The Kitsap Pundit

Tim Botkin Recognizes Republican Strategies

2005-06-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

Tim Botkin, columnist for the Kitsap Sun:

Most voters do not respect this [negative] approach, but may not perceive it during the heat of a campaign. But it has happened enough, at local and national levels, that a wonk like me has identified its salient points. Therefore, I hereby publish my Handbook for Spotting the Step-by-Step Destruction of Informed Democracy, the condensed version:
1) The Beginning: A well-intended candidate/official takes a position, call it the Cause.
2) Fault cultivation: Unable to refute its logic, the antagonist breaks out the microscope to find any fault(s) in his opponent's Cause. Faults become the new campaign mantra.
3) Perfect embellishment: Since there is no alternative proposed, the Cause with faults is unassailably compared to "no-fault" or perfection. In that light, only the faults matter.
4) Victim analysis: A search is conducted for any real, or potential, victims of the faulty Cause. Once one potential victim is found, the faults become dangerous.
5) New righteous transformation: The singular victim becomes "everyman." Be afraid, it is now a matter of your "rights", or worse, our "morals."
6) The Word: The attack is dressed up by attaching a phrase from our most fundamental documents — like the U.S. Constitution or the Bible. Never mind if the quote doesn't quite fit.
7) Bring it Home: Now wave the flag and thump the Book. This raises the original dirt above the fray. Words like "freedom, nation, democracy, Christian, right" — in any particular order — roll off the tongue.
8) Humble outrage: When a response is finally made, it is characterized as an attack on the very foundation of our civilization. Antagonists are appalled. And saddened. And ahead.
One of the beauties of this approach is that it also obviates accountability of the antagonist. The issues are lost. Reason is no longer important. We don't question it, we're just glad to be on the right side.
Trouble is, these things have a way of catching up with us. Here at home, we are legitimately concerned about future population growth — but stuck due to the apparent requirement to satisfy a group which seems in the business of never expressing satisfaction.

Tim Botkin served one term as a Kitsap County commissioner and was defeated in a reelection bid - very possibly by a better candidate. And I had the pleasure of meeting him recently. He may not be a great politician, but he writes some sharp articles. And he regularly raises the ire of local Republicans and that's OK by me. In this article he displays solid insight. Without a doubt, the letters to the editor will flow onto the paper's Op-Ed pages for the next several days.

Nice work, Tim.

The Despair of Iraq

2005-06-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Rod Nordland at Newsweek:

What went wrong? A lot, but the biggest turning point was the Abu Ghraib scandal. Since April 2004 the liberation of Iraq has become a desperate exercise in damage control. The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib alienated a broad swath of the Iraqi public. On top of that, it didn't work. There is no evidence that all the mistreatment and humiliation saved a single American life or led to the capture of any major terrorist, despite claims by the military that the prison produced "actionable intelligence."

The most shocking thing about Abu Ghraib was not the behavior of U.S. troops, but the incompetence of their leaders. ... A few soldiers will always do bad things. That's why you need competent officers, who know what the men and women under their command are capable of—and make sure it doesn't happen.

... Basic services like electricity, water and sewers still aren't up to prewar levels. Electricity is especially vital in a country where summer temperatures commonly reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet only 15 percent of Iraqis have reliable electrical service. In the capital, where it counts most, it's only 4 percent.

The most powerful army in human history can't even protect a two-mile stretch of road.

The four-square-mile Green Zone, the one place in Baghdad where foreigners are reasonably safe, could be a showcase of American values and abilities. Instead the American enclave is a trash-strewn wasteland of Mad Max-style fortifications.

... There's no real choice but to stay, probably for many years to come. The question isn't "When will America pull out?"; it's "How bad a mess can we afford to leave behind?" All I can say is this: last one out, please turn on the lights.

This disaster is directly attributable to the incompetence at the top - Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, and Bush - and it flowed downhill from there. It was all based on lies that they believed no one would uncover. They thought it would be so easy, "a cakewalk" with their propaganda juggernaut using the WMD-imminent-danger red herring.

Incompetents.

A Conservative Examines the Issues Documented by Amnesty International

2005-06-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

And he does it by actually examining those issues. Charles Bird (gee, that name sounds familiar) at Red State pushes aside the "gulag" rhetoric:

The larger point is that, just because a once respected international human rights organization goes off the deep end, we are not absolved from our own actions. Amnesty International should be responsible for holding all nations to the same standard, a responsibility they have shirked (more on that in Part III). However, we should be--and for the most part are--holding ourselves to a higher standard. We're the ones calling for change in the world. We're the ones encouraging the world to be more like us, i.e., free and democratic. Therefore, we're the ones that must set the example. That means we have to walk the walk. We have to set the tone. We have to lead.

... We need to address this issue better. Why? First, because our mistreatment of prisoners/detainees is wrong. Second and less importantly, because it's bad politics. We're suffering damage by thousands of small political cuts, seemingly daily. By insufficiently addressing the problem, we are exposed politically and it opens the door to outrageous charges and overexaggerations and dissembling made by our detractors, both domestic and international. The anti-Bush crowd has seized the issue and they're not going to let go. The liberal agenda is to damage, neutralize or impeach Bush. Why give the left this kind of ammunition?

Why, indeed. These are charges of violations of law. None of them are outrageous or overexaggerated or dissembled. They're charges of violations of law. The administration's above-the-law arrogance has resulted in murder, maiming, and torture. These are facts that AI documents - as it likewise documents inhumane policies and practices committed by governments of other countries. So Bush dismisses the report as "absurd", thereby keeping his ignorant head firmly planted in the sand.

Impeachment? Compare violations of U.S. and international law resulting in loss of lives against lying about a personal sexual tryst. And that doesn't even address the Downing Street Memo.

Oh, yeah, one other item: The grownups have taken over. That's real comforting.

Tacitus Is Back

2005-06-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

And he's returned in fine form with an article entitled The Shirkers wherein he examines the arguments of calling out the chickenhawks to put up by enlisting in the military or shut up. This has generated hundreds of debating comments worthy of perusal. And he hasn't abandoned his position at Red State.

Tac's conservatism doesn't mean he follows the template of the frothing fools at Free Republic or Little Green Footballs, or the intellectual dishonesty of Power Line. His writing is intelligent. He examines an issue without first forming a conclusion and then developing an argument to support it. And sometimes his conclusions do not fall in line with the neocons. Also important is that he attracts a number of mostly intelligent (and civil) readers that participate in the comments.

So he's back on my blogwool.

Republicans are like WWF Wrestlers

2005-05-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Paul Feig at the Huffington Post:

Okay, so let me get this straight. By striking a compromise that guarantees an "up or down vote" on three of President Bush's five controversial judical appointees, Democrats had somehow said that they were now also going to give the rubber stamp of approval to ALL of the President's appointees? Apparently that was the case if you see all the outrage and indignation coming from the Republicans over the Democratic delay of a vote on United Nations appointee John Bolton.

Many Republicans have always reminded me of professional WWF wrestlers. They come into the ring all pumped up and acting like they're invincible and that they're going to destroy their opponent. Then they get hit once and fall down and roll around in agony and suddenly seem immobilized by pain, calling for the ref to intervene. In the ring, this display of injury usually allows their opponent enough time to pick them up by the hair and perform a pile driver on them. While the Democrats have hardly ever seemed able of late to follow through with the pile driver on a "wounded" Republican, it's this mock indignation and outrage from the Right every time they get hit with any roadblock or accusation of ill that makes them come off, well ... kinda like a bunch of crybabies. C'mon, you guys. Toughen up a bit. I know it must be in the conservative playbook somewhere to defend yourself through the use of total sputtering indignation, but it's sort of making you look like a bunch of sore losers. Especially when you're not really losing.

Don't I Wish

2005-05-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

The Take Back America Conference:

The Take Back America Conference brings thousands of progressive activists, thinkers and leaders together to discuss our vision, unite our groups and train our campaign organizers.

I've never been to an event like this and I'd love to go. But ...

Another Local Makes Good

2005-05-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Dave Neiwert's new book is published.

Can He Truly Be That Dumb?

2005-05-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post Editorial dismembers Tom Delay:

DURING THE DEBATE in the House on Tuesday over the stem cell research bill that passed on a bipartisan vote, Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) leveled a remarkable accusation: Supporters of liberalizing President Bush's restrictive approach to funding stem cell research, he said, were voting "to fund with taxpayer dollars the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings for the purposes of medical experimentation." Mr. DeLay called embryonic stem cell research, which may promise lifesaving treatments for various devastating conditions, a "scientific exploration into the potential benefits of killing human beings."

... It's hard, however, to be dismembered if one has no limbs -- being merely a cluster of a couple of hundred non-differentiated cells.

The natural response is to ask the question, Can he really be that dumb? The more disturbing question is, How did he arrive at a position of leadership?

Again, I ask, What is it about the U.S. House of Representatives that makes it such a legislative backwater?

What He Says (again)

2005-05-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

Rob Salkowitz does it again.

In short, tolerance is a precondition to a successful democracy. If you arrive at a place in your thinking where your political opponents are not simply mistaken, but evil, treasonous, or in opposition to divine principles, then the rights and privileges one accords to them under a democratic system become not just irrelevant but positively diabolical. If there is one Right, one Truth, and one way to accomplish God’s will, why engage in any discussion? Why extend the least respect to views that are in error?

Those who claim their political views emanate from higher truth rather than resulting from the fallible (and correctable) process of human reasoning don’t see themselves as an interest group in a pluralist society, engaging in a give-and-take of democratic process. They don’t see the rules governing civility and respect for minorities as applying to them, because they’re Right, and their rightness suspends the obligation to entertain dissenting views. In the worst cases, the failure of anyone to subscribe to the fundamental belief set (or signify those beliefs in public) inherently renders any opinion they may have illegitimate and irrelevant. Tribal, religious or ideological identity comes to supersede common citizenship – in opposition to the basic precepts of Constitutionalism – and civil society proceeds to fracture along irreconcilable sectarian lines.

And that's just a short highlight. Read the whole thing.

Getting Away With It

2005-05-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

Erik Kancler at Mother Jones:

Seventeen states have now voted to ban the use of MTBE in gasoline, but the battle over phasing it out nationwide has been held up in Congress by disagreements over who should pay for the mess. Companies responsible for MTBE pollution are counting on congressional allies, not least House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, to make sure things stay that way.

... In late 2003, three House Republicans, DeLay, Billy Tauzin, and Joe Barton, introduced a waiver in the House energy bill that would exempt MTBE producers and distributors from the liabilities they were being exposed to in the courts. Not coincidentally, both DeLay and Barton hail from a state, Texas, with six of the nation's largest MTBE producers, which account for over 80 percent of all MTBE produced in the U.S. (Most of the rest is produced in Louisiana, Tauzin's home state.) Also not coincidentally, oil and gas has been a top industry contributor to both representatives for over 15 years, having raised $558,000 for DeLay and $931,000 for Barton since 1989. In the 2004 election, Lyondell and Valero—two of the top MTBE producers—were among their biggest contributors.

The article details how petroleum polluters are able to buy immunity from Congress. The results are predictable.

Assuming that MTBE will eventually be phased out, Congress has set aside $2 billion to enable oil and gas companies to transition into new fuel sources. But the phase-out date for MTBE—set for December 31st 2014—isn't even assured; the energy bill contains three exemptions that could allow companies to use MTBE indefinitely.

How nice. Not only do they buy immunity from responsibility, but you and I get to pay for their conversion to other fuels - that they will sell to us at a profit. Don't you just love our system government?

While the Senate has asked that risks of future additives be adequately assessed before they're approved for use, the House has rejected such language.

What is it about the House of Representatives that makes it such a legislative backwater? Why is it that every news report on their latest activities generates among the electorate a collective shaking of heads, a string of expletives, or laughter? It seems a prerequisite for leadership within the Congress is a combination of greed, lies and hypocrisy.

You and I, ladies and gentlemen, have done this to ourselves.

Where They Don't Belong

2005-05-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

A friend in the Army, currently stationed in California, and I have been exchanging e-mail for some time. She returned from Iraq four months ago. Yesterday and today we joked about the U.S. Representatives that want to restrict women in combat. With 14 years experience behind her, she's well informed of the issues. Her response: "Chickenhawk politicians shouldn't meddle in something they know nothing about and don't belong."

If they were to abide by that standard, they wouldn't be politicians.

Soviet-Style Control Over Political Prisoners

2005-05-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International's annual report has just been published. The chapter on the United States informs us of nothing new. And they spare no quarter with regards to Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib.

By the end of the year, more than 500 detainees of around 35 nationalities continued to be held without charge or trial at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay on grounds of possible links to al-Qa’ida or the former Taleban government of Afghanistan. ... Neither the identities nor the precise numbers of detainees held in Guantánamo were provided by the Department of Defense, fuelling concern that individual detainees could be transferred to and from the base without appearing in official statistics.

In a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court ruled in June that the US federal courts had jurisdiction over the Guantánamo detainees. However, the administration tried to keep any review of the detainees’ cases as far from a judicial process as possible.

... On 22 June, after the leaking of earlier government documents relating to the “war on terror” suggesting that torture and ill-treatment had been envisaged, the administration took the step of declassifying selected documents to “set the record straight”. However, the released documents showed that the administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the UN Convention against Torture and that the President had stated in a central policy memorandum dated 7 February 2002 that, although the USA’s values “call for us to treat detainees humanely”, there are some “who are not legally entitled to such treatment”. The documents discussed, among other things, ways in which US agents could avoid the international prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including by arguing that the President could override international and national laws prohibiting such treatment. These and other documents also indicated that President Bush’s decision not to apply the Geneva Conventions to detainees captured in Afghanistan followed advice from his legal counsel, Alberto Gonzales, that this would free up US interrogators in the “war on terror” and make future prosecutions of US agents for war crimes less likely. Following the presidential elections in November, President Bush nominated Alberto Gonzales to the post of Attorney General in his new administration.

This administration controls the judiciary and determined that these prisoners are not subject to either U.S. or international laws. This administration is itself not subject to U.S. or international laws, and is not answerable to any other branch of government, any foreign government, or to the American people.

The U.S. government for decades criticized the Soviet Union and other tyrannies for exactly these same tactics. This administration is no better than the Soviet Politburo. The Imperial Bush and his neocon retinue have pulled our government down to a level that would have made McCarthy blush - and they're proud of their work.

Quote of the Day

2005-05-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

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

Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

The Imperial Presidency: An Empty Suit

2005-05-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

Horse's Ass has become a daily read for me (time to rearrange the blogpool). From a link on Goldy's page to another, I found an article at Chronicles Magazine. This publication has a number of conservative authors but they don't all agree with the current neocon hypnosis. Clyde Wilson is but one example:

We have entered into the stage of imperial decadence in which a clueless inheritor of the throne is a tool of his courtiers, though, like all courtiers, they must occasionally endure an outbreak of petulant self-assertion or manage a tangent of eccentricity by their lord.

...In a blog discussion on the Chronicles website a while back, I was rather severely taken to task by an anonymous correspondent for slighting the accomplishments of President Reagan. For this writer Reagan represents the most valued “presidential legacy” of his lifetime. Set aside that Reagan’s legacy includes a failure to deliver on every promise he made in regard to the internal affairs of the Union. Why do we need a “presidential legacy” to make us feel good? Why should a democratic people have any regard for a president’s legacy other than whether or not he had faithfully executed the laws of the country? My reply was that at this time in our national life it is vitally necessary to desacralize the government by giving up the sentimentality of “presidential legacies.”

How did we get to this state of emperor worship—the need to identify with “our” president, as if he were the father of our one big happy family? It would seem that for millions of Americans now, to criticize “our president” is to commit treason against what they imagine to be a family. Well, the President is not “my president.” He is a rather mediocre and troublesome man who has acheived temporary (let us hope) power through a corrupt and irrational process that required of him neither an admirable character nor proven services to the country. The President is most certainly not “my commander-in-chief.” He is merely during his term of office head of the Armed Forces established by law—that is, he has the responsibility for directing their operations. He is not commander-in-chief of the United States. Constitutionally considered he is not even commander-in-chief of the federal government, which was supposed to be a government of divided powers.

... Beginning certainly with Kennedy, though with intimations at least as early as Teddy Roosevelt, the presidency was absorbed into the corrupt American culture of celebrity. The president is no longer a hero/patriot but a celebrity. When the country was under the most devastating foreign attack in its history, Commander-in-Chief Bush was performing his celebrity routine for elementary school children. The masses today would likely run screaming in fear if confronted with a real hero/patriot as a leader.

Millions of Americans are now unable to make an elementary distinction between society and government. This means that the state apparatus is no longer the servant of society, but that society is merely raw material for the emperor and his retainers.

[Emphasis mine]

Powerful stuff, this. And when coupled with the article to which Goldy linked, it makes for a powerful statement about the American electorate.

Yes, the electorate. We are to blame. You and I.

We put these people - from Bush to Frist to DeLay and all their retinue - into office. We believe the vile and bilious B.S. of Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage/Weiner, O'Reilly, Prager and Wilbur. We keep returning to the lies and delusional rantings found at Free Republic, Little Green Footballs, and Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller. We accept without question the "institutions", the non-profit (except for it's high-profile directors, executives and consultants that play the revolving-door game with government) "think tanks" that produce lies that are translated into talking points that are repeated endlessly and eventually believed. Personal attacks have supplanted logic and debate. We believe what they say, though suppressed common sense tries to be heard behind the noise.

And we wonder why the federal government doesn't address our pressing needs, but instead tries to figure out how to screw the other side.

You and I are to blame. You and I.

Disillusioned Republican

2005-05-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

John Cole at Balloon Juice provides his list of reasons for abandoning the Republican Party. From the comments, it appears that he's not a lone voice in the wilderness.

Allow Me

2005-05-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

to dip my toe into the muck of "blame Newsweek" by noting the significance of Mark Kleiman's post:

Can someone explain to me what Mike Isikoff and Newsweek were supposed to do when a senior Administration official confirmed the Koran-flushing incident? Not publish it, in order to forestall the prospect of riots? Wouldn't that be carrying "civic journalism" to an almost Soviet extreme?

As far as I can tell, there's no real reason to think that the incident didn't happen. So far at least, the Pentagon hasn't even said that it didn't happen.

Quote of the Day

2005-05-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

"Blind faith can justify anything. If a man believes in a different god, or even if he uses a different ritual for worshipping the same god, blind faith can decree that he should die - on the cross, at the stake, skewered on a Crusader's sword, shot in a Beirut street, or blown up in a bar in Belfast. Memes for blind faith have their own ruthless ways of propagating themselves. This is true of patriotic and political as well as religious blind faith."

Richard Dawkins, 1989.

Found via The Secular Web.

Faith: Firm belief in something for which there is no proof.

Blind faith: Firm belief in something for which there is no proof and the refusal to consider any other explanation.

Frist Efforts Will Destroy the Senate

2005-05-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Bruce Ackerman at the Financial Times has a concise, 8-paragraph overview of Frist & Company's work to change the Senate into a Bush Rubber Stamp. Steve Clemons at The Washington Note reproduced it here.

If Frist has his way, the Senate will no longer be known as the world's greatest deliberative body. He will transform it into just another tool of a majority to impose it's will upon a minority.

Social Security Privatization

2005-05-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Josh Marshall provides a good summation of the current Social Security privatization debate at Talking Points Memo.

And James Klurfeld at Newsday.com provides a look into the future.

If you still believe that President George W. Bush's plan to create personal accounts as an alternative to Social Security is a grand idea, just look at what happened at United Airlines. The magic of the marketplace won't look so magical to those whose pensions are slashed. It's a huge reason why a guaranteed benefit needs to be part of a menu of retirement options.

Dennis Prager is Taken to Task

2005-05-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

Zoe Kentucky at Demagogue points out that Dennis Prager is as much of a hypocrite as many of his fellow Republicans. In rebutting Prager's whining in the Huffington Post that Ann Coulter has been treated rudely, she rightly points out that Coulter takes great joy in calling liberals traitors and liars.

Anyone can expand this thought into a long list stretching back to 1992 and the wing-nut string of lies about the Clintons and threats on their lives and extending it to today's lies about Harry Reid. I am personally offended at Coulter's lies and extremism. I dismiss this one small episode as she gets what she deserves.

Anyhow, read her article. She takes him down a peg or two in good fashion.

Kansas Education and Intelligent Design

2005-05-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Kansas State Board of Education member and Christian fundamentalist Kathy Martin:

We can't ignore that our nation is based on Christianity - not science.

I suspect that such arrogance is is borne more of ignorance than intent. Coming from a member of an education board is disturbing.

Our nation wasn't based on Christianity, as many of the deist and atheist founding fathers would attest. Our nation was based on many ideas like the principle of personal liberty, representation of the population within government, and freedom from religious dogma.

Science played a key role in these principles. These ideas stretch back to the Enlightenment. The sudden expansion of ideas and philosophys came about because so many bedrock assumptions of science were challenged and shaken. Science, then as now, determined much of what people incorporated into everyday life. Changes in scientific education walked forward hand-in-hand with changes in philosophy, ideas, culture and even in religion.

Martin is wrong. What's worse, she's ignorant.

Found via Legal Fiction.

Wing-Nuts are Threatening Their Own

2005-05-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran across Erick's note at RedState.org wherein he states:

In a stunning development, Senator Voinovich (R-OH) has gone off the reservation. He is refusing to support John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations.

And within the comments, this:

Someone, somewhere, has something on Voinovich. We need to identify that something and broadcast it to the world.

Independent thinking can bring the wrath of The Party.

Today I find Quin Hillyer's article regarding the nuclear option at Southern Appeal:

Doesn't Frist understand that if you have a victory in hand, you MUST take it?!? I guarantee, if there is a deal that sacrifices nominees, and especially if Bill Pryor is one of the sacrifices, the Republican activists will rightfully go nuts and these senators, and this White House, will find they have forfeited their majority, forfeited everything. They WILL NOT SURVIVE -- politically speaking of course -- any move that sacrifices Pryor. I guarantee it. Indeed, I will work to ensure it. The fury on the right will obliterate their careers. Book it.

They eat their own.

Lack of Logic

2005-05-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

Where's the logic in all of this?

KVI listeners have been complaining for years about the lack of road space for their cars and trucks. It's been a hot-air staple for a long time. So when the legislature finally acts to add to their beloved concrete in the only way it's able to do so, you'd think the world as they knew it was coming to an end. A tax on gasoline of up to 9.5 cents over the years is too onerous. Whiners all.

When Dave Ross and John Carlson ran for public office, they were forced to give up their on-air jobs. Why? So that they couldn't use the air waves (our air waves) to further their campaign. Conflict of interest and all that. Getting paid to talk on the air about their own personal ambitions isn't kosher. I think the same standard should apply to Kirby Wilbur and Carlson for using the air waves (our air waves) to further their pet peeve to cut off the gas tax before it gets off the ground. Conflict of interest. They're no longer an outsider commenting on the issue; they're a direct advocate using the air waves (our air waves) to further their personal agenda. Get off the air, Wilbur and Carlson.

Of course, if the gas tax is axed, they can then go back to puling about the lack of asphalt and too much green space.

NPR Does Beer

2005-05-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

You can listen here.

Bozell: Unsuccessful Twists

2005-05-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

I can't resist.

L. Brent Bozell's column at Parents Television Council on Laura Bush's comedy stint at White House Correspondents Dinner reinforces my diagnosis of conservative schizophrenia. Or maybe it's whitewash.

... First Lady Laura Bush drew rave reviews from the pundits for her comedic routine playing on ABC's trashy new hit "Desperate Housewives." Mrs. Bush joked that she not only watched the show, but she was a "desperate housewife" who took Mrs. Cheney and Condoleezza Rice and Karen Hughes to see male strippers at Chippendales, where they stuff dollar bills in the dancer's drawers, and that Mrs. Cheney's new Secret Service name was "Dollar Bill."

It shouldn't be surprising that Hollywood's elite looked askance that some uptight, straitlaced, parent-prodding complainers were upset with the First Lady, wondering why she, of all people, had to promote that sleazy ABC show.

Uptight, straitlaced, parent-prodding complainers like PTC? I actually expected Bozell's article to do exactly that. But, no.

There is, of course, another side to the story. Mrs. Bush has never actually seen the show, and clearly her tongue was placed firmly in cheek. What made the First Lady's routine such a smash with the crowd was the implausibility of it all. Those who follow the Bushes around with notebooks for their employment would find Laura Bush to be the antithesis of a "Desperate Housewife." The routine was funny because it was Mrs. Bush delivering it.

Oh, OK. Now I understand.

I also understand that if Hillary Clinton delivered those very same lines, Bozell's column would be more in line with what PTC is all about - hysterical and unhinged rantings against everything not falling in line with his narrow religious conservative views.

One more item: Bozell conveniently neglects to mention the bard about the president masturbating a horse. Conveniently.

Schizophrenia? Could be.
Whitewash? Yep.
Hypocrisy? Without a doubt.

Parents Television Council: Oops

2005-05-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Parents Television Council, one part of the hysterical right-wing, has disturbing news:

The Fox broadcast network has again scraped the bottom in reckless and irresponsible programming by featuring an all-out orgy of drinking, drug use, and sexual behavior on the popular and teen-targeted drama series, The O.C. It's one thing for networks to put this sort of content in programs intended for, marketed to and viewed by adults - but to put these kinds of messages in a teen-targeted series at 9pm (8pm Central/Mountain Time) is not only irresponsible, it's inexcusable.

The O.C. invites impressionable young viewers to envy the glamorous teen-aged lead characters who reside in a wealthy, beach-front community. Far from using that influence responsibly, the producers chose to glamorize under-age drinking, drug use, and promiscuous sexuality.

During the April 14 episode, entitled "The Rager," high-school-aged Marissa hosts an unsupervised birthday party for a friend. The party quickly grows out of hand as word of "the rager" spreads. During the party, the camera zooms-in on drug smoking, binge drinking, cocaine snorting, and sexual scenes including a threesome in Marissa's bed. The party ends when one drug-induced guest is found face-down in the swimming pool.

Wait a minute - HOLD THE TAPE!

This is the same Fox broadcast network that is owned by very conservative billionaire sugar daddy Rupert Murdoch AND he also owns Fox News, aka "Republican TV". Rumor has it that they both might be on the same cable channel! Murdoch and Fox (one and the same, for all intents and purposes) have a problem with schizophrenia.

On the other hand, PTC may very well be doing Fox's bidding by revealing the lascivious details of this new Fox show. Broadcast marketing people know that in order to get viewers, you give them a little tittilating taste of what lies behind the curtain. PTC just might be a good vehicle this task. I'll keep reading, you can count on that!

Schizophrenic, I tell you!

The Huffington Post

2005-05-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ariana Huffington's new collective blog, The Huffington Post, is up. Max Blumenthal's article Some Dare Call It Theocracy is worth the time to read.

John Dominik, Talented Writer

2005-05-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

The prolific John Dominik at Daynotes on a Budget has an excellent article on Justice And Patriotism, the decline of morality and political debate. Copy-and-paste won't suffice. Go read it.

Who says geeks can't write? Nice work, John.

Close Corruption

2005-05-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

A national corruption scandal with close-to-home connections.

Seattle right-wing radio host and rabbi Daniel Lapin of upper-crust Mercer Island and his Los Angeles businessman brother David were the subject of Rick Anderson's exposé in The Seattle Weekly. The Seattle Lapin introduced Rep. Tom DeLay to Jack Abramoff some eight or ten years ago and the opportunities abounded.

One of the destinations was the Northern Marianas, a U.S. protectorate west of Hawaii. It is home to a sweatshop garment industry, for which Abramoff and Preston Gates [Ellis law and lobbying firm in Seattle] helped stave off labor reforms threatened by the U.S. Congress. More than 85 legislators and aides were ferried by Preston Gates to the island state in the late 1990s to be wined and dined, many of whom—DeLay in particular—ultimately backed away from a planned crackdown on the garment workers' 84-hour workweeks, squalid living conditions, and $3-an-hour wages.

... David Lapin had a $1.2 million no-bid Northern Marianas government contract that was arranged by Abramoff during his Preston Gates days, to conduct ethics-in-government programs there. But near as anyone in the Marianas can determine today, David Lapin failed to provide any services, The New York Times reported April 28.

... The Marianas commonwealth paid Abramoff and Preston Gates' D.C. lobbying offices, where Abramoff worked from 1994 until 2001, $6.7 million, of which, an auditor later determined, $3.1 million was paid without a lawful contract.

... The Los Angeles Times reported Friday, May 6, that two former DeLay aides, working for Abramoff, dangled U.S. tax dollars to pressure Marianas legislators to switch votes in favor of a new territorial House speaker supported by Abramoff and DeLay. The speaker then pressed for renewal of an expiring Abramoff/Preston Gates consulting contract for the Marianas worth $100,000 a month.

... The Associated Press reports, meanwhile, that in President Bush's first 10 months, Abramoff and his Preston Gates lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration, pressing for friendly hires at federal agencies and protecting the Marianas from hikes in the minimum wage. Abramoff's team met with Attorney General John Ashcroft and policy advisers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office, among others. Records, AP says, show Abramoff also charged the Marianas in 1997 for getting then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush to write a letter expressing support for legislation involving the Marianas.

This story keeps expanding and now it's stinking up the neighborhood. More local offal:

Last year, Newsweek reported, "When fundraising began for Bush's re-election effort, Rabbi Daniel Lapin . . . urged friends and colleagues to steer campaign checks to Bush via Abramoff." President Bush recently reappointed Lapin to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, which helps preserve cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe. Donors to his charity, according to IRS tax filings, comprise the cream of the religious right, such as Lenore Broughton, the Carthage Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. They have helped Lapin raise, on average, about $500,000 a year, based on filings from 1997 through 2003—money he uses to "educate the public through conventions, seminars, public speaking, and class studies on Judeo Christian values," he told the IRS. His religious beliefs include opposition to homosexuality. He speaks at the Eastside church of fellow KTTH talk-show host, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who recently waged an anti-gay-rights battle with Microsoft. But Daniel Lapin supports school vouchers, which could aid the cause of school prayer by boosting private institutions. Having splintered off into a minority movement from historically liberal Jews, Lapin has said he intends to make "my priority rolling back the epidemic of secularism that was unleashed on this country."

It's a shame that most of the IRS' investigation efforts are directed at those that earn so little money. The Lapins' accounting of their income might make for interesting questions.

This is exactly the kind of corruption that Gingrich railed against in 1994. Of course, Gingrich also established the roadway for this kind of criminal juggernaut to travel. His history of skirting the law provided the kind of leadership example for those that followed in his footsteps.

Despite the pitifully small amount of ink or pixels from our "liberal media" and the determined right-wing media's efforts to suppress the information, the odious details continue to leak out.

Phew!

Ruffini on the Irrelevancy of Public Opinion

2005-05-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

Patrick Ruffini:

One of the surest signs that people in Washington think too much of themselves is when they start genuflecting on public opinion.

I believe that a sure sign that people in Washington – specifically, the Washington Republicans – think too much of themselves is when they ignore the opinion of the electorate and their condescension shows through.

On lofty questions of policy, perhaps it isn't that the American people are for or against – but that they just don't care. Americans care more about Michael Jackson than judicial filibusters. They are more concerned with Paula Abdul than with the Pozen proposal for progressive indexing. And that is as it should be.

Currently, how it works is that if your side is losing 64% to 29% in a capriciously worded poll question, you're dead in the water. But what pollsters rarely ever ask is how much people care about the question they just answered. How relevant is it to their lives? Did they discuss something similar at the dinner table last night? When it comes to most policy issues, the organic level of interest outside the Beltway approaches zero. And guess what? An "overwhelming majority" of zero is still zero.

The same is true of politics and politicians in general. People don’t care about it until it’s time to vote. The opinions they expressed previously are then moved onto the ballot.

This routine misuse of polls and public opinion is creating severe distortions in assessing where we stand on issues like judicial nominations or Social Security. And it leads to a more provocative question: even on a big issue like Social Security, why should public opinion even matter? Especially when it doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

Without the polls and the people he maligns, he would continue in his dream world wherein everything Republican is perfect and unquestionable. These polls should cause him concern. They should make him want to re-examine the content of the debate. But his elitist arrogance prevents him from doing so.

The wildly divergent numbers alone suggest this. If you'd framed the choice in one of last year's polls one as between a baby-eating, Baal-worshipping Kerry and the defender of all that is good and virtuous Bush, I doubt the numbers would have moved more than five points. That's the hallmark of a stable, intensely committed electorate.

That’s actually the hallmark of his delusions. Phrasing a question in that manner is irrelevant.

If we free ourselves of this media contrivance that the public doesn't support Social Security reform, and recognize that's it's really indifference that can yet be turned positive, then imagine the freedom of action that gives to wavering Republican Senators and Representatives.

“Media Contrivance.” So, once again I see the victimization whine for which conservatives are famous. “It’s not our fault,” says Ruffini.

I can only hope that he has influence within the conservative ranks.

Found via Oliver Willis.

Seaman Sharon Hedstrom, U.S. Coast Guard

2005-05-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

My daughter is no longer mine. Or her mother's. She now belongs to the U.S. Coast Guard.

She enlisted yesterday and this morning they shipped her out. She is now at Coast Guard Recruit Training in Cape May, NJ.

This last Saturday was spent moving all her belongings back home. She may have moved out almost three years ago, but she made regular visits back home (especially when she was hungry and broke - students are known for that). Sunday evening was a going away party for her. Yesterday was the enlisting formality, administered by our old friend John Morgan (no, it's not much of a web site) and the usual last physical and administrative stuff. She brought her car back over here and surrendered her cell phone (wrenching moment).

It wasn't until we dropped her off at the hotel (all recruits stay together the two days before boot camp) that she realized she was finally leaving home. It wasn't easy for her.

I'm very proud of my girl. She's smart and strong and independent; the Coast Guard is about to be forever changed. I look forward to seeing her in uniform wearing seaman stripes, just like me when I graduated from boot camp so very long ago.

More on John Bolton

2005-05-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

The controversy surrounding John Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations makes for riveting reading. I happen to subscribe to the notion that attention should be paid to his manipulation of intelligence data, his attempts to undercut the State Department as Dick Cheney's inside man, and his public position that the United Nations should be dismantled and everyone sent home. The Washington Note is the turn-to site to follow this drama.

But it's real difficult to tear my eyes away from Steve Clemons' post this morning regarding Bolton's personal life.

In the "INFO BOX" in the Los Angeles Times bio-sketch of Bolton, this is noted:

Personal:

Born in Baltimore, Md., on Nov. 20, 1948.
Married to the former Gretchen Brainerd; one daughter.

What happened to the first wife, Christine Bolton?

I have not spoken to Christine, but she seems to be a non-entity in the many proliferating Bolton profiles, but at the same time she is clearly a well-thought of person and friend to some of Washington's most distinguished personalities. I have dozens of messages from people noting what a wonderful person she is, and in sort of a hush-hush, you-know-what-I-mean, kind of tone, these friends of the first Mrs. Bolton imply a brutal, complicated, abusive marriage.

I want to know more of the facts because if Mr. Bolton has had a hard time controlling himself over the years, the evidence might reveal itself in his first marriage to a woman who was also a professional and who apparently worked at the Department of Commerce.

... But at this time when the hyper-conservative John Bolton was developing his political base, he was also allegedly involved in somewhat risque private behavior -- that I hesitate to say more about here. Those close to his former wife have alluded to it, and I believe that the Morally Intolerant Right Wing of the Republican circuit that is now pushing hard for John Bolton would back off if details of Bolton's off-line behavior that involved his then wife were known.

... The media should investigate questions about his first wife, their marriage, and what some of their friends consider to be quite cruel treatment by him of their relationship.

Compelling stuff. If true, this would kill his nomination and put egg on the faces of his supporters that claim to know the "real" Bolton.

Andrew Card's Non-Interview

2005-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

I was listening to the president's chief of staff Andrew Card on Meet The Press via C-Span this morning. I may have missed something, but I don't think I heard him answer a single question. He's got his political chops down perfectly.

What's next for him - a run for the Senate or House? Governor? Secretariat? The prerequisite is complete!

Local Right-Wing Effluvium

2005-04-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

Stefan Sharkansky, wrote in Sound Politics (an insanely partisan group blog) an article entitled The Endless Effluvium. Predictably, he writes about the gubernatorial election (the same one that took place almost five months ago), the continued ballot scrutinizing, and the high drama playing out in Judge Bridges' courtroom. I haven't been following this very closely - there are things more important that occupy my time.

But I regularly visit Stefan's new blog home at SP (having moved from Shark Blog). Stefan is a very prolific writer with a far right-wing bias. His writing has been nationally recognized in many forums and on television. He has a knack for coming up with stupendous titles for his articles, though the content seldom lives up to his breathless breaking-news header. And he writes lots of articles. He listens closely to KVI's Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson and sometimes participates in the on-air discussions. And he writes more articles. Stefan attends many of the press conferences and public meetings - especially if it's somehow connected to the election controversy. And he writes even more articles. His rants are sometimes directed at those that disagree with him and the bomb-throwing stereotype comes to mind. 27 of the 32 articles currently displayed at SP are Stefan's. Endless effluvium.

There's no doubt about it - the hard efforts of KVI and KTTH radio stations and blogs like SP (specifically, Stefan) and Croker Sack keep the election controversy alive.

Stefan has another life. He is a Green Lake software consultant business owner, having moved up here two years ago from San Francisco, California. He's the former president of Prospero Systems Research, Inc., a university instructor and programmer dating way back when. He's teamed up with Andrew Tobias and a host of other big names to create investment programs. And he's written articles for several magazines.

He and I don't agree on much. I think he's way too far on the fringes of the right wing. His propensity of ad hominem attacks detracts from his other efforts. He selectively fact-picks and slants conclusions which reduces his credibility. In short, he's a right-wing whacko!

But I nevertheless congratulate him on his successes in many pursuits.

National TV Turn-Off

2005-04-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Yes! What a great idea. Disclosure: We haven't had TV in our house in some ten years. So I ask these questions with a hint of arrogance: How many hours a day do you watch TV? How many of those hours do you think were wasted?

Turn it off, get off your butt, do something real!

Bipartisan Humor in Kitsap County

2005-04-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Last night the Silverdale Sunrise Lions Club hosted it's first Roast and Toast fundraiser. Our victim was Kitsap County Commissioner Patty Lent. Roasters included husband Doug Lent, old family frient Burt Frahley (sp?) , Paulette DeGard of the Kitsap County Republicans, Tim Botkin (the fellow she unseated to obtain the Commisoner's seat), Lary Coppola of the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal, and me.

The evening was very successful. A LOT great stories and jokes, some fictional and some might be factual. I'd really like to know more about our Commissioner meeting Doug at the ferry terminal in her robe. Both Democrats and Republicans shared the fun, the barbs, the conversation.

We held the event at the Red Lion Hotel in Silverdale. The Wine Captain was Mary Earl of Grape Expectations also in Silverdale. Margo Curley of Affordable Pics was our photographer. Sandra Burrows was very creative with the table decorations. Donors of raffle prizes included Lary for an ad in the Journal, Teri and Wayne for donating a 20" television, a basket of Lions souveniers from the Lions International convention in Japan donated by Patty, and a three-day cruise from Vancouver, B.C. to Seattle donated by Classic Journeys Travel in Silverdale. All these great people and Patty Lent combined to make for a wonderful evening that we won't forget.

Thank you all.

Update: Pictures can be obtained by e-mail the address pattylentroast which is on comcast "dot" net.

An Unemotional the Critique of "Activist Judges" Silliness

2005-04-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

FindLaw is famous for it's articles that examine current legal issues in a straightforward manner. Marci Hamilton's latest lives up to this standard in her article Senator Frist and Representative DeLay's Claims of Supreme Court Judicial Activism and Anti-Religion Bias: Why They Aren't Persuasive.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist made headlines recently by charging that the Supreme Court and courts in general are both "activist" and opposed to religion. Now, DeLay is even implicitly threatening impeachment of judges who do not follow his predilections as he investigates "good behavior." Their leadership underlines the degree to which the Republican Party is now controlled by - and its identity defined by - the far right.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has been pilloried by the far right for being "activist" - while at the same time also being castigated by the far left for being "imperialistic." When these kinds of allegations are trotted out by both ends of the political spectrum, it is very good evidence that what the Court is doing is neither activist nor imperialistic.

... Terri Schiavo lost her life, and her parents lost their case, because of the actions of the Florida legislature and because of Congress - which might have tried to change the outcome by granting the Schindlers, Terri, and others similarly situated new federal rights.

Trying to lay the blame on the doorstep of either state or federal courts -- which only applied the law as written -- is not only inaccurate, but morally wrong. The buck stops with the legislatures on this one, not the courts.

... Essentially, the far right ring of the Republican party that now controls the Bush White House is interested in appointing as many activist judges as it can to overturn Roe v. Wade, Lawrence v. Texas, and those decisions under the Religion Clauses -- the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause -- that have rightly precluded religious conservatives from dominating the schools, the courthouses, and public grounds. Inclusion is a right, but domination and coercion are Establishment Clause violations, and ones that often inhibit the Free Exercise rights of others.

As should be obvious by now, "activism" is a code word for results not desired by the speaker.

On the other end,

The Court's call to federalism, though long in coming, should have been welcomed by all when it came. It was an overdue reminder that the Constitution gives Congress explicitly enumerated powers, not plenary power.

The left's critique of the Court's decisions has, in essence, claimed that the Court has no business imposing any limits on Congress -- to do so, the left suggested, was not just wrong, but "imperial."

But to say this, is to ignore the Constitution. It is to claim that enumerated power actually means plenary power. And that is simply not the case.

If Congress had endless power, why in the world would the Framers have bothered to list its powers in the Constitution, one by one? History, too, shows that the transition from the loose association of the Articles of Confederation to the tighter federalism of the constitution did not negate the fact that the Constitution was a compact among the states, who were releasing some powers, but certainly not all.

Finally,

Americans, in general, are an independent-minded lot. But lately, labels affixed to various policies and laws by the two ends of the political spectrum have come to dominate American debate. That's unfortunate.

Consider judicial nominations. Plainly, the right solution is the moderate one -- and the commonsensical one as well. It is patently obvious that excellence and independence of judgment are the only qualities the Administration and the Senate should be seeking in our federal judges, who will serve for decades and face literally thousands of issues. But these qualities are antithetical to the one that is being sought by Frist and DeLay: the willingness to take orders, either from the political branches or a particular religious group.

The article isn't particularly long. It addresses several issues without political obfuscation or rhetoric, something sorely missing in today's standards of journalism. Hamilton recognizes that political issues are often clouded by ignored facts and an obliging media (and likewise obliging political base). She avoids that by looking at the situation from a lawyer's perspective - relying on evidence instead of lies and prejudice. Her piece is refreshing and worth the time to read.

Unrecognized Humor

2005-04-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post provides a smile for the morning. President Bush delivered yet another speech earlier this week touting his "plan" for privatizing Social Security.

In one of the least-covered presidential speeches of recent history, Bush dropped by the Grand Hyatt hotel yesterday to talk to the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.

... "So instead of having a trust, we have a pay-as-you-go system, and that which exists in the system is a filing cabinet, or a series of filing cabinets, full of IOUs. In other words, we've got paper."

The irony of the president of the United States mocking the value of promises represented by pieces of paper -- in front of an audience full of insurance agents! -- was apparently lost on everyone, including the journalists in attendance.

Even More Costs for Social Security Privatization

2005-04-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

I read a variety of technical magazines. Most of them arrive in my mailbox gratis, and I'm thankful. But, frankly, I skim through most of the articles. There are a few columns that I regularly read (John Dvorak, for one; also here) and an occasional article will keep my attention for a few minutes. But for the most part, it's a skim.

Except Baseline Magazine. It arrived in my mailbox several months ago without my asking for it. It's a publication that specializes in large-scale IT projects. The articles examine successes and failures. I've found it's worth reading. All of it. Every issue. It's great! And I've subscribed - again, free.

This month's issue includes an article that looks at the completely ignored question of planning and implementing the technology necessary for Social Security privatization. A few key paragraphs:

Indeed, a report commissioned by President Bush on ways to strengthen Social Security, released in December 2001, didn't mention information technology once.

Before you continue to read the remainder, think about that short paragraph: a report on strengthening Social Security didn't consider the implications of IT systems necessary to do so.

... "In politics, you often decide what to do and then ask how to do it," says Dallas Salisbury, CEO of think tank Employee Benefit Research Institute. "It's as if the question of how to do it is not being asked."

One thing is certain: Social Security reform would require heavy lifting on the IT side. And Bush has said he wants private accounts in place by 2009. Hitting that target is increasingly unlikely.

"If the SSA built a system [for tracking private accounts] itself, it would take at least three to five years to build," says Marcus Fedeli, manager of federal opportunity products at Input, a consulting firm. "That's conservative. It could take three years just to design the system."

... Today, SSA systems account for a limited number of data inputs.

Is the beneficiary alive? What's the age? Are there dependents? Is there a divorce?

Once those questions are answered, they are matched to rules and formulas, and a check is sent.

Private accounts introduce moving parts.

What percentage of funds will be invested in a private account? Did the allocation change this quarter? Should the accounts be paid in an annuity if below a set level or taken in a lump sum? This information would probably be collected quarterly.

And money needs to go to accounts faster.

Currently, it can take 18 months to reconcile individual contributions to Social Security, Salisbury says.

That lag applied to private accounts means you could miss an entire bull market.

"It's impossible to do what has to be done," says Francis Cavanaugh, the first executive director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which was the agency responsible for administering the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees. His tenure ran from 1986 to 1994.

The Thrift Savings Plan is often cited as an example of how private accounts in Social Security could work. The plan is like a 401(k) for federal employees.

The catch? You can't compare the two programs because Social Security processes millions more transactions, Cavanaugh said.

... Even if a system could be designed to handle the private accounts of potentially all of the 159 million people covered by Social Security, managing all the account information would be a huge procedure, says Input's Fedeli.

Why? Much of that data arrives on paper forms. "You are talking stacks and stacks of paper. The principal challenge is collecting the information and then allocating the money," Salisbury says. "We assume the world is automated. It isn't."

Without an all-electronic system, processes could easily bog down.

The examples of bungled technology implementation and upgrade projects for various federal agencies go on almost endlessly. The FBI's electronic case filing system is one of the latest horror stories. But the sheer size of privatizing Social Security (and, by the way, handing over our personal information to a very large group of marketers) makes one take a step back.

It's not like the current SSA system. It's not like the DOD or federal employee systems. We can't compare an SSA privatization project against those because it's apples as compared to oranges. Those systems were built as those agencies built their own infrastructure over decades. And much of the infrastructure was put in place incrementally because of the technology that became available.

Privatizing Social Security means building a very large system and putting in place it's attendant bureaucracy very quickly. It's a recipe for a disaster. It will result in delays, mistakes, and failures. You and I will pay for it through our taxes (and through our noses). You or I or my neighbor or your friend will lose many months of benefits because the system screwed up somehow in a completely unknown and untraceable way.

George Bush's pipe dream can't be stood up in just a few years. George and his crew are avoiding the hard questions in many ways, but this question isn't spoken in any conversation.

It won't happen. No matter how much political pressure Congress and the administration put on the fool that is willing to head up this organization, no matter how much money they throw at it. It won't happen.

When I was in the Navy, we often repeated a favorite saying:

"Piss-poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

There's absolutely no planning on this project. It needs to die a quick death and be promptly buried without ceremony.

Worth Watching

2005-04-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

The appropriately named BlatherWatch has been keeping my attention of late. Blogger Michael Hood has a journalism background and uses his soapbox to call attention to the business and political details of right-wing talk radio. His latest writings predict pending movement of Michael Medved from KTTH to KKOL, the accelerating decline of KIRO, and the unreal world of neocon radio.

Good reading; highly recommended.

A Call for Treasury Secretary John Snow to Resign

2005-04-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Why? Incompetence. Hale Stewart states the case:

When asked by a Bloomberg interviewer if the 1-2 trillion dollars required for social security privitization would increase interest rates, you responded no. The markets would reward the US for effectively dealing with its problems and not demand a higher interest rate. This statement is wrong and demonstrates a basic misunderstanding of supply and demand.

... You have publicly stated the US will lower its fiscal deficit. At the same time, you have publicly supported a budget that does not include the cost of US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Considering the size of these operations and the obvious impact they will have on US budget policy, their absence from the budget is appalling. Support for a budget that does not include an expense of this magnitude is fiscally irresponsible.

... You have publicly stated support for a strong dollar, yet have also stated the market should determine the dollar’s value. Events over the past two years prove these statements to be diametrically opposed. The dollar has lost 30% since 2003. More importantly, the world economies no longer have a high degree of confidence on the dollar.

A treasury secretary ignorant of basic principles of economy and business. On the other hand, he won't be able to provide a contrary viewpoint to the president's likewise narrow and ignorant views.

Priorities

2005-04-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Priorities being what they are, I wonder whatever happened to the investigation into the anthrax attack on former Senator Daschle's office. I guess that, since he's no longer a Senator, the investigation appears to be concluded.

I recall during the 2000 presidential campaign George Bush, Dick Cheney, and many Republicans promised to come to the rescue of our military personnel. "Help is on the way" was the cry. During the 2004 campaign, Republicans by the score invaded local military bases to claim the military electorate by bragging about the Iraq War. But when push comes to shove, the Republicans again failed the test. Sen. Patty Murray (MY senator) on Tuesday introduced a bill to improve the medical care of our returning veterans. Not only did the Republicans on the floor of the Senate vote it down, they voted it down twice.

These are the same chickenhawk Republicans that prefer we and our sons and daughters face combat, but they and their kin actively avoid donning the military uniform. The same parsimonious Republicans that don't like the idea of paying combat pay to combatants. No, they've got higher priorities to work on - like ensuring the American aristocracy can pass their fortunes to their sons without worrying about taxes. Or threatening judges that don't follow the party line.

Hypocrites.

Hear, Hear

2005-04-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Robert at Lawyers, Guns, and Money (also, new addition to blogboole) reiterates a topic about which I've previously scribbled:

The only word that can fully capture [Confederate General Robert E.] Lee's behavior is treason. Not Jane Fonda treason; he didn't just give aid and comfort to the enemy. Rather, he was instrumental in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Americans. For this, he deserves to be consigned, along with the other Confederate elite, to the historical equivalent of Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell, where he can hang along with John Wilkes Booth, Pierre Laval, and Vidkun Quisling. Instead, the nation he made every effort to destroy names a submarine after him.

Destroying Confederate nostalgia, there's a noble cause. As long as a Southerner with a Confederate flag on the back of his pickup truck can claim that someone from Massachusetts in Un-American, there will be something dreadfully wrong with this country.

Hear, hear.

More Page Adjustments

2005-04-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

Paul Andrews has returned to my blogdrool. I don't know how I missed it, but he's returned to the pages of the Times. Also added is the collective blog at Evergreen Politics.

Links left.

State Election Reform: Small Steps

2005-04-02T22:10:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across Carl's Washington State Political Report a while ago (thanks for the link, Carl). Within I found a link to a Seattle Times article on part of the legislature's activity.

A House committee, racing to meet a deadline yesterday, passed a modified version of the Senate's extensive election-reform package over the objections of Republicans, some of whom stormed out of the meeting before the votes were complete.

... More than a dozen GOP amendments to the two main bills, including one that would require photo identification at the polls, were defeated by the Democratic majority on the House State Government, Operations & Accountability Committee.

Now, I have little sympathy for those sore loser Republicans who keep whining about the election and trying all manner of gimmickry to keep alive a dying issue. But I think common-sense measures such as requiring picture ID at the polling sites should have been in place decades ago. On that, I agree with Republicans - and, I suspect, with the overwhelming majority of the electorate.

Tacitus Has Gone Downhill

2005-04-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what's happening at Tacitus. They went through a rebuild of the site with a different layout. Tacitus provides few articles now, leaving the bulk to his contributors ("stringers"?). But the contributors' article are relegated to a single headline on the right column with a link. Maybe I would have set it up differently, but that is the lesser of my concerns with the site.

My primary criticism is the contents - more specifically, the lack thereof.

Example 1

Headline:

Jerk!

Content:

By Bernard Guerrero, Section Diary
Posted on Fri Apr 1st, 2005 at 03:16:53 PM EST

Via The Volokh Conspiracy.

[The last line is a link.]

Example 2

Headline:

Lefty Thugs Escalating Frequency of Attacks Against Free Speech

Content:

By hunter, Section Diary
Posted on Fri Apr 1st, 2005 at 08:59:27 AM EST

Leftwing politically inspired violence seems to be on the rise. When will it escalate to throwing more than pies and salad dressing?

[followed by a link]

Example 3

Headline:

Michael Schiavo Celebrates

Content:

By hunter, Section Diary
Posted on Thu Mar 31st, 2005 at 08:08:14 AM EST

Terri has died.

Example 4

Headline:

Pope is going out on a high note

Content:

By Timmy, Section Diary
Posted on Fri Apr 1st, 2005 at 07:05:53 PM EST

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 1,008 adult Americans, including 241 Catholics, found 78 percent held a favorable view of the ailing pontiff, while 11 percent held an unfavorable view of him.

If you are wondering about the 11%, just read the comments here

[The sentence referring to the poll is a link.]

Example 5

Headline:

India rebuffs US over arms sales

Content:

By ebclimber, Section Diary
Posted on Fri Apr 1st, 2005 at 11:02:14 AM EST

After the US sold F16's to Pakistan last month we offered to sell F16's and F18's to India. They did not react as expected.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0401/dailyUpdate.html

Possible future scenario -- China and India aligned against the US?

This isn't writing; this is laziness. I noticed this trend when I clicked on the Schiavo article. In each article page cited above there is far more content from many of the individual comments that follow, trying to flesh out the sad start. Not all the articles are "constructed" in this manner, but I found these five links without browsing through half of them.

Now, maybe my memory ain't what it used to be. But it seems to me that contributors to Tacitus' old site made an effort to present a point of view with substantiation. I typically disagreed, but at least there was something to consider and discuss.

Tacitus, you need to impose better standards upon your contributors.

Comparisons

2005-03-31T09:16:00.000-08:00

David Allen at Thought Crimes assembled this disturbing table:

Issue	Liberal Position	Osama bin Laden Position	NeoConservative Position
Abortion	Favors	Opposes	Opposes
Prayer in School	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Separation of Church & State	Favors	Opposes	Opposes
Censorship	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Pre-emptive Attacks	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Interpretation of Religious Scripture	Not Literal	Literal	Literal
Women's Rights	Favors	Opposes	Opposes
Death with Dignity	Favors	Opposes	Opposes
Theory of Evolution	Accepts	Rejects	Rejects
Invasion of Iraq	Opposed	Favored	Favored
Interest on Loans	Supports Fair Interest Rates	Opposes All Interest	Opposes Any Limits on Interest
United Nations	Supports	Opposes	Opposes
Gay Rights	Favors	Opposes	Opposes
Contraceptives	Favors	Opposes	Opposes
Sex Education	Favors	Opposes	Opposes
Severe Penalties for Drug Use	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Corporal Punishment	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Thinks There is Only One TRUE God	No	Yes	Yes
Dissent = Disloyalty	Disagrees	Agrees	Agrees
Torture	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Death Penalty	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Execution of Mentally Ill and Children	Opposes	Favors	Favors
Detention Without Trial	Opposes	Favors	Favors

Social Security Privatization via Executive Order?

2005-03-30T09:47:00.000-08:00

Via Talking Point Memo, CNN's Carlos Watson writes:

[...] if President Bush ultimately fails to persuade Congress (especially centrist Senators) to back his private account plan, he may sign an executive order for a smaller version of his plan, such as allowing federal employees to experiment with a heavily regulated form of private accounts.

He'd rather enact a broad national plan, passed by Congress and signed by him. But if he cannot get Congressional passage of an overall Social Security change plan (or even just the private account portion), President Bush just may use the executive order route to ensure that a test version is put into effect.

And while President Clinton was sometimes criticized for his bold use of executive orders, he had to be at least somewhat politically cautious because of the risk that Congress or the courts might overturn him. President Bush has less risk in that regard because of Republican dominance in both arenas. And thus, he may indeed be more aggressive in using the executive order to implement private accounts if his legislative efforts fail.

Federal employees. These are the people, numbering in the millions, that make all branches of the government operate from top to bottom. And these are the same people that have been abused and belittled by conservatives for decades.

If Bush "privatizes" Social Security (introduces a large element of risk in their future income) I predict a serious hit in everything conservative - opinion polls, elections, support for their various "non-profit" tax-free organizations, marketing circus charlatans, and their various media mouthpieces.

Extremist Exploitation

2005-03-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

The Daily Kos has an article entitled Blood Sport:

Over the last three days or so, however, the coverage on the Little Three news networks -- Fox, CNN, MSNBC -- has ceased to be humorous. There is a difference between bad coverage and willfully irresponsible coverage, and another line between willfully irresponsible coverage and dangerously irresponsible coverage. In the last three days, those lines have been crossed. Repeatedly. And it has been absolutely, definitively intentional.

... Against this background of exploitation and misinformation, the usual bevy of archconservative media pundits has in the last several days begun to increasingly endorse a premise that is, to any rational mind, remarkable: the notion that because the courts have ruled in this particular fashion, it is now time for individuals and government figures to disregard the courts, and take matters into their own hands.

We now have a situation in which two dangerous elements are coming together in a manner that is ratings gold for exploitative "news" outlets. Yellow journalism, finally returned in all glory.

Excite and incite viewers with tales that Ms. Schiavo, awake and alert, is being "murdered" within the walls of her hospice by a conspiracy between an abusive husband, bloodthirsty "expert" doctors, and every single state and federal judge to hear the evidence in the case.

Endorse the notion that it may now be time to take Ms. Schiavo by force.

... This isn't petty irresponsibility or sloppiness, to be chalked up to the dwindling resources of corporate newsrooms.

This is a decision on the part of producers to willfully bend the lines in a manner that promotes sensationalism and potential violence, by intentionally tossing known-false information into a wire-taut public conflict to enhance the "ratings value".

This is a bit beyond the point where mere boycotts are appropriate. We may be looking at a situation, in the very near term, in which a man like Michael W. Mitchell is being questioned at length into his motives for a politically motivated killing. If I were Sean Hannity, Martha MacCallum, Pat Buchanan, John Gibson, Bill O'Reilly, or another fixture of the screaming tabloid shows, I might be a bit concerned whether my name came up.

Follow-ups as well.

Gipperclone at The Political Spectrum has a different (and, IMHO, shallow) approach - blaming the media:

But there is one group of people, over and above Michael Schiavo and those overtly aligned with him, who have not gotten the credit they are due for helping to accelerate Terri's end. That group is the liberal mainstream media (MSM), and it is time that they received their due.

... The Washington Times' Jennifer Harper did an excellent job the other day chronicling the substance of just some of the most tangible anti-Terri efforts. She specifically cited a study conducted by the Media Research Center (MRC), an Alexandria, Virginia-based conservative watchdog organization that is dedicated to reviewing and documenting allegations of media bias.

The MRC's findings were quite intriguing. It noted that, of the 31 news reports produced by ABC, CBS, and NBC about the Schiavo case between March 17 and March 21, 2005, approximately 60% of them "concentrated on Michael Schiavo's argument that his wife be allowed to die," while approximately 40% of them "featured the plea of parents Robert and Mary Schindler to continue care for their daughter." The MRC also found that 59% of the stories on the subject harshly criticized Congress and the White House for promoting federal legislation aimed at allowing the Schindlers the opportunity to seek relief for Terri in a federal court.

Now, those of you that know me know that I do not think the issue of media bias is up for debate, but they are biased. But in fairness, I will concede that a 60%-40% split in terms of the type of news coverage is not grotesquely slanted; at worst, it means that three out of every five stories provided the pro-killing angle, which is really only slightly more than half. Not having seen or heard most of these particular stories, I will also make no assumption as to their tone (although I would be willing to bet, dollars to doughnuts, that the stories promoting Terri's parents' side of the debate did a less than exhaustive job, and were probably a bit snide).

What does clinch the bias for me are those recent polling data that have been bandied about as if they were the Word of God. An ABC News poll of approximately 500 adults conducted on Sunday, March 20, purported to show that about 60% of Americans disagreed with Congress's belated attempts to allow the Schindlers to seek federal relief, and that 70% of Americans disagreed with Congress's interference in such personal family matters. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of approximately 600 adults taken two days later showed similar results, finding that 56% supported the Florida courts' decision to starve Terri.

His argument cites a singular study (conducted by a right-wing media organization - of which there are many). However accurate the work may or may not be, it does little to add substance to his argument.

The fact remains that the public does not support the conservative position on the Schiavo case. And Gipper ignores the sanctimonious circus playing for the entertainment of the ignorant. His silence on this is loud and clear.

Conclusion:

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo:

I hesitate to dive much more into this than I have in a few brief posts because this is such a murky and dark and difficult to reason through situation. There's no black and white to it. Clearly, you've got a family that truly believes they're watching their daughter being allowed to die for lack of nourishment. Whatever the antics of their supporters or the larger political purposes this is being put to, they believe it. And I can only imagine the sense of impotence and despair they must be experiencing.

From the relatively little I know of this case, there has been a truly unconscionable years-long campaign of slander and defamation against the husband -- accusing him of everything under the sun including attempted murder. But immediate families in such cases must always be judged by very different standards than the ones we rightly apply to the political sharks and outrage-addicts who swarm around these people to feed off their tragedy.

... The only clarity I've been able to see in this case or find in it is that there is a set of laws governing these issues in Florida and those laws appear to have been followed. Not only followed, but now submitted to numerous appeals. As for the medical questions involved -- specifically, Shiavo's level of awareness or consciousness -- from what I can tell, every independent doctor who has examined her has put her in the PVS category. Those who don't turn out to be either quacks or doctors who didn't do a complete examination.

That doesn't mean those legal or medical judgments are correct. But I know that those judgments have been arrived at by people with vastly more expertise and information at their disposal than I have.

Obviously, I lack any medical understanding to judge these issues myself and I don't know that much about the legal history of the case. But the one thing I'm quite clear on is that I won't get any more clarity on either point from the comic book coverage coming out of CNN and the rest of the cable networks. And the folks who've poured gasoline on this fire for cheap political reasons are truly beneath contempt.

Political Talk Show Radio Hosts

2005-03-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

A long time ago talk radio, especially political talk radio, was limited to stations with small listener numbers (compared to music stations). The stations, the hosts, and the listeners were dismissed as the fringe element. The shows were local.

Several things played into the rise of talk radio. Toll-free phone numbers, syndication, the failure of the FCC and Congress to require accuracy and balance by broadcasters. One of the primary forces behind that change is Rush Limbaugh. He used all those tools but he has a tool lacking by many other hosts: he's a great public speaker. He researches topics thoroughly, has a great memory, and has the uncanny ability to make hyperbole and lies sound factual. His delivery is smooth, coupled with his ability talk at great length while staying mostly on topic and a huge ego. He knows how to work mute/cut-off button on the phones at just the right time. His use of "The Rush Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies" and the "EIB Golden Microphone" are great little tools that enhance his presence and credibility through a touch of humor. He can demonize any one person or all liberals at the drop of a hat, despite the fact that he's a dope fiend and he's gaining weight again. But he can make a great many people believe him and his lies.

Limbaugh, in turn, has generated many wanna-be ranters. Whether syndicated or local, they're on the radio dial and can be heard probably in every small corner of the country.

I'm often amazed, on the other hand, that local KVI host Kirby Wilbur (who talks like he has a mouth full of marbles) and John Carlson (who has difficulty speaking a full sentence with stumbling) have such a loyal following. Maybe this says something about a certain segment of the population wanting to believe certain things, truth be damned.

Liberal or moderate stations and syndications have skillful and trained hosts. From what I've heard, their use lies or hyperbole is restrained. But they don't have the listenership of Limbaugh.

Al Franken of Air America specifically does a poor job for several reasons.:

- His delivery is halting and inconsistent. This is especially obvious when he uses Limbaugh clips, providing a side-by-side comparison.

- The format uses too many guests. Yes, they provide additional insight. But Franken could use their published and public insights - and discuss them - without bringing them into the studio. And he would allow him to concentrate on a particular topic for a greater length of time.

- His expanded use of humor just doesn't fit here. When discussing politics and the conservative lies, one would make better headway with a serious tone that incorporates a little humor.

But I like his segments with Mark Luther, the guy that adores Limbaugh. There's great give-and-take, despite the short time allotted.

Liberal syndicated hosts I enjoy include Ed Schultz and Randy Rhodes. Locally I enjoy Dave Ross and Mike Webb on KIRO. They've got good delivery and dialog, they stay on topic, and they work the phones effectively.

New Entry on the Left

2005-03-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

Ben Smith at Fighting Words Comics offers a visual perspective on current politics.

Blogger Meeting

2005-03-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

Thank to Rob for advertising the Puget Sound Political Blogger meeting, an informal gathering that we do occasionally.

Rob and Kristi Heim of the Seattle Times brought up something last night worth considering: If a political blogger (or blogger group) accepts money from a political organization (party or PAC) in consideration of blog content or continuing the blog, should that be disclosed by the blogger(s)?

I, of course, think that disclosure should be mandatory. But I don't get paid to do this little-noticed scribbling. If I did, I may come up with a different opinion because it's my personal income and therefore none of your business.

Hypocrites

2005-03-23T09:11:00.000-08:00

The case of Terry Schiavo provides some important lessons. The “liberal press” ignores the fact that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that gave hospitals (not the patient or the family) the right to remove life support if the patient is unable to pay and with no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's or family's wishes. That law was used last week in a Catholic hospital in Houston but is now under court review.

Congressional Republicans voted to cut Medicaid funding that pays for the kind of care provided to Terry Schiavo and needed by many others who are not so severely brain damaged.

The Republican tort reform bill before Congress would disallow malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terry Schiavo's care.

The bankruptcy bill will make it even more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like that of Terry Schiavo.

The Congressional theater is intended to appease the religious right. The calls to protect her life completely ignore her desire to avoid the condition she now endures.

We see a spectacle on television in which the news anchors repeatedly say that the Congress is "stepping in to save Terry Schiavo" or “saving” her, mimicking Tom “Ethically Challenged” Delay as they nod sympathetically at the sanctimonious play-actors who abuse this issue for political gain.

Hypocrites all.

More on Blogging and Journalism

2005-03-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Two more items worth considering.

Harvard's cyber.law site is the primary repository for the documentation of a conference on this topic. A summary is provided by Rebecca MacKinnon.

By the end of a day and a half of discussion, the following "take-aways" emerged:

The new emerging media ecosystem has room for citizens' media like blogs and professional news organizations. There will be tensions, but they'll complement and feed off each other, often working together. (See Session 1 and Jay Rosen's essay in Appendix 1a)

The acts of "blogging" and "journalism" are different, although they do intersect. While some blogging is journalism, much of it isn't and doesn't aim to be. Both serve different and valuable functions within the new evolving media ecosystem. (This theme recurred and was reinforced in all sessions.)

Ethics and credibility are key, but intangible. There are no clear answers about how credibility is won, lost, or retained – for mainstream media or bloggers. It's impossible and undesirable for anybody to set "ethical standards" for bloggers, but is clear that certain principles will make one more likely to achieve high credibility. Transparency is a key part but isn't enough. It also depends on a relationship of trust that is cultivated between the media organization or blog and the people it aims to serve. (See Session 3 and Bill Mitchell's paper in Appendix 1b)

Many media organizations now see blogging – or the use of some form of participatory citizens' media – as a way to build loyalty, trust, and preserve credibility. They are still experimenting with ways to do that. Examples include:

* Relationships between local newspapers and local blogger communities. One example is the close relationship between the Greensboro News & Record and community blogging site, "Greensboro 101" (See Session 1)
* News organizations such as MSNBC are starting their own blogs within their own websites, some written by their own journalists and some by guest bloggers. (See sessions 3 and 4)
* Some news organizations such as Minessota Public Radio are working to build databases and communication systems in order to tap the expertise of audience members who do not blog, but who would like to help with stories.

This is a distillation of a day and a half's work and several lengthy documents. I'll pass on studying their lengthy contents in detail.

Ellen Dana Nagler at The Blogging of the President: 2004 crafted a well-considered article, Journalists 'R' Us, and I've extracted these gems:

So far the "Are we journalists" debate has gone on pretty much among ourselves. Now, in addition to the exposure we've had in the MSM, we will have (or won't have; it depends on whom you read and believe) onerous federal election finance rules to contend with.

... [B]loggers themselves are conflicted about self-identification with the journalistic craft, disdainful as we are of the way it is so often practiced today.

... Those of us who report on, or editorialize about, or do analysis of economic, electoral, legislative, media or cultural affairs, using a blog as our publication medium, are doing the work of journalists.

... I can quite understand journalists in traditional media asserting that bloggers are not of their ilk. They must wonder, and worry, that suddenly we own as much ink as they do, without having paid for it nearly as much as they did. And that a growing audience increasingly turns to us to hold them to account.

But I cannot understand why we resist the very mandate we've chosen for ourselves. More and more we are asking for journalistic privileges, but to be deserving of them, we need to embrace the responsibilities that come with them.

... From the outset of my blogging career, I've been perfectly happy to impose upon myself, where applicable, the generally accepted best practices of traditional journalism — to make every effort to report accurately, to make proper attribution, to check facts, to authenticate and evaluate sources, to exercise judgment (not, as in the absurd world of unweighed, "he said, she said," so-called objective reporting, to pretend to have none), to make my biases transparent, and most certainly to disclose conflicts of interest. In essence I make a good-faith endorsement of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Why not? If that's the price for credibility, well, it's a price I'm paying anyway, because I want to pay it. The rules come naturally.

To repeat myself, we political bloggers typically patronize a particular group, uncontrolled by standards of behavior and unsupervised by editors or managers that must answer in turn to other superiors. Without the standards and second pair of eyes questioning and verifying, we are largely the equivalent of yellow journalism.

Working Hard

2005-03-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

Not much bouncing about the net except to grab utilities I need to build a new XP box. Almost done. Then I'll turn the old one into a 2000 server.

It seems I may be teaching in a few weeks. If the contract materializes.

Negative Example Provided

2005-03-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

Stefan Sharkansky provides a case in point to my post below. His blog writing is painfully biased, inaccurate, and can be misleading. But his latest post at Sound Politics illustrates how low he can go.

Blog Journalism Revisited

2005-03-09T19:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I wrote about how bloggers cannot yet claim to be journalists. Since then I've found other articles on this topic.

Christopher Hanson writing for The Baltimore Sun:

Many of the best journalists have impact because they expose serious abuses of power, as in Watergate, by painstakingly verifying their facts. But, perversely enough, bloggers' impact often derives from reckless impatience - a rush to shoot first and verify later, usually driven by ideological zeal.

Take Clinton-hater Drudge, whose online "scoop" about the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky was essentially a rumor. Because the story later turned out to be true, Mr. Drudge suddenly was elevated to media icon, kitchen table giant killer, radio and TV star. No matter that he had also reported a series of false rumors. One can't expect a cyber-cowboy to match the standards that apply to a Dan Rather!

Garance Franke-Ruta at The American Prospect Online:

“Are bloggers journalists?” is a question that’s been kicking around for a few years, and both bloggers and journalists answer it by saying no. Journalists insist on the distinction because most bloggers don’t do original reporting or double-check information for its accuracy. Bloggers, for their part, often see themselves as polemicists and activists and chafe at being held to journalistic standards.

... Not only are most bloggers not journalists; increasingly they are also partisan operatives whose agendas are as ideological as they come. Using the cover of anonymity (many bloggers use pseudonyms), the cacophony of the relatively new medium, and the easily inflamed passions of the Web, these partisan political operatives are becoming experts at stirring up hornets’ nests of angry e-mails to editors, mounting campaigns to force advertisers to pull out of news shows, and, most disturbingly, spreading outright false information. The irony is that, at the same time this is happening, many in the mainstream media have decided it’s finally time to take bloggers seriously.

Jeff Jarvis at buzzmachine regularly comments on the surrounding issues with illustrations to examine of the latest angle.

Bloggers aren't journalists but journalists are sometimes bloggers. And, like life, things sometimes happen to mess up the whole thing. Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice wrote about blogger Garrett M. Graff (FishbowlDC) achieving accreditation to the White House press pool:

Mark THIS DATE in your book, journalism students, because it's the day blogging has come of age.

Today is when a blogger goes to the White House, not as someone being thrown a political bone to meet the President, but on a full-fledged daily press pass...

This is truly a day when blogging moves from being an exotic army of boisterous citizens with laptops holding torches as they storm the castle to slay the story monster towards a day when blogging becomes an integral part of what journalism schools talk about and perhaps even eventually teach.

Of course, the blog is a newly evolving category of publication. In order to gain credibility, political bloggers must move toward a higher standard of ethics and accountability. I think the many bloggers that have such credibility are held to such standards because they write under the auspices of an established mainstream publication - which means editors, fact-checkers, supervision, and accountability. Of course, some bloggers of impeccible credibility and reputation maintain their own high standards and self-accountability. Dave Neiwert immediately comes to mind.

So there's hope.

President Bush's Tax Cuts

2005-03-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've done my annual deed, completing the federal income tax return for our household. A fistful of documents and a check stuffed into a large envelope to be sent to the IRS. Jeez.

And for the third year in a row Bush's promised tax cuts to this American middle-class taxpayer didn't happen.

You?

Blog Journalism

2005-03-07T17:37:00.000-08:00

.
Kristie Heim of the Seattle Times sent me a link to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press entitled the Internet and Campaign 2004 (pdf).

The study uncovered some things that were a fairly common perception, if not known fact: The Internet is a greater source of information on politics and elections. Duh!

My particular interest, blogs, didn't take up a prominent amount of space in that article. But it did provide some insights:

Bloggers are distributors and interpreters of political information and propaganda.
Bloggers are activists.
Blog readers appear to mostly dedicated to a party or political philosophy.

Again, nothing new.

But take this a step further. Many bloggers are crowing about their influence on the political landscape and election results. Some even claim to be the new journalists of the information age. But this study tells me that those bloggers that are trying to create journalist bona fides are largely disqualified. Because they're distributors, interpreters, and activists. From another angle, they (we?) may be this way because we patronize a particular group, unsupervised and uncontrolled by standards of behavior. One need not look far to find extreme examples. Talk radio, by the way, also has a parallel track.

200 years ago newspapers had similar problems. Professional standards and recognized ethics were eventually formed. The development of U.S. law also contributed to what we know of as today's professional journalists and reporters. Now comes a proposed Blogger's Code of Ethics. Good idea. And Dan Gillmor reflects that laws on libel apply to everyone, not just the print or broadcast journalist. Until such standards are adopted and enforced, many "blog journalists" carry the odiferous air of yellow journalism.

The only bloggers that can legitimately lay claim to the journalist mantle are those that that factually report and analyze without bias. And the few that fit that bill have small readerships.

Social Security "Crisis" Solution

2005-03-07T16:03:00.000-08:00

On Saturday evening Congressman Norm Dicks addressed the Kitsap County Democrats. He proposed a relatively simple and painless solution to the so-called "crisis" surrounding Social Security solvency: allow the elimination of the inheritance tax to expire in 2011. His solution is to take the taxes on estates of the richest 1% of Americans and apply that to Social Security. Sounds good to me. Please notice my name isn't Bill Gates. But Mr. Bill Gates Sr. advocated against the law killing the inheritance tax.

So I Googled this subject to try to find some numbers. I've found an article in the Washington Post by Jonathan Weisman wherein he cites the apparent source of this idea.

More attractive has been the ultimate "tinkerer" plan from Robert M. Ball, a former Social Security commissioner. Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, has made Ball's plan his own, and its nip-and-tuck approach to the problem has influenced the stance of AARP, the powerful retirees' lobby.

Ball would take four initial steps: lift the cap on taxable wages to 90 percent of all earnings, or about $145,000; slow annual cost-of-living benefit adjustments; cover newly hired state and local government workers; and dedicate all inheritance taxes levied on estates worth more than $3.5 million to Social Security.

Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times also discussed it briefly in a column while providing hard-hitting criticism of the whole brou-haha.

I wasn't able to find a source with number projections. But it seems like an idea worthy of discussion and exploration, advanced by an independent expert. What's not to like?

A Local Tempest

2005-03-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if the tempest could fit into a teapot, but it might.

Mr. Irwin Krigsman of Bremerton wrote a letter to the editor of the Kitsap Sun, published on 5 March, complaining of a proposed sale of land.

I was taken aback when we heard from public works director Phil Williams that the Bremerton Public Works and Utilities Department after recently acquiring the 39 acres of the wooded [Tracyton] watershed, was selling the property to a buyer who just happened to submit an offer for it.

The property was never publicly offered for sale, no realtor had been contacted to place it on the market, and no public notice was ever made that this property was surplus to the City of Bremerton's needs and available for sale.

He hinted that "insider trading" may have taken place, that "something fishy" was going on.

Mr. Krigsman is incorrect. The Sun first reported on the proposal in September, again December, and last month as well. And the land has not yet been sold, as the Council delayed the sale at the very same meeting that Mr. Krigsman attended.

So is this a case of a local resident who didn't do his homework nor attend other Council meetings wherein this item was discussed? Maybe not. It seems Mr. Krigsman has been environmentally active in this area of the county for some time. The Sun reported on his activities on documenting the details of the Illahee Forest and was (and may still be) a member of the East Kitsap Salmon Habitat Restoration Committee. He's a fellow that keeps up on local environmental issues and actually participates in developing solutions - for which he should be applauded.

So it seems to me that Mr. Krigsman is not the average ignoramus bumping through Kitsap County. In fact, I'm inclined to think he's smarter than most folks. So why the lack of fact checking? Why is he making these innuendoes of underhandedness? I'm missing something in this picture.

New Beer Review

2005-03-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

New beer review here.

Does President Bush Fear Canada?

2005-03-05T19:16:00.000-08:00

Found via Dan Seto's Misc Ramblings, an open letter to Secretary of State Rice from Former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy:

Coming to Ottawa might also expose you to a parliamentary system that has a thing called question period every day, where those in the executive are held accountable by an opposition for their actions, and where demands for public debate on important topics such as missile defence can be made openly.
You might also notice that it's a system in which the governing party's caucus members are not afraid to tell their leader that their constituents don't want to follow the ideological, perhaps teleological, fantasies of Canada's continental co-inhabitant. And that this leader actually listens to such representations.
Your boss did not avail himself of a similar opportunity to visit our House of Commons during his visit, fearing, it seems, that there might be some signs of dissent. He preferred to issue his diktat on missile defence in front of a highly controlled, pre-selected audience.
Such control-freak antics may work in the virtual one-party state that now prevails in Washington. But in Canada we have a residual belief that politicians should be subject to a few checks and balances, an idea that your country once espoused before the days of empire.

Is Bush really afraid of intelligent questions from those who may not agree? The answer is obvious. He refuses to be exposed to criticism. He doesn't read newspapers, he relies on information from his subordinates, and shuns those independent voices that don't harmonize in the neo-con chorus. He surrounds himself with yes-men and -women. He is either blissfully ignorant or stubbornly uninformed. Either way, this is dangerous.

It's dangerous because the people that keep him uninformed are in positions of power. And they're having their way. We see it in the various secretarial departments, in the Republican Party, and their various tax-free think tank propaganda organizations. And it works. Some 40% of Americans still think Saddam Hussein attacked us on 9/11 and had nuclear weapons pointed at us.

So maybe I'm pissing in the wind. But at least I'm not alone.

Return from Mazatlan

2005-03-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

My father, stepmother, my brothers and their wives, Linda and I all went to Mazatlan. Without the kids. We returned last night weary but happy. We had a wonderful and relaxing time. We stayed at Vacation Internationale's Torres Mazatlan. I was able to abide by my goal of Mexican-only food and never the same dish twice. Only got a little sunburned, bought lotsa souveniers. And we discovered the Linda has a taste for Tequila and dancing on stages - thanks to the attentive staff at Señor Frogs (incredibly, no web site)!

The only fly in the ointment was the Los Angeles stop between Mazatlan and Seattle. The trip was a single flight number aboard the same aircraft. The problems began with a last-minute change of arrival gate, aggravating an already tight schedule. We then transited immigration/customs, awaited baggage (40 minutes - yes, 40 minutes), shuffled through customs baggage check, rechecked baggage for second leg of flight, trotted to another terminal, went through more security checks, found the gate and thanked the crew for delaying the flight to Seattle more than 30 minutes. My stepmother, confined to a wheelchair, and my father, hampered by a metal hip, were especially aggravated. Everything was rush-rush and we had to slow the guy pushing the wheelchair. The TSA guys insisted on everyone removing half of their clothing for the x-ray machine, everything in separate buckets, not enough TSA people to keep the x-ray line moving, reassemble clothing. And, of course, dad had to endure another 15-minute pat-down /wand check.

What a zoo.

Never again.

Cruise ships only.

But we're glad to be home. ... sort of.

On Guckert/Gannon and Hypocrisy

2005-02-22T09:52:00.000-08:00

Roger Ailes:

"Why should my past prevent me from having a future?"

In the past:

He lied about a Democratic presidential candidate.

He lied about Democratic congressional leaders.

He lied to his employer and his readers when he plagiarized White House press releases.

He lied when conducting interviews, if you believe his current lies.

He lied about his identity.

When he got caught lying about his identity, he lied about the reasons for lying about it, and lied about being harassed.

He lied about his past.

He lied to cover up his lies about his past.

He lied about being subpoenaed by the grand jury, either when he said he had or he said he hadn't been.

He lied to the White House, if you believe the White House.

He lied to his potential johns.

You're absolutely right, James.

Your past shouldn't prevent you from having a bright future as a conservative journalist.

In fact, it should guarantee it.

Found via The American Street.

Joe Conason:

How did this character obtain a coveted place in the White House? What did the White House press staff know about him? How does his story fit within the larger scandal of payola punditry, with federal funds subsidizing Republican propagandists in the press corps? Did someone in the Bush administration give him a classified document?

Such questions are evidently of little concern to our liberal media outlets, whose leading lights prefer to deliver prim lectures about the unwarranted invasion of Mr. Guckert’s private affairs and his victimization for his conservative views. In fact, everything known about him comes from material he posted on public Web sites, but that’s beside the point.

Imagine the media explosion if a male escort had been discovered operating as a correspondent in the Clinton White House. Imagine that he was paid by an outfit owned by Arkansas Democrats and had been trained in journalism by James Carville. Imagine that this gentleman had been cultivated and called upon by Mike McCurry or Joe Lockhart—or by President Clinton himself. Imagine that this "journalist" had smeared a Republican Presidential candidate and had previously claimed access to classified documents in a national-security scandal.

Then imagine the constant screaming on radio, on television, on Capitol Hill, in the Washington press corps—and listen to the placid mumbling of the "liberal" media now.

Definition:

hypocrisy
A noun
1 hypocrisy, lip service
an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction.

Beer Reviews

2005-02-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

The family and I visited the Silver City Restaurant and Brewery in Silverdale. Review here.

Demagogue

2005-02-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Demagogue. A word that's routinely tossed about in the b'sphere, assigned to another writer in a dismissive fashion. But I didn't recall the exact definition.

So I looked it up.

demagogue
A noun
1 demagogue, demagog, rabble-rouser
an orator who appeals to the passions and prejudices of his audience

a-HA!

So, "Why", you might ask, "would that word generate sufficient interest to look it up?" In this instance, it's Micajah's latest.

While I had heard an occasional mention during the past four years of The Project for a New American Century and its September 2000 publication titled Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century, I had not realized how close to paranoia the beliefs of the political left are regarding the “neo-cons” and this publication.

... Wilson cited page 67 of the September 2000 paper as the place to look for a plain statement of the "neo-con's" desire, but that page mentioned Pearl Harbor only in the context of saying that the Navy’s leaders may resist change in their force structure so much that the Navy will be unprepared for warfare as it may be waged in the future[.]

... Something is missing on the left. Is it knowledge? Is it a firm grip on reality? What’s missing?

Ambassador Wilson's error may or may not be egregious. Other people may or may not be aware of the error. Other people may have also made statements that contain factual errors.

Such quibbling aside, Micajah cements his credentials as a demagogue in three ways:

1. The basis for Ambassador Wilson's position is not solely dependent on this small element.

2. Painting the left, literally millions of patriotic Americans, with the broad brushstroke of one man's possible errors is wrong.

3. The public lies of other people in positions of leadership and power are not examined in his blog. The lies of President Bush going back to his AWOL days from the National Guard to non-existent weapons of mass destruction and impending assault on America from Iraq to the "crisis" of Social Security is the mere tip of the iceberg.

I think the definition applies to Micajah.

Alice Stuart

2005-02-14T22:43:00.000-08:00

Alice is at it again. I first wrote about her here. She's got a new web site and a new CD, Can't Find No Heaven. Blues guitar from a woman with more experience in her little finger than most blues "masters" that populate the charts. She's great, she's local. Check her out.

Alice Stuart

New Beer Reviews

2005-02-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

Link left.

In Praise of Rob Salkowitz

2005-02-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

It pleases me to no end that I've been able to rub elbows with the likes of Dave Neiwert, Stefan Sharkanski, Micajah, Jackie Passey, Paul Andrews, and Rob Salkowitz. While I may not agree with everything these prolific and very intelligent authors have written, this diversity is a continuing education for me.

I was initially skeptical when reading Rob's article entitled Democracy and Self-Determination. But I came back to it several times to ponder his meaning. And the comments elicited a great conversation as well.

The following caused me heartburn at first:

Without trust, without national unity, without a citizenry and without laws, democracy is a hollow exercise: cynical at best, the prelude and pretext to hideous violence at worst. Foreign armies can set up polls, foreign officials can walk a nervous population through the gestures of marking ballots and counting returns. Favored candidates can declare victory and, under heavy guard, take office. This does not a democracy make.

Some people celebrate what just happened in Iraq. As a proud American with a deep love of freedom and democracy, I can honestly say that it sickens me and breaks my heart. Even the authors of our own Constitution recognized that democracy without the rule of law is simply tyranny of a different sort (“tyranny of the majority” was their memorable phrase). In their view, this was a far more terrifying sort than the authoritarianism of kings or generals, because it substituted to fickle passion of the mob for the stately, if self-serving, motives of the established order. The views of the founders are frequently invoked these days in the context of what’s going on in Iraq. I believe they’d shudder to think that such a perversion of their philosophy was being perpetrated by their descendents. Really, I wonder how simple and credulous we have become that we clamor to celebrate and congratulate ourselves for this sham and trample the real meaning of democracy in the dirt.

Jarring. I've become increasingly skeptical about those that try to divine the original meaning and intent of historical American colonial and revolutionary leaders. The writings are sometimes contradictory and, despite their prominence in history, were sometimes wrong. In any case, humanity has not been frozen in cultural, governmental, or societal time. Things change.

But Rob continues:

Those who celebrate forcing the hollow rituals of democracy on a violent and divided society where a bloody civil war is the likely outcome are either stupid, brutally cynical, or have sadly permitted whatever human morality they might have to be twisted around like a pretzel to accommodate an abused, maligned and increasingly misplaced patriotism.

Yes, it’s “democracy.” So what? Somehow, we’ve let ourselves believe that the act of casting ballots is an end unto itself, because that’s what’s it’s become here in America. In fact, history shows that many troubled societies are led to freedom, progress and prosperity through non-democratic means (internal, not imposed from without by conquest).

...

The point here isn’t suggest which systems are better or worse, but to point out that different systems – even undemocratic systems – can be better for particular societies at particular points in their history. What’s important is that the societies make their own decisions about these matters, using whatever methods constitute legitimacy inside their own borders.

Arab governments are famously dysfunctional – brutal, corrupt, oppressive. They also come in quite a range of constitutional styles, from absolute monarchies to military dictatorships, theocracies, and “elective dictatorships” (as in Egypt and Algeria). The oppressiveness does not come from the style of governance, but from the underlying social and cultural problems that arise from tribalism and clan loyalty, severe sexual repression, weak traditions of transparency and citizenship, and lack of separation between church and state.

Points to ponder. The entire article is recommended for consideration.

Maybe I've been listening to too many right-wing yahoos who see the election as the first step toward inevitable democracy of Iraq and probably the middle east. But I now find myself looking for other authors that explore the angle that Rob explored. From the comments, I've found Freedom House with a wealth of information to absorb.

So I keep looking. But right now I gotta get to work.

Seattle Weekly Adds Beer Reviews

2005-02-07T22:21:00.000-08:00

The Seattle Weekly now one more good reason to pick up a copy. They've added a beer and pub review column.

Resistance is Futile

2005-02-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

From Daily Kos:

I attended a meeting where in listening to the republicans bash the democrats on vouchers, abortion, gay marriage, etc while talking about how much republicans love their faith and how democrats are trying to "Kick God out of everything."

... Then I said "Senator you've been holding state office for 10 years, the same amount of time republicans have had control of both houses of goverment. You were term limited from the House as majority party whip and now you're a senator. During that 10 years of talking about how you're against abortion the abortion rate has not only remained legal, but has actually increased. During that 10 years you have never put forth a bill to ban abortion, ban gay marriage, or provide school vouchers on demand. These are issues important to Christian conservatives but in all this time nothing has been done. Again, Senator, why should Christian conservatives continue to support republicans since the only time they talk about these issues is when they're trying to get elected to office?"

I was expecting to be at the very least pelted with rotting vegetables but to my surprise there was dead silence in the crowd as they awaited his answer. He mumbled something about democrats creating the problems and it taking time to undo it, but while I was listening to his answer two men took me aside and asked me to leave or they would have me arrested for disturbing the peace and trying to incite a riot. I laughed saying I found out what I wanted to know and that I would leave on my own.

Disturbing the peace and inciting to riot. I read Dave Neiwert's Orcinus wherein America's slide toward fascism is relentlessly documented. I also read various blogs that dismiss Dave's warnings.

The freedom of speech, the right to protest, the act of speaking out against or calling to question the deeds of elected government officials. The freedoms and rights we've taken for granted for so long are slowly whittled away. I fear the scare-mongering of Communism that America witnessed in the fifties will be compared as a lesser evil against the repression that will soon be upon us.

Feeling Better

2005-02-07T19:19:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I start swing shift in a Tuesday through Saturday schedule. I've had three days off. I've used the time to catch up on sleep and general life within Hedstrom Habitat.

I note that last week the weather displayed it's unique agility. We enjoyed four consecutive days of positively spring-like temperatures in the 60's. Then yesterday we had four inches of snow in the Lake Symington area of Kitsap County. Today we had rain. Jeez.

I'm Alive ... just barely

2005-01-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

Life is tough right now. I get up at 0430, out the door to work an hour later to fight the traffic. I get home at 1830 or 1900 after slogging through traffic, eat dinner, and to bed by 2000. I'm tired. I've abandonded hope of reading newspapers, blogs, news sites, etc. The weekend is crammed with everything that I normally do during the week (and sleeping)!

The job is fascinating and so much to learn. Every day I make like a sponge and absorb everything I can.

The good news is that next month I start swing shift. That should make life a little easier. Maybe even update this blog a little more frequently.

I'm spending tonight at my mom and step-dad's (Alan the Norwegian, though we don't hold that against him) house because I will be at the Maytown rest stop on I-5 with other Silverdale Sunrise Lions. Four months ago I signed up for the first shift, 0200 to 0800, thinking it would not be difficult. Jeez. That means I leave here at midnight. I may never catch up on the sleep.

I note that I got a brief mention from Micajah at The Croker Sack. I admire his copy-and-paste skills. Very prolific.

Irony

2005-01-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

It's ironic that Dino Rossi has filed suit to overturn the Washington State gubernatorial election. Rossi must have held his nose and bitten his tongue while signing the papers. Why? Because he's asking for a favorable response from two of the Republican's most detested groups: trial lawyers and activist judges.

Hiding Out

2005-01-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

That's right, I'm hiding out at my mom's and step-dad's house (Alan the Norwegian, though we don't hold that against him) because we're expecting snow tonight. Western Washington driver's don't know how to motorvate through snow or ice. Compounded with extremely crowded freeways, it makes for a dangerous commute. So I'm hiding out here tonight. Tomorrow's commute should take less than a half-hour; maybe 45 minutes. With luck.

Work, in the mean time is very interesting. A full month of hands-on training before they turn me loose for semi-independent work. I memorized a ton of stuff for the MCSE tests that I've since forgotten. I've been told that I will get lots of hands-on, detailed practice in most of it. I'll also have to certify on Windows 2003 Server, but by the time I need to do that I should have lots of experience.

New Job

2005-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

And I'm very tired. Early morning commute fears resulted in getting there way too early! I'm under training for a month before I'll be considered competent to work with minimal supervision or direction.

I'm going to bed. More later.

Red Herrings

2005-01-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

In two separate articles, Mark Gisleson's posts at Norwegianity dovetail nicely:

There’s a lot of anger in politics right now, but half of it is falsely manufactured wrath designed to keep people from taking a long hard look at the people running things.

Then:

Many in the Republican party (some of whom I’ve just spent a week listening to gloat and strut about their dominance) are going to immediately attack with everything they have. This goes to the racist base in which it is assumed to be a-ok to torture “those who do not look or sound like us.” There are more of them than you think. But they are uncomfortable with criticism and their reaction is to lash out viciously. (Quite a few of the wingnut “Year End” lists were quite adamant that Abu Ghraib was overblown by the liberal media.) They will get hysterical about the existential threat we face and talk about the constitution not being a suicide pact. They’ll paint us all as a bunch of wimps who can’t stand up to terrorism.

The Republicans come up with red herrings almost on a weekly basis. It dates back to the Clintons involved in murder and drug running out of Mena Airport, extending to today's silliness of Christians and Christmas under attack.

The right wing of the right wing party controls all three branches of Government, but somehow they think that the Democrats are driving American civilization to hell in an electric car.

Eric's Broken Arm

2005-01-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

Eric broke his arm yesterday afternoon. He was a passenger in a two-seat go-kart. While improving his driving skills on an empty dirt lot down the road from our house, the driver took a sharp left and rolled it. Eric took the initial impact on his right side and his upper arm snapped. So a trip to the hospital ensued. X-rays revealed the break with the lower portion of the bone pushed up alongside the upper portion by about a half-inch. Pain, of course, was severe but modern drugs almost made him indifferent as the doctors maneuvered the bones back together. I got to watch the entire procedure, from planning discussions to cast. They used a "portable" X-ray machine to take about 20 pictures as they worked on it. Fascinating.

He woke up this morning to more pain. A single pill put him back to sleep in about 20 minutes! Fortunately, I got a little food into him before he zonked out.

Hopefully, he'll be in good shape tomorrow to return to school.

Beer Reviews

2004-12-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

More beer reviews are up.

Gmail

2004-12-30T14:34:00.000-08:00

I have four Gmail accounts to give away. Let me know if you'd like one.

Job Offer

2004-12-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

I got a job offer. The work will be in Tukwila, whereby The Dreaded Commute will suck up a substantial part of my day. I will be working for a large IT vendor company performing work for a very large software company headquartered in the Great Specific Northwest.

Resistence is futile.

Letter to the Editor

2004-12-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

These are always fun. Sometime you get to read something that's been considered and researched. Sometimes you get yahoos that shoot from the hip.

Yesterday's Kitsap Sun had this gem of a letter:

To the Editor:
I have a few questions I would like to ask the liberals in this county, state and nation.
• Why do Environmentalists now want to be called Conservationists — and Species (as in endangered) are now Wildlife?
• Why are Liberals now Progressives?
• Why are Speed Traps now called Safety Emphasis Patrols?
• Why are Taxes now called Funding Sources and Revenue Streams?
• Why do we have African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans — but we don't have any European Americans?
• Why is it acceptable to discriminate against Christians, but no other religion on earth?
• Why is it acceptable to discriminate against young heterosexual white males and no other group on the planet?
• Why are our soldiers in Iraq now called Occupiers instead of Liberators?
• Why are Terrorists now called Insurgents?
• And does anyone know what Tim Botkin is calling Smart Growth these days?
The answer to all the above is, of course, is Political Correctness. The liberals have such a low opinion of the average citizen on the street, that they think they can fool us by changing the names of things.
Gordon Bemrose
Port Orchard

I'm going to pick this apart.

• Why do Environmentalists now want to be called Conservationists — and Species (as in endangered) are now Wildlife?

So? Maybe it's a little more descriptive.

• Why are Liberals now Progressives?

Same again.

• Why are Speed Traps now called Safety Emphasis Patrols?

Who knows? So what?

• Why are Taxes now called Funding Sources and Revenue Streams?

I suspect these are accounting and management terms. So what? If you like to use the word taxes, George, do so.

• Why do we have African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans — but we don't have any European Americans?

I'm not an expert on this one but I suspect it's because they're all minorities. I also suspect, Gordon, that you're a part of the majority population (after all, you're the one whining about this perceived injustice). So if you want to call yourself a European-American, go ahead.

• Why is it acceptable to discriminate against Christians, but no other religion on earth?

You gotta back this up with evidence, Gordon. Christianity is the majority religion in this country and to make an accusation of discrimination at least implies an oppressive group of a greater number. Sorry, Gordon, I just don't see it beyond the wing-nut echo chambers where factual evidence is sorely lacking and stoutly ignored.

• Why is it acceptable to discriminate against young heterosexual white males and no other group on the planet?

Again, white heterosexual males are in the majority here. And I don't see discrimination. Evidence, Gordon. We need evidence.

• Why are our soldiers in Iraq now called Occupiers instead of Liberators?

Returning to the first response: Maybe it's a little more descriptive.

• Why are Terrorists now called Insurgents?

I suspect it's because the people in that country are fighting against occupiers.

• And does anyone know what Tim Botkin is calling Smart Growth these days?

Hmmm. I don't know. Instead of framing the question as to what other people know about Tim Botkin's position, ask Tim Botkin.

In conclusion, says Gordon:

The answer to all the above is, of course, is Political Correctness. The liberals have such a low opinion of the average citizen on the street, that they think they can fool us by changing the names of things.

In your dreams. The answers to the above questions are obvious, some even rendered as irrelevant. But Gordon asks these questions in order to raise the illusion of evil liberals oppressing the common people. Instead of addressing issues that have relevance and meaning, he write a letter to the editor waving a red herring as a great warning banner.

As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon."

The Kitsap Sun, it seems to me over the years, has a policy of publishing almost any letter that comes across their desks. They must have standards of decency (of course - it's mainstream media), but ignorance and logic-lacking scrawls have no bar to meet.

Skewed Priorities

2004-12-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

Chicago Times: Bush Gala has Big Donations Pouring In

Soldiers will dance free of charge at President Bush's second inauguration, a record $40 million-plus celebration for "a nation at war" financed by some of the same big donors who bankrolled Bush's re-election campaign.

The lead paragraph says so much.

Mark Kleiman has a great idea

2004-12-27T17:37:00.000-08:00

As has been reported, countries facing the Indian Ocean do not have a tsunami warning network in place like those on the Pacific Ocean.

So Mark comes up with an idea that as great as it is simple:

But if you're an American seismologist and your problem is to get a tsunami warning to folks in Sri Lanka, India, and Burma within a couple of hours, surely calling people in those countries and hoping that the governments will be able to improvise a warning system must be the wrong way to go.

Why not call CNN, the Associated Press, and Reuters? They're in the business of putting out information, and they put it out in a way that gets directly to senior public officials as well as to lots of ordinary folks who might live on, or have friends or relatives on, the relevant coastlines.

I promise you, a phone call from the International Tsunami Information Center saying "There's just been a Richter 9.0 quake in Sumatra and a big tsunami will hit the following places at the following times" will receive the undivided attention of any newsdesk in the world.

If you want to put a system in place, put it in place with the news organizations, so you have the direct-line phone numbers of the assignment desks and can send out an authenticated e-mail showing it's not a hoax. And the media process builds in redundancy; if CNN or AP or Reuters carries a big, breaking story, the others will have it within minutes.

As great as it is simple.

Errands and Errata

2004-12-27T17:17:00.000-08:00

The day was eaten by the usual morning job search followed by housekeeping duties. Even though I consider myself a member of The Leisure Class I still gotta wash dishes because the wife is working. Then I went into town to run some errands including a visit to Bill at Classic Journeys Travel in Silverdale. I paid for our share of the air fare for the family trip to Mazatlan in late February.

Three years ago my three brothers, my father, and I went to Puerto Vallarta. No wives, no kids. Just us five. My dad has a time share in Sunterra and we took advantage of it. Sunterra also has a nice resort in Mazatlan so we'll be visiting with our wives - no kids! We've been planning this for over a year.

I also got a call from Mike, a recruiter for a large IT service organization. I have an interview on Monday. Woo-hoo!

Christmas 2004

2004-12-26T14:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning we opened the presents after Sharon arrived. I got an electric tie carousel and another tie. Yes, I have this thing about ties. I've got a lot of them.

At about noon we headed out to My Brother Dave's house. His is the gathering place for the family Christmas. After everyone mustered at about 1400, we headed to the Shucklesmoot Casino for lunch/dinner. This buffet price went up to $19.95 each. This is the third year in a row that it's gone up. The food was very good (better than last year and now without a large screen TV to get in the way of conversation. I enjoyed the turkey and fixings with a variety of salads. I'm kinda weird because at a buffet I will typically have two servings of salads and one of the meat and fixings. They also had prime rib and ham and a variety of seafoods. The shimp was also tasty. We all suffered for our gluttony. I rarely have ham at a restaurant because it's usually salty. In fact, I can't think of a single ham meal in a restaurant that was not salty. Salt-cured ham just doesn't work for me.

After dinner Linda and I went into the casino. I started with $55 at the blackjack table and brought it up to $172.50 (2.5 x $25 for a 21 accounted for the odd change) in about 20 minutes. Cost of gas, dinner, and stake in the later poker game made me about even for the day. Not bad.

Returning to My Brother Dave's house, we opened presents. My Brother Dave drew the straw for my present.

I got a copy of Lou Cannon's President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. I've always wanted to read a book that examined his life in an unbiased way so that (just maybe) I could begin to understand why conservatives have this unnatural obsession to worship the man. Maybe this will explain it. I asked for this (yes, it works) because of a recommendation by David Adesnik at Oxblog, via Kevin Drum's Political Animal.

I also got Ray Charles' and David Ritz's Brother Ray. I got this because My Brother Dave knows of my love of reading and of music. And I'm a fan of the late, great Ray Charles.

I've got about a dozen unread books on my bed's headboard, currently reading Scott Turow's Reversible Errors.

Each of us four boys also got a loaf of bread from the Black Diamond Bakery in Black Diamond, Washington. My mother seldom baked bread when we were kids (four hours of work to be devoured in minutes), but she found this bakery that offered bread baked on the premises. This brick-oven bread results in loaves about a foot around. For old-times sake, we each got a loaf of this simple, tasty, wonderful bread. At 1530 this afternoon, it's almost half gone!

Afterwards, the evening poker game. I lost my $20 stake. Like I said: just about even.

We stopped by my mother's house for a minute to give her and Alan the Norwegian (though we don't hold that against him) a studio picture of the kids. Good picture in a good frame and they're happy!

Beer Reviews

2004-12-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

More reviews at Al Hedstrom's Beer Reviews.

It's That Time of the Year

2004-12-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year when I receive in greater number those e-mails wherein the author reminisces about how life was experienced decades ago and was much better than today. I receive these e-mails from friends and family because they also wish for times past when everything was perfect and life was simple. Frequently included are pictures interspersed with text to reinforce the message. Pictures of small churches with tall steeples, farm animals and barns, telephones with a number dial, an old television with an image of Steve Allen, a perfect family where the mother always wears a dress and the father wears at least dress slacks and tie, mid-fifties cars, maybe a Norman Rockwell painting, an old cash register, and a maybe a 45-RPM record.

Idyllic. Memories tend to reflect the better parts of life and events in the past. That's human nature, I suppose.

So I'm here to burst that bubble.

Life was not perfect. Fifty years ago drug abuse was denounced as the ruination of civilization, a plague that was overtaking our children (civilization, like drug abuse, is still here and still overtaking our children). It was a time of Jim Crow where black folks experienced not just discrimination, but wholesale violence in our uniquely American tradition. America ignored - as it had for over 100 years - the problems of alcoholism and personal disasters caused by drunkeness. Society and families swept under the carpet acts of violence and sexual assault against children. Back then a woman raped had it coming and belonged in the kitchen quietly accepting her fate in life. Religious services did not include a heavy dose of politics and instruction on how to vote; indeed, the separation of church and state was politely observed. Governmental corruption was just as prevalent but today it's legal. People of every stripe couldn't find a job because some horse's ass accused them of being Communist - even though such an accusation was unproven, nor was membership in the Communist Party was illegal. Pollution was the norm and a fire on a river was a curiosity. The radio dial airwaves then had it's share of pollution, but it has increased so that today we have completely new category: hate radio. An employee and chief executive fulfilled their entire career under one company name and the CEO's pay did not generate accusations of greed.

Times were different back then. In some ways.

Were times better back then? Maybe. Maybe not.

Life was not perfect: look back with your eyes wide open.

The Visit to Sequim

2004-12-24T19:12:00.000-08:00

Sequim, Washington. Home of the Lavender Festival and the Irrigation Festival. Seriously. It resides in the middle of Western Washington's Sunbelt on the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula and the Olympic National Forest, overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Sequim is a lovely town with aspirations that will never be realized because it's so far from civilization. Nearby Port Angeles has a Costco and Wal-Mart, but that's about it. Interestingly, people from Forks come to Port Angeles and Sequim for vacation and shopping!

That's where my dad and step-mom now reside. Eric and I went to visit and we had a nice time. We returned home in time to meet the wife and daughter returning from work and dinner. It's nice to be part of the Leisure Class.

Investing & International Finances

2004-12-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

For the first time in about three years, my personal investments are up. In fact, if I were to sell off the portfolio and pay the commissions, I'd be ahead about 10%. It was a long slow decline from a profit of about 30% to a loss of 15%, but a fast return.

At the same time that my portfolio starting regaining steam, the U.S. dollar started falling against the Euro. $1.37 for a Euro the last time I looked. And China's economy juggernaut keeps getting bigger and faster.

Is there a connection there? I dunno. On one had I'm glad to see my personal money recovering, but the U.S. position within the international economy, it seems to these uneducated eyes, is faring poorly.

Pam Dzama, Echo Chamber

2004-12-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

Her rant today: Christmas ain't like it used to be. They're stealing Christmas. Christmas is under attack by those traitorous liberals. ... well, OK, so she didn't use the word traitorous. A sample of the standard right-wing silliness:

Christmas carols are no longer sung in most schools. You won't hear "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". It's been replaced by "Frosty the Snowman." When I was teaching, my elementary school students would sing Christmas, Hanukkah and secular songs, but that's impossible now.

This is not quite accurate. This year's Christmas Concert at Klahowya Secondary School, as it has been every year, included religious Christmas carols. As a secularist that doesn't bother me at all. And I suspect most secularist, atheists, agnostics, liberals and Democrats are not bothered by this as well. So the statement is wrong.

The great majority of Americans celebrate Christmas, but it appears this tradition has been hijacked by secularists bent on political correctness.

Actually, most of us really don't care. We enjoy the holiday just like those that are religious. Except Poor Pam. She wants to be angry about Christmas. She goes on:

Metropolis, the Gallery, in Bremerton is an artists' co-op. This month their featured exhibit is entitled "Your Own Personal Jesus — A Conceptual Show." Since Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, I thought the show might be interesting. I'm not an art critic and I know "art" exists in the eye of the beholder, but most of the show reminded me of the pop culture, anti-establishment work of the 1960s, including the sale of tie-dyed T-shirts and socks.

... I'm sure these were meant to be angry protests about our times but if these renditions represent the "personal Jesus" of these artists, He's unrecognizable to me. And, there were no happy Christmas messages here.

Pam seems to have difficulty with people who have opinions and ideas different than her own:

Yet the real reason for this season is the miracle birth of Jesus Christ and the promise He brings the world. It's impossible to celebrate this occasion without in some way recognizing its religious nature. Christ is God's gift, not Santa's. He signifies the true meaning of Christmas. So, while some others may wish you "happy holidays", I'll wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas in the manner and traditions of one's own family. And there's nothing wrong with celebrating in ways that are different. But it seems that there is one Christmas tradition upon which we can all predict: certain people will complain that someone else doesn't understand and appreciate the "true meaning of Christmas." I saw this silliness when I was a kid. I saw it as a young man. And it continues today. Across the country. With the same old complaints.

My advice to Pam Dzama: get over it. We're not all the same. Some folks are not even religious. So what. Celebrate the holiday in your own way, but don't expect everyone else to parrot what you do and say.

I'm Back

2004-12-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

It's been three weeks. Jeez.

Updates:

Officially unemployed, but S & H Consulting appears to be picking up work. It's a test of my marketing skills. After the first of the year, I will be aggressively pursuing that again. Between now and then, I'll make the calls but don't expect much in results.

The Christmas tree is up, presents scattered underneath. The Mrs. is working today. My daughter, on her own for some time, is also working. So that means my son, Eric, and I are on our own. Unsupervised. Such a condition usually has disastrous effects.

Later today Eric and I will go to Sequim to visit my dad and step-mom. Tomorrow we go to My Brother Dave's house where us four brothers and the families gather every year. My mom won't be there this year because my step-dad, Alan the Norwegian (though not held against him), is feeling poorly. We'll open our presents and then go to the Muckleshoot Casino for Christmas dinner. They put on a big buffet spread there every year. That relieves My Brother Dave and Diana of the usual kitchen responsibilities of a Christmas host. After we return to My Brother Dave's house, we'll continues the visiting and then break out the cards and poker chips. Last year and the year before I broke even. The two years before that I came out ahead. I think. I expect we'll load up the SUV for the one-hour return trip to the Hedstrom Habitat at about 2000.

Republican Dishonesty

2004-12-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

From Ed Kilgore at the New Donkey:

I didn't see any honest case for giving Bush a second term, and was angered by the dishonest case--he's done a brilliant job of fighting terrorists, he's a tower of wisdom and resolve, he's going to control big government, he's going to protect traditional values, he's got a second-term agenda to create an "ownership society"--advanced by his campaign.

Moreover, I came to believe strongly that the real agenda of the people closest to Bush--including his political advisors and much of the Republican congressional leadership--was not only dishonest, but deeply cynical and irresponsible: a drive to simultaneously wreck the federal government and to perpetuate their control over the wreckage as long as possible through the exercise of the rawest sort of institutional power and corruption. And moreover, this belief made me angry at even those Republicans who did not share that agenda, because they were helping to promote it against their own best instincts.

... I didn't know anybody who went to prep schools or had Ivy League--much less Top Ruling Class--aspirations when I was in high school, so Bush doesn't bring back those kind of memories. What I most dislike about Bush personally is his happy complicity in the GOP myth-making machine that treats him not as a rich kid who found a new spiritual home in Texas, but as the opposite: a salt-of-the-earth character who's achieved world-historical greatness as the Winston Churchill of his time. That's a double lie, and he lives it every day.

And maybe that's the bottom line. I think today's Republican Party, and its leader, are built on a foundation of fundamental dishonesty about who they are, what they want, and where they are taking the country.

I've heard much the same thing for a long time. It's nice to see it assembled so succinctly.

Priorities

2004-12-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

Tom DeLay chose NASA over border security. A trip to Mars is more important than beefing up our nation's borders and shores.

Jeez. If I'm not careful, folks will mistake me for Pat Buchanan!

Tommy Thompson: Soon to be Even Richer

2004-12-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

From the Center for American Progress:

Thompson Cashes In on Health Care

After spending four years selling out Americans' health care to HMO's and pharmaceutical giants, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is off to reap the private sector rewards. Thompson resigned last week and as the Associated Press reports, Thompson's "connections" will "make him a very attractive addition to any corporation."

Imagine the onerous necessity of hiring two lawyers to field all the job offers in order to avoid federal rules that bar top executives from seeking jobs while they are in office. Instead of entertaining job offers in violation of the law, he has someone else do it for him. Legal workaround? Maybe. Sleazy? Yep.

The Palestinians

2004-12-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

This morning on the Weekday show on KPLU, Steve Sher interviewed Michael Tarazi, the legal advisor to the PLO.

The so-called liberal press doesn't examine the history or current condition of Palestinians, nor does it investigate the regional and local influences at play. All I ever hear is reports that touch the surface of the issues or rantings that they're all terrorists that deserve extermination a la Michael Weiner/Savage and Michael Medved.

For a solid hour, I was able to hear more about the Palestinians and the PLO than I had heard in years. I was astounded by facts that are never revealed such as:

- The purpose of the State of Israel is to create a nation for Jews. All non-Jews are discouraged or prevented from becoming Israeli citizens and routinely discriminated against by law.

- When Israel became a member of the United Nations, their government promised to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees. Instead, the Israeli government has segregated them into camps, made a continuing program of reducing the amount of land on which they can live and prevented any social or economic progress by them.

- A refugee is a refugee, Palestinian or otherwise. All refugees want to return to their homes. Granting them permission to reside in a neighboring state does not negate their status.

This one-hour program, of course, doesn't make me an expert. But I encourage you to listen. It will raise many questions.

Addition to Blogfool

2004-12-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

I've rearranged the blogtroll on the left

Included is a link to Signifying Nothing. A new contributor has been added, Robert Prather. Robert formerly hosted Insults Unpunished, now closed. So he's back on a part-time basis. He has an excellent writing style, even though he's frequently wrong!

Also added is a link to the Daynotes Portal. Daynotes is a collection of technology bloggers. The group includes such famous authors as Jerry Pournelle, Tom Syroid, Brian Bilbrey, and Dave Farquhar. My personal favorites are Dan Seto, John Dominik, and Rick Hellewell. I was previously a member of this august company but withdrew because my old blog took a turn from technology to politics.

Submitted for your consideration.

FeedDemon: Blog Aggregator

2004-12-04T20:09:00.000-08:00

An aggregator is a program that scours Internet sites assigned by you and displays the latest articles and updates. In order for you to receive this information, the web site must have an RSS service running. RSS is now a common feature of web sites. Chances are, your favorite news sites and blogs have RSS in place.

I had tried aggregators before but dismissed them for one reason: I couldn't read the entire article. All I got was the title or the first few lines of the article.

Now comes FeedDemon, brought to my attention by Kevin at LexBlog.

This is very handy for keeping current with news sites as well as blogs. All your reading and browsing done in one window. And automatically updated, too. FeedDemon has a layout similar to a newsreader. Easy to set up and navigate. The link allows you to download version 1.5, Beta 3. Yes, it's Beta, but I don't mind. I downloaded it and had it completely set up within 10 minutes. Since it's Beta, I have a chance to provide feedback. Personally, I'd like to see a tool to control the size of the text, similar to what we have available in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Highly recommended.

The Trouble with Abstinence

2004-12-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

Rev. Jerry Falwell has a problem with Rep. Henry Waxman's report of the failure of sexual abstinence education. Falwell pens his opinion piece at WorldNetDaily, a right-wing echo chamber if there ever was one. Yes, Falwell has completely abandonded any pretense of being nonpartisan.

Falwell doesn't start his piece with credibility:

It is important that Americans understand that Rep. Waxman is a leading proponent of condom-distribution programs. He is not simply an unbiased observer in this situation.

It is important that Americans understand that Rev. Falwell is a leading proponent of sexual abstinence as the sole program in sexual education. He is not simply an unbiased observer in this situation.

Falwell implies in the above statement that the distribution of condoms is doesn't belong in sexual education. And that's wrong.

It seems to me that Falwell hasn't read Waxman's report. Sexual abstinence prevents sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and pregnancy. No one doubts or contradicts that statement. But presenting only one possible solution - the most difficult to implement - to American teenagers fails far more often than not. Exercising sexual abstinence has been an unreal expectation throughout history in every culture. And this is an overwhelming fact in the State of Texas.

Sexual abstinence as the sole element in sexual education doesn't address reality. You know it. I know it. Falwell really can't be that blind to now know it as well.

But maybe Falwell somehow missed the onset of puberty, skipping ages 14 through 22. Maybe he never had to experience the sudden flooding of a young man's system with testosterone. Maybe he was never EVER enamored of a young lady to the point of fantasizing how soft her little hand might feel while held in his, how she might respond to a kiss, what it might feel like to be hugged by that girl and how her breasts might feel pushed against his chest. It appears he never had those thoughts or any other thoughts that might progress beyond that last question. But if he did, I'd be willing to wager a dollar that he didn't keep those thoughts bottled up without trying.

Jerry Falwell doesn't live in reality.

Sexual abstinence as the sole solution is a blind faith attempt for a puritanical solution. It didn't work in Medieval Europe with chasity belts. It doesn't work in the State of Texas.

It doesn't work. Welcome to reality.