One of the beauties of having your own page is the ability to put any old thing you want on it. So here goes! Sometimes I get the urge to rant and rave about various things, so I figured I'd do it here. My therapist says it's healthy. I welcome email discussion on any of these topics (or, in fact, anything anywhere on my page), just drop me a line here.
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(12/28/04) Making A Difference The linked article above is a piece of feel-good pablum about how the 3000 young teachers in the Teach For America program are making a difference in the tough inner-city schools where they teach. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy they're making a measurable difference, and I'm pleased as punch that some of them feel dedicated enough to stay. But the reason 'they' need to recruit idealistic young teachers is that most teachers with a little seniority transfer to better schools - schools where the teacher can focus on teaching rather than on behaviour management. As a result, at the tough schools, you tend to find young teachers and True Believers. Encouraging good teachers to stay in tough schools is simple: Within a school district, a portion of a teacher's salary should be inversely proportional to the median family income of students at that school. You stay at a tough school, you make more jack. You leave for a 'better' school, you make less. Why isn't this done? Because the NEA (which works hard to promote mediocrity in education) doesn't want it. Teach for America is a private, nonprofit organization. And it works. So you can bet the NEA will have no part of it.
(12/27/04) Will the real Barry please stand up? On the off chance you missed it, Dave Barry's 2004-year-in-review column is here. Hysterical. He is all kinds of funny.
(12/26/04) Just A Bit Outside (I hope!) The risk of a particular asteroid impacting Earth in 2029 just (with further observations) went up to a staggering 1-in-45 shot. This chance, along with the asteroid's size (very roughly 400 meters in diameter) yields a (unprecedented) rating of 4 on the Torino scale. This is higher than it has ever been. If I'm not taking a dirtnap in 2029, I'd *love* to see it miss by just a little. But, even we find that it will hit (say) Tokyo directly, we have the time to do something about it. We could detonate a nuclear bomb near it, we could paint it white... we have the time to try to alter the orbit. The real worry is finding one that will hit in (say) three weeks. We couldn't do anything but evacuate the impact area. And that's a possible scenario; we have a 'blind spot' (where the Sun is), and something could come whizzing by from that direction. If this asteroid hits Earth, the effects will be regional but not global. Remember, the dinosaurs became extinct... because they didn't have a space program! Update 12/27/04: It'll miss, http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news148.html (12/15/04) Barry again Here is an interesting table showing the number of MLB home runs hit at what age, for each of the top-10 players on the career home run list. The table starts at age 30 - obviously, all of these men hit a ton prior to that age too. Clicking on the abbreviated name of each player in the table below brings up the Baseball Almanac page for that player, where I got my data.
The thing to note here is that Bonds isn't slowing down. He is the only man over 40 to have more than 40 homers, the only man over 39 to do it, and 38 too. If we go back to age 37, only one other man, Rafael Palmeiro, joins him. [and, as a side note, we see what a statistical freak that 73-homer season was. Nothing in the 60s, nothing in the 50s...] The men on the above list (ten of the best hitters ever) played a total of 34 seasons at age 37 or older. Five times, they broke 40 homers in a year. Four of those belong to Barry. In my book, a combination of
is enough to throw him out of the record books. Ben Johnson ran a 9.79 in the 100 meters, but no one cares, because he was juiced to the gills. Same with Bonds. It will be a dark day when he passes Ruth, and it would be a tragedy to see him take out Hank. Mark McGwire is an admitted doper too, and I wouldn't rule out Sosa. It could be that Maris still holds the *real* record for home runs in a season.
(12/7/04) Cause for less pessimism in Iraq? OK, not a lot less, and certainly nowhere near 'optimism'. But my man Andrew Sullivan is on the case.
(12/7/04) The good news is Karzai won the election handily Hamid Karzai will be sworn in as President of Afghanistan today. He was the appointed interim leader from '01 'till now, and today, he becomes the elected President. I think this is great; I have a ton of respect for Karzai. The bad news is he has serious problems to deal with:
Karzai has an especially daunting task with the regional warlords... co-opt them into the new government (which I think he's done beautifully to date), or risk civil war by sidelining them... it's a tough call with seriously bad possibilities either way. I think he needs to focus on exterminating the Taliban and continuing to dilute the power of the regional warlords. Oh, that, and focus on growing the economic middle class without drugs. It all sounds so easy! Not.
(12/3/04) Barry on 'roids To the shock of absolutely nobody, Barry Bonds said he has taken steroids. But, you see, he didn't know they were steroids. His personal trainer just gave him some stuff, y'kno, and told him to take it, and what could he do? He had to take it, and only later found out they were steroids. The above is basically what Barry is saying. I don't even know anyone who knows anyone that dumb. It's up there with "I didn't inhale". If Barry plays two more seasons, he will in all likelihood break Hank Aaron's record. At the very least, his name goes in the record books with a giant asterisk next to it. But we should do what was done with Ben Johnson's 9.79 in the 100 meters... throw it out. Check out these pix of Barry in '89 and Barry now. If he's not juicing, I'll eat my socks.
(12/2/04) Giambi Juice Now we have testimony that MLB player Jason Giambi was/is on the juice (human growth hormone and steroids). One wonders just how low his batting average last year (.208) would have been without it. Where did he get them? According to Giambi, from Barry Bonds' personal trainer. But Barry is clean, just don't you worry about that. Do I really look that stupid? 'Cos I don't feel that stupid. (11/30/04) Free Speech in Iran Reporters Without Borders has strongly protested against the Iran's relentless efforts to stifle free expression online after the arrest of five webloggers in less than two months, the latest on 28 November 2004. People who live in an area where freedom of speech and freedom of the press (two of the more fundamental personal liberties) may tend to dismiss the importance of these arrests, but it showcases that the Iran government is slipping dangerously close to North Korea Mode, answerable to no one.
(11/23/04) Basketbrawl I was watching the Detroit/Indiana NBA game over the weekend when all #$% broke loose. Here is what happened: IND was up by 15 with under a minute to go in the game. In other words, it's over. Ben Wallace (Detroit) drove in for a layup, and was semi-cheap-fouled by Ron Artest. Artest shouldn't have fouled him - he did so intentionally, and committing a cheap foul in a game that's over is uncool. Having said that, the foul wasn't so bad, I've been fouled worse at the park. But Wallace just lost it, and gave Artest a hard 2-handed jab in the throat that sent Artest reeling back 20 feet. (We should mention here that Wallace is huge and is on everyone's list of top 5 NBA players you never want mad at you) The players and the fans were all pissed... it probably would have slowly died down there, except some DET fan butthead threw a plastic cup of beer + the cup at Artest as he lay on the scorer's table, hitting him in the face. Artest instantly went ballistic, charged into the stands, and found a dude sort of close to where the cup may have been thrown from (wrong dude tho), and wrestled him to the ground. Artest's buddy Jackson followed Artest into the stands, throwing haymakers. The crowd became seriously ugly at this point. Some doofus DET fan wandered onto the court, and Artest hit him, then O'Neal (IND) clocked him. The IND players went off in a shower of beer, soda, and popcorn, and the game was called early, in one of the ugliest scenes I've ever seen in the NBA. The Commish, David Stern, handed out the suspensions: Ben Wallace: 6 games, Artest: Rest of season, Jackson: 30 games, O'Neal: 25 games, and a bunch of shorter suspensions. My thoughts:
Ugly, ugly ugly, and a major black eye to a sport I've played and watched for decades.
(11/20/04) Super Size Me We just rented this film on DVD. Wow. I don't eat much fast food, but this'll take it down to zero! Maybe not zero, but no more than once a month. A very watchable film, we recommend it. I'd love to see this film as required viewing in high schools. Director Morgan Spurlock goes on a 1-month experiment of eating only at McDonalds. We see profound changes in his weight, blood levels, and mood. Morgan also provides documentary-style discussion of obesity in America. It is fairly kiddable... there is one f-bomb, a few s-words, and a ~1 minute scene of Our Hero's girlfriend talking fairly explicitly about changes in their sex life. You also get the business-end-view of a gastric bypass operation. The first 3 items are easily mute-able, after a preview of the vid. (11/18/04) The NFL is shocked (again). Shocked! Here is what happened: ABC ran an inappropriate promo for its show "Desperate Housewives" at the beginning of Monday Night Football on 11/16, upsetting millions of men who hadn't started the VCR tape in time. The promo featured Nicollette Sheridan (actress on Desperate Housewives) and Terrell Owens (receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles). It would be fun to carve this issue up, if Jim Litke hadn't already done so beautifully, in a widely-syndicated AP column. And then, to pile on the stupidity, Tony Dungy (head coach for the Indianopolis Colts) generated headlines by calling the promo racist. I guess whenever two or more races are involved, if you look hard enough through race-coloured glasses, you'll see racism, and Tony found it. Tony's objection is that Sheridan is white and Owens is black, and (according to Dungy) the promo (in which a scantily-clad Sheridan entices Owens to miss a game by delaying him in the locker room prior to the kickoff) is racist because ABC wouldn't have shown Bill Parcells (white, coach of the Dallas Cowboys) or Andy Reid (white, coach of the Philadelphia Eagles) doing the same thing. Please. Who knows what ABC would or would not have done under different circumstances? The reasons that Parcells and Reid weren't chosen is that they're both old enough to be Sheridan's father, and no one particularly wants to picture either of them on a tryst. Besides, Sheridan wouldn't give them the time of day! I could picture the same spot with Peyton Manning (white, quarterback for the Colts, and far closer to Sheridan's age) quite easily. (11/11/04) Ding-dong, the Wicked Witch Is Dead Maybe Palestine can finally move forward now that Arafat is out of the picture. Maybe the Isreal/Palestine issue can achieve some resolution. Hey, I can dream, can't I? As long as I'm dreaming, maybe Palestine will cut the pension of Arafat's widow, who currently lives in France (no, really!) and contributes *nothing* to Palestine. I'm sure she'll throw her official support behind whichever candidate sez he'll keep her gravy train going. And, I've always thought the fact that Arafat had a Nobel Peace Prize was sick and wrong.
(11/10/04) We could all agree, if you'd just agree with me What a piece of crap. The Kerry voters (according to the above article) are all the groovy, beautiful, intelligent hipsters on the coasts, who were overwhelmed by a bunch of stupid knee-jerk religious fundie farmers in the 'fly-over states'. I've lived on both coasts. I currently live in Colorado, and if the rest of my life goes the way I hope, I'll die an old man here. But that is beside the point. The point is that demonizing people who (gasp) voted for 'the other side' and live in a place that might be different is just plain dumb. And provincial. Rall (the author) should have been ashamed to write this tripe. Yahoo should have been ashamed to publish it. As Barack Obama (who lives in flyover country, but he's a dem, so u kno he's cool) says, let's focus on our commonalities, not our differences. Otherwise, like Rall, you're part of the problem. (11/4/04) Dave goes 0-fer-6 To the surprise of no one, I maintained my perfect record. For the sixth consecutive time, I backed a loser in the POTUS race. After waffling for months, it was only fitting that I would end up voting for the head waffler Kerry. Ahh well - I secretly thought Bush would win. And it is fitting that now he has to clean up some of the mess he has made. But I'm nervous about our international respect level, and a Kerry victory would have thrown a wrinkle in Hilary's '08 plans. In '08, if she is on the D ticket, I'm voting R no matter who it is! Locally in Colorado, I fared much better. I helped Ken Salazar defeat Pete Coors (who I also think would have done a good job), and I backed Musgrave in the House, after her opponant (*) ran a despicable ad that cemented my vote the moment I saw it. (*) Normally, someone like Musgrave would be too far to the right for me. The anti-Musgrave ads are sponsored by Colorado Families First, a 527 with the financial backing of Fort Collins heiress Pat Stryker, Gill Foundation founder Tim Gill and Jared Polis, chairman of the State Board of Education, Her opponant in the election, Stan Matsunaka, has denied any control over their content. The one I objected to shows a woman dressed as Musgrave at a open-casket funeral, removing a watch from the corpse. Completely tasteless. Keep garbage like that out of local races. (10/31/04) Even a broken clock is right
twice a day Insomniacs like myself have seen Professional Huckster Kevin Trudeau for years, schlepping everything from memory aids to coral calcium (and amazing mental math programs!). He's worse than a stereotypical used car salesman.
Which he isn't. He knows about as much as I do on the subject - which is far less than what is necessary to write a book. But his main thesis is IMHO right on: Drug companies don't want you to get well, they want you to buy more drugs, and ideally buy 'em for the rest of your life. Doctors are a willing (or at least compliant) accomplice. Adding to the craziness is the fact that (for some bizarre reason) we allow prescription drugs to be advertised in mass media. We shouldn't. I wouldn't recommend any of the specific cures in this book, without verifying them first with a real source.
(10/30/04) Osama Bin Forgotten slithers above ground Osama reappeared on a tape broadcast (first) by (who else) Al-Jazeera. It appears to be a recent tape, mostly ending my hopes that he was a smear of protein on a rock in Afghanistan. Let's dissect parts of this article:
You are aware that the almost 3000 people you murdered (including hundreds of Muslims) had nothing to do with that?
Killing you and your psychotic nutjob pals leaps to mind.
Only if you and your pals are the only murderous psychotic nutjobs in the world. But you're not.
(10/14/04) The Way I Always Heard It Should Be Here in Colorado, we have two candidates vying for an empty Senate seat, R-Pete Coors (yes, *the* Coors) and D-Ken Salazar. I've read some stuff on both candidates, and I honestly think they would both do a good job. They appeared on a Meet The Press show with Tim Russert, and they both impressed me, Salazar slightly more so. I was leaning toward Salazar anyway - but today, my local paper (the Greeley Tribune) officially threw its support behind Pete Coors, and included a thought-provoking column on why, which threw me back on the fence. I still don't know who I'm going to vote for, but what a refreshing change from the presidential race. I think either man would be good, I just have to select the one I think will be better. It's a win-win, I can't miss. In the presidential race, I am also still undecided, but I will try to select the candidate that I think will suck less, as I think they'll both be bad in different ways. It's a lose-lose. (10/5/04) Drink the water, change your gender A local story is coming out re: badly deformed fish just downstream of the sewage treatment plant in Denver, 50 or 60 miles away from me. There are way more girl fish than boy fish, and many hermaphrodites (a census just above the sewage plant shows a close to 50-50 gender ratio, with no hermaphrodites). There are really 2 stories here: 1) The freaky fish 2) The fact that the local EPA sat on this story for 2+ years before leaking it out. The water our family drinks is OK, as is the water in most of Denver. But, there are many, many towns that draw their water after Denver sewage has gone back in, and it is downright irresponsible and dangerous for the EPA here to have seen the deformed fish in '02 and keep quiet. (10/4/04) The X-Prize bites the dust To the surprise of no one, Space Ship One has now completed the requirements for the X-prize! Nine days early, no less. Woo-hoo! A banner day in private space ventures. I've heard 2ndhand that 7-up will be offering a free-trip-into-space contest in '05 (presumably with Virgin Galactic), as a twist-n-win prize on their caps. I'll put a link here Real Soon Now, but you know you've made pop-culture status when yer on the lid!
(10/2/04) But Is It Hard? "In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work. You know my hardest, the hardest part of the job is to know that I committed the troops in harm's way and then do the best I can to provide comfort for the loves ones who lost a son or a daughter or husband and wife." - president George W. Bush, during the debates last Thursday.
(10/1/04) Prez Debate I don't know who won, but I know who lost. Us - because one of these two schmucks will almost definitely be the next POTUS. Memo to Kerry: You don't score any points with me by saying Iraq is bad, and would have gone much better in the hypothetical counterfactual KerryWorld. No one knows what would have happened if we had done anything differently. Yes, I think Iraq is a mess, but as long as we maintain our 100:1 kill ratio, they have to run out of bad guys sometime Memo to Bush: This just in: sometimes the camera is on you even when Kerry is speaking. Was your underwear binding uncomfortably? Did you just burp up some some stomach acid? Because that's what it looked like.
(9/30/04) Three big steps in Space Yesterday, three events occurred that could signal a new era in private space exploration: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/xprize_success_040929.html - Despite some odd rolling near the top, this was a success. In order to claim the $10 million X-prize (a privately-funded prize intended to spur private development in space), Scaled Composites will have to repeat the feat (carrying the mass-equivalent of three people to an altitude of 100km) within two weeks, in this case, by October 13. Scaled Composites is tentatively targeting October 4th for a second trip. Many people think this is in the bag, and there is no technical reason why Scaled Composites won't succeed. The X-prize was funded in the mid-90s, so it took almost a decade to fall. I expect the Y-prize (below) to fall more quickly - say, in 2010 or before. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/bigelow_spaceprize_040927.html - Billionaire space enthusiast Robert Bigelow has announced and funded the next-generation X-prize (they aren't calling it the Y-prize yet, but they should!), a $50 million reward for the first private ship to orbit the Earth with 7 passengers. The ship will need to achieve low-Earth orbit, which will require a speed roughly ten times higher than the X-prize ship http://www.futron.com/pdf/SpaceTourismMarketStudy.pdf - Futron has released the first (that I know of) significant market study for space launches. We seem to be on the cusp of significant private space exploration over the next decade. We also have British entrepreneur Richard Branson launching Virgin Galactic, relying on licensed SpaceShipOne technology, with plans to send 3,000 people to space by 2009. Ticket price: $208,000, two orders of magnitude cheaper than the 20 mil that Dennis Tito paid. Exciting times ahead!
The Pubs have no problem trumpeting obviously-false campaign literature (Liberals Seek To Ban The Bible!) in parts of the South. In a normal election, campaign tactics like this would make me vote D in a heartbeat, but that is tough this time around. I am disgusted with my choices this fall: Would you rather eat cat poop or dog poop? There were four Dems I would have happily voted for over The Shrub this Fall: Clark, Dean, Lieberman, Edwards. But Kerry? What exactly is his stand on Iraq this week? What does he stand for? Can he really run on a "I'm Not Bush" platform? And, an important plank in Bush's platform is "I'm Not Kerry". Both candidates have convinced me the other is unfit for office. Suggested campaign slogans: Bush: Often Wrong, But Never In Doubt Kerry: Whatever You Believe, I Do Too
(9/23/04) Germany seeks $$$ for WWII A stupid group in Germany wants Poland to pay. They announced plans to go to court to seek restitution for German property losses in Poland, the first country invaded by Hitler. I think restitution 60 years after the fact is asinine anyway, and the fact that Germany caused WWII just adds to the stupidity. Does Germany *really* want to open this can of worms? There just might be some groups that have a far better case for reparations from Germany... like the Jews. But I'm being proactive on this. Being of both German and Jewish descent (with Sweedish, Swiss, and English mixed in), yesterday, I took a $20 bill out of my right pocket and put it in my left. The Polish government, logically, retaliated by unanimously passing a resolution seeking reparations from Germany. Look, in the past, some bad stuff happened. Much of it was Not Fair. But, after a few decades pass, the sensible way to react is to make sure it doesn't happen again. The article also mentions it has become popular (in Germany) to refer to Hitler's defeat as Germany's victory over fascism. You're welcome.
(9/23/04) No! Really? It turns out that having money is better than not having money. Am I glad I read the news today! The amazing thing is that someone did a survey on this. Coming next week: Not getting punched in the nose is better than getting punched in the nose. And I'll have the survey results to prove it. (9/4/04) The 2004 Nancy Sinatra Gravytrain Coattail Award: Ashlee Simpson Jessica Simpson is a bona fide star, she can actually sing. Her kid sister Ashlee is a joke. Is this all the 'talent' it takes to make it in music these days? If one of my sisters ever has a hit song, I figure I'm in. She wouldn't make it out of the first round on American Idol. Why, I remember back in the day, you needed Actual Talent to make it in music. Bah! Humbug! Those boots are made for walkin', and your 15 minutes of fame are just about up.
(8/29/04) Republican National Convention OK - get out a map of the USA. Stare at it. Can you come up with anywhere stupider to hold the Republican National Convention than Manhattan? I sure couldn't. Only San Francisco is close, and when the transportation logistics are factored in, NYC leads the 'stupid' list. Try Chicago next time. Or maybe Fargo! Consider: * Anyone who has walked the streets of Manhattan has seen: It is impossible to stand out in Manhattan because of your race. Overall, that's a beautiful thing - but in this case, not so much. * New York City is Democrat Country. You could hold 100 Republican conventions there, and it would still be Democrat Country. Why not hold it in a swing city/state, or someplace where the protesters won't outnumber the attendees? * Two major airports, many minor ones, directly accessible by land, sea, air, and underground (subways - remember Madrid?). It's a security nightmare. (8/23/04) Olympics I've been watching the Olympics recently, and here are some random thoughts: * The Iraq soccer team is great to watch - but I was PO'd at the head coach criticising Bush for using the Iraqi team as a symbol of freedom. Talk about biting the hand that feeds him! STFU. Bush is his best friend. The coach, Adnan Hamad, complains that Iraq is still beset by violence daily. When was that not true? At least the they don't have to worry about being tortured or killed if they lose. * Too many events. Air rifle? What's up with that? Why are there two different 4-man rowing races? And the swimming events get a bloated medal count because of all the different strokes. It would be like having a medal for a 100-meter dash, another one for running it backwards, a third for going sideways, a fourth for spinning while running, and then an 'individual medley' combining all four. The race should be for a specified distance. How the athletes choose to cover it is their problem... like in track and field. * The Gymnastic scoring cracks me up... it is scored subjectively, but turned into 4 significant digits. 9.712. Uh-huh. They could take a lesson from Diving. * A big thumbs down to Iran for refusing to participate against 'The Zionist Regime' in Judo. (well, the match may have been disallowed anyway due to a weight issue). Hey, in the USA, we don't like you either, but we'll still compete with you in sport and send millions of $$$ of aid your way after a deadly earthquake. Shockingly, I don't see that being reciprocated in the cleanup of Hurricane Charlie. Maybe Iran will move beyond gradeschool tantrums someday soon, but I'm not holding my breath. * Thumbs down to the Men's Basketball Team. When you get spanked, the manly way to take it is to congratulate the opposition, not whine about the officiating (but of course, the losing team in almost every NBA game does that.). The USA has enjoyed decades of basketball dominance, and it looks like it will come to an end soon. Meanwhile, check out women's hoops or women's softball if you want to see real USA dominance. * Athens looks beautiful. I'd love to go there someday.
(8/9/04) Terry Nichols He receives 161 consecutive life sentences for his part in the Oklahoma City bombing. Oooh, that'll teach him! He had better behave, or we'll give him 50 more. In 1998, Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. How exactly is this different? Doesn't this pretty much say our system is broken? I'm not sure how one can serve more than about 1 consecutive life sentence. Just kill him. (7/30/04) Democratic National Convention I liked Barack Obama's opener. Even Clinton was tolerable (high praise for me), Dean was OK, and Edwards made me wish (again) the ticket were reversed. But I guess Kerry had to speak sometime. Here are the problems I had with his speech. * A lot of time was spent on Kerry's Vietnam experience and all the boring early parts of his life leading up to that. But why no mention of his nearly 20 years in the Senate? * His speech was supposed to be the climax of the convention. It wasn't. * OK, we know you dislike many things about The Shrub. It's all bad. But - don't just tell me what he did wrong, tell me what you would do. * He didn't lay out a vision for the Democratic Party. He bashed Bush and read fortune cookies. And, for the sixth consecutive Presidential election, I'll find myself voting for the guy who sucks less. In this case (it hurts me to say it) it will be the lesser of two Bushes. Sigh.
(7/5/04) Fahrenheit 9/11 If there was a way for me to see this film without contributing any money to Michael Moore, I'd do it. But until then, I'll content myself with detailed critiques like this: http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm link #2: http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/
(6/19/04) Tackle the Nuke threat Yet another brilliant article from Fareed Zakaria, one of my favorite political writers. FWIW, I highly recommend his '03 book The Future of Freedom. (6/18/04) Change in the weather? The murder of Johnson in Saudi Arabia is having an interesting effect in the Arab media. The media, and one hopes, the regular folk in Saudi Arabia, are shocked and appalled - as are we. A noted cleric in Saudi Arabia said so on Al Jazeera, and offered an apology to Johnson's family and perhaps to the United States as well. He was joined by another noted cleric, saying similar things, and broadcast in Arabic throughout the Arab world. This is in direct contrast to the Pearl murder, and even different from the Berg murder. The hope is that the Arab media and people are increasingly shocked by the behavior of radical Islam, and are halfway toward wanting to confront it directly. Of course, searching for the story on Al Jazeera, you will also see how it's all about the Israel/Palestine conflict.(!) Obviously, we're farther away from that in Iraq - where cheering the death of Americans (you know, the folks that are bringing freedom to your country, and stopping the state-sponsored murder of 10,000+ civilians per year for the last few decades) is commonplace. But it is possible that the times, they are a-changin'. (6/7/04) Ronald Reagan In the USA, we're in the midst of a week-long goodbye to Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the USA. It is interesting to see how much the man's legacy shines with the passage of time. I never voted for him, but if I could cast my 1984 vote over again, I would. He will be remembered for ending the cold war and promoting freedom and liberty around the world - which I find accurate. But, it's not like the man was flawless... remember Iran-Contra? His questionable actions in Nicaragua? (though really, support of either side in the 80s would leave one open to claims of bolstering human-rights abuses), his stunning statement while visiting a WWII Nazi concentration camp that the people running the camps were as much victims of the Nazis as the Jews in the camps? And why in the world did he give Frank Sinatra a humanitarian award? Reagan is lionized as being the best prez. since FDR. Possible, and I could support that, but it says more about the schmucks we've had in office since than it does about Reagan. But, where Reagan shines brightest, unfortunately, is in comparison to The Shrub. Some of the speechifying sounds similar, and I think The Shrub is similar to RR in wanting to bring liberty to people that don't have it. But that's it - 43 seems at times blissfully divorced from reality (43's comments about Tenet leap to mind... I wonder what Tenet would have had to do to get fired?), and 43 is unable to garner the support among our allies that 40 did easily. It is tempting to want the Reagan of the 80s in office now.
(5/31/04) He's not a world-class stupid wanton killer, he's a misunderstood victim! From the Avoidance Of Personal Responsibility department, we have this story of Californian Richard Keenan, who gets drunk off his butt, tokes a few joints, somehow finds two others dumb enough to hop in the car with him, heads for a winding back road, and flips the car at 95 mph, killing the 2 people, but sadly, not himself. I wonder if his surviving friends call him "Dick"? California has a 3-strikes-and-yer-out policy, and this loser had two strikes on him before this, so he is serving an 8 year jail sentence. Everything sounds OK so far (except the sentence is too short) - except that The Loser has a rich dad, Jerry Keenan, who wants The Loser out of jail. See, if you're poor, you just have to live with it (unlike The Loser's friends, who now no longer have this option). But, if Daddy is rich enough, he knows that laws aren't made for the rich, and he'll sponsor and bankroll a ballot initiative that would overturn this 3-strikes-and-yer-out law, and thus free his stupid son to kill again. Which is what is currently happening. Words are inadequate to express my disgust at both Jerry and Richard. Jerry's ballot measure should appear on the November 04 ballot - please, if you vote in CA, defeat it.
(5/20/04) NASA due for a major overhall http://www.xcor.com/jeff-aldridge-full.html Jeff Greason - full written testimony for Presidential Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond (Aldridge Commission). Jeff goes into much more detail than I do below, to explain why Bush's Moon, Mars, and Beyond plan is just a retread of existing mistakes. Hopefully they'll listen. Great article - read it if you have any interest.
(5/19/04) The good, the bad, and the Cuba We need a 180 on our Cuba policy. Our current restrictions are doing nothing but hurting the people (who are about as powerless as we are to effect regime change) & increasing anti-US resentment (like there's not enough of that in the world). I'd be stunned if Castro changed in any way in response to our sanctions. [We should never have put him in power in the first place, but that's another story] What we should do is the China Syndrome... accept the fact that we don't much care for their government, and enact policies that support a prosperous middle class in Cuba. Hit them with Capitalism. Once people have more financial resources, they start caring more about things like freedom to do business and personal property rights - and all of a sudden, we get a significant increase in the personal liberty of the people - which I almost always view as a Good Thing. Furthermore, they would then view USA as the Good Guys. Castro won't last forever, and this could pave the way for far better relationships in the future. Any anti-Cuba sanctions should be aimed at Castro himself, not at the people.
(5/11/04) The other side of the coin The US forces in Iraq are also building schools, inoculating children (over 3 million so far), repairing infrastructure, handing out soccer balls... why is it that I have yet to see a photo of any of this in the mainstream media? All we hear are reports of fire fights, armed resistance, continued failure of our policy (which we should change) of fighting with one hand tied behind our backs. Good news in Iraq: http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/2004_05_16_chrenkoff_archive.html (5/9/04) US forces degrading Iraqi prisoners It's bad enough when people are accidentally stupid. But, when members of the US Army in Iraq go out of their way to be world-class moronically stupid, it's time for a brain transplant. Can you imagine anything stupider that they could have done? Thanks for helping to further destabilise an already fracturous situation. Iraq evidently still pines for the wonderful days when Hussein's regime was raping, torturing, and killing over 10,000 people per year. But hey - at least he was Arab. And, a letter-writer in this week's Newsweek this makes an excellent point: What would be so wrong about creating 3 countries where Iraq is now? Kurdistan, Shiiastan, and Sunnistan. It's not like Iraq's current borders have existed since time immemorial; they were defined by colonialism.
(4/17/04) Right Thinking comments from the Left Coast Click the link above. There's really no need for anyone else to blog on how bad Iraq is after this. Brilliant.
(4/17/04) Politics on TV It's turning me into a curmudgeon. Every day, I can turn on some political show & hear how the current Iraq mess is All Bush's Fault, or how Clinton Started It. It seems there is no interest in solving the problem, just assigning blame. But, I have developed a simple rule that cuts through 90% of the BS: Don't listen to people who are certain they are right. As soon as I hear the condescending tones telling me how the Dems or the Pubs are the root of all evil - I'm outtathere. And, just so you know, NO ONE knows what would have happened if we had done something differently. Bertrand Russel once said:
So true!
(4/3/04) We need a plea of "guilty but insane" Check out http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040404/ap_on_re_us/children_slain&cid=519&ncid=716 - this woman (according to the article) is definitely insane because she killed her kids without crying. Ahh - if she had cried, lock her up for 20 years. The thing is, if she gets a sudden burst of sanity, she could walk. After all, the court dropped all charges. This highlights how crazy the plea is: No one is debating whether she murdered her children; she did. So how exactly is she innocent of the crime with which she is charged? The insanity ought to be treated as an extenuating circumstance that affects her sentencing - not as something that affects the verdict. And she should also get a free tubal ligation; allowing this woman to bear children again would be truly insane.
(3/27/04) Psychic Cancels Plane Flight http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=6&u=/ap/20040327/ap_on_re_us/brf_psychic_plane_search Amazing. Some Florida doofus ended up cancelling an American Airlines plane flight because s/he had a psychic feeling there was a bomb on board. A search of the plane revealed... you guessed it, nothing. I wonder what convinced this person that they were psychic? No psychic has ever been able to repeatably demonstrate controlled results differentiable from chance. And - if you know of one that can, send them over to www.randi.org, and they can cash in on the cool million-dollar JREF prize. Of course, they should already know this...
(3/13/04) Bombings in Madrid, Spain Spain has sadly joined the club with the U.S., Turkey, India, Iraq; Australia, Bali, Kenya, Tazmania, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and other countries around the world that have experienced large-scale loss of innocent human life at the hands of terrorists, probably at the hands of Al-Qaeda. Strangely, one of the reasons given for the attack is the situation in Iraq - strange, because we have heard from many sources that there is no connection between Al-Qaeda and Hussein. Things that make ya go hmmm. 5 arrests have been made so far, and if these people are truly guilty of aiding and abetting the massacre. I hope Spain gets maximal information out of them by whatever means, then kills them, then hunts down the rest of their cell if it exists. But - that may not happen now. Spain just taught Al-Qaeda a lesson: Send in the terrorists & we'll pull our armies back (from Iraq), quit hunting them, and vote out the government that sent them. The rest of Europe seems poised to teach the same lesson. Not good. And - as much as I may not like it, this increases my odds of voting for Bush this November. I like almost nothing else about him - but we (USA) need someone in power who thinks fighting terrorism is the top priority, and I just don't see Kerry doing a credible job on this front. Update (3/27/04): After chatting with some HP coworkers on an internal newsgroup - it is possible that Asnar was voted out because he errorneously jumped to the conclusion that ETA was involved in the bombings. Whether or not this is true, no one debates how Al-Qaida will interpret it: As a sign of weakness, and an encouragement for more attacks.
(3/6/04) Force-Feeding Liberty In chatting about Iraq with many people, I am struck by the innocence, the American naivete, that I commonly hear. People forget that 'we' (England/USA) went through several centuries of chaos prior to arriving at our system of government. First, way back when, we had people like John Locke, who proposed we have innate, inherent values, just because we're human. Then, at the birth of the U.S., we had an extraordinary gathering of intelligent men, all trying to design a flexible system of government that would be both just and advantageous to the average person over the long term. That government has evolved for over two centuries. The U. S. government has certainly changed in the interim, but enough flexibility and self-modification were designed into the framework that it still holds, mostly. Iraq has had almost none of that. They have just gotten out from several decades of Baathist brutality, and now they are being force-fed a constitution guaranteeing rights (freedom of speech, freedom of religious expression, etc) that Iraq has no cultural context for. In a way, Iraq is trying to leapfrog over several centuries of history. To make matters worse, there are the psychotic nutjobs intentionally trying to wreak as much havoc as they can, murder as many innocents as they can, and provoke an Iraqi civil war. These people must be hunted down and killed. Once this Herculean task is done, we face an even larger one: Making Iraq focus on their constitution and their country, when there are significant forces that could shatter the country into a number of splinter groups. The fact that the U.S. (a.k.a. The Great Satan) is the primary driver behind making Iraq a cohesive country isn't helping either. In short - while I hope the future Iraq is wildly successful, I fear they won't be. We may know in a decade - and anyone who professes to know the outcome now is deluded.
(2/29/04) The Passion We went to see The Passion over the weekend... upon reflection, I really didn't like the way it was done. It should have been subtitled "Watch Jesus Get The Crap Beaten Out Of Him For Two Hours". The violence goes on and on and on - and several violent scenes have no biblical (or other) reference: Jesus getting pushed off a bridge in chains (*), with the fall arrested by the chain around His neck, the severity of the lashing, the raven that attacks the thief on the cross next to Jesus (plucking out his eye?). And, all this gratuitous violence occurs without reference; the movie doesn't set up who He is and spends very little time on why He is being tortured so. I would much rather see a movie that focused on His life, setting up both the humanity and the divinity of Jesus, and the reasons for His sacrifice. (*) - Since writing the above, I have learned there is a basis for some of this in the 200 year old book Dolorous Passion of Our Lord , containing some visions (later blessed by some Bishops) of a Catholic mystic nun named Anne Catherine Emmerich. The following scenes come from these writings: (1) Satan's temptations of Jesus during his agonizing prayers at Gethsemane; (2) while heavily chained, Jesus confronted Judas after the arrest; (3) Pontius Pilate's wife, Claudia Procles, sympathetically bringing some cloths to Mary; (4) a crow poking out the eyes of the unrepentant thief on the cross in swift judgment for his unbelief; and (5) the waterfall/misting of blood pouring from Jesus' side after the soldier thrust his spear into Jesus' side. Protestants don't hold this work in high regard - but then,
Mel isn't a protestant.
(2/24/04) It's Our #1 Priority George - let me get this straight... the USDollar is falling, we're still looking for Osama, we import waaaay more oil than we should, Social Security is destined to fail in a couple of decades, we're in the midst of a jobless economic recovery, the threat of terrorism is significant, our schools are poor, the US trade deficit is insurmountable, illegal immigration is swamping many Southern states, the US/Canada border is a sieve, we're exporting jobs to Asia, the MidEast is as much of a powder keg as it has ever been, we don't know how the heck we're going to pay for the Iraq war, our chickens are banned, we've alienated major allies through clumsy diplomacy, Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton are still in the Senate, illegal drug use is a major problem, the economy is shaky, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are rising, ozone is being depleted, the national debt is higher than it has ever been, unemployment is high, consumer confidence is low - and you think the most pressing item on the national agenda is a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage? If we have to select an item from the religious right agenda - let's ban Divorce; at least Jesus spent some time denouncing that one, unlike Homosexuality. It is clear why The Shrub did it: He knows an election is coming, and he knows he's vulnerable on many key issues. Roughly 2/3 to 3/4 of Americans are against gay marriages - so if he can turn us all into single issue voters, he'll win. It may be just electioneering gamesmanship on Bush's part - and I resent that.
(2/21/04) The Prescription Drug Swindle There I was, casually watching the 5:00 news, and there was a commercial for Plavix - a prescription anti-blood-clotting drug that helps (along with "your current medications") decrease risk of a stroke. Then, in the same commercial break, there was a spot for Ambien, a prescription insomnia medication ("ask your doctor!"). Shouldn't my doctor select a medication for me based on my medical need, not because I waltz in saying "Hey Doc - I gotta git me some of that Ambien!"? I happen to have a chronic health condition. In the USA, there are 4 FDA-approved medications specifically for this health condition; each of which costs well over (the ridiculous sum of) $1000 a month. I have decent insurance that would pick up almost all of this cost - but I choose instead a medication that costs $35 a month that has an efficacy that is probably double that of any of the 4 mainstream medications. I researched it on the Net - but you can bet that for $35 a month, I won't see any TV commercials trumpeting its virtues, and my doctor won't see any ads either. Which decreases the odds she'll prescribe it for me. I'd prefer to not see any commercials or ads for prescription medications at all. The drug companies are the Big Winners in this game of ridiculously-priced prescription medications. The uninsured are the Big Losers.
(2/22/04) Yo, Iran - Get A Clue It is unfortunate that Iran has chosen to disallow the vast majority of reformist candidates in the current Parliment election - but I have to laugh at the rhetoric being dished out by the hard-line Islamic supporters: "Each vote cast is a bullet into the heart of George Bush", "Each pro-islamic vote is a slap in the face to America", etc. Do not flatter yourselves that we care that much. While it is unfortunate that Iran is taking several steps backwards, stifling the liberties of its people, taking the rights of women back to the 1800s, etc. - as long as you don't fund terrorism, pursue WMD, or engage in gross violations of human rights, you are free to pursue your stupid ways. Someday the rest of the world hopes to welcome you into the 20th century. (2/13/04) What to do, what to do It is getting harder and harder to decide on a vote this November. Bush is right on on Iraq and the WOT - but IMHO that's it. His spending is ridiculous, his domestic policy is nonexistent, and his foreign policy with 'friendly' nations is clumsy at best. And, his "vision" of NASA's future is seriously flawed (see below). Nevertheless, barring a huge change between now and November, I'll vote Bush over Kerry, and I'll back any other Dem front-runner candidate over Bush - unless they try to sneak Hillary on the ticket as a veep, in which case I'm back to Bush. But really, it doesn't matter: I live in Colorado, and Colorado will probably reelect The Shrub this November. We'll see if I can extend my string - I'm now 40, I've voted in every presidential election I could, and I have yet to cast my vote for the winner. I'm a 5 time loser! I wonder if my mom ever knew Rodney Dangerfield... And, for the 6th time in a row, I'll be thinking "That's all I get to choose from, eh?". How cool it would be to actually vote *for* someone; all I've ever done is vote against people. (2/9/04) This Just In You know how everyone says Life isn't fair? Well, it turns out Death isn't fair either - a friend of mine, Tina-Marie Leja, bought the farm on some icy roads last weekend. It sucks. (2/7/04) Putin, telling it like it is On the Moscow subway bombing that killed at least 39 people and injured scores more - Russia President Vladimir Putin, upon hearing the slaughter of innocent life may have been perpetuated by a Chechnyen suicide-murderer: "Russia does not conduct negotiations with terrorists. It destroys them." That's the response to terror that I like to see - and if we saw that response more, we'd see terror less. (2/2/04) T&A in the Superbowl CBS is shocked... SHOCKED... at the "accidental" T and A (well, T anyway) during the Superbowl halftime show. The halftime show was produced by Empty-V - anyone truly surprised that MTV would substitute shock for substance should have their head examined. Who couldn't see that coming? They've been doing that for decades. Coincidentally (not), Janet Jackson has a new CD coming out. I'm certain the stunt will boost sales - but I wonder zackly what those people are thinking... "She bared her breast during the superbowl halftime, so I'm sure the music is extra good!"? And, who was the geenyous who thought pyrotechnics in an enclosed dome were a good idea? The whole second half was played in a haze. (1/14/04) Bush's NASA speech Here's the short version: We won't do jack over the next decade, but we'll spend a lot of money doing it. text found at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/54868main_bush_trans.pdf "In the past 30 years, no human being has set foot on another world, or ventured farther up into space than 386 miles..." Sad but true! "Our first goal is to complete the ISS by 2010" Aaaargh - the millstone is still around our necks. "And, we have much to learn about their [radiation and weightlessness] long term effects before we venture through the vast voids of space for months at a time" I'm much more interested in adaptation to our destination(s) than I am in travel effects. Weightlessness doesn't have to be a problem... radiation - yeah, OK, it's there. But still - we have plenty of data on both weightlessness and radiation; we don't need more before we go anywhere. "To meet this (ISS) goal, we will return the space shuttle to flight ASAP" And the second millstone is re-added! "Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the crew exploration vehicle... (CEV)" This sounds like Shuttle++, with increased capability and vastly increased range. OK. But - I'd still prefer a focus on destinations rather than vehicles. If the CEV can take off from Earth and fly to the Moon, that is a tight set of constraints, one that will ensure full employment at LockheedMartinBoeingEtc for years. "Using the CEV, we will undertake extended human missions to the Moon as early as 2015..." As early as?! 11 years or more?! It didn't take us that long the first time. Oh yeah - we didn't have the 2 millstones then. I wonder if anyone who walked on the Moon will be around then... probably. I think there are 9 men left. And Mars is delayed... Hey, I'm not getting any younger y'know! 8) OK, I'm back to rooting for the Chinese or some maverick multi-billionaire
to get to Mars before 2020.
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His latest attempt to separate
you from your money is Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know
About, a screed against the FDA, doctors, health care, drug companies,
and the like. Watching the infomercial is hilarious at times;
Trudeau pronounces 'herbs' with a hard 'h', confuses the words
'antidote' and 'anecdote', and other things that don't exactly
support his credibility as a medical guru.