Is that a shrub in your pocket...
Friday, July 04, 2008
Fourth of July
Ah, July 4th, when we honor the great white men who forged an astounding democracy in North America. A democracy that considered black folks to be livestock (except when it came to apportioning representatives to Congress, of course, when they were counted as 60% human). And a ‘democracy’ that didn’t consider women - not even the white ones - as worthy of the vote. And, really, people like Adams were so terrified of the common people (the dirty fucking hippies of the time, I suppose), that they came up with the electoral college nonsense, with which wee are still saddled.
Problem is, there already was a democracy in North America - a confederation of the six Haudenosaunee nations - upon which the government of the United States of America (absent that pesky equal rights and womens’ vote stuff) would eventually be based.
Anyhow, back in 1763 or so, the Haudenosaunee had secured from the British a royal proclamation outlawing intrusions by the colonies onto Haudenosaunee land and creating formal procedures by which native nations could, if they desired, sell territory - as long as the sale was endorsed by the British government.
Needless to say, this pissed off our forefathers to no end (maybe even more than that tea tax you hear so much about). After all, this was their goddamn land to steal and kill for, and those bloody redcoats should just stay the fuck out!
So, the fine leaders of the colonies (mostly a bunch of land speculators), in the finest tradition of god fearing white men everywhere, ignored the new laws and encouraged settlement into native lands. Although they were far superior warriors (especially on their native land), the Haudenosaunee, wishing to avoid involvement in a conflict that would strain their confederacy (the Oneidas and Tuscaroras tended to side with the rebels, while the rest of the six nations sided with the British), made two treaties with the colonies in order to guarantee its neutrality.
The colonies, of course, failed to live up to their end of the treaties, and in 1777 the Haudenosaunee took up arms to thwart an illegal military venture into their territory by the “Americans” at the Battle of Oriskany.
The great white father George Washington decided to send General John Sullivan into Haudenosaunee territory in a “preemptive attack” (sound familiar?) to break the back of the Six Nations. In fact, the most significant US military venture of 1779 was not against the British, but Sullivan’s raids against the Haudenosaunee.
Sullivan and his 3,500+ troops were ordered by Washington to “lay waste all settlements around…so that country may not only be overrun but destroyed.” Sullivan launched a “scorched earth campaign” (a lot like US tactics in Vietnam), torching over 40 Haudenosaunee communities and destroying thousands of acres of crops. During the following winter of 1779-80 - among the most severe of the time - thousands of Haudenosaunee men, women and children - deprived of food and shelter - died of starvation and exposure. Their determination to carry on the fight remained, but the British eventually decided to cut their losses, and the 1783 Treaty of Paris between the US and Britain ended the war, but neglected to offer any protection to the Haudenosaunee. Veterans of the Sullivan raids snatched up huge amounts of Haudenosaunee territory, and the rest, as they say, is history
So, happy Independence Day, everybody! Well, to all us descendants of white Europeans, anyway.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Super Tuesday Open Thread
So, Super Tuesday is finally here. Thanks to the withdrawal of John Edwards, I have a few decisions to make today. First off, should I even bother to vote at all?
It wasn’t that long ago that I was a registered ‘no preference,’ meaning I was ineligible to vote in New York State primaries. I didn’t actually register as a Democrat until after the rat bastard Republicans wasted a lot of time and money impeaching Bill Clinton.
It takes a while for a change of party to kick in here, so the first Presidential primary I had a chance to vote in was 2004. I voted for Howard Dean and, well, true to form, he didn’t win. So, this’ll be my second crack at putting the curse on a candidate (technically, I suppose, I already cursed Edwards, so maybe I can bring down two people this primary season).
It’s worse, too, because, unlike the Republican primary, this one isn’t winner take all. If it was, I could safely vote for whoever the hell I wanted to (or not at all) ‘cuz Hillary is probably gonna win here. But for the primary, my vote actually represents some tiny fraction of a delegate (depending on how many people vote).
In New York, there are a total of 281 delegates for Democrats. 151 of them are allocated proportionally based on the results of the primary within each Congressional district, either 81 or 85 delegates (I’ve read both; I don’t know if anybody actually understands how the fuck this works, to be honest) are elected at the State Democratic Convention in May (presumably, whoever gets the most delegates in the primary will walk away with them), and 49 (or 45, again, depending on which number you believe) delegates are unpledged super delegates, who will vote whichever way the wind blows (probably most of them will go for Clinton, ‘cuz, well, she’s a bit of a player in the NYS Democratic Party).
That’s not confusing enough, of course, so in addition to selecting a presidential candidate, Democratic voters in each Congressional district can also vote for 5 or 6 delegates. We can choose delegates who are supporting the candidate we vote for, or we could, say, vote for Obama while voting for 5 delegates committed to Clinton. Why would we do that? I have no idea, but we could (we could even do it by mistake, and never know we did it). And, not every candidate has a full slate of delegates in every district. So then they pick the delegates some other way. Or something.
In each Congressional district, a candidate has to get 15 percent of the vote to receive any delegates. And, yes, there will still be six people on the ballot: Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson and Biden.
So, assuming I decide to vote, then what? I’m inclined to vote for Edwards anyway, but is that just throwing my vote away?
Do I vote for Obama? He was against Iraq as an Illinois State Senator, but once he was elected to the US Senate, he never saw a war appropriations bill he didn’t like. He also seems to have a propensity to duck the tough votes, and declared the Alito filibuster dead before he grudgingly voted against cloture. As AS this article in the Boston Globe deatails, on the campaign trail, he touts a bill that started out requiring all nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities immediately of any size leak, no matter how small. This came about after a plant operator – Exelon Corp – was found to have not disclosed leaks at one of its nuclear power plants. But the reality is that Obama ‘compromised’ the bill to death until it became just a suggestion that maybe the plant owners would let people know about a leak, if they felt like it. Obama’s staff insists that this has nothing to do with the fact that, since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon have contributed at least $227,000 to Obama’s campaigns for the US Senate and for president, two top Exelon officials are among his largest fund-raisers, and another Obama donor is chairman of both Exelon and the Nuclear Energy Institute (the Nuke industry’s lobbying group). In fact, Exelon’s support for Obama far exceeds its support for any other presidential candidate, and Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, has worked as a consultant to Exelon.
Obama’s health care plan leaves about 15 million people uninsured, and, according to Jonathan Gruber of M.I.T. (via Krugman):
“a plan…resembling the Obama plan, would cover 23 million of those currently uninsured, at a taxpayer cost of $102 billion per year. An otherwise identical plan with mandates would cover 45 million of the uninsured — essentially everyone — at a taxpayer cost of $124 billion. Over all, the Obama-type plan would cost $4,400 per newly insured person, the Clinton-type plan only $2,700.
In other words, as Krugman points out:
One plan achieves more or less universal coverage; the other, although it costs more than 80 percent as much, covers only about half of those currently uninsured.
Then, of course, there’s Obama’s rather maddening tendency to embrace the Republican frame on many issues (Social Security is in crisis, “Harry and Louise” mandated insurance, etc.) while invoking the name of St. Reagan (not that he agreed with Reagan, of course).
Perhaps the biggest problem I have with Obama is something that doesn’t really have much to do with him. It’s the whining ignorance of so many of his supporters (not all; probably not even most. The asshole minority always stands out, though). They hated Edwards, even as their candidate rushed to incorporate much of Edwards’ platform into his own campaign, and whine at every perceived slight to Obama, no matter how tiny or obscure.
But then there’s Hillary. Hillary, who gave a great speech against giving Bush the authority to use force against Iraq, and then voted to go ahead and give it to him anyway - and refuses to say, “hey, I was wrong.” Like Obama, she continues to vote to fund the occupation, and hasn’t exactly been leading the charge to get us the hell out of there. She didn’t stand up, as Chris Dodd did, and threaten to veto retroactive immunity for telecom companies (neither did Obama). Hillary voted for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment on Iran (a vote Obama conveniently missed), and is beholden to any number of huge corporate donors and lobbyists – including the insurance companies. Her healthcare plan, while it appears to cover everyone and has subsidies for low income families, is still not a single-payer system, and is still a boon to her friends in the insurance industry.
I would fully expect a President Hillary Clinton to do any number of things that I would totally disagree with (just as her husband did). But my biggest fear is that she’ll be goaded into bombing somebody, just to prove she’s as tough as a man. Maybe I’m a wimp, but I wouldn’t mind a little less ‘tough guy,’ and a little more ‘gentle woman.’
There’s a lot to dislike about Hillary. Her posturing, her political calculation, her inability to admit she was wrong (reminds you of somebody else, no?), just for starters. Plus, I’ve been told for almost 20 years now that I should despise her, and that’s sunk in a bit. I wonder, if she was a man – or even just anybody else – would I find her ‘bad’ characteristics as discomfiting?
How much of my unease with Hillary is that I don’t find her particularly likable? And, do I really want to base my vote on who is more likable (who I’d rather ‘have a beer with,’ so to speak)?
Then there’s the issue of – dare I say it – ‘electability.’ I can think of few things more frightening than President George W. Bush – but President John McCain is definitely one of ‘em (President Cheney would be another). McCain is a crazy megalomaniac who wants endless war. Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton – no matter what you may think of her personally – is absolutely despised by wingnuts and liberals alike. She may be the one person who can drive the wingers to the polls while keeping the ‘progressive purists’ at home – or voting for Nader - this year.
Not that Obama won’t engender a certain amount of hatred and bigotry. There are plenty of crackers, I’m sure, who will refuse to vote for ‘one of them.’ But I think the prospect of a smart woman – especially this particular smart woman – is a lot scarier to a lot more people than a slightly brown, ‘ethnically diverse’ man. Hell, everybody loves Tiger Woods, after all. Smart ambitious women, though…. They’re scary bitches. If you don’t believe me, ask Maureen Dowd.
There’s no debating the fact that the young folks are on the Obama bandwagon, and it’s nice to see the kids all excited about politics. And many of us, um, more mature folks are just plain sick of hearing the name Clinton, I think. Plus, all the celebrities and most of the Kennedys are pulling for Obama, too. Yep, it’s ‘cool’ to be an Obama supporter, and who doesn’t wanna be cool? I’m not sure why he’s cool. I guess it’s ‘cuz he’s different, and he’s gonna “change” everything (although, I can’t figure out how he’s different, to be honest. I find his rhetoric to be the same pablum I’ve heard a million times before). Frankly, I think he and Hillary are just about indistinguishable. If Hillary is Republican-lite, Obama is Hillary-lite.
So, anyhow, after lots of hand-wringing and angst, I’m still no closer to figuring out who the hell to vote for. It would have been so much easier had Edwards stuck around for another week. And it’ll be a lot easier come November, too, because either of these two would make a much better preznit than these idiot old white Republican men.
Today, though, I continue to be at a loss. If you’re in one of the 22 Super Tuesday states, I hope you’ve figured out what to do, and that you’re certain (if not happy) about your choice.
As for me, I might just have to sit this one out.
Friday, October 05, 2007
The Progressive Lenses Scam
So, I've had these progressive lenses for a while now, and, I must say, they pretty much suck. What a scam. I suppose I should have realized that you can't grind a lens linearly, and that the only way they can really do it is to grind it radially. But, it just never occurred to me. I knew I'd have to look up and down a bit to get the clear spot, but I didn't realize that there would be what's the equivalent of a small "bullseye" that you can look through and see things clearly. In other words, you can't look to the left or right, unless you move your whole head, and that pretty much sucks. One of my best abilities is being able to look at stuff out of the sides of my eyes. Now, if I wanna check out a hot babe, I’ll have to look directly at her. This isn’t cool. I’m nothing if not discrete. They say you get used to them, but I can't wear them for long without getting a headache. Never again.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Active duty soldiers from Fort Drum in Northern NY took part in a regional peace rally in Syracuse Saturday September 29th, along with 3,000 other protesters in what was described as the city's largest peace rally since the Vietnam era.
Among those speaking in opposition to the Iraq occupation were active-duty members of the 10th Mountain Division (which currently has two brigades of 7,500 troops in Iraq; 93 Fort Drum soldiers have been killed there, so far).
The event was initiated by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), and endorsed by some 60 organizations statewide. Bus loads of anti-war protesters came from Albany, Rochester, Buffalo and New York City. Protesters called for an immediate withdrawal of troops, and full health benefits for returning veterans.
The demonstration began with a rally on the plaza outside the Everson Museum of Art in downtown Syracuse followed by a march to the Syracuse University (SU) campus for a second rally. The demonstration concluded with a panel discussion at SU's Hendricks Chapel which included former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter, former Marine Jimmy Massey, a founding member of IVAW, and Dr. Dahlia Wasfi.
A slideshow of some of the photos I took is here.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Didja watch Chimpy’s speech last night? Me neither. I can’t stand watching the lying bastard. I’ll catch the reviews later on, I guess.
So, we went to get glasses the other day, and I guess I’m officially an old fart, ‘cuz I got talked into bifocals, which I’d been resisting. I don’t actually have short-arm disease the way other people (who shall remain nameless, so they don’t hit me) do. You know, where they have to hold something out at arm’s length (plus a foot) to actually see it. I just have to take my goddamn glasses off to see what’s up close, which makes it a pain to surf the web and watch the teevee at the same time. And my insurance (my wife’s insurance, actually) is great, so they pay for progressive lenses and all that good stuff (the guy who talked me into them fairly creamed his jeans over how great the insurance is; I felt like telling him “jeezus, dude, I said OK already).
But, anyway, back to glasses. I got the superdie-duperdie glasses, and only had to pay extra for the “transitions” lenses (the ones that get darker the more stoned you are brighter the light is), and I got the extra scratch resistant/smudge resistant coating, since I’m pretty tough on glasses, seeing as I never wear them, and always take them off and leave them somewhere where the goddamn cats can knock them on the floor. Supposedly, these goddamn things (the goddamn glasses, not the goddamn cats) would’ve cost me $500, but I only had to pony up $89 (as I told the guy, if I had to pay $500, I wouldn’t be getting them; not to mention that I wouldn’t even pay $89 for a cat).
I was gonna get my standard pair, but the guy took one look and said, “you don’t want a pair like that.”
What? I don’t? Well, what the fuck do I know? As my wife can tell you, like Doug Berman I’m not exactly a “slave to fashion.” I suppose I ought to get my hair cut, too, since I’m sure it’s not “up to date” (it’s gettin’ pretty gray, too). But, I have an employer to break in.
I always feel it’s important to let new (or relatively new) employers know that, you know what? All that shit I said at the interview? Well, that was just bullshit. You asked the questions, and I bullshitted you pretty good. Better than anybody else, apparently (plus, you academic and “licensed” types seem to be pretty impressed by a degree - especially a masters).
So, anyway, you’re stuck with me now, and we both know what a pain in the ass it is to hire a new person, so you don’t wanna shitcan me as long as I’m at least competent (and, after all, I am nothing if not competent). You let me be me, and I’ll do some good shit (sooner or later; just don’t push me - you can’t rush genius, you know). Just don’t make me wear a tie, and let me have my ponytail again. Not that I think a ponytail is so great, but then I can cut my hair myself (just to keep it out of my face), and tie it back. I used to have it down to the middle of my back (and only just three or so months ago - prior to June; how time flies). It’s amazing, how easily we get absorbed back into the collective. So, anyway, that’s why I feel it’s important to assert your individuality right away. Otherwise, you’ll just get swallowed up (and not in a good way).
Now, where were we? Oh yeah. Glasses.
I always get the “aviator” style, because, at heart (though I’ve never flown anything, unless you count MS flight simulator, or Jane’s Apache Longbow), I’m a fighter pilot (also a rock star). But, apparently, aviator style glasses are no longer cool. This guy said I needed something more “up to date.” I think he was calling me old (or at least calling my glasses old). Which is funny, since he was older than me (at least, I hope he was) - and about twice my circumference (and I’m not exactly svelte these days).
So, I got these “Harley” frames. Not that they especially evoke “biker dude” (another one of my Walter Mitty - you young folks can go look that one up - personæ) to me, but they’re “Harley Davidson” branded. So, we’ll see what happens. No doubt I’ll be fighting the babes off like the guys in the Hai Karate (another one for you whipper-snappers to look up) commercials used to. They’re supposed to be ready on Saturday. I’ll keep you posted as to how they work (whether you give a shit or not).
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Six years ago. Amazing, isn’t it? I dunno about you, but it seems like a hell of a lot longer ago to me. It’s at least three lifetimes ago. There are things that happen in life, where you realize how fortunate and lucky you were to have the right person in the right place at the right time. Needless to say, September 11, 2001 was not one of those time. In fact, you could pretty easily argue that we had the absolute worst person (people) running the show on that day. And it’s gotten nothing but worse since.
And, really, all due respect to the victims (those that died, and those rescue workers and others that continue to suffer and die to this day) and their families, but how can this country continue to play the martyr, after all the needless death and destruction we’ve wrought?
Yes, the attacks and the loss of 3,000 American lives was a tragedy, but isn’t it rather pompous to continue on about “poor us” (particularly those of us who were nowhere near the towers or the Pentagon, who didn’t have our lives directly affected by the attacks - except for having to take our shoes off at the airport - and haven’t lost any loved ones; sorry, watching the planes hit the towers over and over again on the teevee doesn't count), while some 600,000 (give or take; if you have numbers you like better, use them) Iraqi civilians have died thanks to the US invasion and occupation, and hundreds of thousands more have had their lives shattered, and continue to suffer, with no hope in sight, as US corporations scurry to make huge profits?
And that doesn’t even take into account our own self-inflicted losses approaching 4,000 killed, and tens of thousands wounded.
Instead of crying over how awful the attacks were, and how scary the terrorists are, it would be nice if we had a leader in this country determined to make sure it would never happen again. Instead, we have a bunch of arrogant, ignorant, immoral cowards poking a hornet’s nest with a stick, and bragging that they haven’t been stung yet.
I caught a little of the Petraeus dog and pony show on the radio while I was in the car yesterday. I just can’t be bothered with his bullshit, or the bullshit niceties of our elected “representatives.” The Republicans don’t give a flying fuck about anything but protecting themselves and what’s left of their preznit. The Democrats, well, I don’t know what they give a shit about. Some are more weaselly than others, I guess. But even those that talk a good game aren’t willing to do what it takes to put an end to this shit. In the end, they’ll just cave in to whatever Bush wants. I’ll be damned if I know why, but, well, that seems to be the way it is. I hate to be a buzzkill, but, frankly, I’m kinda thinking this whole Iran thing is what’s gonna be the end of everything. I just don’t see anything but the worst coming out of all this, and I don't see anybody - not in our government, and not amongst "we the people" - with guts enough to stand up and stop it.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
So, a couple weeks ago, I bought this flash drive. Well, partly it's a 2-gig flash drive, but it's also got an SD slot built into it. So, it's expandable to whatever you want it to be, depending on how big an SD card you have for it. Works great for the camera. I have roboform2go installed on the flash drive part, as well as the portable apps suite (kind of addicted to the Sudoku) and I download my podcasts every morning onto a directory on a 1-gig sd card that's in it. This has the added advantage of being able to pop the SD card out, and stick it in my little Lyra mp3 player, or in my Nuvi GPS in the car.Can't put it in my phone, though. For that, I have a 1-gig micro sd card in the phone, and another 2-gig sd card that's in a little USB reader that's about the size of my ring fingernail. The micro sd cards are so small, it's ridiculous. You really couldn't get any smaller, and have it actually be usable. Not with my big fat fingers, anyway. The USB drive is on a little lanyard that I have on my keys. I Was a little leery of it, because it's just tiny thread, but it's pretty tough shit. It's amazing to me that I can have 2 gigs of storage on my keychain, and another three in my pocket. You can load an entire, bootable operating system on something you could hold under your tongue (if, for some reason you wanted to). All for next to no money. It's amazing how cheap things have gotten.
I'm lately coveting an XBOX 360 Elite (though, it aint exactly cheap). I'm trying to justify buying it, but I'm not quite there yet. I've gone so far as to put it, and Rainbow Six: Vegas in my Amazon shopping cart ('cuz I got a $25 certificate, and they have free very slow shipping). So, it sounds pretty cool, and from what I hear it's got the better game selection. Which is how M$ always gets you into their clutches. You can tell me Apple is the just the bestest thing there is going all you want, but I can get just about anything I need for free for Windows. Everything for free with Linux.
I had Sedition Radio running on Linux until the old junk hardware crapped out on me. When I built a new box for it I put Windows on it, and ShoutCast (though not all that hard to set up on Linux), is just way, way easier on Windows. The Linux transcoder is kinda fussy about everything being the same bitrate, whereas in Windows, it doesn't care; you can mix and match all you want.
Oh, wait. I started out talking about my USB/SD drive. Like I said, it's pretty cool, except for a couple of things. First (and, I don't really give much of a shit about this), it had a nice shiny black finish when I bought it. But, being in my pocket, it's all fucked up and scratched now. Minor blems don't affect performance, as they say. But, it came with a lanyard, just like the other one. Really tiny. And that's the second problem: the goddamn thing didn't come pre-attached, and I'm supposed to tie it on. It's designed to hold the end cap on w/o losing it, so you have to thread it through the cap, and then though this little tiny hole on the drive. And then tie it.
What're they fucking kiddin' me? I'm lucky if I can tie my shoes (that's why I try never to untie them). So, I've given myself a goddamn headache trying to tie this thing on, 'cuz it'd be nice to have it; the cap is designed to only fit on one way, so having the lanyard would not only keep me from losing the cap, but would make it easier to stick back on again. But it just aint worth the aggravation.
Not that anybody gives a crap, I'm sure.
