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Monday 31 January 05
ESPRESSO SHOTS...
BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID...
In They Finally Fear US KOS today posts a quote today from the Los Angeles Times that echoes that sentiment in its penultimate graf. Some senior Democratic operatives say unease about a Dean chairmanship is widespread among congressional leaders and many governors. But almost none of those grumbling privately have expressed their concerns publicly — in part, some believe, because they fear crossing the ardent grass-roots, Internet-activist community still backing Dean. Fear is the tool of bullying. Respect is the tool of statecraft. I'll opt for the latter over the former any day. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Sunday 30 January 05
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE...?
What the meeting really boiled down to was developing an exit strategy. The approximately 20 people in attendance spent about an hour brainstorming potential actions. That list was then added to the similar list developed two weeks ago. Then we proceeded down the combined list to consider whether or not there were already groups addressing those issues. Of the 40-plus items on the list, the group found only five that were not being addressed. They were: 1. Sanctioning Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. The importance of these items paled when compared to the other items on the list. At the end of the meeting, one of the key organizers, Turo Dexter, told the group that while he might attend future meetings, that based on this list he would be devoting his energies to the one or more of the other groups addressing more important issues. I agree with Mr. Dexter. The most valuable piece of information that came out of the meeting was a single sheet listing the websites for the various organizations. I'm afraid I did not catch the name of the woman who provided this list. If anyone reading this can provide it, I would very much like to give her full credit for his work. At the top of her list was: Up For Democracy. This is a new site that intends to be the nexus for information on all the groups involved. This site is not yet up. So, in the meantime, consider these: Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections. The Center For Voting And Democracy. The Electronic Reform Information Project. The National Ballot Integrity Project. The U.S. Voting Integrity Project. The Verified Voting Foundation. I'll be looking over the list this week to see where I'm going to put my volunteer hours. You should too. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
WE ARE NOT BETTER...
Want to get ahead today? Forget what your parents told you. Instead, do something foreigners can't do cheaper. Something computers can't do faster. And something that fills one of the nonmaterial, transcendent desires of an abundant age. In other words, go right, young man and woman, go right. The question I have is, what makes Pink think that foreigners can't do creative cheaper? The notion that they can't is ludicrous. In the 20th century we struggled with the idea of a global village. In the 21st century it's going to be a global hut. The only thing that matters now is simply this: can you deliver the desired product more cheaply than your competitor. The key word there is, of course, desired. Nothing else matters. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Saturday 29 January 05
QABALA AND CULTS...
James Randi this week published a communication from a reader in the Netherlands reporting on a BBC program about the Kabbalah Centre in London. In That Damned Red String Again, Mario Tamboer writes: While recently in the UK for business I saw an excellent program on the BBC about the Kabalah Centre, who as you know have Madonna and Britney Spears as followers, with the Red String, magical Kabalah water, magic books and who knows what else. The program was very disturbing, and I think the Kabalah Centre needs more attention from the JREF and others. The BBC sent some people in with hidden cameras. The centre promised one man miracles for his cancer, with their sacred Kabalah Water, and they pushed hard on a woman to go on their very expensive tour to Israel, to celebrate the Jewish New Year — flight, hotel, food etc. provided exclusively by them — for a very high price. When the woman said she had no money, they told her to go and get it from friends and family. Sounds a bit like the scam of the Filipino healers I read about in "Flim Flam." According to an ex-follower, the leader of the cult — that's what it is — and his wife make their followers work long hours with no pay, selling Kabalah stuff. They get a bigger house and bigger car almost every year, and blow loads of money on clothes, jewels and casinos. Can you say "The Faith Healers"? According to the ex-follower, there is a core of about 300 followers that will do anything their leader tells them to do, including, as she said literally, "drinking poison and killing themselves, just like happened in Jonestown." Like I said, the program was very disturbing. It looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I do hope the JREF and friends can make a difference and expose the Kabalah Centre for what it is before it is too late. A more detailed account of the BBC program can be found in: The Great Kabbalah Con Exposed. Here's the money graph from that article: Then I had a session with Rabbi Eliyahu Yardeni, a Kabbalah Centre teacher. He told me about the meaning of life and the secrets of the universe, and volunteered a staggering piece of information: "Just to tell you another thing about the six million Jews that were killed in the Holocaust. The question was that the Light was blocked. They didn't use Kabbalah." It sounded as though he was blaming the Holocaust on its victims. Then he made a vitriolic attack on mainstream rabbis, labelling them the enemy of the Kabbalah Centre. I'm not Jewish, but his unprovoked rantings about Hitler's victims left me questioning his sanity. Not me. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
MORE CONVENTION CENER STUPIDITY...
In the case of Cleveland, that caution may apply. The city's current convention center has 345,000 square feet of exhibit space, and the current discussion involves building or renovating a hall of roughly the same size. So a new center here would not add to the national glut. What it would do is enable this city to compete more effectively for available customers, many of whom say they like Cleveland's amenities and location but simply will not come to an 83-year-old building with low ceilings and poor sight lines. OK, so if we build a convention center that is half the size of the current one we will be reducing the glut and make it even more likely that we'll draw convention business to Cleveland? That'll impress the Pulitzer board. Yep. It sure will. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Friday 28 January 05
A TALE OF TWO WAL-MARTS...
WHAT STUDIES...
...the ideal is where a child be raised by a man and a woman. That's the ideal world. A married man and a woman. Yes, that is his ideal world. Then he added something else: ...studies have shown that the ideal is where a child is raised in a married family with a man and a woman. Norm Scheiber jumps on the claim in his The New Republic Online blog. In The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations , And The Soft Bigots Who Exploit Them, Scheiber writes: Um, which studies are those? There is, in fact, basically zero social scientific evidence demonstrating this. Here, for example, is the key graf from the most authoritative article I've read on the subject, by UC Santa Barbara researcher Nathaniel Frank: Stacey and Biblarz's conclusions decisively rebut the idea that growing up with gay parents is harmful: Such children "display no differences from heterosexual counterparts in psychological well-being or cognitive functioning," they write. In addition, Stacey and Biblarz find that gay parenting "has no measurable effect on the quality of parent-child relationships or on children's mental health or social adjustment." This, as it happens, was also the determination of the American Psychological Association (APA) after an extensive 1995 review of the literature on gay families. Children raised by gay parents, the APA concluded, are not "disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to the children of heterosexual parents." The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry echoed this finding in its 1999 statement opposing discrimination against gay parents. Ditto the American Academy of Pediatrics in a 2002 policy statement, saying children of gay parents have "the same advantages and the same expectations for health, adjustment, and development" as those of heterosexual parents. Indeed, not a single reputable study shows any harm whatsoever to children living in same-sex-headed households. I won't be holding my breath for the retraction (or the citations for the studies referenced by the President) from the White House. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
PLAYING A RACE CARD...
Let's start with the facts. Mr. Bush's argument goes back at least seven years, to a report issued by the Heritage Foundation - a report so badly misleading that the deputy chief actuary (now the chief actuary) of the Social Security Administration wrote a memo pointing out "major errors in the methodology." That's actuary-speak for "damned lies." In fact, the actuary said, "careful research reflecting actual work histories for workers by race indicate that the nonwhite population actually enjoys the same or better expected rates of return from Social Security" as whites. Next? To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
MORE VOTING FRAUD...
Several volunteer workers in the Ohio recount in Clermont County, Ohio have prepared affidavits alleging serious tampering, violations of state and federal law and possible fraud. They name the Republican chief of Clermont’s Board of Elections Daniel Bare and the head of the Clermont Democratic Party Priscilla O’Donnell as complicit in these acts. These volunteers, observing the recount on behalf of the Greens, Libertarians and Democrats, assert that during the Dec. 14, 2004 hand recount they noticed stickers covering the Kerry/Edwards oval, whereas the Bush/Cheney oval seemed to be “colored in.” Some witnesses state that beneath the stickers, the Kerry/Edwards oval was selected. The opti-scan ballots were then fed into the machines after the hand recount. The story is unclear exactly what these stickers were. According to the story, one volunteer attempted to take a picture of a "stickered" ballot, but was prevented from doing so by the Republican chief of Clermont’s Board of Elections, Daniel Bare. If what happened was that someone place white or blank stickers over Kerry votes and then darkened the Bush oval on the opti-scan ballot it has to be pretty stupid. There is a part of me that wants to say that the election was nearly two months ago and we need to get over it. Then my head does a flashback to 1972 and a little thing called Watergate. The Watergate break in occurred on the evening of 17 June. The story stumbled along and on 7 November President Richard Nixon crushes Senator George McGovern with 60 percent of the vote. (That's called a mandate.) Nearly a year later, on 18 May, the nation was captivated by the televised Senate Watergate hearings. Not until 14 months later, under pressure from his own party, did President Nixon read the handwriting on the wall and resign. It was John Dean who told President Nixon "There's a cancer on the presidency." Could we be suffering a relapse? To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
NO. 4 IN THE WORLD...
Now, before any readers dial 911 or suspect an alien takeover, I still think President Bush is the worst president in my lifetime and possibly the history of the United States. I also think that Secretary Rice is going to lead the State Department in the wrong direction. But that's politics. I have a different view of the world than either the President or the newest member of his cabinet. The reason I'm proud is that no one cares that Secretary Rice is a black woman. Her race and her gender are transparent to the world and I have to stand up and applaud that. She got her job because she and the president are of a like mind. Period. Every administration from this point forward must now meet this same test. The people who surround the president are not symbols, they are part of the brain trust that guides our nation and as such there can be only one criteria: does the president respect and trust them? We can argue qualifications and previous actions, and, yes there is plenty to disagree with in Secretary Rice's past, but there is nothing there to disqualify her from fulfilling the expectations of her boss and her oath of office. The next four years are going to be interesting ones. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Thursday 27 January 05
RECOUNT, THE LONG HAUL...
According to Richard Reinoehl, the meeting organizer, the meeting's agenda includes: Discussing and determining the group's goals... This meeting is crucial, with far reaching implications for our group, says Reinoehl. Hope to see you there. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
FROM MY DAD...<.B>
My dad sent this to me yesterday. Which are you? A carrot, an egg and a cup of coffee... You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?" Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity ... boiling water, each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?" Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way! The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying. Thanks Dad, this came at a really good time. I love you. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
12 ANGRY...
But the telling piece, to date, is this: I had agonized about my ability to be impartial throughout the night, holding myself to a standard far more rigorous than any defense or prosecuting attorney could ever imagine. In the end, I believed that I could be a very fair and thoughtful juror. I was summarily booted within no time, feeling like a cross between a failed game show contestant and a misunderstood intellectual. After lunch, the same process repeated itself. Say it isn't so, Trial Attorneys, say it isn't so. All my professional friends had warned me that highly educated persons are an endangered species on juries, that lawyers are looking for people who are easily manipulated or swayed and figure that we cannot, or will not, be. How is a jury devoid of at least one or two highly educated professionals representative of the diversity of our culture? Are highly educated, professional people incapable of being fair? Isn't it ironic that attorneys are obsessed with the issue of prejudice when selecting a jury, yet seem to have figurative cataracts about those of us who have shown a commitment to education and the life of the mind? Remember Lois, trials are not about justice or being fair. They're about winning, because that's the only thing you can really measure. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
FROM A READER...
From Cailin, one of my loyal readers this morning (hmmm, The Grateful Dead had Deadheads, Jimmy Buffet has Parrotheads, Rush Limbauhg has Dittoheads; does that make my loyal readers... [duck] Beanheads?) comes this great little piece of social satire from the Washington Post's inestimable Tom Toles.
Wednesday 26 January 05
LOST FEATHERS...
First, there was the homophobic witch hunt. That one put a real tarnish on the silver of my eagle medal. I almost boxed up the medal and shipped it off to the national headquarters. I didn't because when I held the medal in my hands I remembered all the things I had done to earn it and decided that it still meant something important to me. Now there is this story on CNN this morning about the padding of membership roles in Alabama for personal and organizational gain. The Greater Alabama Council has a strong reputation nationally. In 2002, it received an award for a program that used fishing to bring in new members. The council claimed 10,000 new Scouts that year, and tax forms show it had revenue of $6.5 million, including $100,709 in government grants. In a United Way funding application, the group said it served almost 120,000 youths and adults in 2003. "I would say the numbers are probably inflated 30 to 40 percent in our council," Tom Willis, a scouting volunteer, said. No. 1 on the list of Scout Laws is: Trustworthy. Not in Alabama, it seems. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Tuesday 25 January 05
A MILESTONE...
For the record, the 10,000th hit was logged as a referent from Google originated by: 106-17.35-65.tampabay.rr.com Thank you. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
ARRGGGHHH...!
Are there rational legislative methods of addressing these issues in a manner that does not demand increased spending? There must be. But if there isn't, then the Democrats have to clearly state where the money is coming from. Is the assumption that it will come from the cash flooding the treasury when the President's tax cuts are repealed? Maybe, but not in the next four years. Is the plan really as cynical as this: We tried our hardest to fix these problems and put more money in the pockets of people who need it, but those evil Republicans controlling the House, the Senate and the White House, blocked us at every turn. If you want more money in your pocket, vote for us in 2006 and 2008. I hope not. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Monday 24 January 05
THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA...
CNN has the story tonight about the two sons of prominent Wisconsin Democrats. Sowande Omokunde, son of Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Michael Pratt, the son of former Milwaukee acting mayor Marvin Pratt, were among those charged with criminal damage to property, a felony that carries a maximum punishment of 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The activists are accused of flattening the tires on 25 vehicles rented by the state Republican Party to get out the vote and deliver poll watchers November 2. If they're found guilty, I hope the judge throws the book at them. UPDATE: An anonymous commenter asks: how old are they? From published reports, Omokunde is 25 and Pratt is 32. I too found it strange that their ages weren't listed, specially when the ages of the others involved were listed. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
MODERATION ABOVE THE STENCH
He called on Muslims to "protect non-Muslims in the Kingdom and not to attack them in the country or anywhere. Islam is a religion of peace that abhors attack on innocents." Militants were using misguided interpretations of Islam to justify violence, he added. "Because Muslims have strayed from moderation, we are now suffering from this dangerous phenomenon of branding people infidels and inciting Muslims to rise against their leaders to cause instability," Al-Sudais said. "The reason for this is a delinquent and void interpretation of Islam based on ignorance ... faith does not mean killing Muslims or non-Muslims who live among us, it does not mean shedding blood, terrorizing or sending body parts flying." Al-Sudais warned that extremism would ruin the Muslim nation, adding: "This phenomenon has expanded so much that scholars must confront it with concrete proof from Islam to protect our youth from its stench and rottenness." He added: "One of the main issues that needs to be tackled in principle is reform." UPDATE: Andrew's Email of the Day on 25 January wades in on the Al-Sudais speech. In part, the emailer writes: The fact is, the terrorists in Saudi Arabia are trying to dethrone a group of tyrants, i.e. the Saudi Royal family, that the U.S. has spent decades trying to keep in their thrones. Now the tyrants' mouthpiece, i.e. the Grand Imam, says that *this* terrorism is bad, because it threatens the Saudi tyranny. Now that may all be true. But does it mean that the message is wrong? And as to this terrorism, I don't have access to the Iman's whole speech, but in the excerpt I've read, I don't see any delineation between this and that terrorism. Al-Sudais' words are clear: Islam is the religion of moderation. There is no room for extremism in Islam. And even if the Iman is a mouthpiece for the Saudi royal family, his words still ring true and need to be heard. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Sunday 23 January 05
EDIFICE ENVY...
My two-cents worth is this. Since I've moved to Cleveland, first Mayor (now U.S. Senator) George Voinovich and then Mayor Michael White gave away the candy store to line the pockets of very wealthy men they wanted to suck up to. What did Cleveland get? Some very large and very empty buildings like the Society Tower, the B.P Building, the Galleria, the Avenue at Tower City, Jacob's Field and the Brown's stadium (built at a cost of nearly $300 million and used EIGHT days a year. Sometimes I wonder if Cleveland is the Nigerian-Spam scammed capitol of the world. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
NEO NEWS...
NEO's Boswell, George Nemeth has what may be the definitive list of NEO bloggers at Brewed Fresh Daily. The list that I'm working from, for now, is much shorter: 20 vs. the 194 on George's list. You can see who I'm reading at the top of the page under NEO Blogs. My criteria is pretty simple. First I've put the six bloggers I met face-to-face on the list. That seems fitting. the other 14 are the ones that I've been reading from George's list. Some, like John Ettorre, Wendy Hoke and Roldo Bartimole are writers I'm familiar with from my more than 20 years in Cleveland. Others like Colette and Chas Rich are pleasant surprises I've just discovered. All, I expect, are going to make my understanding of my Realspace community clearer. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Saturday 22 January 05
WE DON'T OWN THE PRESS...
My answer was, "I don't think so." While the 800-pound gorilla is missing from the story, here's what is being reported. Today Dan Gillmor flagged a story from Editor: Myself, where Iranian blogger Hossein Derakshan tells us that Internet Service Providers are pulling the plug on Iranian bloggers. Writing in US companies bans Internet for Iranians, almost, Derakshan says: As if being censored by the regime hasn't been painful enough, now US based hosting companies have started to shut down private and governmental Iranian accounts with a short notice. (Source: BBC Perisan) The latest victim is the students news agency (ISNA) which is ordered by its host, The Planet, to leave in 48 hours with no chance for further negotiations. In other similar incidents, I've heard that many registrars such as GoDaddy doesn't allow Iranians to register domain names either. The 800-gorilla? Why have ISPs in the U.S. "started to shut down private and governmental Iranian accounts with a short notice? In a perfect example of the power of blogs, the questions asked in the comments help to fill in the gaps. Is it because the U.S. wants to isolate Iranian communications prior to an attack? Is it because the websites haven't paid their bills? Is it because U.S. policy is to not allow Terrorist States to take advantage of our services? Is it because of credit card fraud? Derakshan doesn't tell us. Now, I must admit that those answers may be contained at the linked websites: ITIran, BBC Persian or ISNA, but they are all published in Farsi and (yes, this is my problem.) I don't read Farsi. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Friday 21 January 05
INAUGRAL-DAY HORROR FROM IRAQ...
WARNING THESE ARE DISTURBING. From Tal Afar, Iraq, via photographer Chris Hondros and the BBC News: the photos. Pray for the children, pray for the family, pray for the troops. And, most importantly, rage at the machine. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
IF TED KENNEDY HAD DRIVEN...
Thursday 20 January 05
LAYING TO REST A LIE...
One of those nudge, nudge, wink, wink things about journalism is the noble idea of Objectivity. It doesn't exist. It never existed. That is not to say that all journalists have purposely slanted their reporting and hidden behind the wizard's curtain. The reality is that no human can divorce their thoughts from their world view. It always creeps in. Dan Gillmor over at Grassroots Journalism, Etc. has a draft proposal up for what should replace Objectivity. He focuses on: 1. Thoroughness, Good stuff. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
ZEN CASH...
I have stood upon the mountain I have cried in tears of sadness I have seen my bucket empty Passin' thru, passin' thru It's a mighty world we live in The above is the spoken part of the song Passin' Thru by Randy Scruggs and Johnny Cash. The version I have appear as track 11 on the CD Earl Scruggs and Friends. You can buy a copy of the song here, but you really should get the whole album. It's great stuff. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
CONNECTED CORE...
Wednesday 19 January 05
CLEVELAND BLOGGERS MEETUP...
It was interesting that while the Arabica is wi-fied, only George popped open his laptop. We used real people skills (we even, gasp, exchanged a few business cards. So much for geek/nerd stereotypes) and enjoyed a couple of pleasant hours talking about blog news, software, building community, habits and a bit about ethics, rights and responsibilities. I'm looking forward to the next one. Thanks George. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Tuesday 18 January 05
A PIG IN A POKE...
Reforming social security is one of President Bush's top domestic priorities for his second term. His plan includes allowing younger Americans to divert part of their payroll taxes into personal investment accounts. NPR's Neal Conan leads a discussion with guests including Eugene Steurle, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, Stephen Moore, author of Bullish on Bush and Dean Baker, co-director of The Center for Economic and Policy Research. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
THE AMAZING MIND...
The closest she comes is her opening question: "...this book proposes that demonic possession is a condition psychiatrists should investigate. But how do you juggle other conflicts between theology and science..." Peck responds: Well the whole conflict between science and religion is ridiculous and shouldn't exist. That did it for me. I could understand how Peck, as a psychiatrist, could suggest that the metaphor of demonic possession might be useful in treating certain patients. But, for me, stepping beyond that line pushes the discussion into the realm of quackery and ignorance. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Monday 17 January 05
THE CYBERSPACE STATEMENT...
In tracking back from a link to John Pike's Pike Speak last night I came across North Dallas Thirty. In A Call To The Blogosphere NDT offers his thoughts on the level of discourse of late and drafts a manifesto for bloggers. In the preamble of the document NDT suggests: We believe that the power of the blogosphere is in the free exchange of ideas and thought in adherence with Thomas Jefferson's statement, "Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself." To that end, we have banded together into a Coalition of the Willful with the express intent of protecting the beauty that is free thought and respect for others and propagating these ideals as expressed below through our interactions both on- and offline. What follows are five principles of behavior for bloggers. I'm still mulling them over, but I think that NDT's core idea is sound. The nature of the beast is, of course, that those who have no interest in honest discourse are free to spew their venom, and no Coalition of the Willful can abate that. But, President Jefferson's statement on truth remains valid and we can but try. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
WHY DOES MATTER...
Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain: This idea is one that I have tried repeatedly to articulate over the past two years as I've wrestled with the preemptive war in Iraq and the sliding list of reasons for our invasion. When all the other reasons have fallen on the dust heap of lies, we have been left with "we had to invade because Saddam Hussein was a brutal and evil dictator who was slaughtering innocent people." Is this Eliot's greatest treason? To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARTIN...
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. Those words were written in a 16 April 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Entitled Letter From A Birmingham Jail, Dr. King's words beg the question: why are we where we are? A little more than three months later, on 23 June, Dr. King would tell a crowd in Detroit: I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live. May I find myself in the end, half as fit to live as he. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Sunday 16 January 05
WHEN IS IT A BOOK...?
One of my thoughtful readers comments at length on my attempt to consider the abortion debate on Thursday, 13 January's Life And Death. In part, she writes:
I'd like to offer two metaphors, first one that I'm very familiar with and second one that I can only understand by listening to others. As a writer I have assembled millions of words into various fiction and non-fiction forms. Anyone who writes understands that it is a process. But it is also fair to ask: when is it, for instance, a book? When I type "T" in the sentence, "There is no silence deeper than that between the shattering beats of an adrenaline-drenched heart," is it a book? When I type the "d" in "The End," is it a book? When a publisher accepts my manuscript for publication, is it a book? When the printer ships the bound volumes to the bookstore and it goes on the shelf for sale, is it a book? Or, as I believe, does it become a book when a kind reader exchanges legal tender with the bookstore, opens the book and, through reading, assimilates my view of reality into their own in some meaningful way? I would be hard pressed to find anyone who believes that any human between birth and death is not alive. But, there are clearly biological changes that take place in females that have, in our past, increased and decreased their value as humans. Those changes produce three clearly defined markers: pre-menstrual, menstrual and post-menstrual. At no point before or after those markers is a female more or less biologically human. Yet, in societies that value females primarily in their role as mothers, the pre- and post-menstrual female is perceived as less valuable, less worthy of protection, than a post-menstrual female. My argument then is that biological changes, as a process, are unsuitable markers for making the decision as to whether or not an organism is alive, and thus worthy or unworthy of moral protection under societies dominate ethos or legal protection under murder statutes. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
POETICALLY CHALLENGED
Outside the youth center, between the liquor store overflowing with blossomfoam, dropping snow white petals to the ground in clouds, so Nature's wastefulness seems quietly obscene. Saturday 15 January 05
COURAGE...
Scott Simon on Weekend Edition just closed a story on the subject with the line: Dan Rather might soon be available to host. Give it up Dan. Go fishing. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Friday 14 January 05
A $1,620,000,000 WINDFALL...
Urgent is when someone puts tremendous emotional energy into something. Vital, on the other hand, is the product of carefully considering those things most likely to move you the quickest towards your long-term goals. For example, your boss comes running into your office and tells you that you must deal with this customer's concerns now! Is that customer your most important customer? Is dealing with this customer's concerns more important than what you are working on? You don't need to know because none of that matters. Your boss says it's urgent and that makes it urgent. Vital gets set aside in instances such as this because somebody gets off task and declares something a crisis. Like the Social Security Crisis. Are there problems with the Social Security system? Yes. Does Congress have an obligation to address those problems? Yes. Is there an urgency associated with this obligation? President George Bush wants us to believe there is. John Pike over at Pike Speak points his readers to a discussion on this topic by Arnold Kling at Tech Central Station. Kling draws on the opinions of Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong. Krugman is an economics professor at Princeton. Brad DeLong is an economics professor at Berkeley. On the crisis question, DeLong writes: If our current General Fund deficit is like having an impaired driver who has just crashed us into a tree, and if the Medicare-Medicaid problems are like a melted transmission, and if the post-2020 General Fund is like having no brake pads left, then our long-run Social Security deficit is like a slow tire leak. In the language of Hobbs, DeLong sees vital issues being set aside to make room for the urgent crisis of Social Security. So, why the urgent crisis? There is a journalistic maxim to help reporters understand why somebody is doing what they are doing: follow the money. Who benefits the most from the present Social Security crisis? Let's follow the money. Here's how I understand the plan. Every employee today pays a social security tax equal to 12.4 percent of their annual salary up to a $87,900 salary cap (in 2004). Yes, I know that on paper the employee pays 6.2 percent and the employer pays 6.2 percent, but every employer factors their 6.2 percent into the cost of the employee, just as they do the cost of health care and other benefits, so ultimately it is the employee who pays for everything. That the employee has no choice in the matter is irrelevant. Privatization seems to give the employee some choice. But it doesn't. An employee will not see more money in their paycheck. What will happen is this: some part of the 6.2 percent (perhaps, it has been suggested, 4 percentage points) will be put under the limited control of the employee. The employee will be presented with a menu of stock investment plans similar to that found in certain 401k plans. Now, those plans vetted by the Federal Government will be huge winners. Here's how big: According to Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs, A Summary Of The 2004 Annual Reports from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, in 2004 the Old-Age and Survivor's trust fund received $456.1 billion from payroll taxes. Assume that that represents 12.4 percent (and if my math is wrong here, I'm very open to correction on the specific figures) of employees' taxed income. Four percentage points of that would be equal to $147.1 billion annually shifted to the private sector. Precisely how much of that money will go to those firms managing the funds is unclear. In the January issue of the Economist's Voice, Krugman writes: Then there are management fees. In Britain, they’re about 1.1 percent. Yes, the United States is not Great Britain and our fees could be lower. Or they could be higher. But using the 1.1 percent figure, those firms could collect $1.62 billion annually in fees from the $147.1 billion. Not a bad windfall I'd say. And a damn good reason to promote a crisis.To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
5,500 DESERTERS...?
Why isn't this story running on the front pages of our daily newspapers? To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
THE MILITARY I REMEMBER...
This Email of the Day II was posted yesterday by Andrew Sullivan on The Daily Dish. "I attended a continuing legal education seminar for Army Reserve and National Guard lawyers last weekend. I was struck by one thing: The biggest response from a ballroom full of JAG lawyers was when one dynamic Colonel spoke and said the Army needed to do a better job in handling detainees. He quoted a dispatch from WW II when the commander of a US prisoner of war camp reported back that his camp was under air attack by the German air force, that he could not protect his German prisoners of war, and he had opened the gates and set them all free. This is the standard for the US Army and we need to live up to it. The room cheered. My impression is that the people who have been trained in this stuff (at least the citizen solders) may not be terribly pleased and indeed may be somewhat embarrassed with how this is unfolding. This is also consistent with the JAG lawyers being kept out of the loop." I admire Sullivan for the way he relentlessly keeps the issue of sanctioned torture in the forefront of discussion and for holding Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others at the highest levels of our government truly accountable for this shameful behavior. The response from the email writer underscores that the problem is not in the military. Our citizen soldiers are good and dedicated individuals capable of rising to the highest levels of ethical action as illustrated by the prison camp example. If only the administration had such standards. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
A LOT OF PRETTY GOOD JOKES...
What was a consequence of Johann Sebastian Bach having 22 children? He wore out three organs fuguing. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
THE COIN OF THE REALM...
I was pleasantly surprised hear him take Armstrong Williams to task for accepting money to posture for the White House’s No Child Left Behind law, and even more so when he lambasted a broader section of the media for accept payoffs in access rather than cash. This has been a huge problem in the current administration, and Savage was the first I’ve heard acknowledge it. George W. Bush has the worst record for public accountability in the history of the country, holding fewer press conferences and accepting fewer questions than any of his predecessors. In those few limited opportunities he has exercised punitive control over who is allowed to attend, and what they are allowed to ask. The press very quickly learned to roll over and beg for a belly scratch if they wanted a quote for their story. Go Terry, and umm Michael? To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Thursday 13 January 05
LIFE AND DEATH...
John breaks the issue down to two questions: 1. When does human life begin? As answers to the first question John offers four possibilities: 1. At the time of first cell division. I think all four are bad choices because they are debatable by reasonable people. Cell division demonstrates a certain viability, but the cell is no more a human after the division than it was before the division. One understanding of embryonic is that stage when cells begin to differentiate; that is the switches in the cells' DNA begin to reset so that proto-liver cells are different from proto-finger cells. The cells are certainly different, but differentiated cells are no more human than undifferentiated cells. The trimesters are useful but artificial medical mileposts. The fetus is no more a human after that first mile post than it was before. Pike's last marker is the trickiest because I think it comes the closest to being reasonably defensible. An organism that can exist without constant care is certainly alive. I have been careful here to repeatedly use the phrase: no more human. By this I mean that if you argue that the organism is human after any one of these markers, I do not think it is reasonable to argue in any real sense that is wasn't human before the marker. Where Pike falls short, I think, is that he ignores the two most defensible markers: conception and first respiration. These two points are the ones where it cannot be reasonably argued that the organism is not fundamentally different before and after the events. At the moment of conception two cells with incomplete DNA and incapable of division join together to form a new cell with complete DNA and the capability of division. This is the marker used by the vast majority of people who oppose abortion. At the moment of birth, when the organism draws its first breath, it is clearly independent from the constant care of the mother. (Yes, the baby needs to fed and have its diapers changed, etc, but this is fundamentally different from the constant support provided from the mother via the umbilical cord.) This is the marker used by the vast majority of people who believe the decision to abort is solely the responsibility of the mother. There is also the case to be made that Biblically, the drawing of breath is a solid marker (for those who wish to rely on such support). In Genesis 2:7 we read: The Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Now, we get into the really sticky area: is there such a thing as a human soul, a something that makes humans different from other animals, and when does the organism obtain this something? There is no medical or empirical evidence for the existence of a soul. Since I'm trying my best to restrict this essay to matters of reason, I won't address the first part of the question. As to the second part, when does the soul enter the organism, I can only say that if that is your key question, then only conception and respiration are reasonable and defensible markers. So, which do I choose? My pick is the latter: respiration. I do so because the alternative has too many societal and psychological negatives. Throughout History women's lives have been unalterably changed, too often for the worse, by undesired pregnancy. I also do so because Pike's second question: Is the killing of human life immoral and illegal? is crucial. First, I would modify his question with the addition of a single word. I think the question should be: Is the killing of innocent human life immoral and illegal? I make the modification because society and morality certainly recognize the legality of the killing of a human life in cases of self-defense. In the concept of self-defense I include self-defense of: the individual, as in the case of a personal attack; society, as in the case of capital punishment; or, a nation, as in the case of war. If anyone chooses the earliest marker, conception, then they must see an abortion as the killing of an innocent and therefore morally and legally repugnant and wrong. Such a position must also eliminate any exemptions for rape or incest. An innocent is an innocent, regardless of the circumstances that brought about its creation. The issue of abnormal fetal development is a medical one and there is no way that society can reasonably legislate that. As regards the health of the mother, in no other case does society attempt to weigh the right to life between two individuals. I can only say that I agree with those who say that an unquestionable life is more valuable than one that is in anyway questionable. That is, perhaps, the least defensible of my positions because both parties are innocents (and no, I won't get into the issue of "she got drunk and got herself pregnant"), but if I have to come down one way or the other, I come down on the side of the mother. I empathize with those who choose conception as their marker. I disagree with it for the reasons stated above, but I fully understand it and recognize that to do any less than they do to oppose such killing would be to shoulder a horrible guilt. Those who oppose abortion for reasons of personal power and gain, however, are beyond the scope of this discussion and must be left for another time. OK. I just did a pulse check and I'm at a safe 76 beats per minute. The ball's in your court, John. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Wednesday 12 January 05
THE $241,000...
I read Armstrong Williams apology on The Right Side With Armstrong Williams, and a few other websites, and I have just one question. Does this mean I can expect to read any moment now that Mr. Williams has refunded the full $241,000 of taxpayer's money, plus interest to the Department of Education? UPDATE: I sent the following email to Mr. Williams this morning at The Right Side With Armstrong Williams through this email address: arightside@aol.com. Shalom Mr. Williams, So, I can expect to read any moment that you’ve refunded the $241,000 of taxpayer's money, plus interest, to the Department of Education? B'shalom, Jeff Hess Mr. Williams cordially responded: I'm a business man and I was paid for a service that I provided. Thank you for expressing your views. I appreciate your concerns, I have accepted responsibility for my actions, and I am now putting this issue in perspective and learning from it. Again, thank you for your concerns. Armstrong Williams So, no refund on our misspent tax money. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Tuesday 11 January 05
AM I PROTECTED...?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation may be the one to test the issue. It's defending the bloggers under attack by Apple. The bloggers published leaked information about a new product code-named Asteroid, and Apple wants to know who did the leaking. This one is going to be really hard to draw a line on. If an 18-year-old high school student publishes information about a sealed, but leaked, agreement concerning some impropriety by a faculty member, can that student be forced to reveal their source? Sounds like fun, don't it? To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
LOWERING THE BAR...
I didn't. I didn't because while I recognized that the Democrats in Congress were doing a lot of things I couldn't support (remember the banking scandal?), I was certain that Gingrich and the Republicans would do no better. I saw the behavior as common to politicians, or anyone in power, and not a Democrat thing. I tried, in vain, to convince Rick that a turnover in Congress might provide some immediate change, but the long-term result would be a return to business as usual. OK, yes, I am a tad cynical. Today on The New Republic Online, Quinn Hillyer takes a focused look at that descent in Broken Contract. In part, Hillyer writes: Compare the actions taken by the GOP Congress in 1995 and 1996 to the recent actions of Congressional Republicans: Back then, House Republicans loudly trumpeted their strict new near-ban on lobbyists' gifts to representatives and staffers; in 2003, they gutted the gift ban by raising the gift-value limit by about tenfold. Back then, they put stricter limits on the types of free junkets available to members and staff; in 2003, they exempted "charitable" junkets from those limits. Back then, they boasted about opening the legislative process to public scrutiny by making all committee hearings (unless classified for security reasons) open to the public; now, they write most of the significant parts of their bills behind the closed doors of House-Senate conferences. My stand today is the same as it was 10 years ago. Turn the House over to the Democrats and you'll get a temporary change to the good for a year or two and then the slide to business as usual will start all over again. One of the things that Gingrich touted in the Contract With America was universal, Constitutionally mandated term limits. (Note how many of the Class of '94 are still holding onto their seats?) It was a good idea then and it's a good idea now. Gingrich wrote in the summary for the Citizen Legislature Act: This resolution provides for consideration of two joint resolutions which propose amendments to the constitution limiting the number of terms members of the Senate and the House of Representatives can serve. The first joint resolution (identical to H.J.Res. 38 as introduced in the 103rd Congress) limits the number of Senate terms to two and the number of House terms to six. The second joint resolution (identical to H.J.Res. 160 as introduced in the 103rd Congress) also limits Senators to two terms, but it limits members of the House to three terms. Under the terms of this resolution, the joint resolution with the text of H.J.Res. 38 will be debated first and the first amendment in order will be a substitute consisting of H.J.Res. 160. With apologies to Benjamin Franklin: Members of the House, like fish, begin to smell after three terms. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
WHOSE PRESS...?
There is, I think, good reason that the Founding Fathers put these words at the head of the Bill of Rights: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press [emphasis mine, JH]; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Over at Grassroots Journalism, Etc. (I just noticed the addition of the etc., this morning) Dan Gillmor raises the issue of Freedom of Speech, the 1st Amendment and Blogs. And this, of course, got me thinking. More than a few times I've gotten into discussions about what constitutes the press. In modern times we tend to equate that term with the mass of journalists. But that wasn't what the Framers were talking about. They meant the press literally, i.e., if you owned a printing press, a means of disseminating information through print, then you were free to print what you wanted and Congress could not abridge that freedom. That is why speech is separate in the 1st Amendment. Anyone can stand on a soap box on a street corner and speak their mind. But the owners of presses were a special case. Their words could be read by thousands or tens-of-thousands rather than tens or hundreds. They were a lot more powerful, to be feared more and thus worthy of special protection. Fast forward to 2005. I am publishing this on a press I do not own. And, to the best of my knowledge, this is true for everyone who sends their words into the ether via the Internet. I lease space on a server in Texas that makes my words available via communication lines owned by private companies and, in some cases, the Federal Government to those with too much time on their hands who might want to read what I write. Right now, everyone in the money chain is happy to take my cash and ignore what I write. But do I have any 1st Amendment protection for what I do? If I offend the Internet Service Provider or the companies that own the means of distribution and any of them decides to not allow me use of their equipment or service, do I have any 1st Amendment recourse? I don't think so. Sure, I can switch providers or communication companies. But that's an economic decision. The major protection I have right now is that I have lots of choices. But if a provider denies me service because it disagrees with what I have to say, I'm toast. I have to move if I want to keep blogging. The freedom of the press belongs to anyone who owns a press and not to anyone who wants to make use of one they do not own. We should not grow too complacent about this. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium. Monday 10 January 05
PILING ON...
Then I started reading the comments to his essay. I am certain that if Mr. Pike and I were to sit down for a conversation we would find many points of disagreement about politics and life in general. But I also think that I could have a reasoned and cordial conversation with him. His prose just strikes me that way. I do not think I can say the same of the people who wrote the vast majority of the 36 (as of 5:28 p.m. EST) comments concerning Mr. Pike's position. (Many of the comments are multi-part entries from single posters.) The comments remained civil, but their message is clear: Pike is as wrong as wrong can be; and it's because "our bible" tells us so. In the midst of the tirade, Mr. Pike chooses to respond with this comment: Thanks for the comments... they are encouraged. But all you guys did was prove my points. Couldn't have put it better myself. I would suggest to Mr. Pike that it is not possible to reason with those who do not base their lives on reason. It is my experience that the vast number of political conservatives in this country, and I include Mr. Pike in this category, do base their lives on reason. The challenge he and his peers face is how to deal with those who don't share that view yet wish to claim the conservative label. I sincerely wish him well because that is a vital task. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
SOMETHING FUN FROM MY DAD...
I grew up in and just-outside of Marietta, Ohio. This morning my dad sent me this link to a nice little before-and-after set of pictures put up by The Marietta Times. Enjoy. Thanks, Dad. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
DON'T TRY TO CONFUSE ME WITH FACTS....
Here's the money quote: This past December, Republican strategist Jack Burkman appeared on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" to back creationism in terms of populist democracy. "Why should the state and the federal government have a monopoly on defining what constitutes science?" he asked. "I see no problem with presenting a creationist view in the schools, given that 70 percent of Americans want that. The law should reflect democratic desires. It should reflect public desires." Of course, public desires don't determine the physical facts of the world. "The best argument that the creationists have got is that it's only fair to teach both sides," [Nick] Matzke [a spokesman for the National Center for Science Education], said. "The problem with that argument is that science is not a democracy and a lot of times there aren't two correct sides. There are people who believe that the sun goes around the earth. They're called geocentrists. That doesn't mean we should teach that." Amain. The Salon article caught the eye of at least one other blogger. Over at Pharyngula, PZ Myers weighs in on the topic with Stupid Is Easy. (Be sure to select Pirate Mode, it rocks.) From the Have Coffee Will Write archives: More Selling Of Ignorance..., Tuesday, 7 December; Cretins..., Friday, 19 November; and It's NOT Just A Theory..., Saturday, 13 November. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Sunday 09 January 05
SO WHAT...?
First, I'd like to answer Pitts' final question in the essay: Kids have been bullied and ostracized from the beginning of time. Why is it they are just now picking up guns? Because that's the way cool people settle things in the real world. When was the last time we saw a movie about a diplomat? We don't want to emulate an intellectual who wrestles with all sides of a complicated issue to craft a solution. We want to be the no-nonsense, black-and-white cowboy who knows what's right and does it. One of the flippant phrases I would hear during my time in the U.S. military was: Kill'em all and let God sort'em out. Second, Pitts writes: What's changed, then, is not the situation, but the way many young people respond to it. The way they seem to take each torment as a personal affront, an insult not to be borne on pain of death. I disagree with Pitts. It's always been personal. There was a time not so long ago when civilized gentlemen fought duels to the death over matters of personal honor. The junior-league version of such duels were common not that long ago in any school yard. I once got into a fight in Junior High because another boy made a disparaging comment about my girlfriend. We both got into trouble, but when I asked the teacher, "If somebody said that about your wife, would you walk away?" he stopped, thought for a minute, and told us both to get back to class. The scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie loses it and just whales on his nemesis, Scut Farcus (god, you have to love a name like that) is another example. Sometimes a man (or a kid) just has to do what he has to do. My brother and I had a few of those kinds of encounters, not with each other, when we were in school and we both survived. In today's non-violent atmosphere, however, school officials are not only not tolerant of such behavior, whaling on a bully can get you arrested. Forget about who starts it. (Interestingly enough Dr. Phil McGraw recalls a childhood incident of this type in his book Self Matters; where he was sorely disappointed by a favorite teacher who turned on him after he refused to "take any guff" from a bully.) The problem is complex—worthy of one of those diplomats. But, I thing that until we live in a world where we value the peacemaker over the warrior, the response kill'em-all will only become increasingly banal. A music note. If you read the Headspace rambling at the top of these entries, you know that I'm sitting at Arabica on Lee and listening to Ryann Guitar Anderson as I write this. Anderson is amazing. There are five mp3's of his music on the site. Give a listen. Buy the CD's. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Saturday 08 January 05
TORTURE BAD, DEATH SQUADS GOOD...?
Newsweek has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. It's too late at night to really wrap my head around this. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
THE GATEWAY DRUG...
VERISEAL RESPONDS...
Dear Mr. Dillingham, Thank you for your kind offer. While I've become involved in an extended discussion with a small number of individuals regarding Mr. Ford on my website (http://www.havecoffeewillwrite.com) and have made note of your website in a of couple posts, I personally don't believe I've sent anything to you. (I thought I sent a request for the information mentioned below to authentiSEAL.org, but I can't find a copy of that email. If my memory is faulty, I hope you'll forgive an ol' salt for that. I am interested in the reference and language of Naval Regulations regarding the wearing of the SEAL insignia by active duty personnel. One of the mysterious facets of this ongoing saga is how then Sgt. Ford could wear an award that was not in his Service Jacket. Maybe things have changed, but my CPO would have torn me a new one if I'd tried something like that. Respectfully, Jeff Hess This morning VeriSEAL responded. The full text is available in the Symposium. I did have to remove a URL reference, however, because my software doesn't like them. (You'd think that any software designed for the web would naturally allow them. Go figure. And, by the way, it's in the process of being changed.) The URL used refers to this page. I'm still trying to find the applicable U.S. Naval regulations regarding the wearing of the SEAL insignia by attached personnel. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
PAYING THE TOLL...
The reason I'm willing to pay for those is that in the case of Salon and TNR I figure I read at least 80 percent of the content. With U-Comics I get to create my own daily funny pages (See: Right-Wing Comics, Sunday, 28 November). Time magazine has been an on-again/off-again habit for years, but is likely to become off-again the next time my subscription is up just because it's piling up unread on the back of my toilet. But, as for all the other papers I may surf over to, I just don't read enough of them to justify a subscription. I would draw a parallel to music. I don't buy that many CDs anymore because I can't see paying $15 to $20 for a CD when there is only one song on it that I really like. Now, if say the top 10 English-langauge papers in the world (we can quibble about which papers those might be) were to band together and offer a $10 per year subscription to daily and archive access to them, I would probably subscribe. It could happen. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Friday 07 January 05
SCIENCE TRUMPS SUPERSITION, AGAIN...
James Randi is one of my favorite people. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've used his Million Dollar Challenge as a trump card when someone tires to rely on superstition as a way to explain the unexplained. This a reader's reports of how a science teacher enabled 10-year-old Tilly Smith (Smart Girl) to do what all the psychics failed to do: save lives in South Asia. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
SPITTING ON SOLDIERS...
On the day Claude Thomas returned to the States from the Vietnam War—where he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Purple Heart, among other awards—a beautiful woman he encountered in the airport spat on him. He was in uniform, and she was a peace activist (and it was 1967). This incident came to represent for him the welcome the country had for soldiers returning from the war. In the years following his military service, Thomas' life spiraled downward into post-traumatic stress, drug and alcohol addiction, and homelessness. Did it happen? Only one person knows, and that's Thomas. There is no way I can address the specific occurrence. But I can examine this incident as an Urban Legend archetype. First, the victim in this story is a decorated and wounded war hero. The Distinguished Flying Cross is the sixth highest award a soldier can receive. The Purple Heart is the 11th highest award. Second, the victimizer in this case is a beautiful woman who acts in precisely the opposite way that a returning war hero would expect. And while no reasonable individual would expect being spat upon to start a downward spiral into post-traumatic stress, drug and alcohol addiction, and homelessness, in this story it becomes the implied push over the edge. All of the elements of an Urban Legend are there. And Patrick G. Coy, Associate Professor at the Center for Applied Conflict Management at Kent State University, would seem to agree. The fact is, there is absolutely no record of any peace activist taunting or spitting upon returning veterans. It is myth, and like most myths it is hard to dislodge. Jack Shafer goes to Jerry Lembcke's book The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam for information. Lembcke, writes Shafer, points to the movie Rambo as one reason for the popularity of the myth. Of course, the myth of the spitting protester predates the Rambo movies, but how many vets—many of whom didn't get the respect they thought they deserved after serving their country—retrofitted this memory after seeing the movie? Soldiers returning from lost wars have long healed their psychic wounds by accusing their governments and their countrymen of betrayal, Lembcke writes. By the time I joined the Navy in 1974, the draft had ended and the Vietnam War was in its final phase. Saigon fell in the spring of the following year while I was still in Gunner's Mate "A" School at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. What I can say is that in the 11 years I served, I never once heard anyone who had served before 1974 recall the kind of treatment perpetuated by this Urban Legend. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
ARMOR CAN NO LONGER BE AN ISSUE...
The Washington Post reports this morning that the Iraqis fighting against U.S. forces took out an M2 Bradley with a single roadside bomb, killing the seven American service personnel inside. If the enemy can attack and destroy a Bradley, no American vehicle is safe. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
GO GOVERNOR...
Republicans, of course, are calling foul. There is definitely something about Western women governors. We need more like Gov. Napolitano and incoming Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire. At least SOME Democrats remember what it means to have a spine. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
THE RATHER MEMO...
And, more importantly, I don't think that there are more than a handful of individuals in the country who can answer those questions. There is some expectation that CBS will release the report today on it's investigation of the memos and the events surrounding them. I'd like to think that the report will make everything clear, but I don't have great expectations of that. But, we'll see. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Thursday 06 January 05
Numbers...
One of my favorite writers is Annie Dillard. Her Pilgrim At Tinker Creek was an undergraduate staple that I still have on my bookshelf. Today on National Public Radio's Morning Edition she delivers a commentary on the death toll in South Asia. The piece, Dots In Blue Water, reminds us of the April 1991 cyclonic tsunami that killed 138,000 people in Bangladesh. She does not fall into the equivalency trap that Jeff Jarvis over at BuzzMachine has been blogging about, but rather talks about the need to not let our minds go slack in the face of mind-numbing tragedy. Give a listen. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
THE LEMMING METER IS RUNNING...
The original is for subscribers only, so, for now, I have to rely on Pipes' report. Here's the quote that he pulls from Naik's story. Ms. Ethmane says she was required to consume four liters of milk in the morning, plus couscous. She ate milk and porridge for lunch. She was awoken at midnight and given several more pints of milk, followed by a prebreakfast feeding at 6 a.m. If she threw up, she says, her mother forced her to eat the vomit. Stretch marks appeared on her body, and the skin on her upper arms and thighs tore under the pressure. If she balked at the feedings, her mother squeezed her toes between two wooden sticks until the pain was unbearable. "I would devour as much as possible," says Ms. Ethmane. "I resembled a mattress." … Force-feeding is usually done by girls' mothers or grandmothers; men play little direct role. The girls' stomachs are sometimes vigorously massaged in order to loosen the skin and make it easier to consume even greater quantities of food. … Local officials say some women are so fat they can barely move. In [a Mauretanian] survey, 15% of the women said their skin split as a result of overeating. One-fifth of women said one of their toes or fingers were broken to make them eat. Now, do I believe that one mother is capable of this level of abuse of her daughter? Of course. I have long since ceased to be shocked by anything an individual human might do. Do I think this is some kind of trend or epidemic? No. Pipes pulls a set of figures from Naik's piece that cite The International Obesity Task Force. The London think-tank, finds: 83 percent of women obese or overweight in Bahrain, 74 percent in the United Arab Emirates, and 75 percent in Lebanon. (Trailing not far behind, some 62 percent of American women fit these categories). The Journal of Nutrition in a 2001 study found half the women in Tunisia and Morocco overweight or obese. Further, the rate of childhood obesity has risen rapidly. A 2001 survey estimated that 22 percent of Mauretanian women have been force-fed as girls. OK. So now were talking about women who are obese or overweight. The force-feeding is a Mauretanian problem, not an Islamic one. The study is at least three-years-old. According to its website, the IOTF uses the Body Mass Index scale to determine obesity. Here's an interesting quote from the website: The limited data [emphasis mine] available indicates that the prevalence of obesity in Middle Eastern countries is high, particularly in women who appear in general to have a higher prevalence of obesity than women in most Western countries. I'd be curious to know what role westernized diets high in fats and sugars and poor nutrition play in all this. I suspect those are more important than the Islamic version of American beauty-queen mothers. I've sent emails to friends in the Islamic community, and to Irshad Manji to get their feedback. I'll keep you posted... To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Wednesday 05 January 05
WHY MOVEON LOSES MY VOTE...
In 2002, Gonzales wrote a memo to President Bush arguing the war on terror renders the Geneva Conventions "quaint" and "obsolete." Here's the text: (Or if you're really particular, and you should be, here is a PDF of the original.) Ramifications of Determination that [Geneva Convention III on the Treatment of Prisoners of War] Does Not Apply The consequences of a decision to adhere to what I understood to be your earlier determination that the GPW does not apply to the Taliban include the following: Positive: Preserves flexibility: As you have said, the war against terrorism is a new kind of war. It is not the traditional clash between nations adhering to the laws of war that formed the backdrop for GPW. The nature of the new war places a high premium on other factors, such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians, and the need to try terrorists for war crimes such as wantonly killing civilians. In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions requiring that captured enemy be afforded such things as commissary privileges, scrip (i.e., advances of monthly pay), athletic uniforms, and scientific instruments. Although some of these provisions do not apply to detainees who are not POWs, a determination that GPW does not apply to al Qaeda and the Taliban eliminates any argument regarding the need for case-by-case determinations of POW status. It also holds open options for the future conflicts in which it may be more difficult to determine whether an enemy force as a whole meets the standard for POW status. By concluding that GPW does not apply to al Qaeda and the Taliban eliminates any argument regarding the need for case-by-case determinations of POW status. It also holds open options for the future conflicts in which it may be more difficult to determine whether an enemy force as a whole meets the standard for POW status. I've been trying to explain my position to a friend here at Arabica and I put it this way. Say you witness a murder. You have the murderer dead to rights. The scum is going away. But in the police interview you decide to really drive the nail into the coffin and tell the detective: "And after he pulled the trigger, he said Take that faggot!" You've just lied to make a murder a hate crime. If you're found out, your credibility will be questioned and the State's air-tight case can just go poof. That's the way I feel about the "quaint" charge. Yes, Gonzales wrote it, but in context it is not the damning smoking gun some want to make it. Let's stick to the facts and nail Gonzales to the wall for the really bad, legitimate stuff. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Tuesday 04 January 05
WELL-FED SOULS...
I finished reading Alice Walker's Now Is The Time To Open Your Heart this morning. It's the first Walker book that I've read, although I've seen The Color Purple at the theater. I was taken with the book and you can read my chapbook notes from it in the forums. I think she does a superb job of setting the theme for the book with this passage from page five: The only revolution that could possibly succeed, he maintained, was the cool one introduced to the world by the Lord Buddha, twenty-five hundred years ago.
What I found most interesting was that I stopped taking notes from the book on page 17 and didn't start again for 150 pages. Between page 17 and 167 is the experiential core of the story. I think I was then too lost in Walker's words to pull anything out. It was only as she was leading up to and debriefing herself on that experience that I found the nuggets I saved. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
THE PILOT ANSWERS...
This morning he fires a full fusillade against the panic. Here's a money quote from an A320 pilot for a major U.S. airline: Here we have cleaners and caterers able to board and roam through aircraft with no security screening whatsoever, yet people are worried about laser beams? Our priorities are insane. Ah, but it makes such compelling copy for the news ninnies at the both the legacy and emerging media outlets. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Monday 03 January 05
IS NOTHING SACRED...?
For the record, I think LOTR is one of the most important books of the 20th century. But, in my mind, that makes it all the more an appropriate target for satire and parody. That this piece takes some very funny swipes at two liberal icons—Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky—makes it all the more a side splitter. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
BEST IDEAS...
The sentence that made me go Yes! comes from No. 2: He said, she said, we said: Vaughn Venders in the National Journal said that the major news organizations "need to take a bigger step forward and establish themselves as the places that validate the news. Don't just report the 'news'; define the accuracy of it." (1) The Legacy Media. Rosen has expanded upon items one through six so far. I'll be looking for the rest of the list in the days ahead. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Sunday 02 January 05
A STRATEGY FOR OHIO...
TWO MUSICIANS, ONE SONG...
I have the song on my computer but I've never seen the video. The video is as powerful as the song. But what I wondered as I watched was this: how many of those in the audience had any clue what Reznor was singing about? The I clicked over to watch a second version of the song, this one recorded by Johnny Cash. Cash changes a single word in Reznor's song—when you hear it, it can be no surprise that Cash made the choice he did—but the song speaks to something as powerful as Reznor's original, yet very different. As I watched this video I had no doubt that those in Cash's audience were with him for every note. It's one of those songs I can put on loop and allow to wash through me. Cash's last two original albums—America III: Solitary Man (2000) and America IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)—are powerful summations for the man in black. He found what most of us only dream about. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.
I FELL FOR THIS SCAM...
What the information means, I don't know yet. I'm still processing. But, in the meantime, take a look at the music video Underwear Goes Inside Your Pants. See my dilemma? To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.Saturday 01 January 05
HAPPY NEW YEAR...
There will be others, of course, tucked down in the favorites list in different categories, but I won't have to see them unless I need to. In a way, it's a permutation of Charles Hobb's concept of replacing the in-box on your desk at work with an in-drawer. The idea is that if things are piled up on your desk in the in-box they are a distraction. But if you have a top drawer in your desk used only for this purpose, you can put everything except what you are working on out of sight and stay more focused. So, who's on the list? The ten blogs on my list today, in alphabetical order, are: Bull Moose, BuzzMachine, The Daily Dish, daily KOS, Grassroots Journalism, I See Invisible People, Iraq The Model, Media Matters For America, Swing State Project and Today's Papers. As I typed in the list I realized that two, maybe three of them are going to have to change this week as I substitute some bloggers with whom I disagree more. I don't know who they will be, but I'll figure it out over the next couple of days. To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium. |
Daily KOS in 
Paul Verhoeven's 1997 film version of Robert Heinlein's 1959 classic juvenile novel 
For the record, I was wrong about Clemont County (
At 
No faith system is immune from charlatans out to suck the money from gullible people in need of validation for their personal world view. Of late, it has been Judaism that has succumb to this scourge in the form of the 
In 
An interesting contrast of view on behemoth Wal-Mart. The first from Dan Gillmor in 
We all know the game. I heard it from a friend of my brother-in-law's cousin. It must be true. In an interview with President George Bush, reporters asked the president about a Florida law that prohibits homosexual couples form adopting children. While the president did not address the law specifically, he reiterated several times his position that:
Privatization is bombing. The switch to Personal Accounts isn't getting traction, so now President George Bush is pulling out a race card. Social Security is disproportionally unfair to African Americans because they don't live long enough to collect benefits. Paul Krugman at the New York Times gives a very loud Bull Shit! to the claim. 
I want to stand up right now and say that I am proud of what my president has done this week. President George W. Bush appointed Condoleezza Rice to the No. 1 cabinet post in his administration and, by doing so, made her the 4th most powerful person on the planet. Only Vice President Cheney, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, (R-IL)and President pro Tempore of the Senate Theodore Stevens, (R-AK), stand between Secretary Rice and the oval office. In reality that is a very long distance, but symbolically, she's on the list.
Lois over at 
I'm an Eagle Scout. I earned that award when I was 17. My medal sits on my desk to my right as I write this. Except for a brief stint as an assistant scout master and my membership in the scouting fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, while I was in college I haven't been active in scouting as an adult. The program was good for me and, I'm sure, millions of other boys and young men have benefited from it. But in the past 10 years, something fundamental seems to have changed.
At 1104 EST this morning, Have Coffee Will Write received it's 10,000th hit. Now I know that there are plenty of bloggers out there that get than in an hour, but hey, it still feels cool to me. I got here in less than three months—the first entry 
This morning I started to read the Senate Democrat's 
Last Wednesday I met with six other Cleveland bloggers (Cleveland Bloggers Meetup...) and it made me realize that I was missing one of the most important parts of blogging: paying attention to the community that I can actually sit down and have a cup of coffee or a beer with. After some thought I've decided to devote two days a week to local bloggers. Starting today, Sundays and Thursdays will focus on Northeastern Ohio, or, as we are wont to say: NEO.
Back on Tuesday, 11 January, I wrote 
Pity poor Volkswagen. First they had to design that horrible 
Brewed Fresh Daily has this 
Last night I had a chance to step out of the Blogosphere and into Realspace. I drove down to the Arabica in University Circle (the one shown in 
This morning on Salon, Rebecca Traister conducts an interview with Morgan Scott Peck, best-selling author of self-help books. In 
In the course of reading about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I came across a quote from T.S. Eliot's 1935 play 
I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid. 
So, whilst Geoff asserts that the cell is "no more human" after division, many equally reasonable persons would assert that it is "more human." He claims that the differentiated cells are no more human than the undifferentiated cells, and reasonable others would claim that they were indeed more human. Becoming human is roughly a 270 day process, not a 1 step(respiration) or 4 step (division, embryo, 3rd month, survivability) process. I think because it is not so cut and dry; it may be a very emotional decision for some women to make.
I've been reading Garrison Keillor's daily dose of poetry every morning as part of 
Dan Rather is so toast. The North Korean government wants men to keep their hair cut short. The major stated reason is worthy of the science of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko: excessive hair growth "consumes a great deal of nutrition", thereby sapping the brain's energy. The government there is showing a television series entitled: 
Every year I look forward to the Prairie Home Companion's annual joke show. Two hours of nothing but laughter does a body good. And for that long stretch between shows, Garrison Keillor has been kind enough to post hundreds of jokes, along with the archives of the joke shows back to 1996, on the 
Terry over at 
As promised yesterday, here's my attempt to respond to John Pike's 
I can't wait until this makes its way through the courts. As a working journalist I knew that I had certain, but not total, immunity from revealing my sources for a story. But do I have that same limited protection as a blogger? Boy, I don't know.
Back in the mid '90s, when I was predominantly a freelance magazine writer, my conservative friend 
The fight against ignorance continues with a report this morning on Salon: 
Back during early December the blogger over at 
Newsweek is reporting that the Pentagon is actually considering 
National Public Radio's Weekend Edition in 
Back on 30 December I responded to an offer from the folks at VeriSEAL concerning the ongoing discussion of Frank Ford. (You can use the search feature to track down the numerous entries on Mr. Ford. The first entry on the topic—
Dan Gillmor over at 
One of those nagging little lemmings that has gnawn at the base of my brain for a very long time is the tale of weary soldiers returning from Vietnam only to be met by anti-war demonstrators who spat upon their uniforms. The stories never rang true to me, but I never tried to do any research on their veracity. I had cruised over to Beliefnet.com this afternoon and found this in the introduction to 
Back on Tuesday, 21 December (
Tim Tagaris over at 
The January/February issue of the 
This one has urban legend or news ninnies written all over it. Or, perhaps, it is a meadian-level anthropological hoax (can you say Jason Blair). The nut of the story is this: according to 
I got an email from Wes Boyd on the MoveOn Team yesterday about the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as our country's next Attorney General. There are lots and lots of reasons why Gonzales shouldn't be our nation's top cop. (See 
Something about this statement did not sit well with Kate. She looked at him carefully. He was certainly a well-fed-looking soul, she thought. Not many meals missed by that one, except by accident. Quietly glancing down at the program on the floor beside her, she saw he had grown up in an upper-middle-class home, had had educated and cultured people as parents and as grandparents, had studied and lived in Europe as well as in the East. Was now a prominent professor at one of the country's most famous universities. Easy enough for him to dismiss the brown and black and yellow and poor white people all over the globe who worried constantly where their next meal was coming from, she thought. How they would feed, clothe and educate their children. Who, if they did sit down to meditate, would probably be driven up again by the lash. Or by military death squads, or by hunger, or by… the list was long.
When I first heard the story about terrorists using LASERs to blind airplane pilots and cause crashes my Lemmings Meter went off. There are way too many reasons why the idea is just plain silly. As I do whenever something avionic arises, I dropped a note to the Aviateur Extraordinaire Patrick Smith, author of Ask The Pilot over at Salon. Back on 17 December, Smith raised what he thought was a preemptive strike against the bright-light loonies. But his warning shot did no good.
The short answer is no, nothing is sacred. It was one of the reasons that I was a such a devoted reader of National Lampoon in high school; the image of Che Guevara getting a cream pie in the face was perfect. One of my favorite books is Bored of the Rings by the nutcases at The Harvard Lampoon. The other day I came across a another spoof of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Jeff Jarvis over at 
When MoveOn.org rallied the troops following the November debacle, the primary topic question was: what now? At the meeting (
I don't watch too many music videos since I don't have either cable or a television, but sometimes I pop over to Yahoo's Launch to watch something special. Today, after watching two videos recommended by 
The weird thing is that I knew I was falling for 
Since I've started blogging, I've also started reading a lot more blogs. And the potential list is huge. Since I need a real life—to also do something that will keep a roof over my head—I can't read them all; and I've found from long experience that a too-long list, like a too-high pile of books, leads to paralyzation not action. It's a phenomenon addressed by Barry Schwartz in this book The Paradox Of Choice: Why More Is Less. To address that I've decided for the New Year to have no more than 10 blogs on my daily reading list.Stop back often - the refills are always free.
