April 21, 2003
God Bless Humboldt State!
Story here.
eric 9:29 PM
April 13, 2003
From yahoo news:
Despite fall of Iraq regime, anti-war groups keep on marching
This sentence stood out:
Possibly the biggest European showing was half a million protesters on the streets of Rome, according to organisers, while a similar number turned out across Spain.
Half a million? Like, 500,000? This after the war has been going on for three weeks?
Compare this to the recent Iraqi demonstration that got literally hours of play on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc.
Not that we should be surprised, mind you. Maybe shocked, but not surprised.
eric 12:19 AM
April 11, 2003
Is Jeff Greenfield actually making sense every now and again?
He just made the point to Aaron Brown that Gulf War I led to 9/11. Before that, he was expressing caution in declaring victory in Iraq just yet, because we did the same thing in Afghanistan and that's far from an earthly paradise.
Heard him on Imus this morning, and he sounded sane there, too.
eric 11:00 PM
Lots of good stuff over at MWO tonight.
A link to this article in the Christian Science Monitor, which provides a window into the soul of some of the U.S. soldiers, and thankfully reflects their humanity.
And this story, about the author Roger Kahn and his response to the cancellation of the Bull Durham event at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I heard Dale Petroskey on WFAN this afternoon. That's the big sports station in NYC. He was being interviewed by Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, who isn't exactly Bill Moyers, but did a credible job for the short time I was able to listen. Petroskey started out with the same bullshit about not making the HOF a "forum" for political views, and his distaste at the possibility of seeing a byline "Cooperstown" in front of a story about war protests. But later, he admitted he would have handled it differently were he to do it over again. Russo interrupted - "So you're admitting you made a mistake?" And Petroskey admitted that he was, indeed, human, and not perfect, and maybe he should have actually called Tim Robbins and maybe talked to him before making the decision.
Well, good for him, I guess. But if I were Tim Robbins, I'd grab Susan, take the next bus to Cooperstown and stand on a street corner and scream "Down With Bush!" until the cows come home and the New York Times stopped by. That would make a nice little byline.
eric 10:52 PM
March 18, 2003
So it's come to this.
"Diplomacy" no longer means negotiation with your enemies, it means twisting the arms of your allies.
"Putting your cards on the table" means only doing so if you know you've got a Royal Flush, and the other players have 3 of a kind.
"Patriotism" means that no matter what, you keep your lips closed while the world falls apart around you.
"War" doesn't mean an armed conflict between two parties, but a massacre by an aggressor with at least 40 times the firepower.
Even if we win this thing in 72 hours and every one of our troops returns home safely, it's still a travesty and a debacle. The price to the U.N., NATO, and every other international alliance we've ever fostered over the last 50 years is uncalculable. Maybe France and Germany will come back on board, but they'll be very leery of jumping on board in future engagements, even if we have way more justification than this splendid little war.
eric 9:22 PM
The coalition of the willing has been outed, and here's the list:
Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan.
Impressive, no? Well, when you consider there are maybe 200 countries in the world, it's kinda like your side lost, 170-30, give or take. But that's just the raw numbers, and numbers always lie.
Like so:
How many of those countries are providing troops?
2. U.K. and Australia.
How many of those countries have a majority of their population supporting the war?
Uh, I can't find any. Where's Israel anyway? Don't they support this thing? Maybe they're pretending they're Switzerland, minus the cheese and the bank accounts. In other words, neutral.
Makes me proud to be an earthling, I'll say.
eric 8:19 PM
March 14, 2003
We can support the troops without supporting the war.
How?
Here are a couple of causes. (I'm sure there are many many more.)
The Uniting Through Reading program "helps keep parents and children connected while separated during long deployments, through the medium of reading aloud on videotape."
And the Red Cross is sponsoring a program to help support the families of servicemen and servicewomen.
"From distributing Red Cross comfort kits, to collecting items for goodie bags to be shipped overseas, to giving Beanie Babies to children of deployed service personnel, Red Cross chapters nationwide have developed innovative methods to meet the unique needs of an uncertain time."
And one of the biggest ways to "support the troops" is through supporting veterans. The late Paul Wellstone was not the biggest fan of this war (or any war), but he always always always found ways to contribute to veteran's causes.
eric 8:41 PM
March 13, 2003
I'm glad he's got his kid back. I can't imagine what he's gone through. But does anybody else out there think that Elizabeth Smart's father is one creepy dude?
eric 9:17 PM
March 10, 2003
Senate Punching Bag
Check for the transcript of Crossfire tonight (3/10/03) when Carville dismisses a U.S. Senator as if he's a bad waiter at the local Olive Garden. Of course, it was Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who our good friend Bartcop describes as "religiously insane," and "the biggest asshole in the senate with Helms retiring."
Carville even gives Inhofe the chance to ask him a question, and all Inhofe can come up with is a campaign speech about tax revenues during the Reagan years.
Pathetic.
eric 8:16 PM
Book 'em, Dano!
Are librarians doing enough to oppose the Patriot Act?
David Price said, emphatically, no!
eric 8:02 PM
March 07, 2003
United States v. the American Library Association.
The name of this case alone should give everyone pause, if not the heebie-jeebies.
Here's a good article from Slate.
eric 10:14 PM
March 06, 2003
Darwinism, according to Colorado Springs
Aren't these supposed to be the best and brightest of our military recruits?
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., accused the academy's top commanders of mishandling rape allegations and said they should be removed. But a spokesman for Air Force Secretary James G. Roche and Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper issued a statement refusing to blame the academy's top brass.
"We believe this regrettable situation has resulted from a climate at the academy that has evolved over time," Lt. Col. Chester Curtis said. "We will not make a scapegoat of anyone nor offer pre-emptive judgments on any issue, but will ensure justice is served on all levels."
"Evolved over time"? If this is evolution, give me creationism.
eric 10:47 PM
March 04, 2003
Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Screen Actors Guild releases a statement preemptively raising the spectre of McCarthyist blacklisting.
Is it over the top? Maybe.
Who cares. Good for them.
eric 9:10 PM
February 28, 2003
You know what sucks? Ordering a steak and cheese grinder (with mushrooms, onions, and peppers) from your favorite pizza joint, and after picking it up, discovering they've really given you a really bad eggplant grinder instead. (Really bad meaning there was a little cheese and no sauce; hell, if it were a real eggplant grinder I would have eaten the thing. I was hungry.) I was way beyond taking it back, especially when I had perfectly good bbq ribs left over in the fridge, but it still sucks.
The only consolation was envisioning the vegetarian who ordered that wimpy eggplant thing taking a bite of my sandwich. Bet they yelped more than I did.
eric 8:48 PM
February 27, 2003
Connie Chung just said goodbye to Mr. Rogers as if she was seeing him off at the bus. What an idiot.
eric 9:00 PM
Dreamcatcher, based on the Stephen King novel from 2001, is about to be released theatrically. I liked the book, although like a lot of King, it was way good at the beginning and sorta petered out at the end. Part of the reason I liked it is because some of it takes place at the Quabbin Reservoir right here in the Happy Valley. The book concerns an alien invasion that begins in backwoods Maine, but threatens to overrun the country; the aliens take over by spreading spore (called "byrus" in the novel), which, when ingested, turns into one nasty gastroenterological problem, otherwise known as a "shitweasel."
The cast won't blow you away, but there are some recognizable names:
Morgan Freeman plays Colonel Abraham Curtiss (like "Kurtz." Get it?)
Thomas Jane is Dr. Henry Devlin, the troubled psychiatrist. (Jane is the guy from that tv show about the Cape Code airport, right?)
Jason Lee plays "the Beav." (That's the character's name. Honest.)
Donny Wahlberg plays "Duddits" the telekinetic Downs syndrome "Dreamcatcher" of the title.
Anyway, I'm sure the movie will suck. I'm really wondering who might play the part of the shitweasel, basically a furry tapeworm with needles for teeth and a prediliction for biting, shall we say, sensitive areas of the male anatomy? Hmmm. Will it be him? Or him? Or maybe "him"?
UPDATE: The Cape Cod airport show was called "Wings" and didn't star Thomas Jane. I believe I was thinking of Thomas Hayden Church, who played "Lowell" in that series. My bad.
eric 9:00 PM
February 20, 2003
OK, close your eyes.
Wait, not yet. You can't read this if you close your eyes. Get somebody to read this to you. While your eyes are closed. OK? You can imagine this, instead of reading it.
Got somebody? Good.
This almost sounds like fun, right? Well, it isn't. Sorry. It's not supposed to be. I'm going to ask you to imagine things that aren't really fun. Not at all.
You're sitting in a 1.8 meter by 2.4 meter space. That's hard for most people in the United States to imagine. The 1.8 meters is the distance you have to move sideways. That's a little less than 6 feet. From side to side. Are you six feet tall? Not quite? Are you five feet tall? A little more? Keep these measurements in mind while you think about this space.
The 2.4 meters is what you have to stand up in. That's almost 8 feet. That's better, since you probably aren't 8 feet tall. I just stood up in my living room. It's probably 10 feet tall, maybe more. Cathedral ceilings and such are way higher. Where I work, in a converted eighteenth century cannon factory, there's at least 15 feet of space. I can move around and not have to think about the ceiling and how high it is.
The walls are wire mesh. Chicken wire, is the first thing I thought of. Not a lot of privacy, for all the things you have to do. For personal duties, you've got a bucket. Not sure of the size. Not sure how often it's emptied.
You can take a shower every day, maybe two, (these are described as "opportunities," so there might be some latitude as to whether they actually happen.) You've got "personal time," maybe for prayer, or other things, although prayer is probably you're best chance for contacting the outside world. There are three meals: A breakfast of "bread, cream cheese, an orange, a pastry, a roll, a bottle of water." Lunch, "typically a box of cereal, two cereal bars, a packet of peanuts, one packet crisps, one packet raisins, a bottle of water." And dinner, "typically white rice, red beans, a banana, bread, a bottle of water."
Hey. At least there's rice and beans to provide some protein.
Other than that, there's exercise, a doctor visit if you're feeling under the weather (the weather being between 72 degrees at night and 82 during the day). You've got a copy of the Koran, and an extra towel to serve as a prayer mat, which you'll no doubt use five times a day. You can write a letter under supervision (all pens collected afterwards!).
I'm not going to discuss why you're here, what particular crime you've committed, what unimaginable alliance of Allah and Satan have led you to this point. Maybe you're guilty; maybe not. I'm not a prosecutor. I'm a reluctant witness.
OK, open your eyes. Feel better?
I have no idea what people in this situation might feel like. But this makes sense, I guess.
eric 9:16 PM
Ahhh, what's a trillion dollars or two.
A short war with Iraq could cost the world one percent of its economic output over the next few years and more than $1 trillion by 2010, Australian researchers said in a report on Thursday.
A long war could more than triple the costs, they said. The compounding effects of rising oil prices, extra budget spending and economic uncertainty could cut $173 billion from the world economy in 2003 alone, said the researchers, Reserve Bank of Australia board member Warwick McKibbin and Centre for International Economics executive director Andrew Stoeckel.
eric 8:23 PM
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