John Moltz

Friedman

I'm not one of the Tom Friedman obsessed - I usually find his columns come with the over-earnestness of a junior high english assignment or a golden retriever - so I don't often read them.

Today I had a few extra moments I now wish I could have back.

The Chant Not Heard

Friedman starts by committing one of the annoyances I see bloggers of both stripes commit frequently - the "I will tell you what you should be concerned with" approach. He pillories the protesters in London for not also holding signs asking "Osama, How Many Innocents Did You Kill Today?"

Friedman is unable to recognize that part of what's being protested is that attacking Iraq didn't have anything to do with 9/11 or bin Laden. And is he really too dumb to see the absurdity of protesting Osama bin Laden? People protest democratically elected governments (granted, the Bush administration may not qualify as democratically elected...) because by doing so they hope to intice them to change their policies. Turning out to protest Osama is simply providing him an easier target.

Watching this scene, I couldn't help but wonder whether George Bush had made the liberal left crazy. It can't see anything else in the world today, other than the Bush-Blair original sin of launching the Iraq war, without U.N. approval or proof of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

In other words, for some reason the left is not deploring the things I wish them to deplore. Friedman doesn't argue that they don't have a point, he argues that they aren't discussing his point.

For my money, the right liberal approach to Iraq is to say: We can do it better. Which is why the sign I most hungered to see in London was, "Thanks, Mr. Bush. We'll take it from here."

Well, he's got it half right, but you have to question the intelligence of someone who recognizes the administration has done a piss-poor job up until now, has left us in what may be an untenable position and yet wants us to thank them none the less.

"Thanks... uh... for fucking up so badly!"

Friedman's basic premise, that the left doesn't talk about how to make things better in Iraq and fulfill his glorious dream of a shining democratic light in the Middle East, is both false (if he ever watched one of the Democratic candidates talk he'd know that) and contemptuous for its willingness to give the administration credit for doing nothing more than screwing up while deriding the left for not being involved in the screw up.

We opposed this stupid war, the administration royally fucked it up and we're still trying to fix it. The most important step is getting someone in the White House who can actually do it.

AP Writer Fellates President

OK, I said I wasn't going to mention the press' treatment of Bush's visit, but C'MON!

Bush's Iraq Trip Reinforces Role As Leader

And, if the headline's not enough of a blow job, let's just make sure...

While Bush tied himself even more closely to the outcome of a war that has dragged on, he reinforced his role as commander in chief before cheering troops — an image his Democratic opponents can't match.

Strangely, the piece is not balanced out by mentioning what the Democratic opponents have that Bush can't match. Like... well, competence, for instance.

Public doubts about the aftermath of the Iraq war have been growing — along with the casualties. But Bush's trip offered a blunt reminder about the president's ability to control events — at least in the short-term.

And about the press' undying desire to act as the implement of that ability.

"Democrats got a real lesson in what it means to run against an incumbent president," said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. "He can change the headlines anytime he wants to — how do you fight against this? He can do it next October."

Why don't the Democrats just give up already and admit we have a monarchy! Sheesh! All this nonsense about an election! As if!

Props

OK, so the kids probably aren't saying "props" anymore, but here are some post-Thanksgiving props I want to dole out:

• Believe it or not, I thought Bush's visit to Iraq was a nice thing for him to do and he even managed to get a funny in. Since I go off on him so often, I won't even mention how the Republicans will use it as a political prop and how the press has ridiculously portrayed it as some daring mission. Oops. Still, it was a good thing to do.
• Wired is positioning itself as the Daily Show of serious news - it's the one outlet that has consistently covered the debacles surrounding electronic voting and ran a prominent story on the GOP electronic break-in against the Democrats.
• SpyMac, one of those Apple rumor sites I like to poke fun at, is one of two sites (Bill Palmer's being the other) that have the goods on the guys who made the nigh-slanderous iPod video. In SpyMac's case, they linked to an email exchange that really highlights how these clowns are just looking to promote themselves and don't care how much it really costs to replace the iPod's battery. UPDATE: As Jonathan Crowe notes in comments, iPodLounge beat SpyMac to the punch on this one, so props to them. That's actually a great source for all things iPod. I'm still appalled at the sites that posted approving links to the video that haven't put up corrections or updates on the actual battery replacement options.

What the fuck?

OK, staffer of Republican Senator commits computer theft to gain access to opposition files and the story gets buried? I mean, do Republicans now have to kill a Democrat and wear his skin as a cloak to raise any eyebrows anymore?

Let me just take this opportunity to ask again, how's that Plame investigation going?!

And... and... what about Scarecrow's brain?!

Diebold Backs Off

Diebold Won't Sue

Via BoingBoing and they say it best...

Diebold has withdrawn its lawsuit threats against the sites that republished the leaked memos demonstrating its gross malfeasance in its voting machine business. Having had these memos exposed by whistle-blowers, Diebold sought to use copyright law to censor websites that published them. Then EFF took up the cause of one of the site-operators, the Online Policy Group, and now Diebold is slinking away with its tail between its legs, off to plot the downfall of democracy in some rancid warren of its own devising. Don't let the courtroom door hit yer ass on the way out.

Kudos to Dennis Kucinich and the students at Swarthmore for standing up to them.

Gah!

The assinine complaints about the iPod battery non-issue touched off by that video continue to pop up. I've seen two Mac-centric sites link to the damn thing approvingly with "way to stick it to the man!" comments.

My little Crazy Apple Rumors jab at the dimwits who don't know how to Google "iPod battery replacement" was linked in comments at Kuro5hin. Read the replies to the guy who posted the link.

My sincere apologies to Stan Ng - I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to think my story was true.

You'd think the Neanderthal who appears near the end might have tipped them off, if not the character known as "Angry Scotsman." I guess when you're that interested in bashing Apple for no good reason you tend not to notice details like that.

ADDENDUM: Bill Palmer gets to the likely real motive behind the movie. Hmmmm... I feel another CARS entry coming on...

There they go again

This time, though, it wasn't the AP, it was NP-frickin'-R.

In a story yesterday about the revised growth figures for the third quarter, Jack Spear said it was now hard to argue with the administration's tax cut and, as evidence, played a quote from an analyst saying "You give the average American a $400 check and he knows what to do with it." So, essentially, we owe the strong third quarter to "average Americans" who received just $400.

Am I the only one in the bizarro present who doesn't remember the actual past in which the complaints about the tax cut where not focused on the middle class cuts which the Democrats wholeheartedly supported, but on the majority of the tax cuts that went to the rich? As a matter of fact, people who complained about the package said it would be better for the economy to give more to the middle class and less to the rich who aren't going to spend it anyway.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the Lathe of Heaven - reality changes around me and no one else remembers what really happened.

The "responsible majority"

A good post by Matthew Yglesias (Is there any other kind? Think about it, won't you?) over on TAPPED about the responsible leadership the Republicans are providing (not).

The architects of Bushism, however, don't really believe that the government can or should solve problems. But they don't want too come out and say that, or they'll lose elections. So instead they see that the public wants a prescription drug bill and decide they'd better write something called "the prescription drug bill." Then they call up their friends on K Street and ask what the prescription drug bill should say, write the thing, and launch a PR campaign designed to convince people that their bill does whatever it is people wanted the law to do. Sometimes, as with the energy bill, they just take a lobbyist-written piece of legislation and start casting about (terrorism! blackouts!) for some kind of problem it can pose as a solution to.

Well, they do believe government can solve some "problems," just only those faced by their friends running large corporations.

But I'm sure this couldn't happen to the voting machines!

Via BoingBoing...

Cash machines infected with worm

Cash dispensing ATMs belonging to two US financial institutions were shut down when the computer worm Welchia invaded their embedded Windows XP operating systems in August. Diebold, the Ohio-based company that makes the machines, revealed the security breach on Tuesday. (emphasis mine)

Typical

This has already made the rounds on Atrios, Kos, Counterspin, et al, but it's worth mentioning... well, by everyone.

Technological Dub Erases a Bush Flub for a Republican Ad

It is indeed laughable and potentially illegal.

The Democrats asked whether the Republican National Committee had gone to the White House with sound equipment to have Mr. Bush recite the line anew for what was the first Republican commercial of the campaign season here. That might have meant that the party was not being truthful when it said it had not coordinated with Mr. Bush when it made the advertisement, a possible violation of law.

Since flyboy's carrier stunt didn't turn out as expected, the Republicans had to make something equally phony to put into their campaign ads. Instead of pretending he's a fighter pilot, they're settling for pretending he's articulate.

Your press corps

Ron Fournier of the AP decides he's willing to play along with Gephardt and Kerry in their attempts to portray Dean as a flip-flopper. If I may borrow from the style of the great Bob Somerby for this post, Fournier pretends he doesn't understand Dean's positions.

Dean Assailed for "Tough Choices" in Vt.

Howard Dean's record and words came back to haunt him Monday as Democratic presidential rivals accused him of flip-flopping on social spending, Medicare and even his most potent political issue: Opposition to the war in Iraq.

Horrors! Is it true? Well, as we'll see, in this case, no.

I have no doubt that Dean has changed his position on some things, but he usually admits it when he does (but not always). Here, though, Fournier is just playing along and passing the spin on to you.

After repeatedly slipping the question, he finally declared, "We will not cut Medicare in order to balance the budget."

Dean knows that most Democrats consider slowing the growth of Medicare the same as a cut, but he did not bother with that distinction. Party strategists said that must have been by design.

Dean believes that if it's growing with the rate of inflation, it's not a cut. You can argue that point, but he's pretty consistent about it and, when we have a president who doesn't mind charging everything to the next generation, that sounds rather appealing to me. But Fournier's going to let Gephardt and Kerry define the terms of the debate.

As for Dean, the debate revealed his vulnerabilities. He has said the growth of Medicare may need to be restrained. He did make cuts in Vermont to programs for the elderly, blind and disabled while balancing budgets.

Here his definition of "cuts" is Gephardt's and Kerry's, not Dean's. The programs Dean "cut" in Vermont continued to grow at the rate of inflation.

So Dean's being consistent, yet Fournier lets them accuse him of flip-flops and lets them use their definition of "cuts", rather than informing you about what he actually did.

Finally, Fournier lets them play a favorite game of the Republicans. The "Ah, but YOU supported the war as well!" game, which requires you to think there was only ONE kind of war possible and that was the kind of war Bush waged.

And he did support a resolution that would have allowed the use of military force to disarm Saddam Hussein.

OK, look, how could you NOT think that it might POSSIBLY be a good idea under SOME CIRCUMSTANCES to DISARM Saddam Hussein by military force? In what freaky bizarro world does that constitute support for a unilateral invasion without provocation? And is there any doubt who among the front runners was the most consistently against Bush's war?

I know Dean is human and I know he, like all of the candidates, is not completely consistent all the time, but it might be better if journalists really explained his position instead of playing along to the tune of the other candidates.

Left hand, meet right hand

Some righteous indignation in the comments on the Democratic Party's weblog about the Medicare bill.

Why, indeed, is the party sending out emails and asking people on its blog to sign a petition against the Medicare bill when 22 of its members in the Senate voted to end debate on the god damn thing?

Sticking to the agenda

Bush signed the Defense bill which, as you'd expect, contains a host of crap that has nothing to do with terrorism but is right in line with the same agenda the administration has been pursuing since they took office.

Bush Inks Defense Bill, Visits Colo. Base

In addition to what amounts to correcting previous cuts the administration made to military benefits, the bill:

• Allows Rumsfeld to ignore Federal restrictions on hiring, firing and promoting employees (message: we hate workers)
• Includes a big, controversial contract for Boeing (message: we love big corporations, particularly ones that give us lots of money)
• Resumes and continues research into specialized nuclear weapons (message: we have no idea how to fight terrorists so we'll pretend they're large nuclear states like the Soviet Union because Rumsfeld and Cheney already have a playbook for that)
• Exempts the military from the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection act for no good reason (message: animals is only gud fer eatin', wearin' and the occasional buggery)

These are the Defense priorities in our "War on Terror"? I had no idea whales and dolphins had it in for the U.S.

Although, now, can you blame them?

Don't you have something better to do?

Via BoingBoing, I see someone is engaging in an "anti-advertising campaign" (read: vandalism) because he doesn't think the iPod's battery is replaceable.

He's wrong of course. It can be replaced for between $49 and $99, which took me all of 45 seconds to find out.

Wonder how long it took him to make that movie?

Also, my wife's got the original iPod which I bought two years ago. It's still running fine, so they don't all die after 18 months.

Uhhhhhh...

What are the top three stories on the local Fox affiliate's 11 o'clock news tonight?

- Children who sleep through fire alarms (IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD!!!)
- Where the pre-holiday shopping sales are
- And, yes, you know it, you love it, it's MORE details on the raid on Michael Jackson's Neverland.

I don't have the stomach to see if they find time for this or this.

Who's unelectable?

In response to Bush's dumb-ass ad about fighting terrorism that is apparently talking about... well, I don't know who it's talking about because it's not talking about any of the Democrats running for president...

But in response to that ad, the Dean campaign is trying to raise $360,000 by Tuesday night for an ad of their own.

About five hours after posting the request, they're about a tenth of the way there. At that rate (which may or may not hold up, admittedly), they'll meet their goal two days early.

Remember, the average Dean donor has given something like $77 dollars. They aren't even close to the limit they can give yet.

And know this: the Bush campaign would have run that ad even if Dean and Kucinich and others who have consistently opposed the war were not in the field. They sold Max Clelland as unpatriotic. Kerry is no safer.

Even now, it's not all about money. But who's a more electable candidate? I'd pick the guy who decides to fight back and has the means to do so.

Kucinich defies Diebold

From Dan Gillmor, Dennis Kucinich has put some of the Diebold memos up on his House of Representatives web site, raising the ante for the company's attempt to make the evidence of its malfeasance go away.

I'll bet Kucinich just got the vote of those youngsters at Swarthmore.

Energy bill blocked

Opponents Block Energy Bill in Senate

A coalition of Democrats and Republicans blocked Senate approval of a massive energy bill Friday, maintaining the legislation provides too many handouts to industry and would jeopardize cleanup of drinking water contaminated by a gasoline additive.

Good, but two votes probably won't hold it back forever.

Yes, Daschle should go

A year ago I wrote both my senators and told them I thought it was time for Daschle to be replaced as Minority Leader.

Usually, they respond with some kind of position on whatever crazy ass email they receive. I had written to both three or four times before and received a reply every time.

Not this time, though. My suggestion to remove the South Dakota Senator as the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate was met with stony silence.

Last night I saw that Daschle has announced he will vote for the Energy Bill, a big give-away to corporations and, yes, farmers, at the expense of consumers.

Daschle Says He Will Vote for Energy Bill

Daschle's inability to do the right thing in opposing the Bush administration at critical junctures, even if it's in attempt to try to please his constituents, makes him an entirely ineffective Minority Leader. "Me too" is a really crappy way to run the "opposition party". If he comes from an area that's going to put him at odds with Democratic principles, fine. I understand how he feels he needs to represent his constituents. He just shouldn't be Minority Leader.

Kos concurs.

Screw up? Here are some tax breaks!

Report Blames FirstEnergy For Blackout

The FirstEnergy violations included not reacting to a power line failure within 30 minutes as required by the North American Electricity Reliability Council, not notifying nearby systems of the problems, failing to analyze what was going on and inadequate operator training.

Eeeyowch! Wow, I mean, who are these incompetent boobs? Well, according to Public Citizen,

FirstEnergy executives rank among the Bush campaign’s top fundraisers. FirstEnergy President Anthony Alexander was a Bush Pioneer in 2000 – meaning he raised at least $100,000 – and then served on the Energy Department transition team. H. Peter Burg, the company’s CEO and chairman of the board, hosted an event in June that raised more than half a million dollars for Bush-Cheney ’04.

Ah! They're highly connected incompetent boobs who the administration is indebted to! And, of course, not surprisingly, they'll benefit greatly (PDF) from the Energy Bill currently sliming its way through congress.

FirstEnergy, as a diversified holding company with numerous subsidiaries, stands to benefit from the tax breaks and subsidies included in the House and Senate energy bills for coal, oil and gas, and nuclear power.

...

The Senate bill contains $1.9 billion in tax breaks for “clean” coal; the House bill contains more than $3 billion in tax breaks and an additional $2.5 billion in subsidies for research and development. FirstEnergy operates 16 power plants, generating 56% of its electricity from coal-fired plants.

Bush's America - where the incompetent get rewarded.

Is it any wonder? He's just giving back what he so richly reaped.

We need help! No, not YOU!

A year after the military booted six for being gay, we're still short on Arabic linguists.

Lack of Arabic Speakers Hurts U.S.

The fine folks at the AP don't mention last year's purging, of course. They do find the time to interview someone at the Heritage Foundation about a matter of security policy. Whatever.

Dean

Michael Tomasky says Dean's the only one of the Democrat's who's fun to watch.

Well, I'm sure he's not including Al Sharpton, but it's true.

Tomasky also says that the only ways Dean is "unelectable" is if establishment Democrats don't work for him because they think he's unelectable or simply because he's not from the south.

Well, that pretty much leaves out most of the Democratic field so, unless we're just going to sit this one out, I'd suggest running with the strongest candidate.

Hey...

...uh, how's that Justice Department probe into the Plame thing coming, anyway?

Bush Administration - 1. American public's attention span - 0.

The Democratic Party

A good post on Daily Kos over the weekend on the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party.

With Dean's lead increasing in New Hampshire, this fight looks increasingly likely. I still reject the conservative theory that the Clintons will take the party down rather than see someone other than one of their own win the nomination. This theory has two mutually exclusive types. One says simply that they want Clark. The other says they want Clark because they think he'll lose, leading the way to a Hillary nomination in 2008. To the conservative conspiracy theorist, the Clintons' machinations only come in "self-centered" and "evil" sizes.

There can be little argument that the lesson of the past three years is that whatever the Democrats in power in Washington are doing, it ain't working. Clark's campaign could have represented a merging of the traditional big-donor focus and Dean's grass-roots fundraising accumen, but by cutting off the fledgling Clark web community when the campaign began, they signaled that it would be "business as usual."

During the 1990s, the Democratic Party had become a certifiable party of the middle, but the problem with that in a two-party system is you lose what you stand for. Democrats tried to strike a middle ground on every issue, particularly the war - "We gave him authority, be we weren't for this war." That's not a particularly hearty rally cry.

As strange as it may seem, there are voters out there who vote not based on issues, but based on personality. Say what you want to about Bush (and I will), but he does have conviction, even if he's convicted about the wrong things.

When you look at the Democratic field, Dean is clearly the serious contender with conviction. Unlike Bush, he's also mature enough to admit when he's wrong.

The Democratic Party is headed for a shakeup. If its current "leaders" know what's good for them, they'll get on the bandwagon of change instead of fighting it.

Creeping fascism

Dave Neiwert at Orcinus has perhaps the most disturbing post I've read in months (link via Uggabugga). He has rather convincingly strung together a host of evidence indicating that there is a conservative movement afoot bent on creating a one-party fascist nation.

My position before reading it was "Oh, that's reactionary." That was not my position when I finished.

He's not talking about mainstream Republicans or even the Bush administration, although they do use these proto-fascists to their advantage. There are Republicans who have questioned the administration, the war and the Patriot Act and do not believe that dissent is a crime. But you cannot say that the following definition of fascism does not apply to the likes of Ann Coulter.

Of particular note was this recent interview with former Princeton professor Richard Falk, who defines fascism as "the convergence of military and economic power on behalf of an ultranationalist ideology that views its enemies -- internally and externally -- as evil and subject to extermination or extreme punishment."

Coulter has said that liberals should be physically intimidated to make them "realize that they can be killed too." Coulter has lamented the fact that Timothy McVeigh didn't bomb the New York Times. Coulter has called all Democrats traitors.

I don't like to employ invective, but I just don't think it's invective to say that Coulter is a fascist by that definition.

Read the post. It's a chilling warning.

The AP

The more I read the AP's stories on Yahoo, the more I wonder what goes on when they write their headlines. Several times I've seen headlines that could be construed as unfavorable to the administration changed hours later to something softer. A few days ago there was a headline that said something to the effect of "Administration Working on Iraq Plan" - leaving the uncomfortable conclusion that they don't have one. This was subsequently changed to something about presenting "plans" to the Iraqis.

Today I was greeted with the completely gutless headline: Poll Shows Americans' View on Iraq War.

Well, that is the purpose of polls, isn't it? To show people's views? Although you'd think it'd be more interesting to hear something about what those view are.

More than half of Americans say President Bush (news -web sites) decided to go to war on Iraq based on faulty assumptions, says a poll released Thursday.

But god forbid we put that in the headline.

(Changed "right" to "write" in the first sentence, although, as Matt Deatherage notes in comments, it did have a nice double entendre the way it was.)

Civil discourse

Until stories like this are blasted across the front pages and are covered 24/7 on cable TV and the "left wing" media (whoever the hell they are) make allegations that Bush had her whacked, people like Nicholas Kristof can shut the hell up about how Bush haters are just as bad as Clinton haters.

For the record, I don't believe Bush had her whacked and I don't believe he raped her. Which makes me far more civil than those who thought Clinton was worse than Tony Soprano.

Irony

Reading this post over at Counterspin Central about the administration trying to prevent protests in London when Bush visits, I was struck by this:

On more thing, the irony of this is enormous. We fought for our independence from Great Britian preciseley because we wanted the freedom to protest the oppressive actions or policies of our government.

One of the things I had on my wish list was the DVD of 1776 and my in-laws were kind enough to get me a copy for my birthday. You've probably seen the last line recently, but here's a salient section:

DICKINSON: Why do you refer to King George as a tyrant?

JEFFERSON: Because he is a tyrant.

DICKINSON: I remind you, Mr. Jefferson, that this "tyrant" is still your king.

JEFFERSON: When a king becomes a tyrant he thereby breaks the contract binding his subjects to him.

DICKINSON: How so?

JEFFERSON: By taking away their rights.

DICKINSON: Rights that came from him in the first place?

JEFFERSON: All except one. The right to be free.

DICKINSON: And are we not free, Mr. Jefferson?

JEFFERSON: Homes entered without warrant. Citizens arrested without charge. And, in many places, free assembly itself denied.

DICKINSON: No one approves of such things but these are dangerous times.

FRANKLIN: Be careful, Mr. Dickinson. Those who would give up some of their liberty in order to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Jefferson's description of the rights that were taken away from them by the king sounds familiar, doesn't it? Now we just call it the Patriot Act and First Amendment zones.

Remember that poll?

The one that if you held it up to the light and squinted your eyes and stood on one leg and... well... ripped about three quarters of the results off of it... would show that Iraqis were just thrilled to be occupied by the U.S.?

Report Warns Iraqis Supporting Resistance

A new top-secret intelligence report warns that Iraqis are losing faith in U.S.-led occupation forces, a development that is increasing support for the resistance, officials said Wednesday.

Uh... yeah... well... see... the thing is... they, um... er...

Talk about confidence

Yes, please set your confidence levels about electronic voting machines to their lowest levels if you haven't already done so.

E-Vote Firm's Bill Comes Due

Citing concerns that Diebold Election Systems installed uncertified software on some electronic voting systems in a California county without the state's knowledge, officials are forcing the company to pay for an audit of all the company's voting machines used in the state in order to win certification for a new model.

So, uh, how does one audit a machine that leaves no trail?

Until the audit is complete, California is conditionally certifying the vote. It's good that Diebold is having to pay for this but one gets the sense there are a bunch of state officials who would rather not have electoral egg on their faces and are just as interested in seeing Diebold pass a smooth audit as the company is.

Still, the final paragraphs of the story indicate that California is taking some steps to make sure these machines are accurate. I have no idea why you would not have taken these steps before they were ever used in the first place.

New York, New York

OK, so "light blogging" turned into "no blogging", but I was in New York for a few days to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday.

I'm not sure where she was...

No, no, the whole family flew in and spent Friday night in Connecticut where my parents live. We had a raucous birthday celebration and I managed to steal away for a few minutes and score some of my old toys from an upstairs closet.

Here are some eBay examples. I snagged the Fisher-Price barn (the one that moos when you open the barn door) and the old metal Batmobile with the Batboat (the hitch has gone missing) and the little Batman and Robin. Right with it was the Green Hornet's car, Black Beauty. I also found two Dinky toys from the erstwhile show UFO, the Interceptor and the Mobile 2.

Ah, for the days when parts were choking hazards and were shot out of toys with a velocity that'd poke your eye out. It's too bad our Thing Maker is long gone or I could also have suffered third degree burns and possibly electrocuted myself.

I would like to meet the enterprising toy designer who thought that what amounts to an inverted iron that you pour plastic on was a good thing for kids to play with.

On Saturday we went into New York City and saw Hairspray (not the John Waters film, but the musical based on it). After the show, Harvey Fierstein auctioned off his cast jacket from La Cage aux Folles for an AIDS benefit and I came this close to getting it, but was beat out by someone across the way. I did drive the price up $200, though, so that was good.

On Sunday we made the obligatory trip to the SoHo Apple Store and had dinner at Nobu, an excellent Japanese restaurant. Karen and I went out to The Blue Note afterwards. On Monday we walked around town with our friend Skip, a recent transplant, and flew back in last night.

All in all, a great trip and I think my mother had an exceptional birthday. The hotel had an 802.11 connection so I thought I might make a post or two, but when you're in the town so nice they named it twice you don't want to spend your time in the hotel room.

Light blogging

There'll be light blogging over the next few days. Things should get back to normal again on Tuesday.

Microsoft...

Wanted by Microsoft: Virus writers

Stepping up its battle against computer viruses and worms, Microsoft Corp. has established a $5 million fund to pay rewards for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for releasing malicious code, the company said.

Now, it's fine that they're doing this. It's probably good. But isn't the real solution making Windows more secure?

Kind of reminds me of the RIAA and the administration. "The problem isn't the crappy thing we're doing, it's the people who are taking advantage of it!"

The problem's not geurilla attacks in Iraq, it's that the media keeps reporting on them!

The problem's not the fact that we want to tell you how to enjoy your music, it's those damn file traders!

The problem's not that we write software with big, gaping holes, it's those people who take advantage of them!

There's a word for people like this, and that word is lazy.

Or stupid. I would also have accepted stupid.

It's my birthday

Starting my 40th year (I'm still 39, just to be clear, here).

Can I start saying "I'm gettin' too old for this crap!"?

Dean's Mouth

Hesiod, in a very long post (I think he felt he needed to explain himself clearly) has come out against Dean.

Why?

His mouth.

Hesiod's afraid Dean's "misstatements" will cost us. He's entitled to his opinion. But I think he's wrong and where he's wrong is embedded in his post.

It will be Al Gore all over again, except in this case, Dean's problems will be self-inflicted.

If you're concerned about being "Gored," then you have not learned the lessons of being "Gored."

If you remember correctly (and if you don't, see the Howler), Gore was pilloried by the Republican Party despite the fact that the things he said that they portrayed as lies were correct or meaningless or both. Bush's lies, which actually mattered, were swept under the rug.

So the lesson of being "Gored" is not "Watch what you say." They will call you a liar and try to misrepresent what you say no matter what you say. The lesson is "Fight back and don't give up."

When I look at the Democratic field, I think Dean is the one who has the attitude to take on a Rove-driven campaign and take his own campaign to them. Do we really want a candidate who tiptoes around what he says? Do we want one who they will try to tar and feather anyway and won't go on the attack? Do you think Democrats who were afraid to vote against giving Bush authority to go to war against Iraq will magically have the guts to stand up to him now? Between a loud-mouthed fighter and a diplomat, who do you think will have a better shot at beating Bush?

I don't normally do requests...

But Velouria (is that the Pixies version or the Weezer version?) asked the rather heady question in comments "Does the United States have a moral obligation to mitigate international conflicts?"

Um...

Yes.

Hope that helped!

Oh, this is an essay question! Oh, crap. Well, shoot, I should have an answer to this question - I was an International Studies major - but that was 16 years ago.

OK, I'm sticking with my "yes" answer. There are obviously various levels of "mitigation", the lowest being mediation of some kind, the highest being direct involvement, possibly militarily. Usually each is applied depending on the degree of "investment" (that can be culturally, historically, economically, etc.) the U.S. has had in the region. Cold War international theory (which was what I learned) defined spheres of influence for both the U.S. and the Soviet Union and dictated that each was responsible for its own back yard, so to speak. This has obviously broken down a bit since then, although I think they do still apply.

I think it's probably true that the U.S. becomes involved on some level in most international crises. The degree of involvement that should happen is where the debate occurs depending on the situation.

I dunno. I could ramble on like this for hours. Maybe if I say something controversial it'll prompt some comments.

Uh...

The U.S. should go around sticking its nose in everyone's business whether they like it or not.

There. That oughta do it.

ONE... MORE... YEAR!

Edgar Martinez signs a 1-year deal with the Mariners.

At the last game of the year we were chanting "ONE... MORE... YEAR! ONE... MORE... YEAR!"

I'm glad he heard us.

Atrios and Luskin make up

Boy, that was a letdown.

Oh, well. All's well that ends well.

Draft

There's been some scuttlebutt going around recently about reinstating the draft (see Melanie's post on Daily Kos) because the military is stretched too thin. Melanie claims it would be politically untenable for Bush to reinstate the draft before the election, but I think that's typical liberal sissy-style thinkin'.

The problem with liberals is that we don't think audaciously like the administration. Here's my suggestion for the administration and I think it's in line with their modus operandi.

Reinstate the draft, but reinstate it as it was in days of yore. In other words, rich folk can pay poor folk to fill in for their children! That way, you fill the need, but your contributors are covered!

Now, what to call it? FlexiServe?

But... he's unbeatable!

Karl Rove said so!

More Voters Deciding Not to Support Bush

The survey by Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion found that 44 percent of the voters questioned said they planned to definitely vote against the Republican president while 38 percent said they would support his re-election.

Still no consensus on a Democrat but I'm starting to wonder if having a somewhat large field for a while longer could be a good thing. The Republican tar-flinging machine can't figure out who to fling at. Is it Dean? Clark? Kerry?

Shorter Bush

Bush: There's More Work To Do On Economy

"We've had some possible signs that, some day, within the next several years potentially, the economy may, on its own accord, begin to show more signs of starting to turn around.

"But please, don't applaud me, just throw money."

Lunacy

I'm quite the proponent of the space program. I, like many technology geeks, fancy myself a space geek, even if I have trouble remembering things like the speed of light and the names of all of Jupiter's moons. But as everyone else was partying on the fourth of July in 1997, I was glued to the TV set, watching Sojourner roll across the surface of Mars.

It bugs me that, for the most part, Republicans have co-opted the space program as an issue by shovelling massive funding at the missile defense shield which allows scientists to sneak off with some of it for legitimate programs.

The universe is a dangerous place. Nobody likes to think of the possibility that a big ol' rock can come ruin our day much worse than Al Qaeda could ever dream of. I also think opening up space as a frontier would create an economic boom, plus I just think it'd be cool.

We can quibble over how it's done. The space shuttle is really more about contractor pork than it is about science. We should be capable of putting payloads into orbit for less than what the shuttle costs. But overall, I support the space program.

That being said, when your administration is running gigantic deficits, it hardly seems like the time to be dreaming of expensive programs to go back to the moon.

Presidential review on space policy heading to closure (Link via CalPundit.)

As of late October, sources indicate that a central recommendation is likely, but not certainly to be resumption of manned lunar flights to develop advanced technologies that can support U.S. astronauts working beyond Earth orbit to not only the Moon, but eventually on near-Earth asteroids and Mars.

The article claims this would "only" be an increase of 7-10% of NASA's budget which, if I'm reading this right, is about $15 billion, so about $1.5 billion.

Someone running up record deficits should not be running around trying to find new ways to spend money.

Fedayeen watch

So much for free speech in New Zealand.

Man charged over email to US embassy (Link via kuro5hin.)

Bruce Hubbard's email to the United States embassy accused the superpower of dropping napalm on babies, invading 72 countries and having Nazi leanings.

On Monday, the 38-year-old Auckland peace activist will appear in the North Shore District Court charged with misusing a telephone - for which he could receive up to three months in jail or a $2000 fine.

...

But police say a woman at the embassy was offended by the email and they have no intention of seizing Hubbard's computer.

Ah, well, if she was offended, then certainly he should face charges. God knows we want to stamp out the scourge of individuals offending the sensibilities of embassy employees.

Sheesh. What a crock.

For the record, I'm not a Marxist and I don't know dick about the politics of the groups this guy belongs to, but it doesn't matter. It strikes me as a very damning contrast that this guy gets arrested for merely accusing the U.S. of various deeds while, here, buddies of right wing journalists are quoted with impunity saying the Democratic presidential field should be "lined up and shot".

(I added "in New Zealand" and changed "while buddies of right wing journalists" to "while, here, buddies of right wing journalists" because I wanted to make it clear both were happening in different countries.)

More desperation

Eighteen Die in Second Deadliest Day for U.S. in Iraq

Yeah, somebody's desperate all right.

But, hey, I understand the Iraqis are getting a flat tax (link via the Whiskey Bar) so it was all worth it.

What were you for Halloween?

I know what Lane and Tina were (I like the scuba outfit, by the way - very Johnny Quest).

Here's me trying unsuccessfully to kill Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It's just... I'm not... I'm not a very good vampire. I try to kill people but... I'm just... it's not... I... I have... issues... with the killing. And, plus, the Slayer... I mean... I'll be honest, I had some performance anxiety.