Monday, March 29, 2004
Brief Hiatus Alert....
At least, unlike Bill Moyers, I'm not getting out of the game altogether, but then, unlike Bill Moyers, I haven't been at this for 40-some-odd-years...
But, for the next 6 days, I will be too busy avoiding scorpions and Wayne Newton impersonators to have the chance to blog - unless the hotel has a cyber-cafe, or something.
With any luck, Crystaviel will be poking her head in from time to time with interesting tidbits (hint, hint, A...!) If my Major Contributor comes across anything he would usually send to me, he knows where to find her (hint, hint, K...!)
So, for the nonce, farewell, my adoring public. I can only hope that, unlike the last time I went away for a week, the Bush League doesn't go all macho on us and pre-emptively invade another sovereign state. If they do, you'll be hearing from me...
:)
TTFN!!
(p.s. - - Here's a little something to keep your attention while I'm gone - at 10 pages, you won't miss me a bit!!)
The Medicare Scandals
Accusations of Bribery, Lying, Intimidation Cloud Bill’s Success
Props, as always, to Kip!
But, for the next 6 days, I will be too busy avoiding scorpions and Wayne Newton impersonators to have the chance to blog - unless the hotel has a cyber-cafe, or something.
With any luck, Crystaviel will be poking her head in from time to time with interesting tidbits (hint, hint, A...!) If my Major Contributor comes across anything he would usually send to me, he knows where to find her (hint, hint, K...!)
So, for the nonce, farewell, my adoring public. I can only hope that, unlike the last time I went away for a week, the Bush League doesn't go all macho on us and pre-emptively invade another sovereign state. If they do, you'll be hearing from me...
:)
TTFN!!
(p.s. - - Here's a little something to keep your attention while I'm gone - at 10 pages, you won't miss me a bit!!)
The Medicare Scandals
Accusations of Bribery, Lying, Intimidation Cloud Bill’s Success
Props, as always, to Kip!
Hoist on Their Own Petard
How cosmically ironic would this be...
The US corporate capitalocracy encourages offshoring of hi-tech companies, thereby causing the job market in the puter biz in this country to tank.
Then a few years down the road, when they decide to institute the aforementioned "special skills draft" of techies...
They can't find any!!! They've all taken the cue and either moved to Bombay or crosstrained into the cellphone development industry...
HAAAA Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! How sweet would that be?
U.S. students shun computer sciences
Offshoring Makes Tech Career Look Risky
Undergraduates in U.S. universities are starting to abandon their studies in computer technology and engineering amid widespread worries about the accelerating pace of offshoring by high-technology employers.
A new study, to be published in May, shows there was a dramatic drop-off of enrollment in those fields last year -- 19 percent -- and some educators warn about the potential consequences for America's global competitiveness.
Enrollment in undergraduate computer-science courses continued to grow after the collapse of the dot-com bubble until the sharp decline in the 2002-03 academic year, according to the Washington-based Computing Research Association. The number of newly declared majors in computer science also showed a sudden 23 percent plunge last year.
And to avoid the draft, they won't even have to shoot themselves in the foot... all they'll have to do is not be geeks!
:D
The US corporate capitalocracy encourages offshoring of hi-tech companies, thereby causing the job market in the puter biz in this country to tank.
Then a few years down the road, when they decide to institute the aforementioned "special skills draft" of techies...
They can't find any!!! They've all taken the cue and either moved to Bombay or crosstrained into the cellphone development industry...
HAAAA Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! How sweet would that be?
U.S. students shun computer sciences
Offshoring Makes Tech Career Look Risky
Undergraduates in U.S. universities are starting to abandon their studies in computer technology and engineering amid widespread worries about the accelerating pace of offshoring by high-technology employers.
A new study, to be published in May, shows there was a dramatic drop-off of enrollment in those fields last year -- 19 percent -- and some educators warn about the potential consequences for America's global competitiveness.
Enrollment in undergraduate computer-science courses continued to grow after the collapse of the dot-com bubble until the sharp decline in the 2002-03 academic year, according to the Washington-based Computing Research Association. The number of newly declared majors in computer science also showed a sudden 23 percent plunge last year.
And to avoid the draft, they won't even have to shoot themselves in the foot... all they'll have to do is not be geeks!
:D
Saturday, March 27, 2004
As David Rovics Says (or Sings, Rather...)
"Ya gotta do something with the unemployed if they won't move to Shanghai"
Seriously - and here we thought the outsourcing of all the computer jobs to India was a bad thing...
Agency initiates steps for selective draft
Congress shows little support for effort to draw skilled Americans
WASHINGTON -- The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is adamant that he will not ask Congress to authorize a draft, and officials at the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that would organize any conscription, stress that the possibility of a so-called "special skills draft" is remote.
Nonetheless, the agency has begun the process of creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in case military officials ask Congress to authorize it and the lawmakers agree to such a request.
You see, we're never ever cross our hearts & hope to die going to reconstitute the draft, so whats the harm in deciding that, of all the people we might draft (if we did, but we're not, so we won't), we might as well start with all the computer experts, who have no jobs in this country anyway??!!?? (Just think of the wonders it would do for the unemployment rates!)
"Talking to the manpower folks at the Department of Defense and others, what came up was that nobody foresees a need for a large conventional draft such as we had in Vietnam,"
(AHA!!! No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!) said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System. "But they thought that if we have any kind of a draft, it will probably be a special skills draft."
Strange - - Usually when you're speaking in hypotheticals, you say "it would probably be", not "it will probably be"...
Seriously - and here we thought the outsourcing of all the computer jobs to India was a bad thing...
Agency initiates steps for selective draft
Congress shows little support for effort to draw skilled Americans
WASHINGTON -- The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is adamant that he will not ask Congress to authorize a draft, and officials at the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that would organize any conscription, stress that the possibility of a so-called "special skills draft" is remote.
Nonetheless, the agency has begun the process of creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in case military officials ask Congress to authorize it and the lawmakers agree to such a request.
You see, we're never ever cross our hearts & hope to die going to reconstitute the draft, so whats the harm in deciding that, of all the people we might draft (if we did, but we're not, so we won't), we might as well start with all the computer experts, who have no jobs in this country anyway??!!?? (Just think of the wonders it would do for the unemployment rates!)
"Talking to the manpower folks at the Department of Defense and others, what came up was that nobody foresees a need for a large conventional draft such as we had in Vietnam,"
(AHA!!! No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!) said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System. "But they thought that if we have any kind of a draft, it will probably be a special skills draft."
Strange - - Usually when you're speaking in hypotheticals, you say "it would probably be", not "it will probably be"...
Friday, March 26, 2004
Art Songs For a New American Century
They say that hardship inspires the arts, that we wouldn't have most of our great music, poetry, art and literature without war and injustice and oppression...
Well, this little gem either proves the point or makes a brilliant farce out of the whole concept:
The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld, Set to Music
CD Features Songs Based on Defense Secretary's Statements
March 12, 2004 --Last year, Donald Rumsfeld's pronouncements from Pentagon briefings and media interviews were arranged into poems. Now those poems have been set to music.
Including such classics as:
The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
Department of Defense news briefing
Feb. 12, 2002
and:
A Confession
Once in a while,
I'm standing here, doing something.
And I think,
"What in the world am I doing here?"
It's a big surprise.
Interview with the New York Times
May 16, 2001
And who can forget the immortal...:
Clarity
I think what you'll find,
I think what you'll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,
There will be near-perfect clarity
As to what it is.
And it will be known,
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,
Probably before we decide it,
But it will be known.
Department of Defense briefing
Feb. 28, 2003
Be sure to check out the audio samples...
:D
Well, this little gem either proves the point or makes a brilliant farce out of the whole concept:
The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld, Set to Music
CD Features Songs Based on Defense Secretary's Statements
March 12, 2004 --Last year, Donald Rumsfeld's pronouncements from Pentagon briefings and media interviews were arranged into poems. Now those poems have been set to music.
Including such classics as:
The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
Department of Defense news briefing
Feb. 12, 2002
and:
A Confession
Once in a while,
I'm standing here, doing something.
And I think,
"What in the world am I doing here?"
It's a big surprise.
Interview with the New York Times
May 16, 2001
And who can forget the immortal...:
Clarity
I think what you'll find,
I think what you'll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,
There will be near-perfect clarity
As to what it is.
And it will be known,
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,
Probably before we decide it,
But it will be known.
Department of Defense briefing
Feb. 28, 2003
Be sure to check out the audio samples...
:D
How Sad are These People???
A classic example of the depths these guys will sink to when they run out of real ammunition...
Reminds me of the packs of junior jocks in Middle School who thought that, if they all called a guy fag or spaz or dork loud enough and often enough, they would be right, and superior.
It's nice to know that our elected officials, bureaucrats and arbiters of what is news are still emotionally back in 8th grade... But it's not like we should be surprised:
John Kerry's French connection
Rather than trying to engage in the now-common rhetorical tactic of creating associations with terrorists or dictatorial regimes, some political opponents of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry are engaged in a slightly more subtle campaign to link him with France, the leading opponent of the war in Iraq, and thereby play on nationalist sentiment. Kerry does, of course, have French relatives and speaks French. But the rhetoric has extended far beyond those near-meaningless facts.
Ever since an anonymous Bush advisor told the New York Times last April that Kerry "looks French," the Massachusetts Senator's political adversaries have attempted to capitalize on anti-French sentiment created by the war and portray him as aloof and opposed to America's interests.
. . . . .
In addition, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Steyn wrote on March 21 that "Kerry sounded awfully like America's first French president" in a recent appearance. New York Sun columnist R. Emmett Tyrell called Kerry "French-looking" in his Feb. 26 and March 11 columns. And in a March 24 column in the political insider newspaper The Hill, Republican pollster Dr. David Hill stated that by claiming America's reputation has declined amongst other countries under President Bush, Kerry was "acting French."
ABC/National Public Radio commentator Cokie Roberts recently told the Palm Beach Daily News, "the new thing is that John Kerry looks French." But this attack is not some "new thing" that just spontaneously popped up; it's the culmination of an aggressive, months-long effort to make the line stick. Sadly, these substance-free attacks are being launched earlier and earlier each election cycle.
I can hear the smug guffaws of Rush Limbaugh and his fellow overgrown 8th graders, congratulating themselves on how witty and cool they are...
Reminds me of the packs of junior jocks in Middle School who thought that, if they all called a guy fag or spaz or dork loud enough and often enough, they would be right, and superior.
It's nice to know that our elected officials, bureaucrats and arbiters of what is news are still emotionally back in 8th grade... But it's not like we should be surprised:
John Kerry's French connection
Rather than trying to engage in the now-common rhetorical tactic of creating associations with terrorists or dictatorial regimes, some political opponents of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry are engaged in a slightly more subtle campaign to link him with France, the leading opponent of the war in Iraq, and thereby play on nationalist sentiment. Kerry does, of course, have French relatives and speaks French. But the rhetoric has extended far beyond those near-meaningless facts.
Ever since an anonymous Bush advisor told the New York Times last April that Kerry "looks French," the Massachusetts Senator's political adversaries have attempted to capitalize on anti-French sentiment created by the war and portray him as aloof and opposed to America's interests.
. . . . .
In addition, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Steyn wrote on March 21 that "Kerry sounded awfully like America's first French president" in a recent appearance. New York Sun columnist R. Emmett Tyrell called Kerry "French-looking" in his Feb. 26 and March 11 columns. And in a March 24 column in the political insider newspaper The Hill, Republican pollster Dr. David Hill stated that by claiming America's reputation has declined amongst other countries under President Bush, Kerry was "acting French."
ABC/National Public Radio commentator Cokie Roberts recently told the Palm Beach Daily News, "the new thing is that John Kerry looks French." But this attack is not some "new thing" that just spontaneously popped up; it's the culmination of an aggressive, months-long effort to make the line stick. Sadly, these substance-free attacks are being launched earlier and earlier each election cycle.
I can hear the smug guffaws of Rush Limbaugh and his fellow overgrown 8th graders, congratulating themselves on how witty and cool they are...
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Thinking Outside the Heterocentric Box
While a bemused nation watches to see if the Defense of Marriage Amendment to the Constitution will sink or swim, many Americans are wondering "defend marriage against what? against whom??"
Maybe they're afraid that all those gay mens' weddings will make theirs look tacky, or that all those rental tuxedos will be flying off the shelves, and the straight guys won't be able to run down and grab one at the last minute, any more? Maybe the danger is in the impact on Wedding Boutiques, since no lesbian in her right mind would expect her friends to wear those abysmal taffeta and spandex bridesmaids dresses...
Editorializing aside, I like the way they think in Oregon:
Oregon County to Withhold Marriage Licenses from Gay, Heterosexual Couples
Mar. 24 - Benton County is taking the national debate over same-sex marriages to new extremes.
After voting last week to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday, the county Board of Commissioners on Monday said it's now decided against doing that. But the board also decided not to issue any licenses to opposite-sex couples, either.
The commissioners voted unanimously Monday in an emergency meeting to undo last week's 2-1 vote. They reiterated their belief that under Oregon's constitution, gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights as heterosexual couples.
State laws appear to restrict marriage to male-female partners, but commissioners concluded they are constitution-bound to give either all couples or no couples licenses to wed.
They decided to change their approach Monday because the state appears committed to accelerating the court process to settle the question of constitutionality, board Chairwoman Linda Modrell said.
State Attorney General Hardy Myers asked Benton County to postpone issuing same-sex licenses to avoid complicating litigation over the matter. "But to maintain consistency with our oath to uphold Oregon's constitution's anti-discrimination provisions, (that means) we must temporarily cease issuing marriage licenses to any couple," the county announced in a news release.
:)
Maybe they're afraid that all those gay mens' weddings will make theirs look tacky, or that all those rental tuxedos will be flying off the shelves, and the straight guys won't be able to run down and grab one at the last minute, any more? Maybe the danger is in the impact on Wedding Boutiques, since no lesbian in her right mind would expect her friends to wear those abysmal taffeta and spandex bridesmaids dresses...
Editorializing aside, I like the way they think in Oregon:
Oregon County to Withhold Marriage Licenses from Gay, Heterosexual Couples
Mar. 24 - Benton County is taking the national debate over same-sex marriages to new extremes.
After voting last week to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday, the county Board of Commissioners on Monday said it's now decided against doing that. But the board also decided not to issue any licenses to opposite-sex couples, either.
The commissioners voted unanimously Monday in an emergency meeting to undo last week's 2-1 vote. They reiterated their belief that under Oregon's constitution, gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights as heterosexual couples.
State laws appear to restrict marriage to male-female partners, but commissioners concluded they are constitution-bound to give either all couples or no couples licenses to wed.
They decided to change their approach Monday because the state appears committed to accelerating the court process to settle the question of constitutionality, board Chairwoman Linda Modrell said.
State Attorney General Hardy Myers asked Benton County to postpone issuing same-sex licenses to avoid complicating litigation over the matter. "But to maintain consistency with our oath to uphold Oregon's constitution's anti-discrimination provisions, (that means) we must temporarily cease issuing marriage licenses to any couple," the county announced in a news release.
:)
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
A Break From Ugliness and Destruction...
Just a small reminder to look up every once in a while...
Planetary show begins as darkness falls
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter will line up in the sky every night for about two weeks from tonight, in a view of the five planets that may be the best until 2036, according to NASA.
The five so-called `naked-eye' planets will be visible for an hour after sunset, and will appear in a line across the sky "from all locations" according to a statement posted on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Web site.
The five planets' orbits mean they only "sporadically" appear on the same side of the sun, usually every few years, according to NASA. Other such alignments will occur over the next few years, but this may be the best for at least three decades, according to NASA astronomer Myles Standish.
The planets will be visible after sunset tonight in the western horizon, with Mercury low in the sky, Venus and Mars above it, Saturn almost directly overhead and Jupiter nearly on the eastern horizon, NASA said, using a map made for a latitude of 34 degrees north, or level with Los Angeles, inform Bloomberg.com.
Share and Enjoy!!
Planetary show begins as darkness falls
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter will line up in the sky every night for about two weeks from tonight, in a view of the five planets that may be the best until 2036, according to NASA.
The five so-called `naked-eye' planets will be visible for an hour after sunset, and will appear in a line across the sky "from all locations" according to a statement posted on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Web site.
The five planets' orbits mean they only "sporadically" appear on the same side of the sun, usually every few years, according to NASA. Other such alignments will occur over the next few years, but this may be the best for at least three decades, according to NASA astronomer Myles Standish.
The planets will be visible after sunset tonight in the western horizon, with Mercury low in the sky, Venus and Mars above it, Saturn almost directly overhead and Jupiter nearly on the eastern horizon, NASA said, using a map made for a latitude of 34 degrees north, or level with Los Angeles, inform Bloomberg.com.
Share and Enjoy!!
Saturday, March 20, 2004
A First Anniversary Present
I have spent most of the past year wondering "Where is Daniel Ellsberg when we need him??".
All it would take, it seemed, was one highly-placed insider with an ounce of courage and something like a conscience.
Well, the spirit of the Pentagon Papers lives on - sort of.
In this case, the unexpected honesty may be more due to the upcoming 60 Minutes interview and the imminent book release than to courage and conscience, but we can hope the result will be the same...
Former Bush Adviser: Rumsfeld Considered Iraq Bombings One Day After Sept. 11 Attacks
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld almost immediately urged President Bush to consider bombing Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington, says a former senior administration counterterrorism aide.
Richard A. Clarke, the White House counterterrorism coordinator at the time, recounts in a forthcoming book details of a meeting the day after the terrorist attacks during which top officials considered the U.S. response. Even then, he said, they were certain that al-Qaida was to blame.
"Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq," Clarke said. "We all said, 'But no, no, al-Qaida is in Afghanistan."
Clarke, who is expected to testify Tuesday before a federal panel reviewing the attacks, said Rumsfeld complained in the meeting that "there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq."
I hope he has as many juicy tidbits to offer the 9/11 Commission as he seems to be offering us in the book...
Unfortunately, Bob Woodward's bit of presidential butt-smooching already got the best anecdote in this fiasco:
Bush told reporter Bob Woodward of The Washington Post that he decided not to heed advice on Iraq by some officials who also had served his father's administration during the first Gulf War.
"One of the things I wasn't going to allow to happen is, that we weren't going to let their previous experience in this theater dictate a rational course for a new war," Bush told Woodward for his 2002 book, "Bush at War."
Of course, heaven forbid we should let experience push us into a rational course for a war...
Oh, and by the way - Condi Rice (you know, the National Security Advisor??) is still RSVP-ing her regrets to the Congressional Commission investigating the worst National Security disaster in America's history. I guess, what, National Security is threatened if she testifies??
:/
Courtesy of Kip
All it would take, it seemed, was one highly-placed insider with an ounce of courage and something like a conscience.
Well, the spirit of the Pentagon Papers lives on - sort of.
In this case, the unexpected honesty may be more due to the upcoming 60 Minutes interview and the imminent book release than to courage and conscience, but we can hope the result will be the same...
Former Bush Adviser: Rumsfeld Considered Iraq Bombings One Day After Sept. 11 Attacks
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld almost immediately urged President Bush to consider bombing Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington, says a former senior administration counterterrorism aide.
Richard A. Clarke, the White House counterterrorism coordinator at the time, recounts in a forthcoming book details of a meeting the day after the terrorist attacks during which top officials considered the U.S. response. Even then, he said, they were certain that al-Qaida was to blame.
"Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq," Clarke said. "We all said, 'But no, no, al-Qaida is in Afghanistan."
Clarke, who is expected to testify Tuesday before a federal panel reviewing the attacks, said Rumsfeld complained in the meeting that "there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq."
I hope he has as many juicy tidbits to offer the 9/11 Commission as he seems to be offering us in the book...
Unfortunately, Bob Woodward's bit of presidential butt-smooching already got the best anecdote in this fiasco:
Bush told reporter Bob Woodward of The Washington Post that he decided not to heed advice on Iraq by some officials who also had served his father's administration during the first Gulf War.
"One of the things I wasn't going to allow to happen is, that we weren't going to let their previous experience in this theater dictate a rational course for a new war," Bush told Woodward for his 2002 book, "Bush at War."
Of course, heaven forbid we should let experience push us into a rational course for a war...
Oh, and by the way - Condi Rice (you know, the National Security Advisor??) is still RSVP-ing her regrets to the Congressional Commission investigating the worst National Security disaster in America's history. I guess, what, National Security is threatened if she testifies??
:/
Courtesy of Kip
Wonder When They'll Start the Mandatory Pre-Boarding Strip-Searches??
Big Brother's Bus?
High-Tech School Bus Tracks Kids by Fingerprints, GPS
March 18 — For kids in the Pinellas County of Florida, getting on and off any one of the district's 750 school buses will soon require a pass that even elementary kids won't forget — their finger.
The local school board last week passed over $2 million in funding to outfit its fleet of yellow buses with new high-tech gear — digital fingerprint scanners and global positioning system, or GPS, satellite locators — to track drivers and their young passengers.
The technology, believed the first of its kind to be implemented in the United Sates, has sparked concerns among parents and civil liberty groups who fear the proposed system could threaten student privacy.
I wonder if these Floridians live in that particular school district....
Meet ‘The Chipsons’
ID Chips Implanted Successfully in Florida Family
B O C A R A T O N, Fla., May 10 — An "X" made up of a gauze pad and a Band-Aid marks the spot where 14-year-old Derek Jacobs was implanted with a VeriChip. He was first, then came mom Leslie and dad Jeffrey, making the Jacobses the first family in the world to be "chipped."
High-Tech School Bus Tracks Kids by Fingerprints, GPS
March 18 — For kids in the Pinellas County of Florida, getting on and off any one of the district's 750 school buses will soon require a pass that even elementary kids won't forget — their finger.
The local school board last week passed over $2 million in funding to outfit its fleet of yellow buses with new high-tech gear — digital fingerprint scanners and global positioning system, or GPS, satellite locators — to track drivers and their young passengers.
The technology, believed the first of its kind to be implemented in the United Sates, has sparked concerns among parents and civil liberty groups who fear the proposed system could threaten student privacy.
I wonder if these Floridians live in that particular school district....
Meet ‘The Chipsons’
ID Chips Implanted Successfully in Florida Family
B O C A R A T O N, Fla., May 10 — An "X" made up of a gauze pad and a Band-Aid marks the spot where 14-year-old Derek Jacobs was implanted with a VeriChip. He was first, then came mom Leslie and dad Jeffrey, making the Jacobses the first family in the world to be "chipped."
Friday, March 19, 2004
Crystaviel pokes her head in long enough to report...
"Every week or so, Projekt Records (a primarily ethereal label run by my friends Lisa and Sam) sends out an announcement e-list. Today's included everything that follows: "
Howard Stern's schwing voters
The raunchy jockey is mobilizing his army of listeners against Bush -- and they could make a difference in November. Declaring a "radio jihad" against President Bush, syndicated morning man Howard Stern and his burgeoning crusade to drive Republicans from the White House is shaping up as a colossal media headache for the GOP, and one they never saw coming.The pioneering shock jock, "the man who launched the raunch," as the Los Angeles Times once put, has emerged almost overnight as the most influential Bush critic in all of American broadcasting, as he rails against the president hour after hour, day after day to a weekly audience of 8 million listeners. Never before has a Republican president come under such withering attack from a radio talk show host with the influence and national reach Stern has.
. . . . .
Howard Stern is More Decent than Your Government
"This is the scariest time in our nation's history," say Stern. I won't argue that statement. Right now, the government is actively working against the interests of its citizens. Every law or regulation passed by unelected federal representatives that takes a piffling little freedom away erodes our national consciousness. Never at any point in this nation's history have its people been more regulated, more constrained, more neutered against the very freedoms promised to us in the Constitution.
. . . . .
This one is an editorial from a conservative, defending Howard Stern!
Of course, some people, heck maybe even most people, will be applauding if radio hosts like Howard Stern are driven off the air. I know many of you reading this very page probably think "Stern's a gross, obnoxious, pig who rips on Republicans and Christians. Why should I care if he loses his radio show?" If Stern went off the air because he couldn't compete in the marketplace or because of public pressure on the radio stations that put him on the air, I wouldn't care either. But when the government decides to step in and wipe people like Stern off the map despite the fact that they're popular, despite the fact that they've been on the air doing their shtick for more than a decade, conservatives should care.
. . . . .
It is time for the deception to stop!
This Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got caught blatantly contradicting his past statements, and moveon.org has the video clip! Check it out at: http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo/
I've watched the Rummy video, it's wonderful to see someone (Face the Nation, no less!) finally giving one of these guys a good grilling. Maybe one of these days it will be the International Court of Justice grilling the whole slimy pack of them...
"Every week or so, Projekt Records (a primarily ethereal label run by my friends Lisa and Sam) sends out an announcement e-list. Today's included everything that follows: "
Howard Stern's schwing voters
The raunchy jockey is mobilizing his army of listeners against Bush -- and they could make a difference in November. Declaring a "radio jihad" against President Bush, syndicated morning man Howard Stern and his burgeoning crusade to drive Republicans from the White House is shaping up as a colossal media headache for the GOP, and one they never saw coming.The pioneering shock jock, "the man who launched the raunch," as the Los Angeles Times once put, has emerged almost overnight as the most influential Bush critic in all of American broadcasting, as he rails against the president hour after hour, day after day to a weekly audience of 8 million listeners. Never before has a Republican president come under such withering attack from a radio talk show host with the influence and national reach Stern has.
. . . . .
Howard Stern is More Decent than Your Government
"This is the scariest time in our nation's history," say Stern. I won't argue that statement. Right now, the government is actively working against the interests of its citizens. Every law or regulation passed by unelected federal representatives that takes a piffling little freedom away erodes our national consciousness. Never at any point in this nation's history have its people been more regulated, more constrained, more neutered against the very freedoms promised to us in the Constitution.
. . . . .
This one is an editorial from a conservative, defending Howard Stern!
Of course, some people, heck maybe even most people, will be applauding if radio hosts like Howard Stern are driven off the air. I know many of you reading this very page probably think "Stern's a gross, obnoxious, pig who rips on Republicans and Christians. Why should I care if he loses his radio show?" If Stern went off the air because he couldn't compete in the marketplace or because of public pressure on the radio stations that put him on the air, I wouldn't care either. But when the government decides to step in and wipe people like Stern off the map despite the fact that they're popular, despite the fact that they've been on the air doing their shtick for more than a decade, conservatives should care.
. . . . .
It is time for the deception to stop!
This Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got caught blatantly contradicting his past statements, and moveon.org has the video clip! Check it out at: http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo/
I've watched the Rummy video, it's wonderful to see someone (Face the Nation, no less!) finally giving one of these guys a good grilling. Maybe one of these days it will be the International Court of Justice grilling the whole slimy pack of them...
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Bless Their Pointed Little Heads
They try so hard to make it look like they're actually doing something...
Congress Examines Passenger Screening
Congress Seeks Answers on Air Passenger Screening Program That Raises Privacy Concerns
Congress, the Bush administration and major airlines all say they want the same thing: a computerized passenger screening program that will keep dangerous people off airliners.
But not all are pleased with the way the two-year-old project is taking shape.
The Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, or CAPPS II, would rank all air passengers according to the likelihood of their being terrorists. But some say the project would violate privacy rights, while others are concerned it would cost the private sector too much money.
. . . . .
Congress last year ordered its investigative arm to report on whether CAPPS II safeguards passenger privacy. The auditors reported last month that the government hasn't adequately addressed security and privacy concerns.
I especially love their description of how this is supposed to work:
The passenger screening program would check information such as a name, address and birth date against commercial and government databases. Each passenger would be given one of three color-coded ratings.
Suspected terrorists and violent criminals would be designated as red and forbidden to fly. Passengers who raise questions would be classified as yellow and would receive extra security screening. The vast majority would be designated green and allowed through routine screening.
So, basically, they check your name against databases, then if you have a violent felony record and/or are carrying a boxcutter, you are designated "red" and not allowed to fly.
If you are a Canadian citizen of Middle-Eastern descent, you are deported to Syria for interrogation and torture.
If you are male, dark, bearded and have a name that "raises questions", you are taken away and interrogated.
Everybody else is good to go.
If this program is adopted, the airline industry will no doubt be heavily subsidized by the federal government, so I'm sure we won't see any increases at all in the price of a plane ticket...
:P
(Thanks, Kip!)
Congress Examines Passenger Screening
Congress Seeks Answers on Air Passenger Screening Program That Raises Privacy Concerns
Congress, the Bush administration and major airlines all say they want the same thing: a computerized passenger screening program that will keep dangerous people off airliners.
But not all are pleased with the way the two-year-old project is taking shape.
The Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, or CAPPS II, would rank all air passengers according to the likelihood of their being terrorists. But some say the project would violate privacy rights, while others are concerned it would cost the private sector too much money.
. . . . .
Congress last year ordered its investigative arm to report on whether CAPPS II safeguards passenger privacy. The auditors reported last month that the government hasn't adequately addressed security and privacy concerns.
I especially love their description of how this is supposed to work:
The passenger screening program would check information such as a name, address and birth date against commercial and government databases. Each passenger would be given one of three color-coded ratings.
Suspected terrorists and violent criminals would be designated as red and forbidden to fly. Passengers who raise questions would be classified as yellow and would receive extra security screening. The vast majority would be designated green and allowed through routine screening.
So, basically, they check your name against databases, then if you have a violent felony record and/or are carrying a boxcutter, you are designated "red" and not allowed to fly.
If you are a Canadian citizen of Middle-Eastern descent, you are deported to Syria for interrogation and torture.
If you are male, dark, bearded and have a name that "raises questions", you are taken away and interrogated.
Everybody else is good to go.
If this program is adopted, the airline industry will no doubt be heavily subsidized by the federal government, so I'm sure we won't see any increases at all in the price of a plane ticket...
:P
(Thanks, Kip!)
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
They're Sneaking Up On Us, Folks...
The first rule of geting people to do what you want them to do: Do not tell them that they have to do it.
You have to make them think they want to do it, or at least that everybody else wants to do it, so they might as well do it too.
We've seen some pretty ham-handed examples of this lately, like the "news" programs' polls and street interviews full of testimony that "I would be happy to give up a few civil rights, in return for safety and security"; and hired actors posing as journalists to sing the praises of the new Medicare "enhancements".
But the best place to initiate real change is somewhere harmless and innocent and as American as Mickey Mouse... Somewhere like Disney World.
Seriously. Say I wanted to institute a nationwide biometric ID system, tie every man, woman, and child in America into it, be able to track their activities and purchases and banking and medical histories. Oh, and not have people run to the ACLU, screaming "Fourth Amendment!" and "Police State!"
Who would I want to have paving the way, oiling the waters, calming all but the worst of the conspiracy theory nutcases -- Congress? The FBI? DARPA?? Naaahhh...
I'm going to Disney World!!
AllEarsNet
"Finger scans. Just the mere mention of it suggests something out of a Star Trek movie. But finger scans at Walt Disney World are not evil. In fact, they are a necessity if you purchase certain WDW admission media. Hopefully this will take some of the fear of the unknown out of doing a finger scan for your park admission."
That, or maybe Sea World...
Alex Jones, infowars.com - "I was shocked when told by the security guard at the turn style, that I would have to biometrically scan my right hand in order to enter the park. I refused and said that it was against my religion. I told them that it was a part of a federal program in conjunction with major corporations to prepare us for the cashless society that is being set up to track all of our purchases, activities, and is being used to build detailed psychological profiles on all of us."
Of course, a good fallback position is to have agencies required for everyday living involved in the effort:
Grocery stores, banks, public schools: they're all putting in Biometrics. 42 states through a Federal mandate have now installed these systems in order to get a Driver's licence.
See, the thing about the Mark of the Beast is: No one says the guy who talks you into getting it will look like a Beast...
You have to make them think they want to do it, or at least that everybody else wants to do it, so they might as well do it too.
We've seen some pretty ham-handed examples of this lately, like the "news" programs' polls and street interviews full of testimony that "I would be happy to give up a few civil rights, in return for safety and security"; and hired actors posing as journalists to sing the praises of the new Medicare "enhancements".
But the best place to initiate real change is somewhere harmless and innocent and as American as Mickey Mouse... Somewhere like Disney World.
Seriously. Say I wanted to institute a nationwide biometric ID system, tie every man, woman, and child in America into it, be able to track their activities and purchases and banking and medical histories. Oh, and not have people run to the ACLU, screaming "Fourth Amendment!" and "Police State!"
Who would I want to have paving the way, oiling the waters, calming all but the worst of the conspiracy theory nutcases -- Congress? The FBI? DARPA?? Naaahhh...
I'm going to Disney World!!
AllEarsNet
"Finger scans. Just the mere mention of it suggests something out of a Star Trek movie. But finger scans at Walt Disney World are not evil. In fact, they are a necessity if you purchase certain WDW admission media. Hopefully this will take some of the fear of the unknown out of doing a finger scan for your park admission."
That, or maybe Sea World...
Alex Jones, infowars.com - "I was shocked when told by the security guard at the turn style, that I would have to biometrically scan my right hand in order to enter the park. I refused and said that it was against my religion. I told them that it was a part of a federal program in conjunction with major corporations to prepare us for the cashless society that is being set up to track all of our purchases, activities, and is being used to build detailed psychological profiles on all of us."
Of course, a good fallback position is to have agencies required for everyday living involved in the effort:
Grocery stores, banks, public schools: they're all putting in Biometrics. 42 states through a Federal mandate have now installed these systems in order to get a Driver's licence.
See, the thing about the Mark of the Beast is: No one says the guy who talks you into getting it will look like a Beast...
Monday, March 15, 2004
Fascism's Bastard Offspring
The Patriot Act was obviously just a prototype, a rough draft of the real wish list... Once the Powers That Be have unhindered access to our school, medical, and financial records (all for our own protection, of course), and the freedom to require any information about any of us without subpoena or notification (in the name of National Security, dontcha know), they are coming for our internet communications:
Cable and DSL
A far-reaching proposal from the FBI, made public Friday, would require all broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police.
. . . . .
Legal experts said the 85-page filing includes language that could be interpreted as forcing companies to build back doors into everything from instant messaging and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) programs to Microsoft's Xbox Live game service. The introduction of new services that did not support a back door for police would be outlawed, and companies would be given 15 months to make sure that existing services comply.
"The importance and the urgency of this task cannot be overstated," says the proposal, which is also backed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration. "The ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being compromised today."
Read those three paragraphs again, and listen for the stomp of jackboots in your mind's ear. Then go read the whole story.
Now see what they have in mind for Net Phone:
Internet telephone calls are fast becoming a national security threat that must be countered with new police wiretap rules, according to an FBI proposal presented quietly to regulators this month.
Representatives of the FBI's Electronic Surveillance Technology Section in Chantilly, Va., have met at least twice in the past three weeks with senior officials of the Federal Communications Commission to lobby for proposed new Internet eavesdropping rules. The FBI-drafted plan seeks to force broadband providers to provide more efficient, standardized surveillance facilities and could substantially change the way that cable modem and DSL (digital subscriber line) companies operate.
The new rules are necessary, because terrorists could otherwise frustrate legitimate wiretaps by placing phone calls over the Internet, warns a summary of a July 10 meeting with the FCC that the FBI prepared. "Broadband networks may ultimately replace narrowband networks," the summary says. "This trend offers increasing opportunities for terrorists, spies and criminals to evade lawful electronic surveillance."
There's more to this one too.
Unbelievable - - but True...
Despair, anyone??
Cable and DSL
A far-reaching proposal from the FBI, made public Friday, would require all broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police.
. . . . .
Legal experts said the 85-page filing includes language that could be interpreted as forcing companies to build back doors into everything from instant messaging and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) programs to Microsoft's Xbox Live game service. The introduction of new services that did not support a back door for police would be outlawed, and companies would be given 15 months to make sure that existing services comply.
"The importance and the urgency of this task cannot be overstated," says the proposal, which is also backed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration. "The ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being compromised today."
Read those three paragraphs again, and listen for the stomp of jackboots in your mind's ear. Then go read the whole story.
Now see what they have in mind for Net Phone:
Internet telephone calls are fast becoming a national security threat that must be countered with new police wiretap rules, according to an FBI proposal presented quietly to regulators this month.
Representatives of the FBI's Electronic Surveillance Technology Section in Chantilly, Va., have met at least twice in the past three weeks with senior officials of the Federal Communications Commission to lobby for proposed new Internet eavesdropping rules. The FBI-drafted plan seeks to force broadband providers to provide more efficient, standardized surveillance facilities and could substantially change the way that cable modem and DSL (digital subscriber line) companies operate.
The new rules are necessary, because terrorists could otherwise frustrate legitimate wiretaps by placing phone calls over the Internet, warns a summary of a July 10 meeting with the FCC that the FBI prepared. "Broadband networks may ultimately replace narrowband networks," the summary says. "This trend offers increasing opportunities for terrorists, spies and criminals to evade lawful electronic surveillance."
There's more to this one too.
Unbelievable - - but True...
Despair, anyone??
Friday, March 12, 2004
Join the Army After You Die...
Donated Bodies Used in Land Mine Tests
NEW ORLEANS March 10 Seven cadavers donated to Tulane University's medical school were sold to the Army and blown up in land mine experiments, officials said Wednesday. Tulane said it has suspended dealings with a national distributor of donated bodies.
The university paid National Anatomical Service, a New York-based company that distributes bodies nationwide, less than $1,000 a body to deliver surplus cadavers, thinking they were going to medical schools in need of corpses.
The anatomical services company sold seven cadavers to the Army for between $25,000 and $30,000, said Chuck Dasey, a spokesman for the Army's Medical Research and Materiel Command in Fort Detrick, Md. The bodies were blown up in tests on protective footwear against land mines at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
. . . . .
Michael Meyer, a philosophy professor at Santa Clara University in California who has written about the ethics of donated bodies, said the military's use is questionable because it knows donors did not expect to end up in land mine tests.
"Imagine if your mother had said all her life that she wanted her body to be used for science, and then her body was used to test land mines. I think that is disturbing, and I think there are some moral problems with deception here," Meyers said.
NO!!!! That is not why the whole deal is questionable.
Well, okay, the whole being-blown-up-instead-of-helping-to-find-a-cure-for-cancer thing is questionable enough in its own right... but that's not the Big Question.
The Big Question is "Why is the Army paying $25,000 to $30,000 for bodies that had been donated, to a company that had already been paid to deliver them, and if it's illegal to sell body parts, then why were they getting away with this racket in the first place??"
I'm a donator, and I won't particularly care if they use me to test land mines. Hey, I'll be DEAD! If they really need to know what effects a landmine will have on a 5'4", hundred & ahem lb. woman, that won't bother me, cause I'll still be DEAD!
But give me the $25,000 to $30.000. Don't let me selflessly deny my children the joy of pumping me so full of formaldehyde that my pickled remains will have failed to push up a single daisy in the next two hundred years, and then negate my great sacrifice by paying someone else for my dead body.
Give me that 25-30 thousand, give it to me now (tax free, of course), and when I'm dead you can use me to test all the land mines you want. Just don't retrofit my DNA to try to find an immortality potion for Dick Cheney, or use my gall bladder to give Ashcroft even more gall than he's already been blessed with...
... after all, I'm donating my body to Science, not to the launching of the Tribulation.
Research courtesy of Kip
NEW ORLEANS March 10 Seven cadavers donated to Tulane University's medical school were sold to the Army and blown up in land mine experiments, officials said Wednesday. Tulane said it has suspended dealings with a national distributor of donated bodies.
The university paid National Anatomical Service, a New York-based company that distributes bodies nationwide, less than $1,000 a body to deliver surplus cadavers, thinking they were going to medical schools in need of corpses.
The anatomical services company sold seven cadavers to the Army for between $25,000 and $30,000, said Chuck Dasey, a spokesman for the Army's Medical Research and Materiel Command in Fort Detrick, Md. The bodies were blown up in tests on protective footwear against land mines at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
. . . . .
Michael Meyer, a philosophy professor at Santa Clara University in California who has written about the ethics of donated bodies, said the military's use is questionable because it knows donors did not expect to end up in land mine tests.
"Imagine if your mother had said all her life that she wanted her body to be used for science, and then her body was used to test land mines. I think that is disturbing, and I think there are some moral problems with deception here," Meyers said.
NO!!!! That is not why the whole deal is questionable.
Well, okay, the whole being-blown-up-instead-of-helping-to-find-a-cure-for-cancer thing is questionable enough in its own right... but that's not the Big Question.
The Big Question is "Why is the Army paying $25,000 to $30,000 for bodies that had been donated, to a company that had already been paid to deliver them, and if it's illegal to sell body parts, then why were they getting away with this racket in the first place??"
I'm a donator, and I won't particularly care if they use me to test land mines. Hey, I'll be DEAD! If they really need to know what effects a landmine will have on a 5'4", hundred & ahem lb. woman, that won't bother me, cause I'll still be DEAD!
But give me the $25,000 to $30.000. Don't let me selflessly deny my children the joy of pumping me so full of formaldehyde that my pickled remains will have failed to push up a single daisy in the next two hundred years, and then negate my great sacrifice by paying someone else for my dead body.
Give me that 25-30 thousand, give it to me now (tax free, of course), and when I'm dead you can use me to test all the land mines you want. Just don't retrofit my DNA to try to find an immortality potion for Dick Cheney, or use my gall bladder to give Ashcroft even more gall than he's already been blessed with...
... after all, I'm donating my body to Science, not to the launching of the Tribulation.
Research courtesy of Kip
Thursday, March 11, 2004
McDonald's Lets Their Altruism Shine Through
Darn, I'm really gonna miss that Quart o' Coke, though:
McDonald's to dump Supersize portions
CHICAGO -- Hold the fries - at least the super-sized version. In a sign of the times, McDonald's is getting rid of the extra-large portions that had become one of its signatures. The burger giant said it has begun phasing out Supersize fries and drinks in its more than 13,000 U.S. restaurants and will stop selling them altogether by year's end, except in promotions.
. . . . .
"The reason for reducing the number of fry sizes is to simplify operations and enhance our ability to deliver better service to our guests," the memo said, adding that the 7-ounce carton "will be eliminated as part of our healthy lifestyle initiative."
So, let's make sure we've got this straight - - They're not saying that they're eliminating the Supersize fries because they're heinously bad for you... They're saying that in the interests of streamlining their spud distribution operations, and only coincidentally giving Americans the initiative to eat slightly smaller quantities of indigestible crap, they're relieving us of the temptation of that extra ounce of greasy death.
See, the 523 calories, 25 grams of fat, or 335 mg of sodium in the 6 oz. "large" fries are totally harmless... it's that deadly extra 87 calories, 4 grams, & 55 mg in the 7 oz "Supersize"* that will kill you.
And anyway, has anyone, ever, managed to eat an entire Supersize bale of fries, before the ones at the bottom become cold, congealed strips of pasty yellow-white greasecurd, that you know would lie on your tongue like a flabby dead waxworm if you tried to eat them more than three minutes after they came out of the sizzling lard?
:o~
(* Based on the nutritional analysis** for US Supersize fries of 610 calories, 29 grams of fat, 390 milligrams of sodium and 77 grams of carbohydrates)
(** Gratuitous snickering is understandable, but not encouraged)
McDonald's to dump Supersize portions
CHICAGO -- Hold the fries - at least the super-sized version. In a sign of the times, McDonald's is getting rid of the extra-large portions that had become one of its signatures. The burger giant said it has begun phasing out Supersize fries and drinks in its more than 13,000 U.S. restaurants and will stop selling them altogether by year's end, except in promotions.
. . . . .
"The reason for reducing the number of fry sizes is to simplify operations and enhance our ability to deliver better service to our guests," the memo said, adding that the 7-ounce carton "will be eliminated as part of our healthy lifestyle initiative."
So, let's make sure we've got this straight - - They're not saying that they're eliminating the Supersize fries because they're heinously bad for you... They're saying that in the interests of streamlining their spud distribution operations, and only coincidentally giving Americans the initiative to eat slightly smaller quantities of indigestible crap, they're relieving us of the temptation of that extra ounce of greasy death.
See, the 523 calories, 25 grams of fat, or 335 mg of sodium in the 6 oz. "large" fries are totally harmless... it's that deadly extra 87 calories, 4 grams, & 55 mg in the 7 oz "Supersize"* that will kill you.
And anyway, has anyone, ever, managed to eat an entire Supersize bale of fries, before the ones at the bottom become cold, congealed strips of pasty yellow-white greasecurd, that you know would lie on your tongue like a flabby dead waxworm if you tried to eat them more than three minutes after they came out of the sizzling lard?
:o~
(* Based on the nutritional analysis** for US Supersize fries of 610 calories, 29 grams of fat, 390 milligrams of sodium and 77 grams of carbohydrates)
(** Gratuitous snickering is understandable, but not encouraged)
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Dr Strangelove Meets the Boy Mechanic
Maybe BattleBots and Junkyard Wars were really just warming up the audience for another DARPA project...
(from the Overview page):
"DARPA intends to conduct a challenge of autonomous ground vehicles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in March of 2004. A cash award of $1 million will be granted to the team that fields the first vehicle to complete the designated route within a specified time limit. The purpose of the challenge is to leverage American ingenuity to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies that can be applied to military requirements.
They seem to be pretty good at leveraging American ingenuity... check out the Teams page. They've even leveraged themselves a high school geek squad.
"Hey, boys & girls! Be the first on your block to help your government take over the world!!" Isn't that kinda how the Hitler-Jungen got started...?
In case we've forgotten (or never learned) the particulars about DARPA, here is a fascinating and frightening article on the subject from Alternet.
In an August 2003 article, Los Angeles Times reporter Charles Pillar noted that DARPA has put forth some of the "most boneheaded ideas ever to spring from the government" – including a "mechanical elephant" that never made it into the jungles of Vietnam and telepathy research that never quite afforded the U.S. the ability to engage in psychic spying.
As former DARPA Director Charles Herzfeld noted in 1975, "When we fail, we fail big." Little has changed. According to DARPA's current chief, some 85 percent-90 percent of its projects fail to meet their full objectives. Still, Piller points out, DARPA "has been behind some of the world's most revolutionary inventions" – "the Internet, the global positioning system, stealth technology and the computer mouse."
. . . . .
DARPA has taken up the torch and is funding a rigorous research program aimed at finding novel ways to weaponize the natural world.
"Novel ways to weaponize the natural world". Scared yet?? I am...
(from the Overview page):
"DARPA intends to conduct a challenge of autonomous ground vehicles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in March of 2004. A cash award of $1 million will be granted to the team that fields the first vehicle to complete the designated route within a specified time limit. The purpose of the challenge is to leverage American ingenuity to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies that can be applied to military requirements.
They seem to be pretty good at leveraging American ingenuity... check out the Teams page. They've even leveraged themselves a high school geek squad.
"Hey, boys & girls! Be the first on your block to help your government take over the world!!" Isn't that kinda how the Hitler-Jungen got started...?
In case we've forgotten (or never learned) the particulars about DARPA, here is a fascinating and frightening article on the subject from Alternet.
In an August 2003 article, Los Angeles Times reporter Charles Pillar noted that DARPA has put forth some of the "most boneheaded ideas ever to spring from the government" – including a "mechanical elephant" that never made it into the jungles of Vietnam and telepathy research that never quite afforded the U.S. the ability to engage in psychic spying.
As former DARPA Director Charles Herzfeld noted in 1975, "When we fail, we fail big." Little has changed. According to DARPA's current chief, some 85 percent-90 percent of its projects fail to meet their full objectives. Still, Piller points out, DARPA "has been behind some of the world's most revolutionary inventions" – "the Internet, the global positioning system, stealth technology and the computer mouse."
. . . . .
DARPA has taken up the torch and is funding a rigorous research program aimed at finding novel ways to weaponize the natural world.
"Novel ways to weaponize the natural world". Scared yet?? I am...
Monday, March 08, 2004
Comedy in Two Acts
ACT I: In which Mark Morford waxes hilariously wroth over one particular bit of the current insanity -
Where Is My Gay Apocalypse?
Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?
I have been waiting patiently.
I have been staring with great anticipation out the window of my flat here in the heart of San Francisco, sighing heavily, waiting for the riots and the plagues and the screaming monkeys and the blistering rain of inescapable hellfire. I have my camera all ready and everything.
There has been nothing. I see only some lovely trees and a stunning blue sky and my neighbor walking by with her pair of matching chow chows as a pained-looking woman struggles to parallel park her SUV. Same old, same old.
And this is San Francisco, gay-marriage HQ, Sodom-and-Gomorrahville, debauchery central. We are supposed to be careening off the nice, safe road of social acceptability right now, welcoming chaos, exploding into a fiery hellmist of our own sick godless depravity and dropping off the disgusted planet any minute now.
more...
ACT II: Variations on a theme, complete with Biblical footnotes -
Subject: In defense of Biblical marriage
The Presidential Prayer Team is currently urging us to: "Pray for
the President as he seeks wisdom on how to legally codify the
definition of marriage. Pray that it will be according to Biblical
principles. With any forces insisting on variant definitions of
marriage, pray that God's Word and His standards will be honored by
our government." This is true.
Any good religious person believes prayer should be balanced by
action. So here, in support of the Prayer Team's admirable goals,
is a proposed Constitutional Amendment codifying marriage entirely
on biblical principles:
A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between
one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)
B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in
addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron
11:21)
C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a
virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut
22:13-21)
There's more of this, too...
:D
Where Is My Gay Apocalypse?
Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?
I have been waiting patiently.
I have been staring with great anticipation out the window of my flat here in the heart of San Francisco, sighing heavily, waiting for the riots and the plagues and the screaming monkeys and the blistering rain of inescapable hellfire. I have my camera all ready and everything.
There has been nothing. I see only some lovely trees and a stunning blue sky and my neighbor walking by with her pair of matching chow chows as a pained-looking woman struggles to parallel park her SUV. Same old, same old.
And this is San Francisco, gay-marriage HQ, Sodom-and-Gomorrahville, debauchery central. We are supposed to be careening off the nice, safe road of social acceptability right now, welcoming chaos, exploding into a fiery hellmist of our own sick godless depravity and dropping off the disgusted planet any minute now.
more...
ACT II: Variations on a theme, complete with Biblical footnotes -
Subject: In defense of Biblical marriage
The Presidential Prayer Team is currently urging us to: "Pray for
the President as he seeks wisdom on how to legally codify the
definition of marriage. Pray that it will be according to Biblical
principles. With any forces insisting on variant definitions of
marriage, pray that God's Word and His standards will be honored by
our government." This is true.
Any good religious person believes prayer should be balanced by
action. So here, in support of the Prayer Team's admirable goals,
is a proposed Constitutional Amendment codifying marriage entirely
on biblical principles:
A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between
one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)
B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in
addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron
11:21)
C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a
virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut
22:13-21)
There's more of this, too...
:D
Saturday, March 06, 2004
I Bet it Was the Beard That Tipped Them Off...
An unfortunate combintion of full beard, black clothes, and adherence to religious doctrine thousands of years old...
How could the Homeland Security Gestapo be expected to differentiate between an American Amish man and a Middle Eastern mass-murdering martyr wannabe??
He's lucky they didn't slap him into Guantanamo...
Amish Man Not Allowed to Return to U.S
PITTSBURGH (AP)--An Amish man who visited his ailing father in Canada has not been allowed to return because of border security aimed at thwarting terrorists. The man, adhering to the Bible's prohibition of graven images, has no photo identification.
According to officials in Licking Township, a municipality of 475 people midway between Pittsburgh and the New York border, U.S. officials told the man photo waivers once granted the Amish have been cut off due to security concerns.
Canadian border guards allowed the man into the country to visit his father in Ontario just before Christmas; the United States has prevented his return. The man's wife and child remain in the United States.
Research props to Kip
How could the Homeland Security Gestapo be expected to differentiate between an American Amish man and a Middle Eastern mass-murdering martyr wannabe??
He's lucky they didn't slap him into Guantanamo...
Amish Man Not Allowed to Return to U.S
PITTSBURGH (AP)--An Amish man who visited his ailing father in Canada has not been allowed to return because of border security aimed at thwarting terrorists. The man, adhering to the Bible's prohibition of graven images, has no photo identification.
According to officials in Licking Township, a municipality of 475 people midway between Pittsburgh and the New York border, U.S. officials told the man photo waivers once granted the Amish have been cut off due to security concerns.
Canadian border guards allowed the man into the country to visit his father in Ontario just before Christmas; the United States has prevented his return. The man's wife and child remain in the United States.
Research props to Kip
Friday, March 05, 2004
Oxymoron Alert... Oxymoron Alert... Oxymoron Alert...
"House Ethics Committee"... snicker snicker... These guys crack me up:
Groups Contend House Ethics System Virtually Meaningless
USA Today
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House ethics system has almost stopped functioning because public interest groups can no longer file complaints and party leaders have an informal agreement not to trigger new investigations, several organizations contended Tuesday.
Conservative Judicial Watch, joined by mostly liberal groups in a news conference, urged reversal of the prohibition against nongovernment organizations and an end to what they called a sweetheart pact to avoid investigations.
As examples of stonewalling, the eight organizations said the House ethics committee has taken no action on allegations that Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is using a children's charity for political purposes; or on a reported offer from unnamed Republicans to Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., to aid the congressional campaign of his son if he voted for the Medicare overhaul last year.
Now, I notice that USA Today, that notoriously leftist rag, has only mentioned Republican ethics-violators. This is in no way to be construed as a testament to the ethics of Democratic Congresspeople: The members of our two-party monopoly ruling class are, for the most part, cut from the same cloth, with the possible exception of Dennis Kucinich and maybe a few more we've never heard of.
Just thought I'd toss that out there in hopes of heading off any pro-Republican diatribes -- I repeat: They Are All Just As Bad...
Groups Contend House Ethics System Virtually Meaningless
USA Today
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House ethics system has almost stopped functioning because public interest groups can no longer file complaints and party leaders have an informal agreement not to trigger new investigations, several organizations contended Tuesday.
Conservative Judicial Watch, joined by mostly liberal groups in a news conference, urged reversal of the prohibition against nongovernment organizations and an end to what they called a sweetheart pact to avoid investigations.
As examples of stonewalling, the eight organizations said the House ethics committee has taken no action on allegations that Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is using a children's charity for political purposes; or on a reported offer from unnamed Republicans to Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., to aid the congressional campaign of his son if he voted for the Medicare overhaul last year.
Now, I notice that USA Today, that notoriously leftist rag, has only mentioned Republican ethics-violators. This is in no way to be construed as a testament to the ethics of Democratic Congresspeople: The members of our two-party monopoly ruling class are, for the most part, cut from the same cloth, with the possible exception of Dennis Kucinich and maybe a few more we've never heard of.
Just thought I'd toss that out there in hopes of heading off any pro-Republican diatribes -- I repeat: They Are All Just As Bad...
I Continue to Not be Surprised
Payrolls disappoint again
Gain of 21,000 falls far short of Wall Street forecasts; unemployment rate steady at 5.6 percent.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. payrolls grew in February at a far slower pace than the prior month, the government said Friday, in a report that disappointed Wall Street expectations for the fourth month in a row.
Payrolls outside the farm sector grew by just 21,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported, compared with a downwardly revised gain of 97,000 in January. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent.
Economists, on average, had expected 125,000 new jobs and unemployment at 5.6 percent, according to Briefing.com.
"This is a terrible number," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo. "The economic recovery is almost three years old, and the economy should be producing 200,000 to 300,000 jobs per month."
Read those last few paragraphs again, in case you just kind of blipped over them:
(ignore the part about "the economic recovery is almost three years old" - that's just silly)
We "should be" creating 200,000 to 300,000 jobs per month.
We "had expected" 125,000 new jobs in Feb.
We actually created 21,000 new jobs in Feb.
Well, even with a Leap Year, Feb. is a stunted little month... we'll blame it on that.
More February Follies:
Other measures of weakness
Slow payroll growth wasn't the only bad thing about the February employment situation. The details are also painful.
Number of unemployed -- 8.2 million
Change in labor force -- down 392,000
Labor force participation rate -- 65.9 percent, lowest since 1988
Number of discouraged workers -- 484,000
Average unemployment duration -- 20.3 weeks, highest since 1984
Percent unemployed 27 weeks -- 22.9, near highest since 1983
If the Bush League is planning on campaigning on the economy this year, then they're still listening to the genius who said "Hey Mr. President, why don't you pose on an aircraft carrier, in a flight suit, with a big 'Mission Accomplished' banner over your head? Oh yeah, and really tighten up those crotch straps..."
:D
Gain of 21,000 falls far short of Wall Street forecasts; unemployment rate steady at 5.6 percent.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. payrolls grew in February at a far slower pace than the prior month, the government said Friday, in a report that disappointed Wall Street expectations for the fourth month in a row.
Payrolls outside the farm sector grew by just 21,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported, compared with a downwardly revised gain of 97,000 in January. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent.
Economists, on average, had expected 125,000 new jobs and unemployment at 5.6 percent, according to Briefing.com.
"This is a terrible number," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo. "The economic recovery is almost three years old, and the economy should be producing 200,000 to 300,000 jobs per month."
Read those last few paragraphs again, in case you just kind of blipped over them:
(ignore the part about "the economic recovery is almost three years old" - that's just silly)
We "should be" creating 200,000 to 300,000 jobs per month.
We "had expected" 125,000 new jobs in Feb.
We actually created 21,000 new jobs in Feb.
Well, even with a Leap Year, Feb. is a stunted little month... we'll blame it on that.
More February Follies:
Other measures of weakness
Slow payroll growth wasn't the only bad thing about the February employment situation. The details are also painful.
Number of unemployed -- 8.2 million
Change in labor force -- down 392,000
Labor force participation rate -- 65.9 percent, lowest since 1988
Number of discouraged workers -- 484,000
Average unemployment duration -- 20.3 weeks, highest since 1984
Percent unemployed 27 weeks -- 22.9, near highest since 1983
If the Bush League is planning on campaigning on the economy this year, then they're still listening to the genius who said "Hey Mr. President, why don't you pose on an aircraft carrier, in a flight suit, with a big 'Mission Accomplished' banner over your head? Oh yeah, and really tighten up those crotch straps..."
:D
I Always Said These Guys Had a Lot of Gall...
Ashcroft hospitalized for gallstone pancreatitis
WASHINGTON-- Attorney General John Ashcroft has been hospitalized with a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis, his chief spokesman said Friday.
Ashcroft, a former member of the Senate who has been free of health problems, canceled an appearance Thursday afternoon at which he was to have announced verdicts in a terrorism case.
. . . . .
"After a full medical work up in the emergency room," Corallo said, "it was determined that he was suffering from a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis. He was admitted to intensive care for careful monitoring and is being treated with antibiotics."
:'(
WASHINGTON-- Attorney General John Ashcroft has been hospitalized with a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis, his chief spokesman said Friday.
Ashcroft, a former member of the Senate who has been free of health problems, canceled an appearance Thursday afternoon at which he was to have announced verdicts in a terrorism case.
. . . . .
"After a full medical work up in the emergency room," Corallo said, "it was determined that he was suffering from a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis. He was admitted to intensive care for careful monitoring and is being treated with antibiotics."
:'(
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Tax Season Humor
Nifty little site... A collection of early 20th century political cartoons highlighting some interesting snippets of info regarding the income tax.
For example:
When the income tax amendment was passed in 1913, it was hailed as a means of reducing the overall tax burden on workers and shifting it to the wealthy through progressive income tax rates. In 1913, people with incomes of less than $4,000 were exempt from income taxes. Adjusted for inflation, that would be roughly $71,600 in today's dollars.
For example:
When the income tax amendment was passed in 1913, it was hailed as a means of reducing the overall tax burden on workers and shifting it to the wealthy through progressive income tax rates. In 1913, people with incomes of less than $4,000 were exempt from income taxes. Adjusted for inflation, that would be roughly $71,600 in today's dollars.
While We're on the Subject...
Democracy Now! (courtesy of WBAI, the local Pacifica station) had a short interview with Ramsey Clark this morning on the subject of the Hatian goings-on.
Some quotage:
...this is as clear a demonstration of U.S. regime change, and by armed aggression, as you'll find. Have you heard President Bush or Colin Powell say a good thing about President Aristide? Have you heard them say repeatedly recently, he ought to leave, and earlier, that he ought to hold new elections? Is there a better-known enemy of Aristide than Roger Noriega? ... Why did they cut off humanitarian aid to the poorest country in the hemisphere when they knew how desperate people were getting? Why'd they maintain an embargo?
. . . . .
The United States acted in every way to get Aristide out. As we used to say in organized crime, he made him an offer he couldn't refuse. If that's not coercing and kidnapping, if that's not - it was really by armed aggression, which is the supreme international crime, because we have these gangs with guns, our guns, come in, against police with sidearms and .38 caliber pistols and things, and shoot them up and threaten the President and thousands of other people in Haiti. It was typical. So, for the regime change, what do we get? We get the old regime. You have got the aristocracy that supported Duvalier during 30 years. And the idea that we're going to make a beautiful democracy there and help them economically, how well did they fare during the period from 1915 to 1934 when we occupied the place?
Scroll down on the Democracy Now! page to get to the transcript of the interview.
Another interesting tidbit:
Ex-dictator and son of a dictator Baby Doc Duvalier (isn't that the cutest, most innocuous name for a dictator??) is seriously considering, yea, even attempting, a return from exile and a return to Haiti. The real fun may not even have started yet!!
Some quotage:
...this is as clear a demonstration of U.S. regime change, and by armed aggression, as you'll find. Have you heard President Bush or Colin Powell say a good thing about President Aristide? Have you heard them say repeatedly recently, he ought to leave, and earlier, that he ought to hold new elections? Is there a better-known enemy of Aristide than Roger Noriega? ... Why did they cut off humanitarian aid to the poorest country in the hemisphere when they knew how desperate people were getting? Why'd they maintain an embargo?
. . . . .
The United States acted in every way to get Aristide out. As we used to say in organized crime, he made him an offer he couldn't refuse. If that's not coercing and kidnapping, if that's not - it was really by armed aggression, which is the supreme international crime, because we have these gangs with guns, our guns, come in, against police with sidearms and .38 caliber pistols and things, and shoot them up and threaten the President and thousands of other people in Haiti. It was typical. So, for the regime change, what do we get? We get the old regime. You have got the aristocracy that supported Duvalier during 30 years. And the idea that we're going to make a beautiful democracy there and help them economically, how well did they fare during the period from 1915 to 1934 when we occupied the place?
Scroll down on the Democracy Now! page to get to the transcript of the interview.
Another interesting tidbit:
Ex-dictator and son of a dictator Baby Doc Duvalier (isn't that the cutest, most innocuous name for a dictator??) is seriously considering, yea, even attempting, a return from exile and a return to Haiti. The real fun may not even have started yet!!
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Haiti 101
From AlterNet, an excellent short course on the whole Haiti sitch - all those annoying little facts that they don't waste our time with, over at CNN:
U.S.-Sponsored Regime Change in Haiti
In the wee hours of March 1, US Marines landed in Haiti hours after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide reportedly succumbed to demands from an armed opposition movement that he step down and go into exile – although persistent rumors on the ground maintain he was actually arrested by US forces. As rebel troops entered the capital Port-au-Prince, the UN Security Council approved a resolution authorizing a multinational force to restore order, and French troops are also on the way.
The rebel army, cobbled together from anti-government gangs and militias and led by former army officers, has achieved its aim of Aristide's ouster. It seems the cost will be the loss of Haiti's sovereignty to foreign occupation troops – yet again.
The article hits all the major points in the story of the slow-motion overthrowing of Haiti's first democratically elected government by a military junta led by ex-death squad leaders from the Duvalier dictatorship and trained and equipped and hyped by...
(boy, this joke is getting old...)
... the U.S. government.
sigh...
U.S.-Sponsored Regime Change in Haiti
In the wee hours of March 1, US Marines landed in Haiti hours after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide reportedly succumbed to demands from an armed opposition movement that he step down and go into exile – although persistent rumors on the ground maintain he was actually arrested by US forces. As rebel troops entered the capital Port-au-Prince, the UN Security Council approved a resolution authorizing a multinational force to restore order, and French troops are also on the way.
The rebel army, cobbled together from anti-government gangs and militias and led by former army officers, has achieved its aim of Aristide's ouster. It seems the cost will be the loss of Haiti's sovereignty to foreign occupation troops – yet again.
The article hits all the major points in the story of the slow-motion overthrowing of Haiti's first democratically elected government by a military junta led by ex-death squad leaders from the Duvalier dictatorship and trained and equipped and hyped by...
(boy, this joke is getting old...)
... the U.S. government.
sigh...
Monday, March 01, 2004
America's Dedication to Democracy in Action
I can't wait to see how this develops:
US troops 'made Aristide leave'
HAITIAN leader Jean Bertrand Aristide was taken away from his home by US soldiers, it was claimed today.
A man who said he was a caretaker for the now exiled president told France's RTL radio station the troops forced Aristide out.
"The American army came to take him away at two in the morning," the man said.
"The Americans forced him out with weapons.
"It was American soldiers. They came with a helicopter and they took the security guards.
"(Aristide) was not happy. He did not want to be taken away. He did not want to leave. He was not able to fight against the Americans."
From Democracy Now!:
Rep Maxine Waters: Aristide Says 'I Was Kidnapped'
Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security.
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president.
US troops 'made Aristide leave'
HAITIAN leader Jean Bertrand Aristide was taken away from his home by US soldiers, it was claimed today.
A man who said he was a caretaker for the now exiled president told France's RTL radio station the troops forced Aristide out.
"The American army came to take him away at two in the morning," the man said.
"The Americans forced him out with weapons.
"It was American soldiers. They came with a helicopter and they took the security guards.
"(Aristide) was not happy. He did not want to be taken away. He did not want to leave. He was not able to fight against the Americans."
From Democracy Now!:
Rep Maxine Waters: Aristide Says 'I Was Kidnapped'
Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security.
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president.
Pushbutton Placebos
This is a pretty good little voting metaphor:
Computerized or manual, digital or analog, the process of voting is analagous to crossing a street in Manhattan...
To Participate in Democracy
Flip Lever / Touch Screen / Pull Handle
Wait for Your Vote to Have Any Effect Whatsoever
Board of Elections
New York pedestrians push buttons in vain
By Michael Luo
The New York Times
NEW YORK -- For years, at thousands of New York City intersections, well-worn push buttons offered harried walkers a rare promise of control over their pedestrian lives. The signs mounted above explained their purpose:
To Cross Street
Push Button
Wait for Walk Signal
Dept. of Transportation
Millions of dutiful city residents and tourists have pushed them over the years, thinking it would help speed them in their journeys. Many trusting souls may have believed they actually worked.
Others, more cynical, might have suspected they were broken but pushed anyway, out of habit, or in the off chance they might bring a walk light more quickly.
As it turns out, the cynics were right.
The city deactivated the vast majority of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on, according to city Department of Transportation officials. More than 2,700 of the 3,250 pedestrian walk buttons that still exist function essentially as mechanical placebos, city figures show. Any benefit from them is only imagined.
I'm such a cynic, I never even bothered to push them at all.
To get away from the voting metaphor: Everyone knows that the rule in NYC is "Cross whenever you can make it to the other side in one piece."
Computerized or manual, digital or analog, the process of voting is analagous to crossing a street in Manhattan...
To Participate in Democracy
Flip Lever / Touch Screen / Pull Handle
Wait for Your Vote to Have Any Effect Whatsoever
Board of Elections
New York pedestrians push buttons in vain
By Michael Luo
The New York Times
NEW YORK -- For years, at thousands of New York City intersections, well-worn push buttons offered harried walkers a rare promise of control over their pedestrian lives. The signs mounted above explained their purpose:
To Cross Street
Push Button
Wait for Walk Signal
Dept. of Transportation
Millions of dutiful city residents and tourists have pushed them over the years, thinking it would help speed them in their journeys. Many trusting souls may have believed they actually worked.
Others, more cynical, might have suspected they were broken but pushed anyway, out of habit, or in the off chance they might bring a walk light more quickly.
As it turns out, the cynics were right.
The city deactivated the vast majority of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on, according to city Department of Transportation officials. More than 2,700 of the 3,250 pedestrian walk buttons that still exist function essentially as mechanical placebos, city figures show. Any benefit from them is only imagined.
I'm such a cynic, I never even bothered to push them at all.
To get away from the voting metaphor: Everyone knows that the rule in NYC is "Cross whenever you can make it to the other side in one piece."
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Cost of the War in Iraq
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"Of course the people don't want war... Naturally the common
people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that
matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the
leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a
simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or
a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of
the leaders... All you have to do is tell them they are
being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism
and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
- Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief
From the admin
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I'm All Excited!
- ...about the new, recently released, Austin Lounge Lizards Album,
If the song NPR played the other morning is any indication, they haven't lost their taste for political mockery.
