Boise
Idaho
windsurfing
Photography
Politics
Religion
Economics
unraveling
30.Nov.07
Marriage is a Civil Rights Issue
Another fine
Op-Ed
from Stephanie Coontz, mined from the work on what has to be an
interesting book,
Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage.
The study of the past may not seem as exciting as what's happening
right now, but it would be good to have a sense of context to
inform today's decisions. The "defense of marriage" which worked so well
for the Republicans in the 2004 elections didn't stem from anything near
as ancient as the Biblical inspiration for morality in our culture.
Round about 50 years seems to be the limit of recent memory, and even
that much is fuzzy.
The state's not in a position to protect "sanctity," after all, but the
legal benefits of insurance, survivor benefits, hospital visitation, and
so on do come under its supervision. The
"legal protections and obligations of a committed relationship" should
not be circumscribed by arbitrary religious notions, whether those are
about "miscegenation" or discrimination against those who don't match
the Ozzie and Harriet model that looked so good in black and white.
29.Nov.07
Faith-Based Imagination
Paul Davies lights up a new opportunity for this millennium's Luddites
to point and scratch, and accuse scientists of practicing religion, with
"its own faith-based belief system," just like everyone else.
"All science proceeds on the assumption that nature is ordered in a
rational and intelligible way," Davies wrote in his NYT Op-Ed,
Taking
Science on Faith.
Interesting writer that he is, Davies goes on from there at some length
about the variety and depth of scientific assumption, but it isn't clear
what his point is. The dividing line between science and religion is
that science tests its assumptions, continuously. When they are
proven wrong, or insufficient, they have to be changed. That some
assumptions become so reliable that we call them "laws" doesn't mean
that there must be a Law-Giver, or that the very existence of laws
is an article of faith.
What is "manifestly bogus" is Davies' argument attempting to pin "faith"
on science, by redefining the term.
Seven
letter writers let him have it, finishing with Tom Flood's amusing
observation that Davies "sets up a flimsy straw man and proceeds to flog
it mercilessly."
Pledge For American Renewal
Ted Rall: "As de Gaulle said about Petain's partnership with the
Nazis, the Bush administration so disgraced itself and our nation that
we have to renounce it in order to restore our moral authority..." His
proposed Pledge would "declare all laws, regulations, executive orders,
treaties and actions undertaken by the federal government during the
illegitimate and unlawful administration of George W. Bush to be null,
void and without effect."
Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean They're Not Going To Merge
Your Country Away
I first heard about the unified currency for North America (the "Amero,"
to compete with the Euro), as the most grim realization of the plan to
merge the U.S. with Canada and Mexico from one of my tennis buddies,
and since he was the only one talking about it (much less worried about
it), I didn't give it anymore creedence than the occasional ravings
about the U.N. and black helicopters around here.
As just seen
in the Boston Globe this week, the fact that the prospective North
American Union is under most everyone's radar could be because
"its plotters have succeeded in keeping it secret," though.
And here we find our normally backward state remarkably ahead of this
curve. Not only is it not under the Republican legislators' radar,
they have already passed
a House Joint
Memorial "urging Congress to use all efforts, energies and diligence
to withdraw the United States from any further participation in the
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America or any other
bilateral or multilateral activity that seeks to advance, authorize,
fund or in any way promote the creation of any structure to create any
form of North American Union."
This is pleasing to John Birch Society President
John McManus, who believes
the conspiracy is real, and who is happy to list the "mounting"
evidence proving the NAU is in the works. It also feeds into the
hottest topic of the day, immigration. "Suffice it to say that the
border hasn't been secured... because there's no intention to secure
it," McManus writes.
Idaho doesn't have much of a border with Canada, but by golly,
we're doing what we can to keep those Canucks out. (Since the Loonie has
paddled ahead of the Dollar, however, we will accept their currency for
the time being.)
Idle Rumblings or Something Deeper?
The Chinese bureaucracy has grown annoyed at all the nit-picking about
its mighty dam on the Yangtze, and launched
a P.R. push to sing its praises, spearheaded by Wang Xiaofeng,
deputy director of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee, who
has apparently just returned from re-education camp.
We anticipated all the problems, he's telling reporters. Never mind
those minor earthquakes and fissures along the reservoir,
or those 31 people crushed in a bus buried in a landslide.
"The geological disaster in this area has been effectively controlled,"
Wang said. "Of course, effective control doesn't mean that in the
future there won't be any landslides or threats that arise."
And those
4 million more relocatees being moved out of the countryside and
into ChongQing are not because of the dam, just a little urban/rural
rebalancing effort.
But the part that worries me is the ripe-for-smiting hubris of a
government official who could
stand up and say "We are going to be able to weather the worst
flooding in 1,000 years." We stipulate that China has had a functioning
bureacracy for some millennia, but we also suspect that they ain't seen
nothin' yet.
27.Nov.07
"Whiskey's for drinkin', and water's for fightin'"
Norm Semanko is on the Board of the Idaho
Water Users Association, and a Director of the
National Water Resources Association,
and seemed familiar. I was later reminded that he ran for Congress in
Idaho's 1st Congressional District last year, one of the 5 also-rans in
the Republican primary against Bill Sali. He's a smart guy, and
evidently a very capable lawyer with lots of experience defending the
water rights of Idaho non-profits and government entities.
The occasion of his speaking was the
Idaho
Environmental Forum, and today's panel on winter flows of the
Boise River. He joined Jerry Gregg from the Bureau of Reclamation,
Virgil More of the Idaho Fish and Game Department, and Ada Co.
Commissioner Paul Woods, to discuss the State's action to grant water
rights to the Bureau to provide "maintenance flows" in the river.
Fourteen irrigation districts have challenged the action, saying that
Lucky Peak Dam was authorized only for irrigation and flood control.
Motions for summary judgement have been filed with
the Snake River Basin Adjudication court, and a settlement
conference is scheduled for early next month.
I showed up a bit late, in time to hear the end of More's description of
the Fish and Game perspective of what's at risk: Boise's prized wild
trout fishery, its home for winter wildfowl, and probably the heron
rookery. Semanko's point of view evinced no sympathy for wild creatures
of any sort. It's "not just Boise" that matters, but six different Idaho
Counties, and one in eastern Oregon with economic claims on the river
for irrigated agriculture, and keeping subdivisions (and parks, and
school playgrounds) green.
The Snake River Basin Adjudication is the one chance to show up in court
and have one's claims validated; hence claimants must show up and
state their strongest case. He's not happy that the State has run around
the existing process of petitioning the Idaho Water Resources Board for
a use of "unappropriated" water.
The fish, and fowl, and heron have no legal claim on the water it seems,
any more than the river bottom does. Gregg explained what that would
mean at the moment: 242 cfs is currently being let out of Lucky Peak,
and 251 cfs is passing under the Glenwood Bridge. The
difference—9 cubic feet per second of recharge flows, over
15 or so miles—is all that would be left in the river if
irrigators had their way with it. Compared with more than 2600 cfs
of natural flow, according to
the latest
data.
We have reservoirs to fill; our million acre-feet, 3-reservoir system
is more than two-thirds empty. (Don't forget to leave some room for
flood control, though.)
At 250 cfs flow, an acre-foot goes by every 3 minutes or so. About 500
acre-feet per day, 14,000 per month, or 86,000 for half a year. That's
about 9% of the capacity of the system, of which Semanko said 52% is
dedicated to stream flow maintenance, per Lucky Peak's licensing.
Seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it?
In the panel's individual assessment of impacts, Semanko offered the
best laugh of the day: "If the Federal government wins, the world as we
know it will end." Or maybe not.
26.Nov.07
Well, We're Tired of You, Too
Thirty-five years in Congress should be enough for anyone, and as
someone who has never liked the politics of any of the Singing Senators,
I'm happy to see the quartet out of the Senate (and Justice
Department).
But still. You run for office, the people elect you to a six year
term, and two years later, you decide to call it quits...
for no particular reason?!
Still setting a new standard for patriotism and duty, apparently. Maybe
he's got a backlog of shopping to catch up on? Or is it more about
cashing in:
By resigning before the end of the year, Mr. Lott would beat the
effective date for new ethics rules that double to two years the amount
of time former Senators must wait before they can join a firm to lobby
former colleagues. The new rule applies to those who leave office "on or
after" Dec. 31.
Here's Looking at You
We lucked out with good weather for our over-the-hills and
through-the-woods trip to Spokane Valley for Thanksgiving. Clear roads
the whole way, and the worst of late November was inversion fog on the
Camas Prairie on the way home. For the next winter outing, I'll be
checking the Idaho Transportation Department's
collection of
cameras on their 511.idaho.gov site to see what's what. The
home page has a nice
state-at-a-glance view of driving conditions, too. It's almost all
"green" right now, but more seasonable
weather's coming
today and tonight, sounds like for everything from here to Canada.
24.Nov.07
Not Holding My Breath
Here's a novel idea:
release those secret opinions about what is and isn't lawful,
what is and isn't torture, and what means are and aren't justified by
the ends of protecting Administration officials from prosecution.
Maybe our Supreme Court might like to have a go at evaluating the
work product of the Bush Justice Department?
If that's the sort of Attorney General Michael Mukasey turns out to be,
it will be a hell of a surprise to the man who nominated him, and the
rest of us.
Just Four Liars at the Top?
After the premature bombshell launched to ramp up advance orders for the
ex-Press Secretary's full disclosure next spring, we now have
backpedaling about the nature and extent of actual lies from the
President himself (at least). "The President didn't know it wasn't
true," so he was just out of the loop, eh? Same as Scotty. And that
silly nonsense about "anybody responsible will be fired"?
Of course, George wasn't actually in a position to fire Dick. Karl and
Scooter are out, but the President was loyal past the bitter end,
commuting Libby's sentence after his conviction. Andrew Card is still on
the job.
If McClellan's still more interested in loyalty than truth, his book
sales are going to be limited to the rabid right, still doing their best
to villify Joe Wison, Valerie Plame and anyone else willing to "deflate
the President's war plans" as one Fox News pundit put it, as if that
were somehow treasonous. See there, they can all sing together: Bush
didn't lie, because he didn't even know other people were lying to
him. For such a good cause.
Maybe we can dig the truth out of the Bush II Presidential Library some
decades from now. The Administration has been steadfast in its "no
comment" after the initial bald-faced (but inadvertent!) deception.
After the initial shock, shock, there was the silence of the "ongoing
investigation," now followed by the "case closed, let's move on"
silence.
Thanksgiving
So much to be thankful for... so much work left to do. Well, it's good
to take a day off from the latter and lean into the former.
We're thankful for time with family, snow in the mountains but not on
the roads, every minute of daylight this time of year, indoor plumbing,
natural gas for heating, and the Packers on TV. And anticipation of
having enough to eat.
Hey You – Studley
Somebody speaking up for the highways, currently being torn up by those
steel studs in everyone's tires for as much as half the year.
The Idaho Transportation Dept. says yes, they're legal, but
not a good idea, really, most of the time.
20.Nov.07
Catch of the Day
While talking on the phone, I was up and pacing, and there outside the
window... a Flicker? Nope, it was a Peregrine Falcon (the very same
bird depicted on the back of
Idaho's Quarter), kneading lunch with its talons. I couldn't quite
make out what it had caught, perhaps a chickadee? It was a fluff of
gray feathers by the time the falcon landed with it and flopped around
under the oak tree. I couldn't quite get a picture off while it was
close, and after it had moved out into the street, my rushing outside to
get a photo scared it off. With lunch still "in hand," however.
16.Nov.07
Missoula's Chicken
Brilliant multimedia project on NewWest
from photographer/reporter Anne Medley and Jonathan Stumpf, on the
subject of the squabble over urban chickens in Missoula. Once upon a
time, our location on the West Bench was on the edge of "rural," and
hearing roosters was a (very) regular thing. When I read this, I
realized that I couldn't remember the last time I heard one. I guess
Boise's already "solved" the urban chicken problem?
Not that any of our neighbors is interested, but I was trying to think
how I'd feel if they were... and then saw the comment from "telecom":
"Godalmighty, get rid of all of the dogs first and don't even start with
chickens."
The Senator and his Staff Just Barged In
The phone rang night before last, and Caller ID showed no identity
information. I answered it, prepared to cut off an unwanted
solicitation. It turned out to be an electronic "town hall meeting"
organized by our other Senator, Mike Crapo, and it was interesting
enough to keep me on the line for most of an hour. I wasn't motivated
to hit [*][3] and get in the question queue, but plenty of others
around the state were.
The most remarkable thing was Crapo's ability to affirm each and every
question in some way, talk seriously and thoughtfully about the issues
and leave me wondering how it was he could agree with everyone. The
first question was on the war in Iraq, for which Crapo supports the
President, first and foremost. He doesn't think the U.S. should be
"in a permanent, occupying situation in Iraq," and he doesn't think that
will be necessary. ("Permanent" being the key word there, since
the President he's following insists it's necessary for the forseeable
future.)
Stan in Salmon called in with what sounded like a scripted question
about the Newspeak "Healthy Forests Initiative." HFI works, Crapo says,
but it's not used enough, needs "broader based authority" for which
there is not enough support in Congress.
Keith in Idaho Falls wants to spout off on immigration. He hears
reports of Mexican soldiers crossing our border?! Crapo's heard those
reports too (?! on Fox News and talk radio?), hopes they're
"limited" and "not extensive."
Crapo says we just about all agree that "we need to control illegal
entry across our border," he thinks we do need a guest worker program...
but "not given a pathway to citizenship or permanent legal residence."
No "rewarding" of any illegals seems to be the most important thing he
wants to get across.
Crapo supports Washington helping lower income folks with their "high,
rising heating costs," and a National Energy Policy. We should "demand
of our political leaders that we become less dependent on oil, and on
foreign oil." (Ah, OK. Mike, I DEMAND that you see that we become less
dependent on oil, and on foreign oil. :-/ He supports federal spending
for the Special Olympics in Idaho. He supports increases in Medicare
payments to physicians.
Oh, but "entitlements," those are out of control. Somehow the problem of
Social Security is going to be solved by "letting people have their own
accounts." (And that soon-to-be biggest entitlement of all, Medicare...
should be made bigger still.)
15.Nov.07
Buddy Can You Spare a Dime?
His gig as a preacher ran out, and now the
political gadfly thing is getting threadbare, too. I'm not sure why
people don't find that daily email newsletter worth $20 or $50 a year,
but readers don't seem to be ponying up enough to keep Bryan Fischer's
"roughly $47,000" salary going.
At least the exigency has brought out a tiny bit of disclosure about the
Idaho Values Alliance. We can see from
the
pleading that it's not just Mr. Fischer, but comprises at
least three other people (on a "Compensation Board"), even though none
of the "About" information on their website is forthcoming about the
governance of this 501(c)(3) "non-partisan educational organization,"
beyond the ubiquitous voice of its well-paid Executive Director.
Minnick for Congress
Yesterday was a fine day for an outdoor press conference, and
Walt Minnick's announcement of his new run for Congress was bright
and sunny at the Idaho Historical Museum.
Walt's experience and integrity could start a new chapter in Idaho
politics, equal to that of the man who introduced him, our former
Governor Cecil Andrus. From serving in the Army during the Vietnam war,
to the Nixon White House, to a successful career in the forest products
industry, to providing leadership in civic, charitable and business
organizations, his biography is a record of a remarkable life.
He doesn't need the job, I'm sure, and doesn't have an ideology (or
an ideological PAC funding his effort) to drive him to want to do
this. In our reddest of red states, he's a moderate Democrat who could
just as easily be a moderate Republican in a saner context.
"Our current incumbent in that office is ineffective and an
embarrassment—not as big an embarrassment as Larry Craig, but
close."
Cecil Andrus
Imagine this: Idaho represented by a moderate Congressman, prepared to
work for meaningful political change with both parties (as
opposed to part of one) in Washington as he defends what's best about
the quality of life in this state.
More coverage, from
The
Idaho Statesman,
The Spokesman-Review and
NewWest.
12.Nov.07
A Contest to See Who'll Replace Sali
Walt Minnick's announcement for a run at the House from Idaho's First
Congressional District is imminent, and means we'll have a serious
primary race on the Democratic side for a change. Former Micron exec
Larry Grant ran against the guy who squeaked out of the 6-way Republican
primary in '06, and lost narrowly.
The chattering's underway
at
the Statesman, and after Wednesday's whirlwind tour of the
state for the official kickoff, it should be getting interesting all
the way from Canada to Nevada.
10:30am Wednesday, at the Idaho Historical Musem in Julia Davis Park;
See you there!
Fire for Effect
Army Sergeant First Class Patrick Cabanilla (ret.) provides
a protocol lesson to Boise State University on the subject of firing
guns to "honor" our Veterans. All sorts of things I don't know about
U.S. protocol, although the Boy Scouts gave me enough knowledge to
recognize the lack of flag etiquette when I see it. (Which is worse,
burning a flag in protest, or carelessly disrespecting it?)
Given the origin he cites for rifle volleys (the signal that the dead
had been picked up from the battlefield, and the killing could resume),
it seems a bizarre way to honor Veterans, much less the Armistice that
was the original object of the Nov. 11 commemoration.
But in a culture that uses fighter airplanes to provide entertainment to
crowds at football games, and that likes to set their own neighborhoods
on fire to commemorate Independence Day, I suppose a few misplaced rifle
shots are the least of our worries.
Mm mm good
One of the bumper stickers on a local pickup truck (apparently) owned by
a Thompson booster:
FRED THOMPSON
SOUTHERN FRIED
RONALD REAGAN
11.Nov.07
Dictatorships of a Feather
Pervez Musharraf joins Vladimir Putin in George Bush's "I looked 'em
in the eye" club, and all three seem amply comfortable taking charge as
unitary executives. Along with the rejection of the Geneva Conventions,
the deconstruction of the Magna Carta, the secret prisons and the
shifting justification for "pre-emptive war," there is the torture.
The confirmation of Michael "not as bad as the last guy" Mukasey is
but the latest in a long series of capitulations from Congresses of both
parties, demonstrating the truth of what F.D.R. said in his first
inaugural address: "the only thing we have to fear is fear
itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes
needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." It's difficult to
argue that the terrorists have not, in fact, already won, with
native accomplices witting or unwitting.
Frank Rich's description of the
Coup at
Home is more than a little depressing, the particulars of why only 1
in 4 of us currently thinks our country is on "the right track."
"In the six years of compromising our principles since 9/11, our
democracy has so steadily been defined down that it now can resemble the
supposedly aspiring democracies we've propped up in places like
Islamabad. Time has taken its toll. We've become inured to
democracy-lite. That's why a Mukasey can be elevated to power with
bipartisan support and we barely shrug."
Veterans Day
After reading a few war stories in the paper today, and then listening
to a sermon honoring our veterans' service while acknowledging that
we'd not rather have the conflicts that called for their sacrifice and
heroism, a thought occurred to me. If men were better at making
friends and developing close relationships, would be able to have
peace? Maybe not; there's still the problem of greed to solve.
State Killing Saves Lives?
One wonders if the editors for
The Wall Street Journal imagine that anyone takes their opinion
pages seriously. Or were they just looking for the entertainment value
of
the responses hitting the softball op-ed out of the park? The
deterrent effect of capital punishment "proven"? Professors Adler
and Summers crunch FBI data, and conclude that each death row inmate we
snuff saves 74 lives, with 34,000 to 1 certainty.
This notion might look OK on the C.V. of a marketing professor, but
quantitative methods? You might not want to go to Pepperdine to
study that.
Thanks to
The Justice Gambit for the tip to the story.
10.Nov.07
Mental Exercise
The proper name for gym class—"physical education"—was never
taken very seriously, but it
turns
out that it is education for body and brain:
physical exercise "has been shown to maintain and improve brain health."
Stands to reason; the brain as separate from body is more about weird
science fiction plots than our real world.
The authors' forthcoming book sounds interesting (even without the cute
subtitle):
Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget
How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life. But you have to
wait until next spring for it.
Let's Not Try That Again
Gail
Collins, on worthy political virtues:
"Whenever you read that a candidate 'values loyalty above all else'
– run for the hills. Loyalty is a terribly important consideration
if you’re choosing a pet, but not a cabinet member."
Tax Relief Inches Forward
So, the House passed their H.R. 3996 by a comfortable margin
(without the help of either of Idaho's Congressmen), but we're
told
its fate in the Senate is uncertain, but more pertinently,
"President Bush has already threatened to veto the bill... if it
includes higher taxes that would shift more of the tax burden to the
wealthy."
The Bush economic plan has not been about cutting taxes, but
rather about cutting taxes for the wealthy. Payroll taxes
tick along, inflation ticks along, and all that "off budget"
spending for our wars of adventure are a bill to be paid by future
generations. The Bush "solution" to the Alternative Minimum Tax
inequity is to freeze the tax without making up the $50 billion
difference, and just toss that into the piles of bills for our
grandchildren to pay.
The 38-year-old AMT was designed to snare a "handful of millionaires"
who were taking advantage of loopholes. It's now poised to become an
unpleasant surprise for some 20 million taxpayers no later
than April 15 of next year. Next election year.
The IRS' November 16 deadline for printing its 2007 forms is going
to beat Harry Reid's action on the AMT by a considerable margin.
"Maybe after Thanksgiving," is the word from the Senate.
Meanwhile, the spendy-suit lobbyists for the handful of
multi-millionaires enjoying the existing loopholes are making sure
nothing spoils their party. Your savings account gets
interest taxed as ordinary income. Their "carried interest"
is taxed as capital gains, no more than 15%.
9.Nov.07
Legislative Sausage-making
I responded to the MoveOn call to action for a bill in the House of
Representatives,
H.R. 3996: Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007, signing
their rather succinct petition, and then following up with a call to
my Representative (prompted with a follow-up email, providing his office
phone number in Washington, very clever).
"The richest tycoons on Wall Street shouldn't pay a lower tax rate than the rest of us. Congress should close the mother of all tax loopholes."
The idea I responded to was that it was not reasonable to have the
Alternative Minimum Tax continue as long-ago legislated, without
indexing for inflation, and to have it surprise!
now apply to you, me, and twenty million more of our
fellow taxpayers who didn't used to have to calculate their taxes
twice and pay the higher amount.
The staffer I talked to in Mike Simpson's office listened to my
introduction and reason for calling, and asked with hesitation, "so,
that would be a... 'No' on the bill?"
I didn't think so, but wasn't sure. "What bill are we talking about?"
I asked. She gave me the number, I Googled up a summary and quickly
determined I wanted a 'Yes' from my Congressman. I think. Did he
have a position on the bill, I wondered? She didn't know.
Looking at the summary in more detail, I see the thing is a massive pig
in a poke, like most every bill that goes through the U.S. Congress.
Continued "authority for issuing qualified zone academy bonds, making
disclosures of tax information to facilitate student loan repayments and
for combating terrorist activities" (everything must fight terrorism,
eh?), and "amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide that wine of the
same color shall be deemed to be commercially interchangeable for
purposes of the duty drawback for unused merchandise."
I'll drink to that.
For those of you who thought that President Bush never met a tax cut he
didn't love, here's the demonstration that it's not true. The reason
being, that it's not actually a cut, but rather a shift,
since we're already spending so far beyond our means. (This is all
according to plan, of course; the Bush tax cuts set this in motion years
ago, and now he's ready to veto any correction of the inequity built
into the Republican program.)
The shiftees would be "financial managers and certain foreign hedge fund
managers" who currently enjoy this "mother of all loopholes" on their
earnings. Sounds like Bush's people, doesn't it? Them and the
multinational corporations eager to increase their foreign tax
credits.
8.Nov.07
Waterboarding is Torture
Joseph Galloway:
"Waterboarding was torture when it was used during the Spanish
Inquisition; it was torture when it was used on Filipino rebels during
the 1890s; it was torture when the Japanese Army used it on prisoners in
World War II; it was torture when it was used by the Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia; and it's torture when CIA officers or others use it on
terrorists.
"When George W. Bush was the governor of Texas, the state investigated,
indicted, convicted and sentenced to prison for 10 years a county
sheriff who, with his deputies, had waterboarded a criminal
suspect...."
A Strange Feeling Came Over Me
Ok, it was a small, off-year election, and there were only four items on
our ballot: the mayor, and three city council members.
The
incumbents all won here in Boise, which isn't all that unusual, but
what was strange is that I was at least mildly in favor of all
them, and these people I voted for in Idaho all won.
That was strange.
7.Nov.7
Confusion and Embarrasment
Imagine this scene, House Republicans deciding that "they had a chance
to politically shame Democrats into a full debate on the sensitive
issue" of
whether or not Richard B. Cheney should be impeached, and upon
conviction for his high crimes and misdemeanors, removed from
office.
The clear majority of U.S. citizens oppose the war the Iraq, think it's
been mishandled, and maybe even have figured out how we were misled into
it. Was it criminal deception, or "good faith" blundering?
These are not questions of interest only to "a fringe element of
anti-war activists," but in fact should be the subject of a full
debate, should they not? How would it be embarrasing?
If it's to the Democratic leadership who tried to reassure voters that
impeachment was "off the table" before the last election, I guess I'm
prepared to let them suffer that, for the greater good.
When Does He Become The Evil Dictator?
Strange soundbite from our President, giving advice to Pakistan's
President, expanding on his suggestion for Musharraf to change out of
his General uniform into a regular suit: "You can't be the leader of the
country, and the leader of the military." This from the man so fond of
celebrating his Commander in Chief role?
I didn't hear whether Bush had any comment about Musharraf quoting
Abraham Lincoln's record of violating the Constitution when it seemed
necessary to him. Harsh times call for harsh measures, eh George?
Benazir Bhutto's not happy with the shift to military dictatorship,
nor I suppose are the Supreme Court judges who find themselves suddenly
out of work.
Regular Space Travel
That didn't take long: even for someone as enthusiastic about manned
space exploration as I am, the latest shuttle launch, mission, and now
landing passed (almost) without comment. The good news is that the
quality of the engineering can make something so complex and
awe-inspiring seem so mundane.
The next launch could be as soon as a month from yesterday.
6.Nov.07
It's Official: You are Food
And not just worm food, but
wolf food. Could we get used to that the way we've gotten (sort of)
used to being Grizzly bear food, and mountain lion and tiger food, oh
my? Or do we have to kill all the wolves before we feel safe on our
planet?
Or maybe we could just learn to produce less garbage and to dispose of
what we do produce more carefully.
Not everyone was convinced by the jury, with a "large-carnivore
biologist" (how big is he?)
quoted by the Alaska Newsreader in the Anchorage Daily News
defending the pack. No witnesses. Overnight snow.
Still a bit of wild mystery in our world.
A Magnanimous Gesture
Since I complained about Micron
Technologies' tone-deaf compensation committee last month, doling out
huge bonuses for a company bleeding red ink, it seems only fair to tip
my hat to CEO Steve Appleton for acknowledging that he's ridiculously
overpaid by
foregoing a small part of his compensation this year.
1,100 workers gone from the Treasure Valley this year, and hundreds
more pending, if the recent headline proves correct, and so $8.6 million
is "enough."
Feng Shui Suck Up
Trained as I was to pay attention to social niceties, to be polite, take
turns and all that jazz, when I travel by air, I can't help myself from
paying attention to the design elements of "the experience" that
airlines are trying to use to make people happy, build customer loyalty,
and make more money.
The basic who-gets-to-sit-where (and for how much) contest that everyone
plays, whether its Southwest with the "first come, first served" (and
"starting bell") model, or the spacing between the seats in Economy and
how
flat the
multimillion dollar seats go in the premium classes.
United has long had its "red carpet" schtick, with a so-named Club for
people who need a little luxury at the airport and are willing to pay
for it. Having made a few privileged visits myself, I can tell you it's
"nice," but the concept from the outside is really better than
the reality, inside. Ooo, Red Carpet Club! That must be really
special.
In many airports, the Club is hidden away, almost as if you need insider
knowledge even to know that it exists. But if its greatest power is in
exclusion and aspiration, hiding it is a self-defeating
strategy. There's only so much marginal benefit they can dispense from
the coffee urns and hot chocolate machines, especially for overfed,
international business travelers. So, how to get it out in the open so
that more people can see what they're not getting?
United has come up with the "red carpet" treatment right at the entrance
to the jetway, the very Gate through which all travelers must pass.
Since airport space is at a premium, they had to do it in compact
fashion, however. The carpet is not that long runner you might imagine
for a grand entrance, but rather a doormat. (Sorry that doesn't
sound too glamorous, United, but it really is a doormat.) They don't
want to be picking it up, putting it down or moving it around, and they
can't put it right in front of the doorway, so it's off to the
side a little. And if it were square to the walls of the space around
it, I suspect its doormatness would be all too obvious, so they've
placed it a little angle, just... so.
And surrounded it with the pillars and retractable boundaries they we've
all been trained to treat as impassable barriers, so that when they pull
the strap across the front, we all see that the best people have
gone before us, and we are Left Behind.
Instead of pretending that (a) special people go first, and then (b)
the rest of you keep in your assigned groups to speed the boarding
process, wouldn't it be more effective if they really spelled it out
for us? Something like, "we're going to be boarding in order of who
has spent the most money with United this year"? That way the
passengers could see the truth of the matter, rather than the lie of
"speeding the boarding process" by filling the seats in the front of the
plane, and those with the most space between them, first.
But then they'd have to sell "Economy Minus" seats more honestly, too:
they're really close together (but not quite so close that you will go
starkly mad during your four hour flight), and we'll usually fill
all the middle seats, but you're going to save a few bucks. OK?
2.Nov.07
Scare Tactics and Improving Healthcare
My father had prostate cancer, and he was "cured," by the metric of
remaining alive five years after his diagnosis. He also died from it,
and other maladies, at that doesn't-seem-so-old age of 87. Since I have
a prostate, I'm in line for some version of all that, as most now seem
to be. The good news is, we're living longer...
Hearing that we have a Presidential candidate who has his own motivation
to understand the epidemiology, but who is instead
apparently willing to trade on his experience for ideological
reasons is yet another disappointment in this latest spectacle of
partisan politics.
Instead of prompting a call for improving our health care
system—is anyone disputing it needs improvement?—he's using
bogus statistics to rail against "socialized medicine" and therefore
his opponents... who aren't actually arguing in favor of that,
either.
This is not a good sign that progress in this important realm is
anywhere near at hand.
1.Nov.07
Sunrise Out of Boise
Red-orange stripe of sunrise for our on-time, 8am (MDT)
departure, trimming a mostly overcast sky. Condensation from a cold
night and the jet exhaust blurred my portal as we took off to the
southeast, the former evaporating before we climbed along Lucky Peak
reservoir (lake's coming back up!), Arrowrock, the So. Fork of the
Boise. Into the fuzzy cloud deck as it went from gray to dusty rose (the
color we painted our house, once) to an enveloping pink glow, holding,
lingering... were those waves breaking on a sandy beach below me?
No, it was October snow along the backcountry ridges. And here comes
sunrise to the Sawtooths, the day's first sun on the tips of the
Boulder-White Clouds, the pink haze now slipping toward orange and
yellow, another snow-edged range of the Rocking Mountains being lit up,
now we're edging up top this hazy deck, now another
range in sunrise, and the cloud layer is a cyclorama being tripped, and
tripped, and tripped, scrolling between us and those sunrise mountains,
and I'm sure this is the most incredible sunrise I've ever seen, and I
try to write some of it down.
Now where are we, Wyoming, Montana? Yellowstone? A break in the clouds
and we're up where winter is genuinely underway, for a golden yellow
sunrise over snow-covered mountains. 8:30 and we're at cruising
altitude, the wisp layer comes back, scrolling slower now, over
mountains, red scarps, shadowed gorges, fractured synclines and
anticlines and I'm muttering, talking to myself, my heart aching and
skin tingling with the thrill of this window seat.
Ok, sometimes business travel is glamorous. At least the first hour.
[Later, a well-timed look found our Missouri crossing, now we're
ticking across the wall-to-wall square grid of the Farm Belt. Fields are
dirt-brown and straw-yellow, lakes opaque green. Feels like Central
Time. Then the upper Mississippi; Madison, Wisconsin, its blue lakes
and busy isthmus, Mendota, Menona, Wingra, Kegonsa; and then the Big
Blue Lake, Michigan....
raveling
Tom von Alten
tva_∂t_fortboise_⋅_org
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Saturday, 01-Dec-2007 11:16:16 MST
http://fortboise.org/blog/200711.html
