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30.Jan.07
Dad's Obituary
It's being run in the San Diego Union-Tribune and the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, but the most fitting place for it is
on the
Wm.K.Walthers, Inc. website, the company that my grandfather and he
(and now my brother) built into a model railroading empire.
28.Jan.07
Bruce Julius Walthers von Alten
* Sept. 9, 1919—Jan. 28, 2007 †
Even the best-lived of lives must one day come to an end, and last night
brought the end to my father's. It was expected, and a release from the
failings of an old body, but still seems too soon for those of us who
loved him so dearly.
His mind was still as sharp as ever when we visited earlier this month.
When the too-short visit was almost over, and Jeanette was nervous about
our departure time, I urged patience, saying "I'm trying not to feel
like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, watching the sand run out of
the hourglass!" Dad said, "that should be me saying that."
The sand ran out. We had to say good-bye, too-short moments later.
His wife, my two sisters, one of his many grandchildren, and one of his
three great-grandchildren were with him, at home on his last day
yesterday. Judy said he brightened up and said "oh good, my family is
here." And now it's up to us all to carry his spirit on in the
world.
27.Jan.07
Tall, Light and Handsome
The right skin color is worth 8-15% extra pay. (Light makes right.)
And some high heels wouldn't hurt either. If you'd taken another
pinch to grow an inch, your pay would be 1% higher still.
Joni Hersch's study isn't a surprise, so much as a
confirmation of what we might have guessed. (But 15%!)
Even when taking into consideration characteristics that might affect
wages, such as English language proficiency, work experience and
education, Hersch found immigrants with the lightest skin color earned,
on average, 8 to 15% more than immigrants with the darkest skin tone.
Hersch said the effect of skin color even persisted among workers with
the same ethnicity, race and country of origin. Hersch’s research also
found height played a part in salary. Taller immigrants earned more,
with every inch adding an additional 1% to wages.
Like a Rock
Bubblehead actually took the trouble to read
the
anti-gravity Bill, and found another layer of humor for us, wherein
the gravity-challenged Mr. Sali noted the problem from a "combination of
caloric intake, busy schedule, sedimentary profession, and lack of
exercise."
You're Not the Boss of Me
A fine and informative
Op-Ed essay from Garry Wills today, describing the history of our
Commanders in Chief of the Army and Navy, etc.
"...we have not seen normal life in 66 years. The wartime discipline
imposed in 1941 has never been lifted, and "the duration" has become the
norm. World War II melded into the cold war, with greater secrecy than
ever—more classified information, tougher security clearances. And
now the cold war has modulated into the war on terrorism."
This "wartime footing" has been used to justify an awful lot of
undemocratic action, most spectacularly under the Cheney administration
initiatives to arrogate executive prerogatives that are rightfully the
people's, or those of the other branches of Congress. The ability to
declare War, no less, has been practically wrested from Congress, aided
by the President's own Party's mistaken notion that it would be to their
benefit.
If Mr. Bush is as interested in spreading democracy as he likes to say,
he can get to work right here at home, by stopping the inappropriate
military posturing. (Don't hold your breath.)
Holy Explosion
Sense of humor in the DOD, naming their proposed test explosion
Divine Strake? The nominal upside is how much more secure
we'll all be if our military knows a little more about penetrating the
earth and the airblast produced by 700 tons of buried ammonium
nitrate/fuel oil mix.
The downside is that oh yeah, all that soil in Nevada is contaminated by
the Cold War nuclear weapons testing, so we'll be lofting that crap into
the atmosphere and spreading it over the rest of the country. Share the
wealth.
We're having a
public meeting in Boise on the subject tomorrow, during which the
military-industrial complex representatives will listen politely to
people telling them their plans are at or over the border of insanity,
perhaps after they give us a little presentation about how Safe and
Important it all is, don't worry, everything is under control.
Noon to 2:30pm at the Grove Hotel in downtown Boise.
A Bid to Support Diversity in Idaho
We're known for our Famous Potatoes, not so much for the diversity of
our million and a half citizens. Outside agitators introduced
a
resolution to amend Micron Technology's personnel policies, and
unlike most such initiatives, it was approved by the shareholders. The
result was not publicized, but rather slipped into a note on page 37 of
its latest 10-Q filing with the SEC. The 300 million to 241 million
vote requests "that management implement equal employment opportunity
policies... prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and
gender identity."
Management recommended voting against the resolution, as usual, and
so far is not showing much interest in taking action, but
Marc Gunther sees it as
a milestone for the gay rights movement in corporate America. He infers
that "more institutional investors, including the major mutual fund
groups, are voting their shares for gay rights."
A comment in a
Pam's
House Blend entry about the Board and officers dragging their feet
describes one of the more typical elements of "diversity" in these
parts, "including non-Mormons alongside the Mormons."
Local Paper Makes Good
The Idaho Business Review
has mostly been under my radar, but one of my regular readers tells me
it's looking up: "(It) seems to have turned over a new leaf. The paper
has some new people with a new attitude, a now accessible online
version, and a healthy skepticism toward urban renewal agencies (CCDC,
in particular) and the downtown 'Good Ol’ Boys' crowd!"
26.Jan.07
Through the Looking Glass
It makes your head spin. All those questions about the illegal spying
are moot now, because the administration is going to start following the
FISA law. Forget about all those lawsuits, there's no evidence that we
could let you see anyway.
Documents? What documents?
You must be mistaken.
Some of the people involved
do remember well enough, however.
They claim that the government spied on them without a warrant.
The government also happened to "inadvertently provided a copy of a
classified document" to one of the plaintiff's lawyers. The document
confirmed the claim and apparently the evidence of the spying was the
only thing "secret" about it.
It's classified, top secret, war on terror, can't see that anymore. The
Justice Department collected all the copies and has them in a secure
location.
Move along, nothing to see here.
Frosty the No-man
He doesn't believe sex education or condoms should be in school (or in
his bedroom, apparently; he's fathered 7 so far). He believes in the
"earth is 14,000 years old" variety of Creationism, making him the child
of a merry prankster God, who pulls the wool over the eyes of
scientists by making our planet look thousands of times older than
that.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Frosty Hardisan's
review of Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth: "The information
that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ...
The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that
perspective isn't in the DVD."
And why should we care about Mr. Hardisan's crockpot notions? No good
reason, really, but he's having his moment of fame by stirring up
trouble at his local school board in Federal Way, Washington.
The Board rolled over in an attempt to generate come up with a policy
to insulate themselves from "controversy," good luck with that. Hardisan's
demonstrably unqualified to present "a credible, legitimate opposing
view"... are they going to have him approve the rebuttal?
Of course, he's not objecting to the observable fact of global
warming, nor is he necessarily speaking out on the cause; he just
doesn't like the idea of blaming America for any of this. But if,
as he says, a warming planet is "one of the signs" of Jesus Christ's
imminent return for Judgment Day, shouldn't he be proud that his country
is helping bring about that happy day?
24.Jan.07
Scooter: I Wuz Set Up!
Now that it's just him v. the United States of America, Mr. Libby and
his defense team are prepared to deconstruct the stone walls of the
Bush/Cheney administration. Their
second round suggests that for protection of top aides, at least,
Bush is the boss of Cheney.
Initially, it was just "misremembering," but maybe there weren't enough
people in
the jury pool who answered this question favorably:
Do you think that someone could say one thing, and then two weeks later
say exactly the opposite, just from not remembering correctly?
Ok, that's an interesting theory, that Libby was instructed
to lie, to protect Karl Rove, but it hardly seems like an argument for
the defense. That would be an admission of guilt, and obstruction
of justice to boot. Please tell us who the co-conspirators were, Mr.
Libby.
Theodore Wells, one of Libby's attorneys put in more than two hours
working to sow confusion in the jury box, tossing out the "protecting
Rove" theory, and trying to sell the prosecution as having a
"weak, paper-thin circumstantial case about ‘he said-she said.’"
Unfortunately for the defense, what "he said" was said to a Grand Jury,
and to many reporters who were taking careful notes.
23.Jan.07
The State of the Union
It's "strong," of course, but President Bush made us wait all the way
until his closing to assure us. He also assured us that "our cause is
right," something not so clear to the rest of the world.
The generalities and cheerleading comes easy. Calling upon us all
"to solve problems and not leave them to future generations" carries a
heavy weight of irony at this point. An even better place to start is to
stop creating new problems.
"Earmarks" are almost as convenient a bogeyman as those illegal aliens
or the evil terrorists. $18 billion is a lot of money, to be sure, but
compared to what we've pissed away in Iraq, it does seem that the
outrage over earmarks may overblown. The call is to cut them in
half, a proposal that was a two-winker for John McCain and whomever he
was winking at. Enough "good sense and goodwill," and we can take care
of that, arrange for "affordable and available healthcare," solve the
immigration issue, and so much more.
He thinks we should be able to balance the Federal budget... 5 years
from now, long after he's out of office. That will bring us back to
where it was... when Bush came to office, and worked with his party to
enact broad tax cuts while doing nothing to balance those cuts with
changes in spending.
And on "the serious challenge of global climate change," we've
progressed as far as having him acknowledge there's a problem, at least.
No particular initiative to address it beyond the list of bullet points for
a 10 year plan to continue the oil-based economy. Clean coal, and clean
nuclear (aka "nucular") power, everything clean as a whistle. Higher
CAFE standards might have helped with that goal to "reduce gasoline
usage by 20% in 10 years," but Bush's party has quashed that for the
last 10 years.
But most importantly, "America is still a nation at war," and Bush
expects us to judge his "success" "by what did not happen." There really
is no limit to the things that have not happened, eh? Let us all
Support the Troops, and let us find 92,000 more of them in the next 5
years. (That will be no mean feat with the existing recruiting targets
not being met. But
there is so much
to be done, after all.)
Freshman Senator Jim Webb did a fine job of giving the Democrats'
response, expressing the hope that Bush is "serious" about education,
rebuilding New Orleans (which I don't remember Bush mentioning this
year), and action on our energy problems.
The mismanagement of the quite probably unnecessary Iraq war is
responsible for an increase in our strategic vulnerability. "We
need a new direction...."
Do as He Says, Not as He Does
Senator Larry Craig, visiting Idaho for the weekend, couldn't resist
getting a jibe in at Al Gore, in a "press conference" staged at the
airport before he went back to D.C. on Monday. The big local paper
didn't bother covering it, but
The Idaho Press-Tribune did (as well as
Gore's presentation). Craig, miffed at all the "hype" Gore is
getting, tried to leverage a little publicity for himself,
apparently.
Warning the audience to "listen very, very closely to the message
involved," Craig apparently hasn't bothered to actually listen to it
himself. He's content to attack the strawman that Gore's messages is to
"turn the lights out and shut the world down."
I called Craig's office to find out if he had really flown here just to
stage the event. I was told that he was here over the weekend, "to talk
to some Veteran's groups," but the gal in the Boise office sounded
pretty sketchy about what he'd been up to. She assured me there were
always "many reasons" for Craig to visit the state that elects him to
his D.C. job.
Craig's attitude matters: he sits on the Committees on Energy and
Natural Resources and on Environment and Public Works. It doesn't matter
as much as it used to when he was in the majority party, but he's likely
to be mining his position
papers, proposed legislation and what-not to keep his apparent
preference for "doing nothing" active.
Gore Rocked the House
Julie's got a
roundup of coverage in the blogs of last night's speech at Boise
State University (as well as
her own report, and her
notebook from the Frank Church conference that Gore's speech is part
of).
"...of 928 peer-reviewed scientific studies, none disputed global
warming–but 53% of 636 articles in the popular press did so (including
this
morning's Page 1 story in the Idaho Statesman). He also
roundly debunks the false choices between a vibrant economy and a
healthy environment, noting how growing legions of CEOs are embracing
the idea that we can have both."
The Lord took the Man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend it and
keep it.
–Genesis 2:15
Even
one of our sincere conservatives was won over and finding points of
agreement. We are definitely in this together, regardless of how the
politicians are scrambling over one and another to stand on the top of
the heap. Some of the protesters are afraid of "animal rights" and "one
world government," but that's already in place: our lives our governed
by this one world we're on, and we have reached a technological pinnacle
from which we are uniquely positioned to shoot ourselves in the foot,
so to speak.
As the old joke goes, God has sent us a neighbor in waders, a rescue
party in a boat, and now a helicopter. If we're going to wait for the
God that some of us imagine to come out of the clouds to save us, instead
of acting in this real world now, we are going to drown. Some of us
quite literally.
Just Say No (to escalation)
How many more lies will this year's State of the Union introduce, I
wonder? The record of George Bush, Dick "full speed ahead!" Cheney, and
the rest of their administration has not been good.
Frank
Rich has a catalog (and
Truthout has a
copy for you non-Select subscribers) of those in the latest
episode.
I saw Bush
on 60 Minutes and on
the Newshour and heard him say that "everybody was wrong on
weapons of mass destruction" (that's "everyone" not including the U.N.
inspection team) and that "the minute we found out" the W.M.D. didn't
exist he "was the first to say so."
It's not easy to respond quickly with facts in close quarters, but I
sure wish Scott Pelley had taken a moment, looked at Bush with
incredulity, and said: "Wait a second, Mr. President. That's not right.
You told us those trailers were biological weapons labs, even though the
people investigating them found no evidence for that."
His even bigger bully pulpit comes tonight, when he gives Congress
some exercise doing jumping jacks and chest-thumping. It's part of the
script that he tells us the "state of the Union" is strong,
but on his watch, the state our Union has declined to a nadir. He
has managed to dissipate much of the strength of the greatest military
in history, and to lead
most of the
world to question America's leadership.
Bill Sinkford has
an open letter to the
President, demanding a change to the policies that
"have betrayed the trust of thousands of patriotic Americans."
(Y)ou would have the American people give our blessing to all of these
ill-advised plans. As a religious leader, as a father of a former
soldier, and as a concerned American, I am compelled to ask -- To what
end? The whole world is asking this question and unless you can answer
it, America will continue to lose credibility with the international
community....
22.Jan.07
Dear KTVB: Please Find Clue
Our most biased local TV station put in a little overtime to
garnish its preview of Al Gore's speech tonight with controversy.
The movie is so controversial that "it's banned in some school
districts in Washington," Ysabel Bilbao wrote. Or is it that
"one school board in a Seattle suburb has restricted showing the movie"?
That's the only story I remember seeing. Finding one wingnut
school board in the Pacific Northwest is no harder than shooting elk in
a pen. Unsportsmanlike.
If she needed to spice up her story about Al Gore at the Frank Church
Conference, she might have investigated the freshly minted (?)
astroturf group "Idahoans for Oil" who she reported would be picketing.
The Bush administration has been hiding its heads in the sand for more
than half a decade, denying the consensus among legitimate scientists
that we are on the brink of catastrophic disruption of the planet's
climate, induced in signficant measure by global industrialization. The
oil industry that Bush and Cheney have done such good work for has been
manufacturing controversy, through pseudoscience and organizations such
as the one KTVB mentions. Please do tell us more about "Idahoans for
Oil."
Not enough evidence for all that at KTVB? Step outside some evening,
and look at the sunset colored orange-red, in part from the emissions of
China's coal-fired generating plants.
21.Jan.07
"It's all about marketing."
Quoted from
the
Mother Jones interview of Rick Scavetta, former head of the Army’s
Media Relations for our "shining jewel of the war on terror."
One of the things I hate to hear in the news is, "and in stocks today."
Especially NPR, it always seems like they squish our guys just before
the stock market.
Well, not so on the Newshour at least; their Honor Roll is
respectful, and set apart. I expect Jim Lehrer's Marine heritage
is responsible for that.
And We Really Have No Idea If It Works
Deep
in last Tuesday's Washington Post, report of
the report
that the "effectiveness" of the interrogation methods we've been using
is not established. I haven't read the report, but suppose that these
are the "official" methods moreso than the "ad hoc experimentation."
I think we have established however that "such practices could
undermine the legitimacy of government action and support for the fight
against terrorism," as Robert Coulam, research professor at the Simmons
School for Health Studies in Boston is concerned they might.
I do wonder if somewhere within the 374 pages from the Intelligence
Science Board there is any wonder of the morality of the
"techniques" described.
A National Problem with Self-esteem
The brief and unlamented history of the emphasis on "self-esteem" in our
educational system is old news, but the underlying problems are still
with us. What we (might have) learned from the episode is that
self-esteem is not an end in itself, but rather the earned result of
education, experience and learning. Without the foundation that
justifies it, we're left with overconfidence, supressed insecurity, and
the many forms of bad judgement. Without the self-awareness to
recognize shortcomings and mistakes, a cycle of failure (and more
mistakes) is the likely result.
A father and son team of M.D. and Ph.D. examine the consequences of
having our President playing out
the
psychological drama of (demonstrably well-founded) feelings of
inadequacy, falsely imagining that as "the boss," he need make no
explanation of himself or his problems.
This is not the feigned incompetence that Bush uses as an act to
identify with the "ordinary folk" he is not, the act that worked so well
to bring him to power or keep him there, but the genuine
incompetence that has brought us to (or perhaps already beyond) the
brink of disaster in the Middle East.
"At this point, the president seems to have entered a place in his psyche
where he is discounting all external criticism and unpopularity, and
fixing stubbornly on his illusion of vindication, because he's still
'The Decider,' who can just keep deciding until he gets to success. It's
hard not to feel something heroic in this position - but it's a recipe
for bad, if not catastrophic, decisions."
Waves of Catastrophe: Film at 11
The Guardian billed its
sneak preview of the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as "the final verdict,"
but of course there is still much to play out. Forecasting is an inexact
science, and the strength of consensus is not quite the same as the
degree of certainty of the conclusions.
Nevertheless. The writers who generate propaganda for astroturf
organizations covering for Big Oil and other Powers-that-be are going to
have to put in some overtime to deal with the momentum of scientific
opinion.
Consider that tickets for the first venue (1,000-some seats) where Al
Gore was
slated to speak tomorrow night were scarfed up 10 minutes after they
went on offer. The revised venue will be the 10,000 seat sports arena
on the BSU campus now sponsored by a fast food franchise, and
tickets for it sold out in short order.
You remember Al Gore, right? Ran for President in 2000? Lost in Idaho by
just shy of 40 percentage points? But now he's a movie star, and the
"Inconvenient Truth" he's peddling may be the biggest story of the
century.
If the current scientific consensus is close to right, historians may
look at what we did and didn't do at the dawn of this millennium in
uncomprehending horror for generations to come.
Google Hegemony
They got where they are by being really smart, by meeting their mission
of organizing the world's information more effectively than ever before,
and by not being evil. Can they keep it up, do even more?
Of course they can, and what they do, and how they do it
will make all the difference in the world. Bob Cringely imagines that
being a verb will not be enough for them, and that they have designs
a being a noun. A proper noun: The Internet.
20.Jan.07
Gora!
Time is standing still in Boise today, while everyone who's excited
about the Boise State University football team gathers downtown to
parade, stomp and cheer, and omigod, 3 out of the 4 local TV stations
have it all live.
Whoopee.
I wasn't all that interested, but I did happen to flip by at just the
right moment to see Mayor Dave Bieter lead the blue and orange crowd in
a big Basque cheer of Gora Boise State! The word means "Up with," by
his explanation. So up with, ya'll.
It doesn't get any better than this, apparently.
There are some who question all the folderol. A set of
letters to
the editor yesterday made the sad observation that we never did get
around to a parade or celebration to honor the service of thousands of
members of the 116th Cavalry Brigade of the Idaho Army National Guard
for their service in Iraq, a year later.
Not quite as much fun in that, apparently. Not the same kind of
highlight reel, or magic overtime victory, or unqualified success;
just putting their lives on the line in service to their country.
Natural Utopia
Did you ever wonder what was behind the scenes, or behind the lens in
one of those beautiful whiskey ads on slick paper? Guy Hand has taken
some of those pictures, and his
tale
from Scotland about what wasn't in the viewfinder
is fascinating. A thousand words worth more than that picture.
"I'd worked on assignment in Scotland enough times to feel nearly native.
I no longer needed maps, could decipher all but the thickest Highland
brogue, and, on my last film run to Edinburgh, had even earned a second
glance from my future Scottish wife. So how could I have not seen the
Highlands' hidden nature? And how many other landscapes had I misread as
I bounced around the world taking pictures?"
19.Jan.07
Reality and Public TV
"Reality TV" is of course oxymoronic on its face, as neither the ersatz
verisimilitude of its subjects nor the carefully edited product
appearing on the surface of a screen bear a close connection with
the real reality. (Speaking of Alice in Wonderland moments....)
Were it not for the term being applied to a certain genre of
entertainment, our PBS would have a stronger claim to representing
reality than anything out on the commercial networks. I could make
a list of programs, but will mention but one:
the Newshour, versus all
the other "news" on TV. (CSPAN is the really real Reality TV, but it's
not an everyday attraction. Reality for shut-ins, maybe.)
Over in the Merry U.K., public TV covers more ground than it does here,
and I hear it has a show called "Celebrity Big Brother,"
with a recent flap concerning racism (and/or classism). Our PBS has
had some "Reality" shows, all in the "house" genre, but more
concerned with history than celebrity:
Colonial House,
1900 House, and
Texas Ranch House.
Those all had some things to say about racism and classism, as well,
but with a slightly more honest sense of reconstructing
reality.
Something of an Extended Curtain Call
Art Buchwald's extra time on earth was well-spent on his primary
vocation: making people laugh. His
NYT obituary includes a really touching "Last Word" video that
covers a few essential facts, while letting his spirit shine through.
During the Cold War he marched alongside missiles, tanks and troops in a
May Day parade in East Berlin. Another time, he rented a chauffeured
limousine to tour Eastern Europe. He wanted the people there to know, as
he put it, alluding to his plump physique, what a "bloated, plutocratic
capitalist really looked like."
Democrats Deliver
Not since the "Contract on America" have we had such an exciting start
to a Congress. Say what you like about the "100 hour" gimmick, but the
House has put on an impressive show for January. Implement the 9-11
Commission recommendations. Raise the minimum wage. Provide federal
funding for stem-cell research. Negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare
plans. Cut college loan interest rates. End the tax giveaway to Big
Oil. Put a stop to gifts from lobbyists.
The bills still have to get through the Senate, and Bush's signature
(and the extra-Constitutional "signing statement" B.S.), but what a
start! Pity the poor Republicans who complained they were cut out of
the process. Sort of like... what they've done to the Democrats for
more than a decade, maybe? Sometimes "follow the leader" isn't good
enough, especially when the leader is on the wrong track.
The vote margins say a lot about the Democrat agenda. A lot
of Republicans had to admit that it was better to vote "aye" than "nay"
to these bills. 299-128. 315-116. 253-174. 255-170. 356-71.
264-163.
The closest ones were H.R.3,
providing for human embryonic stem cell research, and H.R.6, the
Oil
Companies Got Too Greedy bill. I see that the Statesman's
reporting of the vote on the latter (in two places, one attributed to
the AP, and another to McClatchy Newspapers) as 264-123 was simply
wrong. Their story noted it "wasn't large enough to override a
presidential veto," which isn't true for the more than 2-to-1
vote they reported, but is for
the actual
tally.
At any rate, only 4 Democrats didn't sign on to the energy legislation,
while 36 Republicans—almost 20% of those voting—agreed to
the Democrat's bill. (The New York Times online has
a great presentation of roll call votes. Maybe someone at the
Library of Congress will catch on to Ben Werschkul's and Aron Pilhofer's
work?)
Old-Timey News
The strangest thing happened the other day: I got a telephone
solicitation (rare enough, with the
nationwide Do Not Call
Registry), and instead of giving the gal the bum's rush, as usual, I
actually considered what she had on offer, and decided to take the
deal.
She was just hitting her stride in the script, and I had to cut her off.
"I'll take it!" She wasn't prepared for that.
A long, long time ago, we used to have the daily newspaper habit, but
once it was gone, we didn't miss it, really. We still had a daily
news habit, but it's being met quite nicely by online sources.
So what persuaded me to launch a 13-week trip down memory lane? The
Idaho Legislature, I have to say. I figured while they were in session
for the next couple (or several) months, it would be good to have a more
regular source of information.
I was assuming that The Idaho Statesman would have pretty good
coverage of the Legislature, which may actually have been a leap of
faith. For last Sunday, yesterday and today, I haven't seen much, even
though plenty is going on at the statehouse. I checked with the better
reader in the house, and Jeanette says "there's quite a bit in there,"
so I guess I need to look more carefully.
What I did notice is that by Friday morning, I'd seen most of the
stories in the Nation/World sub-section already.
Art Buchwald's last laugh. Democrats meet 100-hour target.
9-year-old runaway talks his way onto plane to Texas. China shoots down
satellite with missile. Coerced testimony OK for detainee trials. Bad
weather in Europe and California. And so on.
There are a couple (maybe exactly two) comics I like, both of which have
emigrated from the comics page. And there are a lot of ads.
In fact, this isn't so much "old-timey news" as "old-timey ads" that
we're having delivered to the house in the morning. 13 weeks will
probably provide us with a two-year supply of that.
18.Jan.07
China Rising, and Shooting
China's doing so splendidly at
leveraging
its environment into a hot economy that it's ready to try something new:
a space-based arms race, perhaps? Either way, if they hit their
target (as it appears they did), the likely result is a "huge debris
cloud" with a thousand big pieces and millions of little ones. It'll be
there for decades, polluting the 500-mile high orbit.
Gee, maybe preserving our "freedom of action in space" and killing any
chance of a global treaty affecting that was a really stupid idea.
How Many Fired Prosecutors?
Just how contemptible can the AG be before Congress finds him actually
in Contempt? I don't know if they can actually do that, but what the
hell, the Bush administration is making it up as they go along.
Some number of U.S. Attorneys larger than Alberto Gonzales can count
have been
fired in the past year, and by coincidence–I'm
sure it must be–they happen to be ones who have successfully
prosecuted corrupt politicians.
Paul
Krugman's forecast is for "a rolling constitutional crisis" for the
next two years, in this case, facilitated by
Arlen
Specter's maneuver in the last Congress to eliminate the requirement
for Senate confirmation of replacements.
"Are we a little Alice in Wonderland here?"
That was the question the new Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
(Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt) had for our Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
today,
after being told that even though the administration would now be
following the law and allowing the FISA Court to do its job, Gonzales
wasn't sure if he could release secret details of the secret court
order, under which the secret intelligence court began overseeing the
secret surveillance program.
Gonzales sees his law enforcement duties as Attorney General as
"kind of murky" and not something that he generally feels the need to
talk to Congress about.
Oh, and it's not just because the Congress is controlled by Democrats
that the administration decided it was OK to follow the law.
It was only after the Justice Department's special effort
"to be creative, to push the envelope" that "satisfactory procedures"
for dealing with the Court could be in place. To follow the law.
Found Poetry
Checking the spam bucket today, I'm struck by the poetic nature of some
of them. This for example:
Jamie Abolish all you are indebted for not even sending another
cent
I guess everyone in the audience named "Jamie" would be more likely to
fall for that one? This one makes me want to finish the haiku:
round sun water a side
17.Jan.07
Not a Great Deal of Thought
$865 million in unpaid royalties, because incomparable bureaucrat
Johnnie Burton couldn't be bothered to "put a great deal of thought into
the matter." She apparently didn't put a great deal of thought into the
penalties for perjury when she testified in a House hearing last
September, either. Maybe she got the Bush/Cheney "don't bother with the
oath" deal?
Ok, this is funnier than mine
My sister, who used to work for a third of the companies mentioned
(which is really just one company, right?) sent me this clip of
Stephen Colbert's take on Cingular/AT&T deal, which is probably
copyrighted material and won't be up there on YouTube for much longer
maybe? After it's gone, you can still relive the comedic excitement of
the blog entry which surely must have been what
inspired one of Colbert's writers. (They had a funnier map guy than
Wikipedia's, too.)
16.Jan.06
Execution with Dignity
The
concern over recent executions in Iraq being carried out with
insufficent "dignity" is a bit of a mystery to me. Execution is
barbaric, whether it's done by a gang, an Inquisition, or a government.
Are some crimes so barbaric that the response of state-sanctioned
killing is justified? Some, including our President, think that they
are. The execution of Saddam Hussein was a measure of "success," the
unseemly taunting and recording of the gruesome proceedings, just an
unpleasant, but insignficant sideshow.
The extra 2½ ft. drop and the decapitation likewise unpleasant,
but presumably better than too short a drop and someone not
killed on the first try. Does it matter if your head stays attached
after you're dead, really? If you're viewing a corpse, I guess it's
better to have it be in one piece, but the corpse doesn't care. The
Egyptians believed that preservation of the body was important for the
journey of the afterlife; as were provisions of various sorts. Most of
us don't think that's so anymore.
U.S.
District Judge Jeremy Fogel is looking for more "professionalism"
in execution, a fairly chilling idea all by itself.
15.Jan.07
All for McNaught
We went out yesterday evening and found Naught instead of McNaught.
Now there are reports of daytime sightings, including
one
datelined today with the unpleasant observation that
"by the time anyone reads this article," (Patrick Wiggins, a NASA Solar
System Ambassador to Utah) said, "it would have become so faint that
you're not going to see it" in daylight, even with binoculars.
Looking anywhere near the sun with binoculars is a Really Bad Idea,
by the way, unless you are in the shade of something occluding the sun,
and certain to have it occluded. However wonderful this comet
is, it's not worth the risk of "instant blindness"!
There's still a lot of excitement about this, but not so much at
43°N: "It will remain a spectacular comet for weeks, perhaps
months, in the Southern Hemisphere. It could emerge as the brightest
comet in recorded history," says NASA astronomer Tony Phillips.
Spaceweather.com's gallery has photographs from plenty of spots at
our latitude or further south; one on Jan. 8 from San Francisco, only
37.66°N! We just didn't find out about it in time. :-(
14.Jan.07
Champagne Powder
Not quite so cold this morning, and a little fluff on us, amazingly
light and dry snow. We're short on water (which is supposed to be deep
snow in the mountains this time of year), as ever, but the trim is sure
pretty.
It wasn't so much shoveling as dispersing to clear the
driveway.
What Next in Iraq?
The only Guardian correspondent still reporting regularly from
inside
Baghdad's civil war describes an environment in which 20,000 more
U.S. troops in Baghdad might do some good, as long as they work
on their own.
Which prompts the question: would that bring us closer to completing
the mission in Iraq? While Bush/Cheney is the decider—which it may
or may not be for the rest of the term—leaving is not an option
in any form. Can our presence stifle the violence until both
native sides are ready to "do politics" instead of jihad? Can we
separate and expel the al Qaeda forces who are interested only in
mindless violence?
Later:
Is it my imagination, or is George Bush pulling his head down into his
shoulders? He's come as far as admitting mistakes, and given his last 6
years on the job, I'd say this is huge. From the
interview with Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes:
Abu Ghraib was a mistake, using bad language like "bring 'em on" was a
mistake.
That's a step. But does he recognize what the rest of us recognize,
that he's stubborn to the point of self-destructiveness? No. He sees
himself as "flexible, open-minded."
He's "blessed to be the President," he thinks. Would that the rest of
us felt as blessed.
13.Jan.07
Cannibalism is a Bad Sign
Whether for sport, or as a last resort,
going after your own tribe is a sign you've hit bottom.
Just the fact that we have a "deputy assistant secretary of defense for
detainee affairs" gives one pause. That said deputy is opining
against the idea of detainees even having lawyers is... well,
the NYT editorial board said it well enough: it's contemptible.
Apparently the presumption of innocence is a thing of the past.
Why would we be detaining those people if they weren't guilty, after
all?
Happy Talkin!
Jeanette said it was "Zero. Nothing out there" when she got up ahead of
me today.
Victor Picania is taking us to the South Pacific to brighten our
spirits on a cold winter's day.
Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,
Talk about things you like to do
You've got to have a dream
If you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come truuuuuuuue?
The next big rock to come our way
Bit odd to come across
this item about an asteroid strike alert three years after the fact.
Some sort of "this day in space history" item on a slow news day?
Nevertheless, the next big hit will probably happen that way: short
notice that you might or might see, then wham!
Could change the topic off "global warming" in a hurry.
Got my feed on, y'all
I managed to leave hands off the perl script that aggregates my daily
items and entries into this blog you're reading all last year, but I
finally decided it was time to join the RSS train. I've added
scripting to update
an RSS
feed file at the same time I update the blog, and added the
<link> tag that makes that little icon appear in your Firefox
location widget, maybe IE7 too? It works, for me, anyway, and from a
Firefox "live bookmark" link, I see the latest titles, if not the
descriptions (which are just the first 80 chars of the contents).
But I'm a newbie to having or using a feed reader myself. If you know
what I'm talking about, and have one to recommend, drop a line
would you? I think a plug-in/extension to Firefox would be my
preference, but I'm not set on that.
And if I've done something wrong or suboptimal in setting this up, let
me know about that, too.
12.Jan.07
Comet McNaught!
Spaceweather.com has a
photo
gallery. It looks spectacular! Time to brave the cold at sunset and
go out and see this thing. Right after it comes around from the
backside, Sunday evening.
I personally, too, understand and know the skepticism
Robert Gates, trying to sell the Surge to Congress: "Whatever one's
views of the original decision to go to war, and the decisions that have
brought us to this point, there seems to be broad agreement that failure
in Iraq would be a calamity for our nation of lasting historical
consequence."
General Peter Pace, the next in the line of honorable men to take a
fall for President Bush's unfolding disaster:
I am
of conviction
that this military plan,
properly part of
new political emphasis
and new economic plusup
can provide the success we're looking for.
George Bush is finally making good on his pledge to be a Uniter, with
bipartisan opposition to what he's proposed. Senator Chuck Hagel
(R-Nebraska): "This speech given last night by this President represents
the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since
Vietnam."
Staying in Iraq is rapidly eroding U.S. power. Our credibility and
prestige are already devestated. Our presence is abetting the
destabilization of the region, emboldening our enemies, and breeding
terrorists far faster than we're killing them.
This has been apparent for months, stretching to years now.
Something seriously disabled about our President's ability to perceive
reality either prevents him from seeing what's obvious, or motivates him
to do the opposite of what others tell him to do. Too bad the Iraq
Study Commission didn't try reverse psychology. Or figure out a way to
extract Dick Cheney.
Instead, we're waiting for the other shoe,
the last card to
be played in what looks more and more like megalomania.
They're Their Own Grandma
I hope their wiring diagrams aren't as confusing as the corporate
pedigree chart. AT&T was divested of its Regional Bell Operating
Companies (aka "Baby Bells") in 1984. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri,
Kansas, and Arkansas are to the southwest of New York where all the
investment bankers are, so they had "Southwestern Bell," whose name had
to get smaller for the corporation to get bigger. SBC merged with
Pacific Telesis Group in 1997, Southern New England Telecommunications
Corporation in 1998 and Ameritech Corporation in 1999. (Ameritech,
Ameritech... another RBOC, comprising Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
Ohio, and Wisconsin Bell.)
AT&T spun off a mobile business, AT&T Wireless, which got
acquired by Cingular. BellSouth Corporation, another RBOC, and AT&T
jointly owned Cingular, the largest mobile network in the country. Then
AT&T absorbed BellSouth.
Just this week, Cingular made the big splash with Apple, for the exciting
new product soon to be formerly known as the iPhone. But
the Cingular name is going away, thanks to "rigorous research" by
the advertising department. And SBC, which bought AT&T, is changing
its name to... AT&T.
Wikipedia has a
nice map showing the Deathstar's coverage across the country.
Verizon has the NE, and Qwest gets the wide open spaces. For now.
Opening Salvo?
The U.S. continues the expansion of bully tactics, now offending the
Kurds with
a raid on an Iranian facility in Erbil, Iraq. Sounds like we
hoped to find something incriminating to justify the action, but whether
we did or didn't will doubtless be Top Secret. Or cocked up. No talk of
WMD this time, but just "routine security operations," leading to the
detention of 5 Iranians.
The raid wasn't on an embassy, per se, which would have made this an
attack on Iran; the facility is "not technically a consulate, but rather
a liaison office which also provided some consular services."
And then there was the students' attack on the American Embassy in
Tehran and the hostages taken during Jimmy Carter's term in office.
That seems to be the only possible selling point for domestic
consumption. For what allies we have left, it's difficult to
imagine a statement of support. And for the rest of the world...
let's just say we're not really working the public diplomacy angle very
hard anymore.
11.Jan.07
Takes Care of That Problem
The Pentagon has
abandoned the 24-month limit on active duty that members of the
Guard and Reserve could be required to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So much for
our new governor's notion that the Idahos Army National Guard's 116th
Cavalry Brigade won't get called again.
Now the limit is just 24-months at a whack.
Idaho's Freshman Cut-Up
Bill Sali is working his country bumpkin act in the big House,
attempting to illustrate the "natural law" violated by raising the
minimum wage with a
parody
proposing partial repeal of the law of gravity, to solve the
obesity problem. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. The bill–to raise the minimum
wage–passed easily, 315-116.
But it does sound like Sali will move a successful resolution at least,
H.R. 26, the "How 'bout Dem Broncos!" bill.
(Sorry about the S-R paywall; don't suppose the rest of the MSM is
going to be picking up the story, though.)
Meanwhile, in the real world, Idaho still has the same minimum wage as
the 20-some states that use the Federal minimum, $5.15, and one of our
neighbors, Washington, pays almost $8/hr now. Minimum.
Business, arguably, and
wages, definitely are better in Washington state. Maybe the Federal
legislation will help us catch up with the neighbors.
Slightly more than twice the state of Idaho
I was treated to that answer by a search that led me to
The
CIA World Factbook when I wondered about how big Iraq was, compared to
Idaho. The question was prompted by reading of
2.3 million Iraqis leaving their country since the war in Iraq
started. I guess our state population is more than half that now, but
that number of people couldn't leave our state. There aren't
that many people here.
Sort of a Prom for Politicians
That would be
the Inaugural Ball. Sorry we missed the parade and tubas.
"Doubling Down on a Very Bad Bet"
That's how Richard Holbrooke, former assistant
Secretary of State and Ambassador to the UN, described
George W. Bush's latest "strategy" for his war in Iraq, a
"Crusader's approach to foreign policy," on
Charlie Rose last
night. (Fareed Zakaria used the same expression last Friday night on his
Foreign Exchange.)
"The biggest piece of Kabuki in the speech," in Michael Duffy's
estimation, is that we're going to "follow the lead" of the Iraqi army; an
army that at latest reports still has no components yet ready to stand up.
Fareed Zakaria: "Fundamentally, this is a sectarian army." The problem
isn't military, it's political.
Send more troops? Tom Ricks says the officers all tell him
"We're out of Schlitz. There are no more troops."
So help me, ___
How much does it matter what name you use for your Supreme Being if
you're a believer in a solitary Supreme? No such believers claim to
really know all there is to know about said Supreme, although some do
claim personal interaction, incredibly enough.
It was interesting to read from someone who knows first-hand that the
Congress is sworn in sans Bibles, at least until it's time
for the photo opportunities. And also that there is no "so help me" in
Idaho's Constitutional oaths.
We do know that some who swore (or affirmed, as the case may be) didn't
uphold their oath well enough. The ones who aren't doing time are
probably lobbyists now. I don't think you need to take a
public oath for that job.
10.Jan.07
Now What Do We Do?
We've got the phone company trying to sell us TV and broadband, and the
cable company trying to sell us phone service. If I were bored, I guess
I'd just swap them and see if either one could do a better job at
the other business...
Cableone has now sent us direct mail, and email, both promotions touting
the $29.95/mo rate, with an asterisk, and no statement of how
much it will cost after the 6 months' bait is used up. Even without
that, I'm like "you think your service is so good we'll sign up for
more of it?!" How much do I want to have to reboot my telephone
every other day?
Qwest is taking a different approach, advertising a
guaranteed price for life, by which I assume they're talking
about their life, not mine. $27/mo for DSL and MSN, if I get my
phone service from them, too. $37/mo for "Premier" service, "up to" 7
Mbps (rather than 1.5 Mbps for the lower price). That Premier price is
slightly less than we're paying
Cableone for
merely "Deluxe" service. Cableone can't do 7Mbps, apparently, showing
"5 mb" as their max speed, for the $60 "Pro" setup.
(And hey, I see I'm only supposed to have one "CPE" ("devices include and
are not limited to Computers, Game Consoles, and Routers") attached at a
time. Good thing they don't know about our home network.)
8.Jan.07
Not so Clear It's a Democratic Senate
"Unless you believe all is lost, we've got to do everything we can to
win," Lieberman said, in his first important bid to prove
how independent of the Democrats he is. The final election result
neatly erased the primary spanking Connecticut voters gave him, as they
either decided they were not as fed up about the war as the majority of
Americans were, or bought themselves a pig in a poke.
"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten
your aim."
–Santayana
And now if we only strain our military a little further, we'll turn the
tide? This is utter madness.
Well, Bush is the Commander in Chief, and Joe is apparently happy to be
his water boy, we may be going to see how well this works. My
prediction is that it'll work about as well as the rest of the
initiative has.
Google Earth
Wonders never ceasing, even more amazing things stuffed into v4.
Google Earth Blog
can help you keep track of it all. Wade Roush ticks off a few of the
latest enhancement in
his
piece in Technology Review. From September, no less. We're
months behind the curve.
Crying in our Beer
Shortest governor ever, and he thinks
we should be sad?. Yeah, we're all just huddled as close as
we can get to the Elysian Fields of Boise's North End, gnashing our
teeth that we can't win anything. And the Republicans? They're happy
to continue to enjoy the hospitality of reactionary voters who only ask
two questions:
(1) Is the body warm?
(2) Is there an R after his or her (or its) name on the ballot?
The combination of Risch's rampant ego, his overbearing, control-freak
nature, and his sychopancy ("I think it would be presumptuous to give
(new governor Butch Otter) my advice") is indeed a wonder to behold.
For the man-on-the-street view, travel slighly beyond the end of the
earth, say, to Lowman, and
hear how Democrats are responsible for snatching defeat from the
jaws of victory "because of their hatred for the military and/or their
country." Yes, it's the "non-thinking, reason-hating, reality-denying
'Progressives'" who will be responsible for the next millions of lives
lost.
But we're coddled safe in Idaho, where Republicans such as Jim Risch
look after our needs.
5.Jan.07
Who Ya Gonna Call?
Turns out that FedEx has the same delivery program as UPS: dump
whatever's left of the package on the porch and get the hell out of
there. It's just too much trouble to actually wait around to have
something accepted. While those of us living in neighborhoods
where packages won't (generally) be stolen off the porch appreciate not
having to arrange for another delivery attempt, it's still pretty
shabby for drivers to make their own judgement about what is and isn't
or what might be damaged.
$36 Million Hardly Seems Enough
The Bronco Fever has yet to break, and the money is flowing toward BSU
football like water.
20% pay
raises for the assistant coaches, bringing their salaries for next
season to between $78,000 and $180,000.
The Statesman is selling more newspapers than ever, and peddling
"memorabilia" as fast as they can print it. The local branch of Fox is
going to show the game again, allowing everyone to relive the glory.
Who knows, maybe BSU will even spend some money on
their website so it no longer
hurts your eyes.
But the really big "bling" is the stadium remodelling. More skyboxes!
More luxury in the loge! More everything!
I can't be the only one in town ready to gag on all this, can I?
3.Jan.07
Is a Private Oath Really an Oath?
"Butch" Otter's intention for keeping his official oath-taking private
was apparently not to spoil the
big show, still before us.
Some media are miffed by the secrecy, while
others just say "whatever."
Speaking of algorithms...
Can Google come up with
one for hiring the best, well-rounded job candidates? I'm
skeptical, but curious to wait and see.
Google has doubled its number of employees in each of the last three
years.
With 100,000 job applications per month! they are definitely motivated
to come up with smart filtering, which, after all, is their claim to
fame. (If they do, will they make it available to other companies, to
allow them to scoop up the second-best candidates?)
It's telling that the
"vice president for people operations" expresses concern about possibly
overlooking some of the best candidates, rather than the bane of big
organizations: the Trojan Drudge.
For outsiders, what's sometimes termed a "technical interview" might
look like "hazing prospects with intractable brain teasers," but
qualified prospects are more likely to see that as "an interesting
challenge." (This is before they learn the bureau-speak meaning of that
phrase, which is "an ugly and intractible problem that we need to dump
on someone.")
When Programming Languages Grow Up
It helps to know something about a half dozen programming languages
to enjoy the humor in
Larry Wall's
State of the Onion 10. Since I do, and have spent some time
programming in perl, I can't be sure how much might communicate to the
average reader. You tell me...
...If there's a particular problem that Perl is trying to solve, it's
the basic fact that all programming languages suck. Sort of the concept
of original sin, applied to programming languages.
As parents, to the extent that we can influence the design of our kids,
we design our kids to be creative, not to solve a particular problem.
About as close as we get to that is to hope the kid takes over the
family business, and we all know how often that sort of coercion
works....
(One reader said Wall's piece reminded him of
Maira
Kalman's blog on Times Select,
The Principles of
Uncertainty. I hadn't seen it, but now have a mental note to check
it out, first Wednesday of the month.)
2.Jan.07
Those Who Cannot Remember the Past... Something something something
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.:
Folly's Antidote
Three decades ago, we suffered defeat in an unwinnable war against
tribalism, the most fanatic of political emotions, fighting against a
country about which we knew nothing and in which we had no vital
interests. Vietnam was hopeless enough, but to repeat the same arrogant
folly 30 years later in Iraq is unforgivable. The Swedish statesman Axel
Oxenstierna famously said, "Behold, my son, with how little wisdom the
world is governed."
Coming Up Next
Frontline:
The Dark Side; inside Dick Cheney's War on Terror (originally aired
June, 2006).
Boise State Rulez!
"Cinderella" doesn't quite work as a metaphor for a teamfull of
football players, but the l'il University at the end of the earth
came up unexpectedly big in the Fiesta Bowl last night, finishing their
undefeated season by
upending the Oklahoma Sooners in overtime, 43-42.
Hook and ladder? Statute of Liberty? Yup, it was back to the
playground last night, and who can argue with success? After dominating
most of 4 quarters, they looked ready to pull it off in regulation,
until Oklahoma managed to get a 2-point conversion on their third try
(1 penalty each way) to tie it, and then Zabransky coughed up an
interception for a touchdown by the OU defense. 35-28 with a minute to
go, then 4th down and 18 from the 50 yard line for a last chance...
And
my oh my from there.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
I'm not sure why we're at the end of United Parcel Service's schedule
when we're on it, but we sure seem to be. After their driver's
unbelievably bad performance last
Friday evening, and my customer service call initiating further action
on their part, set for "the next business day," it was 4pm before
they got around to calling us today to follow-up.
The good news for us was that
the company we made the purchase
with was a lot more proactive, and their claims form inquiry
about "concealed damage" prompted me to unpack our new printer, find
all but one of the parts rattling around in the bottom of the box
(and that one not essential), and proceed with installation and setup
over the weekend. In spite of the abuse from UPS, it appears to have
survived in good shape.
But imagine that it hadn't. We bought and paid for the product (and its
shipping) before Christmas. It arrived late Friday, and would have sat
here, steaming, for one, two, three, most of four days before the
second customer service agent called to lard us with apologies. And
then what? We make an appointment for... 4 or 5pm tomorrow
to have them come out and review their handiwork?
I told him what I'll tell you: I used to have a positive association
with the UPS brand; now I'm going to go out of my way to avoid doing
business with them.
raveling
Tom von Alten
tva_∂t_fortboise_⋅_org
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Saturday, 03-Feb-2007 21:42:38 MST
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