charging the canvas

Saturday, June 22, 2002

R.I.P.

Looks like Audiogalaxy is pretty much a dead zone.

9:03 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Something smells here.

The story of the 5 Israelis in the van laughing and taking video of the WTC on the NJ side of the Lincoln Tunnel just feels wrong.

Even if they were just Mossad agents checking on Islamic organizations that might be supporting Palestinian terrorists -- what the hell are they doing in the US anyway?

10:55 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

The Perks of The TerrorWar

The $410,000 that has been spent fixing up the new office suite of Transportation Security Administration chief John W. Magaw has left its mark, according to officials who have visited the suite at the Department of Transportation's L'Enfant Plaza headquarters.

With its plush beige carpeting, mahogany-stained doors, crown molding and state-of-the-art conference room equipped with $109,000 worth of audio equipment, it has struck some visitors as tasteful but "a little bit over the top." [link via Undernews June 20]
The times may be lean for most of us, but the Czars of Terror must be sated.

3:17 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, June 21, 2002

Soccer's bum rap in the US media

Interesting take on US attitudes (particularly in the media) in Undernews. Also good feedback from readers the next day on why soccer hasn't caught on here with the powers that be: it's less corporate and hierarchical than American football, and there are far fewer timeouts for commercial breaks.

5:42 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Senators' jaws drop, heads bob helplessly at apocaplyptic Sharon rant.
Sharon claimed the ancient boundaries of the "Land of Israel" are guaranteed to the Jewish people by Holy Scripture. "The Pope told me so," Sharon added. That sent freshman Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island home to search the Bible for justification. Sharon added he was prepared to compromise anyway but was not specific and stressed he never would compromise Israeli security.

With all this land claimed and Palestinians exceeding the Israeli birth rate, he raised the prospect of 1 million Jewish immigrants bulwarking the nation's security. Jaws visibly were dropped by senators, including Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry of Massachusetts. Sharon specified emigration from France (where anti-Semitism has erupted), Russia (where age-old anti-Semitism is reflected in recent incidents) and Argentina (apparently because of the poor economy).

Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden asked Sharon his vision of Israel five years from now. The 74-year-old prime minister replied that the realistic time frame is 10 years (though he was not explicit about what would happen then). In short: no peace in my time.

[...]

Voices of Arab caution should be disregarded, said the former Israeli general, when it comes to ousting Saddam Hussein. Sharon contended U.S. military action against Iraq, instead of exacerbating the Palestinian problem, would end it. No senator disputed this judgment.

A few Foreign Relations Committee members left this remarkable session with Sharon deeply disturbed about the outlook for peace in the Middle East. They include Biden, Kerry, Chafee and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. However, the current political climate precludes overt criticism of Israel or even so controversial a figure as Arik Sharon. [Undernews June 19]

5:24 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

We and Our Friends Own the World, You Just Live In It

And we don't give a shit about you.

How the Lords Bush have finally destroyed the illusions of the separation of the private and public sectors, and that political power is about anything other than personal gain.
'What's the secret?' chided William Conway, a co-founder of the [Carlyle] group. 'I don't think we have any secrets. We are a group of businessmen who have made a huge amount of money for our investors.' 'I never bought into this conspiracy theory about the Bush family, the energy companies or the Carlyle Group,' says Michael King, seasoned political editor of the Austin Chronicle , who has observed the phenomenon for decades. 'It is perfectly clear what they're aiming at from what they do in public: managing the global economy to their own advantage, and doing a pretty good job of it.' [UN]

1:41 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Ready for War, pt 67

shrub's very public announcement of the CIA's cart blanche re Saddam's downfall, is probably a strategy to kaibosh the UN inspection program which might make it hard for him to declare war on Iraq. [jog]

1:13 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Bottom Line: without immigrant labor, big chunks of the economy would fail.

1:07 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

MusicMobsters deal lethal blow to netcasters.

Internet music royalties half what MusicMob wanted, but still will put many netcasters out of business if the judgment stands.

This is just so stupid, I can't speak.

1:02 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, June 20, 2002

Stress management for schoolkids should be offered everywhere.

Adults too for that matter. [NYT username: aflakete password: europhilia]

11:10 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

"You've got to stop this boat, I'm having an attack of postmodern nausea!"

British man blames postmodernism for serious depression, turns to history -- "something more concrete".

I love this, and I understand. Unfortunately, a vertiginously flexible reality is here to stay. And avoiding pomo art won't do the trick.

Didn't I read somewhere recently that history is over? (heh)

10:58 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Although the water is technically "safe to drink" on most days, boil advisories come so often that the school district tapes over drinking fountains and issues bottled water to children."

The chairman of the Inez KY water board -- following a series of critical articles about the town's often undrinkable tap water -- "filed for ownership of the newspaper's name after he discovered its incorporation papers had lapsed in the secretary of state's office." An obvious ploy to silence the paper, the Mountain Citizen has defied a court order and published anyway, and plans to take their case to the federal courts. [link via Undernews June 18]

10:47 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

The DoD: fraud, waste and abuse -- and immunity from prosecution.
[Biff] Baker, himself a former Army Space Command lieutenant colonel, says he discovered the questionable practices in late 2001 and early this year while working as a civilian employee on the missile-defense program. When he brought his concerns to the attention of a high-ranking missile-defense official in March, slanderous rumors about his personal character began circulating within days, he says.

Eight days later, he was fired.

At the very least, Baker maintains, the Department of Defense violated federal whistleblower laws, which prohibit retaliation against government employees who report official wrongdoing.

At worst, he claims, current and former military officers have conspired to misappropriate tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

1:08 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Another story of corporate hegemony in the area of invention: the TV.

Philo T. Farnsworth (no kidding) invented television but RCA got the credit.

OK, not quite so simple, but essentially RCA muscled Farnsworth out of royalties he deserved.

12:53 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Suicide Disease Vectors

This report from Secrecy News on the use of rat poison, metal fragments and infected suicide bombers by the Palestinians is chilling. This is what happens when a people with limited resources are declared war upon by a vastly superior force. There is no moral high ground here, nor is the US government free of blame.

But the Israelis are holding the cards.

To me, this situation resembles nothing more than a deadly feud between brothers taken to the national level.

12:45 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

A step in the right direction.

Supreme Court nixes capital punishment for the mentally retarded.

12:10 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

The euro and price consciousness in Ireland.

Guinness costs Dubliners $2, but in St Tropez it's only $1.25. So they're pissed off.

In the US it's around $3.00-$3.50 or more.

4:43 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

G8 Bottom Line: Business as usual.

Europeans aren't crazy about Our Illustrious Leader. But no one's going torock the boat too much -- there's too much money at stake.

4:35 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Obit for radio you wanted to listen to.

Last time I listened to radio for music was '74. I mean I was still hearing new music I hadn't heard before and wanted to hear more.

Stopped listening to NPR a couple years ago, after Ray Suarez left Talk of the Nation, though that wasn't the main reason. Used to listen while I worked form '95 to '98.

Now the Net is where I get most everything mediawise, except for books. Thank God for libraries.

And no, XM isn't the answer for me. Bloody expensive for one thing. None of the digital stations on our cable TV are listenable.

Introspective mood tonight.

3:12 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Everyone wants war criminals to be prosecuted -- unless they happen to come from their country.

I'm not so crazy about courts in far away lands having jurisdiction over citizens where I live (wherever that is), but this issue needs to be addressed.

2:04 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Test for X

Yesterday was a good day for a company that makes money selling drug tests.

Strike another one up for Snitch Culture.

1:57 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Clever idea, good cause.

Last week Reporters Without Borders auctioned off disposable cameras (with undeveloped pictures inside) "99 international celebrities had used to record images that touched them."

I don't remember a time when life was more dangerous for reporters, so when I have the bucks, they'll be on my list.

1:49 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Mercury: less than a teaspoon contaminates a lake.
In fact, businesses have been making huge strides to reduce their use of mercury. In the 1960s, they annually consumed 3,000 tons of the toxic substance. Now, the Department of the Interior estimates that annual consumption is down to 200 tons.

Despite the reduction, a problem of significant size remains. In 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that 158 tons of mercury was emitted into the air, but environmentalists say that number is too low. Cars on the road may contain as much as 200 metric tons total in light switches, antilock brakes, high-intensity headlights, and the new navigational systems, estimates the Clean Car Campaign, a national initiative coordinated by various environmental groups. Mercury is still used in everything from switches in gas stoves to bilge pumps on boats.

[...]

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration advised pregnant women and those of child-bearing age who might become pregnant to avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish. The FDA, which before this had not made its plans public, says it will expand its mercury testing to include more fish. "In a number of species, we have enough information, and in others, we don't have enough information," says Michael Bolger, a scientist with the FDA.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get rid of the mercury. "If we stopped using mercury today, it would take 15 to 50 years until the levels are down so species of fish are safe to eat," says Mr. Bender.

1:27 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Watching the Watergate scandal unfold was a watershed for me. I was just out of high school and everything I suspected about The Establishment (as we referred to, well, you had to be there) and Nixon in particular was confirmed, in spades. I'd been so impresssed with Hunter Thompson's reporting on the '72 election, I bought 2 new hardcover copies of the Campaign Trail book and gifted my 2 history professors (one of them appreciated it, I think, the other was pretty clueless). That was a lot of money in those days, for a 17 year-old. Everything seemed to point to the crumbling of Empire and the Old Ways, and the Beginning of the New.

*sigh*

Now it seems like it hardly even happened. Things are even worse on the surface. shrub is less capable and even more conservative than Nixon, and his numbers are through the roof.

Then again, Nixon was flying high til '73 too. He won by a landslide in '72 and seemed untouchable... And when the pendulum swings back to distrust of authority -- and believe me, it will -- the changes will be deeper and -- partly because of decentralizing transparency tools like the Net -- essentially permanent.

Hopefully Americans will get a clue before something forces the denial out of their lives.

1:08 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Sex abuse hotlines note increase due to church scandal.
Sex abuse statistics

At least 20% of women and 5% to 10% of men experienced some form of sexual abuse as children.

Peak age of vulnerability is 7 to 13.

Men commit 90% of sexual abuse.

Family members account for 33% to 50% of abuse against girls and 10% to 20% against boys.

Source: David Finkelhor, sociologist at University of New Hampshire [link]

10:39 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Fox "will not shrink."

Mexican government begins to come clean about torture and murder committed by security forces.

10:38 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Call me back.

Animal studies show evidence cell phones damage "a safety barrier in the body that stops harmful substances in blood from entering the brain".

Don't worry, it's just a ratbrain.

Hello? Hello?

10:24 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

A sobering look at US/shrub astrological patterns in 2003-04.
Even the US War on Terrorism, though seemingly somewhat effective in weakening al Qaeda cells, may have consequences unexpected and unseen in irritating great masses of humanity who do not want US military forces on their doorstep. With all of these controversial and potentially hazardous policies unfolding, it seems a hazy layer of clouds is slowly forming over the Bush Administration. To the astrological eye, this is but the early stage of a dark and dangerous storm.

The year of destiny seems to be 2003, although the first half of 2004 also will bring high drama. Numerous astrological configurations suggest tumultuous events beginning in January 2003 that will have a powerful impact on President Bush and the country.

12:51 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

From uncool to Through the Looking Glass with a Very Tight Ass.
NPR now has a form you must fill out before you can link to their site.

What is a link to NPR a potential terrorist weapon? Who thought of this and why??

I can't really work up any energy to confront this right now, but boingboing (from whence the story) gives the email address to write to if you think this is as absurd as I do.

11:22 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Contrary to popular bellief, the Net isn't censored in Iran, and now hundreds of women are using blogs to express themselves -- since there are few other outlets. [bb]

11:05 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Dumping GMOs in Latin America
US Aid-distributed food in Latin America (and probably elsewhere) has been found to contain GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) that's been banned for human consumption, according to Oxfam.

2:56 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

The Meucci Telephone Company?
Apparently, AG Bell got the idea for the telephone from a luckless, impoverished Italian named Antonio Meucci. Meucci was in Cuba experimenting with treating rheumatism with electrical discharges when he come up with the idea. But he spoke poor English and didn't have the corporate clout of Western Union behind him, like Bell did. Even the US Congress has acknowledged Meucci as the real originator of the telephone.

(The link is to the English version of Pravda, whose translation is a bit dicey in the syntax sometimes.)

2:45 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Ted Turner on Israel
Ted Turner, the billionaire founder of CNN, accuses Israel today of engaging in "terrorism" against the Palestinians, in comments that threaten to lead to a further decline in the news network's already poor relations with the Jewish state.

"Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism." [link]
Notice that drudge has to link to the English independent site The Guardian for this story.

10:51 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Oxymoron
Canadian media conglomeration and a free press.
The publisher of a daily newspaper in Canada's capital says he has been sacked for printing an editorial critical of Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

The sacking has renewed concerns about the relationship between the country's largest newspaper chain and its governing Liberal Party.

10:40 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Is this a TV movie or what? or "Wrath of the Fire Queen"
"'She reported that she looked at a letter she had received that morning,' the affidavit against Barton reads. 'She became angry and upset and decided to get rid of the letter,' which was from her estranged husband.

Wow. The worst fire in Colorado history started by an angry woman burning a letter from her estranged husband. She could get 20 years and $750,000 in fines -- unless the state and/or county officials want at her too.

3:34 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Is this a TV movie or what? or "Wrath of the Fire Queen"
"'She reported that she looked at a letter she had received that morning,' the affidavit against Barton reads. 'She became angry and upset and decided to get rid of the letter,' which was from her estranged husband.

Wow. The worst fire in Colorado history started by an angry woman burning a letter from her estranged husband. She could get 20 years and $750,000 in fines -- unless the state and/or county officials want at her too.

3:32 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

It took Texas 30 years to end court-ordered federal oversight, the result of a handwritten lawsuit brought by prisoner David Ruiz in 1972.

Though one wonders how "reformed" they are now.

3:21 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Fear of Women in Malaysia: another oppressive force, a la BushBinLaden.
Women's groups in Malaysia are fighting a controversial bill proposed by an Islamic party which states that four male Muslim witnesses are needed to prove a rape.

About a dozen women's groups have formed a joint action committee to fight the bill, which they say is "perversely unjust".

The bill's original draft states that those who renounce their faith should be put to death, and that unmarried women who become pregnant - regardless of rape - should be whipped or stoned to death.

Sisters of Islam (Sis) which has lobbied Pas leaders on the issue, says the bill is a "total distortion" of Islamic law. [link]

2:59 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

8000 former paramilitaries -- veterans who did not receive land like the rebels did due to the UN agreement that ended the Civil War -- besiege #1 tourist attraction Tikal in Guatemala.

2:46 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

So who are the good guys here?
So Kohl is back, Chirac is the savior of France, Bush seems to have the support of most Americans and
Conservative U.S. Christian organizations have joined forces with Islamic governments to halt the expansion of sexual and political protections and rights for gays, women and children at United Nations conferences. The new alliance, which coalesced during the past year, has received a major boost from the administration of President George W. Bush, which appointed anti-abortion activists to key positions on U.S. delegations to UN conferences on economic and social policy.

But it has been largely galvanized by conservative Christians who have set aside their doctrinal differences, cemented ties with the Vatican and cultivated fresh links with a powerful bloc of more than 50 moderate and hard-line Islamic governments, including Sudan, Libya, Iraq and Iran. "We look at them as allies, not necessarily as friends," said Austin Ruse, founder and president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, a New York-based organization that promotes conservative values at UN social conferences. [link]
So surprise surprise -- shrub on the same side as "hard-line Islamics".

Wait a minute. . .

you see i've just folded space from a civilized planet and your ways are strange to me...

2:33 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Nice shot of the June 10 eclipse from Playa San Carlos, Mexico.

12:36 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Once again, Tom Tomorrow hits the mark.

12:31 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Whitley Strieber's Dreamland radio series has some interesting stuff lately, but I can't get the 365.com player to work.

12:28 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Looks like Audiogalaxy caved in to the MusicMob. Which they probably had to do.

Looks like its time to upgrade WinMX...which doesn't have the depth AG has had in offbeat material.

*sigh*

Do they really think this is going to stop music sharing, or increase their revenue? People just aren't going to pay even 99¢ for mp3s.

12:25 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Massive -- and destructive -- protests in Arequipa and other towns in Peru have broken out over recently elected President Toledo's decision to sell 2 utilities to a Belgian concern. Martial law has been declared in Arequipa and may be extended ot other towns. Toledo's approval rating is now 20% and he badly needs resolve this issue.

One of his campaign promises was his refusal to privatise the energy utilities.

I can't find much right now on this, but Peru is in dire straits financially, and Toledo appears to be scrambling to get funds for rebuilding infrastructure. Residents of the two towns where the utilities are located are afraid jobs will be lost, and don't seem to trust Toledo anymore. Trust in politicians in general is at its lowest ebb in Peru.

12:14 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Monday, June 17, 2002

Who owes whom?
The US, with a population of 300 million, has accumulated an external debt of $2.2 trillion, almost the same owed by about five billion people in the whole of the developing world, including India, China and Brazil - $2.5 trillion. Put another way, every American citizen owes the rest of the world $7,333 while every citizen of all the developing nations owes only $500. [link via Undernews]

11:02 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

The story of a quiet protest at the OSU shrub speech on Friday.
It didn't take long for our stomachs to turn....the first speaker (I believe the OSU President) began spouting about how proud they were to have Bush there. He said "We have a long tradition of inviting great men and women to speak at our commencements." I quickly responded "but since we couldn't get one, here's Georgie".

That got the attention of the state trooper in front of us. His eyes were on me the rest of the time.

The speech continued to mention that Chimpy was "a tireless worker in the field of education" and "a man who unified this country after the terrible events of 9/11". It was interesting to note that it took a LONG time for the 9/11 applause to turn into a standing ovation....they held out for that one, not continuing the speech intentionally.

About 10 minutes later, Shrub was introduced to speak. Before he even got to the stage, we did our about-face. I looked over my shoulder to see how many graduates were doing the same. However, everybody was standing at that point, and in pure black robes, it was impossible to see who was facing what direction. Furthermore, over that same shoulder, I saw one of Columbus' Finest heading our way.

We never got to see how many students participated. We were being led out of Ohio Stadium. To the officers' credit, he realized there was a 3-year-old in my arms and was not at all hostile. I asked him if I was under arrest, and he did not answer me. When we reached the exit, I asked the SS man why we had been ejected, and he told me we were being charged with disturbing the peace. If we chose to leave, the charges would be dropped immediately.

Did you feel hurt or hindered in any way? How?
No. I feel energized by this. The pain I feel is for my fellow Ohio State protestors who may have been frightened into facing forward and applauding at things they didn't want to applaud. What happened to me is insignificant. I expected to face resistance, which was why I chose to do it silently. I just never expected the resistance to come so quickly. What IS significant is that adults who spent thousands and thousands of dollars on their education were told they wouldn't be recognized for 4 years of hard work if they didn't surrender their right to peaceful protest.

If you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently?
Yes. I would have left my three-year-old daughter with a babysitter and spent Friday in a Columbus jail cell for what I believe is right. [U]

10:53 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tensions in Venezuela are so high, civil war is a real possibility.
A new wave of coup threats against President Hugo Ch�vez is pushing Venezuelans to the edge of hysteria, with many residents of the capital stockpiling food and condo associations preparing an inventory of guns in case of looting.

Clandestine communiqu�s and videos from alleged military officers vowing to topple the leftist president emerge almost daily. As each rumor peaks and wanes, the country's battered currency fluctuates wildly against the U.S. dollar.

The threats and an accompanying gusher of dire rumors have sparked an unprecedented crisis in this oil-rich nation, virtually paralyzing the country and awakening fears of bloodshed, even civil war. [link via Unknown News]

2:10 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

New gay progressive movement: Gay Shame.
A relatively new phenomenon that sprung up on both coasts in recent years, Gay Shame is an outgrowth of a younger generation's disgust with over- commercialized pride celebrations that are more about corporate sponsorships, celebrity grand marshals, and consumerism than they are about the radicalism that gave birth to our post-Stonewall gay-liberation movement, and radicalism such as that displayed by the Cockettes.

Every movement undergoes changes in three decades, but pride, especially in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, transformed a street protest into a multi-million dollar extravaganza that has no political through line. How could it, when gay cops march next to Lesbian and Gay Insurgents and gay atheists follow Dignity, the gay Catholic group? Except for the open displays of sex and flesh, pride in a city such as San Francisco is not much different from any other parade. Thousands stand along the sidelines and cheer every corporate contingent that passes despite the fact that many of them, while good on gay rights, have policies and practices that oppress other groups (e.g., running sweatshops in Asia). For progressives, participating in the march requires a kind of political amnesia: ignore the bad politics ahead of you and keep your banners high.

1:20 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sunday, June 16, 2002

Forestry technician started one of the CO fires.
Boy would I feel like shit. Apparently she was reponsible for telling people to observe the fire ban, and then was burning papers herself, the fire got out of control, and she tried to cover it up.

11:13 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

The air contamination around the WTC site after 9/11 was downplayed by the EPA -- but independent researchers found up to 4% asbestos alone weeks later.
The EPA is now accused of not declaring a health alert and not warning people doing the clean-up of the dangers. "Just like others, the EPA did not want to believe there was any problem and thought the problem might just go away if it was ignored," says Joel Kupferman, an environmental lawyer in New York. Kupferman believes that the directions came from Washington, reflecting the political wish to downplay the effect of the attack.

"There were people working for federal government and the city who wanted to wear masks at work in Manhattan, but they were told not to do it because it would scare others. There was an unwillingness to admit that anything could interfere with the American way of life. And the real estate and insurance business has huge interests in downplaying the health effects," he says.

[...]

The pollution was far worse than in the Gulf war, according to University of California atmosphere researcher Thomas Cahill, who led a team investigating the pollution for the department of energy. "The particles were really weird. They came in great big spikes when the wind blew, then they'd die down, then spike up again. The particles that aren't soluble, like silicon from burning glass, are the ones that can lodge in your lungs, irritate them badly and stay there," he said. "The ruins of the twin towers became a screamingly hot chemical reactor," Cahill told the San Francisco Chronicle. "For weeks, even as the flames eased and the core of the towers cooled below 1,200 degrees, the steel was still glowing red at 800C and clouds of particles were still rising.

"Those particles simply shouldn't have been there, because it rained heavily for six days in September and the coarse particles should have settled down. But they were probably still being generated from the heat in the pile of debris," he said. [link]

2:02 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

buy the sky and sell the sky
Just a couple weeks after the EPA report confirming the effect of pollution on global warming, they're (no doubt at lizardboy & Co's behest) going to relax air pollution rules for utilities.

1:53 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Picasso vs Matisse
This show at the Tate Modern in London would be fun to see.

1:40 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Cheerful Old Rocker in Turned Aspic.

Was that dispiriting, self-conscious and bland or what?

10:47 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

CIA black-ops hit on Saddam sanctioned by lizardboy months ago. [drudge]
In an April 4 interview with British journalist Trevor McDonald that was later published by the White House, Bush was asked, "Have you made up your mind that Iraq must be attacked?"

"I made up my mind that Hussein needs to go," Bush responded. "That's about all I'm willing to share with you." Pressed, Bush said, "The policy of my government is that he goes."
The Emperor Has Spoken. With Screaming Wind and Vile Odor, Metal Fire and Wash of Steam, I Smite Thee With Secret Swarm. For I am shrub II, The Maculate Denier, Holder of The Spear of Destiny.

10:38 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

"JOhn cale THEATRE OF CRUELTY"
Someone linked to this blog through this googlesearch. Here's the #1 on the list, quotes about the violin.

Cale played the viola though. I listed a playlist by that name (Theatre of Cruelty) a while back, which I listened to on a particularly depressed evening.

I'll have to post this in the template, but it's best to click on the google "cached pages" link when searching points you to this blog, since the archive search isn't active yet.The search words are highlighted and the appropriate page shows up, archives or not. In case you didn't know. Here's the cached page result.

I was #3 BTW.

10:11 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

2 economists challenge shrub's dire assertions about the economic effect of curbing pollutants.
Without action to halt global warming, economists predict that the world as a whole will be 10 times as rich by 2100, and people on average will be five times as well off. Adding on the costs of tackling warming, says Schneider, would postpone this target by a mere two years. "To be 10 times richer in 2100 versus 2102 would hardly be noticed." Similarly, meeting the terms of the Kyoto Protocol would mean industrialised countries "get 20 per cent richer by June 2010 rather than in January 2010".
I don't think humans are the only cause of global warming, but for our own health and our descendants alone, this must be attended to.

3:05 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Good Sam Smith screed on the "decadent liberal aristocracy" and their scapegoating of the Greens.
Liberals don't worry about the dropping memberships and dramatic aging of groups like Common Cause and Americans for Democratic Action or the irrelevance of archaic liberal journals like the Nation (kept alive in part by charter cruises aimed at those who remember meeting Eleanor Roosevelt). Nor do they concern themselves with the declining viewership of public broadcasting or the chronic ineffectualness of the congressional black and progressive caucuses.

Who needs those concerns when there is yet another target - the Greens - to join all those other Americans that liberal leaders can't stand (and then wonder why they won't vote for them) such as gun-owners, church-goers, southerners, people who still believe in local government and so forth.

2:47 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Property values trump the environment.
Homeowners associations in Colorado are demanding green lawns despite state-wide low water levels and the worst fire season ever.
Residents voluntarily doing their part to save water because of the drought are being warned by homeowner associations that brown lawns violate neighborhood rules.

Associations in at least two subdivisions in Highlands Ranch and Westminster are enforcing their regulations, which seek to maintain a neighborhood's neat appearance.

Marilyn Geerdes, who lives in the Arrowhead Filing subdivision of Westminster, sent a letter to management company Management Specialists after receiving a note that said her thirsty lawn "creates an unsightly condition.''

"I would say the entire state of Colorado is 'lacking in water.' Perhaps you haven't heard, we are experiencing a drought,'' she said. "As a consequence of dry conditions, farmers may have to sell their land and cattle, but we will have our lush, green lawns, by golly.''

[...]

Neither Westminster, nor Douglas County, which governs Highlands Ranch, have imposed water restrictions.

Karen Becker, a community manager for Management Associates, said the drought doesn't let homeowners off the hook.

"A certain amount of stressed lawn is going to be acceptable due to the conditions,'' she said. But, "to use water properly doesn't mean you'll have a dead lawn.''

These people are sick. [bb]

2:16 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Just in: more on the anthrax attack via Antiwar
Barbara Hatch Rosenberg says
she knows who that person is and so do a top-level clique of US government scientists, the CIA, the FBI and the White House.

"Early in the investigation," Rosenberg told Scotland on Sunday, "a number of inside experts, at least five that I know about, gave the FBI the name of one specific person as the most likely suspect. That person fits the FBI profile in most respects. He has the right skills, experience with anthrax, up-to-date anthrax vaccination, forensic training, and access to the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (AMRIID) and its biological agents through 2001."

Rosenberg's profile suggests that the suspect is a middle-aged scientist with a doctoral degree who works for a CIA contractor in Washington DC. She adds he has to know or have worked closely with Bill Patrick, the weapons researcher who holds five secret patents on how to produce weapons-grade anthrax, that he suffered a career setback last summer that embittered him and precipitated his campaign and that he has already been investigated by the FBI.

Most crucially, she believes the suspect has in the past actually conducted experiments for the government to test the response of the police and civil agencies to a bioterror attack. [link]

12:41 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

What happened to the anthrax probe?
Yet, while it trawled the empty waters, the bureau failed to cast its hook into the only ponds in which the perpetrator could have been lurking. In February, the Wall Street Journal revealed that the FBI had yet to subpoena the personnel records of the labs which had been working with the Ames strain. Four months after the investigation began, in other words, it had not bothered to find out who had been working in the places from which the anthrax must have come. It was not until March, after Barbara Rosenberg had released her findings, that the bureau started asking laboratories for samples of their anthrax and the records relating to them.

To date, it appears to have analysed only those specimens which already happened to be in the hands of its researchers or which had been offered, without compulsion, by laboratories. A fortnight ago, the New York Times reported that "government experts investigating the anthrax strikes are still at sea". The FBI claimed that the problem "is a lack of advisers skilled in the subtleties of germ weapons."

Last week, I phoned the FBI. Why, I asked, when the evidence was so abundant, did the trail appear to have gone cold? "The investigation is continuing", the spokesman replied. "Has it gone cold because it has led you to a government office?" I asked. He put down the phone. [George Monbiot]

12:19 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Don Arquilla and David Ronfeldt developed the "swarming" technique used to dispatch the Taliban (at least so far (?)). Now they suggest that the White House and the military need to drastically shift their strategy to address the "network" and not the "state".
Emphasising that he is arguing from a strategic standpoint, Arquilla suggests that there are three possible ways out: first, total US victory, which would be "highly problematic particularly in the light of events in Afghanistan", as Bin Laden escaped and al-Qaida is regrouping elsewhere; second, victory by al-Qaida if its members succeed in obtaining weapons of mass destruction; and, third, a world in which there might be a dozen al-Qaida type networks, linked in some cases to nation states.

As a way out of this dead-end situation Arquilla proposes to focus more attention on "non-military strategies towards non-state actors [and] explicitly engage civil society actors to try to be the interlocutors of a peace. ... It seems to me that the NGO's are in a unique position to respect both sides and act as a clearing house for communication between them."

This is the least convincing (though the most attractive) part of their strategy. It is based on a complete theory presented by Arquilla and Ronfeldt in one of their books (5). They propose the theory of "noopolitik" inspired by Teilhard de Chardin and his "noosphere", or sphere of consciousness. This has nothing to do with the cyberworld, computers and cables, explains Ronfeldt. He adds: "Noopolitik is foreign policy behaviour for the information age that emphasises the primacy of ideas, values, norms, laws and ethics - it would work through soft power". With others, such as Joseph Nye, Arquilla and Ronfeldt define soft power as "the ability to achieve desired outcomes in international affairs through attraction rather than coercion."

But this must be consistent with other actions, Ronfeldt points out. "The more we use military force in an indiscriminate way, the harder it makes it to create a cooperative network to fight against the non-state actors. That, I think, is the great strategic challenge of this war against terrorism."

[...]

...the military do not have the only answer to combating networks that feed on world poverty. Ronfeldt believes we should attack the root of the problem and also intervene with massive economic aid. "I think that terrorism can be diminished through economic solutions that address poverty and other forms of deprivation." He believes the current Islamist movement does not have a great deal to do with poverty. Bin Laden and his friends are driven by a feeling of "utter disaster. And this disaster is not simply economic and social. It's also political, military, strategic. They see their own world as being trampled upon, not only by external forces like the US, but also by parts of their own society." Although Ronfeldt is confident that US foreign policy can confront poverty and deprivation, he is not sure "it can alleviate, at least not easily, this sense of utter disaster." [via Undernews]

12:05 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

charging the canvas

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