I have lately come to believe that what will happen next in the Whitehouse has been written already. By Shakespeare in Julius Caesar;
Et tu Dick
Et tu Karl
The watching of this new play, will be interesting.
Yearly Archives: 2005
The ‘Liberal’ Press?
I have been bothered by a recent study the claims to document the ‘Liberal’ bias of the press. And it struck me that the problem here is that word, Liberal. The has been another propaganda word. Spun to mean something bad.
Liberal
broad: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; “a broad political stance”; “generous and broad sympathies”; “tolerant of his opponent’s opinions”
This is clearly a definition of real America Values like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion In America, to be a good citizen you need to be ‘Liberal’, period! To respect the fact that someone might hold an opinion other than your own. If not for the ‘Liberal’ Press who would represent any opposing view point. The press, were it not Liberal, would be required to represent only one viewpoint. And that wouldn’t be Freedom of the Press
But for most, this is a hard job. But no one said U.S. citizenship was supposed to be easy. To allow someone to shout at the top of their lungs, that which you would oppose at the top of your lungs, takes real effort, real citizenship.
This citizenship seems to be sadly lacking in the Right-Wing blogsphere, and the Republican propaganda machine.
Disappointed in Technology
I have been thinking about the current state of technology, The internet, computing and other high tech ‘things’. And I’m disappointed, there has not been anything in the last two or three years that could have surprised me. The future ‘super-duper’ operating system from Microsoft, Vista, has none. No vista that is. There is nothing innovative or even uniquely helpful to the average user. It is merely a profit engine for Microsoft to continue their near monopoly of the desktop.
But beyond this there have been nearly nothing of any value, innovation wise any almost any other technology area. It’s almost as if no one has had a good Idea in years.
Has no one any imagination left? Einstein has been quoted as saying
Imagination is more important than knowledge
If that is the case, then we are surely less important than we were, as a species.
What we really need is a new disruptive innovative technology that will force new wake-up calls on the rest of us. Something unexpected. It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. Well it’s now necessary.
An invasion from space, a stray astroid, multi-dimensional quantum computers, something has to give. We can not continue to reap the same harvest of political, social and technological nothingness that has crept into our everyday lives. We are rotting from within.
Strict Constitutional Constructs
I have been thinking about Republicans and their belief that Judges who uphold a strict constitutional interpretation of the law is their Ideal. In truth, this would be the antithesis of the current Republican or rather Neo-Con perspective. Their current belief that ‘Activist’ Judges are the cause of all social Ills in the U.S. are misplaced. Mostly due to the sad truth that most Congressmen and Senators, not to mention the current President, Vice-President and most of their staff’s have never read the constitution, or the Bill-of-Rights.
If the current nominee to the Supreme court, Samuel Alito, was telling the truth. That he is of a strict constitutional mindset, the first thing to be struck down, wouldn’t be Roe-vs-Wade, but the Patriot-Act, Illegal Wiretaps, and any other attack on the foundations of the Separation of Church and State, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of assembly and Due Process.
This can be illustrated by the results of the Dover case and the ruling made by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III. Judge Jones is a Strict Constructionist, and the reading of his ruling demonstrates that not only is this not the results of and ‘Activist’ judge, but a truly strict interpretation of U.S. Constitution. And contrary to the current Republican agenda being pushed by the current administration.
So I am really wonders if this is not just another Republican spin on the english language. When the Republicans ask for Strict Constructionist in the courts. Their true meaning is Neo-Con ‘Activists’.
So here’s hoping for a real Strict Constructionist nominee to the Supreme Court. A defeat for the Neo-Con’s and truly Merry Christmas for the rest of us.
Fear and the Press
The recent news that Bush illegally spied on americans and suppressed the release of the facts by instilling fear of loss of national security. A national security the is in no way guarantee by Bush and his policies. The media and the general public have become so reluctant to speak out that the actions necessary to truly resolve the issues of civil rights and true national security in the nation’s best interest are never taken. Even discussions amongst the public have been repressed by fear of negative reactions of their fellow citizens. Bush has so divided the country that the public have artificially held the country together by not arguing over the opposing viewpoints. Everywhere there is a reluctance to talk about politics, fear of open debate has created a atmosphere of distrust between people.
The nature of a truly free press is to stimulate discussions. Something that has been missing since the so called free press has been controlled by commercial interests. Commercial interests that believe that the current administration is better for business than it’s alternative. And so long at the free press fails in it’s responsibility to inform the public. There will be no freedom to discuss the issues in public. And the american people will not really feel a ‘Freedom of Speach’ really rings true.
Heaven or just Conneticut
This may sound crazy but is there any other food in Conneticut except Dunkin Donuts, or Pizza? I have only found one Starbucks, but donuts can be had on any street corner. Very funny.
There were these two fishing buddies…
And every year they would fish together and catch each other up on events.
One was a Catholic Priest and the other was a Jewish Rabbi.
One year the Priest tells his buddy the Rabbi;
“There was a young fellow from my parish who just became a Priest.”
And the Rabbi replied;
“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”
Years later the Priest is telling his fishing partner;
“You know that young priest from my parish, well, you know he just became a Bishop.”
And the Rabbi replied;
“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”
Several years later and the Priest continues;
“You know that Priest from my parish that became the Bishop? Well now he’s become a Cardinal. Can you believe that?”
And the Rabbi replied again;
“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”
Many years later and the Priest begins again;
“You know that Priest from my parish who became a Bishop, then became a Cardinal. He’s now the Pope, isn’t that fantastic?”
And the Rabbi replied again;
“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”
At this point the priest can make no more, and explodes;
“Why do say that this, is it not a grand thing, this priest went from being a priest in my village to being the Pope, leader of the Christian faith. And you tell me this is not a big deal. What do you want him to be, Jesus Christ?”
And the Rabbi replies;
“Why not? One of our guys made it!”
Merry Christmas to all.
They came for the internet pornography
I read this article today Keeping kids from nasties on the net and remembered the old recant of They came for the Communist (read Pornographers here)
But then the article about politicians in Australia, continues. “…and other inappropriate material …. This vague and broad inclusion can only mean, well just about everything that they don’t like. The word is Censorship.
This is again going back to the what the right wing of every country is trying to push. No freedom from the ‘Majority’ view, ‘The righteous view’ . It’s ‘Democracy’ at it’s worst, a right wing republican ‘Taliban’ point of view.
If you can’t control the message, control the messenger.
And this leads back to articles I have posted here before, when ICANN halted the ‘xxx’ domain, this would have made filtration of the porn domains easy. But if it was made this easy, it would mean that more sophisticated filters would NOT have to filter all the content on the internet, only the ‘xxx’ domains. If it were that easy, you would not have the ability to block “…other inappropriate material … as deemed by the right wing conservative morally correct politicians.
Universal applicability of new material, Governmentium.
Time for some humor.
A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named “Governmentium.” Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of particles called peons.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second.
Governmentium has a normal shelf-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as “Critical Morass.”
When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium — an element which radiates just as much energy as the Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
Apply material lightly.
Traffic Lights in a Democratic Republic
Having read again that the U.S. isn’t really a true democracy, but a republic. A republic that has at it roots, protections of the rights of the minority. It brings to light more of the ‘Republican’ goals, to replace the Republic with a democracy, where the majority requires the conformance of the minority. To reflect in everything they profess, no Gay rights, no Evolution, no Abortion, NO PERSONAL CHOICE only the majority chooses what it right, and correct for everyone. And only what is commercially correct. Everyone must believe in Christmas, Christmas is good for business.
I prefer the protection of the Republic for the rights of the individual and minority groups. Like freedom of speech, and religion.
I have often often wonder how ‘founded’ this ideal is, in the real world. And it came to me, traffic lights. (I know very strange)
Have you ever sat a traffic light, where no cars were crossing. Or where you are in a main traffic way, and the lights stop you, and hundreds of other car to allow only one car to cross or enter your traffic? That is the republic in action, protecting the single car from the majority of others from entering or crossing the lane.
In Ireland and other European countries, the ’roundabout’ is common, a truly democratic traffic condition, a single car cannot enter or cross until there is a break in the majority lane. I can not count the times when I have heard ’roundabouts’ equated with ‘chaos’ and they are. The term ‘Fate favors the Foolish’ can be attributed to roundabouts. But here in Ireland, and I’m sure in other places as well, traffic lights have been instituted at roundabouts, because in high traffic periods, roundabouts (ie. democracies) cannot cope. The republic rules, to correct the inadequacy of the democratic chaos created by the roundabout.
Here’s hoping.
History upon a media floats.
Watching a documentary about underage British soldiers in WWI. They presented many cases of mail, not email but letters, from the soldier to parents and loved ones, and from parents to their children. And it struck me that much of the domestic history we view is wrapped up in letters. Paper letters, written most often longhand, and delivered by whatever postal method existed at the time.
One of the most important archeological artifacts of our time is called The Rosetta Stone. which is really only a set of decrees. Not some piece of literature in a library, but a plain bit of government ‘paperwork’ . It provided a vital key in cross translation that was missing in ancient Egyptian language.
Moving forward, to current times, I look at the way my wife and I treat our emails. I have always kept my in folders in my email system. My wife will always print any important email, then delete everything else in the inbox. She never keeps email electronically. Bill Gates mentioned that the Blu-Ray, HD DVD media will be the last physical media ever produced. And while I doubt this, it brings up an important issue. Who will document us as a people in the future, and with what? If all future media, literature, emails, communications will be stored in ephemeral media electronically or otherwise. What will tell of our stories in the future?
If the electronic history is anything, it is a story of change. Changing protocols formats, (ASCII, Unicode) different document formats, and storage media. If say, I had keep my resume on 8 inch Floppies, who in the future would be able to read my CV on a IBM-3740 format encoded in BCD and what “Rosetta Stone” would they be using?
When is the last time you watched a movie about a lost or misdirected email in a romantic setting. Letters, yes, email not a chance. What if Shakespeare, had written his works in WordStar version 1? Would anyone value a newly discovered e-manuscript? Or even be able to read it? Not a chance. Physical media, substance, printed materials, BOOKS, will survive. They are our future for history.
Massachusetts may have hit upon a weak link in this electronic history when it attempted to standardize on an open document for future government documents. These may prove to be the future Rosetta stone for the historians. A method to remember the meaning of all language translations, or not.
But for now, I think I’m going to stop saving my important documents in PDF. and start printing them on good low acid paper and black ink. (and who said computers would make a paperless office ;-))
The story never changes, only the stage upon which it is played.
I am not a reader of the Nuremberg Trials documents, but this one was posted at AMERICAblog and the quote brings to light that we as humans are still governed like cattle.
“Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”
Hermann Goering, Hitler’s Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials
So the actors have changed, but the plot remains the same.
World Wide Thanksgiving
It looks like the entire Blogspace and most of the RSS feeds I read have dried up for American Thanksgiving.
I’m not sure if I’m that grateful. But I’ll get by. If the Republicans are stuffing themselves with turkey, they they won’t be causing any disasters today. Unless excessive flatulence increases global warming or something.
I’m just glad my wife made a pumpkin pie.
The spoils of war = The mission of the War
I wrote about this issue here: Follow the Money
And maybe someone listened, but now the facts are really coming out.
The postmortem of war is this, “The Ends, Justify the Means!” and hence the motivations as well. The Iraq war was never about terrorism, it was about American and British Oil companies wanting control of Iraqi oil.
and you can read more here, Iraq’s oil: The spoils of war
Radio Free America – for Americans
I was reading about A Unified Field Theory of Supine Media and realized that the article was missing the point. Or rather obscuring the real value of Journalism. And that’s the “Truth”.
If there was a truly professional press, there would be only one truth. Not a Liberal bias, or a Right-wing view. Just one view, an unbiased reporting of the facts, and only of the facts. No spin, no insider mis-leaks. Documental facts. Also known as the “Truth”!
What the U.S. needs is a Radio Free America beamed at the U.S. from outside telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.