Rain In A Rusty Bucket

Forget All That

2006-06-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

Forget all that, starting over.

Cute Break

2006-06-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

you know, mother is trying to get this blogging thing set... and I'm musing around.

fyi, if you like, I write also at MyLeftWing, SwordsCrossed, and can be seen other places from time to time as well (dailykos, redstate)...

PS: this is a new species of Mouse Lemur discovered in Madagascar. I love it! I want to kiss it. Don't hate me cause I want to kiss it... it's not because of gay marriage it's cause it's fuzzy and cute.

A great shrubbery

2006-05-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking what this blog is about... do you know?

Stand to see me succeed

2006-04-29T04:37:00.000-07:00

A lot of people don't want to see me succeed.
I'm the blacksheep of five families.
Exactly how that came to be:
I wasn't there when the seed got planted
but I took it for granted,
and I handled it well, if I hadn't
I probably would have landed
in jail, and god damn it
I'm better off here in this whale
how I planned it.

---
totally copyright by me, 2006, even though it's way older, so copyright back then too.

Two Pictures

2006-04-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures right up my alley.

First, a cute fix.

and of course... in China, looks like hard work eh?

Why Poetry

2006-04-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Considering that poetry sucks
and lies
and tries
to paint with black and white and
colors pure
so sure
Why then, one thinks, poetry?
I dug deeply
Into my mind
not sure what I'd find
not sure what I found
dug deep underground
or, underhead.
Simple fact, I struck the bottom,
the floor of my sea of ideas,
and there, the sea bed
the mantle
the limen
It was fucking made of poetry.
I'm made of poetry.
Imagine my dismay.

My New Poetry Blog

2006-03-31T13:30:00.000-08:00

struct
------

Transitional with vision
Will your transmission
feel incisions? the affect
of its decisions? pretending
that the wisdom isn't real?

Stuck upon the out rocks
Quite beyond the old docks
Telling time with bullet clocks
And classing men as man.

Odd these friends we have gathered together.
Better their endings forever remembered.
True to their standards of family and tender,
Creator, Constructor, Builder, Inventer.

[sure to be edited as I've just made it up]
(each stanza has it's own metre)

Blogibund Temporaris

2006-03-31T13:28:00.000-08:00

You can see my lovely mother has posted an essay on AARP.

This blog is a bit slowed in order to get mother to blog, and cause I'm a sporadic bastard.

Actually, I'm not sporadic, so much as... all over. But that's another story (e.g. I post at many places... I type fact, and love our little citizen intellectual network we have gather here on our internets).

But this blog will rise again... into a mighty two headed beast....

AARP sucks

2006-03-20T14:47:00.000-08:00

AARP sucks. I have now posted.

Dead Senators Voting?

2006-02-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

More Republicans voted for House Leader than there are Republicans.

Culture of corruption? Here? No way!??

PS: I'm back, if you missed me you shoulda told me!

Wiretapping without warrants

2006-01-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

With all the respect I owe my mother... I have to wonder what is going on, I expected agreement that it's a good thing to have the rule of law, to have someone, a judge, willing to sign off on use of governmental power against a citizen.

"We have to act quickly" --- the way this is done is the warrants are gotten after the fact, if speed is really important... and then you know you'll have to make that argument that it was that important... eventually.

"Every President has done this since FISA" --- but the point of FISA was that it was already made easy enough... all that's asked is a responsibility trail.

I'll admit there are still going to be paper trails, there is a vague hint of accountability, but when the warrant is left out what you have done is removed a stoppage point where responsibility was taken, where a committment to have thought out the legality was done, without that, who in a warrantless system has the responsibility to have thought that through? No one.

Why on earth didn't he just use FISA?

It's not OK and I'm tired of being told Clinton did it, or Carter did it, one, when there is no evidence of that, and two, who cares? Why do people assume, even you my mother, that I have to support something someone did that's wrong? What happened to principle, I'm loyal to principles. I despise corruption, violation of principles, on "my side" even more than on the other... because I intend to be moral and ethical, and if I had "a side" I would expect the same from it (you can imagine how often that's the case for the sides assigned to me).

For Republicans: Please, just think... ask yourself, "What if it was President Hillary Clinton caught doing XYZ?" and take the answer really seriously, please? It's never too late to stop the civil war.

What are your qualifications to torture?

2006-01-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

A whole month? Well... vacation, for one thing. But I return to ask a question... why do conservatives believe the government is incompetant at everything, but trust it to know who to torture?

WHY?

The Real World

2005-12-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

Politics is illusion. The media, just lights, people, fleeting and mostly pointless (nothing personal, I love us anyway)... but let's face it... or rather, I THINK that... things like this are what is really real, what is really happening, we are still just tiny creatures on the face of something much bigger.

Consider that we could put all of mankind's power, ALL OF IT, to stopping a simple venting of ash as this, and we'd fail. All our might, nothing compared to the gentlest of volcanic events.

And of course, awesome looking as always, Mother Nature.

Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano erupts, sending a plume of ash almost three miles into the air and giving seismic needles the jitters.

Pack and Herd Animals

2005-11-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

I believe human nature is able to live in the style of any of the animals you've seen around you.

As social animals, mostly, one might well look at social structures in nature.

Let's start with this... packs are better than herds, but they still have this alpha-male crap going on (I hate smacking down the other lesser alpha males, I will, but I resent it) and also, a good sized herd has anonymity, some freedom from oppression via that route.

But neither is good.

I hate pack mentality, herd mentality, when people I like give their pack and herd signals to one another, I'm always embarrassed for them.

I am more bear like in my own nature. Berries and honey and rip your heart out only if you screw with my cubs. I hope you got the moral in my tale, don't screw with my cubs.

Mom Asked Why

2005-11-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

Mom Asked Why Abortion was such a do or die issue. Now let me remind you, my mom is the one that does this blog with me, but she never posts. She may some day. Though I have ended up using this blog as my own, it's always oriented at least a bit toward mom, and this is an example.

Personally, I think abortion is made a central issue because it's beside the point of what most politicians really worry about. Consider that the Supreme Court hears very few cases on reproductive issues and tons and tons of issues that relate to corporate behavior and corporate priveledges, why would abortion be the end all be all of a liberals consideration?

Well, as I say, one reason is because it's a way to talk about something emotional, and important, that doesn't get to the collusion between simple business interests and government. So one reason is merely to avoid talking about important issues of business law.

But that wouldn't help explain why this dodge works so well, that is, it works because as I said in addition to being a tool of manipulation, abortion is also a very important issue. And the issue is, from a progressive point of view, fundamental.

It's a medical right.
It's a matter or personal autonomy.
It's a woman's freedom issue.

First, I cannot stress too much how this issue is a matter of liberty in general. If we have personal liberty that MUST include the right to make final decisions about our own healthcare, that is, to choose which of our medical options we pursue. The issue of life or death is key in all medical decisions, you can die when you go to get your apendix out. The baby is clearly a ward of the mother, and while I have opinions on what the right and wrong decisions are, they are hers to make while the baby is in her body, what other guardian could the fetus have.

It's not a matter of when life begins, it's a matter of who is competant to make their own decisions, and if they are not, who makes those decisions. Yes they are hard decisions, but we cannot expect them to be easy decisions if the state makes them? The state's role must be to give this decision to an individual, and there is no other candidate besides the mother.

It is also a woman's freedom issue because women are often denied this autonomy in history and other nations, and even when the decision is given to an individual, it is not always the woman, and so represents the history of maltreatment of women.

This is why it's so important philosophically, but we also have to remember practicalities, when abortion is illegal that means that rich girls still get abortion, and poor girls resort to bad doctors or just plain stupid ideas which endanger them. The bottom line is that human beings know their rights about their bodies, and they will act on those rights even if they are not guaranteed. If society wants to have an influence, it needs to acknowledge the autonomy and influence decisions through education and by providing sound infrastructure so that if people do have children at a bad time of life, they will not be giving up every opportuntity to pursue a productive life.

The Mythocracy of Merit

2005-11-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

I despise elitism, and who doesn't? Who endorses elitism? No one, practically, elitism in the closet currently, isn't it? It's traditionally NOT an American value, and yet, in reality, and in America, it flourishes around us like... something flourishing really well. Elitism is ubiquitous. So there must be some concept which is propping up elitism.

In ages past it was elitism pure and simple, the assumptions were that the elite would exert itself, maybe God would take care of it, and you could find those that praised elitism and class stratification based on elitist ideals that everything has its place and everything should stick to its place. But now, that argument is shelved — why not the phenomenon itself?

Some might say that those in power, the "elite" are merely holding onto power, and the people no longer believe they are actually, legitimately "elite"... that elitism has been beaten but they have momentum. But no, elitism is alive and well and belief in it is spread far and strong, even among progressives. It's ubiquitous, it needed only find some other terms, other framing, in order to survive the assault.

Elitism lives in the myth of meritocracy.

Meritocracy

Take an idealized merit based system... a singles sport like golf and singles tennis. You prove your merit directly by winning by the rules. The rules are fairly clear, and they are generally fair. When you win a game, you prove your merit to, for example, play on into the finals. If you have won by a fluke, over time the chances of that recede and one average you have a system which selects for tennis-merit.

But add "-cracy", power over a culture or group, power to decide things for others, and you have a difficult premise even in this clear and artificial case of sport. Merit as a tennis player doesn't mean you are the best person to head the USTA. It doesn't even mean you would be the best teacher in your sport... skill is like this, mastering a skill doesn't mean mastering teaching, it doesn't mean mastery of everything related to your skill.

Ok. Now.

I'm a free market advocate, but the free market faithful, the type that confuse capitalism and free markets, they believe in an invisible hand that comes and turns the chaos of an unregulated market into what..? a meritocracy! They don't concern themselves overly with those left out, those at "the bottom", those that do not climb the ladder allegedly created, because it is a meritocracy, and when worth has been proven, of course, OF COURSE, you will concern yourself with gifting those who have proven their ability to use their gifts well, and subjecting yourself to their will and power. Indeed, the framing we all accept is that these people are at "the bottom" of something, when in fact they are "left out", not at the bottom.

Some think the blogosphere itself is a meritocracy, that once again, "the cream has risen to the top" (classic example of framing by the way, as shit also floats... and quicker). Indeed, they feel the net is an egalitarian publishing system where finally those thinkers kept out of the previous non-meritocratic methods (like, journalism school I guess) can be appreciated and get their due... it's purpose, practically, is to put us in contact with those merit-ful writers that were unknown. But as with the tennis example... the process of "rising" in blogging is still a game with rules, and merit related to those rules cannot be generalized. If you are a compelling writer that people want to read... that may be shown on the net, but that won't make you a great thinker, it won't make your prognostications true, your strategy sound, it cannot prove your worth to -decide for communities-, it can't. Nothing can, there is no legitimate right to rule other, and there never ever will be. STOP LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT MERITOCRACY.

What I seek is not a meritocracy but another elusive goal, which so far is unproven, which may not exist, which may turn out to be as phantasmal and intangible as meritocracy should already be known to be... I seek a way for people to rule themselves. I seek a way for people to collaborate ideas directly into the material world, rather than be forced to seek meritocracy and layer upon layer of representation by the meritocraticly chosen.

That's what netroots meant to me, it was a step on an evolution I've watched for some time as the internet showed us there was a lot we could yet do in terms of collaboration, in peer-to-peer power, in collaboration over representation. I believe the promis has been made, we can expect the removal of the myth of meritocracy, we have needed it only because we had no better choice, the technology of getting people together 10,000 at a time for collaboration will make old meritocracy obsolete.

Netroots for politics and net communication in general can help us put our heads together and make good ideas together. We can do that instead of invent yet another system we use to raise some above the rest. Any system we invent will not prove "merit" for the purpose of deciding for others, it will only serve a purpose, like any system, like any machine, it may be a good purpose, but it will not, cannot prove merit for the task of ruling others.

I seek self-determination, autosoveriegnty, a replacement of authority with good sense, and to free ourselves from the philosophies of the oppressed.

A new kind of human being, clearly, is what I seek.

Pilgrim

2005-11-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

thank you in 465 languegesMy ancestors came over on the Mayflower and we know this from my grandmother's long work into our genealogy, and on both my grandmother and grandfathers side of my father's side (turns out they were not so distantly related from one anothher... ahem).

So some of my ancestors landed with the Mayflower and stayed on the East Coast until that generation. My grandmother was fond of pointing out that pilgrims and puritans are not the same thing, being a devoted Maine-iac and liberal.

I have always liked Thanksgiving, a celebration of Thanks which my family has celebrated continuously, more or less (who knows), for hundreds of years now.

Of course there is the hypocrisy of the fact that European-Americans went on to kill indians for decades unto century subsequently, all the while celebrating the kindness of the coastal Indians!

I believe hypocrisy is the One Sin. There is no other sin, really, that does not follow from this. I have a faith that if you hold to your principles without hypocrisy, applying them equally to yourself as well as others, that value systems work out. For one, you will find errors in your "world-view"... you will find out the problems it has by discovering there is no way to apply it without being hypocritical, and you will feel compelled to modify it, if "not being hypocritical" is your One Moral Goal.

It's a faith.

But progressives want to improve things, their knowledge, their environment, themselves, and so this means that in fact we have ideals which we do not yet meet! That means we will speak values we have not yet achieved.

That means that we all have some amount of this sin, we all are either hypocritical or self-satisfyingly set in our ways... dogmatic.

My belief in skepticism is really just a way out of that cycle, where "hypocrisy" is replaced with "humility" and "honesty"... but it comes to the same thing functionally, we are all dealing with our hypocrisies... but the ideals remind us where we want to go.

We want to be thankful for the Indian kindness, we want to live up to that, we obviously haven't yet, and Thanksgiving is a reminder of how we ought to feel about the matter. It makes it all the more painful, the genocide... it reminds us pretty well of the whole story, though I know some think it helps us forget. Some individuals might put on an indian headdress of construction paper and forget, but culturally, no, it's stored in the structure of history and tradition. So many genocides on the earth have been forgotten, we must preserve memory of those we can, and Thanksgiving is a monument to progress in that way.

We should give thanks, we should give thanks to kindness, we should act in kindness, and be thankful for our selves when we do.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Waiting for people

2005-11-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

On the one hand... I'm not against censoring.

Two, I feel big changes coming.

Three, politics is what one does while one waits. I mean, this culture, people in general... it has so much changing to do... so much CATCHING UP... it's really quite tedious waiting and waiting and trying to sweet talk people.

I mean, we have basics here, like, "logic is good to know". Is it elitist of me to think... hey people... a lot of nice work has been done on "CLEAR THINKING" the last two thousands of years... and it's been put in digest form. A simple logical text can be just a few dozen pages.... you think you might just...? No?

See, I'm waiting.

It's like, "science has learned a few things..."

The progress I really would get joy from, rather than hope, which is like joy on credit, are a hundred or two years down the pike.

I can take withdrawels on that via art, and via politics... I can just watch the human social networks express their dysfunctional stupidity.

It's not as funny as I try to make it... except in a black humor, tragic sort of way.

I'm getting bored of politics

2005-11-09T00:25:00.000-08:00

politics politics politics. I'm back to a dissallusioned place, where I care just as much but who cares about that? It's all so wrong... the people with the better dogma are still dogmatic... the skeptical evolution is still unfolding slowly.

I think art is the only way, again, and science, but in terms of things like politics... art, let to flow downstream.

Senate Secret Session

2005-11-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

Good for Harry Reid...!

What a great move.

Mr. Reid:
Thank you very much, Mr. President. Just a couple of days ago, my son Lief called me and indicated that his lovely wife Amber was going to have another baby. That will be my --? our 16th grandchild. Mr. President, I have thought about that, and I have to say that I've been in public service a long time.
Never have I been so concerned about our country. We have gas prices that are really unbelievable. This year they've been over $3 in the state of Nevada. Diesel fuel is still over $3 a gallon in Nevada. The majority leader of the House of Representatives is under indictment. The man in charge of contracting for the federal government under indictment.

Deficits, Mr. President, so far you can't see them. The deficits have been basically run up by President Bush's Administration these last five years. We're the wealthiest nation in the world but we are very poor as it relates to health care. We have an intractable war in Iraq. Is it any wonder that I'm concerned about my family, my grandchildren

This past weekend, we witnessed the indictment of L. Lewis Libby, the Vice President's chief of staff, also on the President's staff, a senior advisor to the President. Mr. Libby is the first sitting white House staffer to be indicted in 135 years. Is it any wonder, Mr. President, that i'm concerned about my grandchildren?

This indictment raises very serious charges. It asserts this Administration engaged in actions that both harmed our national security and were morally repugnant. The decision made to place united states soldiers, our military into harm's way I believe is the most significant responsibility the constitution vests in the Congress and in the President. The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this Administration manufactured and manipulated Intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions.

Mr. President, these are not just words from Harry Reid. Larry Wilkerson, Colonel Larry Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff -- Colin Powell, of course, was Secretary of State. This man was his chief of staff for four years. Here's what he said about the war in Iraq.

"In President Bush's first term, some of the most important decisions about U.S. National security, including vital decisions about post-war Iraq, were made by a secretive, little-known cabal, was made up of a very small group of people led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But the secret process was ultimately a failure. It produced a series of disastrous decisions."

That's what I'm here to talk about today, Mr. President. As a result of its improper conduct, a cloud now hangs over this Administration. This cloud is further darkened by the Administration's mistakes in prisoner abuse, hurricane Katrina, and the cronyism and corruption in numerous agencies throughout this Administration.

And unfortunately, it must be that said a cloud also hangs over this Republican-controlled Congress for its unwillingness to hold this Republican Administration accountable for its misdeeds on these issues. During the time that we had a Democratic President, eight years, and when the Democrats were in charge of the Committees, we were in the majority, oversight hearings were held covering the gamut of what went on in this Administration -- that Administration. Today there is not an oversight hearing held on anything.

Let's take a look at back how we got here with respect to Iraq. The record will show that within hours of the terrorist acts of 9/11, senior officials in this Administration recognized those attacks could be used as a pretext to invade Iraq. The record will also show that in the months and years after 9/11, the Administration engaged in a pattern of manipulation of the facts and retribution against anyone who got in its way as it made its case for attacking, for invading Iraq.

There are numerous examples of how the Administration misstated and manipulated the facts as it made the case for war. The Administration’s statements on Saddam's alleged nuclear weapons capabilities and ties with Al Qaeda represent the best examples how it consistently and repeatedly manipulated the facts. The America people were warned time and time again by the President, the Vice President, the current Secretary of State and their other capacities about Saddam's nuclear weapons capabilities. The Vice President said -- and I quote --
"Iraq has reconstituted its nuclear programs,"

Playing upon the fears of Americas after September 11, these officials and others raised the specter that left unchecked, Saddam could soon attack America with nuclear weapons.

Obviously we know now that their nuclear claims were wholly inaccurate. But more troubling is the fact that a lot of Intelligence experts were telling the Administration then that its claims about Saddam's nuclear capabilities were false. The situation is very similar with respect to Saddam's links to Al Qaeda. The Vice President told the America people -- I quote again –

"...we know he's out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons and we know he has a long-standing relationship with various terrorist groups, including the al qaeda organization."

These assertions have been totally discredited, not a little bit, totally discredited. But again, the Administration went ahead with these assertions in spite of the fact that the government's top experts did not agree with these claims.

Again, Wilkerson is a person in point. What has been the response of this Republican-controlled Congress to the Administration's manipulation of Intelligence that led to this protracted war in Iraq nothing. Did the Republican-controlled Congress carry out its constitutional obligations to conduct oversight no. Did it support our troops and their families by providing them the answers to many important questions No. Did it even attempt to force this Administration to answer the most basic questions about its behavior? No.

Unfortunately, the unwillingness of the Republican-controlled Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities is not is not limited to just Iraq. We see it with respect to the prison abuse scandal. We see it with respect to Katrina, and we see it with respect to the cronyism and corruption that permeates this Administration.

Time and time again, this Republican-controlled Congress has consistently chosen to put its political interests ahead of our national security. They have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican Administration rather than to get to the bottom of what happened and why it happened.

There's also another disturbing pattern, namely, about how this Administration responded to those who challenged its assertions. Often this Administration has actively sought to attack and undercut those who dared to raise questions about its preferred course. For example, when General Shinseki indicated several hundred thousand troops would be needed in Iraq, his military career was ended -- fired, relieved of duty when he out its inspectors.

When Nobel prize winner and head of the IAEA raised questions about the Administration's claims of Saddam's nuclear capabilities, the Administration attempted to remove him from his post.

When ambassador Joe Wilson stated that there was an attempt by Saddam -- no attempt by Saddam to acquire weapons from Niger, the Administration not only went after him to discredit him, they launched a vicious and coordinated campaign, going so far as to expose the fact that his wife worked as a C.I.A. spy.

These people are now having 24-hour protection fearing for their own safety.

Given this Administration's pattern of squashing those who challenge its misstatements, and I've only mentioned a few, what has been the response of the Republican-controlled Congress?

Absolutely nothing. And where with their inactions they provide political cover for this Administration at the same time they keep the truth from our troops who continue to make large sacrifices in Iraq. Now everyone may think that the troops in Iraq are 100% Republican.

I've made a friend. He's a Marine. He was over in Iraq when the elections were held ten months ago. He said where he was and he never even went to the bathroom without a rifle, wherever he was in his duty all over this area, he said he couldn't find anyone that was happy with the way the elections turned out.

They, the Republicans, do anything they can to keep the truth from people like my Marine friend. This behavior -- I would give you his name -- this behavior is unacceptable. The toll in Iraq is as staggering as it is solemn. More than 2,000 -- 2,025 now -- Americans have lost their lives. Over 90 Americans have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the month of October alone, the fourth deadliest month in this going-on-three-year war. More than 15,000 have been wounded. More than 150,000 remain over there in harm's way. Enormous sacrifices have been made and continue to be made.

Mr. President, we've had soldiers and Marines from Nevada killed, from Eli, from Las Vegas, from Henderson, from Boulder City, from Tonapaw. Every time one of these deaths occur, it's a dagger in the heart of that community. This behavior is unacceptable.

I'm a patient man, Mr. President. I'm a legislator and I know things don't happen over night. I'm a patient man but the call from my son has put this in perspective. I'm worried about my family. The toll in Iraq is as staggering as, I repeat, it is solemn.

The troops have a right to expect answers and accountability worthy of that sacrifice. For example, more than 40 Democrats wrote a substantive and detailed letter to the President canning -- asking four basic questions about this Administration's Iraq policy, and we received, Mr. President, -- we received a four-sentence fence that is response:

"Thank you for your letter to the President expressing your concerns with Iraq. I've shared your letter with the appropriate Administration officials."
--Remember we wrote it to the President --

"and agencies responsible in this area. Please be assured your letter is receiving the attention it deserves. Thank you for your compliments, Candy Wolf."

That's the letter the Senators of the United States wrote to the President of the its body and we get a letter from Candy Wolf saying,
“Thanks, we're working on it.”

America deserves better than this. They also deserve a searching and comprehensive investigation into how the Bush Administration brought this country to war.

Key questions that need to be answered include:

~~How did the Bush Administration assemble its case for war against Iraq? We heard what Colonel Wilkerson said.

~~Who did the Bush Administration officials listen to and ignore?

How did the senior Bush Administration officials manipulate or manufacture Intelligence presented to the Congress or the American people?

~~What was the role of the White House Iraq Group, a group of senior White House officials, tasked with marketing the war and taking down its critics? We know what Colonel Wilkerson says.

~~How did the Administration coordinate its efforts to attack individuals who dared to challenge the Administration's assertions? We know what happened to them. I listed a few.

~~Why has this Administration failed to provide Congress with the documents that would shed light on their misconduct and the misstatements?

Unfortunately, the Senate Committee that should be taking the lead in providing these answers is not.

Despite the fact that the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee publicly committed to examine these questions more than a year and a half ago, he has chosen not to keep that commitment.

Despite the fact that he's restated the commitment earlier this year on national television, he has still done nothing except assemble a few quotes from Democratic and Republican Senators going back to the first Iraq war.

We need a thorough investigation that that Committee is capable and tasked to do. At this point, we can only conclude he will continue to put politics ahead of our national security. If he does anything at this point, I suspect it will be playing political games by producing an analysis that files any of these important questions.

Instead, if history is any guide, this analysis will attempt to disperse and deflect blame away from this Administration. Key facts about the Intelligence --
a Senator: Would the Senator yield for a question.
Mr. Reid:

Key facts

June 4, 2003, Intelligence Committee commits to bipartisan review of the deeply flawed Intelligence in Iraq's w.m.d.

Phase one.

February 12, 2004, Intelligence Committee commits to Phase 2, an investigation looking at five areas including whether the Administration exaggerate and manipulated [unintelligible].

July 9, 2004, Committee publishes phase one report on the Intelligence agencies mistakes on Iraq. Senator Rockefeller says publicly that phase two is as yet unbegun. Republican Chairman Roberts says it is one of my top priorities.

July 11 on Meet the Press, Republican Chairman Roberts says, “Even as I'm speaking our staff is working on phase two and we'll get it done.”

Fall of 2004, House Intelligence Committee, after no follow through on the Iraq w.m.d. Investigation, the House announced on May 2003, “No final report.”

Republican Committee Chairman Peter Goss is selected to C.I.A. Director. Regarding the question of vetting the Valerie Plame leak, Goss said,

“Show me a blue dress and some DNA and I'll give you an investigation.”

End of quote.

November, 2004, we had the Presidential election.

March 2005, President's hand-picked w.m.d. Intelligence Committee says the Intelligence agencies got the Intelligence dead wrong, but says that under the President's terms of reference we are not authorized to investigate how policy-makers used the Intelligence assessments they received from the Intelligence community.

March 31, 2005, Senator Roberts says it would be monumental waste of time to replow this ground any further replow

April 10, 2005, "Meet the Press" Senator Roberts commits to Tim Russert that the review will get done.

September 2005, Committee Democrats file additional views to their authorization bill blasting the Committee for failing to conduct phase two. There have been letters written to the Committee, a press release was issued even saying that they were going to go forward with this. Mr. President, enough Time has gone by. I demand on behalf of the America people that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted, and in accordance with rule 21, i now move that senate go into closed session.

Mr. Durbin: Mr. President, I second the motion.

The presiding officer: The motion has been made to closed session. The chair pursuant to rule 21 directs the sergeant at arms to clear all galleries, clear all doors of the Senate Chamber and exclude from the chamber and its immediate corridors all employees and officials of this senate who under the rule are not eligible to attend the closed session and are not sworn to secrecy. The question is nondebatable.

How to be proud of a mugshot

2005-10-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Have this mugshot.

RIP

Evil Jack'o'Lantern Eats Cat

2005-10-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

proof

The History of the Open Mind

2005-10-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

Actually... I'm going to start writing things here... I started this idea elsewhere and deleted a whole bunch of stuff. My visualization of the audiences at these other blogs becomes a burden as it becomes too clear.

But here I can say what I want... because I don't want to make compelling arguments... I want to create interesting and useful concepts. If people want them they can see for themselves.

It's nauseating to try to convince people of things... why? Why should I have to market my idea? Who says you should be trusted with it? Everyone thinks you want to sell them something. But not really.

The essay was on the fact that philsoophies of open mindedness are consistently trashed as types of nihilism. That is how "liberal" became a bad word, but it didn't start there. The solid philosophical concept of relativism, which holds that there is no "priveledged frame of reference" has been turned into "moral relativism"... which is understood as being a kind of nihilism where "everything goes" and there can be no judgment. But when we deny absolute knowledge, of course dogmatists (technical term) and defenders of objectivism claim we have denied all knowledge, for they only acknowledge "absoulte knowledge". But it should be clear that no one has this absolute knowledge, even if it were possible... we do not have absolute certainty, we have RELATIVE certainty.

The same issue occured with skepticism (the source of my handle)... an ancient philosophy. The name "skepticism" comes from the word "to reflect"... but has been turned to mean "doubt" and not just that, but again, "to doubt everything"... and finally, to believe "nothing"... nihilism again (not Nihilism, but nihilism, belief in nothing). This is not what the skeptics thought, pyrrhonists assented to what appeared to be the case. As in science, they merely pointed out one has to realize one's knowledge is theoretical, and certainty is relative, never absolute.

When the dogmatists accuse, "but I guess I can just murder if I want" I find that ironic. It's the dogmatists that go on Crusades and use their philosophies as justification of murder... it's people that believe in absolute dicta that KILL for it. Skeptics and relativists don't kill based on philosophy, but on survival instincts... for practical unfortunate reasons.

In general, the skeptic and relativist and liberal want to understand other points of view, even if they don't adopt them, they recognize that even if they try really hard they will not be able to simulate some of the possible points of view... so you are very slow to kill for philosophy, and indeed, will find NO NEED to do that.

You kill for self defense.

If someone is attacking you, robbing you, I don't think you need to QUICK, FIND A REBUTTING PHILOSOPHY! You need to find a weapon to defend yourself with, it's left the realm of philosophy and you are in the state of nature.

Cuteness Blog

2005-10-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

I'm man enough for heavy doses of cuteness!

Ready yourself.

Jaquar from Fort Worth Zoo.

Tired. Weary. Nearly Beaten.

2005-10-03T23:08:00.000-07:00

but not yet.

Iraq vs. US

2005-09-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Republicans are by and large demanding spending cuts to pay for Katrina, or even suggesting tax cuts are on the table.

What I want to know is why they didn't have this attitude about spending billions rebuilding Iraq.

What is the difference? Why did Iraq just scream out, buy now, pay later... defer the taxes, give tax CUTS while spending in Iraq... but the Gulf Coast suddenly reminds them of their conservative fiscal sensibilities which had seemed long gone.

No, I don't have an ulterior idea here, I don't think it's obvious what the answer is, that it proves some insideous nature. I really don't get it.

The Grand Old Spending Party

2005-09-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Only allies can damn you like this: The Cato Institute on the biggest spending president...

How come when a Republican gets office, suddenly all these practical considerations turn out to make it impossible to cut spending the way they say it just absolutely must be done!?

Instead, they spend like fish (never met a metaphor I didn't like mixed) and let the next Democrat raise taxes... does that keep their hands clean? Bush has not cut taxes, he's deferred them... and since they never seem to reduce spending, could it be they are wrong in their theories about how easily it could be done? Or... duplicitous? I don't actually think it makes a huge difference which... I know the promises and ideas are pure fantasy either way.

But I am curious, what exactly is the problem?

Btw, the reports points out, even if you subtract defense and homeland security... Bush has the biggest spending increases in 30 years. Try to remember clearly the Clinton example for contrast... ok?

really. it's just about being fair minded...

The Cato Report to which I refer: here

Why We Care

2005-09-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

"What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts,"

-Former President Bill Clinton

Actually, I care what the "world thinks" for a lot of other reasons. Doesn't mean I'm going to acquiesce to those thought, any more than the FACT that I care what George W. Bush thinks means I'll acquiesce to that. But I do care.

And for those that don't... think about Clinton's point... we go BEGGING to that world EVERY day, our wealthy (their tax cut), our poor (abandoned to urban chaos), and all the rest...

Is "not caring" how we treat our benefactors? Do we expect appreciation for our benefaction? I do.

ah-HA!

2005-09-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you can't make my kid worship your God. I know it hurts, but seriously, I'll never give up on this and the American position has been clear for two centuries to most of us.

Forced pledge of allegiance ruled unconstitutional. Ruling only affects Sacremento Area because the judge limited the scope of the ruling and relied on the Ninth Circuit (the Circuit some love to hate...) ruling on a similar case.

Story Here.

It's nothing personal, really, I love religions, all of them except the hateful versions... but stop making me say "under God"... it's not working anyway.

Don't forget the details...

2005-09-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Like the little girls with the pink shoes, it's very loud for them.

It's funny

2005-09-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hubris has coverage of the begining of the Roberts hearings... here

Doctors That Hate Medicine

2005-09-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

I have nothing against Christian Scientists' rejection of modern medicine. That is their business. But, I wouldn't want one to be my doctor.

I wouldn't want to go into surgery with a doctor who says "Surgery doesn't ever work... but I'll give it a go!" I would certainly not believe a doctor claiming "I ought to be your doctor specifically because I know medicine never works!"

But that is what conservatives say, especially the neocon/Norquist wing of the Republican party. Their predictions that the government can do no good, that common social infrastructure can do no good, are self-fulfilling prophecies if they have power.

It simply makes no sense to trust such an attitude with control of government. "The problem with cars is they always end up in a ditch... sure, I'll drive!"

There are conservative principles which are useful, good American law really should draw from American conservativism and American liberalism... actual conservative philosophy, oddly enough, is not the main problem.

The main problem is the quasi-anarchic authoritarianism (a contradiction of terms, but an accurate description) which grows in conservativism, and which wishes to and does run the government.

They refuse to actually make the government smaller, because let's face it, it's good to be the king and is easier to propose when the other guy is in control. Yet they DO insist there shall be no compromise on their political theory that the government must screw up anything it is involved with, and dutifully screw everything up to show their sincerity.

You can trust people who don't trust medicine... but you cannot trust a Doctor who doesn't.

(also posted at myleftwing.com)

Yeah, Nagin screwed up too

2005-09-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

But he's not the reason New Orleans flooded.

We should find out why the levees were not more robust.

He Held Their Lives in His Tiny Hands - Los Angeles Times

2005-09-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

LaTimes - here

My god... what a story:

BATON ROUGE, La. — In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard, this group of refugees stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.

They were holding hands. Three of the children were about 2 years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A 3-year-old girl, who wore colorful barrettes on the ends of her braids, had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he told rescuers his name was Deamonte Love.

Heroes at Work

2005-08-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

That's one long horse!

2005-08-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

And bendy.

2005-08-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

Greenpeace protestors express their opinion in a gigantic Brazillian rainforest clear cut. Brazille cut down over 10,000 square MILES of rainforest last year. This is year after year.

It's possible to take lumber in such a way that it's a renewable resource... trees grow.

This forest is being taken in a way such that it is not expected to grow back, EVER. And the remaining fields of dirt are designed to support... no life.

yeah it makes me sick. If you treated your kids this way, I'd be pissed, this is our Earth... it IS us. Is this difficult to accept?

I'm an atheist Christian

2005-08-09T01:18:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it's no suprise. But I believe the message of Christ. Oh sure, I'm an atheist... but the message of Christ is about our fellow man.

And really, like Christ, I'm a bit of a cynic in terms of sin, I think we have all sinned. Not back to Adam and Even from eating a peach (nudge nudge wink wink know what I mean know what I mean), but actual post-birth unoriginal sins. Screw ups. Double crosses. Lies, travesty and shame. Quite a broadway shows worth. My theory is if you know some one well enough then you have met madness.

It sounds rather depressing in a british sort of, oh dear, sort of way, but no. Not for Christ and me. It's rather inspiring, because it was getting rather tedious, you know, the fronting, stressful, dear oh dear, and it requires reams of blue thread. And really, all we really wanted was to do the best we could and you know, come to think of it we didn't know there was anything wrong with dropping the ball every once in a while. (Just relaxing in the jungle).

But the point is I believe all people are flawed, and it's not bad news, because that means things can get better, there is room for the progress that looks so sorely needed when one looks at the big picture. Eureka, we've found the source of the problem in the big picture! It's people! All fucked up! Should have thought of that ages ago. Whoopee! Of course this is all ages ago.

but you have to love them. People I mean. And why? because they are fuzzy little animals. People are nothing but fuzzy little cute little animals and some of em are frisky and some of them are sanguine and some of them like to cuddle and some of them piss a lot. And you have to love em because they are cute in their twisted little ways. And when they tell me what my problem is, that's nice of them to try to help me improve like that, even though they're usually wrong. Though I have to disagree, it's not the thought that counts, but the action.

But it is what we need, and if you ask me, Christ's message of everyone being screwed up and also everyone can do better. His message, going along with that theme, of tolerance, especially for those that would love to progress, to do better, is wicked cool. I dig totally this groovy concept. Yes! Tell it Jesus! You are cool! I thought that was hype!

I just don't plan to go to Church. Those guys don't really, I mean... I don't know myself, I could be wrong about Christ... perhaps he thought we were all perfect and would never get any better... maybe a prankster took all the "not"s out of the Bible and made it all topsy turvy sometime in the last dozen or so centuries.

I don't mean to be blasphemous but you know what I mean, right? There are lots of versions of the bible. Lots of people got their human hands on it. Whole books of Christianity were not included, or so I've heard. But if the ones I have read are any indication, while it's a bit racy in many parts, if one looks through all the perspectives on Christ what comes out in common seems to be this message of ubuiquitous love and tolerance for all that would improve their lot and turn over a new leaf, that is to all things willing to make progress.

And that is what I mean when I say I'm progressive.

Restore Hetch Hetchy

2005-08-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hetch Hetchy Valley is the place John Muir called "a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples."

I have a dream of a restoration industry. It is a dream in which Big Engineering is directed not at war, but instead is harnessed into an economic and social force that awakens man's natural sense of being proprietor and caretaker of the Earth. Both concepts are important, but an ecologically minded person such as myself may well cringe at my use of the word "proprietor", which we can discuss in comments if anyone is inclined.

The power of major engineering projects to drive change is clear, technological but also social progress can and has been achieved by things such as the interstate highway system (war related), the space program (cold war related) or the wave of dam building that occurred last century, to cite three very different examples. For environmentalists this has always tended to be a negative thing, with projects usually being more destructive of the Earth than the Space Program and more along the lines of dam projects which destroy miles of vibrant and pristine habitat.

Big engineering projects have been decidedly anti-green. Restoration is our chance to make big engineering green.

The picture above is an accurate artist's rendering of Hetch Hetchy, a glacial valley in Yosemite, dear love of John Muir, co-founder of the Sierra Club and a figure commemorated on California's state quarter. Well, it's not that accurate currently... because the valley floor depicted above is under water, dammed and filled by the City of San Francisco.

It was called the second Yosemite Valley, and anyone that has visited Yosemite Valley itself will recognize how horrible the reality of filling such a stunning piece of nature truly is. The movement to restore Hetch Hetchy has gained steam this year, and not only do I support it, but it's about much much more than getting this valley back.

It's about progressive engineering, and ultimately, a progressive economy.

The job of restoring Hetch Hetchy will run in the billions, estimates range from 4 billion to 10 billion dollars. Yes, that's a lot of money. But where will the money go? It will go funding green technology companies, it will go to massive amounts of labor as young naturalists and the willing are recruited for surveys and the manual labor involved. It will fund research into habitat science. It will employ a lot of people and yield a lot of science and engineering, all aimed at leaving a place better than how you found it.

It is about Big Engineering finally being used to directly improve the planet we live on. And there is a lot of this kind of work and worse to do besides Hetch Hetchy. We need to funnel this energy of man to construct and control into the green and progressive goals. I hope not only that Hetch Hetchy is restored, but that it should spark a restoration economy, in which mankind invents a new kind of technological infrastructure which nurtures the Earth as the Earth has nurtured us.

The main purpose of damming Hetch Hetchy has always been providing water for San Francisco, and so it is of concern if this resource is taken away. However, subsequent massive dams further downstream in the foothills and in the San Joaquin Valley exist to hold sufficient water for San Francisco. Hetch Hetchy is no longer needed for the practical reasons which have cause San Francisco to hold onto it so dearly.

Big Engineering has a hold on the modern human culture and that is not going to change. A progressive world vision has to imagine how such forces can be put to progressive use. A strong restoration industry would be a boon for progressives, a source for positive job creation all aiming to rectify our mistakes, restore our urban wildlands and would educate mankind in the specifics of how to caretake our planet for the next few thousand years.

Peace in Ireland

2005-07-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well, this is good news... too bad Islamists are trying to pick up the slack in bombinb London. :(

IOL: Reiss hails 'encouraging' IRA pledge

La La La La Life

2005-07-27T01:47:00.000-07:00

I put einstein back there... why, I wore my "Imagination is more important than knowledge" Einstein t-shirt on the plane and was rewarded by several conversations on Einstein, not an every day conversation.

And I love him. Great hair is why. Something about science as well though.

All Female Village In Africa

2005-07-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a story about a village in Kenya, Africa made totally of women, initially founded by just over a dozen women who had fled their husbands. It is a shame on a woman to have been raped, for example, and they are treated poorly by their husbands after such victimization. The village has grown and is making money selling goods to tourists and is under some attacks.

Good luck to them.

note: thanks to laura of OurWord.org...

Moonie-GOP Refresher

2005-07-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my European Vacation! No, I didn't go to Europe, it was European in duration however.

Anyway... I thought a couple Moonie tidbits would be good as Mom doesn't think too much of the Moonies and yet was not aware Moon came to the US thanks to special help from the Nixon Administration, nor that Moon owns the Washington Times (Moonie Times) and UPI, nor that he still calls in favors from all the GOP elite that won't answer my calls (if I ever called them). The coronation of moon as messiah IN THE SENATE BUILDING is probably the most sugary and weirdest example.

Here is the part where Sen. Warner claimed last year to have been decieved into sponsoring use of the room in the Senate Building for the coronation of Moon as the Messiah with many US House members and some US Senators in attendance at the ceremony.

More recently, here is John Gorenfeld's (a Moonie-watching journalist) recent experiences with a Moonie that he claims is also on the Ohio GOP executive committee, in the form of a DailyKos diary.

Relationships

2005-06-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've come to a realization about my philosophy. I'm relativistic.

Things have limits. Oh yes. But these limits are defined not by a little single point, but more by volume, and they are, in the end, pinned down by their relationships. Eventually, just the relationships based on particles which collide with one, then the other.

Indeed, a photon trail of reflected light is, in fact, a relationship between all the things struck, and from the photon's point of view time is stopped, and happens all at once (at least, that is the mathematical statement in Einstein's theories. So in a way, if only poetically, the photon strikes all the objects simultaneously, and connects them in spacetime.

And my point? These relationships are how one gets some readings on things. How we make a measurment. Relativity and skepticism are not about denying things exist (!) or that they can be compared. They are an explanation of in what sense and by what means things can be said to exist, and in relativity is a statement that not only can things be compared but that's all you can do, the thing in itself is considered a thing in relation.

When using relative means to figure people, it is pretty hard, impossible, to peg a person, which means to visualize and understand the limits to their volume and thereby their potential. You can limit a person in your mind, but in reality, your estimate is wrong to some degree, and in humans, it can be a huge and unlimited degree of error, because people do change.

As do relationships.

Vacation

2005-06-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not one to explain why I don't post... but perhaps I'm changing in that regard.

Hotel Rwanda

2005-06-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

I finally saw this movie, of course, I was aware of the history of the genocide in Rwanda but still, this movie is an eye opener. My wife and I were not sure if we should let our daughter see it... knowing how terrible the story is, but it turned out to have been told very well... the violence is oppressing but not graphicly so... it's what really happened that is so distressing.

For one thing, it helps one remember this wasn't some war among savage people living in the jungle, this was a massacre from house to house in neighborhoods that look, in many cases, just like any American or Western neighborhood. A million people hacked by machete.

It's a great movie, I highly recommend it.

Just one more thing for those that might not know. This whole thing starts by a Western Power playing a good old Roman Empire trick...

(1) You always get a local to run the show locally

(2) Always choose the local from a minority. A ruling minority will clamp down, it's the only way for them to survive.

And that is where Hutu anger at Tutsi's came from... the pattern really goes back quite far in these things. Mind you, that should generate not one iota of sympathy for any individual who has chosen brutal inhumanity, and Rwanda's example is very brutal, very cruel indeed.

By Request

2005-06-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

1) What is the nastiest thing you've ever eaten?

Rocky Mountain Oysters

2) What is one food that you ate when a kid that you absolutely refuse to now, since you're on your own and don't have to?

none, I'm omnivorous. Mom didn't make me eat onions... and now I love them.

3) Have you ever eaten an endangered critter? If not, what was the best thing you've ever eaten?

no! what a terrible idea. And that it would taste good dripped in forbidden appetite... it wouldn't for me. That forbidden thing never got me excited in any of the domains. No... I'm an iconoclast because it's directly fun... not because it's forbidden.

Best thing: Dungeness Crab.

Wildest thing: Rattlesnake

4) What food can you never get enough of?

hot sauce is too a food.

5) Have you ever eaten any critter's testicles? Why?

Yes. Cows testicles, in Colorado, where they are quite popular, they are called Rocky Mountain Oysters and I had just a bite because I believe you can try most anything once. It didn't taste too bad but... well, I was still disgusted. And besides I was still a kid. I prefer actual oysters myself and don't see the resemblance actually... ahem.

6) Who is the better cook, your significant other or your mom?

shinobi, who tagged me for this, said "I will tag Owlish because he posts recipes and stuff, and pyrrho, because I want to see how he answers #6. Tee hee." Now the premise of this blog is that I write it with my mother. The fact that mother doesn't post is perhaps what we call a sub text... though she will one day... one day she will! But she does sometimes read this, and even if she didn't, she is a part of the audience. But my mother is a very wise and mature lady, not probably too sensitive about who I would chose. So it is not a cop out, no, NOT a cop out to say that they are both great cooks. I, on the other hand, am not a bad cook, but I'm a lazy cook, which is to say that I mostly don't cook anything decent. If I were single I would eat healthy by steaming vegitables and eating them on rice and pasta with hot sauce every night.

If I HAD to chose, I would choose my significant other because, well frankly, she might make me dinner tonight, it doesn't get better than that!

Flower Not So Extinct As Before

2005-05-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's a flower that has not been seen for 70 years, and I wasn't even looking for it. Michael Park, UC Berkeley graduate student was, though, and found the flower still living on Mt. Diablo, the Mt Diablo buckwheat, Eriogonum truncatum, which had been thought to have been driven extinct from the environment by non-indigenous invasive grasses.

Ertter, the curator of western North American flora at UC Berkeley's Jepson Herbarium and co-author of the 2002 revision of Mary Bowerman's "The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Mount Diablo, California," noted that one priority should be to gather seeds and start cultivating the buckwheat at the UC Botanical Garden. Cultivated specimens conserved by the garden, which is part of the Center for Plant Conservation network, will provide a reserve of seeds in case the species declines further.

More detail here.

John Bolton's Nomination

2005-05-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

I was not one that was too upset about John Bolton's nomination... I mean, what are we going to get from Bush for the UN anyway? Not much better.

But after having seen a clip of Bolton discussing the UN at a panel where he urged everyone that there isn't really even a thing called the UN, that there is only US interested and when the US wants, international cooperation... um... that's not a good ambassador.

I'm not saying people can't feel that way about the UN, sure... go right ahead. We ought to debate the UN, our national interest, etc. etc, but come on now, it's a bit much to send an ambassador that doesn't believe the institution he's in exists... what kind of diplomat is that?

It's a statement that "we don't believe in diplomacy"... and even if that were true, it's stupid to say that considering we do, in fact, need cooperation in the world. It's a bit daft, that's all.

For Mother

2005-05-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Mennonites Frolicking

Working Together

2005-05-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

I do not see eye to eye with many conservative positions... for example, I think there is no defense of the use of abusive interrogation techniques, and I don't care how many episodes of "24" prove me wrong.

But the fact is conservatives and liberals run this counrty together... just FACE IT!

Each partisan hope and prays that they will rule alone forever... it's a pipe dream.

We don't have to meet minds and find compromise on all things, but we have to come to grips with reality, and that is the fact that there are two ideologies that are American... you can't love America and deny that... you can't win by trying to wrest control away from the other half of the brain.

So grow up and start looking for a way to face reality, however much you prefer your fantasies I'm sure you'll find reality better in the end, because you have no other choice, actually.

Love and Logic

2005-05-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

The Scientific Method

2005-05-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

we would not all agree on what it is... but we should all be able to support the scientific method.

It can be expressed in skepticism, relativism, objectivity, rationalism, even in spiritual and religious terms(!), and perhaps one form of it suits you better than the rest. But one way or another, we should all understand and support the scientific method, which is a specialization of the more broad philosophical method of "open dialog". Honest open dialog.

We ought to universally agree on that.

Paradox

2005-04-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

if you want to learn... find things that seem paradoxical to you and don't give up until you've made sense of them.

This works, I guarantee it.

Obligation

2005-04-28T03:49:00.000-07:00

Pericles did an interesting job readjusting Lakoff's strict father/nurturant parent pair of models into something related, the important idea of obligation. Traditionally, everyone believe in obligation, at least supposedly. Most acknowledge it's right to be obligated in some circumstance.

The dichotomy that Pericles proposes as models are related to how obligation is viewed. In one the obligation is inherited, and this is the traditional or conservative model, and in the other obligation is negotiated, ties can be severed, to put it most bluntly. Of course, arbitrary obligation is akin to slavery.

But there you have the the gist of it. Slavery. There is a kind of slavery called indentured servitude, in which, of course, the slave has sold themselves into slavery for some cost. For example, people used to do this to get passage to America, after a period of time, the servant was free to go, and of course this kind of slave sometimes achieves more rights than other kinds of slaves, and in deed there were a wide variety of types of slaves and various sort of obligation were expected.

The modern perspective, of course, does not recognize that sort of obligation, not even voluntarily engaged or by any means. And socially, there is a lot of controversy where obligation ends. Some feel obligated to their children. Other's do not. Some feel obligated for their debts, some do not, while still others feel obligated... except... there are exceptions, there are literal interpretations of the risks that were understaken and in fair circumstances, perhaps certain obligations can be void.

But when we allow that in general, then we find that it's true that there is no obligation at all. So there is in fact a question "is obligation the right concept for its function?" And of course, "what is its function"?. But equally, "Is obligation perhaps abolute after all?", and "Is obligation possible to inherit?"

The reason for obligation in social networks is, I think, consistency... obligation is how honest deals happen, because deals are spread out in time and commitment obligation is how these trades appear simultaneous from an economic point of view. There should be no question of completing the deal, of course there is, but it works more often than not, amazingly enough.

I suspect every kind of obligation is a deal of this sort, the completion of some transaction, although the matter of opinion remains as to what types of transaction incur obligation, or if any do, or even if perhaps all do.

But as a skeptic I have to admit also that every obligation can in fact be broken as a practical observation. They have. So it's worth noting that obligation is an arbitrary quality which is attributed to the situation by a mind. A sociopath can feel no obligation. Strong instinct for obligations, if they exist, have good reason, and in my view some obligations are certainly trained by the culture, but become like instinct for the individual, and I would not be surprises if some were genetically encoded at well. And still, I cannot think of any potentially genetic motivation to some obligation has not been broken many times by more than a few individuals... feelings of obligation is not particularly universal. I think there are built in feelings of obligation, but they are merely such that individuals can overrule them, like breathing is an automatic reflex but when you consciously think about it you control it.

And in the end your politics will depend to a large degree on what sort of obligations you allow.

2005-04-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of talk about the way the Republicans have simplified arguments down to easily accepted premises. This work goes back to finding the right words, the very successful approach of Luntz and Gingrich.

But it's not really about the right words, it's about concepts, possibly false in their case, but concepts nonetheless, concepts which are simple.

And there is much handwringing on the left over what is really just an ancient philosophical debate... are our ideals complex because they have to be? would simplification be "simple minded"? Well, the history of knowledge has a lot to say on simplification, how simplification is achieved, and its value.

I'm going to use (possibly to the point of abuse) a metaphor from science, but admittedly when science was still called Natural Philosophy, for science is a specialization of philosophy... a certain type of philosophy about something that happened to be reducible... that is, possible to simplify.

What is complexity? Complexity is the need for many rules, and for those rules to have many parts in order to explain something. In the history of philosophy, things seem simple once you have the right coordinate system. If you find the right basic qualities of something such that one quality is distinct from the other, you will probably simplify your understanding, while increasing it's ability to accurately comprehend the subject matter.

So for example, the motion of planets bore some special explanation. Every night, as every culture had noticed on its own, the stars travel across the sky in an arc. Each star takes a path that does not intersect the others, and each star was always the same distance from and in the same relation with the other stars. Planets also take the same arc through the sky at night, and look like bright stars.

But they do not have the same relation to the stars, they move in the sky from night to night. "Planet" comes from the reek word for "wanderer".

And this is where my metaphor needs direct explaining, the key to simplification is first to understand the basic facts, but then, in a case like this, where the basic facts and measurements are available, the job of simplification becomes one of finding the right coordinate system.

Finding a coordinate system, either in a conceptual space such as political philosophy, or in a physical system like the solar system, involves finding the right reference points, the right origin. From this origin you will state all your measurements. And a great deal of apparent simplicity rests on your choice of origin system. The nature of the coordinate system is also important, but I'll ignore that because in my example, that was agreed upon and all that was left to make sense of the data was choice of the proper origin.

By the time of the Ptolemy much was agreed upon, that we were in a three dimensional space, and this included the heavens, that the planets were not stars but bodies in our solar system, that these things were not just traveling across the sky but were traveling in space. But to explain their motion (which meant the ability to predict it) he chose as his origin point, the Earth.

It made sense, the Earth was Ptolemy's preferred point of origin... he lived there, it didn't even seem to move, though Ptolemy probably understood it might in fact move. To support this theory the planets could not move in mere arcs or circles or even ellipses, but had to be moving in circles within circles, wheels within wheels, to explain their backward motions in the sky. And his system was so accurate it lasted for 1400 years.

But it was complicated. By moving the origin to the Sun, of course, all was simplified, the planets moved in near circles around the Sun, not around points moving around points moving around points moving around the Earth.

I assume you all know this story, but I lay it out slowly so you have it in mind. The complexity of liberalism is in exactly the state Ptolemy's theory was in. We are expressing our philosophy, which is the philosophical spirit itself, relativism, in terms of their reference points. We express it in a dogmatic coordinate system. In such a system one has to say things like "well, I voted for AND against it!" HAHAHA! Epicycles, good one! Suuure.

We've done a good job with our epicyclic Ptolemean explanation, we really can calculate good policy using it, but it will forever seem complex until we adopt the coordinate system natural to it. That coordinate system is relativity. Physical, social, moral, you name it, relativity wins. Even WE might want the coordinate system firmly rooted in the mundane, on mundus... the world, our Earth. Even we tend to want that. But it really is better located in the Sun, and in relativity.

We need this other coordinate system and its origin point(s) because it is with respect to that system that 1400 years of measurements should be taken, the coordinate system as reference gets drummed into the analysis itself, reinforcing itself. By measuring celestial motion with respect to the sun, not only do predictions become better, but it becomes obvious the Sun really is the center of the solar system even though one can place their origin points wherever they like... for example, at the center of the Galaxy, or back at the center of the Earth, or perhaps wherever your cat is.

If the origin can be placed anywhere, then which is "true"...? well, I used the word "natural" because it's a matter of finding where the simplicity lies. The natural origin to use depends on the problem. It is located wherever the problem is made most simple.

For progressive politics, that center is relativism, which I believe is related to the philsophical spirit in general. To explain our philosophy in simple terms requires understanding, embracing, and explaining: relativism.

It's What You've Got

2005-04-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

What you have is Barbara Boxer posting diaries in the egalitarian bazaar of the DailyKos diaries. There is selectivity for progressive viewpoints, but Democrats will more than do.

That's Senator Barbara Boxer. Here is the picture from her second diary, you see, a DailyKos diarist arranged the idea that people could send roses to Senator Boxer to show their appreciation of her stand on the election certifications and the Condoleeza Rice confirmation for Secretary of State. On Valentines of course.

And right now she's advising "Tell George Bush to nominate a new UN Ambassador!" in a "diary" which is among the recommended diaries (diares can be recommended by the users who click their approval).

The daily visits at dailykos are about 400,000 a day according to sitemeter. Not pageviews but someone staying at the site for a while. Some visits will be different people, say someone that logs on in the morning and then at lunch.

It's sort of remarkable. That's a blog. That's a Senator. That surpising. If it's your blog nothing can take the shine off since at the very least it's a kind of legitimacy you literally cannot buy. But tacitus (aka trevino of redstate.org) tries to by claiming it's merely a staffer. This comment is a reply to his own piece relying on the questionable premise that Bolton is opposed by both North Korea and Boxer and so can't be all bad. Believe me when I tell you tacitus is capable of far better reasoning than that, so much so that it's a bit of a dissapointment.

But maybe before long Senator Hegel will post diaries at redstate.

Is the New Pope a NAZI?

2005-04-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Of course not! It's a ridiculous question, really.

Did you miss me?

2005-04-18T13:58:00.000-07:00

I was travelling. I may have to retreat to philosophy since I'm getting politically re-dissillusioned by the day.

Anyway... here is another hero... and this one is French, trying to save a mother and her baby. I doubt he was thinking about the political advantages involved.

Beautiful City

2005-04-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

I had to post something, I couldn't let that picture be this blog any longer.

Baby Seal Hunt Still Evil

2005-04-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

Canada's shame: A hunter clubs a harp seal to death on an ice floe in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The brutal hunt, the largest in the world, is expected to bag 975,000 seals, most of them babies. CP photo by Jonathan Hayward via Associated Press

Do I really have to say more? Isn't that enough? I'm against it. Sure, I know they need the vital fluids from the baby seal blubber to make the cure for cancer they distribute on the African continent, not to mention that millions of people can live only off the meat of... oh wait... no, it's just because some people feel really pretty when they wear something which has been brutally clubbed to an ugly death.

I don't have much to say... it's sad and disgusting. Try these people instead, IFAW, Save Baby Seals: End the Seal Hunt

They've found the WMD!!!!

2005-04-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

Here it is... the LAB!

Um. Now go get those hundreds of tons of plastic explosives that have been looted.

What You Can't See

2005-03-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

Boca Raton, Fla.

The dark spots are sharks gathering. The three people in the upper left... time to get out of the water! And if those are not three people... it's still time to get out of the water.

Soon.

Child Nutrition in Iraq

2005-03-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

Malnutrition for children in Iraq is being reported as twice what it was under Saddam. Now, this should not be interpreted politically. This is a simple issue, reducable to facts... shall we pretend it's not worse, since getting rid of Saddam made things better? Shall we pretend that it's not true because democratic election have been held? What shall we pretend.

Nothing, we shall know that we need to improve conditions, and not pretend.

The Hunt Begins

2005-03-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

Hunter wears orange hat. :(

Clubbings to follow.

Progressive and Regressive, p.2

2005-03-27T04:58:00.000-08:00

Political philosophy is the most material of all philosophies, it's the place where philosophy meets engineering, philosophy to politics as science to engineering. Just as with mathematics to reality, it is gross when the approximations take place, violating your pure theory with reality and error... especially if including a system of justice according to a theory of justice. I myself enjoy the knowledge that pure theory does not fit reality, and adopt an theory that it probably never can nor should, and that in the end reality is the instructor, not theory. It could be no other way.

The idea of progress is a basic idea regarding human types, some want to improve the situation, some maintain it. By and large there is nothing automatically to advocate that one or the other of these modes is superior. To live in a way that sustains a regular lifestyle is to celebrate life in its daily rhythm, to have found the tone for Epicurus' tuning fork for your particular life. To live for change is to learn and adventure, to improve conditions for all. Individually these philosophies coexist beautifully, the migratory and sedentary can coexist especially in a modern civilized setting where cultures are composed of both sorts and every hybrid.

But politically this becomes an issue, are you trying to use the political system to improve conditions? If so, you are a progressive in the natural language sense of "progressive". If you want to go back to some past date... you are regressive, but note, this is really just a handy type of term for a certain kind of progressive, because they are in fact so distinct although they want reform which they say will improve things. Firstly, all any progressive has going for them is the hope to improve things, and what makes this liberal is a tradition that improvement means for all, not just the point of reference individual, so that social progress is fundamental to progress in a political system.

Personally, I do not think there was any past time usually associated with most regressive movements. As with childhood, often the golden land was merely a matter of perspective and memory. Inspection of history show many golden ages, but never any not wrought with injustices which prohibit the theory that progress lies in regression to those states. Neither do I believe it likely that one can hope for things to stay the same, because all things change and become something else which is related to the last.

Progressive and Regressive

2005-03-27T02:48:00.000-08:00

More on clarifying why I like progressive. Firstly, to repeat, I like both the fact that it has a historical sense which means "very liberal"... but also that the natural language sense survives, which is very practical. To me this makes sense. The progressive mind can imagine a far ranging idealization, but also have pragmatism to compromise on those ideal vision in the here and now. Not only is it practical, but it's fair, because it takes other peoples ideas in to consideration, the people that disagree with the progressive. It is an act of humility that the progressive, me, doesn't really know what it's going to be like in 100 years or 1000 years or, indeed, what would actually be best. The whole thing is an excersize of visualization for the same old reasons: art, engineering, and philosophy.

Progressive

2005-03-23T18:51:00.000-08:00

I've been asked by mother (resident conservative and RIARB silent partner) what I mean when I say I'm a progressive. First, I should clarify, I have always felt a revulsion at being labeled, but even more so at a lying coyness which refuses to be pinned down to a position. So fine... I've given up on saying no category suits me... even though they don't... I'm consistently progressive.

So what is that, and especially why not be a liberal. Unlike many it's not that I think liberal has been made a bad word and now I don't want to be hung with it... no, I'm more like one of the people that let it become a bad word, at least for politics.

Two reasons... one, natural language... sometimes it's good to be liberal, sometimes not... when giving portions of grandma's casserole, liberal is good. When doling out rations on a boat lost at sea... liberal is bad. Similarly, I believe in conservation, I believe in caution and realism, I believe in a conservative approach to risk.

But there is another reason. Liberal and conservative, to me, are the good cop/bad cop approach to manipulating the masses. They work together, either philosophy collapses without the other. The liberal society, still not granting freedom, falls into the hands of the bad cop who must make people feel lucky for the freedoms they are given. The bad cop authoritarian approach collapses as the masses will rise up and change those in power, and falls to the liberal approach to let off steam.

It's a bit of a racket to avoid giving actual freedom, and by freedom I mean either a kind that appeals to "conservatives" or "liberals", either social or libertarian freedom. So I prefer progressive because it is a philosophy that seeks to break this cycle, and I am a libertarian progressive because I believe in civil liberty and that the role of a government is to stay out of most affairs and secure the rights in the hands of individuals.

A position you don't want to be in...

2005-03-16T21:23:00.000-08:00

How many times have I said be careful when you trim trees... it's dangerous.... you don't want to be in Harold White's position... I take this as a political metaphor of some kind but I'm not sure how it works out for us.

PS: a crane came to save Harold in his case... OK, but still in critical condition.

Conservative Muslim

2005-03-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

I'm philosophical, I like language... I like idle questions, especially potentially controversial ones (mom might say I'm a bit of a "shit disturber" for that...)

So this term came to me and I was wondering. Which is the conservative Muslim? Is the conservative Muslim pro-terrorist? Or against the terrorists?

Are they peace loving, do they tolerate or not tolerate? What does this word conservative mean anyway? What about a liberal Muslim?

Are fundamentalists extremely conservative, or merely fanatical... out on a wing not shared by anyone of reason?

Worth Reading... I don't know -exactly- where the line should be...

2005-03-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

New York Times on the many examples of the Federal Government blurring propaganda and news... such as government PSAs that look and are broadcast as local news segments.

Article Here.

Good Samaritans

2005-03-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

I have a news alert set for "good samaritans"... and by far the most common theme is good samaritans that are killed after helping people that are pulled over. They are struck by cars crossing highways or trying to warn traffic of an accident. Sort of sad.

So the news of some bunnies being saved stands out.

Real Bravery

2005-03-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

This is the height of mankind. Does this guy look brave?

Corporate Welfare

2005-03-05T00:20:00.000-08:00

I'm seeing more and more stories like this... it's easy prey for local reporters.

They just go figure out how much welfare and public assistence the working poor are collection, and account that against the employers that live off their productivity and basically enjoy a subsidy.

Clever Energy Source

2005-03-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

being built in Autstraila... behold the Solar Tower... they plan to have one in operation in 2006 in Australia.

Oil Fire

2005-02-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

A blazing oil pipeline in Dibis with a firefighter in the foreground. Attacks on the oil infrstructure in Iraq continue. The reason I post it, however, remains that I'm awe struck by the power of oil fires. Stunning.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Thrown to the Wolves

2005-02-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Thrown to the Wolves (free registration required.

Sending prisoners to be tortured in Syria... you know what, this is the facts of torture. Talk all you want about the Earth Flattening bombs about to go off in a Bruce Willis movie and how torture may be all that saves us and well, that's Hollywood Ethics.

OTTAWA

If John Ashcroft was right, then I was staring into the malevolent, duplicitous eyes of pure evil, the eyes of a man with the mass murder of Americans on his mind. But all I could really see was a polite, unassuming, neatly dressed guy who looked like a suburban Little League coach.

If Mr. Ashcroft was right, then Maher Arar should have been in a U.S. prison, not talking to me in an office in downtown Ottawa. But there he was, a 34-year-old man who now wears a perpetually sad expression, talking about his recent experiences - a real-life story with the hideous aura of a hallucination. Mr. Arar's 3-year-old son, Houd, loudly crunched potato chips while his father was being interviewed.

"I still have nightmares about being in Syria, being beaten, being in jail," said Mr. Arar. "They feel very real. When I wake up, I feel very relieved to find myself in my room."

In the fall of 2002 Mr. Arar, a Canadian citizen, suddenly found himself caught up in the cruel mockery of justice that the Bush administration has substituted for the rule of law in the post-Sept. 11 world. While attempting to change planes at Kennedy Airport on his way home to Canada from a family vacation in Tunisia, he was seized by American authorities, interrogated and thrown into jail. He was not charged with anything, and he never would be charged with anything, but his life would be ruined.

Mr. Arar was surreptitiously flown out of the United States to Jordan and then driven to Syria, where he was kept like a nocturnal animal in an unlit, underground, rat-infested cell that was the size of a grave. From time to time he was tortured.

He wept. He begged not to be beaten anymore. He signed whatever confessions he was told to sign. He prayed.

Among the worst moments, he said, were the times he could hear babies crying in a nearby cell where women were imprisoned. He recalled hearing one woman pleading with a guard for several days for milk for her child.

He could hear other prisoners screaming as they were tortured.

"I used to ask God to help them," he said.

The Justice Department has alleged, without disclosing any evidence whatsoever, that Mr. Arar is a member of, or somehow linked to, Al Qaeda. If that's so, how can the administration possibly allow him to roam free? The Syrians, who tortured him, have concluded that Mr. Arar is not linked in any way to terrorism.

Is This Ok?

2005-02-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

Wal-Mart No. 1 in employee Medicaid

"State provides health insurance for workers of major companies" (Alabama is the state referred to, though this is becoming a perennial story nationwide, workers on welfare)

Well... I don't think so. And I don't actually fault Walmart. The way I see it, Walmart passes on savings to us. I have more of a complaint for, say, Nike, who when they pay $.10 to some worker in Indonedia to make a show still charge us $150 for the shoes that result. Walmart at least passes on the saving. And while 5 of the 10 richest people are Waltons, there is little doubt they do it on thin margins (by scale). So I think that Walmart is good at shaving those margins and that's a valuable skill.

That is why I blame the system that insists such people as they handle healthcare. Why should businesses have to handle healthcare. Doesn't matter the business, architecture, software engineering, selling cheap electric fans, whatever, the company is supposed to hire the expertise to manage and negotiate health insurance, and if you are a small company, you get screwed no matter how good you are at negotiating. Does that make sense?

No it leads to a system where even regular welfare becomes corporate welfare.

PS: I just love that bucktooth llama.

Back To Better Things

2005-02-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

speaks for itself I think

Just Be Careful

2005-02-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

A word on fascism and caution from The American Conservative magazine... that is, by conservatives.

This is characteristic Stern—measured and precise—but signals to me that the warning from the libertarians ought not be simply dismissed as rhetorical excess. I don’t think there are yet real fascists in the administration, but there is certainly now a constituency for them —hungry to bomb foreigners and smash those Americans who might object. And when there are constituencies, leaders may not be far behind. They could be propelled into power by a populace ever more frustrated that the imperialist war it has supported—generally for the most banal of patriotic reasons—cannot possibly end in victory. And so scapegoats are sought, and if we can’t bomb Arabs into submission, or the French, domestic critics of Bush will serve.

full text here.

Babyboomers and Liberals

2005-02-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

I have told mother this. (Note: I never say "mother" in the real world, but it sounds good to me here... normally I just say "mom" this or that... "mother" is more formal though, and appropriate when trying to lecture your own mother).

I think mother's conservativism is biased because of Babyboomer Liberalism. I suspect that to mother, a "liberal" brings to mind the idea of Babyboomer liberals... or at least of liberals familiar to the babyboomer experience, such as Ted Kennedy. JFK adds womanizing to this and the allure has long since faded. FDR made a better archetype. A rich guy fighting for the common man in sensible ways, not letting being in a wheelchair stopping him from kicking butt.

Mother, if you get wind ever of this libertarian progressivism I mention to you. If you start to realize that the children of the babyboomers are 1000 miles from approaching liberalism in a way not similar in the least to the Doa of Babyboom, you may be suprised to find there is a vast undercurrent of libertarians with good reasons to build a strong society, high quality infrastructure public AND private, regulate our consumption of natural resources and especially our fouling of them.

And if that day comes, I promise the philosophical feeling are pure, deep, and refreshing, even in the face of another thousand years of educating the regressive.

US Wrote the Book

2005-02-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

I did not write the following, but found it on the internet, semi-anonymously. I think it puts the point very well regarding prisoner abuse, torture, and my patriotic perspective on this.

To understand, one has to realize that all Americans have reason to be patriotic, have traditions of American excellence to call on...

we are not supposed to take our opinions on the rights of man from European Courts or theological speculations. We wrote the book on rights. The torture memos of which you speak are disgusting, (Yes I have read them) and clearly outside the tenor of American thought. Lay that aside, since Washington accepted the surrender of the Hessians at Trenton the entire world has known that American soldiers treat prisoners with dignity and time after time that has saved American prioner's lives. Al Gonzales was an integral part of a criminal conspiracy to deny that protection to future generations of Americans and because of that participation deserves contempt.

Torture destroys trust.

What do people do when they trust you? They tell you things.

A brother just may turn in a brother if he thinks he'll save his brother's life and the lives of others. But if that brother thinks your going to torture his kin... how can he? Why should he? He should just leave it for evil to battle evil in that case.

Torture is a way of stopping information, not obtaining it.

It's shocking to me that conservatives, with clear understanding of "great men" and the importance of a great reputation, don't care what reputation America earns. I'm not talking about worrying what people think of us... I'm talking about worrying about what reputation America deserves.

Conservatives often miss the point of liberal criticisms of America. Most American liberals DO think that America has always had a position of moral superiority, preaching freedom, keeping to the ideals of democracy as well as those of civil liberty. Liberals are holding America to a high standard because they can, because America has so often met that high standard. To point out the mistakes and violations of those standards are one way of keeping to them in the future. For such a progressive, such as myself in this case, who has a great sense of patriotism and respect for what is great about America, what is unique and great, the question of how we treat our enemy prisoners is a vital patriotic and traditional issue.

Extremes and Reality

2005-02-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

This is a nice essay about the word games people play to demonize their opposition. A simple example... you take Michael Moore, or Roy Moore, you use him as an archetype and then apply that to 50 million people. The author puts it best.

It applies to any ideology and its detractors.

Fiscal Responsibility

2005-02-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Fiscal Repsonsibility is now something for New Democrats.

Here is a GAO report, Long Term Fiscal Challenge

Chapter one "Today's Fiscal Policy is Unsustainable"

Simply put, our nation's fiscal policy is on an unsustainable course. As long-term budget simulations by GAO, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and others show, over the long term we face a large and growing structural deficit due primarily to known demographic trends and rising health care costs. Continuing on this unsustainable fiscal path will gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, our economy, our standard of living, and ultimately our national security. Our current path also will increasingly constrain our ability to address emerging and unexpected budgetary needs.

Republicans are the big spenders now. They have no reason not to be as Government Debt hurts the Government of America, which they want hurt, because government is bad bad bad. Am I wrong? I didn't make this up... this is what conservatives have been trying to convince me about for years. I say, "it can be bad, it can be good"... but they say "just bad". You can get them to admit it is a "necessary" evil... but evil is bad last time I heard.

When will people that care about a sane fiscal policy realize that the Republicans don't care about such a crisis. Do you know the position, "Starve it and drown it in a bathtub"? That's Grover Norquist's position, influential republican strategist.

Nay to Gonzalez

2005-01-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

It's a vote on the legitimacy of torture. It's a vote on the opinion that Presidents define their own law by deciding where laws apply and where they don't.

I'm not saying Gonzalez used the word "torture", but all states that employ systematic abuse, otherwise known as "cruel and unusual" punishment, play word games to narrow the definition of torture and expand the legitimacy of abuse interrogation, so the crimes of Abu Ghraib and the practices at Gitmo are directly traced to Mr. Gonzalez' legal reasoning. I have no doubt that lacking Mr. Gonzalez the administration would have found someone else to furnish the legal approach... but the reality is that Gonzalez has shown his willingness and did provide such. Furthermore, Gonzalez has shown a tendency to be willing to justify any action desired by the POTUS, and would not specify what torture was or was not, what practices are or are not justified, what actions the CIA is authorized to do during interrogation, nor any other commitments to a position on the subject. One assumes it's so these statements cannot be used later should current practices come to light.

I find it unacceptable that such a man should be the chief law enforcement officer... I'm left only to -hope-, weakly, that he does not think such latitude also extends to treatments of US citizens.

Here is a list of blogs asking for a nay vote on Gonzalez. At this time 376 blogs are asking for this... including those of conservative ideologies. Abhorence of "cruel and unusual" techniques is an American ideal. It is an ideal compatible with war, compatible with an American fight for freedom, and in fact, a part of the goals of why we fight, what we hope to accomplish. We did not have to torture the British soldier to win our revolution, and we did not have to torture Nazis, who were torturing their own people at the time. We abhor Nazis for such actions, and we beat them with good American spirit, without giving up our moral characters.

The student protesters for democracy in China builts a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen Square in 1989... that is the America of the World, that sort of fealty to America is the fealty that America means democracy. That is an America the world trusts, and that trust is power. If Iraq can trust us, that will lead to more information gathering than if it has to be stressed out of people. A brother may turn in a brother, if he thinks his brother is doing something wrong and turning him in will save his brother's life and those of others. But if that person thinks turning their brother in will means he will be responsible for his brother being tortured --- he will eschew involvement, and leave it as a matter of a fight between evils. That is the importance of trust, integrity, and moral fidelity.

For America to win the battle against terrorism, American Ideals must survive... if they perish, though a nation called America still stands, then the real America has lost.

PS: Note, this blog has a silent partner. Mother. I don't speak for her, this is pyrrho's position, as always, our posts reflect only our own position.

Mother, am I paranoid?

2005-01-27T03:53:00.000-08:00

what I wonder is why you are not worried about fascism... totalitarianism? Why do you seem to fear the nature of the liberal totalitarianism... I share that... I suspect extremes in all directions.

I believe in balance and the true center. The true center is not midway between what people call liberal and conservative, left and right.

doesn't prisoner abuse... listen -- this country was founded on the idea that cruel and unusual punishment is against American Ideals. Was that a mistake? Didn't we benefit?

What is the value of trust? If torture is ok some will be tortured when they are innocent... it's statistics... and people are going to fear being falsely tortured, they will not want to get on your wrong side... the trust will be gone with the world.

Could we be allies right now with the British if during the Revolution or War of 1812 if we were famous for torturing the British soldiers... or they for torturing ours? Would we have forgotten that? Have we forgotten what Benadict Arnold means? No. Things like that can be remembered a loooong time, as well they should, as well they should. This trust is more valuable than the information people think they are getting by violating our moral codes.

Trust provides information, that's one of it's main characteristics. If people trust you they tell you things. That's really all there is to it. And besides... I don't want to be evil for "practical" reasons either. Just especially not when it's so impractical. We are here for thousands of years. We need to think ahead.

Company Fires People for Refusing Drug Test...

2005-01-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

... for Tobacco!

My god that's stupid. It's like that old "... and there was no one left to protest when they came for me..." cliche...

Evidently Marijuana -really is- a gateway drug... first they have a War on It, then next thing you know they are onto the harder stuff... like firing people for smoking tobacco on their own time.

Not Wonderful.

BBC NEWS | In pictures: Shooting in Tal Afar

2005-01-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

BBC NEWS | In pictures: Shooting in Tal Afar

I'm sorry to even link this. I knew I couldn't embed the picture of the little girl because... I can't even describe the picture. But the fact is, we should look at these pictures if we want war. We need to face the cost of war, the cost of our own mistakes, they are not mere mistakes, this girl has lost her parents.

I'm glad to see the US GIs that made the mistake help the children, but it's a disaster, a disaster when you become the monster's you fight if by accident or otherwise. It's very sad...

Tsunami Survivor Lives On Coconuts for 25 Days

2005-01-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

Via Reuters, story of man from island village off India, lone survivor, waits 25 days to be rescued.

Too Much Pollution

2005-01-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

It is my understanding that some say, "Hey! Kids love bubble baths... and this one's free! Quit your whining you environmental nut!" Besides, many scientists say we are coming out of a non-foamy age... the earth is naturally getting more foamy. Learn to love the foam. It may kill most all animals, but the bacteria that do survive are amazingly strong! This is our way of making the planet stronger by killing it!

Some 3.29 billion liters of industrial pollution and domestic sewage flow from greater New Delhi into the Yamuna River each day, forming a lovely toxic meringue on the surface.

Tom Ridge: to torture human nature

2005-01-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'should not rule out torture'

It is a matter of "when" not "if" according to Mr Ridge.

So anyone that thinks my liberalism is not patriotic is obviously not very familiar with the principles of America. We can't even agree on if torture is OK? Ok. we're running out of space for disagreement if we have no fact in common.

I was hoping "torture is bad" was something we could agree to agree on.

Titan

2005-01-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

We've landed on another planet. Ok, a moon, of Saturn. Titan.

Take mankind's first look at the icy surface of Titan.

no comment

2005-01-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

High Quality Government

2005-01-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

The Republicans will never provide high quality government because they don't believe in high quality government. And yet, they do not provide low cost government either. The result is junk government.

Sinking Foreign Boats in Foreign Waters

2005-01-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

This doesn't sound good to me. I don't trust government to be write consistently enough to do stuff like this: Sinking boats. The boat should be turned over to authorities. I know you don't know what I'm talking about, but it's all right here...

DenverPost.com - NATION/WORLD

2004: The Good News

2004-12-30T19:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Fox News. And they don't even mention things like "Bush won" and "Kerry got slaaaaammmmmed dude!"

FOXNews.com - Views - Straight Talk - 2004: The Good News

Where Clouds Come From

2004-12-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

No photoshopping, just good old perspective hunting.

from ddoi... my favorite.

The Tsunami

2004-12-28T17:25:00.000-08:00

satelite photo before: (right click and view image to see full size)

AFTER: (right click and view image to see full size)

Washington's New Governator: If at first you don't succeed...

2004-12-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

Try again. If you still don't succeed, try again. Then... it's on to the Governor's Mansion baby! Assuming they have a Governor's Mansion in Washington State.

Look! It's a mandate!

Hand recount in Washington governor's race gives Democrat 130-vote win

Of course, Republicans are still taking it to court, though this one looks like the final count. Who knows until it's certified... these days.

Is your ass too big?

2004-12-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

consider one of these minature donkeys from the Pride and Joy Ranch in Vacaville.