Sunday, September 22, 2002
Next Saturday, everyone's least favorite smug bastard Ralph Nadar is doing a fundraiser at Local 16 for the DC Green Party Candidates. Dinner and Admission: $20.
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Politics and Prose is a dangerous bookstore. I never leave without an armful of hardcovers. Yesterday I got; In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, Michela Wrong (a book on Mobutu)
Reflections on a Ravaged Century, Robert COnquest
The Age of Access, Jeremy Rifkin
Exiles, Philip Caputo
And two pocket primers on Nietzche and Popper. The total came to $30. Don't expect to see me for another week.
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Yesterday, I attended a reading group for The Nation. Lefties may have no concept of economics, but they can certainly sense the corruption and bureaucracy of government at war, better than most libertarians. How can anyone with a brain trust the government? Believing that we really can't find Osama Bin Lauden, that Bush didn't know the attacks when and where the attacks would happen months in advance, or that Israeli prostitutes are innocent victims of "terrorism." What we have -- what the PATRIOT Act has secured for us -- is a socialist/fascist regime not unlike legislation passed under Stalin and Hitler
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Also in today's CSM is a story on Richard Clark's Cybersecurity plan. People are acting like no one was instructed to protect our critical infrastructure until this Cybersecurity plan came along. Actually, we have several equally powerful incompetant offices devoted to CI protection, but typical government bureaucracy prevents them from sharing information or getting any work done. Why they don't just contract out the job to a private company is beyond me, although some of the CI work is done at Carnagie Mellon labs.
All of this misses an even bigger point, which is, people that live in sandunes can't hack.
Sunday, September 22, 2002
From the Christian Science Monitor's frontpage story on "Moon Myths," this is one of the most beautiful AP photographs I can remember
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Too fat to Frug,
That’s what you tell me all the time,
When you really try’n’ to put me down,
But I’m hip,
So close your big fat lip,
Yeah, baby,
I may be too fat to Frug,
But at least I ain’t too slim to Swim. -The Crying of Lot 49
All of the most attractive and interesting people inside the Beltway were at the opening night for Exit Bar, so of course, Alina and I were there (Parklife!) Once my mp3 list looked like a Chalk Farm jukebox, but I haven't heard the Suede since I was 19 (Parklife!) I don't want to be confused with a "lifestyle blogger," so I'll make this brief: go check out Exit Bar (Parklife!) Pool tables, brit pop, choppy dyed black hair abounds; a good time may be had by all (Parklife!)
Saturday, September 21, 2002
On Cut on the Bias, Susanna Cornett highlights an interesting article by Middle Eastern media watch groups, that compares Iraq and Israel:
Israel
UN Resolutions violated, ignored: 68
Countries attacked, invaded, violated: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia
Countries occupied for years: Egypt, Lebanon, Syria
Countries currently occupying: Syria
Territory illegally annexed: Golan Heights, Jerusalem, Palestinian Territories
Wars started: 1956, 1967, 1982
Possesses weapons of mass destruction: Yes
Possesses nuclear weapons: Yes
Most notable atrocity against civilians: 17,500 Lebanese civilians killed in 1982 invasion of Lebanon
Currently under a regime of UN sanctions: No
Iraq
UN Resolutions violated, ignored: 16
Countries attacked, invaded, violated: Iran, Kuwait
Countries occupied for years: NONE
Countries currently occupying: NONE
Territory illegally annexed: NONE
Wars started: 1980, 1990
Possesses weapons of mass destruction: To be determined
Possesses nuclear weapons: No
Most notable atrocity against civilians: 5,000 Kurdish civilians were killed in the village of Halabja, March 1988
Currently under a regime of UN sanctions: Yes
A comment surmises that, "Comparing the civilian deaths in Lebanon to the gassing of one's own people is a specious comparison, to say the least," indicating the kind of bias that Cornett and her army believe. Is a death not a death? Rather than obfuscating the nature of war with rhetoric that dilineates "terrorists" or "soldiers," let facts be facts. Israel is a violent, hateful nation that is also the United States' dependent. Must we assume Palestines will submit to their ridiculous demands just because they cannot afford to fight "fairly"? Who wrote the rules on the book of war? Why must we expect Western style war-tactics from people who are not whoring themselves for billions of dollars from the US Government?
Palestine kills. Israel kills more. Let that not be forgotten
Saturday, September 21, 2002
My favorite blog right now is Gene Expression: "A geneticist, a capitalist, a biochemist, an economist... and a blender." It's consistantly well-written content, although lately it's slumped into "are american or european girls hotter." My favorite post was when they refuted Nick Cook's interview with the Atlantic -- the article everyone quikcly posted to their blogs including me. The biochemist said that despite Cook's stellar research skills, he has no trained knowledge of science and thus, the book "The Hunt for Zero Gravity" is a joke.
. The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.
Friday, September 20, 2002 Air-powered Autos? But I just want one of those hoover-craft things they had in Back to the Future 2
Friday, September 20, 2002
The dorkiest thing about libertarians is how they collectivate like Trekkies. Look at this cheese, eLibertarian, "where libertarians meet and trade: libertarian lodging, jobs, services, goods, dating, friends, etc." So what are we now, and untouchable caste?
Sam Rose on the purposfully under-utilized P-forum says we're "rooted in a scientism."
I always thought it kind of weird whenever I get into a conversation with a self-described libertarian that they seem to repeat the a "party-line" or catch phrase when it come to issues, like the economy, etc. Lines like "Freedom with responsiblity" etc.
Oh, and the Green party doesn't have chants and kom-ba-yas and Woodie Guthrie songs, and Che Guereva tshirts and ... cliches? When you have a group, you have cliches. But now back to the start of this post: why must believers in a free-market cluster and bump, rather than divide and conquer? I can turn anyone libertarian, albeit it would be nice if they were from the get-go. I could really appreciate it if Gideon Yago had an economics degree, but until then, it's cross-pollination for me
