I have a song book called, "Songs My Mother Never Taught Me" written by John J. Niles and Douglas Moore and published by Macaulay in 1929. It is a song collection of tunes that U.S. troops sang in World War I.
One of the tunes was called "Mad'Moiselle from Armentieres" and is today more commonly called "Hinky Dinky parlez-vous".
Here is a lyric from the original:
Mad'moiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous.
Mad'moiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous.
She got the palm and the Croix de guerre,
For washin' soldiers' underwear,
Hinky-dinky, parlez-vous.
There are other lyrics much more fun and much less printable in polite company. However, tonight I came up with lyrics that fit right in and thought I'd share them in the spirit of fun. You remember fun?
Mad'Moiselle from Armentieres
Parlez-Vous?
Never washed her underwears
Parlez-Vous?
She kept them on both night and day,
except when her husband had gone away.
Hinky-dinky, parlez-vous.
My grandfather fought in WWII and this was one of his favorite songs (it carried over). I hope he enjoys my contribution.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Key judgements of National Intelligence Estimate
One of my favorite things about the internet is the ability to track-down horse's-mouth source material. The recent National Intelligence Estimate has generated a lot of headlines, interpretations, and shouting matches. Here, simply and without comment (but with added highlighting for things which caught my eye), are the key judgements with a link to the source:
Key Judgments
We judge the US Homeland will face a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years. The main threat comes from Islamic terrorist groups and cells, especially al-Qa’ida, driven by their undiminished intent to attack the Homeland and a continued effort by these terrorist groups to adapt and improve their capabilities.
We assess that greatly increased worldwide counterterrorism efforts over the past five years have constrained the ability of al-Qa’ida to attack the US Homeland again and have led terrorist groups to perceive the Homeland as a harder target to strike than on 9/11. These measures have helped disrupt known plots against the United States since 9/11.
We are concerned, however, that this level of international cooperation may wane as 9/11 becomes a more distant memory and perceptions of the threat diverge.
Al-Qa’ida is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the Homeland, as its central leadership continues to plan high-impact plots, while pushing others in extremist Sunni communities to mimic its efforts and to supplement its capabilities. We assess the group has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability, including:
Although we have discovered only a handful of individuals in the United States with ties to al-Qa’ida senior leadership since 9/11, we judge that al-Qa’ida will intensify its efforts to put operatives here.
As a result, we judge that the United States currently is in a heightened threat environment. We assess that al-Qa’ida will continue to enhance its capabilities to attack the Homeland through greater cooperation with regional terrorist groups. Of note, we assess that al-Qa’ida will probably seek to leverage the contacts and capabilities of al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI), its most visible and capable affiliate and the only one known to have expressed a desire to attack the Homeland. In addition, we assess that its association with AQI helps al-Qa’ida to energize the broader Sunni extremist community, raise resources, and to recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for Homeland attacks.
We assess that al-Qa’ida’s Homeland plotting is likely to continue to focus on prominent political, economic, and infrastructure targets with the goal of producing mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the US population. The group is proficient with conventional small arms and improvised explosive devices, and is innovative in creating new capabilities and overcoming security obstacles.
We assess that al-Qa’ida will continue to try to acquire and employ chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material in attacks and would not hesitate to use
them if it develops what it deems is sufficient capability.
We assess Lebanese Hizballah, which has conducted anti-US attacks outside the United States in the past, may be more likely to consider attacking the Homeland over the next three years if it perceives the United States as posing a direct threat to the group or Iran.
We assess that the spread of radical—especially Salafi—Internet sites, increasingly aggressive anti-US rhetoric and actions, and the growing number of radical, self-generating cells in Western countries indicate that the radical and violent segment of the West’s Muslim population is expanding, including in the United States.
The arrest and prosecution by US law enforcement of a small number of violent Islamic extremists inside the United States—who are becoming more connected ideologically, virtually, and/or in a physical sense to the global extremist movement—points to the possibility that others may become sufficiently radicalized that they will view the use of violence here as legitimate.
We assess that this internal Muslim terrorist threat is not likely to be as severe as it is in Europe, however.
We assess that other, non-Muslim terrorist groups—often referred to as “single-issue” groups by the FBI—probably will conduct attacks over the next three years given their violent histories, but we assess this violence is likely to be on a small scale.
We assess that globalization trends and recent technological advances will continue to enable even small numbers of alienated people to find and connect with one another, justify and intensify their anger, and mobilize resources to attack—all without requiring a centralized terrorist organization, training camp, or leader.
The ability to detect broader and more diverse terrorist plotting in this environment will challenge current US defensive efforts and the tools we use to detect and disrupt plots. It will also require greater understanding of how suspect activities at the local
level relate to strategic threat information and how best to identify indicators of terrorist activity in the midst of legitimate interactions.
Source: National Intelligence Estimate
Secondary Source (PDF): National Intelligence Estimate
Some expert analysis:
Here is a link to analysis by Larry C. Johnson, whom according to his website, "worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management"
Bush drops ball
Key Judgments
We judge the US Homeland will face a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years. The main threat comes from Islamic terrorist groups and cells, especially al-Qa’ida, driven by their undiminished intent to attack the Homeland and a continued effort by these terrorist groups to adapt and improve their capabilities.
We assess that greatly increased worldwide counterterrorism efforts over the past five years have constrained the ability of al-Qa’ida to attack the US Homeland again and have led terrorist groups to perceive the Homeland as a harder target to strike than on 9/11. These measures have helped disrupt known plots against the United States since 9/11.
We are concerned, however, that this level of international cooperation may wane as 9/11 becomes a more distant memory and perceptions of the threat diverge.
Al-Qa’ida is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the Homeland, as its central leadership continues to plan high-impact plots, while pushing others in extremist Sunni communities to mimic its efforts and to supplement its capabilities. We assess the group has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability, including:
- A safehaven in the Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
- Operational lieutenants, and its top leadership.
Although we have discovered only a handful of individuals in the United States with ties to al-Qa’ida senior leadership since 9/11, we judge that al-Qa’ida will intensify its efforts to put operatives here.
As a result, we judge that the United States currently is in a heightened threat environment. We assess that al-Qa’ida will continue to enhance its capabilities to attack the Homeland through greater cooperation with regional terrorist groups. Of note, we assess that al-Qa’ida will probably seek to leverage the contacts and capabilities of al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI), its most visible and capable affiliate and the only one known to have expressed a desire to attack the Homeland. In addition, we assess that its association with AQI helps al-Qa’ida to energize the broader Sunni extremist community, raise resources, and to recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for Homeland attacks.
We assess that al-Qa’ida’s Homeland plotting is likely to continue to focus on prominent political, economic, and infrastructure targets with the goal of producing mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the US population. The group is proficient with conventional small arms and improvised explosive devices, and is innovative in creating new capabilities and overcoming security obstacles.
We assess that al-Qa’ida will continue to try to acquire and employ chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material in attacks and would not hesitate to use
them if it develops what it deems is sufficient capability.
We assess Lebanese Hizballah, which has conducted anti-US attacks outside the United States in the past, may be more likely to consider attacking the Homeland over the next three years if it perceives the United States as posing a direct threat to the group or Iran.
We assess that the spread of radical—especially Salafi—Internet sites, increasingly aggressive anti-US rhetoric and actions, and the growing number of radical, self-generating cells in Western countries indicate that the radical and violent segment of the West’s Muslim population is expanding, including in the United States.
The arrest and prosecution by US law enforcement of a small number of violent Islamic extremists inside the United States—who are becoming more connected ideologically, virtually, and/or in a physical sense to the global extremist movement—points to the possibility that others may become sufficiently radicalized that they will view the use of violence here as legitimate.
We assess that this internal Muslim terrorist threat is not likely to be as severe as it is in Europe, however.
We assess that other, non-Muslim terrorist groups—often referred to as “single-issue” groups by the FBI—probably will conduct attacks over the next three years given their violent histories, but we assess this violence is likely to be on a small scale.
We assess that globalization trends and recent technological advances will continue to enable even small numbers of alienated people to find and connect with one another, justify and intensify their anger, and mobilize resources to attack—all without requiring a centralized terrorist organization, training camp, or leader.
The ability to detect broader and more diverse terrorist plotting in this environment will challenge current US defensive efforts and the tools we use to detect and disrupt plots. It will also require greater understanding of how suspect activities at the local
level relate to strategic threat information and how best to identify indicators of terrorist activity in the midst of legitimate interactions.
Source: National Intelligence Estimate
Secondary Source (PDF): National Intelligence Estimate
Some expert analysis:
Here is a link to analysis by Larry C. Johnson, whom according to his website, "worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management"
Bush drops ball
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Learning from mistakes
Every once in a while I stare with incredulity at some article written by some neocon that makes excuses for the colossal corruption, calamity plagued, unpopular presidency of president Bush.
William Kristol recently laid down a glowing tribute to Mr. Mission Accomplished, Mr. Compassionate Katrina, Mr. Stuck in Iraq, Mr. Unsmoked Osama, Mr. Anthrax got away, Mr. Jobs to China, Mr. Falls on Face, Mr. Chokes on Pretzel, Mr. Republican Albatross, Mr. Delusional, Mr. Out-of-touch, Mr. Albanian Hero, Mr. Bush:
Let's step back...
Mr. Kristol seems incapable of learning that which comes into conflict with his high opinion of his opinions.
Here is what Steve Benen at Talking Points Memo had to say about the article:
An opening for ridicule
I'd like to see Mr. Kristol take an unprotected stroll down the center of Baghdad so he can come to grips with the enormity of his misunderstanding. Perhaps he could then brush his teeth with Chinese toothpaste and relocate to New Orleans.
This isn't just spin; it is a category 5 tornado.
William Kristol recently laid down a glowing tribute to Mr. Mission Accomplished, Mr. Compassionate Katrina, Mr. Stuck in Iraq, Mr. Unsmoked Osama, Mr. Anthrax got away, Mr. Jobs to China, Mr. Falls on Face, Mr. Chokes on Pretzel, Mr. Republican Albatross, Mr. Delusional, Mr. Out-of-touch, Mr. Albanian Hero, Mr. Bush:
Let's step back...
Mr. Kristol seems incapable of learning that which comes into conflict with his high opinion of his opinions.
Here is what Steve Benen at Talking Points Memo had to say about the article:
An opening for ridicule
I'd like to see Mr. Kristol take an unprotected stroll down the center of Baghdad so he can come to grips with the enormity of his misunderstanding. Perhaps he could then brush his teeth with Chinese toothpaste and relocate to New Orleans.
This isn't just spin; it is a category 5 tornado.
Laughing with Noam
Noam Chomsky has written a gem called, "What if Iran had invaded Mexico?".
Here is a choice quote from the article
And here is a link to the full text:
Armageddon comic relief
Here is a choice quote from the article
"The debate over Iranian interference in Iraq proceeds without ridicule on the assumption that the United States owns the world. We did not, for example, engage in a similar debate in the 1980s about whether the U.S. was interfering in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, and I doubt that Pravda, probably recognizing the absurdity of the situation, sank to outrage about that fact (which American officials and our media, in any case, made no effort to conceal). Perhaps the official Nazi press also featured solemn debates about whether the Allies were interfering in sovereign Vichy France, though if so, sane people would then have collapsed in ridicule."
And here is a link to the full text:
Armageddon comic relief
Monday, July 16, 2007
Hillarious
You may have heard opponents of universal single-payer healthcare grumble about waiting times in Canada and cite that when it comes to elective, non-life-threatening, medical procedures like hip replacement the U.S. beats Canada and their boogey-man socialist healthcare system.
Well, Paul Krugman decided to do a little checking into that defense and uncovered something truly hillarious.
If only U.S. media outlets could find it within their mission to tell a broader story by doing a little myth busting and analysis that went beyond cherry-picking he-said-she-said squabbles. Balance does not pit lies against truth, but opinion against opinion.
There is a reason you must tell the whole truth in a court of law. Sometimes telling a half-truth is fibbing.
Well, Paul Krugman decided to do a little checking into that defense and uncovered something truly hillarious.
"the large majority of hip replacements in the United States are paid for by, um, Medicare.
That’s right: the hip-replacement gap is actually a comparison of two government health insurance systems. American Medicare has shorter waits than Canadian Medicare (yes, that’s what they call their system) because it has more lavish funding — end of story. The alleged virtues of private insurance have nothing to do with it."
Source: Paul Krugman
If only U.S. media outlets could find it within their mission to tell a broader story by doing a little myth busting and analysis that went beyond cherry-picking he-said-she-said squabbles. Balance does not pit lies against truth, but opinion against opinion.
There is a reason you must tell the whole truth in a court of law. Sometimes telling a half-truth is fibbing.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Salute
High-school presidential scholars recently handed the president a letter that read:
The president is an embarrassment to all but himself and not even the nations kids are willing to pretend otherwise anymore.
Here is more on the story: Amy Goodman
Thanks kids. I wish I could share my smile.
“As members of the Presidential Scholars class of 2007, we have been told that we represent the best and brightest of our nation. Therefore, we believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions. We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants.”
The president is an embarrassment to all but himself and not even the nations kids are willing to pretend otherwise anymore.
Here is more on the story: Amy Goodman
Thanks kids. I wish I could share my smile.
News cycles
Perhaps scholars will one-day wonder why Americans didn't force the resignation of president Bush. They surely will wonder how the Messiah of blunder could blunder and plunder at will. Perhaps they'll scratch their heads as they count the dead, or guffaw at the laws that were broken?
Surely news cycles like this one, where evidence points out that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales perjured himself before Congress, while the AP reports that the Iraq government has missed all political targets, will confound them.
"They had free speech, the right to assemble, the right to bear arms, and mass communication! They had a UN to serve as a brake! They had Congress, an independent branch of government with authority of the purse! They had a free press to examine false statements and shine the light of Truth!", they might exclaim.
And if they could travel back in time, these historical scholars, what would we tell them?
I might tell them the president was too much of a coward to walk among Americans as if they were Albanians. I might tell them about "free speech zones", "Patriot Acts", "loyalty oaths", "Paris Hilton", and "shoppnig malls". I might tell them about "unseen marches" and "unheard protests" and "Rupert Murdoch". I might tell them about "security alerts" and "Rove" and "Coulter" and "neocons".
In the end I'd tell them all the world's not a stage, but mostly reserved seating, and "reality shows" are not particapatory.
Surely news cycles like this one, where evidence points out that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales perjured himself before Congress, while the AP reports that the Iraq government has missed all political targets, will confound them.
"They had free speech, the right to assemble, the right to bear arms, and mass communication! They had a UN to serve as a brake! They had Congress, an independent branch of government with authority of the purse! They had a free press to examine false statements and shine the light of Truth!", they might exclaim.
And if they could travel back in time, these historical scholars, what would we tell them?
I might tell them the president was too much of a coward to walk among Americans as if they were Albanians. I might tell them about "free speech zones", "Patriot Acts", "loyalty oaths", "Paris Hilton", and "shoppnig malls". I might tell them about "unseen marches" and "unheard protests" and "Rupert Murdoch". I might tell them about "security alerts" and "Rove" and "Coulter" and "neocons".
In the end I'd tell them all the world's not a stage, but mostly reserved seating, and "reality shows" are not particapatory.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
More Moore
It was not unexpected to watch CNN libel Michael before speaking to him (accusing him of "fudging his facts") and label him afterwards (calling him "more of a left-wing promoter than Hugo Chavez"). It was disappointing, however, since health care is a matter of life and death for 18,000 Americans per year.
At least four 911's a year
What does media watchdog F.A.I.R. (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) have to say about the treatment?:
Action Alert
I often wonder when I see this kind of indecent exposure what kind of world these talking heads want to create.
Is it a world of gated communities, cronyism, exclusive hospitals, and diseased, fearful rabble scratching at the doors?
Is it a world where telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act?
If we don't strive to make the world a better place by alleviating suffering, then where will a better world come from?
If you have to tell lies to make your case in an argument then shouldn't you reevaluate your opinion?
At least four 911's a year
What does media watchdog F.A.I.R. (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) have to say about the treatment?:
Action Alert
I often wonder when I see this kind of indecent exposure what kind of world these talking heads want to create.
Is it a world of gated communities, cronyism, exclusive hospitals, and diseased, fearful rabble scratching at the doors?
Is it a world where telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act?
If we don't strive to make the world a better place by alleviating suffering, then where will a better world come from?
If you have to tell lies to make your case in an argument then shouldn't you reevaluate your opinion?
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
A loud crowing
Volume does not transform a crow into a songbird, but the vocal, strangulated cacklings of a crow do overshadow the artful contributions of the robin.
Ann Coulter is to entertainment as a crow to a robin.
Both feed on death and neither makes a pleasant show.
"Ack! Ack! Gargle. Gargle. Ack!", goes the crow.
"Attack Iraq! Gargle. Gargle. Iran!", goes the Coulter.
Ann Coulter is to entertainment as a crow to a robin.
Both feed on death and neither makes a pleasant show.
"Ack! Ack! Gargle. Gargle. Ack!", goes the crow.
"Attack Iraq! Gargle. Gargle. Iran!", goes the Coulter.
Monday, July 09, 2007
NY Times Sounds Off
There is a rather scathing editorial in the New York Times which skewers:
While Mr. Bush scorns deadlines, he kept promising breakthroughs — after elections, after a constitution, after sending in thousands more troops. But those milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal. It is frighteningly clear that Mr. Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost.
Source: The Road Home
Pete Seeger might express the same thing this way...
Any ignorant mule does know
better than to step on a cotton row
but their ain't no mules in Congress, so
plow the fourth one under.
CHORUS:
Plow under, plow under
Plow under
Every fourth American boy.
One fragment of the editorial did trouble me, since it set up a straw-man "democratic candidate" and then attacked him/her as "foolish".
I sez, "When you've been consistently, publicly, and vocally established on the dumb-side of the bell curve it takes titanic temerity to call the correct answer percentile foolish". If you view the quote through a lens of compassion, you might see a threatened ego lashing out in order to inflate itself, which is something all human beings are capable of and should perhaps be forgiven.
The only task left is to point out that there has been bipartisan support for withdrawal, for timetables, and for outright avoidance, since before the war started (Colin Powell comes to mind).
The partisan fish in this pond swim in the Bush school. Right now they are following each other in circles ignorant of the fact that they are circling the drain.
While Mr. Bush scorns deadlines, he kept promising breakthroughs — after elections, after a constitution, after sending in thousands more troops. But those milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal. It is frighteningly clear that Mr. Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost.
Source: The Road Home
Pete Seeger might express the same thing this way...
Any ignorant mule does know
better than to step on a cotton row
but their ain't no mules in Congress, so
plow the fourth one under.
CHORUS:
Plow under, plow under
Plow under
Every fourth American boy.
One fragment of the editorial did trouble me, since it set up a straw-man "democratic candidate" and then attacked him/her as "foolish".
It is possible, we suppose, that announcing a firm withdrawal date might finally focus Iraq’s political leaders and neighboring governments on reality. Ideally, it could spur Iraqi politicians to take the steps toward national reconciliation that they have endlessly discussed but refused to act on.
But it is foolish to count on that, as some Democratic proponents of withdrawal have done [emphasis added].
I sez, "When you've been consistently, publicly, and vocally established on the dumb-side of the bell curve it takes titanic temerity to call the correct answer percentile foolish". If you view the quote through a lens of compassion, you might see a threatened ego lashing out in order to inflate itself, which is something all human beings are capable of and should perhaps be forgiven.
The only task left is to point out that there has been bipartisan support for withdrawal, for timetables, and for outright avoidance, since before the war started (Colin Powell comes to mind).
The partisan fish in this pond swim in the Bush school. Right now they are following each other in circles ignorant of the fact that they are circling the drain.
Touchdown!
If president Bush were a football player something tells me he'd be the type to celebrate his touchdowns before reaching the end-zone. He'd be high-stepping and grinning while unaware that a defender closed in to clobber him.
It is a painful thing to watch, this premature Mission Accomplished celebration. There is a moment where those in the stands, those commentating, those watching on T.V. anticipate the "teaching moment" and cringe.
As the defender's shoulder presses dancing flesh and the ball is stripped everyone watching feels the way I feel now when I see George W. Bush, knocked senseless perhaps, and convinced he's scored.
I am one of those reserved Yankees that can do without the end-zone dancing and strutting altogether. If you ask me it isn't team-spirited and only serves to embolden your opposition, since humiliation breeds resentment.
I can picture quite clearly coach Rove turning cartwheels on the sidelines while running-back Bush goose-steps prematurely, oblivious to the forthcoming whallop. Oblivious before it and after it and confused by the groans from the audience.
It is a painful thing to watch, this premature Mission Accomplished celebration. There is a moment where those in the stands, those commentating, those watching on T.V. anticipate the "teaching moment" and cringe.
As the defender's shoulder presses dancing flesh and the ball is stripped everyone watching feels the way I feel now when I see George W. Bush, knocked senseless perhaps, and convinced he's scored.
I am one of those reserved Yankees that can do without the end-zone dancing and strutting altogether. If you ask me it isn't team-spirited and only serves to embolden your opposition, since humiliation breeds resentment.
I can picture quite clearly coach Rove turning cartwheels on the sidelines while running-back Bush goose-steps prematurely, oblivious to the forthcoming whallop. Oblivious before it and after it and confused by the groans from the audience.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Move me
If you want a great mass of people to work together, then that necessitates a common goal or belief.
The "movement" to end the institution of slavery in the United States required a shared belief that slavery was wrong.
Such a movement took time, and dedication, and perseverance. Some people spent their entire lives working, and "moving", society to embrace the idea that all men are created equal and are entitled to certain unalienable rights. Another such movement sought to include women in the full rights zone.
That ability to be a cog in the works of a great purpose escapes me.
I grew up as US napalm landed on Vietnamese children and was influenced by the high moral example which Richard Nixon set. As I grew up I saw religious leaders guilty of raping children protected by a "moral institution". As I grew up I saw Reagan shot and John Lennon shot and a Pope shot and children shot at school.
As an adult I now see ignorance championed and violence adored. I see a world where the rule of law is being abandoned for the rule of the jungle. I see global warming melting our glaciers and affecting our growing seasons. I see bees, upon which so much food depends, dwindling.I see diseases resistant to many drugs attacking humanity.
And I do not feel a part of anything that seems capable of changing all that.
Where did early emancipators find faith in each other and confidence in their direction?
Did they act without hope of success from a sense of duty?
Hope was a stowaway in Pandora's box and according to Studs Terkel it dies last.
How is Hope sown?
The "movement" to end the institution of slavery in the United States required a shared belief that slavery was wrong.
Such a movement took time, and dedication, and perseverance. Some people spent their entire lives working, and "moving", society to embrace the idea that all men are created equal and are entitled to certain unalienable rights. Another such movement sought to include women in the full rights zone.
That ability to be a cog in the works of a great purpose escapes me.
I grew up as US napalm landed on Vietnamese children and was influenced by the high moral example which Richard Nixon set. As I grew up I saw religious leaders guilty of raping children protected by a "moral institution". As I grew up I saw Reagan shot and John Lennon shot and a Pope shot and children shot at school.
As an adult I now see ignorance championed and violence adored. I see a world where the rule of law is being abandoned for the rule of the jungle. I see global warming melting our glaciers and affecting our growing seasons. I see bees, upon which so much food depends, dwindling.I see diseases resistant to many drugs attacking humanity.
And I do not feel a part of anything that seems capable of changing all that.
Where did early emancipators find faith in each other and confidence in their direction?
Did they act without hope of success from a sense of duty?
Hope was a stowaway in Pandora's box and according to Studs Terkel it dies last.
How is Hope sown?
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Pass the ammunition
Would the N.R.A. support a law forbidding guns from religious property which would forfeit religious institutional status as penalty?
I think that might be a law which could help the US shut down madrassas on American soil, and be an aid in the west in the war on terror.
Will those on the right that seem to reflexively defend dangerous nuts like Branch Davidian David Koresh be tempted to do the same for violence-inspiring Mullahs intent on replacing democracy with Islamic theocracy?
In the following story you can read about "religious students" running around with assault weapons and fighting for Islam.
Blood flows red at mosque
Shouldn't we get ahead of this type of activity and insist religious organizations are outside right-to-bear-arms zones?
Surely peaceful religions have no need of stockpiling weapons?
I think that might be a law which could help the US shut down madrassas on American soil, and be an aid in the west in the war on terror.
Will those on the right that seem to reflexively defend dangerous nuts like Branch Davidian David Koresh be tempted to do the same for violence-inspiring Mullahs intent on replacing democracy with Islamic theocracy?
In the following story you can read about "religious students" running around with assault weapons and fighting for Islam.
Blood flows red at mosque
Shouldn't we get ahead of this type of activity and insist religious organizations are outside right-to-bear-arms zones?
Surely peaceful religions have no need of stockpiling weapons?
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Independence Day
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Source: Declaration of Independence
WARNING: Reading of above document has been known to cause depression in this, the reign of the avenger of the world's evildoers.
Source: Declaration of Independence
WARNING: Reading of above document has been known to cause depression in this, the reign of the avenger of the world's evildoers.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Take a gander at this goose
"[W]e must always maintain the highest ethical standards. We must always ask ourselves not only what is legal, but what is right. There is no goal of government worth accomplishing if it cannot be accomplished with integrity."
- President George W. Bush, 2001 -
This AP story from June 13th, 2007 discusses how important it is to "tough on crime" GOP legislators for "maverick" judges to obey sentencing guidelines established by Congress:
Bush Seeks To Re-Impose Mandatory Minimums
What is the GOP response to a maverick president that flouts a decision by a federal judge consistent with sentencing guidelines in the Lewis "Scooter" Libby case?
So far I'd call it moral cowardice.
This seems like a natural time for candidate John Edwards to reacquaint Americans to his two Americas theme.
- President George W. Bush, 2001 -
This AP story from June 13th, 2007 discusses how important it is to "tough on crime" GOP legislators for "maverick" judges to obey sentencing guidelines established by Congress:
Bush Seeks To Re-Impose Mandatory Minimums
What is the GOP response to a maverick president that flouts a decision by a federal judge consistent with sentencing guidelines in the Lewis "Scooter" Libby case?
The list of GOP leaders not commenting, as of Monday evening, is long: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who is traveling in Kentucky this week; House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ill.), who is traveling in Russia; Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the GOP whip; Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), chairman of conference, who is tasked with leading message operations; Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), Kyl's messaging counterpart who chairs the House conference. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), chairwoman of the GOP policy committee, has still not voiced an opinion on Libby's commutation.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is also silent at this moment, as is Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Specter's counterpart on House Judiciary.
Source
So far I'd call it moral cowardice.
This seems like a natural time for candidate John Edwards to reacquaint Americans to his two Americas theme.
Liars Unite
"It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals."
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
"There is overwhelming evidence that Libby lied under oath, not once but on several occasions. People who occupy these types of positions, where they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special obligation to not do anything that might create a problem."
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton
"I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."
President, chief justice of the US supreme court, commander of the armed forces, moral leader, and decider George W. Bush. Praise be to him.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
"There is overwhelming evidence that Libby lied under oath, not once but on several occasions. People who occupy these types of positions, where they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special obligation to not do anything that might create a problem."
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton
"I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."
President, chief justice of the US supreme court, commander of the armed forces, moral leader, and decider George W. Bush. Praise be to him.
Threat of Hummus
CNN once placed the phrase "Where's Obama" over a photograph of Osama bin Laden. Fox "News" Roger Ailes, perhaps feeling "scooped", tried to blur the line between Obama and Osama with a few off-colored jokes:
Story here
If words which sound alike are now considered synonyms, then I am about to perform a great service for my country.
While making a sandwich I realized that Hummus sounds like Hamas and decided to rush this observation out to you.
Terrorists are hiding in our sandwiches.
You heard it here first.
Story here
If words which sound alike are now considered synonyms, then I am about to perform a great service for my country.
While making a sandwich I realized that Hummus sounds like Hamas and decided to rush this observation out to you.
Terrorists are hiding in our sandwiches.
You heard it here first.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Heil Mart?
Is Wal-Mart really selling t-shirts emblazoned with Nazi symbolism?
Week 29
Does Wal-Mart feel that it must expand sales into nazi-sympathizer markets?
This can't be true can it?
Week 29
Does Wal-Mart feel that it must expand sales into nazi-sympathizer markets?
This can't be true can it?
Belt buckles
Here is a link to a June 25, 2007 Time cover-story with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Bloomberg:
Hiding in plain sight?
Some people are highly alarmed by Arnold's choice of belt buckle, which seems an unwise public choice for the son of a Nazi SA volunteer (a.k.a Storm troopers, or brown shorts).
Does the buckle resemble the Gott mit uns deaths head skull worn by the SS?:
See for yourself
Sometimes things can look bad without being bad, and perhaps this is the case. Perhaps this is just a motorcyclin' accoutrement worn without nefarious intent. Perhaps Arnold didn't mean to scare anybody, either.
Since Mr. Bloomberg was born to a Russian/Polish/Jewish family it seems unlikely Arnold would put his arm around him if he secretly harbored Hitler's hatreds. It also seems unlikely that Mr. Bloomberg would let him.
In fact, maybe we should feel good that the son of a Nazi can warmly embrace a Jewish man on the cover of Time magazine.
Hiding in plain sight?
Some people are highly alarmed by Arnold's choice of belt buckle, which seems an unwise public choice for the son of a Nazi SA volunteer (a.k.a Storm troopers, or brown shorts).
Does the buckle resemble the Gott mit uns deaths head skull worn by the SS?:
See for yourself
Sometimes things can look bad without being bad, and perhaps this is the case. Perhaps this is just a motorcyclin' accoutrement worn without nefarious intent. Perhaps Arnold didn't mean to scare anybody, either.
Since Mr. Bloomberg was born to a Russian/Polish/Jewish family it seems unlikely Arnold would put his arm around him if he secretly harbored Hitler's hatreds. It also seems unlikely that Mr. Bloomberg would let him.
In fact, maybe we should feel good that the son of a Nazi can warmly embrace a Jewish man on the cover of Time magazine.
The mind's eye
Before setting off to create or obtain something it is very useful, perhaps crucial to success, to formulate a picture in your mind of your achievement in ideal form.
When electing a president it is crucial to success too.
I have here a link to a great speech. A terrific speech. A speech capable of transforming America from misguided to united.
The New Vision
Armed with this fantastic speech you should now go through the candidates one-by-one and form a picture of them speaking it.
You should find that a lot of prospective candidates will be cast aside with this exercise.
The clumsy will not do. The uncharismatic will not do. The rubes will not do. The hucksters will not do. The cynics will not do.
Who is charismatic, and graceful, and optimistic?
Who, in short, is worthy of this speech in your mind's eye?
When electing a president it is crucial to success too.
I have here a link to a great speech. A terrific speech. A speech capable of transforming America from misguided to united.
The New Vision
Armed with this fantastic speech you should now go through the candidates one-by-one and form a picture of them speaking it.
You should find that a lot of prospective candidates will be cast aside with this exercise.
The clumsy will not do. The uncharismatic will not do. The rubes will not do. The hucksters will not do. The cynics will not do.
Who is charismatic, and graceful, and optimistic?
Who, in short, is worthy of this speech in your mind's eye?
Friday, June 29, 2007
What to do, what to do
I often sez that the goals of president Bush are irrelevant given his level of incompetence.
I also sez that you must argue for Bush administration competence before you can argue prolonging the war in Iraq is a good idea.
I therefore do not believe, on principle, that a successful plan can be put forth as long as president Bush resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Since it is possible I give president Bush too little credit, then here is a better plan for Iraq:
Remembering Nathanael Greene
I welcome being shown up and pray he will someday show a level of competence to match his talent for bungling.
I also sez that you must argue for Bush administration competence before you can argue prolonging the war in Iraq is a good idea.
I therefore do not believe, on principle, that a successful plan can be put forth as long as president Bush resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Since it is possible I give president Bush too little credit, then here is a better plan for Iraq:
Remembering Nathanael Greene
I welcome being shown up and pray he will someday show a level of competence to match his talent for bungling.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Quick hit
When our trade deals turn a blind eye to the working conditions and environmental standards of the Chinese, then this is what we get for our free-trade globalism and indifference:
Contaminated toothpaste in US marketplace
Contaminated toothpaste in US marketplace
God before us.
Once there existed a thought without being, a thought without form, drifting in empty space.
Well, perhaps that isn't right for the very notion of movement is non-existent without a frame of reference.
Once then, there existed a thought alone, and it thought and thought and thought. It was a different kind of thinker than you and I, for we can only think of things that are based upon other things. This thinker, though, was surrounded by nothing and would have had nothing to think about if equipped with our feeble minds.
It floated, formless, thinking and thinking not because it wanted to but because there was nothing else for it. Every once in a while it would sigh, sad and lonely, bored and unhappy with this existence.
Imagine being able to think, but not to create, to have the capacity for love, but nothing to love.
On the other side of this vast empty space, if a vast empty space can be said to have sides, floated another form of being. This one had the power to create, but lacked imagination, and could only conjure up unseen dark forms that made no sounds. Scientists today know this as dark matter.
One day, by chance, intellect's peanut-butter crashed into emotions chocolate and a peanut-butter-cup universe was born. Unrealized thoughts became material.
Unbridled joy leaped outwards and burst forth whole galaxies that sang to fill the hated empty nothingness.
And for a while, if such a thing is measureable to an immortal presence, all was bliss...
Well, perhaps that isn't right for the very notion of movement is non-existent without a frame of reference.
Once then, there existed a thought alone, and it thought and thought and thought. It was a different kind of thinker than you and I, for we can only think of things that are based upon other things. This thinker, though, was surrounded by nothing and would have had nothing to think about if equipped with our feeble minds.
It floated, formless, thinking and thinking not because it wanted to but because there was nothing else for it. Every once in a while it would sigh, sad and lonely, bored and unhappy with this existence.
Imagine being able to think, but not to create, to have the capacity for love, but nothing to love.
On the other side of this vast empty space, if a vast empty space can be said to have sides, floated another form of being. This one had the power to create, but lacked imagination, and could only conjure up unseen dark forms that made no sounds. Scientists today know this as dark matter.
One day, by chance, intellect's peanut-butter crashed into emotions chocolate and a peanut-butter-cup universe was born. Unrealized thoughts became material.
Unbridled joy leaped outwards and burst forth whole galaxies that sang to fill the hated empty nothingness.
And for a while, if such a thing is measureable to an immortal presence, all was bliss...
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Progressing progress
On February 13th I wrote:
On June 22, ABC reports:
It looks like I owe the Bush administration that rarest of occurrences, a sincere compliment.
Good work. Keep it up.
Somewhat belatedly someone at the whitehouse arrived at the conclusion that a nuclear-armed North Korea is contrary to US interests. This someone must have decided to eat a little crow, and we sat down with North Korea and hammered out an agreement that essentially restores the Clinton-era policies.
Source: Clinton vindicated
This is a stunning turn of events, since it means that somehow the Bush whitehouse is willing to abandon the perfect (as they see it) for the good. This also means that the whitehouse is willing to change a course that isn't working.
I find this very encouraging news and hope it is the beginning of a new trend, since there are more than a few courses initiated from the whitehouse in need of change.
On June 22, ABC reports:
After a rare two-day trip to Pyongyang, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said he was optimistic over dismantling North Korea's nuclear program.
Source
It looks like I owe the Bush administration that rarest of occurrences, a sincere compliment.
Good work. Keep it up.
Iranian unrest
Iran recently decided it needed to ration gas, probably in preparation for a US attack, and Iranians responded by:
Thank goodness for Iranians the "religion of peace" is close at hand and will no-doubt quickly put out this atypical flash fire of uncharacteristically extremist behavior.
Thank goodness for us all.
"Taking to the streets and torching at least a dozen gas stations."
Details here
Thank goodness for Iranians the "religion of peace" is close at hand and will no-doubt quickly put out this atypical flash fire of uncharacteristically extremist behavior.
Thank goodness for us all.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
FrankenMule?
Not long ago I wrote a short poem for mules that went:
A hale of a torse
A hule and a morse
made love to a horse
but went about it back-ways
To the hule said the morse,
"'Twas a hell of a horse,
I can't wait to see the donkeys"
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (a Jack) and a female horse (a mare). They don't really exist much in nature, except perhaps where lonely mares and Jacks commingle.
So, it occured to me that this animal is the result of crude genetic engineering, although nobody seems to be running about protesting them as Franken-Mules the way they do bio-engineered corn.
Why isn't the mule, or molly, or hinny regarded as a threat to our ecosystem? Is it because it has been around a while and that we attribute more foresight to our ancestors?
Our ancestors were dopes that tried to cure the plague by massing together in prayer. They tried to heal the infirm by bleeding them. They thought the earth was flat and they'd fall off the edge if they weren't careful.
Shouldn't we be more concerned about the unnatural byproduct of these rubes uninformed experiments than the careful, cross-examined work of modern genetic scientists?
I think a lot of the public hostility towards genetic manipulation is because many modern, informed advances produce oddities like: sterile seeds (more money for Monsanto), tasteless tomatos (that have a long shelf life), corn with insect toxin (Bt) throughout, vegetable/mammal combinations, goats that produce spider-silk, and other Quixotic accomplishments.
If money is the root of all evil and we continue to let market forces direct our genetic experimentation, then it stands to reason what will happen. Someone is sure to cross-breed a prostitute with a dog.
The humble mule stands as a gentle reminder that genetic engineering isn't all-bad, but the four-legged prostitute is clearly an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
Down with progs!
Down with drostitutes!
Yea Mule!
A hale of a torse
A hule and a morse
made love to a horse
but went about it back-ways
To the hule said the morse,
"'Twas a hell of a horse,
I can't wait to see the donkeys"
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (a Jack) and a female horse (a mare). They don't really exist much in nature, except perhaps where lonely mares and Jacks commingle.
So, it occured to me that this animal is the result of crude genetic engineering, although nobody seems to be running about protesting them as Franken-Mules the way they do bio-engineered corn.
Why isn't the mule, or molly, or hinny regarded as a threat to our ecosystem? Is it because it has been around a while and that we attribute more foresight to our ancestors?
Our ancestors were dopes that tried to cure the plague by massing together in prayer. They tried to heal the infirm by bleeding them. They thought the earth was flat and they'd fall off the edge if they weren't careful.
Shouldn't we be more concerned about the unnatural byproduct of these rubes uninformed experiments than the careful, cross-examined work of modern genetic scientists?
I think a lot of the public hostility towards genetic manipulation is because many modern, informed advances produce oddities like: sterile seeds (more money for Monsanto), tasteless tomatos (that have a long shelf life), corn with insect toxin (Bt) throughout, vegetable/mammal combinations, goats that produce spider-silk, and other Quixotic accomplishments.
If money is the root of all evil and we continue to let market forces direct our genetic experimentation, then it stands to reason what will happen. Someone is sure to cross-breed a prostitute with a dog.
The humble mule stands as a gentle reminder that genetic engineering isn't all-bad, but the four-legged prostitute is clearly an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
Down with progs!
Down with drostitutes!
Yea Mule!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Meanwhile back at the surge...
Ms. Pelosi, these deaths are on your dime:
14 US soldiers killed in two days
Is funding this president's schemes equivalent to supporting the troops?
It is past time to stop following this president blindly.
You can observe a lot by looking.
14 US soldiers killed in two days
Is funding this president's schemes equivalent to supporting the troops?
It is past time to stop following this president blindly.
You can observe a lot by looking.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Another quick hit
On this, the first day of summer, a story illustrates that the culture of fear-mongering in the US has gone too far:
Boooo!
Boooo!
Muslims gone wild
I came across a great absurdity in a story about Muslims going wild over Salman Rushdie's knighthood. Amid the angry throngs and the flag burning and the chants and calls for suicide bombings and of course the expected death threats I found this:
Benny Hill as a special guest on Monty Python's Flying Circus could not have devised a better farce than that statement.
They accuse us of being extreme and we're so angry about that we're going to riot in the streets calling for murder!
I wonder if the line was delivered in over-sized shoes and a rubber nose, or if he went with the "straight man" approach.
As interesting as that question is, here is another one:
If democratic candidates wish to appear tough while appealing to a broad spectrum of their base, then why don't they stand up for freedom of speech and enter the fray?
Isn't that a no-brainer, a two-fer, a win-win, a thought outside the box, and so on and so forth?
"The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism," he told his country's parliament.
"If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so, unless the British government apologises and withdraws the 'sir' title."
Source
Benny Hill as a special guest on Monty Python's Flying Circus could not have devised a better farce than that statement.
They accuse us of being extreme and we're so angry about that we're going to riot in the streets calling for murder!
I wonder if the line was delivered in over-sized shoes and a rubber nose, or if he went with the "straight man" approach.
As interesting as that question is, here is another one:
If democratic candidates wish to appear tough while appealing to a broad spectrum of their base, then why don't they stand up for freedom of speech and enter the fray?
Isn't that a no-brainer, a two-fer, a win-win, a thought outside the box, and so on and so forth?
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
In answer to Sam Harris
Sam Harris, in a recent article, makes the moral case for torture:
In defense of torture
I tried to post a comment but the site was full up so I shall leave my answer here. It is an issue that is terribly interesting and important enough that everyone ought to weigh in, don't you think?
Sam,
Since sadism often masquerades as piety it seems wise to be defensive about the notion of pious torturers (like the Inquisitors you mention).
The underlying assumption in the "ticking time bomb" scenario is that torture is the most effective way to extract the information. If that is a false assumption, then it would be doubly immoral to use it, particularly in the TTB scenario. If that is a true assumption, then it seems that torture is morally correct in theory.
Since the bedrock of morality is to treat others as you wish to be treated, the circumstances under which you would choose torture over a bomb for yourself should be investigated.
If approached from this direction, what father, what husband, what mother, what wife could resist the appeal of torture for themselves alone to the pain of losing their whole family to a bomb?
To save loved ones, then, seems again like a scenario under which it is forgivable to torture.
buT, bUT, BUT...
I am uncertain that defending torture in theory defends it in the outside world. Out here you do wind up with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay which, as you say, are "a travesty" that "has done our country lasting harm". I suspect more harm than good.
In our "eye for an eye" world, the use of torture on others is an invitation to receive it on ourselves, and who can say if we have paid in full for these travesties.
Torture seems to be a technique to cause the sick to suffer, but not without poisoning the well. Perhaps if it were practiced by no one but Philosophers society could escape it's immoral application.
In defense of torture
I tried to post a comment but the site was full up so I shall leave my answer here. It is an issue that is terribly interesting and important enough that everyone ought to weigh in, don't you think?
Sam,
Since sadism often masquerades as piety it seems wise to be defensive about the notion of pious torturers (like the Inquisitors you mention).
The underlying assumption in the "ticking time bomb" scenario is that torture is the most effective way to extract the information. If that is a false assumption, then it would be doubly immoral to use it, particularly in the TTB scenario. If that is a true assumption, then it seems that torture is morally correct in theory.
Since the bedrock of morality is to treat others as you wish to be treated, the circumstances under which you would choose torture over a bomb for yourself should be investigated.
If approached from this direction, what father, what husband, what mother, what wife could resist the appeal of torture for themselves alone to the pain of losing their whole family to a bomb?
To save loved ones, then, seems again like a scenario under which it is forgivable to torture.
buT, bUT, BUT...
I am uncertain that defending torture in theory defends it in the outside world. Out here you do wind up with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay which, as you say, are "a travesty" that "has done our country lasting harm". I suspect more harm than good.
In our "eye for an eye" world, the use of torture on others is an invitation to receive it on ourselves, and who can say if we have paid in full for these travesties.
Torture seems to be a technique to cause the sick to suffer, but not without poisoning the well. Perhaps if it were practiced by no one but Philosophers society could escape it's immoral application.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hanging Rope
Economist Thomas Palley has a website and blog which I have recently discovered and have since enjoyed reading.
He is not a big fan of U.S. trade policy with China, and regularly lambastes it.
In this article, "The profit vs country dilemma" he pits patriotism against capitalism, broad national interest against narrow economic interest.
I hope you enjoy his articles as much as I do.
He is not a big fan of U.S. trade policy with China, and regularly lambastes it.
In this article, "The profit vs country dilemma" he pits patriotism against capitalism, broad national interest against narrow economic interest.
I hope you enjoy his articles as much as I do.
Quick hit
If the U.S. military did maintain casualty figures in Iraq, one benefit would be the ability to compare the number of Muslims killed by Muslims to those killed by U.S. forces.
I suspect, given the seemingly daily occurrence of this type of thing, the Muslims are well in the lead.
Would that cast our forces in a good light, or, do we get the blame because we are the "great Satan" no matter what?
I suspect, given the seemingly daily occurrence of this type of thing, the Muslims are well in the lead.
Would that cast our forces in a good light, or, do we get the blame because we are the "great Satan" no matter what?
Monday, June 18, 2007
Rainfall for the unrighteous
When Hamas took over the Gaza strip recently it established a militant Islamist terrorist organization on the border of a US ally and democracy.
This would be akin to Al Qaeda throwing out the government of Quebec. Wouldn't we be fools to expect anything but Trouble in that case?
It looks to me like our threats towards Iran, particularly those of John McCain, have emboldened the terrorists.
If our actions weaken our allies and strengthen our enemies can they be considered wise?
A consequence of Hamas' victory, at least in the short term, is attacks on Christians inside Gaza.
Jesus, we know, would turn the other cheek (Mathew 5:39) and perhaps offer Hamas a sandwich. I expect the response from president Bush will diverge slightly from that track.
I am left to wonder what tune the neocons will sing next.
This would be akin to Al Qaeda throwing out the government of Quebec. Wouldn't we be fools to expect anything but Trouble in that case?
It looks to me like our threats towards Iran, particularly those of John McCain, have emboldened the terrorists.
If our actions weaken our allies and strengthen our enemies can they be considered wise?
A consequence of Hamas' victory, at least in the short term, is attacks on Christians inside Gaza.
Jesus, we know, would turn the other cheek (Mathew 5:39) and perhaps offer Hamas a sandwich. I expect the response from president Bush will diverge slightly from that track.
I am left to wonder what tune the neocons will sing next.
IRV
One thing I would like to see when democrats pick a presidential candidate is the use of Instant Runoff Voting.
This is a voting technique that works better to represent the will of the electorate than our current techniques. Also, experience in San Francisco indicates that when candidates must appeal to the broadest number of voters they become less polarizing:
Details here
Since IRV is scientifically proven to choose the candidate with the most appeal among primary voters, then why wouldn't democratic advisors rush to embrace it?
Another virtue of IRV is that you can vote your conscience without worrying about casting your vote for a spoiler. A vote for Nader, in other words, does not become a vote for Bush. A vote for Ross Perot, to cite another example, does not become a vote for Bill Clinton.
Can anyone think of a reason not to use IRV in the primary process?
This is a voting technique that works better to represent the will of the electorate than our current techniques. Also, experience in San Francisco indicates that when candidates must appeal to the broadest number of voters they become less polarizing:
Details here
Since IRV is scientifically proven to choose the candidate with the most appeal among primary voters, then why wouldn't democratic advisors rush to embrace it?
Another virtue of IRV is that you can vote your conscience without worrying about casting your vote for a spoiler. A vote for Nader, in other words, does not become a vote for Bush. A vote for Ross Perot, to cite another example, does not become a vote for Bill Clinton.
Can anyone think of a reason not to use IRV in the primary process?
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Musical practice
Sit down at a piano, place your right hand on a high D octave, then hammer it about every second.
You will find the noise familiar, although I cannot promise that familiarity will breed enjoyment.
This is the noise that heavy machinery makes when it backs up (PDF).
As far as I can tell all heavy equipment does this and it does so using the same sanity besieging tone.
There is a construction crew in my vicinity and it is interesting to me that the noise of pavement being peeled away cannot compete with this tonE, toNE, tONE, TONE!
Why D/D-minor, a key used to dramatic effect in horror movies (i.e. Phantom of the Opera - Bach's toccata and fugue in D-minor)?
Why not the sound of birds chirping, or that sedate squeak cars make to confirm it has been locked? Why not a sassy temptress of a voice telling us equipment is in reverse?
Why so loud that I can hear it far away?
Doesn't a thing that loud overpower the shouts likely to emanate from anyone in the danger zone?
Doesn't a thing that loud require site workers to wear ear-plugs?
Do site workers wearing ear-plugs necessitate louder warning beeps?
Are we in the midst of a cacophony cold-war?
Perhaps we need a war on backing up?
You will find the noise familiar, although I cannot promise that familiarity will breed enjoyment.
This is the noise that heavy machinery makes when it backs up (PDF).
As far as I can tell all heavy equipment does this and it does so using the same sanity besieging tone.
There is a construction crew in my vicinity and it is interesting to me that the noise of pavement being peeled away cannot compete with this tonE, toNE, tONE, TONE!
Why D/D-minor, a key used to dramatic effect in horror movies (i.e. Phantom of the Opera - Bach's toccata and fugue in D-minor)?
Why not the sound of birds chirping, or that sedate squeak cars make to confirm it has been locked? Why not a sassy temptress of a voice telling us equipment is in reverse?
Why so loud that I can hear it far away?
Doesn't a thing that loud overpower the shouts likely to emanate from anyone in the danger zone?
Doesn't a thing that loud require site workers to wear ear-plugs?
Do site workers wearing ear-plugs necessitate louder warning beeps?
Are we in the midst of a cacophony cold-war?
Perhaps we need a war on backing up?
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Surging Hamas
President Bush doesn't talk much about Israel these days, does he?
Here's why.
Remember the roadmap to peace?
Remember the two-state solution?
So much for them!
Maybe president Bush plans to pass this problem off to his successor as well as the war in Iraq?
Here's why.
Remember the roadmap to peace?
Remember the two-state solution?
So much for them!
Maybe president Bush plans to pass this problem off to his successor as well as the war in Iraq?
Underlying assumptions
Whenever a person argues that we need to stay in Iraq the person usually harbors an underlying assumption, which is, our staying will make things better.
I see no evidence to back that claim, nor have I been able to extract any from people with this faith.
Where does it come from, this belief that our presence in Iraq is a good thing that is good for Iraq and good for America? How is it people believe that if we and Iraqis are patient enough through all the killing, and committed enough through all the chaos, that all will work out for the best in the end?
Why doesn't news, like this story coming out of Iraq, ever crack the battlements of this false assumption?
What does it take to expose these fantastic, fanatical, fatal illusions for what they are to them that cling to 'em?
It doesn't seem to be logic, for there was plenty of that pre-invasion which predicted the problems we face now.
It doesn't seem to be facts on the ground, those are dismissed as so many dead US soldiers.
Once you see that our occupation is the problem it is maddening to watch the US continue to pursue it.
Are people really unable to draw such an obvious conclusion from such a complete body of evidence, or are they lying?
How do people like Joe Lieberman muster the arrogance through it all?
Anger and fear seem to be what whip irrational behavior into a full gallop.
Where are the reins on these apocalyptic pachyderms?
I see no evidence to back that claim, nor have I been able to extract any from people with this faith.
Where does it come from, this belief that our presence in Iraq is a good thing that is good for Iraq and good for America? How is it people believe that if we and Iraqis are patient enough through all the killing, and committed enough through all the chaos, that all will work out for the best in the end?
Why doesn't news, like this story coming out of Iraq, ever crack the battlements of this false assumption?
What does it take to expose these fantastic, fanatical, fatal illusions for what they are to them that cling to 'em?
It doesn't seem to be logic, for there was plenty of that pre-invasion which predicted the problems we face now.
It doesn't seem to be facts on the ground, those are dismissed as so many dead US soldiers.
Once you see that our occupation is the problem it is maddening to watch the US continue to pursue it.
Are people really unable to draw such an obvious conclusion from such a complete body of evidence, or are they lying?
How do people like Joe Lieberman muster the arrogance through it all?
Anger and fear seem to be what whip irrational behavior into a full gallop.
Where are the reins on these apocalyptic pachyderms?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Summer reading
George Bush de la Mancha, unrivaled in wit, unequaled in courtesy, supreme in gentleness of bearing, a model of friendship, generous without stint, grave without conceit, merry without being vulgar - in short, first in all that is good came upon a field of oilwells one day...
His squire, the loyal Sancho Powell, riding beside him on an ass, tried to dissuade his master from rushing into battle with so metallic a foe.
But the code of honor (or idealism) of the knights-errant insisted an unalterable course, and the brave good night took up his lance and charged...
His squire, the loyal Sancho Powell, riding beside him on an ass, tried to dissuade his master from rushing into battle with so metallic a foe.
But the code of honor (or idealism) of the knights-errant insisted an unalterable course, and the brave good night took up his lance and charged...
Friday, June 08, 2007
Amen, brother Robinson
I like to say around the Ugly Moe homeland that the next president of the United States should be smarter than me. That is viewed, particularly by my closest friends and family, as setting the bar very low and I have been accused of perpetuating low expectations.
Eugene Robinson just wrote a column for the Washington Post in which he says, "One thing that should be clear, to anyone who’s been paying attention these last few years, is that we need to go out and get ourselves the smartest president we can find."
Here is a link to his article
I can't help but wonder what might have been if the last presidential ballot were worded this way:
If you wanted to cheat on a test, would you be more likely to look over George W. Bush's shoulder, or John F. Kerry's, for the answer?
Everyone likes an idiot until they need answers.
Eugene Robinson just wrote a column for the Washington Post in which he says, "One thing that should be clear, to anyone who’s been paying attention these last few years, is that we need to go out and get ourselves the smartest president we can find."
Here is a link to his article
I can't help but wonder what might have been if the last presidential ballot were worded this way:
If you wanted to cheat on a test, would you be more likely to look over George W. Bush's shoulder, or John F. Kerry's, for the answer?
Everyone likes an idiot until they need answers.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
DEBKAfile: Turkey invades N. Iraq
According to DEBKAfile, Turkey has just invaded northern Iraq.
Is that good?
Northern Iraq is the only somewhat stable area of Iraq and the Kurds are the only population in Iraq that seem committed to a democracy, so it stands to reason that the Bush administration would allow this to happen with very little objection.
I can't wait to go to the gas-pumps now.
Is that good?
Northern Iraq is the only somewhat stable area of Iraq and the Kurds are the only population in Iraq that seem committed to a democracy, so it stands to reason that the Bush administration would allow this to happen with very little objection.
I can't wait to go to the gas-pumps now.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Digging for wisdom in the Middle East
Unwise actions are actions that have consequences which do not achieve desired results, whereas wise actions achieve desired results. In order to judge whether or not the actions of the Bush administration have been wise or unwise in Iraq, we must therefore examine the consequences of those actions.
According to the US state department's latest annual report on global terrorism,
If, then, increasing the number of terrorist attacks worldwide by 25% is desirable, then the president's actions are wise.
According to the Princeton Study on National Security, in a document entitled "Documenting the Phenomenon of Anti-Americanism" by Nicole Spedula one reads,
If, then, increasing anti-American sentiment among our allies youth is desirable, then we can consider the president's actions wise.
It is all too easy to go on in this manner, talking about the price of fuel in America today, or rising hostilities with Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela, and North Korea or our increasingly isolated positions on everything from global warming to acceptance of the rule of law.
Here is an alternative viewpoint that strikes me as wise, but it is difficult to say since I don't think it has ever been tried:
My principal reason for rejecting a US military intervention in Iran is that you go to war with the leadership you have, which at present is unwise. Colloquially expressed, it is the "stop digging" argument (i.e. when you find yourself in a hole the first thing you need to do is stop digging).
According to the US state department's latest annual report on global terrorism,
"Iraq's sectarian warfare fueled a sharp increase in global terrorism in 2006", and terrorist attacks are "up more than 25%".
Source
If, then, increasing the number of terrorist attacks worldwide by 25% is desirable, then the president's actions are wise.
According to the Princeton Study on National Security, in a document entitled "Documenting the Phenomenon of Anti-Americanism" by Nicole Spedula one reads,
"Younger people express more antipathy for America than their older cohorts in most of the West. For example, in 2002 38% in France under age 30 had an unfavorable opinion of the U.S. and by 2005 64% view America negatively. In Britain, America’s closest ally in the war on terrorism, animosity among the young has double in the last three years—from one-in-six in 2002 to one-in-three in 2005. A similar rise in the dislike of America is seen in Germany and it is even more pronounced in Spain; fully 62% of Spaniards under age 30 have a negative view of the U.S. while just 39% of their elders say so."
Source
If, then, increasing anti-American sentiment among our allies youth is desirable, then we can consider the president's actions wise.
It is all too easy to go on in this manner, talking about the price of fuel in America today, or rising hostilities with Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela, and North Korea or our increasingly isolated positions on everything from global warming to acceptance of the rule of law.
Here is an alternative viewpoint that strikes me as wise, but it is difficult to say since I don't think it has ever been tried:
If the origins of terrorism are to be found in poverty and debt, it is not to be wondered at that military action is no solution but only serves to exacerbate the evil. It would be better, and far less costly, to cancel the debt and relieve the poverty.
Source: Michael Barratt Brown
My principal reason for rejecting a US military intervention in Iran is that you go to war with the leadership you have, which at present is unwise. Colloquially expressed, it is the "stop digging" argument (i.e. when you find yourself in a hole the first thing you need to do is stop digging).
Attention!
Here is a story that deserves all of the attention it can get, I think, so take a look already:
JFK terror plot
Good work kos. Every candidate for president should consider themselves forearmed.
JFK terror plot
Good work kos. Every candidate for president should consider themselves forearmed.
Proof the Yankees suck.
If mean people suck,
and these Yankees are mean,
then it stands to reason,
based upon the transitive property of equality,
that Yankees suck doesn't it?
and these Yankees are mean,
then it stands to reason,
based upon the transitive property of equality,
that Yankees suck doesn't it?
Monday, June 04, 2007
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran?
Isn't executing an "end run" around the duly elected leader of a democracy treason?
Cheney's end-run
The vice president may be a lot of things, but I can't picture him as a traitor or in any way disloyal to the Bush family.
He would have to be both, wouldn't he, if this report were true?
Cheney's end-run
The vice president may be a lot of things, but I can't picture him as a traitor or in any way disloyal to the Bush family.
He would have to be both, wouldn't he, if this report were true?
Friday, June 01, 2007
Urgent Juxtaposition
From the past...
From the present...
The future?
We will go where we are headed unless we abandon the present course.
I cannot think of a bigger "catastrophic emergency" than ceding even more constitutional power to herr Bush. I doubt, for instance, the Americans that were left behind after Katrina would look favorably on that remedy.
No responsible person would ever let an insane person or child play with loaded guns Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid. In this case, legislators, you have a convergence.
The cards are on the table.
The Reichstag Fire Decree issued by German president Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933 ... nullified many of the key civil liberties of German citizens. With Nazis in powerful positions of the German government, the decree was used as the legal basis of imprisonment of anyone considered to be opponents of the Nazis, and was used to suppress publications not considered "friendly" to the Nazi cause. The decree is considered by historians to be one of the key steps in the establishment of a one-party Nazi state in Germany.
Source: Wikipedia
From the present...
The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007, would place all governmental power in the hands of the President and effectively abolish the checks and balances in the Constitution.
If a "catastrophic emergency" -- which could include a terrorist attack or a natural disaster -- occurs, Bush's new directive says: "The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government."
Source: AlterNet
The future?
We will go where we are headed unless we abandon the present course.
I cannot think of a bigger "catastrophic emergency" than ceding even more constitutional power to herr Bush. I doubt, for instance, the Americans that were left behind after Katrina would look favorably on that remedy.
No responsible person would ever let an insane person or child play with loaded guns Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid. In this case, legislators, you have a convergence.
The cards are on the table.
Saving Family Farms
Republicans know the power of myth and normally place the cart of details in front of the horse of facts by building the myth first and trying to validate it second. They have found that this saves considerable time.
They have identified a powerful new myth, that of the family farm forced to go under by a brutal tax on their inherited wealth.
So, donning monkey bodies and bat wings, minions of Karl Rove fly out the windows of his dark keep scouring the heartland of America for a single instance of this myth. So far, they are all cart and no horse, but flying monkey hirelings work cheap and the will of the dark one is strong. The dark one is untroubled because he knows that by using his dark powers and his dark will he can conjure up facts that cast a spell on the electorate, but only for a short while because Truth the good witch watches over the munchkins.
Meanwhile the lollipop league chips in with facts and findings and reports, which do nothing to undermine the myth, but rather draw attention to it since the munchkins in munchkinland distrust "book smarts".
Oh, but how they love to sing and dance!
So...
Republicans searched high,
and they searched low,
lookin' for a farmer that had to go;
Cause the millions his dad left him somehow,
Weren't enough to buy seed nor' plow.
Democrats did hem and
Democrats did haw and
Watched the proceedings with an old slack jaw,
Till a singer barged in with his own refrain
Sayin', "Boys get aboard my Conga train".
Refrain:
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
Keep the idle-rich tax!
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
Keep the Wal-Mart heir tax!
A good myth does not engage the intellect which is why it is no use to combat it with scientific observation. Luckily, co-opting the myth always worked like a bucket of water on a witch for Bill Clinton.
They have identified a powerful new myth, that of the family farm forced to go under by a brutal tax on their inherited wealth.
So, donning monkey bodies and bat wings, minions of Karl Rove fly out the windows of his dark keep scouring the heartland of America for a single instance of this myth. So far, they are all cart and no horse, but flying monkey hirelings work cheap and the will of the dark one is strong. The dark one is untroubled because he knows that by using his dark powers and his dark will he can conjure up facts that cast a spell on the electorate, but only for a short while because Truth the good witch watches over the munchkins.
Meanwhile the lollipop league chips in with facts and findings and reports, which do nothing to undermine the myth, but rather draw attention to it since the munchkins in munchkinland distrust "book smarts".
Oh, but how they love to sing and dance!
So...
Republicans searched high,
and they searched low,
lookin' for a farmer that had to go;
Cause the millions his dad left him somehow,
Weren't enough to buy seed nor' plow.
Democrats did hem and
Democrats did haw and
Watched the proceedings with an old slack jaw,
Till a singer barged in with his own refrain
Sayin', "Boys get aboard my Conga train".
Refrain:
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
Keep the idle-rich tax!
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
Keep the Wal-Mart heir tax!
A good myth does not engage the intellect which is why it is no use to combat it with scientific observation. Luckily, co-opting the myth always worked like a bucket of water on a witch for Bill Clinton.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Deterministic Disquiet
Determinism seems to be the belief that all human traits are biological and all human actions nothing more than mechanical responses to stimuli.
Mark Twain wrote about determinism in a short story called, "What is Man?"
I find something lacking in this idea but it is very difficult to express. When Lilly Tomlin said, "Accountants know the cost of everything but the value of nothing," she came close to expressing the flavor of my opposition to determinism.
I know it is childish to refuse to believe something because I find it objectionable, so that places me in a state of disharmony.
I accept that environment contributes greatly to a person's character. Those raised in Tibetan monasteries will turn out differently than those raised in jihadist enclaves. Those taught that it is wrong to kill and steal will turn out differently than those taught that it is the key to unlock a heavenly harem.
I accept that hereditary makeup contributes greatly to your opportunities and limitations. Those born severely disabled will not achieve athletic renown. Those born mentally disabled will not achieve cognitive renown.
Since training seems to influence behavior, bringing out valor in soldiers and inflaming cruelty in the practitioners of fundamentalist religions, then it seems possible to assert that your ethical makeup can be influenced. Since a man will act as he believes, then it seems possible to assert that your actions can be molded.
But how are emotions explained?
If I am stirred by a work of art while another is not, or I am awed by a landscape which another finds uninteresting is that wholly a matter of training and exposure? Is hope a wholly biological response?
What makes determinism so hard to address is that it makes the argument I am who I am because I had the biological and environmental experiences that I have had. That if I had had other traits or trips I would be different.
I can not escape my nature or trade my skin for another to test these claims can I?
And if I could would not the claims of determinism follow me still?
I cannot exist outside of my own experiences and neither can anyone else.
Therefore it seems determinism is a vexing opinion, but not a theory which can satisfy the falsifiability principle.
My desire to be more virtuous motivates a lot of my thoughts at present, and I find determinism an interesting way to think about the world and I hope that reflection upon its premises will train me to be more forgiving of other people's faults (I am sufficiently gracious with regard to mine own faults).
Why do we seem to instinctively distrust and dislike anyone that is seen as too calculating and insincere.
If determinism is true then there is no such thing as sincere or insincere since we are not capable of behaving in any way other than that which we have, do, or will behave.
In other words we could say that Hillary Clinton and Newt Gingrich are non-sincere people. We could say that a suicide bomber is non-sincere or a child that brings a flower for his mother is non-sincere.
Something tells me that this is false yet I cannot convince even myself that it is such.
There seems to me to be more to a person than a lamp-post. We experience we evaluate we feel. We disappoint ourselves and sometimes we redeem ourselves. We fall in love and hurt ourselves, and then we fall in love again. We are attracted by beauty. We desire to be happy and to avoid suffering.
Don't we?
Aren't there more to emotions than meets the I?
Mark Twain wrote about determinism in a short story called, "What is Man?"
I find something lacking in this idea but it is very difficult to express. When Lilly Tomlin said, "Accountants know the cost of everything but the value of nothing," she came close to expressing the flavor of my opposition to determinism.
I know it is childish to refuse to believe something because I find it objectionable, so that places me in a state of disharmony.
I accept that environment contributes greatly to a person's character. Those raised in Tibetan monasteries will turn out differently than those raised in jihadist enclaves. Those taught that it is wrong to kill and steal will turn out differently than those taught that it is the key to unlock a heavenly harem.
I accept that hereditary makeup contributes greatly to your opportunities and limitations. Those born severely disabled will not achieve athletic renown. Those born mentally disabled will not achieve cognitive renown.
Since training seems to influence behavior, bringing out valor in soldiers and inflaming cruelty in the practitioners of fundamentalist religions, then it seems possible to assert that your ethical makeup can be influenced. Since a man will act as he believes, then it seems possible to assert that your actions can be molded.
But how are emotions explained?
If I am stirred by a work of art while another is not, or I am awed by a landscape which another finds uninteresting is that wholly a matter of training and exposure? Is hope a wholly biological response?
What makes determinism so hard to address is that it makes the argument I am who I am because I had the biological and environmental experiences that I have had. That if I had had other traits or trips I would be different.
I can not escape my nature or trade my skin for another to test these claims can I?
And if I could would not the claims of determinism follow me still?
I cannot exist outside of my own experiences and neither can anyone else.
Therefore it seems determinism is a vexing opinion, but not a theory which can satisfy the falsifiability principle.
My desire to be more virtuous motivates a lot of my thoughts at present, and I find determinism an interesting way to think about the world and I hope that reflection upon its premises will train me to be more forgiving of other people's faults (I am sufficiently gracious with regard to mine own faults).
Why do we seem to instinctively distrust and dislike anyone that is seen as too calculating and insincere.
If determinism is true then there is no such thing as sincere or insincere since we are not capable of behaving in any way other than that which we have, do, or will behave.
In other words we could say that Hillary Clinton and Newt Gingrich are non-sincere people. We could say that a suicide bomber is non-sincere or a child that brings a flower for his mother is non-sincere.
Something tells me that this is false yet I cannot convince even myself that it is such.
There seems to me to be more to a person than a lamp-post. We experience we evaluate we feel. We disappoint ourselves and sometimes we redeem ourselves. We fall in love and hurt ourselves, and then we fall in love again. We are attracted by beauty. We desire to be happy and to avoid suffering.
Don't we?
Aren't there more to emotions than meets the I?
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
216 and 38
216 and 38 are important numbers, reflecting as they do the level of democratic House and Senate hypocrisy on the issue of Iraq (respectively).
In this excellent post David Sirota discusses what weakness looks like to the American people:
Let us count the ways...
In the last election cycle Americans looked at Iraq and viewed the election of Republican candidates as an obstacle to a solution to that problem. They then removed Republicans from office in race after race after race.
With the curtain drawn aside and the rug pulled out to boot what happens next?
Will Republican blowback turn into incumbent blowback?
In this excellent post David Sirota discusses what weakness looks like to the American people:
Let us count the ways...
In the last election cycle Americans looked at Iraq and viewed the election of Republican candidates as an obstacle to a solution to that problem. They then removed Republicans from office in race after race after race.
With the curtain drawn aside and the rug pulled out to boot what happens next?
Will Republican blowback turn into incumbent blowback?
Disease and class
Doctors like Paul Farmer have been saying for years that a selfish reason to see to it that the poor have access to a decent standard of living and medical care is that disease does not respect class boundaries.
This epidemic in Chicago seems to show the arguments' validity:
MRSA on the march
Here is a disease that got it's start, or found an ideal launching pad, in an over-crowded prison.
Because we didn't care about the prisoners conditions, the disease spread among the prisoners.
Because 350 prisoners a day are released to poor neighborhoods, the disease found a new launching pad among the Chicago poor.
Because we didn't care about the living conditions of the poor, the disease spread among the poor.
Because the poor intermingle with the rich, at least as far as cleaning their homes, doing their laundry and other "remedial" tasks are concerned, the disease will likely spread among the rich.
Will anyone care then?
This is just another good argument in favor of universal health care, but one that even the most selfish, heard-hearted, individual can agree with if possessed with a sense of self-preservation.
I am reminded of the adage, "Whatsoever you do to the least of your brothers, that you do unto you."
I fear we are living in an age of consequences.
ADDENDUM: Michael Moore has a new movie out called Sicko which highlights the inefficiencies of our current health care system. You can see his first live interview in 2.5 years below:
Sicko out soon
This epidemic in Chicago seems to show the arguments' validity:
MRSA on the march
Here is a disease that got it's start, or found an ideal launching pad, in an over-crowded prison.
Because we didn't care about the prisoners conditions, the disease spread among the prisoners.
Because 350 prisoners a day are released to poor neighborhoods, the disease found a new launching pad among the Chicago poor.
Because we didn't care about the living conditions of the poor, the disease spread among the poor.
Because the poor intermingle with the rich, at least as far as cleaning their homes, doing their laundry and other "remedial" tasks are concerned, the disease will likely spread among the rich.
Will anyone care then?
This is just another good argument in favor of universal health care, but one that even the most selfish, heard-hearted, individual can agree with if possessed with a sense of self-preservation.
I am reminded of the adage, "Whatsoever you do to the least of your brothers, that you do unto you."
I fear we are living in an age of consequences.
ADDENDUM: Michael Moore has a new movie out called Sicko which highlights the inefficiencies of our current health care system. You can see his first live interview in 2.5 years below:
Sicko out soon
Friday, May 25, 2007
Cosmoes
This morning I was walking through a park/cemetery near my home. Early cemeteries were often made for both the living and the dead and my walk was enjoyable.
As I was walking I looked up at an impressive maple tree in the morning light. It's leaves were bright (spring) green and as I was gazing at it my mind wandered...
When light strikes an object, such as a leaf, what we see is the light which was not absorbed by the object. In the case of our friend the leaf, this means red and blue wavelengths are absorbed by the leaf and green is reflected to my eyes.
That is simple enough and I've known that for a long time, but this morning it struck me that if there was any color this leaf existed as in reality, it most definitely is not green. In actuality it should be a shade of magenta (a color defined by it's absence of green).
If you want a better sense of what I am talking about, think of a photographic negative.
I am still curious about what happens when light is absorbed by an object, and why reflection of a particular wavelength happens at all. It seems like it could be similar to the way two magnets can be made to attract or repel each other depending upon their polarity alignment.
However, back to my wandering...
There are some colors of particular interest. Black is black because it absorbs all wavelengths of light. White is white because it reflects all wavelengths of light.
In other words, black is white and white is no color at all.
Poetically it seems fitting that the whitehouse is a place where light does not enter.
But, stars would be pin-points of blackness in an otherwise bright white sky.
Black holes are white holes.
Black people are white and white people are black.
Nothing is as it appears and I've been looking at the world all wrong.
This little light of mine seems to be emitting darkness.
Spooky thoughts for a cemetery stroll.
As I was walking I looked up at an impressive maple tree in the morning light. It's leaves were bright (spring) green and as I was gazing at it my mind wandered...
When light strikes an object, such as a leaf, what we see is the light which was not absorbed by the object. In the case of our friend the leaf, this means red and blue wavelengths are absorbed by the leaf and green is reflected to my eyes.
That is simple enough and I've known that for a long time, but this morning it struck me that if there was any color this leaf existed as in reality, it most definitely is not green. In actuality it should be a shade of magenta (a color defined by it's absence of green).
If you want a better sense of what I am talking about, think of a photographic negative.
I am still curious about what happens when light is absorbed by an object, and why reflection of a particular wavelength happens at all. It seems like it could be similar to the way two magnets can be made to attract or repel each other depending upon their polarity alignment.
However, back to my wandering...
There are some colors of particular interest. Black is black because it absorbs all wavelengths of light. White is white because it reflects all wavelengths of light.
In other words, black is white and white is no color at all.
Poetically it seems fitting that the whitehouse is a place where light does not enter.
But, stars would be pin-points of blackness in an otherwise bright white sky.
Black holes are white holes.
Black people are white and white people are black.
Nothing is as it appears and I've been looking at the world all wrong.
This little light of mine seems to be emitting darkness.
Spooky thoughts for a cemetery stroll.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Re: Yesterday's post
Yesterday it seemed clear to me that the democratic calculus regarding the betrayal of their mandate to end the war in Iraq was a clarion call to ridicule.
Americans across the nation have been obliging this call, and none louder or better than MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:
You call that leadership?
What are Americans to think of our state of affairs when those we worked hard for and had such hope for betrayed that work and that vision in less than one year and after a single test of their will?
What are our troops to think of our state of affairs when they give and give and give and Washingtonians vacillate and vacillate and vacillate in the face of back door drafts, secondary surges, and rapidly expanding chaos in Iraq?
When lives and blood are on the line it is doubly immoral to knowingly pursue what is clearly the wrong course. This applies to republican and democratic legislators alike. Each delay of one day means 3 more American GIs killed (on average), and an uncounted number of Iraqis killed.
I, like Keith, cannot imagine these elected representatives will be warmly received in their home districts over Memorial Day weekend. I hope San Francisco in particular spares no tar or feathers for Ms. Pelosi.
Americans across the nation have been obliging this call, and none louder or better than MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:
You call that leadership?
What are Americans to think of our state of affairs when those we worked hard for and had such hope for betrayed that work and that vision in less than one year and after a single test of their will?
What are our troops to think of our state of affairs when they give and give and give and Washingtonians vacillate and vacillate and vacillate in the face of back door drafts, secondary surges, and rapidly expanding chaos in Iraq?
When lives and blood are on the line it is doubly immoral to knowingly pursue what is clearly the wrong course. This applies to republican and democratic legislators alike. Each delay of one day means 3 more American GIs killed (on average), and an uncounted number of Iraqis killed.
I, like Keith, cannot imagine these elected representatives will be warmly received in their home districts over Memorial Day weekend. I hope San Francisco in particular spares no tar or feathers for Ms. Pelosi.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Motives
Currently the democratic party is having a fight. Unlike fights in hockey where the outcome is usually a minor injury to a single person, this fight has grave consequences for our soldiers currently in Iraq or in transition to Iraq.
On one side of this fight are the democratic legislators that think fighting means asking, "How high?" when the president says, "Jump!".
On the other side of this fight are the democratic legislators that wish to check the president's power and begin ending this war in Iraq sooner rather than later.
Conventional wisdom says the American people strongly support the second group of legislators because they are sick and tired of being mired in a Nixonian quagmire and being led by a "meatball mind".
Senator Russ Feingold falls squarely in the second camp and is trying to challenge the first camp to "cowboy up" as people of western persuasion like to say:
Russ's statment
I, myself, fall in the second camp. I believe that republican legislators want to game the war and postpone it enough, say to the fall of 2008, to make the reality of our failure there apparent only after the next election cycle.
I know that sounds cynical of me, but it's not like the very same thing hasn't been done before (specifically on the advice of Henry Kissenger to Richard Millhouse Nixon).
Here is an excerpt from Robert Dallek's new book, Nixon and Kissinger: Partner's in Power:
Christopher Hitchens, that prince of politeness, that man of reserved manner, has this to say about Robert's new book:
Partners in
Crime
ADDENDUM: While Group 1 democratic legislators are busily trying to frame their timidity as a courageous moral victory, a Google news search of the words "democrats cave timetable" seems to provide an insurmountable counter-argument to that theme. Another blow to that marketing campaign would be to mention that the whitehouse is characterizing this new democratic approach as a "victory" that gives them "what we've wanted all along"
Does the democratic leadership feel the American people want to see more of the same?
Do they feel the best way to make a fool of a fool is to let him have his way? If so, the potential for education seems exhausted with respect to Mr. Bush.
I think democratic leadership underestimates the patience of the American people in the face of American blood spilling unjustly.
On one side of this fight are the democratic legislators that think fighting means asking, "How high?" when the president says, "Jump!".
On the other side of this fight are the democratic legislators that wish to check the president's power and begin ending this war in Iraq sooner rather than later.
Conventional wisdom says the American people strongly support the second group of legislators because they are sick and tired of being mired in a Nixonian quagmire and being led by a "meatball mind".
Senator Russ Feingold falls squarely in the second camp and is trying to challenge the first camp to "cowboy up" as people of western persuasion like to say:
Russ's statment
I, myself, fall in the second camp. I believe that republican legislators want to game the war and postpone it enough, say to the fall of 2008, to make the reality of our failure there apparent only after the next election cycle.
I know that sounds cynical of me, but it's not like the very same thing hasn't been done before (specifically on the advice of Henry Kissenger to Richard Millhouse Nixon).
Here is an excerpt from Robert Dallek's new book, Nixon and Kissinger: Partner's in Power:
"Nixon wanted to plan the removal of all US troops by the end of 1971, but Henry cautioned that if North Vietnam then destabilized Saigon in 1972, it could have an adverse effect on the president's re-election. He recommended a pullout in the fall of 1972, "so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election." He had nothing to say about the American lives that would be lost in the service of Nixon's reelection."
Christopher Hitchens, that prince of politeness, that man of reserved manner, has this to say about Robert's new book:
Partners in
Crime
ADDENDUM: While Group 1 democratic legislators are busily trying to frame their timidity as a courageous moral victory, a Google news search of the words "democrats cave timetable" seems to provide an insurmountable counter-argument to that theme. Another blow to that marketing campaign would be to mention that the whitehouse is characterizing this new democratic approach as a "victory" that gives them "what we've wanted all along"
Does the democratic leadership feel the American people want to see more of the same?
Do they feel the best way to make a fool of a fool is to let him have his way? If so, the potential for education seems exhausted with respect to Mr. Bush.
I think democratic leadership underestimates the patience of the American people in the face of American blood spilling unjustly.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Open letter to Republicans
Scrap the field of candidates that you have running for president and convince William Sebastian Cohen to run. He's smart, unlike McCain or Lieberman he's truly bipartisan, and he has a strong track record with national defense.
He's also good on T.V. and is socially progressive enough to support the E.R.A., which could bring the Republican Party out of the 1800s and into the 1900s.
I think he would salvage a little dignity for true conservatives who've had to bear a big-government, borrow and spend, secretive...oh I could go on.
Bill Cohen '08
A better man and a better way forward.
No?
He's also good on T.V. and is socially progressive enough to support the E.R.A., which could bring the Republican Party out of the 1800s and into the 1900s.
I think he would salvage a little dignity for true conservatives who've had to bear a big-government, borrow and spend, secretive...oh I could go on.
Bill Cohen '08
A better man and a better way forward.
No?
Monday, May 21, 2007
A confession
I believe that global warming is real. I believe this because Venus is further from the sun than Mercury, but is hotter due to what science calls "Run away global warming."
Yet...
When I went out car shopping recently I didn't buy a hybrid vehicle. In fact, once I found out that all they came in were automatic transmissions, I didn't even test-drive one.
In my defense I live in a rugged climate and standard transmissions are superior in snow.
But, that wasn't what anchored my purchasing choice.
It was all about the turning, and the speed, and the look, and the feel, and the power.
How can one aware of global warming and it's causes be so selfish as to indulge in a terrestrial rocket?
Perhaps, through our car, we project our identity and I am too insecure to drive a glorified golf-cart and feel good inside.
I ask for forgiveness from future generations who will no doubt pay a heavy price for choices like mine.
It is always easier to confront someone else's moral shortcomings. When confronting my own I desperately try to make excuses for myself, "But it's a near-zero emission vehicle!", "You don't drive that much!", "The gas mileage is actually pretty good!", "Those hybrids have batteries that will probably wind up in some land fill!"...
All self-deception.
I was selfish and I am sure future generations will find my selfishness appalling, coming as it does at their expense.
Lucky for me I know there is no pleasure like a guilty pleasure and I know a nice lake road in the country where I can indulge it.
Vrooooom.
Yet...
When I went out car shopping recently I didn't buy a hybrid vehicle. In fact, once I found out that all they came in were automatic transmissions, I didn't even test-drive one.
In my defense I live in a rugged climate and standard transmissions are superior in snow.
But, that wasn't what anchored my purchasing choice.
It was all about the turning, and the speed, and the look, and the feel, and the power.
How can one aware of global warming and it's causes be so selfish as to indulge in a terrestrial rocket?
Perhaps, through our car, we project our identity and I am too insecure to drive a glorified golf-cart and feel good inside.
I ask for forgiveness from future generations who will no doubt pay a heavy price for choices like mine.
It is always easier to confront someone else's moral shortcomings. When confronting my own I desperately try to make excuses for myself, "But it's a near-zero emission vehicle!", "You don't drive that much!", "The gas mileage is actually pretty good!", "Those hybrids have batteries that will probably wind up in some land fill!"...
All self-deception.
I was selfish and I am sure future generations will find my selfishness appalling, coming as it does at their expense.
Lucky for me I know there is no pleasure like a guilty pleasure and I know a nice lake road in the country where I can indulge it.
Vrooooom.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Life imitates Art
"But the Emperor has nothing at all on!", said a little child.
"Listen to the voice of innocence!", exclaimed his father; and what the child has said was whispered from one to another.
"But he has nothing at all on!", at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought the procession must continue it's course! And the lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a trian, although, in reality, there was no train to hold."
"Listen to the voice of innocence!", exclaimed his father; and what the child has said was whispered from one to another.
"But he has nothing at all on!", at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought the procession must continue it's course! And the lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a trian, although, in reality, there was no train to hold."
Sharpton vs Hitchens
You may have heard about the Al Sharpton vs Christopher Hitchens debate due to Al's derogatory remarks towards Mitt Romney.
But if you haven't seen the debate you are missing out on one of the better defenses of God that I have seen.
What makes Al's case so strong?
He refuses to defend the Bible or the Koran or any other denominational dogma, but rather posits what I call the Morality from Design argument:
Smackdown on Slate
I suspect Al knows that making the claim "God is not great" is a curious claim for an atheist to make (supposing as it does God's existence), and is too good a lawyer to get off a bone with meat like that on it.
Christopher Hitchens does assault religion with gusto and style, but he never did address Al's main thrust and so I give the edge to Al Sharpton.
I think that Socrates addressed Dr. Sharpton's argument in Euthyphro, or at least could provide Dr. Sharpton with a good puzzle to sort out.
His analysis went something like this:
Does God approve of my actions because they are good, or are my actions good because God approves of them?
If my actions are good only because God approves of them, then good is entirely arbitrary, depending upon the whims of God.
If, on the other hand, God approves of my actions because they are intrinsically good, then there must be some divine source of values which we might come to know independently of God.
See what you think of the debate. I enjoyed it.
I'll add one final thought. I feel that Bill Clinton is at his best when being attacked, for instance by Amy Goodman, because it is a chance for him to expose his value judgements and they are usually sound. I feel that Al Sharpton, and perhaps religious leaders in general, grow in my esteem when speaking frankly about their sprirituality rather than their "denominational dogma" (i.e. religious habits).
See what you think.
But if you haven't seen the debate you are missing out on one of the better defenses of God that I have seen.
What makes Al's case so strong?
He refuses to defend the Bible or the Koran or any other denominational dogma, but rather posits what I call the Morality from Design argument:
Smackdown on Slate
I suspect Al knows that making the claim "God is not great" is a curious claim for an atheist to make (supposing as it does God's existence), and is too good a lawyer to get off a bone with meat like that on it.
Christopher Hitchens does assault religion with gusto and style, but he never did address Al's main thrust and so I give the edge to Al Sharpton.
I think that Socrates addressed Dr. Sharpton's argument in Euthyphro, or at least could provide Dr. Sharpton with a good puzzle to sort out.
His analysis went something like this:
Does God approve of my actions because they are good, or are my actions good because God approves of them?
If my actions are good only because God approves of them, then good is entirely arbitrary, depending upon the whims of God.
If, on the other hand, God approves of my actions because they are intrinsically good, then there must be some divine source of values which we might come to know independently of God.
See what you think of the debate. I enjoyed it.
I'll add one final thought. I feel that Bill Clinton is at his best when being attacked, for instance by Amy Goodman, because it is a chance for him to expose his value judgements and they are usually sound. I feel that Al Sharpton, and perhaps religious leaders in general, grow in my esteem when speaking frankly about their sprirituality rather than their "denominational dogma" (i.e. religious habits).
See what you think.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Falwell falls
Conventional wisdom says you should never speak ill of the dead and as of today that includes Jerry Falwell.
Details here
Here are some of his quotes to mark his passing:
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
"Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America."
"Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan in America."
"Scientology has a terrible track record of bigotry."
"I think the Moslem faith teaches hate."
"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
"There's been a concerted effort to steal Christmas."
Shortly after 9/11 on the 700 club he had this to say:
"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, 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.'"
It seems that sometimes misfortune befalls the wholly virtuous.
Details here
Here are some of his quotes to mark his passing:
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
"Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America."
"Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan in America."
"Scientology has a terrible track record of bigotry."
"I think the Moslem faith teaches hate."
"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
"There's been a concerted effort to steal Christmas."
Shortly after 9/11 on the 700 club he had this to say:
"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, 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.'"
It seems that sometimes misfortune befalls the wholly virtuous.
Juxtaposition Disorder
On January 27, 2005 president Bush was asked if the United States would pull it's troops out of Iraq if requested to do so by the duly, newly elected government. His response was, "Absolutely. This is a sovereign government. They're on their feet."
Source: New York Times, Jan 28, 2005
On May 10, 2007 "A majority of members of Iraq's parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels."
Source: Washington Post, May 11, 2007
Is it likely president Bush will keep his word if this bill becomes law?
For McCain's take on this issue see this commentary by Arianna Huffington.
Source: New York Times, Jan 28, 2005
On May 10, 2007 "A majority of members of Iraq's parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels."
Source: Washington Post, May 11, 2007
Is it likely president Bush will keep his word if this bill becomes law?
For McCain's take on this issue see this commentary by Arianna Huffington.
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Jamaican Threat
While "rogue state" Jamaica does not have the potential to hit Europe with nuclear warheads yet, the US State Department has begun proceeding with plans to deploy elements of an anti-ballistic missile defense system in Antillean nations in preparation for the inevitable confrontation.
Exchange the word Iran for the word Jamaica above and you have real news.
I am not sure it is much more realistic.
Exchange the word Iran for the word Jamaica above and you have real news.
I am not sure it is much more realistic.
The reality of war
Most people killed in war are civilian women and children.
Iraq is no exception.
Infant mortality rate in Iraq rises 125%
Iraq is no exception.
Infant mortality rate in Iraq rises 125%
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Lightly
When I throw a javelin it has a front (point) a middle (shaft) and an end (the feathered bit).
Does the same hold true for light? When I shine a flashlight, for instance, and then turn it off, is there a beginning and a middle and an end similar to the javelin?
What happens when this light hits a wall? It doesn't go through the wall, but does the middle and the end collapse into the beginning in a type of wave-canceling erasure?
I know what happens when a javelin hits a wall.
Imagine I am outside with my flashlight and I shine it "straight up". Suppose that a beam of light does have a beginning, middle, and end. Let's call it a light javelin. As I understand it, the mass in our universe will eventually warp our javelin so that it orbits our galaxy at some point.
Is this what cosmic background radiation is?
What happens when two light javelins collide? Can a light quanta, or photon, from one javelin be dislodged by another and sent ricocheting off in another direction?
Are these neutrinos?
I think I'm going to look at the intersection of two flashlights and see what it looks like.
Does the same hold true for light? When I shine a flashlight, for instance, and then turn it off, is there a beginning and a middle and an end similar to the javelin?
What happens when this light hits a wall? It doesn't go through the wall, but does the middle and the end collapse into the beginning in a type of wave-canceling erasure?
I know what happens when a javelin hits a wall.
Imagine I am outside with my flashlight and I shine it "straight up". Suppose that a beam of light does have a beginning, middle, and end. Let's call it a light javelin. As I understand it, the mass in our universe will eventually warp our javelin so that it orbits our galaxy at some point.
Is this what cosmic background radiation is?
What happens when two light javelins collide? Can a light quanta, or photon, from one javelin be dislodged by another and sent ricocheting off in another direction?
Are these neutrinos?
I think I'm going to look at the intersection of two flashlights and see what it looks like.
Friday, May 11, 2007
The pot calls the kettle black
Now that Iraq is viewed as a quackmire by most observers, the people that beat the drums of war loudest are starting to turn on each other.
Here is a letter to the editor of the Washington Post by Richard Perle entitled:
How the CIA failed America
After reading his letter it is worth recalling some of the gems uttered by Richard Perle:
"A year from now, I'll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush."
"If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy but just wage a total war, our children will sing great songs about us years from now."
"There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they've been liberated. "
"I've known Ahmed Chelabi for more than a dozen years. He is a man, in my experience, of absolute integrity and courage, and he would be a great Iraqi leader."
"If Iraq turns out to be the success I'm confident it will be, I think others in the region will look at Iraq and say, Why can't we rid ourselves of a regime that's rather similar in some ways to the Iraqi regime? So the precedential effect of liberating Iraq may assist in bringing about democratic reform elsewhere."
Without this context you might consider Richard Perle a blameless victim after reading his letter. With context you might realize there is plenty of blame to go around for this costly mistake.
Primarily the blame seems to be the firmly held notion that external societies can be redesigned with warfare to suit our ends, and that ghastly means justify those ends. A lot of over-confidence in one's own opinion also seems to have played a role. I suppose one should not discount a lack of sympathy for the suffering of others.
As ugly as the past few years have been, the back-biting, legacy-inflating, egotistical lashings of the Bush administration officials towards each other shall undoubtedly surpass them.
Here is a letter to the editor of the Washington Post by Richard Perle entitled:
How the CIA failed America
After reading his letter it is worth recalling some of the gems uttered by Richard Perle:
"A year from now, I'll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush."
"If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy but just wage a total war, our children will sing great songs about us years from now."
"There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they've been liberated. "
"I've known Ahmed Chelabi for more than a dozen years. He is a man, in my experience, of absolute integrity and courage, and he would be a great Iraqi leader."
"If Iraq turns out to be the success I'm confident it will be, I think others in the region will look at Iraq and say, Why can't we rid ourselves of a regime that's rather similar in some ways to the Iraqi regime? So the precedential effect of liberating Iraq may assist in bringing about democratic reform elsewhere."
Without this context you might consider Richard Perle a blameless victim after reading his letter. With context you might realize there is plenty of blame to go around for this costly mistake.
Primarily the blame seems to be the firmly held notion that external societies can be redesigned with warfare to suit our ends, and that ghastly means justify those ends. A lot of over-confidence in one's own opinion also seems to have played a role. I suppose one should not discount a lack of sympathy for the suffering of others.
As ugly as the past few years have been, the back-biting, legacy-inflating, egotistical lashings of the Bush administration officials towards each other shall undoubtedly surpass them.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Sony Reader
Here are some more comments on my Sony Portable Reader System (PRS-500).
1. There must be a law which says, the more careful you are with something the more likely you are to drop it. Having satisfied this law I can now say that a reader dropped from table height does not appear to suffer any damage.
2. The naming scheme for purchased books is a hodge-podge of letters and number like, cbuscerhi0014p0j.lrx, rather than "My Life.lrx". I find this matters when trying to confirm if a backup was successful.
3. The computer-based Connect Reader software has a lovely search capability built-in. It is very fast and works well. While I don't feel the need for that on my device, I must admit it is nice to search the book on my computer.
But...
Once you search for and find what you are looking for you may select text but cannot then do anything with it if said text is in a "Secure BBeB book".
My expectation is that I should be able to copy the text out of the book I paid for and paste it to the clipboard complete with properly formatted citation.
Why else allow me to select the text?
Why else allow me to search?
Without this I imagine the reader is a lot less attractive to students.
4. People that are far-sighted really love demonstrations of scalable fonts.
I am finding that the more I use my reader the more I like it. I think that if Sony can drop their desire to rule the world and instead manage to hear what their customer's want the device will continue to grow in popularity.
1. There must be a law which says, the more careful you are with something the more likely you are to drop it. Having satisfied this law I can now say that a reader dropped from table height does not appear to suffer any damage.
2. The naming scheme for purchased books is a hodge-podge of letters and number like, cbuscerhi0014p0j.lrx, rather than "My Life.lrx". I find this matters when trying to confirm if a backup was successful.
3. The computer-based Connect Reader software has a lovely search capability built-in. It is very fast and works well. While I don't feel the need for that on my device, I must admit it is nice to search the book on my computer.
But...
Once you search for and find what you are looking for you may select text but cannot then do anything with it if said text is in a "Secure BBeB book".
My expectation is that I should be able to copy the text out of the book I paid for and paste it to the clipboard complete with properly formatted citation.
Why else allow me to select the text?
Why else allow me to search?
Without this I imagine the reader is a lot less attractive to students.
4. People that are far-sighted really love demonstrations of scalable fonts.
I am finding that the more I use my reader the more I like it. I think that if Sony can drop their desire to rule the world and instead manage to hear what their customer's want the device will continue to grow in popularity.
Cosmoes Too
This new book about Einstein has got me thinking once again about the universe.
Einstein's theory of relativity predicted that gravity would affect light and make it bend. The theory was confirmed with observation during a solar eclipse.
That brings up two questions to my mind:
1. Does light have mass since gravity affects it?
2. If light will bend, then theoretically it ought to be possible to:
a. Make it orbit
b. Catapult it around a massive body and increase it's speed as is done with satellite launches. This would mean light ought to be able to travel at speeds faster than the speed of light.
Einstein's theory of relativity predicted that gravity would affect light and make it bend. The theory was confirmed with observation during a solar eclipse.
That brings up two questions to my mind:
1. Does light have mass since gravity affects it?
2. If light will bend, then theoretically it ought to be possible to:
a. Make it orbit
b. Catapult it around a massive body and increase it's speed as is done with satellite launches. This would mean light ought to be able to travel at speeds faster than the speed of light.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
A simple fact
Since February 1st, 2007 - the date of our troop surge began, the US casualty rate has surged to 3.25 per day.
This has happened right under the careful watch of a newly elected democratic Congress with a mandate to change the course.
I am getting impatient and I am not alone.
This has happened right under the careful watch of a newly elected democratic Congress with a mandate to change the course.
I am getting impatient and I am not alone.
Cosmoes
I've been reading Einstein: His life and Universe by Walter Isaacson and have arrived at a section on general relativity.
As I understand it the theory of general relativity predicts that the amount of matter in our universe causes space and time to curve back in on itself and our universe can be thought of as existing on the surface of an expanding balloon.
As I thought about that I wondered if it were possible that our universe were inside a black hole, and if other black holes were universes that we are on the outside of.
It is interesting to me that a black hole is known to form after a super novae, which means there is a mighty big bang.
As I understand it matter comes from stars too.
I haven't got the math skills to investigate the idea, or the background to know if this is an absurd idea, yet isn't it lovely to consider such questions even for a moment?
It is said that not even light can escape a black hole. This is because the gravitational mass bends it back on itself is it not?
Could it be...
As I understand it the theory of general relativity predicts that the amount of matter in our universe causes space and time to curve back in on itself and our universe can be thought of as existing on the surface of an expanding balloon.
As I thought about that I wondered if it were possible that our universe were inside a black hole, and if other black holes were universes that we are on the outside of.
It is interesting to me that a black hole is known to form after a super novae, which means there is a mighty big bang.
As I understand it matter comes from stars too.
I haven't got the math skills to investigate the idea, or the background to know if this is an absurd idea, yet isn't it lovely to consider such questions even for a moment?
It is said that not even light can escape a black hole. This is because the gravitational mass bends it back on itself is it not?
Could it be...
Monday, May 07, 2007
Sugar-coated caskets?
On May 6th, 2007 (Sunday) 12 US soldiers were killed.
This means there have been 25 US soldiers killed in the first 7 days of May.
Does that sound like success to you?
How about the death of 20 Iraqis trying to shop at a market?
It seems to me that all the killing is more a force of habit than a force of hope. They kill us because we're there, and we kill them for the same reason. Meanwhile, lunatics are blowing themselves up at the markets in order to show-off to Allah.
How does presidential stubbornness make a thing like that better?
Isn't it time for a political surge that ends this war before it gets even worse?
I prefer donuts to the dozen over deaths.
Perhaps with Roadblock Republicans it is the other way around?
Isn't it better to have a sugar-coated donut than a sugar-coated presidential pronouncement prolonging a problematic war?
I think so, but I'm partial to donuts.
This means there have been 25 US soldiers killed in the first 7 days of May.
Does that sound like success to you?
How about the death of 20 Iraqis trying to shop at a market?
It seems to me that all the killing is more a force of habit than a force of hope. They kill us because we're there, and we kill them for the same reason. Meanwhile, lunatics are blowing themselves up at the markets in order to show-off to Allah.
How does presidential stubbornness make a thing like that better?
Isn't it time for a political surge that ends this war before it gets even worse?
I prefer donuts to the dozen over deaths.
Perhaps with Roadblock Republicans it is the other way around?
Isn't it better to have a sugar-coated donut than a sugar-coated presidential pronouncement prolonging a problematic war?
I think so, but I'm partial to donuts.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
911 Revisited
I remember watching the twin towers fall on 9/11. My first impression was that I was witnessing a demolition, not a collapse.
But...
The experts came on TV and talked about melting I-beams and latent heat and what-not and I accepted the explanation.
However, many people, including an engineer from MIT, call into question the official story of what happened on 9/11.
They've put together a documentary revisiting 911 that raises questions about the official story:
911 Revisited
I don't know enough to say whether my initial impression was correct. I do know I don't trust that which emanates from the lips of this president, but a cover-up of this magnitude requires too much complicity to seem realistic to me.
What do you think?
But...
The experts came on TV and talked about melting I-beams and latent heat and what-not and I accepted the explanation.
However, many people, including an engineer from MIT, call into question the official story of what happened on 9/11.
They've put together a documentary revisiting 911 that raises questions about the official story:
911 Revisited
I don't know enough to say whether my initial impression was correct. I do know I don't trust that which emanates from the lips of this president, but a cover-up of this magnitude requires too much complicity to seem realistic to me.
What do you think?
Democrats lend me your ears
30 Republicans lost their seats in the last national election and 0 Democrats did. That is America speaking loud and clear about the war in Iraq. It is a mandate for change.
Americans didn't give you a majority so you could pretend to oppose the president and then "back down" at the very first road-block.
Washington Post: Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable
Giving the president what he wants is the problem.
Perhaps you should reflect that what you compromise is our troops lives.
You should also reflect on the language in the Washington Post story above. President Bush expects to secure an agreement, while Democrats hope to reach a compromise.
ADDENDUM: Pelosi and Reid say that Washington Post story saying Democrats "Backed Down" to Bush's demands is false. Details here
Americans didn't give you a majority so you could pretend to oppose the president and then "back down" at the very first road-block.
Washington Post: Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable
Giving the president what he wants is the problem.
Perhaps you should reflect that what you compromise is our troops lives.
You should also reflect on the language in the Washington Post story above. President Bush expects to secure an agreement, while Democrats hope to reach a compromise.
ADDENDUM: Pelosi and Reid say that Washington Post story saying Democrats "Backed Down" to Bush's demands is false. Details here
Remember when...
Remember when conservative pundits went nutty because John Kerry suggested that we needed tough police action to fight al Qaeda?
Well, it turns out that:
John Kerry and Howard Dean have pretty good track records with their public statements. Too bad that doesn't matter a whit in "Not your father's America".
Well, it turns out that:
Police officers worldwide have arrested five times as many suspects linked to al-Qaeda as military operations have captured or killed: in Asia, excluding Iraq and Afghanistan, the proportion rounded up by police is believed to be as high as 70%.
Source: Fighting the global insurgency
John Kerry and Howard Dean have pretty good track records with their public statements. Too bad that doesn't matter a whit in "Not your father's America".
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Fleeting Wisdom
Governor George W. Bush
June 5th, 1999
Scripps Howard/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Criticizing President Clinton for not setting a timetable for exiting Kosovo
Source: Bush demanding a time table
Governor George W. Bush
April 9th, 1999
Houston Chronicle
Also criticizing president Clinton about the war in Kosovo.
Source: Bush demanding exit strategy
It seems that president George W. Bush would accuse governor George W. Bush of failing to support the troops in harms way and of being guilty of trying to tie the hands of the commander in chief.
June 5th, 1999
Scripps Howard/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Criticizing President Clinton for not setting a timetable for exiting Kosovo
“I think it’s important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they would be withdrawn.”
Source: Bush demanding a time table
Governor George W. Bush
April 9th, 1999
Houston Chronicle
Also criticizing president Clinton about the war in Kosovo.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”
Source: Bush demanding exit strategy
It seems that president George W. Bush would accuse governor George W. Bush of failing to support the troops in harms way and of being guilty of trying to tie the hands of the commander in chief.
The veto in context
How does one put president Bush's veto of the new Iraq war funding bill into context?
Bill Scher offers this advice:
Monumental snubbing of the public will
I think democrats need to start trotting out words like "sad", "stubborn", "delusional" and "pathetic" to describe the president at this point.
It is criminal that people are dying so he can pretend he's the last gun blazing at the Alamo.
ADDENDUM: Two generals get it
Bill Scher offers this advice:
Monumental snubbing of the public will
I think democrats need to start trotting out words like "sad", "stubborn", "delusional" and "pathetic" to describe the president at this point.
It is criminal that people are dying so he can pretend he's the last gun blazing at the Alamo.
ADDENDUM: Two generals get it
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Does this apply to us?
I began reading an article on the Winograd report, which analyzed Israel's attack on Lebanon last year. After a couple of paragraphs I began to have deja vu all over again.
Source: Ynet news
Those Israeli editorial writers sure are feisty. I suppose the same tone would be considered radical here, or unprofessional.
...we are not talking about mere failures. We are talking about this country's continued existence being a true miracle. Because a country whose prime minister failed in exercising judgment, whose defense minister failed in doing his job, whose chief of staff made false presentations and contributed decisively to the flaws and failures, whose General Staff suffered from lack of creativity, and whose government voted without understanding what it was voting on – is a country that was abandoned.
This is a country without leadership. This is a country whose army disappointed it. It is a country whose government is pathetic and whose ministers are unworthy of serving in their posts.
Source: Ynet news
Those Israeli editorial writers sure are feisty. I suppose the same tone would be considered radical here, or unprofessional.
Simplification
Here is a tiny tune, badly sung, which attempts to simplify the situation in Iraq for politicians.
If you don't bring them home...
Wouldn't it be swell if crowds of people sang this song, perhaps holding hands and swaying, to passing politicians?
Perhaps it should be sung for the denizens of the press too?
I think I have no shame.
If you don't bring them home...
Wouldn't it be swell if crowds of people sang this song, perhaps holding hands and swaying, to passing politicians?
Perhaps it should be sung for the denizens of the press too?
I think I have no shame.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Buying the War
Bill Moyers put together a nice little program on PBS that I think you are going to like. It is an expose on the press complicity which turned the hunt for Osama into a problematic nation-building exercise in Iraq.
Buying the war
Enjoy the show.
Buying the war
Enjoy the show.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Scientific Govermental Method
I wonder how government would change if it were forced to apply the principles of Scientific Method to legislation.
What if laws were subjected to peer review for possible mistakes before being accepted?
What if each law had to adhere to the falsifiability principle by including a series of objective benchmarks that would invalidate the law? That is, what if a law were invalidated if it's predictions were contradicted by reality?
What if important positions in government could not be obtained without satisfying certain merit requirements?
What if results had to be reproducible by others within the governmental community?
What if government workers were expected to maintain detailed records of their experimental procedures in order to provide evidence of the effectiveness of the tactic?
The Achilles Heel of this concept is that it demands the intellectual honesty of the participants.
But I can dream, can't I?
What if laws were subjected to peer review for possible mistakes before being accepted?
What if each law had to adhere to the falsifiability principle by including a series of objective benchmarks that would invalidate the law? That is, what if a law were invalidated if it's predictions were contradicted by reality?
What if important positions in government could not be obtained without satisfying certain merit requirements?
What if results had to be reproducible by others within the governmental community?
What if government workers were expected to maintain detailed records of their experimental procedures in order to provide evidence of the effectiveness of the tactic?
The Achilles Heel of this concept is that it demands the intellectual honesty of the participants.
But I can dream, can't I?
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Sometimes the boat needs to rock
Even though we have what is arguably the most corrupt administration in American history very few legislators in Washington talk about impeachment.
This is a moral failure, since impeachment is accountability.
One Congressperson, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, has decided to rock the boat and introduce House Resolution 333 whose purpose is to Impeach vice-president Richard Cheney.
Why such a resolution should be considered boat rocking is beyond me.
Perhaps Ms. Pelosi feels it would be a conflict of interest for her to publicly support impeachment since she would be the primary beneficiary?
If that's how she views the issue she should reconsider, since it is we, the American people, that would have the most to gain by ridding ourselves of president Bush.
Perhaps Ms. Pelosi doesn't want a Democrat to be saddled with the unwinnable situation that is Iraq?
That would be a shame since that attitude places party ahead of country, and that is precisely what makes the Bush administration so bad for America.
The choice is either impeach president Bush or wait him out. Dennis Kucinich seems to favor the former, while Nancy Pelosi seems to favor the latter.
Waiting him out likely involves more catastrophes for America and quite possibly for Iran and Israel as well. Waiting him out means his corrupt cronies get off Scott-free (via presidential pardons) and Americans pay the penalty (via higher taxes or a lower quality of life).
I say impeach because there ought to be penalties for abusing trust and power. Without that it won't be long until the next pampered prince of privilege comes along and treats the United States government like an unguarded candy store.
This is a moral failure, since impeachment is accountability.
One Congressperson, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, has decided to rock the boat and introduce House Resolution 333 whose purpose is to Impeach vice-president Richard Cheney.
Why such a resolution should be considered boat rocking is beyond me.
Perhaps Ms. Pelosi feels it would be a conflict of interest for her to publicly support impeachment since she would be the primary beneficiary?
If that's how she views the issue she should reconsider, since it is we, the American people, that would have the most to gain by ridding ourselves of president Bush.
Perhaps Ms. Pelosi doesn't want a Democrat to be saddled with the unwinnable situation that is Iraq?
That would be a shame since that attitude places party ahead of country, and that is precisely what makes the Bush administration so bad for America.
The choice is either impeach president Bush or wait him out. Dennis Kucinich seems to favor the former, while Nancy Pelosi seems to favor the latter.
Waiting him out likely involves more catastrophes for America and quite possibly for Iran and Israel as well. Waiting him out means his corrupt cronies get off Scott-free (via presidential pardons) and Americans pay the penalty (via higher taxes or a lower quality of life).
I say impeach because there ought to be penalties for abusing trust and power. Without that it won't be long until the next pampered prince of privilege comes along and treats the United States government like an unguarded candy store.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)