C.R.A.P. Sunday - Time's a-wastin'

Catch-up Rants And Platitudes - #8 - Time waster edition

I have been very productive, in unmeasurable and insignificant ways.

Not much to report on the volunteering-side ... putting in my time, hopefully it has been beneficial, kinda hard to measure at this point. The good news - have a lead on a clinical opportunity - will have to see how that plays out.

Blew the rest of my time this past week on mostly really useless stuff. Take, for example, my goodreads page. This is a really cool site where you can build up your history of all the books you have read in the past, rate them, review them (if so moved), and develop a list of books to read in the future. It has a lot of options for "shelves" of books - you can create any categories to group your books that you choose. I selected to create lists of books that were read multiple times, or for reference, or so long ago that I cannot recall much about them. Others have lists based on what year they read the book, or based on the genre. Since most of my reads tend to fall into science fiction (ie, Dune), horror (ie, Stephen King), or fantasy (ie, The Wheel of Time series) - and many of those fully overlap (ie, King's The Dark Tower series) - I didn't bother separating by genre.

Wasted most of my time after entering my books by A) attempting to fill in "when" I read them (very loosely guessed), and then B) changing the image of the covers to more closely represent the image of the book I am most familiar with. Very cool that it has these features, but I would expect to be able to enter some of that info in "batches," instead of one by one.

Typed up a few reviews too - for the titles that jumped out at me as needed some commentary. I will try to go back and comment on some others later, and of course then every book I add in the future I will try to get a little blurb out on. You may have to be a registered user to read reviews - but check it out and see if ya like it.

Movies

Along those same lines is the movie review site, Rotten Tomatoes. Check out the links in the sidebar. I had only one review up so far, but was inspired to drop another one after seeing the movie below. Click inside the movie poster to go to my review. And then let me know what you thought of it - either here in the comments or on that site.

News

This swine flu is getting raging amounts of coverage now. I guess people needed a break from North Korea, Iran, and torture. I'm still betting that in retrospect it will be a bit of an overblown response. Just use common sense - with prompt treatment for those getting sick, chance of recovery is pretty high. And it just serves as a reminder for the usual transmission-prevention techniques - don't sneeze on people, and wash your hands frequently. Keep sick kids that can't manage these conventions away from their peers until they are healthy.

Politics

The first official defector from the Republican Party, Arlen Specter, drew quite a stir. If the Minnesota race is ever decided and Al Franken finally gets seated, that will push the Dems in the Senate to that critical 60th vote. Assuming he and the other Dems vote along party lines for any given item in question. Specter basically switched to help ensure his re-election, given that he would have better chances in the Democratic primary than Republican. I would have been happier to see this as a form of protest against "the party of NO" and the Republicans' other apparent roadblocks to passing worthwhile legislation. And instead of trying to change his party from within, he basically switched sides and then reminded everyone that he still may not vote with the majority. That's fine - I would expect ANY politician to vote based on the merits of bill and the input of their constituents - but Specter's move seems more personally-motivated than party-related.

Da Blog

The other wasted time today [after a visit with my nephews, sis & her in-laws, and folks - this wasn't the wasted part, although I did feel a little buzzed after my two mega-martinis (thanks, Dad!)] was playing with the sidebar here (on the right) and making "widgets" work for "goodreads" and "rotten tomatoes." For those not in the know, "widgets" are groupings of text that form the coding behind interactive components of the website. On the goodreads widget you can flip through some book covers from my list of recently-read books, and in the Rotten Tomatoes one you can search for a movie or celebrity.

These are basically test-runs... when I *finally* do the major template overhaul, I will include other related links and make this more functional and attractive.

And then I will promptly ignore the blogosphere for just long enough to make all these efforts obsolete.

Any suggestions on readability, formatting, content, or other items to be on the lookout for are welcomed!

Jon Stewart is a GOD

I'm kicking back on the sofa, folding some laundry & watching TV, and trying to stifle my laughter as I keep distracting my wife from her work on the computer.

I can't help it. I'm starting to think that The Daily Show should be required viewing.

Jon Stewart had a particularly good segment tonight (April 7, 2009 - go check out the web page and view the first half of the show if you haven't seen it). He was making a good example of the hypocrisy of the conservatives (or should I say "ultra-conservatives"? maybe just the neocons?). He was showing clips from pundits and politicians expressing their "terror" at the "tyranny" of Obama's presidency, how it's an erosion of our rights and the Declaration of Independence.

Huh?

And (of course) he points out the criminal actions that occurred during the Bush presidency, and the nose-dive the US took in the international arena under his leadership. Contrast that with the reception that Obama got at the G20 conference, and the shared vision we are now working toward with respect to nuclear (pronounced correctly!) disarmament and the components of Obama's campaign platform.

The most poignant comparison was how - during the last eight years - anyone criticizing Bush or his policies was "unamerican." But now, not only do we have the conservatives flinging around "socialist," "tyrant," and other epithets while they criticize his policies ... we also have idiotic hate-mongers like Rush Limbaugh voicing his hopes that Obama's policies fail - even at the cost of recovery from the economic crisis. Hypocrisy at its best.

I can't help but think of what the Dixie Chicks went through after their criticism of Bush and the Iraq war in 2003 (if you missed that or need a refresher, check out their wikipedia entry. What was "high treason" then is par for the course now?

Only because their guy didn't win in '08.

I know, I know, there was a war on then, and we all get little blinders on when there are polarizing issues. But be rational - at least try to see the other side's story without automatically demonizing it. America is all about protecting freedoms - you know, like free speech? The venom that Limbaugh and some of these pundits get paid to spew - that is protected as well. I'm just glad Stewart and his colleagues (like Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow) are around to assemble the clips and expose the bullshit for what it is - 'cause I sure don't have the patience for all that. But at least I have hope.

Addendum 4/8/09:
Now that it is available, here is the clip I am referring to. [If you are NOT a fan, please hold tight until at least the middle - it picks up a bit more there and gets to the point(s) I was commenting on.] The rest of the episode can be seen (either as full episode, or as clips) by going to The Daily Show and clicking on "full episodes" or "videos" and selecting the appropriate date.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

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Pictures lifted from Wikipedia. Clip from The Daily Show website.

C.R.A.P. Sunday - Mega Monday edition

Catch-up Rants And Platitudes - #6 - procrastination

In honor of my favorite pastime, I'm dropping a late entry here. It's been a while since I did any serious blogging - although I've had the best of intentions, of course. Once I get some things together this site will get a mega-makeover, and I'll be posting a little more frequently, with shorter (theoretically, more focused) entries. Or so I say now.... In the meantime, here are a bunch of items I have been meaning to share for a while.

Let's start with some fun. Anticipating all that upcoming Easter candy? Don't think you should eat it all? *Here* is something fun to do with leftover candy (found the link to the youtube clip in this weekend's edition of the Red Eye). If you are partial to peeps, check out Peep Research or Peeps in a library.

Blago - They have finally brought charges against the former governor of Illinois. I'm glad things are moving along finally. Where was he, by the way, when this was announced? Disney World - that seems appropriate. His appointee Burris, who didn't have the foresight to decline the appointment, or the integrity to step down once his apparent complicity was exposed (see prior entries here and here), is still occupying the Senate. Governor Quinn has thankfully turned his attention to more pressing issues once it was obvious there would be no "easy way" - we'll let the 2010 election straighten it out. I just hope we can find a respectable candidate to get behind.

Blago sure does have the wrath of the Illinois congress chasing him though - they already passed a bill to prevent him from EVER holding public office again in Illinois (see in a previous post here), and now they are passing legislation to prohibit him from making any profit on book deals. I don't know how legal that is, to redirect a potential earning stream back into the state treasury. It's not like putting a lien on his salary for child support or to repay some defined criminal or civil damages. After the trial, that might be a different story.

A victory for gay rights - for any who haven't already heard, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down the law banning gay marriage. Here is an article from the Sun Times, which goes on to explain how it could be 2-4 years before there is even a chance of repealing it. In a previous post, I posed the question of how people can feel justified in depriving ANY subset of the population from rights under the law. I am not homosexual myself, but am sickened by the hypocrisy of the USA setting itself as an "example" for the world, and then denying rights (whether it be gay marriage, or fair treatment of prisoners or "enemy combatants") selectively. For now it's only Iowa, Connecticut, and Massachusetts that are "enlightened" enough to have welcomed gay marriage. California had it briefly, until "prop 8" banned it again. Of course, having "yes on 8" as the movement to BAN marriage could easily have confused voters - I wonder how a re-vote would turn out if it lacked that inverted terminology (i.e, say "yes" for "yes to gay marriage").

Drew Peterson - More from the white-trash role model couple, apparently Christina Raines has now moved OUT again, but they intend to remain friends. I'm not even gonna bother with them anymore - just looking forward to some charges finally being raised against this schmuck. Click on their labels (right column) if you wanna read about their Springer-escapades. By way of refresher, he's a suspect in the death of wife #3 and the disappearance of wife #4 (Stacy). Raines was on-again off-again wife #5-to-be.

Gun violence, health care, and the death penalty - all too long to write about here, stay tuned for some upcoming posts.

Movie and Book reviews - I decided against using this blog for cheering and jeering for mass entertainment. I would like to direct friends to reviews on a "movie review" site - any suggestions out there? Hopefully one that is searchable by author of reviews as well as movies.... (I haven't looked yet - and not sure how soon I'd start writing anyway)

Techno-poke - No, this is not a new Facebook application (not that I know of, at least). Apparently, some computer programmer from Finland (?) that lost part of a finger in a motorcycle accident fashioned a prosthesis for himself that includes a USB drive. That could give a whole new meaning to "giving your boss the finger." And it would be a lot harder to claim you left your presentation on your other prosthesis.... (pic lifted from the BBC news page)

Ok - lemme know if you're still reading and what you wanna see more of!
Hugs n kisses,
bonz'

C.R.A.P. Sunday - Bachelor edition

Catch-up Rants And Platitudes - #3

It was a SHOWER! I've even used it a second time now, how refreshing. And thanks to kapgar for his suggestion, not only did the mouthwash fix my breath without all that effort of brushing, but it also gave me quite a nice little buzz. Shall we begin?!?

• Burris - I was hoping to be done ranting on the whole Blago / Burris thing. Now Burris has submitted an affidavit that appears to contradict his prior testimony. Briefly, he swore up and down (and under oath) before being sworn in that he was not approached for any sort of money in exchange for the Senate seat, and that he had no contact with Blago's camp. Now he is admitting to being asked to contribute to Blago's campaign fund prior to the appointment, and that he spoke with several members of Blago's camp. He is, of course, still claiming no wrongdoing, saying that no contribution was made, and that omissions were made in his testimony secondary to interruption by follow-up questions. The real story -- I'm guessing this is his last-ditch effort to avoid outright perjury as further evidence is revealed (i.e., recorded conversations between Burris and Blago's brother). Of course, the timing is after Blago's impeachment trial, so Burris's new version of events is too late to hurt him in that arena (not that it would have mattered, of course).
  
  Regardless, it's clearly shady that he was not forthcoming about these details -- and further proof of his questionable moral character. Kinda funny that he announces his "listening tour" of Illinois as this news breaks, reminiscent of his mentor Blago that went on a media tour as his impeachment trial began. So are we gonna see another circus of replacing our junior Senator before the 2010 election? Or just leave him there and laugh heartily if he even attempts to run at that time?!?


• Drew Peterson - the drama never ceases. Now they appear together on the "Today" show. Not only are they living together again and looking forward to marrying as soon as possible (hopefully AFTER he manages to divorce his "missing" wife), but there was absolutely NO MENTION of her prior statement about the engagement being "a stunt." What happened to her fear for her safety and concern about his habit of becoming bored with his wives? What about the ex-boyfriend she had moved back in with during the week or two that she was separated from Drew?!?
  
  My prediction -- he needs to marry her before his trial, so she cannot be called on to testify against him. It's obvious she knows something -- she's been very well coached about not answering questions relating to Stacy. I would not be surprised if her "resumption" of their relationship was in exchange for either 1) some sizable bribe, or 2) to prevent some sort of retaliation. Even a "Jerry Springer Girl" like her would not flip-flop so completely without some external influence. This story is far from over ... unfortunately, the drama will likely continue to play out over the next several years. I'd rather jump to the punchline and deny them further rounds of their 15 minutes. Otherwise my head is gonna explode.


• Just Shoot Me - Chicago is a pretty violent town. Robbery, mugging, rape, stabbings, shootings -- we have more than our fair share. People are frightened, I understand that. But please, please tell me how putting more guns on the street in "law abiding citizens'" hands is supposed to help that. They are trying to pass a concealed carry law, being pushed by a group of college students at DePaul University of all places. More guns will only increase the number of victims, whether we have "innocent bystanders" wounded by trigger-happy nervous people thinking they are being followed in dark parking garages, or by would-be defenders having their own guns used against them, or by angry citizens who reach for a handy weapon in a moment of rage. We need to get guns *OFF* the streets, not "levelize" the playing field by increasing fear that ANYONE might be carrying a gun. If this is really about helping women defend themselves, why not distribute mace as broadly as they hand out condoms? Non-lethal alternatives could be just as effective, and are more likely to be readily used by those uncomfortable with making the choice to fire a gun. Which would hopefully be ALL of us civilians.
  

Ok, back to the job hunt.

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News photos lifted from Chicago Sun-Times. Showerhead and pink gun stolen from Google images. No, I don't think that qualifies for "concealed carry" - even if it took you several minutes before you spotted the gun.

I'm no financial wiz...

but I thought I had a rough understanding of the roots of the financial crisis. In simplest terms, I thought it was due to bad loans - basically, abuse of credit by people that couldn't make their payments, and high-risk loans for homebuyers that wouldn't otherwise be in a position to own, coupled with banks looking to make a profit of such loans. And yadda yadda yadda, greedy Wall Street and deregulation, etc.

As usual, the real story is much more complex and far-reaching. Here is a link to a recent article from BBC News about the World Social Forum in Brazil. It's a bit long and tedious, but interesting if you have the patience. Specifically, check out this section, which gives a little overview of one participant's analysis of the factors leading up to the crisis. My oversimplification / summary is

1. Overproduction by industrialized countries, coupled with
2. Inadequate development of new markets (i.e., insufficient purchasing power in the rest of the world), which led to
3. Lower profits from manufacturing, which was overcome with
   
4. Investment in the "financial sector" to maintain profits, which resulted in
   
5. Decoupling of the "financial value" from the "actual value," which allowed
   
6. Rapid fluctuations in the value of financial investments, which allowed for
7. Formation of the "bubble," which has now burst.

Experts from all over the world have been meeting to discuss causes and fixes, and of course no one can agree. To some degree, the deregulated system in the U.S. became a model for deregulation globally (for more equal competition in the market), and that has enabled the collapse to spread globally as well.

The fix - duh - is gonna have to involve re-regulation, and on a global scale. We cannot continue with a total free-market model that has no intrinsic accountability and no bias against inequality. The dramatic differences between economies has allowed for sweatshop labor and outsourcing of jobs.

As we recover, we need work in protections for underdeveloped nations and act as "big brothers / mentors" for developing nations. As we claw our way back from the brink, we need to offer hands to our partners and would-be partners in the global economy, and elevate everyone in the process. Focusing on "green energy" is one way the U.S. hopes to fight the crisis, and the battle with global warming is a prime example of how everyone will benefit from working together. Helping countries like China develop renewable energy (instead of coal, etc.) will help their economy as well as reducing pollution, improving their health, and battling global warming.

We are living through a trying period right now, but the possibilities for what we may build from it are truly exciting.

Sociopaths abound

So they finally did it - our "cloud" in Illinois has been lifted by the removal of Blagojevich, when he was found guilty at the impeachment by a vote of 59-0. I still can't believe this guy... he insists on boycotting his trial there, claiming a "set-up" and unfair rules. Even his lawyers skip it. And then he finally shows up on the last day, makes a 45 minute-long plea / speech, and gets irrevocably shot-down. This, of course, after his media blitz trying to take his case to the "court of public appeal."

But that's not why we're all doing a double-take again. The man goes home after his trial, makes a statement to the press (I have faithfully served the people of Illinois, the truth will come out, I'm innocent, blah blah blah), refuses to answer any legitimate questions from the press (why did you not follow protocol to try to bring your witnesses to the trial, etc.), and is about to duck inside his house when he goes back into the crowd and starts grabbing kids to pose with him for photographs, shaking hands, etc - like he's on a friggin' campaign trail.

For some reason he actually still has supporters, and quite a crowd was out there saying they believe him, they love him, etc. I cannot wait until the evidence is presented in the criminal trial and he gets his just desserts. The way he is so adamantly denyin any wrongdoing - it's quite frightening. I'm pretty sure he qualifies as a sociopath. Just because "pay to play" has become some sort of standard in Illinois government, any rational person should recognize how unethical it is - and you can't claim innocence to "wrongdoing" simply because you are participating in the status quo. It would be nice if Illinois and Chicago take the cue from this scandal and reform how they do business - whether it takes cleaning house to accomplish this, or if the politicians themselves can take in some supplemental moral fiber.

It amusing to note that - in addition to removal from office - the Illinois Senate passed a motion barring Blago from ever holding any public office again in Illinois. I'm not sure how legal that is, but it's nice to know they are doing their best to prevent him from escaping this debacle too easily in the near future.

Of course, he is not the only sociopath in the news lately. Remember that sleaze Drew Peterson? He was implicated as a person of interest in the disappearance of his 4th wife (Stacy) in 2007. That was after the mysterious drowning death of his 3rd wife in 2004. (Sorry, dunno anything about #1 & 2, and not motivated to dig it up). This 55-year-old was recently in the news for becoming engaged (while still married to his "missing" wife) to a 24-year-old Christina Raines. She moved in with him, and my wife and I started contemplating the odds on her long-term survival. Then on a recent Nightline, apparently good ol' Drew gave an interview talking about how he became bored with his previous 4 marriages, and how he longed to again be married to "belong" to someone. He stated to the interviewer that Christina was very happy with him and things were going great.

The day after this interview airs, she calls her father to help her move out of Drew's house and calls off the engagement, calling him very "controlling" in their relationship and worried over his "loss of interest" in his previous relationships. Take a look again at the time frames, and their ages. Sheesh. She has two small children by the way, and he has 4 of his own. He called them nice and cozy in his two-story house, like a box of baseball cards. Excuse me?? Why would you ever describe the way a group of eight living people get along like a collection of inanimate items that you stack and file away....


And to wrap up this blog, lemme mention Rush Limbaugh. I refuse to corrupt my blog with an image of this, er, gentleman, who is now the unofficial face of the Republican party. When asked about Obama, he insists, "I hope he fails." He is attempting to instigate the whole Republican party to block Obama at every turn. He got that (attempt) with the 100% rejection by the House Republicans on the newest part of the stimulus bill, which still passed of course because of the Democratic majority. However, the Senate Republicans can still cause a filibuster of the legislation - and that would be despite all the concessions made in the legislation for the benefit of the Republican agenda.

The time for hate mongering and partisan politics is supposed to be over. The election is completed, the Democrats won, and now the nation should be coming together to try to dig its way out of our woes. Obama is reaching out above and beyond the usual to bring Republicans into the fold and to keep "politics" out of the work. People like Limbaugh want to just keep the anger flowing and obstruct progress. But hey - it sure helps to keep his audience listening. Screw what the country needs.

Ok. I'm gonna go do something more pleasant for a while.

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Photos borrowed from the Chicago Sun-Times

Inconsistency RULES!

Yeah, more hit-or-miss on the blogging lately. I've been "busy," but doing what exactly I'd be hard-pressed to come up with. I guess I could just blame it on my attention span, which has rapidly gotten oooh, shiny!

(sorry, dunno the source on this "poster," but really enjoyed it from a recent email.)

This blog has been pretty politically-heavy lately, but I meant for it to be a little more well-rounded and fun. Recently realized that I need to add pictures and lighten it up a bit. Have several things partly-blogged in "draft" form, will try to release them slowly to decrease the boredom level for my (two) readers. :-)

So today, here are the things I am NOT blogging on:

• Blago - I won't waste my time waxing on about how sociopathic he is coming across, with his media blitz in this eleventh hour before his impeachment trial in the senate. His lead council resigns about the same time he starts whoring himself out to any media outlet that will broadcast him (apparently he'll be on "The View" Monday). He calls the trial a travesty of justice and complains how the rules are against him, yet it was himself and his own legal team that failed to file appropriate paperwork for witnesses, etc. And he blames the whole attack on him as some sort of conspiracy to raise taxes. Nope, not worth my time.


• Obama - there's too much coverage already, in MINUTE DETAIL, about the beginning of his first "100 days," or "100 hours" as I've heard it described today. He's trying to bring Washington together and get some real stuff done. But it is story after story about the Malia and Sasha dolls, and their cafeteria food menus, and fashion, and pre-recorded performances at the inauguration, and people that still believe Obama is not our real president because of a "questionable birth certificate" or because of a stumble on the oath - GIVE IT A REST. Give the man the time and cooperation he's earned, and let's check back in a while and see where things stand.


• The press in general - shows like "Access Hollywood" and "TMZ" that give forum to the paparazzi that stake out the funeral for Travolta's son and stuff like that. Now the mainstream media is turning more and more into that, with hounding of the pilot from the Hudson Bay crash, and endless coverage of "the Beast" (Obama's limo) and all other minutia inauguration-related. Ugh.

I know my blogging tends to be rant-related, but I'll also try to mention a good thing every now and then. Most interesting stories start with a bit of a struggle though ....

The other day my iPod shuffle (mp3 player) crapped out on me. It's a first generation, have had it since 2005 or 2006 when it cost about $100 for 500 MB of storage. It worked like a charm, with a terrific battery life, and no real problems despite the fact that I abused it regularly while working out, and made it do double duty as a jump drive for data on occasion. I would not exactly call myself a "Mac Whore," but I appreciate the elegance, creativity, and general ease-of-use of Apple products.

When it got nudged while in the USB slot and generated an "error, may have lost information" message, I experienced some mild panic and then went through the paces to try to check the drive. Wouldn't register at all in my iBook (except under "System Profiler") - so it didn't appear on the desktop nor in iTunes. My wife's PC recognized it as an Apple USB drive, but could not access any of the material. OK ... so whatever the hell I had on it from a data point of view was scrapped - not a big loss (I think!), since it was probably untouched from 1-2 years back.

Apple has a pretty good support site, with technical advice from Apple along with forums from users of every experience level. I cruised around there and found out that the behavior of my ancient iPod was very well documented (if you are really curious read more here), and might actually be fixable by reformatting ("restoring") the device. Unfortunately, even with special downloaded software to restore the device on my Mac, the drive still couldn't get recognized. On my wife's PC running Vista, that software (rated for Win2000 or XP) would not launch. I tried the set-up disc that came with the iPod as well as loading up iTunes on her PC, but neither could "fix" the drive.

After about 4 hours of banging my head against both our computers trying to get all this to work, I gave up and decided we may have to invest in a replacement. Of course, technology has moved on, and the "equivalent" product now is the 2nd generation iPod shuffle, the dinky little item in front at the right. At only $50 for 1 GB of storage, along with the smaller size and clip-on design, it would kick the ass of my older device. But that's $50 I could be spending on chocolate or toward other worthwhile things, like heat and rent. Besides the fact that my 2004 iBook G4 is still running OS 10.3.9 (whereas today's Mac is running 10.5.something), which may not be compatible with the newer product. (I've already fallen out of the loop for Firefox and other application updates.) :-(

So I dragged my wife with me as we trudged into downtown Chicago (the hour+ walk was our "exercise" for the day) to the Apple store on Michigan Avenue. I brought the iPod with, hoping that maybe one of the "geniuses" would be able to do something with it. And holy shit, not only did I manage to get squeezed in for a free consultation without an "appointment" - but they managed to reset the device. So far so good - we've got some fresh tunes on it, and we'll see if the fix holds out. So, in the words of a fellow blogger (and admitted "Mac Whore"), this was an "epic win" for Apple and the Apple Store concept. It's a great place to go and drool over new toys. Maybe I'll even consider an appointment next time... although that sort of prep would be "inconsistent" for me. Could I use "quotes" more in this article?

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(Pictures of the iPods and Apple Store borrowed lifted from www.apple.com)

Their "death," and not a moment too soon

And I thought it was just a string of bad decisions.

No, there was actually a political philosophy behind the horror that has been the U.S. foreign policy for the past 8 years. Neoconservatism (practiced by neocons, for short) - as laid out in this article from the BBC news, is about:

• a tendency to see the world in terms of good vs. evil (ie, the axis of evil)
  
• a minimal emphasis on diplomacy, with a "disdain for multilateral organisations"
  
• emphasis on U.S. unilateral action
  
• readiness to use military force

What part of that is the outgoing administration proud of?

Just because we are, were, or think we might still be the strongest military force, that is not an excuse to exercise it without just cause, nor against stand-in targets (Iraq vs. Al-Qaeda). Unilaterally? In today's global economy, let alone since the creation of the United Nations, unilateral action should always be a last resort, right up there with military action itself. And what kind of example is the U.S. setting by trivializing diplomacy, a country itself based on democracy?

It served to amuse me how Obama was attacked during the campaign for being willing to re-open discussions "without preconditions." I was just so happy to hear about a politician willing to actually DISCUSS things and CONSIDER the international community before pulling the trigger of the military.

Obama has already inherited fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the powder keg that is the Israel-Palestine situation - I look forward to a fresh perspective about these conflicts starting in just about a week now. The real tests over the coming year or so will be Iran and North Korea - how Obama's administration handles the nuclear (note, not "nu-ku-lur") threat. And, of course, the ominous "terrorist test" he will face simply because he is a new commander-in-chief. I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Regardless of the actual challenge, at last we have people that are willing to dig deeper into the playbook and utilize tools that have been helpful in the past, and reaffirm Americans' commitment to humanitarianism on a global scale. Down with the neocons!!

More on government, Blago, & Burris

Here's a joke my father sent me recently:

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House. One is from Chicago, another is from Tennessee, and the third is from Minnesota. All three go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Minnesota contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Chicago contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The Chicago contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence."

"Done!" replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how government contracting works!

Made me smile, given what's happening with Blago. By the way, if you hadn't already heard - he was impeached (first governor in Illinois, whoo-hoo!!) with of a vote of 114-1. What was he doing during the vote? Off jogging in the streets of Chicago.

A little tidbit that seems to have just come out recently about Burris's connection with the Senate appointment: allegedly he approached a colleague of Blago's as early as July or September and expressed interest in the Senate seat. Now does that mean there was anything shady between them that resulted in his December appointment after the news broke of Blago's investigation? Not necessarily. But knowing this and the drive Burris seems to have for personal accomplishments, I am even less inclined to believe he is completely innocent in this debacle.

The Illinois Supreme Court apparently ruled that they will not force Jesse White to sign the Burris appointment document, but their ruling indicated that it should not be necessary to gain his signature for the Senate to seat him. So now I guess it bounces back to the Senate Rules Committee. The last statement from Reid in the Senate indicated that if the Illinois courts approved him, they would seat him. I would anticipate, given the push by Obama to avoid further distractions from the economy, etc., that Burris will now have his dream fulfilled and become the "junior Senator from Illinois" - at least until the seat is next up for election in... I think 2010.

Hopefully by that time, the then-governor will already have a head-start on washing away the stink of corruption, and we might be able to drudge up some candidates that don't make you cringe.

C.R.A.P. Sunday - New Year's edition

Catch-up Rants And Platitudes - #1
Like I indicated before, I'm just getting back into blogging. Here I'll make use of something I've seen from other bloggers - an outlet for mini-rants and messages that wouldn't otherwise be worth a post of their own. Things I've been stewing over for the past week or so and are still with me enough to need venting.

• First off, would like to wish happy holidays and best wishes for the New Year to any and all (or should I say, "both") my readers. :-) A little cliche'd, but heartfelt all the same. We have a lot to look forward to this year as a nation as well as globally - dealing with the economic crisis, high hopes for our new president, working through this recent conflict in the Middle East as well as other fronts - not to mention our own personal goals. And a whole year ahead of us to make good on those goals or to screw-'em up. At least we can vow to fight off procrastination THIS time....



• Blago - Ugh. Have long since given up hope of our Illinois governor resigning, but the taint left by his appointment of Burris as senator has been compounded by Burris's own words.
  
  Apparently, the process of seating a senator (at least, in this situation) requires signatures of both the governor and the secretary of state on a document which then goes to the senate, which then "seats" the representative in the appropriate caucus. The democratic caucus is refusing to seat any appointee by Blago for good reason - he is charged with corruption DIRECTLY RELATING TO his power of appointing a replacement for Obama. Our secretary of state, Jesse White, has refused to sign the document as well.
  
  But here is Burris in a statement to the press saying, (paraphrased:) "I have been legally appointed, I am senator - the rest is just paperwork." And on the day the appointment was made, I recall Burris saying something to the effect of "I have made it to the senate!" Shouldn't the "elevation" to that position more appropriately be recognized as an outlet for his constituents (ie, the residents of Illinois), rather than as a personal achievement?!? He insists the corruption charges are unrelated to his being appointed, and is fighting to be installed instead of letting the legal process resolve things. To the claim that "Illinois needs it's representation" - fine, install an "interim" senator until a permanent one is appointed by a taint-free governor or voted in by a special election. Clinging to the appointment has only stained Burris further, and his refusal to consider the wishes of his constituents as well as his future colleagues proves that he is not the kind of representative I would want in Washington.
  
  Even president-elect Obama (a fellow black politician) is calling for Burris to decline the appointment - so the argument of letting it happen for the sake of keeping an African American democrat in the position should hold no weight.



• Reading - in my down-time I am getting a little better about turning the TV off (finally!) and trying to plow through some books. I guess I'll write a separate entry on this. Recently finished "Wicked," now (re-)reading the original "Wizard of Oz" to see what was based on the original work....



• In early December had a job interview for what would have been an ideal position for July 2009, and a 1 in 3 chance of getting it. Was told we'd find out within the week. After nearly 3 ADDITIONAL weeks of untoward suspense, finally learned that the position went to a different candidate. Have another interview at the end of January, and in the meantime will keep searching - but in the meantime this uncertainty and state of limbo is driving me (and the wife!) NUTS!



• Just to throw another wrench in the gears, my car decided to stop working during the holidays. Thankfully it was after the family meet-up, so no big plans had to be canceled - but it's always a pain in the ass. It is going on 12 years old, and hasn't given me too many problems overall, but I hate dealing with the service department. After hours on hold with roadside assistance and several more hours waiting on help to arrive when it wouldn't start (and a jump didn't help), the mechanics were set to abandon me because they couldn't tow my car down the parking ramp. I insisted on pushing the car to where they COULD tow it, which was much easier than they anticipated. Once at the dealer it turned out just to need spark plugs, but they tried to soak me for thousands of $$ saying the engine needs to be rebuilt, etc. And once the car was back with me it was sputtering and nearly stalling out - not something it had done before it died. Thankfully that improved over the weekend, and for now I can avoid a repeat trip to the service department demanding that they check their work.



• Poor customer service - Dec 2008 was a bad month for it. Dealing with a new health insurance company, and calling in to complain about a product - these things are needlessly frustrating. Here's my 1/2 cent on one item: Rain-x windshield wipes - don't bother with them. Still waiting on a refund. My wife wrote about it here. Apparently owned by Shell, which I will now be boycotting out of spite.



• Opinion polls and article comments - Watching the news on Jan 1st, saw them flash up between segments, "Have you already broken your New Year's resolutions? Text "yes" or "no" to ...." WTF?!? Not only was it less than 12 hours into the new year, but please, please, PLEASE tell me how / why that is "news"?! It is getting nauseating how all these "news" sources are reaching out to Joe Six-pack for input. Have you ever read the string of comments on a recent on-line news item? It quickly degenerates into name-calling and comments on spelling - not exactly an intellectual discussion. Even CNN (which I have stopped watching after the election), with Larry King and other "respectable" news anchors and commentators turning to blogs for comments from the peanut gallery - it makes me want to tune out completely. Professional commentators and analysts have earned the right (theoretically) for their opinions to be part of the "news" - for anything else I can surf the net or listen to a designated call-in show.
  

Ok - that's enough for now. This was much longer than intended. But maybe I'll stop flogging some of these topics (even if just in my head). Now off to hit the gym, to vent my frustrations in a healthier way. Happy New Year!! Good luck with any resolutions you've made.

One - ok, a couple of bad apples....

So by now the whole country is marveling at soon-to-be-former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and the blatant cockiness amidst his corruption charges. Given the presidential election and other distractions, I had not been keeping tabs on much with respect to local politics, but my wife has been quietly whispering in my ear about the dubious character of Blago for a couple of months now. She expressed her concerns that finding a candidate to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat might not happen in the most upstanding way... but I never realized how low our Governor could go.

Apparently Illinois has a "long tradition" of corruption in the government, most recently with former Governor George Ryan, currently in jail on a six-year sentence (also for corruption) and with some officials moving for his sentence to be commuted. Now people are talking like Illinois is a haven for corrupt officials, and how glad they are to not be residents of this state.

Personally, however offended I am at these actions by our officials, I'm proud of my Illinois heritage. I won't let a couple of bad apples spoil my whole impression of this state. I look forward to January 20th, when our president-elect can strut his stuff and demonstrate the integrity we should expect from officials from the Land of Lincoln.

In the meantime, it continues to be an embarrassment that Blago will not resign. Apparently, his lawyers plan to plead "not guilty," and have indicated that a resignation would look like guilt. But I'll be waiting with bated breath while they try to explain away his machinations toward selling Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, among the other charges. Especially when they have his own voice on record from Justice Department-approved wiretaps. And on the very eve of the FBI's actions to bring up charges, we have his smug-faced invitation to have his phone lines tapped, his sincerest assertion that he is clean as a whistle.

Yeah, that one may be more worm than apple, but I'll keep my support behind the rest of Illinois. After all, if you dig deep enough there's probably not a single state that is free from its embarrassments. Not even shiny, white-frost covered Alaska. You know, that state that is so close to Russia.

Political rant #1 - gay marriage

Ever since the heavy pre-election coverage this year, I've been drawn back into the medium that captures the essence of the hot news and presents it in an entertaining format - political satire, frequently well-represented by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, both on Comedy Central.

Tonight Jon Stewart had Mike Huckabee (former Republican presidential candidate) on, and engaged him in a mini-debate on gay marriage. As usual, the conservative and liberal viewpoints were framed in different perspectives and they had to agree to disagree. The arguments at their most basic seemed to be: (C) - "We must preserve the sanctity of marriage as defined between a man and a woman," and (L) - "Gay people should have the same rights and benefits granted to heterosexuals."

It was quite gratifying to listen to Stewart present a very cogent argument, and I won't hide my own support for gay marriage. I was quite disappointed with the referenda this November that shot down attempts at legalization of gay marriage in multiple states. Huckabee made reference on the show to the "fact" that 68% of the population is against passing such legislation. I won't take issue with numbers because I have no idea how that polling was conducted, the demographics, how recently it was done, or any of those details. Most of us have heard the expression "lies, damn lies, and statistics" - and that holds true more often than not; depending on how you ask the question, let alone grouping and analyzing data, you can twist numbers to support your argument either way.

To be honest, I really don't care about the numbers because THEY DON'T MATTER. I don't care if 80% of the population is against something. Just because a group of people want something - or want to prevent something - doesn't mean that it is appropriate. The reason we have government is to protect citizens and deliver services that would otherwise be unlikely to happen. If it wasn't mandated by the government, how many of us would contribute money to pay for police, infrastructure, and other social services? How many people would put money aside for their retirement? But we accept taxes and social security deductions because that is a part of our responsibility in supporting the government that protects us. And it protects us in ways we did not anticipate over 200 years ago - look at the relatively recent strides in equal rights for women & blacks, and new protections from discrimination based on handicaps and religion. Those anti-discrimination statements in many systems include "sexual orientation" - an obvious evolution of the concept to protect this portion of our population.

It was a laughable moment in the VP debate in October, when Joe Biden went on a mini soapbox talking about equal rights for partners including hospital visitation, workers benefits, etc. - that [gay] partners will have (paraphrasing) "the exact same rights and privileges as spouses" - but when asked point-blank by the moderator if the democratic ticket was supporting gay marriage, he said no. It is a sad statement that - in order to minimize alienation of a portion of the electorate - the Democratic ticket had to set aside pushing that component of the agenda.

But at its heart, the issue really is about equal rights. If people were interested in legislating about the sanctity of marriage, we'd talk about the divorce rate and banning same-day marriage (i.e., running off to Vegas), requiring "marriage classes" (like some religions do), and maybe even raising the minimum consenting age. If the issue is really about parenting and establishing a family unit for raising children, we would talk about mandated parenting classes or even more aggressive regulations about who is allowed to procreate (or adopt), and when. (Both of these arguments are exemplified with the "Brittany Spears" example used by Stewart) We know it could not possibly be about preserving a religious definition of marriage, thanks to the separation of church and state. So what is left? What possible reason is there to deny two men or two women from legally committing to each other, and being granted ALL the legal and social recognition that accompanies that?

It seems to me to be the downside of tradition, the part that is slow to change simply because "it hasn't been that way before" or "we've never done it that way." Just because religious-based organizations oppose it, or because stubborn people or not ready to accept homosexuality as a fact of our society, does not mean that our goverment can ignore this component of our population or choose not to protect their rights on this issue.

The last point I'll make is again something well-stated by Stewart - opposition to gay marriage is often based on the assumption that it is a choice to be gay. Just like choosing to convert between religions may mean changing what you eat, or how you interact with people - "choosing" to be gay means denying yourself legal recognition of a union. But religion is one of those cardinal protections, and society is barred from denying you rights based on something that is undeniably a choice. But is homosexuality a choice? Many say no - and if you are guaranteed equal rights whether you are born a man or woman in our enlightened age, the same should hold true whether you are born gay or straight.

But again - the answer to THAT question is really irrelevant. Equal rights are equal rights. How can you select out something the law should NOT apply to?