March 2003 Archives
Kat and I are in full prep mode for our trip to Australia. That combined with the war has really left me with nothing to say. Or rather, nothing that I feel is worth even putting into bytes. I'll post photos once we get to Perth.
In the meantime, I suggest your wander to some of these sites that I've extracted from my NetNewsWire list:
- The Agonist
- Electrolite
- annatopia
- Surfin' Safari
- raelity bytes
- On Lisa Rein's Radar
- bradchoate.com
- Golabutron 3000
- She's Actual Size, Nationwide, Believe
- Reflections
- dive into mark
- rc3.org
- Jeffrey Veen
- TheFlangyNews News
- Aaron Swartz: The Weblog
- This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow
- Ken Bereskin
- Antipixel
- Oblomovka
- scottandrew.com
- Boing Boing Blog
- kottke.org
- What Do I Know
- jwz
The Agonist is like having somebody give you updates from every news source out there all at once.
Wonder what leaflets are being dropped on Iraq? (Thanks quaid)
When the bombs started falling on Iraq, I was eating sushi and drinking Kirin with Karim. I read President Bush's speech when we got back from dinner.
I hope President Bush is as right as he thinks he is. For all our sakes.
From the March 19 White House press briefing:
Q Second question. I think the White House has stated its position that it would like the United Nations to help in the reconstruction of Iraq. And I've heard some reports that maybe the oil money from Iraq's sale of oil could be used for reconstruction. Is that something the White House would like to see?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think there's no question that the Iraqi nation possesses a number of resources. They are a wealthy nation and they have the ability to do what wealthy nations should do -- and that is to turn their wealth to peaceful purposes, rather than military purposes.
Now, while we will only spend 4% of our GNP on our military budget, that still amounts to more than the rest of the world. Combined. Are we really trying to convince people that wealthy nations should turn their wealth to peaceful purposes rather than military purposes?
A petition to send back the Statue of Liberty. Here is the text of my email to the webmaster of the site:
Not only should we send the statue back, we should also deport all French nationals, even if they are also US citizens, as they are clearly French spies that pose a grave threat to the US. We should also declare that France is part of the Axis of Evil. They are a greater threat to international freedom than Iraq and we should take appropriate measures. They have a nuclear weapons program which should be dismantled. They have nuclear powered aircraft carries and submarines which could pose a threat to the US. We must strike now before it's too late!
As you can clearly see, your site doesn't go far enough. If you don't agree with me, you must hate America and freedom in general.
Hopefully it's taken with the same good-natured humor the author used for his site.
While going through the comments on Lessig's post on John Edwards, I saw another weblogger from Chico. Cool.
The Dixie Chick's found out how hard it is to express a dissenting view point. Let's run down the chain of events:
- At a concert in London, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
- Word got out here (ah, globalization) and the shit hit the fan
- Texans freak out and radio stations start pulling them out of rotation
- Apologies fly
Freedom of Speech is a hard concept to grasp. It's not to be taken lightly. Understanding that everyone has the same freedom often escapes most people. Now while I don't think that their freedoms have been violated, I do feel that they have been brow beaten into taking the "party line" because they fear for their record sales. Now, you can say that if they are concerned more about record sales than expressing their views then they should shut the hell up and only say what their PR firms tells them to say. And sadly, you would probably be right.
Maybe if more people could travel outside of the U.S. and hear for themselves what the rest of the world is saying they might have a better idea of where the Dixie Chicks are coming from. Even if you decided to only to travel to countries that are supporting the Bush administration's war efforts, you would still find an incredibly strong anti-war sentiment in the population of those countries.
As of yesterday there was officially 20 lbs. less of me. I've been trying out the Hacker's Diet (pointed out to me by Mark Pilgrim) since October 31, 2002. It's not that bad. The basic premise if that you have to know what you are taking in and what you are putting out. I like it because I don't really have to do anything different (read: I still eat bread). I now pay more attention to serving size and I try and move around once in a while (read: exercise). So it's not really a diet by the definition of most people, but rather a change in your eating habits.
Yeah, it's been a slow process. It's been roughly 18 weeks and 20 lbs., which works out to dropping 0.9 lbs. every week. There is a handy Palm program that helps you keep track of your weight and more importantly keep you on track. This means that you have to weigh yourself every day, or at least very close to that.
Speaking of Freedom Fries...
Where did the perception that people who think that a war is a bad idea don't "support" our troops? I mean, we all pay taxes, right? There hasn't been a military action in 30 years that people took their frustrations out on the people who are in active duty.
Oops, I'm letting them set the table. Forget I ever mentioned this...
Again with Nielsen Hayden:
"We are led by knaves, criminals and morons. Bullies, sadists, and fools. Even by the standards of everyday politics, this Administration is made up of notably ghastly and hapless human beings."
Yup. Need proof? (The "Q" is Russell Mohbiker is a White House reporter and the editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter)
Q Ari, other than Elliott Abrams, how many convicted criminals are on the White House staff?
MR. FLEISCHER: (Laughter.) You tell me, Russell. You seem to keep count.
Q Can you give me a list of convicted criminals on the White House staff, other than Elliott Abrams?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'll go right to the convicted criminals division and ask them to turn -- (Laughter.)
Q No, seriously -- why isn't being convicted of a criminal a disqualifier for being on the White House staff?
You might want to check out his "Ari & I" postings at Common Dreams. They are quite...telling.
What's really going to bake your noodle is that we are going to be trying to dig our butts out of this huge hole we've dug for ourselves. It's not only about being led by thugs and charlatans, it's the damage being done every day to the relationships that took decades to build that are being torn down in mere months.
Fatalism? Not yet. If there is one thing America usually has going for it, it's our ability to bounce back. I still have hope that we will bounce back, solve our problems, and mend our fences. It won't happen as fast as we tore them down, for destruction is always faster than construction. But I doubt it will take as long as it originally took to build. We have the plans. Somebody in the country remembers how foreign policy needs to work. We just have to hope they get in a position to use their knowledge.
Someday we will even go back to insulting the French by calling potato slices cooked in grease french fries.
Yes...how far is too far?
Patrick Nielsen Hayden has a cubic butt-ton of good stuff. Like a nice quote from John Adams (yeah, that one):
It is more beneficial that many guilty persons should escape unpunished than one innocent person should suffer, because it is of more importance that innocence should be protected than it is that guilt should be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in the world that all of them cannot be punished, and many times they happen in such a manner that it is not of much consequence to the public whether they are punished or not.
But when innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, the subject will exclaim, "it is immaterial to me whether I behave well or ill, for virtue itself is no security." And if such a sentiment as this should take place in the mind of a subject there would be an end to all security whatsoever.
Some more on torture:
Torture is the canary in the coal mine. When your society starts seriously talking about torture, it means you've fucked up and become repressive.
Rafe Colburn also posted some tasty GWB (41) links that talk about how going to war without the UN might be a bad idea.
The links on these two sites alone should keep you busy for a while.
Larry's pissed.
In the next 20 years, 1 million patents will expire but 0 copyrights will. Congress broke their promise with the public and stole all these copyrights and gave them to their campaign donors. Where was Jack? Where were these ideals? Jack was on the hill, arguing for breaking the promise.
Can't say that I blame him...
Which brings me to something not entirely unrelated...I just picked up the Sports Night Complete Series on DVD. I'm a sucker for anythign Sorkin. What can I say? Anyway, episode 4 is called "Intellectual Property." One of the anchors gets in trouble with the lawyers because he sang "Happy Birthday" to his partner on the air. The network got a bill for $2,500. He vowed from that point on to only sing songs in the public domain on the air. "That will teach them," was the lawyer's reply.
For full disclosure, Sports Night ran on ABC, which is owned by Disney and the DVD set is distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, also a Disney property.
The funny thing here is that the MPAA is getting out in front of the curve. Usually vendors wait until their security technology has failed before they change their sales pitch to "keeping honest people honest."
Funny as in, "Ha ha! You're getting screwed!"
A friend recently moved to New York to work at the American Museum of Natural History. He has been giving us country bumpkins updates on his acclimation to life in the really freakin' big city.
Axiom #1: There is an inverse relationship between the speed of the
subway train that you are on and the loudness of the loony on it with
you.
Fascinating...
Ren finally got his weblog going. Yay! Now you can read all about trademark and lingerie.
Help pick the new Department of Homeland Security logo. ( via Rick )
NYT: Democrats Pulling Together United Front Against G.O.P.
Out of power, groping for a voice in an unfamiliar wilderness, Democrats in Congress have begun to put aside their differences and coalesce around a sharpened new criticism of President Bush's domestic policies.
They've been given a standing 8-count. Will the Democrats pull their collective heads out before 2004? Only time will tell.
Right after September 11, a big push was made to improve our image in the Muslim world. The person in charge of that effort was Charlotte Beers, an ad industry veteran. She just quit.
She acknowledged only last week that her mission has been daunting. "The gap between who we are and how we wish to be seen and how we are in fact seen is frighteningly wide," she testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
You don't think it has anything to do with our current sucky foreign policy do you? Yeah, me either.
