Random Fate

...on hubris, humility, and object lessons

Yasser Arafat appears to be seriously ill. There has been much cheering from the peanut gallery over the prospect of his demise. The legacy that he will leave behind when he does finally shuffle off the mortal coil may very well be best said using the now infamous statement that "he never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity (for peace)." In a time when politics in the US is filled with canards, there is benefit in taking a step back and looking at opportunities both lost and gained.

Arafat had the opportunity to be the father of his country, but instead chose the path that kept the most power concentrated in his hands. This should highlight to us, the citizens of the United States, how incredibly lucky we are. We have our freedoms not through our own merits, not because we deserve them, but instead because there were a group of extraordinary men who did not focus on their own power other than the power expressed through individual votes of which they were few among many. First among these men was the father of our country, George Washington. Although he was not naive and understood the politics and maneuvering for power at the time of the American Revolution and the early decades of the United States (and yes, this cynical maneuvering did exist), he did not try to "win at all costs" as do our current crop of aspirants to the office first held by him. Instead, repeatedly he chose to retire from public life, first after the end of the American Revolution, resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to the Congress in December of 1783. This was key in avoiding what happened a little over a decade later in the wake of the French Revolution, when the successful general Napoléon Bonaparte parlayed his military success into a dictatorship in a pattern that sadly has been repeated all too often in the two centuries since. Washington returned to public life only after being called to preside over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and he chose to serve only two terms as President, despite knowing full well he could have been re-elected indefinitely. George Washington showed a humility all too rare even in the times he lived, a humility and dedication to public service over personal ambition which has almost vanished today.

Contrast this with the behavior of Yasser Arafat, given a golden opportunity to make peace in 2000, but instead choosing to walk away from it because he knew it would result in ultimately a loss of the power he has concentrated in his hands. He has continually shown the hubris of power, refusing to ever relinquish even a small amount to a Prime Minister to allow real negotiations to occur with the Israeli government, despite the continued suffering of the people he claims to represent.

More history needs to be reviewed to show that this comparison isn't completely disjointed. Recall the tactics used in the American Revolution, notably in the opening Battle of Lexington and Concord. The Minutemen shot at the marching British from behind walls, fences, ravines and any other cover along the road. These were regarded as barbaric and dishonorable tactics by the British, they could almost be called "terrorist" in nature when viewed in the context of the times. After a few pitched battles, General Washington realized he could never directly defeat a British army in the field without external help, help that we eventually received in the form of a French fleet that allowed us to win at Yorktown, years later. He spent the intervening years (yes, years, not months) fading before direct confrontation and holding together an army that was unpaid and unclothed, much less heartened by a victory the likes of which the modern America would demand within weeks if not days. What would the verdict have been on the Palestinian tactics two centuries from now if Arafat had not squandered every opportunity he had to create a Palestinian Arab state?

The object lesson here appears obvious, but there is more to the object lesson than merely "Arafat is an idiot who did his cause far more harm than good." Poor choices between hubris versus humility occur in the lives of everyone, with consequences both large and small. It is even appearing in many weblogs who played a part in exposing the fraudulent memos aired by CBS, where hubris is overcoming common sense and the classic pride which goes before a fall is prompting posting of writing that I suspect the authors will regret a decade from now.

However, the final object lesson to be drawn from this is that we should always remember our nation is a free and democratic nation in large part because of the choices made by this one man, not because we are "deserving" or "good" or through any effort of our own. As a nation, we should be proud of our history, but we should practice the same humility that was exemplified by the man we have honored deservedly with the title of "father of the country" and recall that it is only by good fortune that we have the gifts of freedom and democracy rather than the legacy that will be left from the hubris of a man like Yasser Arafat.

For those over-the-top bloggers out there, something to think about...

Without exhaustive debate, even heated debate, of ideas and programs, free government would weaken and wither. But if we allow ourselves to be persuaded that every individual or party that takes issue with our own convictions is necessarily wicked or treasonous, then, indeed, we are approaching the end of freedom's road.
   -Dwight D. Eisenhower

A terrorist speaks...

...and the apeshit brigade starts pounding at the keyboards so hard they break and their heads explode.

Come on, people, reactions like this are exactly what terrorists want, and that is why this most recent video was released now.

More often than not, the immediate gut reaction is not as good as the measured thoughtful reaction. Recall the signs that were once posted everywhere that people worked around heavy, dangerous machinery:

THINK

Here is what "fair and balanced" really means...

The Economist magazine online encapsulates quite well my dilemma this election, both in their editorial and in their cover:

WARNING TO BLOGGERS: Huge comment spam bot out there

I've just been hit with the biggest comment spam attack in the history of my blogging. Those of you who use MT-Blacklist, I'd advise adding the following URL to your list ASAP:

pictures-and-video (dot) com

I don't want to write it without the (dot) because I don't want this jerk to get any more ranking on Google.

Food fight!

Well, not a fight, but the next installment of the Carnival of the Recipes. Holy cow, the list of recipes is getting pretty long...

Changes on the way

Don't be surprised in the next week or so if you see some major cosmetic changes here.

There will be some other changes as well, ones that are not cosmetic. The election of 2004 will be over, even if the result is not known for weeks or months. That alone will change many weblogs, but here I will be making a conscious change of both topics and tone.

Although I have been severely disappointed in how some bloggers have responded to my pleas for less pointing out the bad behavior of their political opponents and instead working to stop the bad behavior of their political compatriots, I still think I can do something constructive. That will be my aim for any commentary or political posting I do.

I also hope to post more on science and technology (since that is my area of expertise, by the way) and hopefully a bit more humor, because we all need it.

Non-political headline of the day with an unintended meaning...

New breast implants more natural, firm says

Think about it...

UPDATE: They rearranged the last two words of the headline... ah, the ephemeral nature of the Web...

Quotes for a random Friday...

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
   -Will Rogers

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
   -Abraham Lincoln

WARNING: Things won't be any better after the election

I've come to a conclusion I find very troubling.

Regardless of who "wins" the election, the tone of hatred will not die down. If anything, the level of vitriol and divisiveness will get worse.

The election will not be a climax, it will be the first stage in a new civil war, one that is not fought with formalized armies as our last one was, but a war nonetheless.

I hate writing this.

I'll outline why I believe this in a future post, and I'll try to come up with some solutions. I'm too heartsick over what is happening in my country to write about it any more right now.

In defense of one man's outrage

David Anderson at In Search of Utopia has been posting extensively on what appear to be attempts to effectively disenfranchise black voters in Florida and other "battleground" states. Some right-wing bloggers have unkindly said that David is "drinking kool-aid" and going overboard in his outrage over this issue.

I would like to say that although David's vehemence can appear irrational, I do not think that his outrage is unjustified. I grew up in the South, among people who had no problem looking down on people who's skin color happened to be dark, among people who used the "n-word" that I find so offensive that I cannot even type it and feel soiled if I say it. In some respects I can directly relate to David's outrage, even though I'm so white that I'm mistaken for German, English, Irish, French (just to name a few) here in Europe. While growing up, I saw discrimination practiced first-hand, and I saw the attitudes underlying it. I have even experienced discrimination against me for my ethnicity, working for Asian managers in a Japanese owned corporation. While it wasn't the pervasive cultural bias that was still present in the South I grew up in, it gave me some insight into the helpless rage that is induced when you realize no matter how well you perform, no matter what you do, someone of a different color/physical makeup will come out ahead of you even if they don't merit it.

I don't agree with all of David's political views, but he has never made the kind of ridiculous statements of the kind I have read on the weblogs of those who accuse David of being overwrought on this issue. Yes, David is outraged over the appearance of black voter disenfranchisement, but given that it has indeed happened in the recent past, and understanding the helplessness felt when subjected to this form of discrimination, I feel that those who are saying David is going over-the-top are showing what shallow people they are. Instead of trying to place themselves in David's position, with the history behind it, they just say "well, he's over-reacting," complacent in their rights because they have never had them truly threatened, and conveniently forgetting their overwrought rhetoric on their own weblogs on other topics close to their hearts, rhetoric that far exceeds anything David has written on this issue that hits close to the core of his being.

Race issues are sensitive everywhere, but in the United States they are extraordinarily so. Japan still practices discrimination, South Africa had government enforced discrimination until fairly recently, and the history of Europe is replete with instances of ethnic based strife and war. However, sadly, the United States was one of the last "first-world" nations to end the practice of race-based slavery, and the history after that time was almost as shameful. While I have rather ambiguous opinions regarding some of David's excoriations of other bloggers whose skin color happens to be black but who hold right-wing views, I do feel I understand his outrage over the apparent playing the race-disenfranchisement card in the tactical plans to win this election, and I do not feel that his strong emotional response is unjustified. I merely hope that his record of being able to take a breath, step back, and evaluate evidence fairly is retained when examining this topic.

Jack's quasi-Southern green beans

When I was young, I loved eating the green beans that had been "canned" by my aunts. At the time, calling them "canned" confused me because they were in mason jars. My aunts were two old country women who never married and spent their entire lives living in the house that had been built around 1890 or 1900 by their father. I still recall their argument when they killed a snake in their garden over whether to hang the snake over the top of the fence belly-up or back-up to make it rain.

This recipe grew out of my attempts to make green beans that tasted the same as what I had on my aunts' farm when I was young. I stumbled across a shortcut that at first makes no sense whatsoever, but in retrospect, perhaps it does.

This is another "not heart-healthy" recipe, and any vitamins the canned green beans had is probably long gone by the time they're done cooking. Of course, in the South we either have to fry it or add grease/fat, that's just what we do. In the case of okra, we take a vegetable that's already greasy, coat it in batter, and fry it, so that should tell you something about the regional cuisine...

---

Ingredients:

two cans of regular green beans (not French style, and use canned, not frozen, the texture of the frozen just "ain't right")

1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar

one tablespoon of dried minced onion

1/2 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce

a piece of fatback or salt pork about the size of a deck of cards

and here's the weird shortcut - a packet of Good Seasons regular Italian dressing mix (NOT the fat-free stuff)

Preparation:

cut the fatback or salt pork into short strips about one inch long and maybe 1/8 of an inch thick (if you want to be able to pick it out when eating, you can dice it finely if you like)

put the fatback into the bottom of the pot

add the dried minced onion

add about 1/3 of the packet of the italian dressing mix

add the green beans

add the vinegar

add the worcestershire sauce

if the green beans are not completely covered with water, add water until they are covered

heat to a boil, and boil for at least 10 minutes

turn the heat down to a simmer level, cover the pot, and heat for another 1/2 hour or longer (longer tends to taste better)

---

I tried adding different spices to get the same taste as what was added when my aunts canned their green beans, and one day when I was out of spices but wanted green beans I just tried the italian dressing mix. Oddly enough, it worked. There must have been some spices in common. I don't even bother trying to reproduce the spices, it's too easy to buy the packets, but that's why it's "quasi-Southern"... I don't think the traditional recipe used Good Seasons Italian dressing mix!!!

By the way, when eating this, it's OK to eat the fatback, but I wouldn't unless you exercise a lot or are a child... It's called fatback for a reason.

Walking a fine line...

...between satire and complete insensitivity, The Commissar has turned hostage taking terrorism on its head.

What will be interesting to see is if all those who cried havoc when a toy company innocently created a toy using two buildings to support a toy airplane as a prize in a kids meal, claiming it was "inappropriate" and "insensitive" because to overly sensitive eyes it looked like a mockery of the September 11th attacks, will also complain about a right-wing attempt at satire over another tragic event.

One thing I would like to point out is that satire may be humorous, but it is usually intended to carry a message that might be ignored if put in a serious context. I do not believe The Commissar is trying to make light of a potentially tragic situation, although some have already accused him of attempting precisely that.

Sadly, there are few who can appreciate satire, and even fewer who appreciate it when the underlying message is not in agreement with their beliefs.

Here's a tidbit...

...for those of you who absolutely must post how your opponents are completely insane:

For the left-wing - Cops: Florida man tried to run down controversial Republican

For the right-wing - Lake Worth man accused of 'political attack' on girlfriend

Since it apparently only takes a single incident to get your selective outrage going, and it only takes a single case to "prove" your opponents are insane, evil, fucked-up, whatever pejorative you want to use, I have now shown definitive proof that your side is just as insane, evil, fucked-up, whatever pejorative you want to use, as your opposition. So, I would take it as a great favor if you would please stop posting every instance of insane behavior by someone who is nominally supportive of your political opponents, because YOUR SIDE IS JUST AS BAD.

As I have said before, for every instance of bad behavior on one side, you can find an instance on the other side, so stop the pointless "they're evil because their supporters do this" and try to post something productive instead of being such fucking hypocrites.

For those of you not participating in the apeshit parade, please help me in pointing out that a single instance does not tar all supporters of that political position.

---

Credit to Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice and Sam at The Brier Patch for the links.

Some thoughts to remember when evaluating a Presidency

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.
   -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
   -Andre Gide

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.
   -Herbert Agar

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.
   -Theodore Roosevelt

Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.
   -Bernard Berenson

Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.
   -Barry Switzer

Next Tuesday is not Armageddon, and there are things far more important

Sometimes, you feel a desperate need to say something, to do something, but there is nothing to say, nothing to do, for it is impossible.

This is one of those times.

I wish I could say something more than "my thoughts are with you."

I wish I could do something more than offer my best wishes to her and the family of those who have suffered such loss.

Neither is enough, but they are all there is.

On a pilgrimage of sorts...

...I made sure I visited this place when I was in London:

If I had to name the single largest influence on my life, this would be it. Don't know what I'm referring to? The clues are all here:

An exaggeration?

Perhaps not too big of one...

Guess what these apply to...

Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt.
   -Dr. Samuel Johnson

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.
   -Doug Larson

Some thoughts for the week...

It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be feared.
   -Dr. Samuel Johnson

Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.
   -Frank Leahy

Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.
   -Orson Welles

Since the candidates have turned into caricatures

Among TV characters, Homer Simpson is the favorite in the UK for being the US President.

I'm not sure he'd be worse than the two major candidates we have now...

I can't read my favorite blogs any more...

...because ALL of them, right-wing and left-wing, are going completely apeshit over the election.

I can't do this any more.

I can't let my blood pressure rise with all the distortions, all the unthinking hatred, all the bias, all the "blame the other guys, but ignore our own transgressions," all the idiocy any more.

Otherwise, I'll post something I regret.

Otherwise, I'll start to believe that the human race on the whole is too stupid to deserve even survival, much less the freedom that those of us who are citizens of the United States enjoy.

I cannot believe how people who I feel are well grounded can completely ignore the offenses of their own side because they are so busy screaming about those of their opponents.

We are destroying ourselves.

Perhaps we deserve what we get out of this...

If you don't know where to go to vote

Not sure where your polling location is, and can't navigate your local government web site? Try mypollingsite.com, it may give you the information you're looking for.

A day of ill omen?

October 24

Not only my birthday, but United Nations Day, and even more ominously, Black Thursday, the beginning of the Great Depression.

Something to think about....

A click of the hand on the clock...

...and suddenly, I'm 40.

At least I'm currently in a country where I can understand the language (except for some Welsh and Scots, and certain regions of London... they're speaking English, but I understand French better than the English they speak...).

Well, here's to surviving another trip around the sun.

What does it mean when even your friends are saying you made avoidable mistakes?

From The Economist magazine:

Ministers have begged Mr Blair to put some “distance” between himself and Mr Bush. But despite Mr Blair's refusal to criticise his ally in public, in private he has expressed his frustration over the Pentagon's many avoidable mistakes in Iraq. The failure to send enough troops, the over-zealous dismantling of the Baathist bureaucracy and the torture at Abu Ghraib have all left Mr Blair squirming in silent fury. Mr Blair may be fond of Mr Bush, but he can't wait to see the back of Donald Rumsfeld.

It is not all "media bias". Reality may not be pretty or desirable, but if you ignore it, it ALWAYS comes back to bite you in the ass, regardless of how much faith you have.

The Commissar survives his first year...

...without being purged. Go help him celebrate!

Even though I don't always agree with him, his talent and willingness to look at more than one side of an issue make The Politburo Diktat well worth reading.

I'm a happy camper

I've had my first drink of Dr. Pepper in over 6 months.

Those who know me will understand....

Another photo from London

This is how close people can now get to 10 Downing Street. I believe the actual building is the red brick structure in the far back. Sadly enough, on the opposite side of the block, you can get much closer, but no people were on that side. I decided not to take photos from the back because I didn't want to be regarded as a "person of interest." Such are the sad times we live in.

Failing their own test, and risking failing the ultimate test

I thought I had defeated my need to post on politics, but after reading at The Moderate Voice this quote from a recent column by Thomas Friedman I had to add my $0.02 regarding my biggest issue with Conservatives in the past two years:

Conservatives profess to care deeply about the outcome in Iraq, but they sat silently for the last year as the situation there steadily deteriorated. Then they participated in a shameful effort to refocus the country's attention on what John Kerry did on the rivers of Vietnam 30 years ago, not on what George Bush and his team are doing on the rivers of Babylon today, where some 140,000 American lives are on the line. Is this what it means to be a conservative today?

Had conservatives spoken up loudly a year ago and said what both of Mr. Bush's senior Iraq envoys, Jay Garner and Paul Bremer, have now said (and what many of us who believed in the importance of Iraq were saying) - that we never had enough troops to control Iraq's borders, keep the terrorists out, prevent looting and establish authority - the president might have changed course. Instead, they served as a Greek chorus, applauding Mr. Bush's missteps and mocking anyone who challenged them.

Conservatives have failed their own test of patriotism. In the end, it has been more important for them to defeat liberals than to get Iraq right. Had Democrats been running this war with the incompetence of Donald Rumsfeld & Friends, conservatives would have demanded their heads a year ago - and gotten them.

Joe Gandelman then links this to another issue that I have with the Bush administration:

The one glaring -- almost inexplicable -- characteristic of this administration is its inability to seriously acknowledge some mistakes and give a reastic assessment of the challenges that face the U.S., its military, and military families. If Bush loses -- apart from his initial debate performance - it will be due to his inability to cut his losses and deal with the Mistakes Issue.

As I have written before, if you do not acknowledge mistakes, you never learn, and you never do better. I will add to that the statement that if winning an election is more important than doing the Right Thing both for the country and those who serve it, then not only do you not deserve to win, but you deserve to be sent to the deepest pit of Hell (yes, I'm getting pissed off...).

I am sick of the hypocrisy I see from both the right-wing and the left-wing. I am writing more about that of the right-wing recently because the right-wing is currently in charge and making a hash of things, despite the rose-colored glasses that those surrounding our President-in-a-bubble are wearing. I hold the left-wing in equal contempt, and I am sick of their behavior and attitudes as well, but at the least they are not serving as the Greek chorus while things go off the rails.

For those of you who say "things are not as bad as the biased media present", I beg to differ and recommend to you to pay attention to news reports from agencies located outside the US. Refusing to see things the way they are by blaming the messenger is just as criminal as not trying to be informed at all. Yes, good things are being done in Iraq, but at what cost, in lives, in treasure, and in relations with other countries? American cannot stand in isolation, regardless of our military might, no matter how much we might want to. Just as a group of kids will band together to take down the neighborhood bully that none could confront alone, we risk aligning other nations against us if we continue on the path we have started upon, because we are beginning to be viewed as "the bully."

We have soiled our reputation by issuing "memos" and "guidances" that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are not covered by the Geneva Convention, making accusations of torture (whether true or not) more credible. We have allowed things to get out of control at Abu Gihrab, with photo evidence showing deliberate humiliation of prisoners, and regardless of the lack of official sanction for those actions, they still sully our nation. Some people say "I don't care what they do to them because these people are our enemies." That attitude sickens me. Is this the way we want it, to adopt the methods and tactics of those we are fighting? In saying "I don't care how we treat our enemies" we are lowering ourselves to the same level as those we claim are "enemies of civilization." Why don't we just start sawing heads off and televising it while we're at it? All we are accomplishing is that accusations of how America is evil, once held as ridiculous, are now being given a hearing even by those who once admired America.

Some are expressing outrage that there will be foreign monitors in the United States during this next election. Well, people, welcome to a new view, for this is how we've treated the rest of the world. We have expected everyone else to live up to our expectations of them. Now, when the shoe is on the other foot, you can experience first hand the outrage that citizens of other nations have felt from our lecturing, hectoring, and pressuring. Am I saying we have to ask approval of other nations before acting? No, but if we discard their concerns without appearing to give them a second thought, Dale Carnegie would remind us that is not the best way to win friends and influence people.

There is more to waging a "War on Terror" than military might, and unless the citizens of the United States, among the lowest taxed in the world of developed nations and among the loudest to complain about the level of taxation, are willing to bear an even higher financial burden to face the world alone, then we cannot treat the rest of the world with the contempt shown recently. We cannot allow places we invade to be looted because we rely on high tech weapons to win the battle and have too few troops to properly occupy the victorious ground, we cannot undertake invasions lightly with the assumption that we will be greeted with flowers and gratitude, and no matter how emotionally satisfying to our baser instincts, we cannot allow even proven terrorists to be tortured, for that undermines everything that the United States was founded upon and degrades everything that admirers of America believe of us.

I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers because I don't, I can only begin to make suggestions. I am speaking out because as an expatriate who has been in several countries in the last year, I can speak from a viewpoint not often available, that of someone who loves the United States and has a view from outside. Please, heed my warning. Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "la-la-la-la!!!!" when you are told things are going off the rails and blaming it on "media bias" is irresponsible. There are other sources of news out there. Use them, filter the biases out, and you will find that not all is as it is reported in the US, but all is not what the administration would have you believe, either. Refusing to acknowledge reality is a terminal offense, with the sentence carried out inexorably. Conservatives and Liberals both are participating in that refusal to acknowledge reality and risk failing that ultimate test, and it is up to us to kick both the Republican and Democratic Parties in the ass and tell them to wake up and stop worrying about winning and instead focus on doing the Right Thing. Winning will follow. If we do nothing, then we will indeed be in both good and bad company on the dustbin of history.

A photo for a friend

I saw this in the Charing Cross train station and had to take a photo for Boudicca, even though they spelled it differently.

Time for more recipes

The new Carnival of the Recipes is up at Inside Allan's Mind. No entry from me this week because I was getting ready to travel, but there are plenty of other good recipes posted, so go there and get cookin'!!!

Some thoughts on life...

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
   -Oscar Wilde

Life is a God-damned, stinking, treacherous game and nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a thousand are bastards.
   -Theodore Dreiser

And the wheel comes around again in politics

The only way to success in American public life lies in flattering and kowtowing to the mob.
   -H. L. Mencken

I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.
   -Marshall McLuhan

I've posted these before...

...but they are still very relevant.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
   -Theodore Roosevelt

To do nothing is in everyone's power.
   -Dr. Samuel Johnson

Don't worry if I don't post...

...I leave for England Thursday morning for a birthday vacation.

No guest bloggers (forgot to ask anyone), I hope to post while I'm traveling, we'll see if I have time and access.

Countdown V

Only 4 days until I turn 40.

Yikes!!!

I leave for England tomorrow morning. I'm packing and preparing now. It'll be nice to spend several days in a place where I can communicate with reasonable certainty that I didn't accidentally just call myself something obscene...

Thoughts for a grey Wednesday

Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.
   -Pat Paulsen

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatalbe.
   -John Kenneth Galbraith

The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people meaner.
   -Karl Kraus

Countdown IV

Only 5 days until I turn 40.

Yikes!!!

Balance... you must balance, Grasshopper...

Cynic, n. A blackgaurd whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
   -Ambrose Bierce

You are not superior just because you see the world in an odious light.
   -Vicomte de Chateaubriand

Meanwhile, on Earth...

On something other than politics, here's something I received from a friend/co-worker still in the US:

Subject: Topic of the week: exotica tea , do I need to smoke after having this?

I'm not joking, This following written on the package of tea that I got in the break room today.

"Exotica: This extraordinarily rare tea is produced only in Fukien province from 100% 'tip' or buds of a special tea plant. These tea leaves are plucked at dawn on only two days of the year. White tea produces a pale golden cup, with no astringency and a hint of sweetness. It's very subtle taste is a treat for the connoisseur."

Do I drink this stuff, or pour it down my pants?

I guess I should have rinsed out my coffee cup before I poured me a cup of this crap.

Then there's this follow-up email from the ever reliable Stan:

Plucked only twice a year? Must be married (Christmas and Anniversary assuming you didn't forget a gift)

Thanks for the smile, Dave and Stan...

...on politics, weblogs, and the abandonment of thought and simple civility

David at ISOU has a concern that I share:

Yesterday I read a blog where a young conservative was basically celebrating our abuses of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, justifying them in the name of being tough on terrorism. When did we become a nation that emulated our worst enemies? When did we become a nation driven by fear and a need for revenge, rather than one of laws and justice? When did we become a nation that excuses evil in the name of self protection and self righteousness… Maybe it happened a long time ago, and we just didn’t notice.

Pennywit feels I'm not very optimistic, and after giving a list of rules to consider, he writes:

I could go on and on and on and on. But the message is essentially the same: Much of the shit going around today is just that: shit put out by assholes who don't have anything better to do with their time than rub excrement in the face of the body politic. (Don't thank me for the imagery. Thank Team America.)

Now, presented with that shit served up on a plate, you've got two choices. You can either eat that shit, or you can send it back and find a better meal. This political season, with its hatred, the polarization, the shouting heads, the threats, and the fearmongering, consists largely of people serving up shit and calling it steak. Don't you deserve better?

I have been asking his question, "Don't we deserve better?" and on some occasions demanding that we deserve better. Perhaps Pennywit is right, and I am not very optimistic. Given I've been saying the same things as he says for months and have only seen a downward spiral into a Hell of hate, I think my lack of optimism is understandable.

How do you stay optimistic when you want to tell people who you have come to respect through reading their weblogs that they are hypocrites? These are people on all sides of the political spectrum, people who pounce on every instance of misbehavior by their political opponents with loud cries of denunciation and saying "We're better than they are, see!?!" However, the silence is deafening when occasion arises for an equally loud condemnation of bad behavior by their side. Some lip-service is given to the thought that bad behavior on all sides needs to be condemned, but the outrage is selective, the offenses of allies are not actively sought out and when blatantly obvious are minimized, and the bad actions of opponents are written about with prose that is too purple even for a pulp novel. There are indeed some bloggers who have called their own on bad behavior, but the number of those bloggers is very small, and the number who condemn their own with the same vehemence as they use against their opponents is even smaller. As I have stated repeatedly, bad behavior can ONLY be policed and corrected by those on the same side, and it needs to be more than mere lip-service, because in our current climate all other voices are ignored or shouted down. Sadly, I see no one jumping OFF of the bandwagon of vilifying their opponents to take the time to curb their own rabid dogs. (Yes, John, I stole your metaphor)

I no longer give a damn what anyone has to say about how the candidate they oppose is "insensitive" or "inconsistent" or "lying" because all the overwrought accusations have lost any semblance of credibility with me. I'm tired of all the shouting with no consideration that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE is correct 100% of the time. This means the left-wing is not always wrong or always right, this means the right-wing is not always wrong or always right. For every instance of insensitivity by either candidate, you can pull an instance of equal insensitivity by the other candidate. For every instance of inconsistency by one candidate, you can find an instance of equal inconsistency by the other candidate. For every instance of misrepresentation of their opponent by one candidate, you can find an instance of equal misrepresentation of their opponent by the other candidate. Anyone who has the temerity to point this out is shouted down by the ditto-heads in the comment section, assuming they don't start getting threatening email from those same ditto-heads or the even more despicable moonbats and nutjobs who are so loud despite supposedly being so few in number. We have gotten to the point to where the tyranny of emotion makes it impossible to actually admit that ANYONE who doesn't toe the party line with precision and repeat verbatim the current talking points might actually have something important to say that could help solve some of our problems.

Perhaps I am just tired and down because of my approaching milestone birthday. Perhaps I am just feeling disconnected because I am watching all of this take place from a foreign country that is all the more strange because it is familiar yet different. Pennywit has put into a short list what I have been asking of other bloggers for months. I hope he has more success than I did in persuading people to take off their blinders, change the lenses through which they view the world, even if only for a moment, and actually consider that people who don't agree with them are still people, human beings who deserve a fundamental level of respect and merit at the very least a listen. So yes, I am not optimistic, because I do see my country going to Hell, without even the benefit of being in a handbasket.

What do I think?

Why repeat what these people said so well?

Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows.
   -David T. Wolf

I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.
   -Edith Sitwell

At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religous or political ideas.
   -Aldous Huxley

Seek simplicity, and distrust it.
   -Alfred North Whitehead

Some observations that apply to weblogs...

Nothing has an uglier look to us than reason, when it is not on our side.
   -Halifax

For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong.
   -H. L. Mencken

Something to think about while voting...

The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad.
   -James Madison, 4th US president (1751 - 1836)

On another note related to things musical

Note to self: Take the Crystal Method version of the James Bond theme OFF of the iPod playlist for listening while driving.

It's NOT a good thing to listen to while driving a Renault diesel engined car in the rain on a French highway, for reasons both obvious and obscure. Take my word for it...

Peggin' the old Geek-O-Meter at 11

I've downloaded and set up remote access software on two of my laptop computers so I can use one PC laptop to remotely control iTunes on the PC laptop hooked up to my stereo. That way I can indulge my fickle musical muse without having to haul my butt up off the couch while surfing the web on my Mac PowerBook.

I may be lucky I'm not in the US where electronic stuff is cheap, I might have borgified my entire house by now...

Can someone loan me a handbasket?

Joe Gandelman, normally The Moderate Voice but today writing at Dean's World, hits the nail on the head when he writes, "The days of Open Mind are gone; the days of Open Mouth are here." In a post on the appearance by John Stewart on the CNN program "Crossfire" Gandelman extensively quotes from the transcript, and one of the things Stewart says is a good, short description of my concern over how little real work reporters now do. From the transcript:

BEGALA: What are you talking about? You mean at these debates?

STEWART: Yes. You go to spin alley, the place called spin alley. Now, don't you think that, for people watching at home, that's kind of a drag, that you're literally walking to a place called deception lane? Like, it's spin alley. It's — don't you see, that's the issue I'm trying to talk to you guys...

Reporters (they are no longer journalists, they merely report what the spinmeisters say with no thought, no analysis, no real work involved, just mindlessly quoting...) go to the "spin room" or "spin alley" after the debates. In other words, they go to Deception Lane, where the spinmeisters put the infamous spin on events in an effort to win at any cost, including sacrificing truth, thought, and anything that makes their candidate look less than optimum. Why is anything said by these people taken seriously, much less actually reported?

Even if you dislike John Stewart for his political leanings or don't appreciate his brand of humor, it is worth reading how he condemns the show "Crossfire" and by extension the news media as a whole for hurting America.

The "spin room"...

Spin Alley...

Deception Lane...

Mindless quoting of partisan hacks are reported over facts...

Knees are jerked instead of making the effort of taking off the partisan lenses and looking at all sides of the issues...

Anyone who doesn't agree is a traitor...

Accusation in of itself is proof, no evidence needed...

Voter registration cards being destroyed because registrant checked the box for the "wrong" party...

Shots being fired into political campaign offices...

Voters feeling disenfranchised, ill served, and forced to choose between two undesirable alternatives...

Orwell was right, both Big Brother and NewSpeak are here; he just missed the timing by two decades.

The days of Open Mind are gone; the days of Open Mouth are here.

Like I asked, can someone please loan me a handbasket, because my country is going to Hell...

I will vote today...

...and despite snarky comments on undecided voters this late in the election cycle out there in blogworld, I still have not decided which way to vote. I am voting today to make sure my absentee ballot gets back to Texas from France early enough to count. I am taking this decision seriously and do not want to vote based upon an immediate, emotional reaction, despite the fact that regardless of how I vote Texas will give its electoral votes to Bush.

Daniel Drezner has the same quandary as I regarding this election. I am troubled by many of Kerry's statements on foreign policy, but I am appalled at how the Bush administration has handled foreign policy after Afghanistan. I have written before about the inability of the Bush administration and George W. Bush personally to admit mistakes, which in itself is a critical if not terminal mistake. Drezner's discussion encapsulates neatly all of these issues:

Given the foreign policy stakes in this election, I prefer a leader who has a good decision-making process, even if his foreign policy instincts are skewed in a direction I don't like, over a leader who has a bad decision-making process, even if his foreign policy instincts are skewed in a direction I do like.

If Bush gets re-elected, he and his team will view it as a vindication for all of their policy decisions to date. Whatever groupthink occurred in the first term would pale besides the groupthink that would dominate the second term. Given the tactical and strategic errors in judgment that this administration has made, I have to lean towards Kerry.

Even though it's long, the entire post (including the addenda) is well worth reading.

---

Thanks to the Moderate Voice for the link.

Unintentional irony alert!!!

In an odd confluence of two posts, Professor Bainbridge first complains that "liberal cultural elites hold Republicans (for that matter, the middle and working classes of both parties)" in "utter contempt," but then in a different post writes:

The strongest argument against direct democracy surely is that people are idiots.

So, Professor, are you a "liberal cultural elite" now, or do conservative cultural elites also hold the middle and working classes of both parties in utter contempt?

One view of democracy

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.
   -H. L. Mencken

Now we're cookin'...

The ninth Carnival of the Recipes is up at She Who Will Be Obeyed! For this one, get both your stove AND your cocktail shaker ready.

A question for Republicans out there

Why is it that only Republican "operatives" such as Lee Atwater and Karl Rove are known as "evil geniuses" in political campaigning?

Is it only that the Republicans are more organized than the Democrats? Or is it that the Republicans are better at subtle dirty tricks and Democrats are more anarchistic?

Some thoughts in the debate aftermath and before our inevitable "October surprise"

Honesty is the best image.
   -Tom Wilson

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
   -Euripides

If you leave the smallest corner of your head vacant for a moment, other people's opinions will rush in from all quarters.
   -George Bernard Shaw

Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, and intolerable one.
   -Thomas Paine

Jack's special Mexican martini

I have only found this drink in Austin, and not every bar makes it the same. The best ones are at the Iron Cactus bar and restraunt, but Trudy's also has good ones. You get it in a shaker or a regular pint beer glass with a strainer, along with a martini glass rimmed with salt, and they only serve you two, because after that you're not speaking English any more... you're not speaking Spanish either... I don't know what you're speaking, but it's not English...

I haven't been able to get the exact recipe from the bars, so I watch when they make it and I made my own recipe, so this one really is mine! I don't know why they call it a martini, because it doesn't have the elegant simplicity of that drink, but then again, it's from Austin and things have always been "different" there.

The same warnings apply as to my special bloody mary, so I'll repeat it here:

WARNING: This is a VERY STRONG drink. I am NOT KIDDING. Please be responsible, both as an imbiber and as a host. If you plan to drink this, do not drive or operate heavy machinery for several hours AFTER you have the last drink, preferably after a night of sleep. This drink is deceptively strong and will kick your ass into next week when you think it's still last Saturday.

If you are a host, please help keep the imbiber from doing something stupid like propositioning an inanimate object, accepting a marriage proposal from an invisible friend, or shaking their head too hard because then they'll think it came off and spend the entire evening looking for it.

This is another one I do by eye, but it's not quite as complicated.

fill the shaker half full of ice

2 parts tequila

1 part triple sec or Grand Marnier

a splash of olive juice (from the jar you get the garnish olives from)

a splash of lime juice

roughly 1 part of sweet and sour mix (lemon based), usually less than 1 part, whatever fills up the cocktail shaker

shake well and serve in a martini glass garnished with a few olives, this one definitely tastes better with the glass rimmed with salt!!!

drink and enjoy RESPONSIBLY

---

Next time, actual food again, my Kinda-Southern Green Beans.

Debate winners and losers

Everyone is talking about who "won" or "lost" the debates, as a whole or each individual debate. The debates serve as a good Rorschach test of politcal views, because I rarely see anyone say that their man lost.

There is one true loser of the debates and of the election, regardless of the outcome: the citizens of the United States.

If these two men are the best we can come up with for the highest elected office in our nation, we're fucked...

Do you have some old children's books?

Project Apollonia is looking for a few good books. Check them out and give if you can.

Sigh... Awareness is a terrible thing

A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
   -Anatole France

Thoughts on love, fame, certainty, and vision for a Wednesday

As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
   -M. Cartmil

Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve the continuation of the species.
   -W. Somerset Maugham

Before fact-checking, remember this...

Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority: men please themselves with imagining that they have made a deeper search, or wider survey than others, and detected faults and follies which escape vulgar observation.
   -Dr. Samuel Johnson

Just rip up the Constitution while you're at it...

We're now down to "win at any and all costs," aren't we?

The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at Democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.

The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.

Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.

"We caught her taking Democrats out of my pile, handed them to her assistant and he ripped them up right in front of us. I grabbed some of them out of the garbage and she tells her assisatnt to get those from me," said Eric Russell, former Voters Outreach employee.

Eric Russell managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law.

So the people on those forms who think they will be able to vote on Election Day are sadly mistaken. We attempted to speak to Voters Outreach but found that its office has been rented out to someone else.

The landlord says Voters Outreach was evicted for non-payment of rent. Another source said the company has now moved on to Oregon where it is once again registering voters. It's unknown how many registrations may have been tossed out, but another ex-employee told Eyewitness News she had the same suspicions when she worked there.

...

The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.

As I asked before, do we have a democracy to defend any longer?

This makes me sick...

Countdown III

Only 12 days until I turn 40.

Yikes!!!

Some thoughts after waking in the dead of night

Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
   -Christopher Lasch

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
   -Wilson Mizne

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
   -Tolstoy

Do we have a democracy to defend any longer?

The attitude underlying this behavior is more dangerous to our democracy than anything the terrorist are capable of doing:

The Iconoclast received considerable criticism this past week after its editors endorsed John Kerry for President. Several subscriptions and advertisements were canceled after the newspaper hit the stands Tuesday morning.

The editorial, co-authored by the newspaper’s publisher, W. Leon Smith, and writers Don Fisher and Nathan Diebenow, expressed the opinion that Kerry would take the country in a better direction. There have been both positive and negative comments.

We expected that perhaps a few readers might cancel subscriptions, and maybe even ads, but have been amazed at a few of the more intense communications, some of which bordered on outright personal attacks and uncalled-for harassment.

We have been told by several avid Bush supporters that the days when newspapers publish editorials without personal repercussions are over. As publishers, we have printed editorials for decades, and have endorsed candidates, both Republican and Democrat. When Bush was endorsed four years ago, the Gore supporters did not respond with threats, nor did Democrats when we endorsed Reagan twice. Republicans did not threaten us personally or our business when we endorsed Carter and Clinton for their first terms.

In the past, when individuals disagreed with an editorial, they would write a letter to the editor politely expressing a different point of view in contrast to the views of the publishers, which we have usually published. Occasionally someone would cancel a subscription or an ad, but this was rare.

The goal of the editorial page has been to provide an arena for the expression of a variety of thoughtful opinions, some by the publishers, some by columnists, and some by our readers.

The new mode of operation, I am told, is that when a newspaper prints an editorial of which some sectors might disagree, the focus is now upon how to run the newspaper out of business. Out the window are the contributions the newspaper has made to the community in the past and the newspaper’s extensive investment in the community.

We do understand peoples’ rights to pull subscriptions and ads, and to express a differing opinion, but we have some trouble understanding threats and payback since in politics there are often a variety of options. For the publishers to herald one of the options should be no cause for persecution.

When you think about it, editorials are often displayed in people’s yards with campaign signs. These are endorsements by residents. Is it proper to persecute them for stating their opinions in this manner if you disagree with their choices? Should they be harassed and threatened? We don’t think so.

Unfortunately, for the Iconoclast and its publishers there have been threats — big ones including physical harm.

Too, some individuals are threatening innocent commercial concerns, claiming that if they advertise in The Iconoclast, they will be run out of business. We consider this improper in a democracy.

Several young members of our staff covering Tonkawa Traditions this past weekend were angrily harassed and threatened that they must leave, which cut short their ability to fully do their jobs and instilled in them considerable fear for their safety. These reporters had nothing to do with that editorial. They were part-time college students working to pay their way through school and better themselves.

Although several members of the community are upset at the newspaper, there are still those who want us to continue with local coverage as we have in the past. We do have concern for the safety of our staff, however, and find it troubling when they are bullied and cannot do their jobs.

The longer this kind of behavior continues without condemnation, the larger the damage to our democracy.

This kind of behavior has been incited by the over-the-top rhetoric of the "true-believers" on both the right-wing and the left-wing. The longer those true-believers wait to announce their opposition to these bad acts, the more I will hold them responsible.

Thanks to The Moderate Voice for the link.

Relativism in bad behavior only encourages more

UDATE: The Commissar has said:

We (conservatives) may take a little, guilty, unrighteous, human pleasure in reading Okrent pronounce the Left "worse." That's all; we'll give it a small grin.

The other side being "worse" in no way justifies or excuses uncivility.

This update is going at the TOP of my post because I do not believe it was the intention of the Commissar to say that bad behavior on either side is acceptable, and I do not want that to be lost at the end of a post people may not read in its entirety. As I say below, I have long respected the Commissar, and his comment on this matter is one of the many reasons why. My original post follows below.

---

The Commissar has a post that at first appears to be commenting on a recent piece by the New York Times ombudsman Daniel Okrent on the neutrality of the Times' coverage. The Commissar is remarkably even-handed until he gets to Okrent's final paragraph:

At any rate, all members of the VRWC should take great comfort from Okrent's last two paragraphs:

But before I turn over the podium, I do want you to know just how debased the level of discourse has become. When a reporter receives an e-mail message that says, "I hope your kid gets his head blown off in a Republican war," a limit has been passed.

That's what a coward named Steve Schwenk, from San Francisco, wrote to national political correspondent Adam Nagourney several days ago because Nagourney wrote something Schwenk considered (if such a person is capable of consideration) pro-Bush. Some women reporters regularly receive sexual insults and threats. As nasty as critics on the right can get (plenty nasty), the left seems to be winning the vileness derby this year. Maybe the bloggers who encourage their readers to send this sort of thing to The Times might want to ask them instead to say it in public. I don't think they'd dare.

As I blogged recently, the Left is demonstrably more shrill and less civil. As for us conservatives? I will quote King Lear, "When others are more wicked: not being the worst, Stands in some rank of praise."

Unfortunately, this added a sour note to the entire post, because now it appears that the Commissar is coming perilously close to justifying the bad acts of the right-wing. I left the following comment to the post:

Commissar, I was in complete agreement with you until you quoted King Lear. You come dangerously close to justifying bad acts of conservatives because "the other guys are acting worse." Bad acts are bad acts, and should be condemned regardless of whether "the other guys are acting worse." Recall that the play King Lear is a tragedy, due to the misjudgments of the eponymous King whom you quote, so I would take what Shakespeare has Lear saying not as something to take to heart but instead as a warning of things to avoid.

The side out of power tends to the shrill side. Recall that Rush Limbaugh, the man who sowed many of the seeds making vile accusations and over-the-top negativity acceptable resulting in the whirlwind we are reaping now, thrived in the years of the Clinton Presidency because of his shrill acccusations against the party in power. Does this justify what is happening now with the left-wingers behaving as badly as the right-wingers did in the past? No, it does not, no more than saying "they are worse" makes the bad behavior of either side any more acceptable.

I have always respected the Commissar, even when I disagree with him, because he does not engage in the selective vision I see in others on both the left and right-wings. In this case, however, he has encouraged those wearing the blinders.

I want to say this unequivocably: Even if your opponents are acting worse, bad behavior is NOT acceptable. This attitude of "the others are worse" can lead to the conclusion that now that terrorists have slaughtered children by the hundreds, it is acceptable for us to kill a few children, too, as long as it's not as many and we didn't really mean to do it, because the acts of the terrorists are still worse. Is that kind of sliding scale of morality really what we want for our society? That is what this kind of "logic" leads to, and it is the "logic" currently being used by the terrorists, who proclaim that no matter what vile acts they perpetrate it is acceptable because they claim we have done worse to them.

I'm sorry, Commissar, although I respect your point of view in defending your own I must vehemently disagree with you on saying that the right-wing, with the bad acts being perpetrated by them, "stand in some rank of praise" just because they are not quite as vile as the bad acts of the left wing. The behavior of BOTH sides is shameful, deserving of nothing more than opprobrium, and "taking great comfort" that your side is less reprehensible not only does nothing to correct the bad behavior of your side but actually encourages it. As I have posted before, BOTH sides need to take their own to task for their bad behavior, not justify it by saying "the other side is worse."

While we're distracted with the election...

...there are other important issues out there. My question is: Why is this still not resolved?

Are terrorists 'casing' planes?

Some pilots see 'suspicious' activity, but say there's no direct way to report it.

By Alexandra Marks | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Security experts continue to be concerned that terrorists are monitoring and probing the nation's aviation system in order to uncover vulnerabilities and prepare for another attack.

As often as twice a week, major airlines receive reports of suspicious behavior, according to industry sources - things like passengers videotaping the cockpit area, spending excessive amounts of time in the lavatory, or suddenly rushing to the front of the plane and then backing off.

Despite rising concern about security, however, pilots and other industry sources say there is still is no single and standardized system for airline employees to report such suspicious behavior directly to government investigators.

While the Federal Air Marshal Service does have a secure website to report such things, many airlines require that reports go to them first for vetting before they're sent along.

In addition, industry insiders say that flight crews need more training to alert them how to identify the difference between unusual but innocent behavior and "operational surveillance."

Such training and awareness could give security agencies and flight crews the intelligence they need to thwart another attack. Indeed, the Al Qaeda terrorists that commandeered four planes on Sept. 11 spent more than a year analyzing how the airlines and their security apparatus operated. Several took what were believed to be "casing" flights in the summer of 2001.

"The flight crew should be the eyes and ears of aviation security," says Chris Witkowski, director of air safety, health, and security for the Association of Flight Attendants. "They need training."

Excuse me, but what the HELL have they been doing the last THREE FUCKING YEARS? Is this the BEST they can do? They haven't trained the pilots and flight crews YET????

Read the entire article.

Concerns regarding Kerry

Beth, She Who Will Be Obeyed!, has listed why she will not vote for Kerry in November. She has very valid reasons; I suggest you read what she writes because I share many of her views. You can read below in the posts on the debates about my concerns regarding President George W. Bush. As I have lamented before, I again will be trying to decide who will inflict the least harm on the country rather than who will do the most good in deciding how to cast my vote.

Addendum to the Debate Drinking Game

Another rule for the Debate Drinking Game:

One drink every time Kerry says "I have a plan"

Who needs the campaign spinmeisters when we can make our heads spin from the golden words of our candidates without the spinmeisters' help?

Looking for the Fact-Check Brigade...

OK, now that we've covered the "cheating by bringing in a pen" with the first debate, does anyone wish to bludgeon this to death?

The Mystery of the Bulge in the Jacket

Those of you who were all over "pen-gate" saying that Kerry cheated by bringing in notes should be all over this one.

No?

Are we only going to see what we WANT to see?

UPDATE: It's interesting how silent those who were so ready to accuse Kerry of cheating are on this. I have checked around, though, and although there are some who see a larger pattern, I think the "material puckered" assertion is correct (unless definitively proven otherwise), and it is indeed the material of his suit reacting to his shoulders being hunched forward. Looks like the tailor to the Presidents didn't plan on the dramatic body language of President George W. Bush during the first debate!

So much for the "equal time" rule

sigh...

It remains to be seen if the FCC under Michael Powell will step in.

UPDATE: Beth commented that there may no longer be an "equal time" rule. I haven't found a more recent reference, but in late 2003 during the California Gubernatorial Recall Election, there was an odd discussion regarding the movies featurung Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrity candidates triggering the rule, so apparently it existed up until then.

UPDATE II: The FCC website is not very helpful (I guess I shouldn't expect a government web site to be useful...), but I found a reference from August of 2004 regarding the application of the equal time rule, so I don't think that it has been rescinded.

UPDATE III: The fairness doctrine was abolished in 1987, apparently replaced by the equal-time rule.

The show trials continue...

...over at the Politburo Diktat.

Read them all, even if you don't agree. There is at least one certified, self-described Progressive under indictment for fact-checking.

Interesting reading

William Swann, posting at Centerfield, has some interesting thoughts on the war in Iraq and the first Presidential debate. An excerpt (italics are from the original post):

The pivot became a key concern in a different way during the first presidential debate last Thursday.

Yes, the president pointed out Kerry's failure to pivot on the $87 billion. But he also essentially denied the right of anyone to pivot. He didn't just say that Kerry didn't pivot, with regards to the $87 billion -- he said you can't ever pivot.

Bush drew the line at a place that makes any sort of opposition to the war at any time a disqualifying factor for becoming commander in chief. Suggesting that the original decision to go to war was wrong means that you cannot now accept the challenge and follow-through with a plan for success.

There is no pivot, the president said. You were either with us from the beginning, or you're unqualified to take over the reigns now and see it through. Either I was right all along, or you're wrong now. Heads I win, tails you lose.

This attitude -- this failure to see any sort of pivot at all -- is what led to a headline in this morning's paper that's likely to strike Ohio voters in an odd sort of way. It says:

Bush Insists WMD Report Still Supports War on Iraq

The administration's position, expressed yesterday, is that the absence of WMDs has nothing to do with whether the original decision to go into Iraq was right. It was their central claim justifying the war, but now it has no relevance to the decision.

The stark illogic is clear to most voters who picked up their papers here in Columbus this morning.

It is, in essence, a refusal to see any sort of pivot. They can't admit we've learned things that would've influenced our decision, had we known them before the war. They can't accept the pivot as a central fact of our war policy -- that the justification for war is fundamentally suspect, but that it doesn't matter now, because we still have to succeed.

His concept of the "pivot" has helped solidify my thoughts on the current Iraq war. I suggest you read the entire post to get an insight on the interaction between the war and politics. I need to think on this for a while and will post more comments on it later.

Meanwhile on Mars...

The rovers have discovered more evidence of past presence of liquid water on the surface of Mars.

Why is this cool? Liquid water is key to life as it exists on Earth, so liquid water on Mars may have also resulted in life starting there as well. Even if all that life is dead now, the presence of life in the past would show that life can evolve elsewhere, which means that life likely exists in at least one other planetary system in the galaxy.

Isn't that cool? I think it is.

Someone we need to add a bit of fun to our lives has returned!!!

LeeAnn has returned, much joy!!!

She has gained wisdom, but unfortunately, she had to endure the pain that is the harsh teacher of that wisdom. Much sadness.

Go and remind her of how much we enjoy her writing.

LeeAnn, we've missed you.

The second debate

While this may be hard to believe, I remain undecided on how to vote and am using the debates to help with my decision. There is still one more debate to go, but I can tell you now that I am leaning strongly against George W. Bush for two reasons. His body language in the first debate (which I have already written on) shows how poorly controlled his temper is and how he cannot accept being challenged. The body language in the second debate was more controlled, but the difficulty he had controlling it indicated that he has little practice in doing so. Is this a characteristic we want in a man who is Commander in Chief?

The other reason I am leaning against George W. Bush is that the second debate has irrefutably confirmed his inability to admit mistakes, which I also have commented on before, and that this inability borders on pathological in this man. When asked a direct question on what mistakes he has made, his response was eerily similar to how he has been portrayed by Garry Trudeau in Doonesbury:

16 September 2004



18 September 2004



When you respond almost exactly as you are portrayed by a virulent opponent, this is not a Good Thing and does not show flexibility of thought. To those who are unwavering in their support of George W. Bush, I need you to enlighten me on how a man who cannot think of any mistakes he has made can ever learn, can ever grow, can somehow magically always do the right thing. I was taught in Sunday School that Jesus was the only perfect man. What does it mean when George W. Bush cannot think of any mistakes he has made (other than appointing people who ended up pointing out he made mistakes)?

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Some thoughts on making mistakes:

There is no man more dangerous than one who cannot recognize his own mistakes.
   -Jack

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
   -Unknown

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.
   -Confucius

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
   -James Joyce

It's easy to stop making mistakes. Just stop having ideas.
   -Unknown

We'll do all right if we can capitalize on our mistakes.
   -Mickey Rivers

Show us a man who never makes a mistake and we will show you a man who never makes anything. The capacity for occasional blundering is inseparable from the capacity to bring things to pass. The only men who are past the danger of making mistakes are the men who sleep at Greenwood (cemetary).
   -H. L. Wayland

To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.
   -Plutarch

Mistakes are a great educator when one is honest enough to admit them and willing to learn from them
   -Unknown

Making mistakes is not a crime, not learning from them is.
   -Alexander Senturia

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Of course, as a counterpoint, we have the fine precedent set by this man:

We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made.
   -Dan Quayle

Some thoughts for a weekend...

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss.
   -Lazarus Long (Robert A. Heinlein)

You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
   -Anonymous

Cyncicism, as a state of mind, produces more accurate observations about the universe that practically any other.
   -Michael Wikoff

Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power.
   -Aldous Huxley

The perils of using the wrong word

Much has been written and much derision has been made of John Kerry's use of the phrase "global test" in the first debate between the candidates for President of the United States. This shows the perils of using the wrong word to make your point. My interpretation of Kerry's meaning was of a "comprehensive test examining the issue from all sides," which is much wordier, but cannot be twisted to make it appear as if he wants to give the entire world a veto over the actions of the United States.

Sigh...

Appearances and spin are more important than substance, however, despite any wishes I have to the contrary.

Cool, but ow!!!

Go here.

WARNING: Don't look too long, you might get a headache.

Talk about a lesson in illusions...

Link from Dean's World.

Time to go grocery shopping...

...because the Carnival of the Recipes is up at Fresh as a Daisy. Who needs cookbooks?????

Since I haven't done one of these silly things in a while...

A-la Sam and Key:

R	Relaxed
A	Amazing
N	Nice
D	Delightful
O	Outrageous
M	Mischievous
F	Funky
A	Accurate
T	Tame
E	Easy

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

How can you be "outrageous" and "tame" at the same time???

Trackbacks

If you've sent a trackback ping to Random Fate and received no reply, I'm not intending to ignore you, but for some reason unknown to me about 80% of trackback pings here are not being recognized. There may be some kind of problem with my host, because I've also been receiving some errors when I post using an external application instead of the web-based Movable Type interface.

My apologies if you've trackbacked and felt ignored, it's not my fault, really!!!

A drinking game for the second debate

One drink every time Bush says "hard work"

One drink every time Kerry says "wrong"

After the first debate, you wouldn't be able to see straight, which might help you understand the shifting spin from BOTH sides...

Making up your own mind

Although I'm taking a bit of a break in posting on all the politics (believe me, I've had plenty of ideas and topics), Joe Gandelman has posted something on the politics of fear and making up your own mind I think is well worth reading, and I recommend you read the entire post. I agree completely when he writes:

You can stay up all night worrying about whether YOUR vote pleases or displeases Osama.

I'll be staying up worrying whether my vote is what's best for my country.

I feel that "what's best for our country" has been lost in blogworld in all the over-the-top name-calling pissing contests and in searches for the latest "scoop" over the conventional big media.

Some amusing quotes for a Friday

I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters.
   -Solomon Short (aka David Gerrold)

Never hit a man with glasses; hit him with your fist.
   -Anonymous

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.
   -Albert Einstein

Countdown II...

Only 17 days until I turn 40.

Yikes!!!

AND I've gotten a LOT more grey hair in the 6 months I've lived in France.

Yikes!!!

Jack's special bloody mary

Here's my contribution to the Carnival of the Recipes this week. I'm not sure if drink recipes are what Beth had in mind when she thought up this carnival, but hey, we need to drink as well as eat!!! Besides, this has gotten as many compliments as my beef stroganoff (which is by far my most popular post... I get more hits to that than the next three most viewed posts combined... if I had known that, I would have started posting recipes long ago)!!

WARNING: This is a VERY STRONG drink. I am NOT KIDDING. Please be responsible, both as an imbiber and as a host. If you plan to drink this, do not drive or operate heavy machinery for several hours AFTER you have the last drink, preferably after a night of sleep. This drink is deceptively strong and will kick your ass into next week when you think it's still last Sunday.

If you are a host, please help keep the imbiber from doing something stupid like proposing marriage to an inanimate object, accepting a marriage proposal from an invisible friend, or shaking their head too hard because then they'll think it came off and spend the entire evening looking for it.

The way I measure quantities is by how much the ingredients cover the bottom of my cocktail shaker, so it should scale reasonably well for different shaker sizes (I have a large mondo-sized shaker...). It comes out what I call "moderately spicy" so increase your favorite ingredients for spicier.

coarse ground cayenne (red) pepper - about 1/4 to 1/3 covered

coarse ground black pepper - about 1/3 to 1/2 covered

fine ground cayenne (red) pepper - about 1/4 to 1/3 covered

fine ground black pepper - about 1/4 to 1/3 covered

celery salt - just less than 1/4 covered

tabasco - about 1/2 to 2/3 covered (more for EXTRA hot)

worcestershire sauce - covered plus a bit more (maybe about 1/8 inch on the bottom, total, including the other spices)

lemon concentrate - 2 splashes

lime concentrate - 1 splash

fill the shaker about 1/3 full of ice cubes

fill the shaker with vodka just under to right at 1/2 full (I use Smirnoff Blue Label, the highest proof vodka from Smirnoff, when I can find it), it works best if you keep the vodka in the freezer beforehand (I don't know if any vodka snobs {well, maybe he's not a vodka snob, but he is the Vodka Pundit} will sniff in disdain at this, but hey, it helps the drink!!!)

fill the remainder with good quality tomato juice (NOT a bloody mary mix or V8, it's horrendous with V8...)

put the top on and shake thoroughly

rim your glasses with salt if you like

fill your glasses through the strainer on top of the shaker (I prefer no ice the glasses, but to each their own)

add a small amount of fine ground black pepper on top as a "floater", garnish with a celery stick if you have one

drink and enjoy RESPONSIBLY

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Next time, either my Kinda-Southern Green Beans, or my special Mexican martini. I'll take votes.

As I have said before...

...we deserve better than this:

Bush/Cheney campaign fails the honesty test

New Kerry ad misleads

Some quotes for a Thursday

A few that just might apply to blogging:

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
   -Will Rogers

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
   -Unknown