Tristero

Saturday, September 13, 2003

The Trifecta Story

Dave Neiwert reprints his article about one of Bush most tasteless jokes and lies. If you don't know what this is about, go read Dave's article.

Yes, Bush really is a man of poor character.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 11:10 AM

The Nature of Islam

The Economist sums it up nicely::

For the average Muslim Islam is merely a religion, a way of organising life in accordance with God's will. Is it a religion of peace or of violence? Like other religions, it possesses holy texts that can be invoked to support either, depending on the circumstances. Like the Bible, the Koran (which differs from the Bible in that Muslims take all of it to be the word of God dictated directly to Muhammad, his prophet) and the hadith contain injunctions both fiery and pacific. Muslims are enjoined to show charity and compassion. Yes, Islam has a concept of jihad (holy war), which some Muslims think should be added to the five more familiar pillars of faith: the oath of belief, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage. But the Koran also insists that there should be no compulsion in religion.

Islam and Christendom have clashed for centuries. But if there is something in the essence of Islam that predisposes its adherents to violent conflict with the West, it is hard to say what it might be. The search for the something might anyway be an exercise in futility, given that the essentials of the faith are so hotly contested. Islam has no pope or equivalent central authority (though some Shias aspire to one). This means, as Oxford University's James Piscatori has argued, that the religious authorities and the official ulema find themselves in competition with unofficial or popular religious leaders and preachers, Sufi movements, Islamist groups and lay intellectuals. "All of these and others claim direct access to scripture, purport to interpret its contemporary meaning, and thus effectively question whether any one individual or group has a monopoly on the sacred - even as they appropriate that right for themselves."

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 10:52 AM

Friday, September 12, 2003

Stereophile Reviews The iPod

Finally, a review of the Apple iPod by a reputable audio magazine. Maybe others have done so, but I haven't seen them. Basically, it's very good news. For those who are not really interested in high quality sound, you can stop here.

I've had a 20 gig iPod now for about a year; the latest models go up to 40 gigs. I think it is one of the finest pieces of electronic consumer gear ever made, elegant, easy to use, flexible. The questions for me have always been its sound quality. I'd never seen any formal tests on it but I'd come to some conclusions, most of them confirmed by Stereophile in formal tests.

To get the finest sound quality, rip using aiff. Those rips will be, essentially, one to one transfers of your cd's. (Apparently you can play up to 48k, 16 bits, but super high resolution -24 bit, 96khz, and so on- wont play back.) Regarding mp3's and aac, rip at 192kbs or higher. They mention it only in passing but you really should use variable bit rate. Obviously, aiff will take up as much as 5 - 10 times the space of mp3. If you really care about sound quality, you should go aiff. Otherwise, you should be fine.

I was a bit worried about the amplifiers in the iPod. In the newer model, thank goodness, there is a line out which bypasses the volume control. Tests on the line out reveal a very fine output signal, better than most commercial cd players. On my older model, I hear a little bit of coloration through the volume controlled output jack, but it is livable under all but studio conditions. One hopes that in the future there will be some kind of digital out from the iPod software (as a hard drive, I'm pretty sure you can use it as any other digital audio hard drive; the issue is whether it can play digital via the proprietary software) but anyone buying an iPod should feel happy knowing that it has the potential to duplicate music at a very high quality.

For headphones, the article says that just about any will do well except for the low impedance Grados, which is a bit of a pity, as Grados are the best headphones out there . Nevertheless the etymotics should work extremely well, as will almost any sensibly priced headphone (the high end Grados cost $700, so the point is moot for most folks).

The major problem is the iTunes Music Store. Unlike the reviewer, the copy protection doesn't faze me too much. In truth, I doubt that I would ever come up against its limitations (check Apple's website for the details) and there are ways around it. However, the sound quality is a problem. I swore that I was hearing compression and a bit of dullness in the mid-high frequency range, esp. in classical recordings. The reviewer for Stereophile confirms this. If iTunes Music Store ever permits full quality aiff (or better) downloads, I'd be more inclined to buy. As it is, a cd is only a few bucks more expensive than an Apple download, so I'd rather get the cd and rip it with sound quality as I see fit. (I know this sounds hard to believe, but I never download music from the Net and aside from the normal copying of music that takes place during professional projects, I never copy music I don't own.) The selection at iTunes Music Store is also not at good as it could be.

All of this said, anyone who cares about music should seriously consider buying an iPod. I find it indispensable. And I'm relieved to have confirmed that if you care about sound quality, the iPod can deliver excellent sound as well as unparalleled convenience.

UPDATE: A must-have peripheral for the iPod is a gadget that beams the iPod into your FM radio, either in your car or any other fm receiver. What you do is find an unused fm frequency band on your radio and set your iPod fm transmitter to broadcast to that frequency. The sound is about the same as a standard FM transmission. The best fm transmitter for the iPod that I know is the iTrip for the latest iPods or they have an iTrip for the original iPods. The iTrip has two advantages over its competitors. First, it requires no batteries; it runs off power from the iPod itself. Second, it has many more station options for you to choose from.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 8:15 PM

Eleanor Clift On Iraqmire

On firing Rumsfeld

Firing Rumsfeld would be tantamount to admitting the Iraq war was a mistake, which is why it probably won’t happen. But if Bush wins a second term, sources close to Bush 41 say junior will clean house and the neocons who pushed him into the war will get their walking papers.

I can think of a far better way to send these folks packing: deny Bush a second term.

Clift also says:

His speech calling for the expansion of the 2001 USA Patriot Act lays the foundation for [a "law and order" campaign] strategy.

Bush knows Congress won’t pass additional curbs on civil liberties, but this isn’t about getting legislation. This is an insurance policy for the president. In the event of another attack, he can say he wanted more authority for law enforcement, and the Democrats wouldn’t give it to him.

That's why the Dems need to make an issue out of the lack of spending on Homeland Security.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 6:41 PM

To Research Christianist Groups

This page has lots of links to to right wing christianist organizations.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 3:08 PM

Bush's approval rating drops to lowest since 9/11

Moving in the right direction:

A thin majority, 52%, approve of the overall job he is doing, down from this year's high of 71% in mid-April, when the war in Iraq still had a glow of victory.

It's even further from his 90% job approval rating in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bush gets his lowest marks on the economy; fewer than half approve of his stewardship. The president got further bad news Thursday with a report that claims for unemployment benefits increased last week.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:57 PM

Oh, Hell

More deaths, more mistakes in Iraq.

In a rash of violence against American-led coalition troops in Iraq, two coalition soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded by rebels in three separate incidents in the past 24 hours, the American military said today.

And in a fourth incident, American troops apparently misidentified the members of an allied Iraqi security force today and fired on them, killing eight Iraqi policeman and wounding five other people, news agencies reported.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 10:46 AM

LiberalOasis: Interview With Paul Krugman

LiberalOasis has an excellent interview with Paul Krugman. At the end he admits to the same sense of isolation that I felt after September 11, up until this last spring.

In some ways for me, the low point was those months after September 11, when everyone wanted to believe in the picture of a heroic president and a noble, unified nation confronting the threat.

And I was watching the actual policies. I was in touch with people in Congress who knew what legislation was being pushed. And that wasn't what was happening. What you actually had was a cynical power grab.

I felt for a little while there like I was all alone, [that] they're all mad but me.

And now, a large number of people understand what's been going on. It's still, unfortunately, a minority. But it's a large minority. It's not a handful of voices in the wilderness.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 9:22 AM

Krugman

To say the least, he's totally right:

[E]verything suggests that there are major scandals - involving energy policy, environmental policy, Iraq contracts and cooked intelligence - that would burst into the light of day if the current management lost its grip on power. So these people must win, at any cost.

The result, clearly, will be an ugly, bitter campaign - probably the nastiest of modern American history...

In other words, if you thought the last two years were bad, just wait: it's about to get worse. A lot worse.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 3:08 AM

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Job creation is GOP's No. 1 talking point

Let's hope so.

Memo to House Republicans when talking to voters this fall: 'It is not possible for you to talk about jobs too much.'

That's the advice from Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, writing to members of the GOP rank-and-file just back from their summer break.

'I ask that you please be attentive to driving a jobs message more than ever before,' added Pryce, fourth-ranking in the GOP leadership as head of the Republican Conference. 'I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to communicate that job creation is our top priority.'

The economy has lost more than 3 million jobs since President Bush took office, and unemployment stands at 6.1 percent. And despite signs of a strong economy in recent weeks, the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment insurance rose last week to a two-month high of 422,000.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 6:54 PM

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

A Christianist Gets Shock and Awed

Kynn over at Shock and Awe has an excellent fisk to a conservative, self-described "Christian" commentator. He makes many good points. in a debate that has been raging in some form or another for a while on Jeanne d'Arc's blog and elsewhere. Rather than repeat what he says, I want to add to and clarify a few things Kynn says, for interested readers.

In this particular post, Kynn doesn not mention one crucial issue, when it comes to tolerance of conservative christians, an issue Kynn is quite aware of, and that is the political dimension to their activities. It is one thing to be tolerant of another's faith. It is quite another for someone to hide behind that faith in order to advance a political/social agenda. It is the difference between a Christian, such as Kynn's minister, and a Christianist like Eric Rudolph or Pat Robertson. I've discussed Christianism in detail here.

To be absolutely clear, I have nothing but respect for anyone who wishes to worship or not worship in any way they see fit; anyone who knows me and knows my work can confirm that this is far from idle assertion, but the cornerstone of much that I do.

Likewise, I have nothing but sneering contempt for those who would use their their professed religious beliefs as an excuse to grab secular power. Such behavior is the most blasphemous and obscene of bait and switches.

That is what the Christianists do. That is what the Islamists do. That is what the Judaicists do. It is not religious piety, but a perversion of the very essence of religion.

Kynn is far too generous in ascribing good intentions to this fellow's desire to spread the Good News about Christ. As a very wise book once pointed out, when you threaten others with hellfire and damnation, it's best to look at the mote in your own eye. Kynn's opponent is simply repeating boiler-plate designed to deflect attention from the blatantly political agenda he is advancing. It is an agenda that advocates an American theocracy and a state religion, an agenda which flies in the face of all that America stands for.

There is no point in arguing with someone who argues like Kynn's debating opponent until he abandons the boilerplate. No one, least of all I, is infringing on his worship, but many Americans, including I, have every intention to use every legal means available to prevent people like him from wrecking this country by eliminating the wall that separates church from state. For his goal, I have no tolerance whatsoever.

Kynn's sparring partner writes (or more likely, cuts and pastes from some talking points handed to him) "The Bible gives no justification for murder but the Koran does (jihad). " Kynn rightly points out that he is wrong about the Bible. He is also wildly wrong about the Qur'an and jihad.

"Jihad" is a fiendishly complex concept of which he, like most non-Muslim Americans, knows nothing. To understand what "jihad" means, both generally and in specific instances, you need to cite particular Qur'anic suras and describe the context. Almost always, from what I can tell, "jihad" refers to the struggle of the believer to submit to the will of God. As the Qur'an and the Hadith are deeply rooted in the physical, and may even seem to be crudely physical by beginners who study them, the term "jihad" means more than an inner mental struggle but an external physical one as well. In short, there's no point in wasting time arguing with this fellow about Islam until he has read the Qur'an and the Hadith carefully, and studied the history of Islam. While he is at it, he might deign to glance at the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels. He will discover, when he actually reads them, that they are very different and far greater works than his insecure and febrile imagination makes them out to be.

This fellow writes "For a Christian to accept that any one to go to heaven outside of those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior would be the same as calling Jesus a liar (John 14:6). " Heh, heh. The only one calling Jesus a liar is a conservative "christian" trying to score a zinger. The rest us know that the Gospels are far more subtle and intelligent than this kind of sclerotic reasoning allows.

Next, Kynn misses the point of some other boilerplate aimed at him. The conservative christian wordprocesses:

By the way, I am not oppressive towards women, nor do I hate homosexuals, and nor do I condemn anyone to Hell.

And Kynn responds:

Except you believe that no one who does not "trust in Jesus Christ as Savior" is denied heaven. It sounds to me like you're splitting hairs here.

He is not splitting hairs. Remember, Kynn, in this guy's religion it is God that hates homosexual (acts), and it is God that condemns sinners to Hell. As the follower of this (inevitably construed as male) God, he has no choice to admit the "truth" which is that while he, personally, hates no one, God has plans for these naughty, naughty people when he gets his hands on their Souls.

Am I intolerant of this? Let's put it this way: To project onto God the petty hatreds of human beings is blasphemous. Only the the most narrow-minded and bigoted interpretation of the biblical texts leads to such foolishness. He is entitled to believe any nonsense he wants, of course. And in that sense, I can tolerate it. But to pass laws inspired by such filth? To refuse someone's civil rights based upon a christianist delusion they're condemned to Hell? That's another story and that, Kynn, is what he wants you to tolerate. My tolerance stops right there.

Finally, he writes "By the way, who or what do you consider to be your final authority? "

Kynn avoids the question. I'll answer it. The final authority about what, Mr. Christianist? About my music? It's me. About what is right for my family? it is my family. About religion? Well, whatever the final authority is, it sure as hell ain't you and your ugly little delusions.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 4:43 PM

Quote of the Year

A White House Aide: "'From here on out, the president believes [the 9/11 anniversary] is not a day about him, but a day about those who lost their lives.'"

Thank you, Horse for the heads up.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 3:16 PM

Rep. Dave Obey's Letter To Bush

I've been looking all over for this. A friend of mine sent me a jpg of this incredible letter and I couldn't find a copy of the complete text on line; excerpts don't do it justice. Finally, TAPPED published the complete text and here it is. He calls for some high level resignations, including Rumsfeld's. In addition, Rep. Obey (D-Wisconsin) has some things to say in the last paragraph about the mood in the country. Do take a few minutes and read it.

September 5, 2003

The Honorable George W. Bush

President of the United States

The White House

Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to recommend five specific actions that I believe will begin to restore the nation's footing in foreign affairs and the war on terrorism. I think the time has arrived to recognize that we have suffered serious setbacks in efforts to make the American people safe. While we have done some things well, we have also made some serious mistakes that should not be repeated. Acknowledging those mistakes and learning from them is critical to improving our performance in the war against terrorists.

• First, I recommend that you allow the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense to return to the private sector. I am certain that they have worked hard and have made financial and personal sacrifices for what they perceived to be the national interest. Nonetheless, it is impossible to review the record of the past year and not conclude that they have made repeated and serious miscalculations -- miscalculations that have been extremely costly to the American people in terms of lives lost, degradation of our military and intelligence capability to defend against terrorists in countries outside of Iraq, isolation from our traditional allies and unexpected demands on our budget that are crowding out other priorities. Whether one concludes that the invasion of Iraq was strategically in the best interests of the United States or not, it is impossible at this point to conclude that the unilateral way in which it was handled was in our national interest or that the planning for the post conflict portion of the operation was anything other than a disaster.

• Second, I recommend that the responsibilities for developing and implementing foreign policy that have traditionally resided in the Department of State be fully restored to that Department. I think it has become eminently clear that the Pentagon now faces daunting problems in meeting current military requirements. These include improving force protection, expanding our tactical intelligence capabilities, resolving huge logistical bottlenecks that are preventing needed equipment and munitions from reaching the troops in the field and finding ways to stretch current personnel resources to meet the mission they now face. The prominent role played by the Pentagon in making decisions in Iraq and elsewhere that are far afield from their traditional military responsibilities has no doubt reduced its focus on resolving force protection, logistical and other issues. It is also highly questionable whether the Pentagon has adequate resources to responsibly make decisions on such things as the ethnic and political makeup of the Iraqi Governing Council.

• Third, I recommend that you make it clear to whomever you appoint to replace Secretaries Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz that the uniformed leaders of our military are to be accorded their traditional role in the formulation of military policy. While I believe it is of the utmost importance that the uniformed services remain subservient to and work under the direction of civilian leaders, I believe countermanding their professional judgments in matters of war fighting should be done with the greatest of discretion -- particularly when it is done by civilians with no combat experience. And that is the case with the vast majority of current political appointees in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. I believe that if the professional judgments of the uniformed leaders had been followed, we would have lost fewer lives, we would have recovered a significantly greater portion of Iraqi intelligence materials and we would have had a workable plan for the post invasion phase of the Iraq operation. I think the unwillingness of the civilian leadership to follow the recommendations of our uniformed personnel is currently exposing the country to risks posed by potential adversaries in other parts of the world because of their rejection of proposals to rebuild our active duty reserve capacity.

• Fourth, I recommend that you establish government wide standards for the collection and vetting of intelligence. While we should always be seeking ways to improve our nation's intelligence capabilities we should also recognize the excellent performance of our established intelligence agencies. The much publicized intelligence failures of the past year were, by and large, not failures of these organizations. They were in fact, failures based on information collected outside of these organizations that found its way into the formal decision making processes of this government without the normal vetting procedures required of all other government intelligence. The assessment that the civilian leadership of the Pentagon passed on to their subordinates that the Iraqis would "welcome us with open arms" was

in fact not the assessment of any established U.S. intelligence agency. These mistakes have impacted the morale of our forces, the will of our citizenry and the confidence of our allies around the world. It is our responsibility to provide ample assurances that such mistakes will not be repeated.

• Fifth, I recommend that you significantly strengthen the staffing of the National Security Council. In all six of the previous administrations with which I have served the Council has played a critical role in balancing and coordinating the roles of the various entities within the executive branch that contribute to our nation's security. Each of these entities has a valuable contribution to make and each offers a useful perspective on security issues. Without the active efforts of the NSC, it is inevitable than one Department or Agency will become too dominant in that process and will exclude or reduce the contributions of other portions of the government. It is in your interest and in the interest of the American people to keep all channels open.

I hope you will accept my word when I say that I am not writing this as a criticism of any individual or group of individuals. I am certain that they all came into government to make the best effort that they could on behalf of the American people and I salute them for the long hours and considerable stress that they have had to endure. But like many Americans I am deeply disturbed not only by the current course of events but also by the process which led us to the situation in which we now find ourselves. In my travels throughout my Congressional District during the month of August I found people more deeply polarized and divided than at any time during the past 34 years that I have had the privilege of representing that portion of America. Reports from my colleagues indicate the same situation in other parts of the country. If we are going to bring the country, and perhaps the world, back together, we should begin with a fair assessment of our successes and failures and move forward with a common vision. [emphasis added]

Sincerely,

Dave Obey

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:52 PM

Rep. Dave Obey's Letter To Bush

I've been looking all over forr this. A friend of mine sent me a jpg of this incredible letter and I couldn't find a copy of the complete text on line. Finally, TAPPED published the complete text and here it is.

September 5, 2003

The Honorable George W. Bush

President of the United States

The White House

Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

• First, I recommend that you allow the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense to return to the private sector. I am certain that they have worked hard and have made financial and personal sacrifices for what they perceived to be the national interest. Nonetheless, it is impossible to review the record of the past year and not conclude that they have made repeated and serious miscalculations -- miscalculations that have been extremely costly to the American people in terms of lives lost, degradation of our military and intelligence capability to defend against terrorists in countries outside of Iraq, isolation from our traditional allies and unexpected demands on our budget that are crowding out other priorities. Whether one concludes that the invasion of Iraq was strategically in the best interests of the United States or not, it is impossible at this point to conclude that the unilateral way in which it was handled was in our national interest or that the planning for the post conflict portion of the operation was anything other than a disaster.

• Second, I recommend that the responsibilities for developing and implementing foreign policy that have traditionally resided in the Department of State be fully restored to that Department. I think it has become eminently clear that the Pentagon now faces daunting problems in meeting current military requirements. These include improving force protection, expanding our tactical intelligence capabilities, resolving huge logistical bottlenecks that are preventing needed equipment and munitions from reaching the troops in the field and finding ways to stretch current personnel resources to meet the mission they now face. The prominent role played by the Pentagon in making decisions in Iraq and elsewhere that are far afield from their traditional military responsibilities has no doubt reduced its focus on resolving force protection, logistical and other issues. It is also highly questionable whether the Pentagon has adequate resources to responsibly make decisions on such things as the ethnic and political makeup of the Iraqi Governing Council.

• Third, I recommend that you make it clear to whomever you appoint to replace Secretaries Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz that the uniformed leaders of our military are to be accorded their traditional role in the formulation of military policy. While I believe it is of the utmost importance that the uniformed services remain subservient to and work under the direction of civilian leaders, I believe countermanding their professional judgments in matters of war fighting should be done with the greatest of discretion -- particularly when it is done by civilians with no combat experience. And that is the case with the vast majority of current political appointees in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. I believe that if the professional judgments of the uniformed leaders had been followed, we would have lost fewer lives, we would have recovered a significantly greater portion of Iraqi intelligence materials and we would have had a workable plan for the post invasion phase of the Iraq operation. I think the unwillingness of the civilian leadership to follow the recommendations of our uniformed personnel is currently exposing the country to risks posed by potential adversaries in other parts of the world because of their rejection of proposals to rebuild our active duty reserve capacity.

• Fourth, I recommend that you establish government wide standards for the collection and vetting of intelligence. While we should always be seeking ways to improve our nation's intelligence capabilities we should also recognize the excellent performance of our established intelligence agencies. The much publicized intelligence failures of the past year were, by and large, not failures of these organizations. They were in fact, failures based on information collected outside of these organizations that found its way into the formal decision making processes of this government without the normal vetting procedures required of all other government intelligence. The assessment that the civilian leadership of the Pentagon passed on to their subordinates that the Iraqis would "welcome us with open arms" was

in fact not the assessment of any established U.S. intelligence agency. These mistakes have impacted the morale of our forces, the will of our citizenry and the confidence of our allies around the world. It is our responsibility to provide ample assurances that such mistakes will not be repeated.

• Fifth, I recommend that you significantly strengthen the staffing of the National Security Council. In all six of the previous administrations with which I have served the Council has played a critical role in balancing and coordinating the roles of the various entities within the executive branch that contribute to our nation's security. Each of these entities has a valuable contribution to make and each offers a useful perspective on security issues. Without the active efforts of the NSC, it is inevitable than one Department or Agency will become too dominant in that process and will exclude or reduce the contributions of other portions of the government. It is in your interest and in the interest of the American people to keep all channels open.

Sincerely,

Dave Obey

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:52 PM

Rep. Dave Obey's Letter To Bush

I've been looking all over forr this. A friend of mine sent me a jpg of this incredible letter and I couldn't find a copy of the complete text on line. Finally

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:52 PM

Dave Obey's Letter

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:52 PM

Anthrax Killer Investigation Update

Go and read Vanity Fair this month. There is an amazing article by Don Foster about Steven Hatfill. To say the least, the man has a creepy past and a some explaining to do. Don Foster, you may recall, was the fellow who first identified Joe Klein as the author of Primary Colors as well as developed circumstantial evidence linking Eric Rudolph to some Army of God letters implicated in the Olympic bombing. Foster can and has been wrong, of course. Regardless, Hatfill is a very weird character. Check out this 1998 picture of him in full haz-mat gear, pretending to mix up a batch of nasty germs for a Washington Times Insight article.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:05 PM

No, Duh

Al Franken on CNN:

On Ann Coulter nut case, I have to tell you that I talked to a lot of Republicans doing this book, and sometimes I'd like get in a fight with them. I mean, I'd be arguing with them on the phone, and I'd be explaining what the book is, and I'd say, 'I'm doing a chapter on Ann Coulter.' And they'd always stop and go, 'Oh, off the record, there's something wrong with her.'

I've been saying that for years. The issue with her is not conservative/liberal. She is simply a very troubled person whose problems are not helped by giving her publicity. To put her on the air is the 21st Cent. equivalent of the old Victorian pastime of spending a Sunday watching the amusing antics of the inmates at the insane asylum. It's sick.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 5:06 AM

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

15,000 Dead From Heat Wave

And it hardly gets a mention here:

An estimated 15,000 people died in France's scorching heat wave this August, the country's largest undertaker said Tuesday, surpassing the official government estimate of 11,435.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:45 PM

From the Department of Really Bad Ideas

Just what the world needs:

If Walt Disney Co. gets its wish, an experimental type of DVD will begin flying off store shelves Tuesday, and self-destructing 48 hours later.

Disney (DIS :Research ,Estimates ) movies on disposable DVDs are set to arrive in convenience stores, pharmacies and other outlets in a four-city test of whether Americans will pick up a limited-life DVD rather than dropping by a video rental store.

The red DVDs turn an unreadable black 48 hours after their packages are opened -- exposing them to oxygen, which reacts with the disc in a process similar to how Polaroid film develops.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 11:09 AM

Outrageous

Troops could lose raise in combat pay:

he Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who already are contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120-degree-plus heat.

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 troops in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved in April of $75 a month in "imminent-danger pay" and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 10:12 AM

Monday, September 08, 2003

Autism: I'm 32 Out Of 50

MacDiva drew my attention to a truly awful article about autism in Newsweek which posits, get this, that autism is male behavior preferences carried to an extreme. Anyone who has ever dealt with someone who is seriously autistic or afflicted with Asperger's Syndrome knows that that is totally whack to the point of being immoral. It is also clinically nearly devoid of meaning, for autism, like schizophrenia and other "mental" disorders, is in fact a debillitating brain disorder (at the very least), as palpable as diabetes or cancer. Whatever little utility such a gendered notion of autism has is limited, under the best of circumstances, to drawing a researcher's attention to certain brain structures for some preliminary work. It has no deeper use or meaning whatsoever for the treatment of autistic people, let alone males, and will enter history as the 21st century's 1st reincarnation of Bateson's schizophrenogenic mother: namely, total hoo-hah.

Anyway, Newsweek provides a test you can take to find out how autistic you are. I suppose that being motivated enough to actually take the test should be Clue Zero that your personality is a bit strange. So, naturally, I took the test and answered honestly and scored a 32 out of 50 on the "Autism Quotient" scale, which is considered "very high", just below Asperger's Syndrome (35).

Well, yes, that's about how I'm feeling today, but tomorrow, I'll take the same test, answer honestly, and I'm certain that I will score 10 or more points lower. Indeed, before taking the test, I'd been noticing for years that both my ability to discern patterns and my interest in people are quite cyclical, not opposite sides of a continuum, but on separate cycles, sometimes lasting weeks or months. There are times, like this weekend, when I can parse a fugue as easily as someone else can use an atm. Then, maybe three weeks from now, fugal structure will hold so little interest that I won't be able to get past the exposition without climbing the wall. Ditto with people. I can, for months, be exquisitely sensitive to nuance and psychodynamics, then for no reason whatsoever, spend weeks and weeks and weeks relatively clueless about people's intentions. I suspect some sort of biochemical/hormonal sort of thing is going on.

Now admittedly, the kind of person who becomes an artist is by no means representative of anyone other than him/herself and my empathy/autism cycles may be greater than most. Nevertheless, I suspect that most folks cycle around quite a bit. So the "autism quotient" test is too crude to be of much use for anything but entertainment. The problem is that the same is true of even the most hoary of psych tests - the Rorschach, the MMPI and so on - when you examine them carefully. Their only utility is that they give psych professionals a kind of teddy bear like security in the face of the "complexities of intimacy", as my friend Mary Caponegro says. But they measure very little.

One final point. No matter how odd my cycling on the empathy/autism scale may seem to you, gentle reader, none of my behavior -none of it- comes close to autism, or even real Asperger's as I've seen it. In these latter cases, we are not talking about quirks or eccentricities but symptoms of a genuine pathology, an organ of the body that is, in some sense, impaired and which behaving in a potentially very damaging way for the health of the rest of the body and its environs. Whatever my problems, autism is not among them.

This does not mean that autistics, like schizophrenics, are in some way less than human, or that their disease can't coexist with, or even incubate, special abilities. In my own (limited) work with schizophrenics, for example, I found that many stereotypes didn't hold. Contrary to what my supervisor and even a professor told me, the schizophrenics I dealt with were perfectly capable of processing metaphors and proverbs. I ran some informal experiments just to prove this and came away with the resolve to trust very little that was supposedly "known" about the schizophrenias and autism that could not be quantitatively measured. These were cases of brain disease or disorder, not the precipitate of bad parenting. Likewise, to characterize autism as too much maleness is idiotic; it romanticizes and fetishisizes mental illness. It's RD Laing in postmodern drag. In a sense, it is the Noble Savage on Thorazine.

One can easily treat the victims of autism sympathetically, empathetically, and as the human beings they are without resorting to such sentimental tripe. It is not necessary to think that they are in some sense special - "not" victims - in order to treat them as equals, with the dignity and human intercourse they richly deserve. To reject sentimentalizing autists and to reject simultaneously dismissing them as somehow "not me"; i.e., less than human and unreachable - that strikes me, both intuitively and empircally, as the only compassionate thing and the only clinically appropriate way to behave. From there, it is just a matter of finding the right combination of medications and intellectual "prostheses" to ease as much suffering as possible.

But to deny the illness is immoral. To celebrate disease and dysfunction is nuts.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 12:47 PM

When Did Bush Last Say Osama's Name?

Kynn over at Shock and Awe as the answer. It will shock you.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 12:30 PM

New Yorkers: Excellent Panel On Ashcroft, Patriot Act and War On Our Freedoms

It's a busy week here in New York, but what is the alternative? Do nothing and end up with 4 more years of Bushism?

So tomorrow I'll be demonstrating against Ashcroft when he brings his dog and pony show to town just two days before the anniversary of his incompetent administration of domestic security led to the worst terrorist attack on US soil ever. Here's the skinny on the demo. Try to come:

WHAT: Demonstration to demand the protection of our basic civil
liberties, and counter Attorney General John Ashcroft, speaking in the
latest installment of his stealth Patriot Act road show.

WHEN: Tuesday, September 9 at 12 noon

WHERE: Federal Hall, 26 Wall Street at Broad Street (next to NYSE)
2/3 or 4/5 to Wall Street or J/Z to Broad Street
Map: Go here or try this url: http://www.moveon.org/r?469

WHO: New York ACLU (www.nyclu.org), New York City Bill of Rights
Defense Campaign (www.nycbordc.org), United for Peace and Justice
(www.unitedforpeace.org), and 60 other civil liberties organizations.

Then on Thursday, the fine folks at The Century Foundation will be hosting a panel at the 92nd St. Y to discuss Ashcroft, Patriot I and Patriot II, and all sorts of other topics in the Foundation's recently published anthology The War on Our Freedoms: Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism. Amongst the speakers will be "Anthony Lewis, former New York Times columnist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner; Alan Brinkley, professor of history at Columbia University; Ann Beeson, Justice William Brennan First Amendment Fellow at the ACLU and other contributors" to the book.

The "The War on Our Freedoms" discussion will be Wednesday, Sep 10, 2003, at 8:00pm at Kaufmann Concert Hall at 92nd Street Y which is at 92 and Lexington Ave in Manhattan. Tickets can be ordered by clicking here. Go and bring a friend. It's going to be a great evening.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 11:17 AM

Bush Lays 87 Billion Eggs. And Counting

Glad to see the grownups are back in charge. And if you believe $87 billion is the true cost of what IraqMire will cost, I can let you have a couple of bridges cheap. The Times says it with pointed understatement:

While Mr. Bush finally set a price tag on the upcoming cost of the Iraq effort, he still has not done nearly enough to level with the American people. The bulk of the $87 billion the president said he would request from Congress goes to the military and intelligence. The amount that would be left for things like restoring water and electricity seems very low, given recent information on the pathetic state of the country's infrastructure. [translated: the real estimated cost of IraqMire is closer to $174 billion, but Bush doesn't dare tell you that yet.]

Mr. Bush's earlier attempts to evade setting a price tag on the Iraq effort were in part aimed at greasing the skids for the administration's tax cut program. Certainly now it is time to give up on the idea that the tax cuts temporarily approved during the president's tenure can remain in place. But while Mr. Bush is getting more specific about the numbers, he has yet to really tell Americans that they will have to make sacrifices to pay the bill.

If running the greatest economy the world has ever seen into debt lasting from now til Armageddon (literally, in Bush's mind) is an example of moral clarity and sterling character, get that boy a blow job fast.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 1:05 AM

Buy Krugman's Latest Book

It's called The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century. Here's part of a review from Salon

"The Great Unraveling" collects Krugman's best work, catching those mistakes in snapshot flashes of criticism as they were being made. No one wrote with more clarity and foresight on the California energy crisis (which had nothing to do with environmental regulations and everything to do with energy companies rigging markets). No one took Alan Greenspan to task more vigorously for betraying his own legacy in embracing Bush's budget-busting tax cuts. No one rode Bush harder for his dubious past as a crony capitalist who made his fortune thanks to his connections as a president's son, and to self-dealing accounting of the same species that later turned into a national scandal during his administration, with the implosion of Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and other corporate shell-game players.

Krugman is merciless about both the secrecy under which the Bush administration drew up its energy policies and the irrationality of the policies it coughed into the light. From the Bush White House's hostility to conservation and its obsession with opening the Alaskan tundra to oil drilling to its schizophrenic free-trade policies and its strange collusions with OPEC, Krugman surveys the landscape of Bush policy and finds a wasteland of brazen hypocrisy populated by "cynical political operators" wrapped in the flag, "an extremely elitist clique trying to maintain a populist facade."

This is columnizing of a very high order.

Indeed it is.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 12:55 AM

The Bush Family, Averil Harriman, And The Nazis

Dave Neiwert over at Orcinus is running a scorcher of a series about the Nazi/Bush Family financial connections. I'd run across some of this stuff before, but Dave's sober-headed exegesis is the best description yet of a very smelly pile of excrement amongst the skeletons in the Bush closet. Read it now.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 12:16 AM