June 26, 2003
California budget crisis getting worse.
NY Times article. California's government seems to have virtually collapsed, with the state deeply in debt, an absurd and blatantly partisan recall movement against the governor, and the Republicans blocking all attempts to settle on a workable budget.
With the constitutional deadline for passage of a state budget less than a week away, the governor and legislative leaders are nowhere near agreement on how to address California's $38 billion two-year deficit. And the drive to recall Gov. Gray Davis is gathering steam, adding to the sense of crisis here.
California elections officials announced today that supporters of a recall had submitted 376,008 petition signatures, more than a third of the 897,158 needed to put the measure to voters. Sponsors of the measure, who say they have several hundred thousand more signatures waiting to be submitted, have until Sept. 2 to produce the petitions needed to qualify for a fall special election.
The Democratic governor is trying to deal simultaneously with the budget crisis with almost no help from Republicans and the recall threat. The result is the proverbial governmental train wreck, squared.
"I've never seen anything like this at any level of government," said Assemblyman Joseph Canciamilla, a moderate Democrat who is trying, most likely in vain, to broker a budget compromise. "The mood here is a blend of frustration, desperation and utter amazement."
The surly sentiment in Sacramento is mirrored across the state. More than two-thirds of Californians disapprove of the way the Legislature is handling the budget, according to a survey of 2,003 Californians this month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Governor Davis's approval rating among likely voters is a dismal 21 percent, the lowest on record for any California governor, the survey found. About half of those surveyed said they would vote to remove him from office if the recall election were held today.
Governor Davis says that Republicans are to blame for the crisis by refusing to consider tax increases to pull the state out of its fiscal problems and by pushing an ill-considered recall effort. He warns that his Republican antagonists are on the verge of driving the state into insolvency and political chaos by their actions.
Other than eliminating the Republican party entirely, which I believe is essential, there doesn't seem to be any hope. But these people have gone off the deep end, and as long as they're allowed to remain will continue to destroy government as we know it. It's time to put them on the lunatic fringe where they belong, along with the Nazis, KKK and such. They've entirely given up on anything even vaguely resembling democracy at this point, showing utter contempt for other points of views, and for the needs and desires of the overwhelming majority. Hopefully people will wake up soon and realize what a clear and present danger these traitors represent to this country. If not, they'll drive us to civil war.
June 25, 2003
The Clear Channel-Bush connections.
Take Back The Media! offers up an analysis of the various connections between Bush and Clear Channel, now the largest media company in the country, probably the world. The connections betweent the two, and an assorted group of cronies, goes back to his days as Governor of Texas. Via
Abuddha Memes.
Clear Channel Worldwide Inc., the nation©–s largest owner of radio stations (over 1200 stations in all 50 states and DC), sponsored the numerous "patriotic rallies" which were held in various cities around the country. They organized, advertised, provided speakers and entertainment for them, and even handed out numerous American flags to participants.
While Clear Channel promoted these as patriotic rallies, the attendees obviously felt otherwise. In addition to waving their provided flags, they also held signs condemning their fellow Americans - liberals, Hollywood, the Dixie Chicks. They were not so much patriotic rallies as pro-war rallies, and not so much pro-war rallies as rallies against anyone who opposes the Bush administration's policies.
There are close ties between the company and President Bush. The Vice Chair of the company is Tom Hicks, a member of the Bush Pioneer club for elite (and generous) donors. The relationship between Bush and Hicks goes back even further, however. The two were embroiled in scandal when Hicks, as University of Texas Regent, was responsible for granting endowment management contracts of the newly created (under legislation signed by Bush) UT Investment Management Co. (UTIMCO). The contracts were given to firms politically connected to both Hicks and Bush, including the Carlyle Group - a firm which has the first President Bush on the payroll and had the second one on the payroll until just weeks before receiving this lucrative business. The board of UTIMCO also included the Chair of Clear Channel, L. Lowry Mays. In addition, Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers from George Bush, making him a wealthy man through a deal that was partially sweetened by a shiny new taxpayer financed stadium, which included valuable land obtained at below market rates through the use of eminent domain.
Whether or not the close ties between the radio behemoth Clear Channel and the president have anything to do with their rallying support for his policies is unclear. If it were a small company it would not much matter. But Clear Channel is a media giant, dominating the radio and promotion industries. The potential for the alignment of big media and the government should concern us all, especially as FCC Chair Michael Powell continues to push to reduce the barriers to even further media consolidation.
Here's a nice graphic that lays out some of the more important links.
Especially note how George Bush, Sr. always seems to show up when there's trouble. He's always there in the background. Always. His connections in Texas go back to the late 50s when he started Zapata Oil, and then, around the time of the Kennedy assassination, by coincidence of course, as a US Representative from Houston.
Senator Byrd speaks up again.
Common Dreams presents Senator Robert Byrd's latest speech opposing Bush's warmongering and lies,
The Road to Coverup Is the Road to Ruin. Here's the conclusion.
Well, Mr. President, this is no game. For the first time in our history, the United States has gone to war because of intelligence reports claiming that a country posed a threat to our nation. Congress should not be content to use standard operating procedures to look into this extraordinary matter. We should accept no substitute for a full, bipartisan investigation by Congress into the issue of our pre-war intelligence on the threat from Iraq and its use.
The purpose of such an investigation is not to play pre-election year politics, nor is it to engage in what some might call "revisionist history." Rather it is to get at the truth. The longer questions are allowed to fester about what our intelligence knew about Iraq, and when they knew it, the greater the risk that the people ú the American people whom we are elected to serve ú will lose confidence in our government.
This looming crisis of trust is not limited to the public. Many of my colleagues were willing to trust the Administration and vote to authorize war against Iraq. Many members of this body trusted so much that they gave the President sweeping authority to commence war. As President Reagan famously said, "Trust, but verify." Despite my opposition, the Senate voted to blindly trust the President with unprecedented power to declare war. While the reconstruction continues, so do the questions, and it is time to verify.
I have served the people of West Virginia in Congress for half a century. I have witnessed deceit and scandal, cover up and aftermath. I have seen Presidents of both parties who once enjoyed great popularity among the people leave office in disgrace because they misled the American people. I say to this Administration: do not circle the wagons. Do not discourage the seeking of truth in these matters.
Mr. President, the American people have questions that need to be answered about why we went to war with Iraq. To attempt to deny the relevance of these questions is to trivialize the people's trust.
The business of intelligence is secretive by necessity, but our government is open by design. We must be straight with the American people. Congress has the obligation to investigate the use of intelligence information by the Administration, in the open, so that the American people can see that those who exercise power, especially the awesome power of preemptive war, must be held accountable. We must not go down the road of cover-up. That is the road to ruin.
All very true of course. But expecting Congress, which is entirely in hock to the defense industries, and the military-industrial-legal-financial complex, to do anything, ever, is foolish and naive. It won't happen. While I agree with a lot of what he says about Bush, a lot of this is just a way for the Congress to avoid responsibility for it all. Bush can't do anything without Congress. They pay the money, they oversee the intelligence agencies, they're directly responsible for it all. For decades people like Byrd have been building up this horrible military establishment. What did they think it was for? Defense? Give me a break.
It's the entire U.S. government, and the apathetic, unpatriotic minority of Americans called voters, who put them there who are responsible. We don't need investigations, we need action. "Investigations" are the Congressional term for pretending to do something, and to delay taking responsibility and action. It's nice to hear at least one Senator speak up, but words count for nothing. Less than zero.
Addendum: After re-reading, I have to comment on this sentence: "For the first time in our history, the United States has gone to war because of intelligence reports claiming that a country posed a threat to our nation." No, that's not true Senator. We went to war in Vietnam because of intelligence reports which led to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. There had never been any attack by Vietnam on the US, or any serious danger of such. Not at any time. And Congress knew that. Of course, that was a Democratic war and a Democratic congress, so naturally we'll skip that. This isn't about dealing with the problems, just more partisan bashing of the other party. Mostly anyway.
June 24, 2003
New Galileo Community Center.
I've changed the discussion forum software for this so-called Galileo Community Center of mine from Manila to one from InvisionBoard. It's got a heck of a lot more features, and is free to boot. Please
check it out. So far it only links from this weblog, but I should be able to change the links in my other sites within the next few days.
You can comment on my blog entries right here, but I think a forum would also be nice, since discussions in the comments tend to disappear into the archives after a few days. Forums are more permanent. The URL to get there directly is
www.michaelpresky.com/forums.
It stills needs a bit of work, in particular adding links back to this weblog and my other sites from there. But one thing at a time. I read somewhere that it takes about three years for a forum to get established on the web. That's probably right. Oh well, it's not like I'm going anywhere. :) Feedback would be more than welcome.
The Guardian has a recipe contest.
If you're tired of bad war news, try
this article from the
Guardian, announcing the results of a recipe contest they just held. There are several tasty dishes. I've always been a fan of roast chicken, and of garlic, and this garlic chicken sounds great. The chicken jhella doesn't appeal to me so much, having never been a big curry fan. But if you are it also sounds good.
The winner is a recipe for chicken jhella by MS Gopal and the runner up is roast chicken and garlic by Stewart Stevens. Jemma Patton's chorizo, aubergine and beans in red wine received an honourable mention. ...
Roast chicken and garlic
Preferably you need a soaked clay roasting pot, but any roasting pot or wrapping foil will do.
Select your favourite chicken, after wringing, plucking and so on, stuff the chicken with half a lemon and then cram as many whole cloves of garlic in as possible. Just break up the garlic bulbs and leave the skin of the cloves intact. You will need a lot of garlic. Squeeze the remaining lemon over the chicken and maybe chuck in some herbs if there are some lying around.
Roast the chicken. If you have a good roasting pot then you can roast slower and longer without the meat drying up. Play it by ear.
Shortly before the chicken is ready cut plenty of good light bread and toast lightly. (You could serve this dish with a toaster on the table for ad hoc toasting or if you are lazy not bother toasting at all!)
To serve, scoop out all the garlic cloves into a bowl and put the chicken on a platter. Participants should take some toast and squeeze a garlic clove over the toast. The roasted garlic cloves form into a paste encapsulated by the skin. There needs to be a spare bowl lying around to discard the husks of the garlic cloves. You can then pick a bit of chicken and sit this on top of the garlic paste - the chicken can be used to spread the paste so there is no need of any cutlery. If you roasted the chicken too quickly the garlic may not have become sufficiently mushy.
That should satisfy even the most diehard garlic fans. :)
Apple moves into the future, at least a little.
MacCentral offers a
nice roundup of news from
Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference.
Apple on Monday passed its Intel-based competition in processor power with the release of the much-anticipated Power Mac G5 desktop computer. The company also used the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to show the advanced features of Panther, the next major revision to Mac OS X Apple will release later this year.
Apple's new G5-based personal computer not only gets a new chip, but also gets a complete overhaul of the architecture of the machine. Billed as "the world's fastest personal computer," the G5 features a 64-bit processor and 1GHz front-side bus, can address up to 8GB of memory and features processor speeds of up to 2GHz.
"From the very beginning we said that when we come out with the next generation processor we want to upgrade the whole architecture," Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, told MacCentral.
This actually sounds interesting, at least from the technological perspective. But not from the marketing one. Unfortunately Apple, all by itself, is simply not capable of producing enough machines fast enough to create an installed base large enough to develop for. At least that's my feeling, and has been since Jobs pulled the plug on other manufacturers when he came back in the late 90s. But they sure do sound great. And so does Panther.
I note however, that their stock is up around 50% over the last few months. I think though that that's from their new music center, which has been a bit hit, there being a lot more music fans than there are Mac fans. The stock price actually declined a little after yesterday's announcements.
Cover your hair.
Writing in the
NY Times, and from Iraq, Nicholas Kristof
reports on the growing strength of Shiite Muslims, and their efforts to force Islamic law on the populace.
I'm getting the impression that America fought Saddam, and the Islamic fundamentalists won.
For a glimpse of the Islamic state that Iraq may be evolving into, consider the street execution of an infidel named Sabah Ghazali.
Under Saddam Hussein, Christians like Mr. Ghazali, 41, were allowed to sell alcohol and were protected from Muslim extremists. But lately extremists have been threatening to kill anyone selling alcohol. One day last month, two men walked over to Mr. Ghazali as he was unlocking his shop door and shot him in the head Ð the second liquor store owner they had killed that morning.
An iron curtain of fundamentalism risks falling over Iraq, with particularly grievous implications for girls and women. President Bush hopes that Iraq will turn into a shining model of democracy, and that could still happen. But for now it's the Shiite fundamentalists who are gaining ground.
Already, almost every liquor shop in southern Iraq appears to have been forcibly closed. Here in Basra, Islamists have asked Basra University (unsuccessfully) to separate male and female students, and shopkeepers have put up signs like: "Sister, cover your hair." Many more women are giving in to the pressure and wearing the hijab head covering.
"Every woman is afraid," said Sarah Alak, a 22-year-old computer engineering student at Basra University. Ms. Alak never used to wear a hijab, but after Saddam fell her father asked her to wear one on the university campus, "just to avoid trouble."
Unfortunately democracy means that the majority rules, even if the majority doesn't respect minority rights and views.
"Democracy means choosing what people want, not what the West wants," notes Abdul Karim al-Enzi, a leader of the Dawa Party, a Shiite fundamentalist party that is winning support in much of the country.
Shooting people who own liquor stores. Almost reminds me of Americans killing folks who sell recreational drugs. Oh, I'm sorry, that's something entirely different. After all, this is the land of the free, isn't it?
We may just have to get used to the idea that we have been midwives to growing Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq.
Or maybe the NY Times wants to get us used to the idea. Maybe that was the plan all along. Religious fundamentalists in one country helping those in another. Bush's ideas about women aren't all that much more enlightened. It's not that far a stretch. Same with his support of Jewish fundamentalists in Israel. Seen one, seen them all.
'Party animal' Bush raises $4 million in one night.
Another
Guardian article reports on Bush's money-grubbing leadup to the 2004 election, if there is one.
President George Bush raised a record-breaking $4m at a cocktail party in New York on Monday night, as his campaign for re-election to the White House in 2004 moved into a higher gear.
The haul means his administration has raised $11.85m (£8m) from a series of fundraisers over the past week alone. The drive has left a yawning gap between the campaign funds of the president and that of the Democratic hopefuls.
The event in Manhattan, close to Ground Zero, the site of the former World Trade Centre, means the Republicans are comfortably ahead of their target of raising $20m in two weeks. The campaign to kickstart the re-election has been designed to intimidate potential Democratic candidates.
To 'intimidate'? That's pretty strong language.
The Bush administration raised a total of $100m for the 2000 election campaign but that is likely to be dwarfed by the amount raised by the Republicans for 2004. Under new rules the previous $1,000 limit on individual donations has been doubled to $2,000, and the administration is expected to raise up to $250m.
According to the Washington-based watchdog, the Centre for Responsive Politics, John Edwards has raised the most money of the Democratic candidates.
Mr Edwards has raised $7.4m for his election campaign so far, followed by John Kerry with $7m, and Dick Gephardt with just under $6m. Al Sharpton has collected just $83,000 and Carol Moseley Braun has raised the least of the 10 candidates, with $72,000.
Some experts said the amount raised at the New York event was the biggest ever from a political fund-raiser - it was certainly the highest the state had seen. The highest amount previously raised by Mr Bush was $3m from a similar event in New York in October 1999.
Curious that they don't mention Dean along with the other Democratic candidates. I know $250 million seems like an awful lot, but it isn't really. As I said before, and I guess will keep saying, that's only
ONE from all of the 250 million Americans who want him out. And that doesn't count foreign contributions, which are also important. This battle isn't confined to the US, and nobody should think it is.
The New York event was attended by many leading Wall Street figures, including Henry Paulson, chairman of Goldman Sachs, Stan O'Neal, who runs Merrill Lynch, and John Mack, chief executive of Credit Suisse First Boston.
If you live anywhere where any of the corporations backed by these people operate, then you're involved here. Please wake up. Supposedly only American citizens are allowed to contribute to American candidates. Do you really think that the corporate honchos are limiting their donations to money raised within the US? Their companies operate everywhere, and there is absolutely no oversight whatsoever over how and where they spend the profits.
Intimidate? No, I think this could have the opposite effect. "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."
Six British soldiers killed in Iraq, eight hurt.
Guardian article. The guerrilla war in Iraq spread to southern Iraq, with two attacks on British troops.
Six military police officers were killed and eight other soldiers wounded in two attacks in southern Iraq yesterday in the biggest setback to British forces since the war was declared officially over.
The bodies of the dead - the largest number of British military personnel to be killed by hostile fire since the war began and the first to die since April 6 - were recovered from the town of Majar al-Kabir, 15 miles south of Amara.
In an emergency statement last night the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, told the Commons that the dead soldiers had been engaged in training the local Iraqi police.
He said local information suggested they might have been involved in what he described as "an incident" at the police station.
"I regret that at this stage I am unable to provide any further details. British commanders are obviously investigating the situation as a matter of urgency," Mr Hoon said.
In a separate incident at 7.30am, troops from the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment engaged in a routine patrol in the same town were ambushed by guerrilla forces.
Their two vehicles were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machineguns and rifle fire from "a large number of Iraqi gunmen", the defence secretary told MPs.
I think the British are thinking that they won't get caught up in Iraqi resentment of the Americans, but it may not be that easy.
Urging the MoD to send more troops if necessary, the Tory defence spokesman, Bernard Jenkin, noted: "It is still too early to tell if this signals a general worsening of security in Iraq."
Yes, Mr. Jenkin, it does. :) Reminds me of something Colin Powell wrote back in 1968 when he was helping to cover up My Lai. "Relations between the Vietnamese and the Americans are excellent."
June 23, 2003
The Economist doesn't like the new EU constitution.
The
Economist reviews the proposed constitution, and finds it rather wanting.
There was always a risk that the convention would not design a particularly good constitution. What was harder to imagine was that the convention would produce a text which would worsen the very problems it had been instructed to address. This is what it has somehow contrived to do. In many ways the draft constitution, more than 200 pages long, makes the Union's constitutional architecture harder to understand than it was before. That is an incredible feat. Worse, it weaves perpetual constitutional revolution more securely into the Union's legal fabric. The draft, admittedly, gets one or two things right: it is not entirely devoid of sense (see article). But for the most part the text is sound on points that are relatively unimportant. Everything that is crucial it gets wrong.
I kinda thought this would happen. For one thing, the people making up the constitution weren't democratically selected. Same as the US Constitution, for that matter, and a major reason it's got so many problems today. Second, the manner in which it was jammed through before the new 10 nations got on board is highly suspicious. Seems like they could have waited a few years until the changes were done, and then done it democratically, with input from everyone.
One of the good things about the US constitution, and the reason it's lasted so long, is that it's rather short and simple. Only a few pages actually. The EU one is over 200 pages, which is way too complex.
Dr. Howard Dean formally announces his candidacy for President.
From an
AP story, via Yahoo.
Complete text of The Great American Restoration speech. These quotes are from the AP story. But you really should read his speech. It's amazing.
The liberal tag defies his record in Vermont, where Dean was known as a centrist, pro-business governor for 12 years.
He battled Democrats to restrain spending and balance the state budget, even pushing for cuts in human services programs such as benefits for the aged, blind and disabled.
He nominated tough-on-crime judges, most of them former prosecutors. And he imposed work requirements on welfare recipients well before former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) did.
As governor, some of his strongest supporters were Republican leaders of the business community. Difficult to label, Dean once called himself "an odd kind of Democrat."
Now that he's a presidential candidate, Dean is not trumpeting his moderate credentials from Vermont, nor did he dwell on his anti-war position during Monday's address.
Instead, he sought to widen his appeal by casting himself as a blunt-speaking, anti-establishment populist who will reform American politics issue by issue.
"This president has forgotten ordinary people," Dean said.
Well, I don't think Bush has forgotten ordinary people at all. He's got them and their money targeted. Every one, every dollar. He knows someone's got to pay for his many wars, and it sure isn't going to be him and plutocratic buddies.
For more on Dr. Dean and his rapidly growing body of supporters see
www.deanforamerica.com and his official blog at
blog.deanforamerica.com.
I really like that he's getting going so early. That's what it will take. I read that Bush is on target to gather over $200 million for his campaign. Well, there are over 200 million Americans who aren't Republicans. One dollar each could easily even that up. When will people realize how much stronger we are than them?
More Iraqi stuff, this time on WMD lies.
Again via the ever interesting
This Modern World. Todd over at
Monkey Media Report has a
nice overview of the administration's lies about Iraqi WMDs. In particular, that Colin Powell definitely lied during his speech to the UN back in February. And that the corporate media still aren't reporting the facts here. No quotes, since he quotes a lot over there.
Monkey Media Report itself looks rather interesting. Hadn't been there before. From North Carolina apparently. He offers a
nice link to other north state blogs. Sounds like they take their barbecuing very seriously there.
It's Apocalypse Now for US troops in Iran.
Via
This Modern World. As if the whole thing isn't surreal enough, Reuters
reports that US soldiers listened to
The Ride of the Valkyries before a raid.
U.S. troops psyched up on a bizarre musical reprise from Vietnam war film "Apocalypse Now" before crashing into Iraqi homes to hunt gunmen on Saturday, as Shi'ite Muslims rallied against the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
With the strains of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" still ringing in their ears and the clatter of helicopters overhead, soldiers rammed vehicles into metal gates and hundreds of troops raided houses in the western city of Ramadi after sunrise as part of a drive to quell a spate of attacks on U.S. forces.
A previously unknown group, calling itself the Iraqi National Front of Fedayeen, vowed to intensify assaults on American troops until they leave Iraq.
A man with his face swathed in a red-and-white headscarf read the threat on a videotape received by Lebanon's LBC television. There was no way to verify its authenticity.
"If they want their soldiers to be safe, they must leave our pure land," the man said, disavowing any link to Saddam Hussein. He was flanked by three masked men with weapons.
The article also updates Iraqi news on several fronts, whether Saddam is still alive, the growing resistance, so-called Operation Desert Scorpion and such. No word on whether the smell of napalm in the morning is any different in the desert than it is in the jungle, though. But I suppose we'll find out in time. This war ain't going anywhere soon.
It's a nice piece of music though, I can't deny that. I had a feeling that stuff like this was going to start happening when they picked the guy who played the terminator in Apocalypse Now to play the president on TV. People say there's no truth on network TV. Actually there is. It's just not from the news departments.
Comments by Haloscan aren't working today.
I added
Haloscan comments last week, which I basically really like. But their server seems to be down today, and when that happen loading my blog gives lots of script errors. And as someone who supposedly makes his living do web coding, I don't ever want people to see script errors. :) So I took them off, at least temporarily.
Maybe I'll try them again later, but I think I'll probably just move this to
MoveableType sometime this week. I've been wanting to do that anyway.
Blogger is great, but it does have its problems. And I think it'd be better if the blog and the comments were all on the same server anyway. That way it's either all there and working, or it isn't. It's too bad though. I actually got my first comment over the weekend. Darn.
Some people say one shouldn't criticize free services like Blogger and Haloscan, and that I should pay for the pro versions if I want better service. Well, maybe so. But I think things should work properly. If the free versions don't work, then I just assume that the commercial versions also probably don't work well either. If you can't do something right, then you shouldn't do it at all.
And I've also learned that paying for something is no guarantee of it working right either. I've paid for both Radio and Manila, and I can't say they're any less buggy than Blogger, which is free.
Harry Potter sales on the movie blockbuster level.
J.K. Rowling pretty much redefined the economics of the book publishing business this weekend. With over 5 million copies sold, and 8 million total sales projected within the first week, it is the first book to take in an amount of money normally associated with the initial weekend of hit movies. Well over $100 million, by my calculations. (8 million, the first print run total, at $30 is like $240 million.) Unbelievable. Certainly is an inspiration to writers and artists of all types everywhere.
The
NY Times reports.
The new novel in the Harry Potter series set a staggering sales record as fans bought about five million copies by the end of its first day on sale Saturday, according to its United States publisher, Scholastic. That is nearly twice as many as the estimated sales in 12 months of last year's best-selling novel in hardcover, "The Summons," by John Grisham.
Booksellers said the first-day sales of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," by J. K. Rowling, had exceeded their expectations, although many stores still had copies in stock yesterday afternoon.
Stephen Riggio, chief executive of Barnes & Noble, the largest bookseller in the country, said the book business had upstaged even Hollywood. The five million copies sold, at retail prices from $17 to $30, surpassed the first weekend's box office for the latest blockbuster movie, "Hulk," which sold $62.6 million in tickets in its three-day opening weekend.
I haven't read any of the books yet though. Nor have I seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies. Some things you just want to save and savor. Besides, what if something happens and she doesn't get to finish it, and I never find out how it turns out. I couldn't take it. :)
Mickey Hart blogs the Dead tour.
As I mentioned before, the
Grateful Dead are back on tour, and Mickey Hart is keeping an
online tripdiary of it. Here's a selection from
June 17th describing the latest technological innovations, the merging/melding of light and sound.
A new beginning...a sonic miracle...
Someday, we always believed, we would not only vibrate together in sound but also in the visual domain. That day is becoming a reality, that day is today. This is the first time that the sound and lights will be pulsating together in a shared rhythm, interactive as they say. What we play the lights say. It is so exciting to join these two mediums. One pulsating throbbing gristle. We have joined these worlds in the "midi" domain. Midi means musical instrument digital interface. The lights and the images are now triggered from the stage as opposed to someone in the arena directing the flow. The Rhythm Devils now will have a flow and rhythm that is directly related to what is being played from the stage, from Bill and I. The Brotherhood of Light, Peter "Liquid Pete" Rabinowitz and Chris Samardizch, is making this happen for us.
They're playing with some great folks on
this tour.
Steve Winwood, then
Willie Nelson, then
Bob Dylan. With lots of surprises and friends along the way. Joan Osborne is also along to add some sweet vocals.
Tonight Steve Winwood joins the band. He is one amazing guy. He plays B3 organ, guitar, mandolin and sings like an angel. I have known him since 1968 when Garcia, Jack Cassidy, Steve and I played on a flatbed truck in front of the old KSAN studios. After the show we wound up at Lake Tahoe and spent four days together playing ping-pong, exchanging stories, climbing snowy mountains and just enjoying great hang time. He was 20 years old and playing this smart, loud music with his voice shimmering with Traffic. In those days English bands didn't play extended songs, but Traffic did. He is a jammer at heart with a strong feeling for jazz. Garcia loved Traffic as we all did. His band is sparkling. Beautiful percussion and a very Traffic-like feel. His new CD is amazing and it hits the streets today. It's called "About Time". It is truly an honor to share the same stage with him and his band: Walfredo Reyes Jr., Joe Neto, Randall Bramblett and Edison A DaSilva. When he started "Higher Love" the hair on my arms stood straight up. His voice is an original masterpiece, one of a kind.
Tonight Steve joined us for a spirited rendition of Loose Lucy. Joan sang soulful versions of Built to Last and It Must Have Been the Roses. I felt Jerry's sweet vibe hovering above the band. "Just the beard and the glasses, and a smile on empty space".
Warning though. This is the poorest blog design I've ever seen, although he doesn't really call it a blog, so maybe that's a bad criticism. But it's Flash-based (always a bad design decision, IMHO), and hard to access. But worth it if you can get through.
I don't really understand his repeated claims that American democracy is a great thing, occasioned by shows in Virginia and Maryland and visits from folks in Washington, DC, but who am I to quibble? Mickey's probably the most optimistic man in America, relentlessly so, which is great, but not if it blinds him to the truth. I guess I am glad to hear that there are quite a few politicians in DC who are Dead fans though. That's certainly encouraging. Here's a quote from the
June 18th entry on that.
Senator Barbara Boxer and James Billington, Librarian of Congress, were our guests backstage tonight. Also, Jonathan Adelstein, one of five on the Federal Communications Commission. Jonathan was the man who first convinced Bob, Jerry and I to go to the Senate to testify about the threat to the world's rainforests. Since his appointment to the FCC, he has been fighting the good fight against the evil ones who want to monopolize the world's media. Of course, Barbara Boxer is a friend from the old days and one of the last true liberals. She fights every day for the environment, health care for everyone, and for basic human rights. It's a tough time for her now in Washington, so I know it was great for her to get away and enjoy the music. Today she took Caryl, Reya and Phil's kids Grahame and Brian on a tour of the Capitol and for a visit to the Senate. I think it means a lot to the kids to see democracy in action.
One more note. If you can't make any of the shows, you can buy CD sets of each one almost as soon as they're finished playing. Go
here for those. They keep adding shows too, so
stay posted. And if you want to listen right now, there's
gdradio.com.
There's a band out on the highway,
They're high-stepping into town.
It's a rainbow full of sounds,
With flowers, calliopes and clowns.
And everybody's dancing...
The music never stops with these guys. I'm so glad they're back. :)
Increasing resentment of US in Iraq.
Well I guess that's nothing new by now. But there's a nice
roundup of it by Scott Peterson in the
Christian Science Monitor. He describes the smashing of a memorial placed by US soldiers, and within thirty minutes of its creation.
Draped with a necklace and pendant imploring, "St. Michael Protect Us," the concrete memorial put in place by a US unit Friday morning measured two-by-three feet, and had been painted with a bright American flag, the Marine Corps shield, and the words "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
But within 30 minutes of the American troops leaving, this tribute to a brother was no more - a casualty of the deepening resentment toward US troops here, at the hands of Iraqis who increasingly see those troops not as liberating friends, but as an occupying enemy.
He goes on to describe the increasing anger and resentment being felt.
What is a RSS feed?
The
Christian Science Monitor has added RSS feeds to its sites, along with a
simple explanation of exactly what a RSS feed is. Also contains many links to various news aggregators.
June 22, 2003
An account from Iran.
Also from the SF Gate is
this account by Jason Rezaian, a free-lance journalist currently there.
Immigrants indignant over patronizing treatment.
A personal account published in the
SF Gate, tells of the increasingly humiliating treatment of immigrants attempting to become American citizens. It was occasioned by his experiences on the day he became a citizen.
Claude, the emcee at the oath ceremony on Nob Hill I attended recently, beseeched my 2,000-odd compatriots and me to join him in a cheer: "Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? INS! INS! INS!"
... Immigration officials elsewhere were not diplomats either. I submitted my citizenship application in Houston, where Hispanic workers ring the building in serpentine lines, braving heatstroke to compete for entry. I have watched chagrined as officials refer to these men as "boys," and I have seen them return awkward smiles.
The local congressman's office, after my file was lost twice, and my application delayed for four years, implied that some of my own problems should be attributed to my ethnicity. I'm not Muslim or Arab, but in the current climate, any substitute will suffice.
... Last year, I had my fingerprints taken, for the third time. My file had "congressional inquiry" stamped on it, so the director of the center quickly ushered me to a technician to have my prints taken. After his boss left, the technician didn't take my prints, but did harass me. Suspicious of why I was living in San Francisco, he asked me if I ever "played with knives," and explained in detail that the fingerprints would allow the FBI to follow me "anywhere I went." As I was leaving, I saw the evaluation card (of him) I had vengefully filled out slip quietly into his pocket.
After Sept. 11, discrimination has become a national sport
... I listened incredulously as the judge ignored how the civil liberties I had studied as a fifth grader were now under assault. She delivered a trite homily on the "wonderful freedoms" Americans have "to speak" and "to move." I thought of all of the Pakistani Americans who, unable to live here even in silence, are now moving in droves to Canada.
... On this day, I had to answer in writing, for the third time, that I had not recently joined the Communist party, practiced polygamy or solicited prostitution.
And this in San Francisco, a city that supposedly prides itself on its internationalist flavor. And in California, a state where whites are now the minority. You'd expect at least a little sensitivity. And no matter how bad things are, no matter how much of a threat there is from so-called terrorism, no matter what, there's always room for common courtesy. America is about treating everyone with respect.
Drugs to make people taller.
As someone about 5'6", I found
this article in the NY Times on the use of drugs and genetic improvements to make people taller offensive as heck.
And men who are considerably shorter than the average American guy height of 5-foot-9 1/2? These poor little fellows are at elevated risk of dropping out of school, drinking heavily, dating sparsely, getting sick or depressed. They have a lower chance of marrying or fathering children than do taller men, and their salaries tend to be as modest as their stature. If they are out striving to make their mark, they are derided as "Little Napoleons." Call them whatever you please, and chances are you won't get called on it, for making fun of short men is one of the last acceptable prejudices.
Small wonder, then, that an advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration has just recommended that the agency approve the use of genetically engineered human growth hormone for healthy children who are "idiopathically" short Ð that is, children who are at the bottom-most tail of growth curves, yet who, unlike a small subset of very short children, do not suffer from growth hormone deficiency. Children with innate hormone deficiency are given hormone shots to very noticeable effect: without the treatment, they would be true midgets, perhaps under four feet tall as adults; with the shots, they are brought up to low-normal heights.
Boy, sometimes the degree and extent of their biases and stereotypes is just incredible.
Some international blogs.
Phil Wolff's
Blogcount is trying to track the growth of blogs in the world. He offers some useful links. Here's one to
Iranian/Persian ones. And here's one to Spanish speaking ones,
Blogometro, plus one for
Portuguese speakers. Add
Polish ones and
Thai ones.
All of these are mostly in the native languages. I sure wish I knew what they were saying about Americans these days. :) Anyway, Phil reports that there are over three million blogs in the world now, although how they can count that is beyond me. But
Blogger alone supposedly has over 1.2 million, although how many of those are active is hard to say. I know I've set up at least two on Blogger for friends that aren't being maintained. It sure is growing quickly though, there's no denying. 400-500% a year, at least.
Reminds me of an old saying: "Learning another language is like gaining another soul." Like gaining another world too, I think.
Is the stock market boom back, or not?
Apparently different folks at the NY Times have different ideas. Gretchen Morgensen is positively bullish.
Small Investors, Once Burned, Lead New Bull, she says.
There is no denying it: the bull is back. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index has risen 13 percent this year, while the Nasdaq composite is up 23 percent. Individual investors are leading the charge back into the stock market, according to some brokerage firm executives who look closely at trading behavior.
"What we're seeing is the retail investor has been getting back into the market since the last couple weeks of March in a pretty broad manner," said R. Jarrett Lilien, the president and chief operating officer of the E*Trade Group, an online financial services business, who added that he was surprised by the shift. "There was a big question: When will broad-based retail come back to this market? All of us thought it would take years of healing time."
Instead, investors appear to be returning to equities with their wounds barely healed. Three years of stock market torment seem not to have shaken the long-held view that stocks are best for the long haul.
But Paul Krugman says we're
Still Blowing Bubbles.
Or, to put it another way: it's hard to find any real news to justify the market's leap. Instead, investors seem to be buying stocks because they are rising Ð which is pretty much the definition of a bubble.
... Don't tax cuts and low interest rates create the conditions for an economic rebound? Well, interest rates have been low for a while. And everything that has happened since 2001 suggests that Bush-style tax cuts Ð which, because they are targeted on the very affluent, basically give people with plenty of cash to spare even more cash to spare Ð provide very little employment bang per deficit buck. Meanwhile, desperate state and local governments are continuing to slash services and, in a growing number of cases, raising taxes, undoing much or all of the stimulus from the federal government.
Does the collective wisdom of the investor class perceive an imminent, vigorous recovery that is invisible in the data? The market isn't always right. It wasn't right when it sent the Nasdaq to 5000; it wasn't right in the fall of 2001, the summer of 2002 or the late fall of 2002 Ð three would-be bull markets that fizzled. And selling by corporate insiders hit a two-year high in May.
Meanwhile, the average stock is selling at 31 times earnings, twice the historical norm. And if you take into account pension liabilities and the cost of stock options, that number goes above 40.
I can't say myself, although I can say I have no faith in the ability of either the federal government or corporate America to manage the economy, nor do I believe that they've made any real effort to cure any abuses. On the contrary, by allowing all of the companies who broke the law to retain possession of the money stolen, they've sent a signal that it's business as usual. The worst that will happen is a slap on the wrist, if that. WorldCom changes its name to MCI and all is forgiven.
And I don't know of any significant economic developments within the US that would cause a 20% increase so quickly. Certainly the economy isn't turning around like that. (I wonder if this has to do with the laundering of drug money from Afghanistan? Naturally, I'll deny ever having said that. Nobody wants to mention the importance of laundering international drug money to the stock market.)
Oh well, nothing new. But I'd be wary. Remember that the brokerage firms and investment houses make money whenever you buy or sell, that is, no matter which way the market goes. And that they desperately need business right now. I also think the dollar has not finished falling, and that there will be a substantial reaction to recent American aggression that is not going to help the American economy. Note what Mr. Krugman says about corporate insiders selling now, not buying. As well as his closing warning.
Oh, and the banana-republic policies now being followed in Washington won't just drive up interest rates; they'll probably generate a full-blown fiscal crisis one of these years. That can't be good for equity prices.
In short, the current surge in stocks looks like another bubble, one that will eventually burst.
NY Times' propaganda on Iranian MWDs.
The
NY Times is apparently supporting the Bush administration's efforts to distract attention from its failures and lies in Iraq by creating the illusion that Iran is a danger as well. In this
unsigned editorial they state conclusively that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb.
One of the central challenges of the coming decade is to stop nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of dictators and terrorists. Iran has just shown us the nature of the problem. Under the noses of international atomic inspectors, the Iranians have overcome the single biggest hurdle to building a nuclear weapon: they have developed the capacity to produce their own nuclear bomb fuel. They did so while appearing to comply with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The flaws of that treaty, and how to fix them, are now evident.
The first step is to get Iran and other potential trouble spots to accept new, more intrusive inspection arrangements of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The tighter rules, drawn up in the 1990's after the discovery of Iraq's covert nuclear program, allow the I.A.E.A. to visit all suspected nuclear sites, not just those that are officially reported. More than 65 countries have agreed to these procedures, but not Iran.
With Tehran's secret bomb fuel activities now exposed, America and the European Union are increasing their pressure on Iran to agree as well. Russia has begun to add its voice to this effort, and this is crucial. Moscow, which is helping Iran build a civilian power reactor, must make clear that it will end all nuclear cooperation until Iran allows expanded inspections.
I personally don't believe Iran to be any more of a danger than Iraq was, but you have to decide for itself. Maybe it is. Nor does this mean that I in any way support what is clearly a repressive and very unpopular religious dictatorship there. But there are many of those all over the world, and it's clear that there are only certain ones that concern the Americans, always non-Christian, non-white ones. Apparently only white folks can be trusted with them. (Yes, there's a lot of this that is racial. It's not just about oil.)
But this isn't really about nuclear weapons, of which Americans have more than anybody else. It's about building a case for invading Iran, using WMDs as an excuse. "The first step is to get Iran and other potential trouble spots to accept new, more intrusive inspection arrangements..." Notice the "the first step" part. This is propaganda, not news, subtly creating the impression that other steps will inevitably follow. And notice the "other potential trouble spots" part as well. Also propaganda, subtly creating the illusion that there is a widespread global problem that Americans, reluctant carriers of the white man's burden, have no choice but to deal with.
The reason countries all over the world are looking to build up their arsenals, including nuclear ones, is that the US and its other white allies have them, and have made it clear that they will use them if necessary to maintain their power. People are frightened, and rightly so. As far as International Atomic Energy Agency is concerned, who do you think is running it?
It has to be pointed out that the US, the UK and Russia are all clearly in violation of the non-proliferation treaty as well. Do you really think their governments would hesitate to break the rules? Do you really think the IAEA is ever going to criticize white countries, or call for inspections there? No matter how blatant the infractions. Is the US government actively working to make sure no American companies are involved in supporting this kind of activity? Of course not. "Do as we say, not as we do."
Addendum. For a non-American perspective, the Scotsman has an article,
US hawks turn rhetoric on Tehran, that tracks the increasingly hawkish tone being taken.
There are still issues between Iran and the rest of the world. Iran has an obvious interest in its own national security. With non-proliferation increasingly the exception rather than the norm, why should Iran not have nuclear weapons? It is an important regional player, repeatedly surrounded by forces supporting an avowedly hostile power. US troops have encircled it on all sides - Iraq, Afghanistan, central Asia. It also has a nuclear neighbour in Pakistan and a nuclear enemy in Israel.
America©–s inconsistent approach to dealing with Weapons of Mass Destruction across the world suggests Iran can develop nuclear weapons as soon as possible in order to make military intervention too risky (the North Korean model), develop nuclear weapons and become a key US ally to gain immunity from criticism (the Israeli model) or attempt to develop nuclear weapons and face military action a decade later (the Iraqi model).
All 50 states now warn of West Nile virus threat.
The
NY Times reports on the spread of the mosquitoes responsible, particularly the increase in the number of different mosquito species that carry it.
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana Ð with 50,000 acres of marshland and 300 miles of home front ditches carrying septic tank effluent where the southern house mosquito breeds Ð has become an epicenter of the West Nile virus. Of the 25 people who died of the virus in Louisiana last year, 4 lived in St. Tammany.
West Nile first struck the northern hemisphere in Queens, N.Y., four years ago and killed four people. This year, all 50 states are warning of an outbreak from any of the 30 mosquito species known to carry it. From 62 severe cases in 1999, confirmed human cases of the virus spread to 39 states in 2002, and it killed 284 people.
... It has been found in horses from Alabama and Arkansas to Minnesota and North Dakota, in dozens of dead crows and in a bald eagle near Allentown, Pa. On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection found infected larva near Pittsburgh, Ronald Ruman, a spokesman, said. In Louisiana, 52 dead birds have tested positive.
... No West Nile vaccine has been developed for humans, although there is one for horses. The virus cannot be stopped by quarantining people, because birds and mosquitoes that carry it cannot be quarantined.
"There are no revolutionary strategies out there that are on the brink of implementation," said Dan O'Leary, an epidemiologist at the infectious disease center.
... Each year, more mosquito species are found to carry the virus. Near La Crosse, Wis., said Linda Glaser, the state's West Nile virus surveillance coordinator, it has been found in the tree hole mosquito, named for its customary habitat. Ms. Glaser found the state's first infected horse in May this year. It survived, but another found this month had to be put to death.
If you enjoy spending time in the woods, and live somewhere where puddles of water gather, beware. Well, heck, beware of mosquitoes anyway. They don't need to carry a virus to drive you insane. :) And it's that time of year.
Linn Haramis, entomologist with the Illinois Department of Public Health, said, "There is a certain amount of responsibility for citizens to protect themselves."
Corporate sponsorship of schools growing.
Via Booknotes. The
Washington Post reports,
Today's Lesson, Sponsored By..., on the increasing amount of corporate sponsorship of schools, and even worse, the increasing amount of school time spent doing corporate marketing.
This year, 5,200 schools competed in the SweetTart contest. Submissions included a SweetTart mosaic of Mona Lisa and a life-size, three-dimensional car called the Sweetmobile that was covered in thousands of pieces of the pastel candy. The grand winner went to a Boston school for its staircase mural, with replicas of famous paintings by Monet, van Gogh and Dali, each incorporating the candy in some way
... In addition to the contest, Dunkin' Donuts provides an eight-page activity guide and doughnut coupons for students who consistently complete their homework. The coupons are good for two donuts -- one for the student, another for the "helper," usually the parent.
"Doughnuts are not the major focus of the program, but just a small part, a little sweet addition to doing something," McCullogh said.
Oscar Mayer spokeswoman Sarah Delea said the company decided to offer its "School House Jam" contest after concluding that music education is often underfunded. "Everybody loves the jingle so we saw a lot of synergy," she said.
The company teamed up with the National Association of Music Educators. Mike Blakeslee, the group's deputy executive director, said the program was a "real white hat issue."
While they may promote a product, the "jingles are valid music," Blakeslee said. They provide a point of departure for learning music. "You can talk about structure, pitch, rhythmic value," Blakeslee said. And for younger kids, he said, there is value in performing -- being on a stage and learning patience and teamwork.
As far as the claim goes that they are helping "cash-strapped" schools, the only reason schools are short of cash is corporate corruption and greed. This country's rolling in money, like none in history, so the claim that schools, or any other area, are short can only be due to mismanagement and screwed-up priorities, not the lack of cash.
No "international" democracy means no "international" law.
The efforts to regulate mines and such are admirable, but the fact is it's doomed to fail since there really are no international laws at all.
Since there is no democratically elected international body with the power to legislate any so-called "international" laws, no democratically elected executive or police organization with the power to enforce such laws, and no democratically elected international judiciary to adjucate charges and claims, for all intents and purposes there really is no "international law."
It's a myth propagated by the so-called "great powers" and global corporations who want everybody to think that there already are rules and laws regulating their activities, so that they won't take the measures necessary to establish same. It's a hype. Whatever "laws" there are, are all made by appointed people operating entirely without any popular or regulated oversight.
This applies to virtually all international organizations, beginning with the UN and G8 of course, and extending to the International Court of Justice, the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO, the WHO, TRIPS and other copyright and patent groups, and so on.
They are all operating without any established, legitimate authority, and without any clearly established legal processes and procedures. No one's really in charge, no one really has any authority to deal with problems. It's all based on the notion of voluntary compliance by each country, providing they find it convenient to do so.
Nowhere is this lack more urgent than in the environment. The fish stocks, and the oceans themselves, are going to die unless we establish an international body with the power to protect them. And one armed with the power to arrest individuals and corporations, along with the power to tax in order to finance their activities. And PDQ, I'd say.
Money laundering for terrorists, drug dealers, arms merchants and so is another area that very desperately needs international regulation. Also PDQ, I think. See this article in the
Observer,
Drowning in a sea of dirty money, about the inability of local police to cope with the crimes of international syndicates.
Nobody wants an all-powerful world government, me included. But the only alternative is to allow the most powerful and wealthiest international groups, ie the corporations, to set their own rules and regulate themselves. The unelected IMF, WTO and World Bank are basically operating as an unelected world government, and in doing so causing an enormous amount of damage.
Iraqi children being blown up by mines and unexploded bombs.
Via
Rebecca's Blood. The
Mines Advisory Group says that dozens, if not hundreds, of Iraqi children are being blown up in Iraq every day. Updated photos daily.
This quote is from
Earth-Info.Net.
In one week the main hospital in Kirkuk, northern Iraq received 52 killed and 63 injured as a result of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).
The real figures are likely to be much higher as many deaths are not recorded and there is no death registration system.
Landmine Action is calling for international laws to require warmongers to clean up their mess after they're finished. You can
sign a petition supporting this at
clearup.org, although I don't see what making laws is going to do if the people responsible feel they're above the law.
But at least they're trying.
End of entries. ( ) ( )
