the store today.

And that's how the game is played.

Anyway, Gore seems like a smart, decent, gracious man who is not a performer and not a politician.

I have been around both species, and I have seen them light up when the curtains open, their names are called, and they smell the crowd.

But there wasn't any of that vibe with Gore.

He was warm and friendly when people he knew stepped up; he stood and embraced them, and seemed genuinely glad to see them.

With the rest of the crowd, he was kind and attentive, but more in the manner of someone of good will who is trying really hard than someone who not only enjoys it but, as with many politicos and performers, very deeply needs it.

Unfortunately for the country, that performer thing matters more in getting elected than the things that matter more for governing: character, honor, humility, knowledge, wisdom, you know, the stuff that is actually important.

I don't know where the country goes from here.