Politics

Politically, I’m very liberal — about as far left as one can go without sliding into Libertarianism.

Protect the Baby Squirrels

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There’s an analogy that Shelley uses every so often that for one reason or another, started rumblings in my brain this morning: kicking the baby squirrels. This came up most recently in the continuing discussion of the Movable Type 3 licensing brouhaha.

Mistakes in licenses are serious things. Folks are right to question these. People who plan on using Movable Type in the future should continue to question confusing language in the licenses.

What’s sad about this though, is that the ‘baby squirrel’ phenomena is still in effect for Movable Type and the Trotts and Six Apart, when I thought we’d grown beyond that.

What do I mean by the ‘kicking the baby squirrel’ phenomena? When we address technical issues or question pricing, and you perceive it as an attack on the people, that’s accusing us of kicking the baby squirrels. If you perceive any criticism of a company or a technology or a person’s writing or opinions, as an act of overt hostility, and respond with personal insults in return, that’s playing the kicking the baby squirrel card.

Obviously, there’s been a lot of this going on recently. For all the people who looked at the restrictions of the licenses and raised holy hell, there were also quite a few who lambasted all of us who were upset as simply being whiny, spoiled children, complaining because we weren’t getting what we wanted for free, throwing tempertantrums, and refusing to pay.

Of course, that’s patently ridiculous. Few if any of the posts I’ve read (or written) about this have been from people unwilling to pay for MovableType — just from people unwilling to pay what they saw as unreasonable prices with draconian restrictions, which, coming from a company that’s historically been seen as one of the “good guys”, took us all by surprise. Yesterday’s clarifications should do a lot to help that and calm things down, but if there are still questions to be asked, there’s no reason to stop asking them.

What this really reminded me of, though, was what has been passing for political discourse in the US lately. Over the past few years, we’ve seen more and more of the “us versus them” mentality, where “us” seems to be defined as those who slavishly follow Bush and his cronies, and “them” being absolutely everyone else, foreign or domestic. Agree with Bush and his policies, and you’re fine, but question any of them, and suddenly you’re unpatriotic and a traitor.

It doesn’t matter that those of us who question generally do so because we’re concerned, because we want to see this country do well for itself, do well for others, and be respected in the international community and by itself. It doesn’t matter how serious the questions are, how serious the concerns behind them are, or how they are presented. The mere act of questioning is enough to condemn us.

Sound familiar?

I haven’t bothered to look into whether the political baby squirrel protectors overlap with the technological baby squirrel protectors much or at all, and just off the top of my head, I’d assume that any overlap would be entirely coincidental, and not have any real relevance. It’s the attitude that disturbs me, though, and I really wish it was one that we (collectively) could get over.

iTunes: “Fuck It Up (Did You Ever Get the Feeling?)” by Pigface from the album Preaching to the Perverted (1995, 3:42).

It’s not just Abu Ghraib

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Don’t understand how conditions in Abu Ghraib could have gotten as bad as they did? Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at our own prison systems.

Physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, similar to what has been uncovered in Iraq, takes place in American prisons with little public knowledge or concern, according to corrections officials, inmates and human rights advocates.

In Pennsylvania and some other states, inmates are routinely stripped in front of other inmates before being moved to a new prison or a new unit within their prison. In Arizona, male inmates at the Maricopa County jail in Phoenix are made to wear women’s pink underwear as a form of humiliation.

At Virginia’s Wallens Ridge maximum security prison, new inmates have reported being forced to wear black hoods, in theory to keep them from spitting on guards, and said they were often beaten and cursed at by guards and made to crawl.

The corrections experts say that some of the worst abuses have occurred in Texas, whose prisons were under a federal consent decree during much of the time President Bush was governor because of crowding and violence by guards against inmates. Judge William Wayne Justice of Federal District Court imposed the decree after finding that guards were allowing inmate gang leaders to buy and sell other inmates as slaves for sex.

And just in case it wasn’t clear that there was a direct connection between US prison techniques and those being used in Iraq, just keep reading…

The experts also point out that the man who directed the reopening of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq last year and trained the guards there resigned under pressure as director of the Utah Department of Corrections in 1997 after an inmate died while shackled to a restraining chair for 16 hours. The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was kept naked the whole time.

The Utah official, Lane McCotter, later became an executive of a private prison company, one of whose jails was under investigation by the Justice Department when he was sent to Iraq as part of a team of prison officials, judges, prosecutors and police chiefs picked by Attorney General John Ashcroft to rebuild the country’s criminal justice system.

Mr. McCotter, 63, is director of business development for Management & Training Corporation, a Utah-based firm that says it is the third-largest private prison company, operating 13 prisons. In 2003, the company’s operation of the Santa Fe jail was criticized by the Justice Department and the New Mexico Department of Corrections for unsafe conditions and lack of medical care for inmates. No further action was taken.

When we don’t even take care of our own prisoners humanely, what’s the chance that we’ll take care of prisoners of war in a humane manner?

(via MeFi)

We need a Japanese president

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Case in point: a Japanese minister has resigned in disgrace after failing to pay into a national pension plan.

The resignation of Mr Fukuda is also a major personal loss to [Prime Minister Junichiro] Koizumi.

He has been the government’s chief spokesman, and a key ally and adviser to the prime minister, for the past three years.

“I am ashamed of myself for having undermined the trust of the nation as a result of the non-payment of pension premiums,” Mr Fukuda told a press conference.

“I would like to apologise for having intensified distrust in politics due to an inept response on my part as the cabinet’s spokesman,” he said.

A pension plan.

In America, after a few weeks of headlines, the entire Enron scandal just blinked off of our radar, and there were many connections between that and the current administration. Now, this gentleman is stepping down and apologizing for an infraction that, from the article, seems to pale in comparison to much of what goes on over on this side of the pond.

If only our politicians had this kind of integrity.

iTunes: “When You Don’t See Me (German Release)” by Sisters of Mercy, The from the album Temple of Love (1992, 4:47).

Why isn’t Limbaugh muzzled yet?

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Why does this man still have a radio show when he spouts off crap like this?

On Limbaugh’s Tuesday radio show, titled “It’s Not About Us; This Is War!”, one caller likened the stacking up of naked Iraqi prisoners to a college fraternity prank — Limbaugh was eager to go along, calling the behavior nothing more than “a good time” and healthy “emotional release”:

“Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we’re going to ruin people’s lives over it and we’re going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I’m talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You [ever] heard of need to blow some steam off?”

I could hardly see straight when I first read that, let alone come close to forming a coherent response.

Thankfully, Kirsten did much better than I…

…I feel that Americans should find a way to apologize to Iraqis personally. We financed this, in essence. We drive around with flags on our cars and think we’re the fucking saints of this backassward world. It’s time to show our humility and our shame at the actions of the men and women who represent us abroad and fight for our freedom. Not being the greatest of activists, I wonder at how to do this. All I have is this blog and the ability to stand on a street corner in Fairbanks Alaska with a sign. I don’t even know what I could say that would make a difference. Perhaps it would be right for humane Americans everywhere (ie. Rush Limbaugh not included) to pick up a sign and march, not in anger or protest or support of our rights, but to march for forgiveness for our actions abroad. If the leader of our country won’t do as much, won’t face a camera and speak directly to the Iraqi people and apologize for the atrocities we’ve committed, it seems the only way to get that message out is to get out and do it ourselves.

Count me in. Not that I really have a lot of ideas — like Kirsten, all I’ve got is this blog and the ability to stand on a street corner in Seattle with a sign — but count me in.

I’m going to steal one last bit of Kirsten’s post, as again, she says exactly what I believe:

…consider these pictures when you go to the voting booth. Consider who is responsible for this fucked up war, for putting our soldiers into situations where this is normal and they are turned into barbarians, for destroying what little was left of our reputation in the world community. If you vote for Bush after seeing what he and his administration have done, you are subscribing to the actions they have taken. You are subscribing to more of the same, in essence, you are signing a big ‘A-OK Dubya!’ for the next four years. Remember each picture you’ve been shown, look at that ballot, and decide whether or not you can stand to see more of the same.

iTunes: “Union Man” by Shaking Family from the album Rubáiyát: Elektra’s 40th Anniversary (1990, 3:56).

National Day of Prayer

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So apparently today was the National Day of Prayer.

I’m sure that was appreciated by those Americans who are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Mormon, pagan, agnostic, or atheistic.

Okay, so yes, the official proclamation (PDF) does make a cursory attempt at inclusivity, inviting “Americans of every faith to give thanks for God’s many blessings and to pray for each other and our Nation.” I find that less than impressive, though, considering the wording of the rest of the document is blatantly Christian in tone.

Then there was this Washington Post article about Bush’s appearance on Christian TV to celebrate the day, where I found this choice bit:

…this year’s theme is “Let Freedom Ring.” He described it as the evangelical response to efforts to remove the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance and keep the Ten Commandments out of public buildings.

“Our theme is, there is a small group of activists unleashing an all-out assault on our religious freedoms. They are targeting the Christian faith,” he said.

Oh, give me a break. I’m so tired of this argument.

I wish I were rich. First thing I’m going to do when I win the Lotto is make an attempt to place monuments in every government building that has the Ten Commandments posted with key quotes from the Quran, the Mormon Book of Prayer, whatever I can find that will work well as a general catch-all for the larger pagan religions, something for the Oriental beliefs…you get the point.

Can you imagine the furor that would raise?

Sigh.

Okay, I’m done.

State votes ranked by IQ

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Here’s a fun chart: States ranked by average IQ and how they voted in 2000.

Update: I’m getting a ton of hits on this entry by people searching for similar data for the 2004 elections. Well, you’re in luck: State Votes by IQ 2004! Though, really, you’d be wise to scroll down and read through the comments on this thread — since the whole thing was basically a hoax to begin with. ;) Still, have fun!

  State Avg. IQ 2000
1 Connecticut 113 Gore
2 Massachusetts 111 Gore
3 New Jersey 111 Gore
4 New York 109 Gore
5 Rhode Island 107 Gore
6 Hawaii 106 Gore
7 Maryland 105 Gore
8 New Hampshire 105 Bush
9 Illinois 104 Gore
10 Delaware 103 Gore
11 Minnesota 102 Gore
12 Vermont 102 Gore
13 Washington 102 Gore
14 California 101 Gore
15 Pennsylvania 101 Gore
16 Maine 100 Gore
17 Virginia 100 Bush
18 Wisconsin 100 Gore
19 Colorado 99 Bush
20 Iowa 99 Gore
21 Michigan 99 Gore
22 Nevada 99 Bush
23 Ohio 99 Bush
24 Oregon 99 Gore
25 Alaska 98 Bush
26 Florida 98 Bush
27 Missouri 98 Bush
28 Kansas 96 Bush
29 Nebraska 95 Bush
30 Arizona 94 Bush
31 Indiana 94 Bush
32 Tennessee 94 Bush
33 North Carolina 93 Bush
34 West Virginia 93 Bush
35 Arkansas 92 Bush
36 Georgia 92 Bush
37 Kentucky 92 Bush
38 New Mexico 92 Gore
39 North Dakota 92 Bush
40 Texas 92 Bush
41 Alabama 90 Bush
42 Louisiana 90 Bush
43 Montana 90 Bush
44 Oklahoma 90 Bush
45 South Dakota 90 Bush
46 South Carolina 89 Bush
47 Wyoming 89 Bush
48 Idaho 87 Bush
49 Utah 87 Bush
50 Mississippi 85 Bush

Obviously, there are a number of reasons — mathematical, statistical, and scientific — why a chart like this shouldn’t be taken terribly seriously.

That won’t stop me from being amused by it, though. ;)

(via MeFi)

Nightline on Friday

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As I don’t do the TV thing I won’t be watching this, but for those of you who do, this Friday’s Nightline is looking to be a doozy.

From their daily e-mail update for today, April 27th 2004:

Now I want to tell you about this Friday’s broadcast. We’re going to do something different, something that we think is important. Friday night, we will show you the pictures, and Ted will read the names, of the men and women from the armed forces who have been killed in combat in Iraq. That’s it. That will be the whole broadcast.

…Whether you agree with the war or not, these men and women are serving, are putting their lives on the line, in our names. We think it is important to remember that those who have paid the ultimate price all have faces, and names, and loved ones. We thought about doing this on Memorial Day, but that’s a time when most media outlets do stories about the military, and they are generally lost in the holiday crush of picnics and all. We didn’t want this broadcast to get lost. Honestly, I don’t know if people will watch this for thirty seconds, or ten minutes, or at all. That’s not the point. We think this is important. These men and women have earned nothing less.

Wow. Powerful stuff.

(via Atrios)

iTunes: “Legion” by VNV Nation from the album Empires (2000, 5:11).

Watch what you blog!

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It was bound to happen — and realistically, it probably has been happening, just now we’re getting news stories about it — US intelligence agencies are starting to keep an eye out on weblogs.

Some blogs are whimsical and deal with “soft” subjects. Others, though, are cutting edge in delivering information and opinion.

As a result, some analysts say U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials might be starting to track blogs for important bits of information. This interest is a sign of how far Web media such as blogs have come in reshaping the data-collection habits of intelligence professionals and others, even with the knowledge that the accuracy of what’s reported in some blogs is questionable.

Still, a panel of folks who work in the U.S. intelligence field – some of them spies or former spies – discussed this month at a conference in Washington the idea of tracking blogs.

Personally, I think these guys are just trying to find an excuse for why Fark keep showing up in the CIA webserver logs…

(via Anil)

iTunes: “Little Horn” by Marilyn Manson from the album Antichrist Superstar (1996, 2:43).

Well, it was convenient…

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Okay, so on the scale of stupid things Bush has done, this may not be right at the top, but it’s still a rather sad look at how little respect the man can have for other people when he’ll use someone else’s shirt to clean his glasses while their back is turned.

How would you feel about a person who thinks it is okay to grab your shirt and use it clean their eyeglasses?

That’s how arrogant our President is. During a commercial break on the David Letterman show, producer Maria Pope was on stage and discussing something with Letterman, and while she was standing there in front of Bush, George leaned forward, grabbed the back of her sweater and used it to clean his glasses. Check out the Quicktime video.

Regardless of your political party and beliefs, we all know that this administration has raised some serious questions, and has often asked for us to blindly believe in the their drastic actions, all of which are clearly far more serious than this boner on the Letterman show. However, there is not a spin, explanation, or flat out lie that can defend Bush’s character in this revealing moment, when he was dumb enough to think that people or cameras were not looking. Even worse scenario is he did know, but just didn’t care.

We deserve better leadership and representation. If you have any doubts, please vote him out.

(via Boing Boing)

iTunes: “Sympathy for the Devil” by Skrew from the album Shut Up Kitty (1993, 4:31).

The greatest conspiracy theory ever

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A link to a somewhat sloppy article on 9-11 conspiracy theories on Metafilter led to a very worthwhile discussion today, including one of the best comments I’ve seen on there in a while. I’m reproducing it in full here — hopefully mokujin doesn’t mind. :)

The greatest conspiracy theory ever:

19 men (at least four of whom are, according to the BBC, still alive) of whom 14 are Saudi nationals engage in a coordinated Kamikaze attack on the symbolic centers of American military and financial power. 3000 innocent civilians are murdered in cold blood in about one hour.

Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Ladin are immediately blamed, but the U.S. government fails to provide any substantial evidence for this claim. A war on “terror” is declared. Strong ties are demonstrated between the president of the U.S. and the Bin Ladin family, but never really investigated by the media or the government.

The attacks become the justification for an enormous bill called USA PATRIOT. Democrats threaten to block the bill. At about this time a series of letters containing an advanced strain of Anthrax is sent to political and media figures including Democrat leader Tom Daschle. The USA PATRIOT act passes, even though most of the congressmen and senators had not had a chance to read the full text of the legislation. The person or persons behind the Anthrax attacks remain unknown and at large. The president attempts to prevent a congressional inquiry into the kamikaze attacks but, under pressure from the media and survivor’s families and after much wrangling, relents. The white house is given final edit of any report emanating from this commission. Much of the testimony given before the commission is secret and not revealed to the public. No one in our government is ever fired or reprimanded and no one resigns for their failure to prevent the attacks.

Meanwhile, an administration that has closer ties to the petroleum industry than any other in history uses the attacks as justification for two land wars against nations that offer important access for a proposed oil pipeline and vast oil wealth, respectively. The second of those nations, Iraq, the administration openly admits had nothing to do with the attacks. Congress hardly debates before handing over their constitutionally mandated power to declare war over to the president without a fight. Saudi Arabia, a nation that gives more private (and possibly public) money to terror than anyother is still a major recipient of U.S. aid. Also untouched by American vengeance and much touched by American dollars is Pakistan, a longtime Washington ally, whose security agency, the ISI, was a major backer of both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Over a period of about two and a half years about 800 american and allied troops die. In this same time period at least 10,000 Iraqi and Afghan civilians and an unknown number of soldiers are killed in the name of avenging the attacks on America. Also, the U.S. military and intelligence services begin interning large number of foreign nationals in overseas U.S. military bases outside the reach of American, and, evidently, international law. These men are declared to be “enemy combatants” without rights.

Two and one half years after the attacks it is revealed with little fanfare that the President and his close advisors had planned both wars months in advance of the attacks. The American people remain largely supportive of the president even as the truth about this comes out. Most Americans also continue to believe, as they have been subtly or unsubtly encouraged to by the President and his closest advisors, that Iraq was in some way behind the attacks. The illegal weapons stockpiles and programs used as the official justification for that war are never found.

So that is a series of facts. I have strung them together in a way that might induce someone so inclined to falaciously infer causal relations where they may or may not exist, or it might not. How is 911 not a conspiracy? 19 men is a conspiracy. The old man in the caves is a conspiracy. So-called “neo-conservatives” who have been calling for war against Iraq since 1992 and who include in their number our secretary of defense, at least one assistant secretary of defense (Wolfowitz, also Feith?), vice president Cheney and scores of others in the government and media are the very definition of a conspiracy. The axis of evil is a conspiracy theory. The liberal media is a conspiracy theory.

got to catch my breath…

“Conspiracy theory” is a term people use to discredit other people’s arguments and ideas, it is an expression of power that is used to limit discourse and, by extension, thought. In the posted article it is being used to discredite the very sane and reasonable words of John Judge. Decontextualize his words from the foil-head stuff that surrounds them and you will find that he is asking for something that every American should be asking for: the truth. I hope that nobody reads that article and thinks that John Judge is crazy. I think it is quite obvious to anyone who has been paying attention that the government of the United States of America does not want a full and accurate public accounting of the events surrounding September 11. At the same time, the media is not and has not been doing its job. That is a conspiracy that more people should be angry about.

The attacks on September 11 and the events before and after are a vast web of conspiracies, anyone who denies that is confusing ignorance for truth. These conspiracies may not be as baffling or sinister as the ones mentioned in this article, but they do have the advantage of being real, and the hardcore “skeptics” are being just as irrational as the looniest of the conspiracy theorist. It should be remembered that government is the greatest conspiracy of them all. Our fellow citizens working together for the good of all. Ideally government is just, honest and transparent. At this moment in our history it is not any of those things. The many conspiracy theories about 911 are an honest, if irrational, reaction to this sad fact.

— mojukin