I watched a few of the speeches over the last few days. Guliani, Schwarzenegger, McCain - caught bits of Senator Miller, Junior and his wife.
The pundits observed that the first three speakers noted were from the more moderate wing of the party, the one which is more liberal on social issues (which is probably where I would place myself).
I also caught Kerry's speeches at the American Legion convention and also the one after the RNC wrapped up.
Kerry gave a good speech at the convention but the one after the RNC just had my eyes glazing over after a few minutes.
I was speaking to someone the other day, an ardent Democratic supporter and was doing my best just to get him agitated. Our roles have been reversed in the past and I'm petty, what can I say.
There's this whole "chicken little" quality to the argument of who gets to be the next chief executive. No matter who it is, there still will be a country four years from now (contrary to what people would have you believe). That's one of our great strengths, every four years we get a chance to "throw the bums out" as it were - seems people have a tendency to forget that.
I don't know how Kerry's war record become such an issue. I don't know if he brought it on himself by playing it up or not. If that's the case, it was a big mistake. I had caught Kerry's appearance on an old Dick Cavett show on C-Span a few weeks back and afterward I was very dismayed by his performance. Clinton didn't serve and Junior and the Dick both were from rich families and were able to get deferments (no big surprise there) so, that's a non starter.
It was more the things Kerry spoke about after returning that bothered me. There probably was a bit of exaggeration but, when he spoke of witnessing atrocities and war crimes the thing that came to my mind was of him bearing silent witness to these things and allowing them to go on, not speaking out about them while there. It made me think of him as a "go-along" guy. He played the game and when it was to his advantage he changed his tune.
Now, there are people who will read that and get very upset I'm sure but, that's how it appeared to me, if you're upset try to remember you're entitled to your view as much as I am entitled to mine.
So, playing up the war record was a no-no.
Kerry also has been a Senator in abstentia as he has run for the presidency. One has to wonder how many important votes he has missed over the last few months as he's been on the stump. I was reminded that Bob Dole resigned his position as Majority leader when he decided to run back in '96. I think Kerry would have been making a very positive statement by following that example.
Anyhow, I liked those early speeches but admittedly as the convention went on and the speeches became more braying and conservative I wasn't pleased.
Fortunately, I still have time to make up my mind (which I probably won't do until I close the curtain behind me on election day).
I think there are a few things the Democrats would be wise to concede - they probably won't but, it might help them garner more support.
First off - the 2000 election is over, get past it.
Second - stop trying to put the blame for the events of 9-11 at the feet of our government (or the current administration).
Third - we're in Iraq, arguing about whether or not it was the right thing to do is a moot point. We're there and it's up to us to do the best we can by the people in that country. Just leaving isn't necessarily the best (or smartest) thing to do.
Fourth - there are some of us (yes, myself included) that don't think going into Iraq was a bad thing in the overall scheme of things. Arguing it is or was a mistake isn't helping your argument.
Fifth - don't talk about lowering the price of gasoline, it's the last thing this country needs. Talk about finding or developing ways to wean this country off of its fossil fuel jones (while you're at it, do me a favor and put a tax on everyone owning a passenger vehicle over a certain weight - sic, SUVs).
Sixth - talking about allies and them determining foreign policy is a gigantic mistake. It ties in to free trade and the out-sourcing of jobs in a sense. Allies determining foreign policy has much the same impact as membership in the WTO. Ultimately, these things may not be what's best for our nation (got to remember Pierot's comment about the gigantic sucking sound if the US signed NAFTA).
Seventh - it's the deficit, stupid. Talk about the current administration's tendency to spend, spend, spend. Creating a larger deficit isn't a good thing.
Eighth - dovetailing into that, adding federal programs at this point doesn't sound like the greatest idea. Seems like the federal government needs to tighten the belt.
Ninth - '92 was your shot at fixing health care, every time it comes up as an issue, it reminds people of the abysmal failure there was - doesn't necessarily engender confidence.
Tenth - take the frigging high-road. Stop whining about being attacked - there has been nothing but attacks on this guy since day one and he's withstood it. Suck it up and tough it out.
At the very least we all know the next few months will prove interesting..
Sep 3, 2004
Sep 2, 2004
Today, I was awoken by the sound of Jackhammers digging up the street in front of our house.It started around 8am and went on for about fifteen minutes.
So, I threw on pants and went outside to get the paper just as one of the village workers was making like Picasso on the street in front of the house.
I asked him what was happening and if they would be digging up the street in front of our driveway. Apparently they would. So, I wondered aloud if the village had anticipated digging up the street, why they didn't take the time to let the people living on the street have a bit of advance warning.
It's one of those situations where you wind up being sorry you asked.
So, after getting the short shrift and being told to complain to the village, I went inside to do dishes as the guys basically sat around for the next hour plus (which I could see from the kitchen window). This made me come to the conclusion I'm in the wrong business.
So, I threw on pants and went outside to get the paper just as one of the village workers was making like Picasso on the street in front of the house.
I asked him what was happening and if they would be digging up the street in front of our driveway. Apparently they would. So, I wondered aloud if the village had anticipated digging up the street, why they didn't take the time to let the people living on the street have a bit of advance warning.
It's one of those situations where you wind up being sorry you asked.
So, after getting the short shrift and being told to complain to the village, I went inside to do dishes as the guys basically sat around for the next hour plus (which I could see from the kitchen window). This made me come to the conclusion I'm in the wrong business.
Sep 1, 2004
I've been watching the convention in New York this week. A couple of comments I've heard have stuck with me and made a lot of sense.
One person, on commenting about the appearance and speech by the First Lady and her daughters, observed it was out of place at the convention.
I heartily agreed.
As the commentator noted, we (the U.S.) are not a monarchy. The people in the White House aren't royalty. When we as a nation elect a chief executive, we are not electing a first family, it's just not an issue and somehow over the last decade or so, candidates families have been trotted out in front of the media.
I don't know anyone who brings their wife or kids on a job interview and running this country is indeed a job, the campaign is just our citizenry's interview process.
The other comment was by John McCain. He observed sitting with either Tim Russert, Sean Hannity or Larry King there will be a time after the election when members of both parties will have to work together to conduct the business of government. It will be all the harder to do that when rhetoric descends and becomes downright insulting. This is something both parties have been guilty of this year and I for one wish it would stop.
Then thinking about it, I imagine it just shows how the whole election process in this country has been transformed over the last three decades.
One person, on commenting about the appearance and speech by the First Lady and her daughters, observed it was out of place at the convention.
I heartily agreed.
As the commentator noted, we (the U.S.) are not a monarchy. The people in the White House aren't royalty. When we as a nation elect a chief executive, we are not electing a first family, it's just not an issue and somehow over the last decade or so, candidates families have been trotted out in front of the media.
I don't know anyone who brings their wife or kids on a job interview and running this country is indeed a job, the campaign is just our citizenry's interview process.
The other comment was by John McCain. He observed sitting with either Tim Russert, Sean Hannity or Larry King there will be a time after the election when members of both parties will have to work together to conduct the business of government. It will be all the harder to do that when rhetoric descends and becomes downright insulting. This is something both parties have been guilty of this year and I for one wish it would stop.
Then thinking about it, I imagine it just shows how the whole election process in this country has been transformed over the last three decades.
Aug 30, 2004
Twice in the last week, during the course of a conversation, the person I was speaking with turned to me and said, “You’re not really a Republican.”
I think part of the reason it was said in each instance was because I don’t fall lockstep into position with some of the planks with the party’s platform. Surprisingly enough, I’ve run across a fair number of people who consider themselves Republicans but, also have views on certain issues which differ from the strict party line. In my peer group and among the people I’m usually around in my profession, it’s just not fashionable to be a Republican.
Republicans are bad!
They’re just the most evil people on the face of the Earth. As a matter of fact, if you could believe much of the commentary by people who run with the pack of the donkey (I was going to use another phrase but figured it wouldn’t be right to sink to the same level), the Republicans are responsible for all of societies ills.
So today, thousands descended onto the streets of Manhattan to display they’re righteous rage.
But hey, it is after a free country (last time I checked) and even though I’m usually dismissed for my views, everyone has a right to their opinion.
There have been a bunch of acts of civil disobedience over the last several days. I had heard Friday night one demonstration culminated in the people demonstrating throwing garbage onto the police from rooftops. Got to love it, from heroes to zeros in three short years. People held firefighters and police in high esteem for their actions on September 11th and now it’s okay to throw garbage on them.
Way to make a point, folks.
Anyway, the news this evening gave a lot of coverage to both the build up to the convention and the demonstration which was held today. I loved some of the signs, one commented on the wrongheadedness of a “war for oil.” Probably drove down from Massachusetts in their SUV.
Want to change things in this country?
Hey, approximately 120,000 people managed to get it together today to demonstrate about their unhappiness - think you’d be able to round up that many to do something like feed the homeless or volunteer in a local school?
Just curious.
I watched this demonstration and the one prior to the war in Iraq and thought I saw a bunch of people who were disappointed they had missed out on the sixties.
Most of the anger and rage I’ve been seeing while I’m sure it’s genuine felt comes across as ‘posing.’ Oh are you going to the demonstration on Sunday? What are you going to wear?
It’s as if all the anger and frustration people feel can be directed at a single person.
It just doesn’t wash.
People speak about the economy but economies run in cycles and the previous administration was fortunate enough to experience the fallout of a new technology boom the likes of which hadn’t been seen in this country since the 50’s. Take away the internet boom and how good do you think the American economy was during the 90's? Also, prior to the 2000 election, the bubble had burst. The writing was on the wall and I don’t think it’s fair to lay the blame for the downturn on the administration in office now.
Terrorism? Junior took office on or about 1/16/01 and in just under nine months we had the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, you really mean to tell me this all came about in those nine months and the people in office did everything in their power to ignore it at the peril of the American people? Do you really mean that?
Did anyone think something so horrific as flying planes into the sides of buildings as a terrorist act could’ve happened before that day? (by the way, if you go back and watch the John Carpenter movie Escape from New York, you’ll see a plane crashing into a skyscraper and a glider landing on top of the World Trade Center).
Here’s another one for you (which I had also heard in recent weeks), if the guy had gotten up from reading to a class of children he could’ve somehow changed the course of history.
Look, let’s get real.
Today, I saw the junior Senator from my state on TV doing her level best to pour rain on the parade. Funny thing was I remember the biggest accomplishment she was supposed to achieve at one time was the reform of the health care system. People seem to forget what a failure that was.
The other senator from our state doesn’t appear to like taking a back seat to his colleague but it seems as if he’s given little choice. And of course, when it’s coyly suggested during the rounds this morning if the donkey’s favorite son can’t get it done this year, well, then maybe she could be the candidate designate next time around. Oh, pshaw! Let’s just talk about this election - wouldn’t it just be so horrible should Kerry lose this time round.
It makes me sick.
(more on this when I have the energy)
I think part of the reason it was said in each instance was because I don’t fall lockstep into position with some of the planks with the party’s platform. Surprisingly enough, I’ve run across a fair number of people who consider themselves Republicans but, also have views on certain issues which differ from the strict party line. In my peer group and among the people I’m usually around in my profession, it’s just not fashionable to be a Republican.
Republicans are bad!
They’re just the most evil people on the face of the Earth. As a matter of fact, if you could believe much of the commentary by people who run with the pack of the donkey (I was going to use another phrase but figured it wouldn’t be right to sink to the same level), the Republicans are responsible for all of societies ills.
So today, thousands descended onto the streets of Manhattan to display they’re righteous rage.
But hey, it is after a free country (last time I checked) and even though I’m usually dismissed for my views, everyone has a right to their opinion.
There have been a bunch of acts of civil disobedience over the last several days. I had heard Friday night one demonstration culminated in the people demonstrating throwing garbage onto the police from rooftops. Got to love it, from heroes to zeros in three short years. People held firefighters and police in high esteem for their actions on September 11th and now it’s okay to throw garbage on them.
Way to make a point, folks.
Anyway, the news this evening gave a lot of coverage to both the build up to the convention and the demonstration which was held today. I loved some of the signs, one commented on the wrongheadedness of a “war for oil.” Probably drove down from Massachusetts in their SUV.
Want to change things in this country?
Hey, approximately 120,000 people managed to get it together today to demonstrate about their unhappiness - think you’d be able to round up that many to do something like feed the homeless or volunteer in a local school?
Just curious.
I watched this demonstration and the one prior to the war in Iraq and thought I saw a bunch of people who were disappointed they had missed out on the sixties.
Most of the anger and rage I’ve been seeing while I’m sure it’s genuine felt comes across as ‘posing.’ Oh are you going to the demonstration on Sunday? What are you going to wear?
It’s as if all the anger and frustration people feel can be directed at a single person.
It just doesn’t wash.
People speak about the economy but economies run in cycles and the previous administration was fortunate enough to experience the fallout of a new technology boom the likes of which hadn’t been seen in this country since the 50’s. Take away the internet boom and how good do you think the American economy was during the 90's? Also, prior to the 2000 election, the bubble had burst. The writing was on the wall and I don’t think it’s fair to lay the blame for the downturn on the administration in office now.
Terrorism? Junior took office on or about 1/16/01 and in just under nine months we had the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, you really mean to tell me this all came about in those nine months and the people in office did everything in their power to ignore it at the peril of the American people? Do you really mean that?
Did anyone think something so horrific as flying planes into the sides of buildings as a terrorist act could’ve happened before that day? (by the way, if you go back and watch the John Carpenter movie Escape from New York, you’ll see a plane crashing into a skyscraper and a glider landing on top of the World Trade Center).
Here’s another one for you (which I had also heard in recent weeks), if the guy had gotten up from reading to a class of children he could’ve somehow changed the course of history.
Look, let’s get real.
Today, I saw the junior Senator from my state on TV doing her level best to pour rain on the parade. Funny thing was I remember the biggest accomplishment she was supposed to achieve at one time was the reform of the health care system. People seem to forget what a failure that was.
The other senator from our state doesn’t appear to like taking a back seat to his colleague but it seems as if he’s given little choice. And of course, when it’s coyly suggested during the rounds this morning if the donkey’s favorite son can’t get it done this year, well, then maybe she could be the candidate designate next time around. Oh, pshaw! Let’s just talk about this election - wouldn’t it just be so horrible should Kerry lose this time round.
It makes me sick.
(more on this when I have the energy)
Aug 26, 2004
Speaking as one of those swing voters, I'll be watching the behavior of the protesters this week.
At this point the rhetoric has actually done more to make me think about voting for Bush - out of spite if nothing else (and I'm proud I didn't vote for him in 2000).
I can't say I appreciate being told if I don't vote the way someone wants me to, I'm wasting my vote. It strikes me as extremely condescending - nevermind downright wrong.
I don't like hearing my registered party painted as villains - if you want to paint people with a broad brush, don't be upset by the results.
I've been hearing all kinds of ridiculous things over the last few months. Even though I don't like the guy, the arguments are so patently ridiculous it's insulting.
Mmmmmm, let's see - if he had gotten up immediately from the classroom on 9/11 it would've changed something?
The guy is rich and got a pass by serving in the National Guard (hey, the guy before him didn't even serve - all of a sudden a person's military service matters)?
Oh those nasty ads that are running by that 527 group - seems to me all sorts of 527 groups have been pumping money into nasty ads against the current administration for quite a bit of time now (let's not even go into the movie which though purported to be factual had an extreme editorial slant).
Well, yell, scream, get apoplectic if need be. Act brutish and boorish and be sure to pepper your argument with insults and double standards - I have to say the only thing it will succeed in doing is making me consider the other side. If you want four more years of the idiot be sure to scream a little louder and behave more badly.
Today, I sat and listened as people discussed with glee and villified anyone who didn't share their views - it's not about having a different opinion in this country anymore, is it?
At this point the rhetoric has actually done more to make me think about voting for Bush - out of spite if nothing else (and I'm proud I didn't vote for him in 2000).
I can't say I appreciate being told if I don't vote the way someone wants me to, I'm wasting my vote. It strikes me as extremely condescending - nevermind downright wrong.
I don't like hearing my registered party painted as villains - if you want to paint people with a broad brush, don't be upset by the results.
I've been hearing all kinds of ridiculous things over the last few months. Even though I don't like the guy, the arguments are so patently ridiculous it's insulting.
Mmmmmm, let's see - if he had gotten up immediately from the classroom on 9/11 it would've changed something?
The guy is rich and got a pass by serving in the National Guard (hey, the guy before him didn't even serve - all of a sudden a person's military service matters)?
Oh those nasty ads that are running by that 527 group - seems to me all sorts of 527 groups have been pumping money into nasty ads against the current administration for quite a bit of time now (let's not even go into the movie which though purported to be factual had an extreme editorial slant).
Well, yell, scream, get apoplectic if need be. Act brutish and boorish and be sure to pepper your argument with insults and double standards - I have to say the only thing it will succeed in doing is making me consider the other side. If you want four more years of the idiot be sure to scream a little louder and behave more badly.
Today, I sat and listened as people discussed with glee and villified anyone who didn't share their views - it's not about having a different opinion in this country anymore, is it?
Aug 20, 2004
So, I’ve been on something of a little vacation.
In spirit that is...
I had taken the last few weeks off from writing and just focused on trying to be productive. Throw in a smattering of work and the days were full enough. There have been a couple of things I wanted to write about but, I haven’t had the opportunity so maybe everything will come out in one big spurt.
First up:
Why isn’t there some kind of Olympic Ass Picking event?
I think I’ve just gotten over the Olympics at this point. They’ve been running various events on NBC, MSNBC, USA and Bravo. I’m never that sure when something is going to be on so channel surfing can be interesting at times.
The sexist pig in me was spending a few minutes watching the women’s volleyball event. Really fit, tan women jumping around in sand in bottoms that do a bad job covering their asses.
I can watch this.
Is it a big time sporting event for me?
Not really - isn’t this the stuff beer maker promotional tours are made of?
Then I saw there was some Olympic Badminton event on - I even caught some kind of special short focusing on the American Team. I thought they were nice people (both immigrants) but up until that point I had never thought of Badminton as an Olympic sport.
What’s next? Olympic Lawn Darts? Bowling? Horseshoes? Paper football?
I always remember the drama of the opening sequence of Wide World of Sports with the “Agony of Defeat” skier spiraling off into a world of pain. I just don’t see Olympic Badminton or Olympic Beach Volleyball as having this big “Agony of Defeat” thing going on.
Nevermind the fact that at a lot of these events, you see many, many empty seats in the stands. I guess people in Greece don’t find themselves compelled to blow their week’s salary on watching the obscure Olympic event in person.
The other thing that strikes me as well is the “medal count” in the paper. It’s like we’re supposed to be gassed or something if the U.S. wins the most medals or the most gold medals like it will matter somehow - “we’ve won the Olympics!”
The whole thing just seems a bit stupid.
In spirit that is...
I had taken the last few weeks off from writing and just focused on trying to be productive. Throw in a smattering of work and the days were full enough. There have been a couple of things I wanted to write about but, I haven’t had the opportunity so maybe everything will come out in one big spurt.
First up:
Why isn’t there some kind of Olympic Ass Picking event?
I think I’ve just gotten over the Olympics at this point. They’ve been running various events on NBC, MSNBC, USA and Bravo. I’m never that sure when something is going to be on so channel surfing can be interesting at times.
The sexist pig in me was spending a few minutes watching the women’s volleyball event. Really fit, tan women jumping around in sand in bottoms that do a bad job covering their asses.
I can watch this.
Is it a big time sporting event for me?
Not really - isn’t this the stuff beer maker promotional tours are made of?
Then I saw there was some Olympic Badminton event on - I even caught some kind of special short focusing on the American Team. I thought they were nice people (both immigrants) but up until that point I had never thought of Badminton as an Olympic sport.
What’s next? Olympic Lawn Darts? Bowling? Horseshoes? Paper football?
I always remember the drama of the opening sequence of Wide World of Sports with the “Agony of Defeat” skier spiraling off into a world of pain. I just don’t see Olympic Badminton or Olympic Beach Volleyball as having this big “Agony of Defeat” thing going on.
Nevermind the fact that at a lot of these events, you see many, many empty seats in the stands. I guess people in Greece don’t find themselves compelled to blow their week’s salary on watching the obscure Olympic event in person.
The other thing that strikes me as well is the “medal count” in the paper. It’s like we’re supposed to be gassed or something if the U.S. wins the most medals or the most gold medals like it will matter somehow - “we’ve won the Olympics!”
The whole thing just seems a bit stupid.
Aug 6, 2004
Normally I don’t take much interest in what happens in the Yankee universe being a reformed Yankee fan but, this year has been the exception. First, one of my all time favorite ballplayers returned to the fold and became hitting coach. While I don’t pay more attention to the Yankees than I did before, I can quietly root for the success of Donnie Baseball (could he be Joe Torre’s heir apparent?).
Now, Johnny Baseball has returned to New York. One of Steve Phillips biggest mistakes was letting John Olerud come up for free agency and return to his hometown environs of Seattle. As a Mets fan, the only thing sadder than the day Olerud left was the day the Mets let Edgardo Alfonzo walk out the door.
Basically, it comes down to a situation where the Yankees have scored big in getting Olerud. After watching Jason Giambi butcher the position with his hands of stone over the last several years, Yankee fans will be pleased with the soft target Olerud will provide at first. Not only that, I can’t help but think Olerud will rediscover his hot bat after working with another former Yankee first baseman. And to top it off, the Yankees only pay Olerud the minimum! If the Yankees are smart, they’ll look to trade Giambi (a failed experiment) and keep Olerud around until they can groom themselves a new first baseman.
In the meantime, baseball fans of both teams should enjoy watching Olerud play in this town once again.
Jul 28, 2004
Some random thoughts about rhetoric (during the Democratic National Convention):
There are some of us in this country who don’t think putting troops on the ground in Iraq was such a mistake. Hard as it may be to believe. We never left Iraq after the Gulf War and were flying sorties over the country on an almost daily basis. Throughout 8 years of a Democratic administration, we lobbed missle after missile into the country and did little to achieve our foreign policy goals.
While I am perfectly willing to acknowledge intelligence on the existence of WMD was overstated, up to that point nobody could contradict it since UN weapons inspectors hadn't been in the country in over two years.
I’m not going to put myself in the position of being a GWB apologist but, if we’re going to make an issue about his military service, what about the military record of that media darling BC our last prez? What’s with the double standard?
Also, it’s a rather disingenuous argument to have about the safety of the American people. I don’t think we were particularly unsafe before September 11th, although it is obvious there was a failure in the common sense quotient of the people responsible for our safety (I still can’t believe a bunch of middle eastern men buy one way tickets with cash in a small Maine airport doesn’t arouse any kind of suspicions). I don’t want to live in a police state and if being safe means I have to forego my civil liberties, I’ll take my chances. It’s a lot harder to get those civil liberties back once you’ve given them up.
If you think I’m overreacting, try this little exercise: next time you‘re out and about, make a note of how many security/surveillance cameras you come across in your daily travels. Include all those innocuous lobby cameras, elevator cameras, highway cameras, atm cameras - once you start looking it becomes alarming to see just how often one is “on-camera” nowadays in our so-called unsafe, free society.
There are some of us in this country who don’t think putting troops on the ground in Iraq was such a mistake. Hard as it may be to believe. We never left Iraq after the Gulf War and were flying sorties over the country on an almost daily basis. Throughout 8 years of a Democratic administration, we lobbed missle after missile into the country and did little to achieve our foreign policy goals.
While I am perfectly willing to acknowledge intelligence on the existence of WMD was overstated, up to that point nobody could contradict it since UN weapons inspectors hadn't been in the country in over two years.
I’m not going to put myself in the position of being a GWB apologist but, if we’re going to make an issue about his military service, what about the military record of that media darling BC our last prez? What’s with the double standard?
Also, it’s a rather disingenuous argument to have about the safety of the American people. I don’t think we were particularly unsafe before September 11th, although it is obvious there was a failure in the common sense quotient of the people responsible for our safety (I still can’t believe a bunch of middle eastern men buy one way tickets with cash in a small Maine airport doesn’t arouse any kind of suspicions). I don’t want to live in a police state and if being safe means I have to forego my civil liberties, I’ll take my chances. It’s a lot harder to get those civil liberties back once you’ve given them up.
If you think I’m overreacting, try this little exercise: next time you‘re out and about, make a note of how many security/surveillance cameras you come across in your daily travels. Include all those innocuous lobby cameras, elevator cameras, highway cameras, atm cameras - once you start looking it becomes alarming to see just how often one is “on-camera” nowadays in our so-called unsafe, free society.
Jul 25, 2004
I’m always hearing people talk about their lives...
The most common lament I hear, is something along the lines that a persons’ life is boring, they want more excitement in their life.
Personally, I’ve never found excitement to be a good thing - give me a fairly uneventful life and I’ll be content. I’ve had enough excitement in my life, thank you very much, to last me the rest of my lifetime. I’m not saying I don’t want to enjoy life, I just could do without the really high peaks or deep valleys that having an exciting life seems to encourage.
Interestingly enough, my life has at times resembled the movies.
Awhile back it was:
image courtesy of: www.reelartgallery.com
You see, there always seems to be something around the house that is causing a problem. This comes from years of little or no maintenance performed by the EYOC who doesn’t seem to think things ever need to be fixed or replaced. A few summers back, I noticed there was this really nice smell over by the windows in the dining room. Of course, I thought it was the flowers or something coming into bloom because it was summertime.
Wrong.
The really pleasant, overly sweet, perfumy smell was just a way ants let you know they are in the process of setting up shop in your house. So, over the next few months there was this kind of war between me and the ants as I tried to figure out where they were coming from and to put a stop to the “Ant Invasion” (Adam Ant eat your heart out).
I plugged holes in the wall, did research on the net, put out cayenne pepper on the trails, scrubbed and scrubbed to no avail. I would be sitting at my laptop when they would rather boldly make their way across my work table. After a few unsuccessful months, I finally was able to track down their home base, which in fact turned out to be the relatively new work table I had gotten from Ikea.
In the process of setting it up to work on, I had drilled holes in the bottom of the table to mount a surge protector on. There was an open drill hole and the interior of the table was hollow which was all the invitation needed for the ants to move in. To prove my theory, I put a little bit of insect spray around the hole and was rewarded by the swarm.
Needless to say I removed the tables’ legs, took the tabletop and put it out by the curb. Like a lot of things around here, it never made it to the trash truck as someone came by and seeing the pristine tabletop (with only a few drill holes in the underside) thought it was the junk connoisseurs prize. At least the little beasties found a new home with someone else (a cautionary tale for all you dumpster diving hipsters out there).
After the smaller ants moved out, some time later the bigger boys on the block made a sporadic appearance (those nice large ants) but it appeared a good spraying around the houses perimeter did the trick.
So, my life was that fifties horror classic Them for awhile, as I battled the ants.
Recently, my life has transformed once again to follow the path of another movie:
The other day I noticed a bee in the window in the dining room so, I swatted it.
Saturday morning I had my coffee early and when I came back upstairs, I noticed there were six or seven bees in the dining room window (this reminded me of that scene in “The Birds” on the monkey bars). I got out a trusty can of bug spray and gave each critter a little spritz.
I went outside just to look around the outside of the house and sure enough there seemed to be one spot which had a heightened frenzy of bee activity. If I had a household version of the Department of Homeland Defense this would’ve caused me to put the house on the highest level of alert.
When I got home that night there were about 30 or 40 dead bees on the windowsill, on the floor by the window. I should qualify that, some of them just weren’t totally dead yet and sat there in the bee equivalent of a death throes.
Some selective taping and a quick vacuum later the problem was addressed - so much for excitement in my life - excitement a thing I can certainly do without.
Today was another attack on the bees, it’s war, war I say!
The most common lament I hear, is something along the lines that a persons’ life is boring, they want more excitement in their life.
Personally, I’ve never found excitement to be a good thing - give me a fairly uneventful life and I’ll be content. I’ve had enough excitement in my life, thank you very much, to last me the rest of my lifetime. I’m not saying I don’t want to enjoy life, I just could do without the really high peaks or deep valleys that having an exciting life seems to encourage.
Interestingly enough, my life has at times resembled the movies.
Awhile back it was:
image courtesy of: www.reelartgallery.com
You see, there always seems to be something around the house that is causing a problem. This comes from years of little or no maintenance performed by the EYOC who doesn’t seem to think things ever need to be fixed or replaced. A few summers back, I noticed there was this really nice smell over by the windows in the dining room. Of course, I thought it was the flowers or something coming into bloom because it was summertime.
Wrong.
The really pleasant, overly sweet, perfumy smell was just a way ants let you know they are in the process of setting up shop in your house. So, over the next few months there was this kind of war between me and the ants as I tried to figure out where they were coming from and to put a stop to the “Ant Invasion” (Adam Ant eat your heart out).
I plugged holes in the wall, did research on the net, put out cayenne pepper on the trails, scrubbed and scrubbed to no avail. I would be sitting at my laptop when they would rather boldly make their way across my work table. After a few unsuccessful months, I finally was able to track down their home base, which in fact turned out to be the relatively new work table I had gotten from Ikea.
In the process of setting it up to work on, I had drilled holes in the bottom of the table to mount a surge protector on. There was an open drill hole and the interior of the table was hollow which was all the invitation needed for the ants to move in. To prove my theory, I put a little bit of insect spray around the hole and was rewarded by the swarm.
Needless to say I removed the tables’ legs, took the tabletop and put it out by the curb. Like a lot of things around here, it never made it to the trash truck as someone came by and seeing the pristine tabletop (with only a few drill holes in the underside) thought it was the junk connoisseurs prize. At least the little beasties found a new home with someone else (a cautionary tale for all you dumpster diving hipsters out there).
After the smaller ants moved out, some time later the bigger boys on the block made a sporadic appearance (those nice large ants) but it appeared a good spraying around the houses perimeter did the trick.
So, my life was that fifties horror classic Them for awhile, as I battled the ants.
Recently, my life has transformed once again to follow the path of another movie:
The other day I noticed a bee in the window in the dining room so, I swatted it.
Saturday morning I had my coffee early and when I came back upstairs, I noticed there were six or seven bees in the dining room window (this reminded me of that scene in “The Birds” on the monkey bars). I got out a trusty can of bug spray and gave each critter a little spritz.
I went outside just to look around the outside of the house and sure enough there seemed to be one spot which had a heightened frenzy of bee activity. If I had a household version of the Department of Homeland Defense this would’ve caused me to put the house on the highest level of alert.
When I got home that night there were about 30 or 40 dead bees on the windowsill, on the floor by the window. I should qualify that, some of them just weren’t totally dead yet and sat there in the bee equivalent of a death throes.
Some selective taping and a quick vacuum later the problem was addressed - so much for excitement in my life - excitement a thing I can certainly do without.
Today was another attack on the bees, it’s war, war I say!
Jul 17, 2004
Last week I was walking along a street in Manhattan on the way to the dentist (more on that whole experience another time).
It was a beautiful day (Thursday) in stark contrast to the day before which had been overcast and slightly chilly for a July day. Well, as people in the city are, there were a bunch of people just out in front of their stores, watching the day progress.
I was on a side street not one of the Avenues. As I neared the corner of 2nd Avenue, I could see two of the white capped traffic officers making their way up along the cars parked on the side of the street I was on.
The street I was walking along is one of those Manhattan streets which has alternate side of the street parking in mid block and meters up towards the avenue. So, people were just out there staring at the traffic agents as the agents looked over the cars and figured out who to give tickets to.
It used to be these traffic people wore brown uniforms and I always equated them to the fascists of World War 2, something which was easy to do because of the agents boorish behavior.
I can acknowledge being a traffic agent is a thankless job. Their main goal in life is issuing summonses. Consequently, their dealings with the public rarely border on fun.
It had gotten so bad in NYC a few years back they changed the traffic agents uniforms so they more closely resembled those of police officers and the city also enacted legislation making traffic agents “peace officers” so, the attacks which grew out of adversarial encounters with the public took on a more serious tone as viewed by the courts (I believe it’s a felony now).
As I got closer one of the agents broke off to walk further up the block and his companion set about preparing to write a summons. There was a wagon parked at a meter, the meter had expired and had become a target for the traffic agent. A guy was standing in the doorway of his store, taking it all in idly.
I walked over to the meter, dug through my pockets, found and put a quarter in. I don’t know if I stopped the agent from writing the ticket or not. I did hear his exclamation of astonishment as I walked away but I didn’t hang around. He hadn’t started writing the ticket as far as I could tell and there were witnesses that the meter had money in it. I”m sure he was annoyed.
But, in as plain language as I can put it - f**k him!
I hate those guys, there’s just no other way to put it. A few weeks back I met a friend in the city for lunch, put my money in one of the muni meters, paid for parking until 3 pm and got to my car two minutes after the time had expired to see an agent just finishing writing a nice $65 ticket and placing it on my windshield.
If that quarter saved someone $65 it was well worth it. There’s no way the city can justify giving out tickets like that to people - it’s only another way for them to milk money from people. When you think about it, anyone who is well off and has a nice car garages it, they’re not parking it at a meter. That leaves the rapidly vanishing middle class to bear the burden of expired meters.
I’m not sorry and my most fervent hope is it screwed the agent from making his quota - I just wish more people would dig out a quarter instead of watching these guys write these extortionist tickets.
It was a beautiful day (Thursday) in stark contrast to the day before which had been overcast and slightly chilly for a July day. Well, as people in the city are, there were a bunch of people just out in front of their stores, watching the day progress.
I was on a side street not one of the Avenues. As I neared the corner of 2nd Avenue, I could see two of the white capped traffic officers making their way up along the cars parked on the side of the street I was on.
The street I was walking along is one of those Manhattan streets which has alternate side of the street parking in mid block and meters up towards the avenue. So, people were just out there staring at the traffic agents as the agents looked over the cars and figured out who to give tickets to.
It used to be these traffic people wore brown uniforms and I always equated them to the fascists of World War 2, something which was easy to do because of the agents boorish behavior.
I can acknowledge being a traffic agent is a thankless job. Their main goal in life is issuing summonses. Consequently, their dealings with the public rarely border on fun.
It had gotten so bad in NYC a few years back they changed the traffic agents uniforms so they more closely resembled those of police officers and the city also enacted legislation making traffic agents “peace officers” so, the attacks which grew out of adversarial encounters with the public took on a more serious tone as viewed by the courts (I believe it’s a felony now).
As I got closer one of the agents broke off to walk further up the block and his companion set about preparing to write a summons. There was a wagon parked at a meter, the meter had expired and had become a target for the traffic agent. A guy was standing in the doorway of his store, taking it all in idly.
I walked over to the meter, dug through my pockets, found and put a quarter in. I don’t know if I stopped the agent from writing the ticket or not. I did hear his exclamation of astonishment as I walked away but I didn’t hang around. He hadn’t started writing the ticket as far as I could tell and there were witnesses that the meter had money in it. I”m sure he was annoyed.
But, in as plain language as I can put it - f**k him!
I hate those guys, there’s just no other way to put it. A few weeks back I met a friend in the city for lunch, put my money in one of the muni meters, paid for parking until 3 pm and got to my car two minutes after the time had expired to see an agent just finishing writing a nice $65 ticket and placing it on my windshield.
If that quarter saved someone $65 it was well worth it. There’s no way the city can justify giving out tickets like that to people - it’s only another way for them to milk money from people. When you think about it, anyone who is well off and has a nice car garages it, they’re not parking it at a meter. That leaves the rapidly vanishing middle class to bear the burden of expired meters.
I’m not sorry and my most fervent hope is it screwed the agent from making his quota - I just wish more people would dig out a quarter instead of watching these guys write these extortionist tickets.
Jul 16, 2004
I was home today.
Everyday when I’m home, I have certain habits which have become part of my routine. Usually, between 3 and 5 there are a couple of those court shows, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Judy and The People’s Court. I’ll flip between the channels depending on how entertaining the case may be.
There is some kind of perverted fascination (akin to rubbernecking passing a bad car accident) which compels me to watch these things.
People’s Court tapes in Manhattan and I had great fun attending a taping with a friend a while back - truly one of those great free things there are to do in New York.
After the court show are over, it’s right into the days’ news. New York is unique in that there are four channels running local news shows at 5pm. Most markets don’t have that kind of coverage, so in that way New Yorkers are lucky that they have all these outlets for information.
Still, if someone could explain what the significant news value in Martha Stewart’s sentencing was and her public statements afterward I’d appreciate it.
Truth to tell - if it continues I’ll have to say I’d rather stick with the court shows before 5pm - they don’t purport to be news programs and they’re a helluva lot more entertaining.o
Everyday when I’m home, I have certain habits which have become part of my routine. Usually, between 3 and 5 there are a couple of those court shows, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Judy and The People’s Court. I’ll flip between the channels depending on how entertaining the case may be.
There is some kind of perverted fascination (akin to rubbernecking passing a bad car accident) which compels me to watch these things.
People’s Court tapes in Manhattan and I had great fun attending a taping with a friend a while back - truly one of those great free things there are to do in New York.
After the court show are over, it’s right into the days’ news. New York is unique in that there are four channels running local news shows at 5pm. Most markets don’t have that kind of coverage, so in that way New Yorkers are lucky that they have all these outlets for information.
Still, if someone could explain what the significant news value in Martha Stewart’s sentencing was and her public statements afterward I’d appreciate it.
Truth to tell - if it continues I’ll have to say I’d rather stick with the court shows before 5pm - they don’t purport to be news programs and they’re a helluva lot more entertaining.o
Jul 15, 2004
There are moviegoers who make a point of missing superhero movies, and I can't blame them, although I confess to a weakness for the genre. I liked both of the “Crow” movies, and “Daredevil,” “The Hulk” and “X2,” but not enough to recommend them to friends who don't like or understand comic books. “Spider-Man 2” is in another category: It's a real movie, full-blooded and smart, with qualities even for those who have no idea who Stan Lee is. It's a superhero movie for people who don't go to superhero movies, and for those who do, it's the one they've been yearning for.
I never thought in my lifetime I’d see them be able to capture the excitement and feel of a comic book on the big screen. Certainly, I never imagined they would be able to do it with Spider Man but, I have to admit this is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
Jul 12, 2004
I’ve resisted the urge to talk out of school - it’s been hard but, up to now I’ve done it...
So, I’m a bachelor again. I can’t say I‘m completely happy about it, if it were my choice it wouldn’t be the case but, I didn’t feel like I had much say in the matter.
On one level, I am very fortunate - I got to share my life for seven years with a truly wonderful person. Things weren’t always great, granted, in relationships they rarely are, but I was very, very happy with the person I was with.
Somehow, I was fortunate enough to be graced with this wonderful, intelligent and beautiful creature who came into my world and made it a much better, nicer place. Not only that but, for the first time I felt a connection with the person I was with, I felt like we were a family and when it was good I can honestly say nothing else in my life has ever come as close to the joy I felt being with her.
Well, as many people find these days, somehow we lost our way. There was a subtext to the relationship, we both knew was there but, neither if us had the tools to deal with it. I’d like to say there was a clear way to assign blame to one party or another but, the truth is there really wasn’t (at least from my vantage point - you’d have to ask her to find out if she agreed).
Anyway, it was “the elephant in the room” if you get my drift and it hung over us for awhile - and with an elephant in the room it was hard for there to be movement of any kind. I imagine, a relationship is a bit of an organic thing, it needs to grow and change (hopefully for the better) or it dies. Our relationship stopped growing.
I even think we got to a point where there was a bitter truce if you would and neither of us would give ground anymore. So, we stared across that divide that separated us, not enemies but certainly not friends, just combatants at an uneasy truce. Maybe we both felt there was no more ground to give, no more sacrifice to make and so inevitably, one day we wound up going our separate ways.
I cried, I was angry, the whole range of emotions I went through, for a lot of the time I hoped it was just a period we were going through - a storm if you will and one day we’d get to that place where the waters would be calm, the sun would be shining and we‘d be sailing clear seas again.
But, that’s not the way things go.
I still love the person dearly - there may be times when I descend into bitterness or anger but, I’ve been trying hard not to let it get the better of me and I’ve been trying hard not to dwell on it (or at least the more negative aspects of the situation) knowing it will do me little good.
I still feel like I missed something (I even said as much well after the fact) but, I know she’s happier and I take some solace in that. Yeah, there are times it bothers me but, she was unhappy for a long time and the hardest thing in the world is to see someone you love unhappy and feel powerless to do anything about it.
I wanted only to be a positive force in her life and I think at there came a point where none of my stories were new anymore, none of my ideas fresh, being together was only a reminder of the disappointment and anger she felt towards me. I stayed away for awhile, I didn’t want to but, it was becoming clear it was the only way she would move forward. I miss her but, it‘s what had to happen.
My only hope is maybe one day we’ll be friends and that’s all I’m ever going to say about it here...
...Oh, and not a day goes by I don’t miss her but, at least I have the solace of not knowing what good things lie around the corner waiting for me — I’m a better man for having been with her.
So, I’m a bachelor again. I can’t say I‘m completely happy about it, if it were my choice it wouldn’t be the case but, I didn’t feel like I had much say in the matter.
On one level, I am very fortunate - I got to share my life for seven years with a truly wonderful person. Things weren’t always great, granted, in relationships they rarely are, but I was very, very happy with the person I was with.
Somehow, I was fortunate enough to be graced with this wonderful, intelligent and beautiful creature who came into my world and made it a much better, nicer place. Not only that but, for the first time I felt a connection with the person I was with, I felt like we were a family and when it was good I can honestly say nothing else in my life has ever come as close to the joy I felt being with her.
Well, as many people find these days, somehow we lost our way. There was a subtext to the relationship, we both knew was there but, neither if us had the tools to deal with it. I’d like to say there was a clear way to assign blame to one party or another but, the truth is there really wasn’t (at least from my vantage point - you’d have to ask her to find out if she agreed).
Anyway, it was “the elephant in the room” if you get my drift and it hung over us for awhile - and with an elephant in the room it was hard for there to be movement of any kind. I imagine, a relationship is a bit of an organic thing, it needs to grow and change (hopefully for the better) or it dies. Our relationship stopped growing.
I even think we got to a point where there was a bitter truce if you would and neither of us would give ground anymore. So, we stared across that divide that separated us, not enemies but certainly not friends, just combatants at an uneasy truce. Maybe we both felt there was no more ground to give, no more sacrifice to make and so inevitably, one day we wound up going our separate ways.
I cried, I was angry, the whole range of emotions I went through, for a lot of the time I hoped it was just a period we were going through - a storm if you will and one day we’d get to that place where the waters would be calm, the sun would be shining and we‘d be sailing clear seas again.
But, that’s not the way things go.
I still love the person dearly - there may be times when I descend into bitterness or anger but, I’ve been trying hard not to let it get the better of me and I’ve been trying hard not to dwell on it (or at least the more negative aspects of the situation) knowing it will do me little good.
I still feel like I missed something (I even said as much well after the fact) but, I know she’s happier and I take some solace in that. Yeah, there are times it bothers me but, she was unhappy for a long time and the hardest thing in the world is to see someone you love unhappy and feel powerless to do anything about it.
I wanted only to be a positive force in her life and I think at there came a point where none of my stories were new anymore, none of my ideas fresh, being together was only a reminder of the disappointment and anger she felt towards me. I stayed away for awhile, I didn’t want to but, it was becoming clear it was the only way she would move forward. I miss her but, it‘s what had to happen.
My only hope is maybe one day we’ll be friends and that’s all I’m ever going to say about it here...
...Oh, and not a day goes by I don’t miss her but, at least I have the solace of not knowing what good things lie around the corner waiting for me — I’m a better man for having been with her.
Got this from Les in an email - worth watching if you have the bandwidth (Marcia where ever you are I spelled it right!)
Jul 9, 2004
Last night I had the pleasure of the company of my BlogSensei. Blog Sensei has taken it upon herself to become a somewhat secret operative (of what I cannot say as I’m not sure if she wants it to be common knowledge). Suffice to say, when I found out I came away very, very impressed by her commitment. If more people in this country would follow her lead, our nation would be a better place.
Now if I could just get Dean to run for the city council.
Now if I could just get Dean to run for the city council.
Jul 8, 2004
Today, I was walking in to work - it was unbearably hot as I walked along Park Avenue, a benefit of the beautifully sunny weather we’ve been having.
As I got up to the building where my client is located, there was a young women dressed in jeans and a tight fitting top. In her hands she held a clipboard with a sticker on the back which read “BEAT BUSH!” (exclamation point added for effect). She was stopping people as they walked by trying to catch their attention.
As I approached the door, she turned towards me and pointedly said, “Excuse me sir, do you want to beat bush?”
Are women really not aware of occurs to a man when they have that question directed at them? Needless to say, I responded with the curt nod which indicated I was pressed for time and surpressed a smile and slight laugh as I made my way through the revolving doors of the building.
As I got up to the building where my client is located, there was a young women dressed in jeans and a tight fitting top. In her hands she held a clipboard with a sticker on the back which read “BEAT BUSH!” (exclamation point added for effect). She was stopping people as they walked by trying to catch their attention.
As I approached the door, she turned towards me and pointedly said, “Excuse me sir, do you want to beat bush?”
Are women really not aware of occurs to a man when they have that question directed at them? Needless to say, I responded with the curt nod which indicated I was pressed for time and surpressed a smile and slight laugh as I made my way through the revolving doors of the building.
Jul 7, 2004
Just something I came across in my aimless meanderings:
Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $365.96 / $0.96 / 0%
What happened: her and her friends (including Paris and Nikki Hilton) got so drunk. they were all singing, and spilt their drinks. when i cleaned up, Britney says to me ‘you missed a spot’ what a fucking bitch. i hope she comes back so i can shit in her food... ugly fat-ass bitch.
Courtesy of BitterWaitress.com
Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $365.96 / $0.96 / 0%
What happened: her and her friends (including Paris and Nikki Hilton) got so drunk. they were all singing, and spilt their drinks. when i cleaned up, Britney says to me ‘you missed a spot’ what a fucking bitch. i hope she comes back so i can shit in her food... ugly fat-ass bitch.
Courtesy of BitterWaitress.com
Jul 4, 2004
...and here I thought it would be an article about all those fair weather Yankee fans I see when they’re on a winning streak.
Jul 3, 2004
At age 16, Kournikova reached the semifinals of the 1997 Wimbledon tournament...
She’s sexy and she’s seventeen!
I was never a big Anna Kournikova fan. I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about (I just didn’t think she was as attractive as everyone made her out to be). I’ve got a feeling though Maria Sharapova will make everyone forget about Anna - she’s just beautiful and she’s a winner too (which Anna Kournikova never seemed to be).
I was never a big Anna Kournikova fan. I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about (I just didn’t think she was as attractive as everyone made her out to be). I’ve got a feeling though Maria Sharapova will make everyone forget about Anna - she’s just beautiful and she’s a winner too (which Anna Kournikova never seemed to be).
Utah based artist Tom Forsythe said on Tuesday he was “amazed and truly ecstatic” at the judge's ruling that Mattel should reimburse the $1.8 million he had spent defending his work against a copyright lawsuit launched in 1999.
Forsythe incurred Mattel’s wrath with his “Food Chain Barbie” series of 78 photographs featuring the popular plastic doll in kitchen appliances ranging from a martini glass to a fondue pot. Other photos showed the doll stuffed into a tortilla, a fondue pot and a blender.
Jun 30, 2004
Ever wanted that little house in the country?
My cousin and her husband are in the process of building (and selling) a new house up in the Catskills (up by Monticello).
Doing the whole good cousin thing I’m posting the link up here. The area is one of those areas which will probably be experiencing a boom within short order as gambling is being moved into the area (which will make it a more popular vacation destination). Either way for those of you looking it’s worth considering.
News about the whole gambling thing (which happened today as fate would have it, can be found through this link.
Jun 29, 2004
So, I did what was probably a very stupid thing today (like this is something new in my life)...
I was reading one of these Iraqi blogs, I’m not quite sure if it was Raed of Dear Raed fame or not but the blog is Raed in the Middle.
Anyway, the guy was talking about the whole transfer of power and everything else... this one is a CIA puppet, Bush is this, and so on and so on, you get the drift.
Now, any reasonable person has to figure living in Iraq right now has got to have a big suck factor involved (to put it mildly) but, can someone tell me please what the hell the answer is supposed to be!?!
There was a poll on the local news channel (the real local one on cable with the normal looking - ugly anchor people) where they asked when American troops should be withdrawn from Iraq and a majority (something like 48%) said immediately.
In the meantime, this guy on the blog was ranting and raving about the situation.
They’re lopping people’s heads off and televising it and you get this sense that people in our country are just besides themselves over this - the horror of it (and it‘s not like I’m denying it is an ugly, ugly thing).
In the meantime though (and as I said before), we’ve spent the better part of the last ten years flying over this damn country, dropping bombs, launching cruise missiles and enforcing these sanctions and until they invaded about a year ago the only thing it was doing was making life miserable for the people living in Iraq.
So, now there are troops on the ground, they’ve been there a year and there’s these bombings going on and kidnapping and all kinds of crappy things and people kind of seem to have the attitude that this is all to much and we should just walk away.
And it made me think of New York city in the late seventies and throughout the eighties when there was a lot more crime and graffiti everywhere and people said you just couldn’t do anything about it and so a lot of businesses and people moved away from the city.
Someone came along and decided it wasn’t the way things should be and it took a couple of years but the city is a lot better now than it was.
I also was thinking about how back in the 30’s there were groups of nations that really didn’t think it was worth fighting over anything (because WW1 had been so horrible) and so their foreign policy was one of appeasement which meant that axis countries were allowed to roll in and take over other nations (Poland, the Sudetenland, Ethiopia, Manchuria).
The thing I’m trying to get at is appeasement never ever seems to work that well.
But, maybe I’m wrong so, crack the history books and see if you can prove me wrong.
Or maybe you’ll find that there are some battles you can’t walk away from and it might just be that we’re in the middle of one.
Anyway, I wrote the guy (which means I will probably wind up on some Patriot Act FBI list somewhere) and I just asked him if he thought us not being there (like starting tomorrow) would make things that much better or if things had been so much better when Saddam was running the show. I know it sounds simplistic and a bit naive but I really do hope 10 years from now things are better in that country - one thing is what we were doing from 91 through 2003 sure didn’t do much good.
I was reading one of these Iraqi blogs, I’m not quite sure if it was Raed of Dear Raed fame or not but the blog is Raed in the Middle.
Anyway, the guy was talking about the whole transfer of power and everything else... this one is a CIA puppet, Bush is this, and so on and so on, you get the drift.
Now, any reasonable person has to figure living in Iraq right now has got to have a big suck factor involved (to put it mildly) but, can someone tell me please what the hell the answer is supposed to be!?!
There was a poll on the local news channel (the real local one on cable with the normal looking - ugly anchor people) where they asked when American troops should be withdrawn from Iraq and a majority (something like 48%) said immediately.
In the meantime, this guy on the blog was ranting and raving about the situation.
They’re lopping people’s heads off and televising it and you get this sense that people in our country are just besides themselves over this - the horror of it (and it‘s not like I’m denying it is an ugly, ugly thing).
In the meantime though (and as I said before), we’ve spent the better part of the last ten years flying over this damn country, dropping bombs, launching cruise missiles and enforcing these sanctions and until they invaded about a year ago the only thing it was doing was making life miserable for the people living in Iraq.
So, now there are troops on the ground, they’ve been there a year and there’s these bombings going on and kidnapping and all kinds of crappy things and people kind of seem to have the attitude that this is all to much and we should just walk away.
And it made me think of New York city in the late seventies and throughout the eighties when there was a lot more crime and graffiti everywhere and people said you just couldn’t do anything about it and so a lot of businesses and people moved away from the city.
Someone came along and decided it wasn’t the way things should be and it took a couple of years but the city is a lot better now than it was.
I also was thinking about how back in the 30’s there were groups of nations that really didn’t think it was worth fighting over anything (because WW1 had been so horrible) and so their foreign policy was one of appeasement which meant that axis countries were allowed to roll in and take over other nations (Poland, the Sudetenland, Ethiopia, Manchuria).
The thing I’m trying to get at is appeasement never ever seems to work that well.
But, maybe I’m wrong so, crack the history books and see if you can prove me wrong.
Or maybe you’ll find that there are some battles you can’t walk away from and it might just be that we’re in the middle of one.
Anyway, I wrote the guy (which means I will probably wind up on some Patriot Act FBI list somewhere) and I just asked him if he thought us not being there (like starting tomorrow) would make things that much better or if things had been so much better when Saddam was running the show. I know it sounds simplistic and a bit naive but I really do hope 10 years from now things are better in that country - one thing is what we were doing from 91 through 2003 sure didn’t do much good.
Jun 27, 2004
Last week, I caught Bill Clinton on The Charlie Rose show (which if you click on the link you can listen to as well - not through the Charlie Rose website though and not for those of tiny bandwidth).
Bill’s out there these days plugging his new book which seems to be doing quite well.
Anyway, I watched and there is no denying Clinton is a compelling speaker. He’s charming and there is just no escaping the fact. I think it’s a large part of his allure as well, he evokes extreme passion in people they either love him or hate him.
I have a tendency to be more pragmatic though, as the years passed during Clinton’s term in office, I liked him less and less.
There were things that happened during his watch I liked - mainly the reduction of the national debt (which I think could be attributed more to Congress at that time) but, simultaneously there was a gap between what he said and what he did.
The disconnect between Clinton the statesman and his actions in regard to issues such as personal privacy of citizens, use of the military and fixing health care was so very wide.
So, getting back to watching Bill. Charlie Rose and he were talking about the book and Clinton’s term in office and invariably Monica Lewinsky’s name comes up.
Clinton apologizes to his wife and daughter and talks about going to therapy to save his marriage but, there was one really gaping (and noticeable) omission. Of course, it was Lewinsky herself. I’m not a big fan of hers and she doesn’t catch my fancy but, he was with her!
It isn’t like she forced her way into the oval office and attacked the presidential member (and there’s got to be a joke about alert secret service agents and wrestling in there somewhere) but, he just kind of glossed over the fact and commented on how he “did it” mainly just because he could - which probably said a lot more about him than any public statement he’s made to date.
Anyway, I noticed the omission and consequently I can’t say I was surprised when a day or two later the following appeared:
“He says he was proud of the way that he defended the presidency - at my expense. In the process, he destroyed me,” she said. “I was a young girl and to hear him saying some of the things he was saying today - it's a shame.”
And also:
“I had wanted him to say that I was a nice, decent person and that he was sorry this had happened because I - I tried to do as much as I could to protect him,” Lewinsky said. “I didn't allow him to be put on tape that night.”
So, when it gets right down to it, as compelling a speaker as he is, as charming as he can be, I leave you to make your own determinations about his conduct - I’ve drawn my own conclusions and the best I can say is that I believe history will look back at him with a jaundiced eye.
Bill’s out there these days plugging his new book which seems to be doing quite well.
Anyway, I watched and there is no denying Clinton is a compelling speaker. He’s charming and there is just no escaping the fact. I think it’s a large part of his allure as well, he evokes extreme passion in people they either love him or hate him.
I have a tendency to be more pragmatic though, as the years passed during Clinton’s term in office, I liked him less and less.
There were things that happened during his watch I liked - mainly the reduction of the national debt (which I think could be attributed more to Congress at that time) but, simultaneously there was a gap between what he said and what he did.
The disconnect between Clinton the statesman and his actions in regard to issues such as personal privacy of citizens, use of the military and fixing health care was so very wide.
So, getting back to watching Bill. Charlie Rose and he were talking about the book and Clinton’s term in office and invariably Monica Lewinsky’s name comes up.
Clinton apologizes to his wife and daughter and talks about going to therapy to save his marriage but, there was one really gaping (and noticeable) omission. Of course, it was Lewinsky herself. I’m not a big fan of hers and she doesn’t catch my fancy but, he was with her!
It isn’t like she forced her way into the oval office and attacked the presidential member (and there’s got to be a joke about alert secret service agents and wrestling in there somewhere) but, he just kind of glossed over the fact and commented on how he “did it” mainly just because he could - which probably said a lot more about him than any public statement he’s made to date.
Anyway, I noticed the omission and consequently I can’t say I was surprised when a day or two later the following appeared:
“He says he was proud of the way that he defended the presidency - at my expense. In the process, he destroyed me,” she said. “I was a young girl and to hear him saying some of the things he was saying today - it's a shame.”
And also:
“I had wanted him to say that I was a nice, decent person and that he was sorry this had happened because I - I tried to do as much as I could to protect him,” Lewinsky said. “I didn't allow him to be put on tape that night.”
So, when it gets right down to it, as compelling a speaker as he is, as charming as he can be, I leave you to make your own determinations about his conduct - I’ve drawn my own conclusions and the best I can say is that I believe history will look back at him with a jaundiced eye.
Jun 26, 2004
I guess resistance really isn’t that futile after all...
Illinois Repub lican senatorial candidate Jack Ryan, his candidacy in turmoil over sex club allegations, decided to quit his quest for Congress on Friday. “I am today withdrawing from the race,?? he said in a statement prepared by his campaign.
No, it’s not that Jack Ryan, the one from the Tom Clancy novels which has been protrayed by Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin.
Jeri Ryan charged during a custody hearing that Jack Ryan took her on surpris e trips to New Orleans, New York and Paris in 1998, a nd that he insisted she go to sex clubs with him on each trip. She said that after going out to dinner with Ryan in New York, he demanded that she go to a club with him.
“It was a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling,?? she said.
She said Ryan asked her to perform a sexual act while others watched, and she refused. She said they left and Ryan apologized to her and said it was out of his system.
But then, she said, he took her to Paris and again took her to a sex clu b. She said she cried and became physically ill at the club, and her husband got angry with her. She said she could never get over that incident.
It’s a story that will bounce around in the minds of Star Trek nerds for years to come folks.
Jun 25, 2004
Jun 24, 2004
Fahrenheit 9-11 opened the other day (notice I didn’t link to it - on purpose).
While advertised as a documentary, I’ve seen it called in many quarters more of an oped-entary since it is less based in fact and more the opinion of it’s autuer.
I liked Bowling for Columbine and also really liked Roger and Me but, Michael Moore is a man of double standards, the ones he applies to himself and another set for himself (truthfully, I wouldn’t mind seeing someone point their lens Moore’s way and see how he fares under the scrutiny).
Which brings me to my true topic: Americans believe we went to war in Iraq in spring of 2003.
Unfortunately, the truth is we’ve been at war for over ten years. Ever since the first Gulf War, Americans have been involved in one way or another in military action in Iraq.
Americans have been flying patrols, launching cruise missiles and basically making the people of Iraq pay for our mistakes since the first Gulf War.
During his first term, Clinton had been challenged by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on a number of occasions. In June 1993, following an abortive Iraqi attempt to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait, the U.S. bombed an intelligence center in Baghdad. In October 1994, Saddam Hussein moved his army toward Kuwait and the U.S. responded by airlifting military forces to Kuwait and warning Iraq not to invade, a threat that achieved its purpose. The U.S. was less successful in August 1996, however, when Iraqi troops, in cooperation with the KDP (the Masud Barzani faction of the Kurdish opposition), attacked the rival PUK faction of Jallal Talabani which had been aided by Iran, and drove it from Irbil, thus severely damaging U.S. efforts to force a united opposition against the Iraqi regime. The U.S. responded by expanding its “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq to the 33rd parallel, and by bombarding Iraqi air defense installations. France, which had hitherto cooperated with the U.S. in maintaining the “no-fly” zone, did not cooperate in the newly extended part of the zone. Furthermore, the Arab world viewed the limited U.S. cruise missile attacks as worse than useless, stirring up Arab popular anger while not threatening the bases of Saddam Hussein’s power.
How can this be? Where was everyone when all this was going on? Were we asleep? I seem to remember these events, does anyone else?
The “No-Fly Zone War” pitted the air and naval forces of the United States and the United Kingdom (also referred to as “Great Britain”), against the air defenses of Iraq. This conflict proved to be largely ignored by the media and the public in both the U.S. and in the U.K., though it impacted the military and the citizens of Iraq on an almost weekly basis, especially since the intense “Desert Fox” bombing campaign of 1998.
Mmmmmm... I’m trying to remember who our president was?
Let me see... mmmmmm.
You see, the point I’m trying to make is for all the demonstrations in this country prior to the actual invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, no one seemed to want to cotton to what our country had been doing for the last ten years. We probably should have done more to support the Shia and Kurdish uprising after the first Gulf War but, GW’s father (and the pundits at the time) were too afraid of the destabilizing effect it would have had on the region.
Now, I’ve been making my way though the Woodword book and I don’t like the administration’s linkage (or lack thereof) to Al Qeada as a justification for the invasion but, I do think in some ways it might not have been such a bad thing to do what we did.
Don’t necessarily take my word for it though, I came across this blog (via Salam Pax’s blog) by an Iraqi doctor which speaks far more eloquently to the situation than I can.
...These are the same people that continue to pour in from the borders of our ‘friendly neighbours’ to wage their 7th century Jihad on Iraqi soil, they are the same people that pack vehicles with tons of explosives to relieve thousands of Iraqis of their existence, they are -I believe- the same people who continue to assassinate hundreds of Iraqi professionals and ‘collaborators,’ they are the same people that run the Taliban style Emirate of Fallujah, they are the same people who the Arab media insists are heroic ‘resistance fighters.’ Yet all we hear after such grisly scenes is... (croak)... (croak)... a maddening silence, and then a few obligatory half hearted ‘This is not the real Islam, you know,’ ‘Noooo, it’s really a religion of peace, you don’t understand.’ However, I don’t think people are buying these lines any more.
What the media fails to realise, is that the logic of these groups can actually be turned against them. They claim they are here to drive the foreigners who have been killing Iraqis out of Iraq. Ironically, those Mujahideen are also foreigners who have been slaughtering thousands of Iraqis over the last year. I’m not sure we are going to see any of them beheaded on tv though.
While advertised as a documentary, I’ve seen it called in many quarters more of an oped-entary since it is less based in fact and more the opinion of it’s autuer.
I liked Bowling for Columbine and also really liked Roger and Me but, Michael Moore is a man of double standards, the ones he applies to himself and another set for himself (truthfully, I wouldn’t mind seeing someone point their lens Moore’s way and see how he fares under the scrutiny).
Which brings me to my true topic: Americans believe we went to war in Iraq in spring of 2003.
Unfortunately, the truth is we’ve been at war for over ten years. Ever since the first Gulf War, Americans have been involved in one way or another in military action in Iraq.
Americans have been flying patrols, launching cruise missiles and basically making the people of Iraq pay for our mistakes since the first Gulf War.
During his first term, Clinton had been challenged by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on a number of occasions. In June 1993, following an abortive Iraqi attempt to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait, the U.S. bombed an intelligence center in Baghdad. In October 1994, Saddam Hussein moved his army toward Kuwait and the U.S. responded by airlifting military forces to Kuwait and warning Iraq not to invade, a threat that achieved its purpose. The U.S. was less successful in August 1996, however, when Iraqi troops, in cooperation with the KDP (the Masud Barzani faction of the Kurdish opposition), attacked the rival PUK faction of Jallal Talabani which had been aided by Iran, and drove it from Irbil, thus severely damaging U.S. efforts to force a united opposition against the Iraqi regime. The U.S. responded by expanding its “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq to the 33rd parallel, and by bombarding Iraqi air defense installations. France, which had hitherto cooperated with the U.S. in maintaining the “no-fly” zone, did not cooperate in the newly extended part of the zone. Furthermore, the Arab world viewed the limited U.S. cruise missile attacks as worse than useless, stirring up Arab popular anger while not threatening the bases of Saddam Hussein’s power.
How can this be? Where was everyone when all this was going on? Were we asleep? I seem to remember these events, does anyone else?
The “No-Fly Zone War” pitted the air and naval forces of the United States and the United Kingdom (also referred to as “Great Britain”), against the air defenses of Iraq. This conflict proved to be largely ignored by the media and the public in both the U.S. and in the U.K., though it impacted the military and the citizens of Iraq on an almost weekly basis, especially since the intense “Desert Fox” bombing campaign of 1998.
Mmmmmm... I’m trying to remember who our president was?
Let me see... mmmmmm.
You see, the point I’m trying to make is for all the demonstrations in this country prior to the actual invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, no one seemed to want to cotton to what our country had been doing for the last ten years. We probably should have done more to support the Shia and Kurdish uprising after the first Gulf War but, GW’s father (and the pundits at the time) were too afraid of the destabilizing effect it would have had on the region.
Now, I’ve been making my way though the Woodword book and I don’t like the administration’s linkage (or lack thereof) to Al Qeada as a justification for the invasion but, I do think in some ways it might not have been such a bad thing to do what we did.
Don’t necessarily take my word for it though, I came across this blog (via Salam Pax’s blog) by an Iraqi doctor which speaks far more eloquently to the situation than I can.
...These are the same people that continue to pour in from the borders of our ‘friendly neighbours’ to wage their 7th century Jihad on Iraqi soil, they are the same people that pack vehicles with tons of explosives to relieve thousands of Iraqis of their existence, they are -I believe- the same people who continue to assassinate hundreds of Iraqi professionals and ‘collaborators,’ they are the same people that run the Taliban style Emirate of Fallujah, they are the same people who the Arab media insists are heroic ‘resistance fighters.’ Yet all we hear after such grisly scenes is... (croak)... (croak)... a maddening silence, and then a few obligatory half hearted ‘This is not the real Islam, you know,’ ‘Noooo, it’s really a religion of peace, you don’t understand.’ However, I don’t think people are buying these lines any more.
What the media fails to realise, is that the logic of these groups can actually be turned against them. They claim they are here to drive the foreigners who have been killing Iraqis out of Iraq. Ironically, those Mujahideen are also foreigners who have been slaughtering thousands of Iraqis over the last year. I’m not sure we are going to see any of them beheaded on tv though.
Jun 23, 2004
Jun 22, 2004
So, I’m one of many undecided voters for the upcoming presidential election...
I can boast (thankfully) I don’t suffer from the ignominy of having voted for our current chief executive but simultaneously, I don’t buy into the vitriolic statements of many of his opponents:
Too often, I find the people screaming the loudest at GW’s shortcomings are the very same people who turned a blind eye to the indiscretions and failures of our previous president (and many they were indeed).
I’d like to make a decision based more on arguments made in a calm, well-reasoned fashion. One of the things I think the opposition could take our current president to task on is the hypocrisy of the following:
Dear Vince:
While the president of the United States is never completely on vacation, most commanders-in-chief manage to enjoy a respite from the daily grind during their stay the White House. George W. Bush seems to have taken this to the extreme early in his tenure as president. A humorous, fake resume for Bush suggests that he set the record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history — a bit of an exaggeration, but still cause for some teasing.
As opposed to:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says about 20,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq three months longer than had been expected. The Pentagon says the soldiers — a quarter of whom serve in National Guard and military reserve units — are needed to cope with renewed fighting in Iraq. The troops had been told they would return home this month, part of a Pentagon promise that Iraq duty would be for 12 months only. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
Seems to me if a president is going to send troops into harms’ way and then extend their time of service in a war zone, the least he could do is forego his own vacation while they’re over there. Show some kind of acknowledgment and reciprocity for their (the troops) sacrifice.
I can boast (thankfully) I don’t suffer from the ignominy of having voted for our current chief executive but simultaneously, I don’t buy into the vitriolic statements of many of his opponents:
Too often, I find the people screaming the loudest at GW’s shortcomings are the very same people who turned a blind eye to the indiscretions and failures of our previous president (and many they were indeed).
I’d like to make a decision based more on arguments made in a calm, well-reasoned fashion. One of the things I think the opposition could take our current president to task on is the hypocrisy of the following:
Dear Vince:
While the president of the United States is never completely on vacation, most commanders-in-chief manage to enjoy a respite from the daily grind during their stay the White House. George W. Bush seems to have taken this to the extreme early in his tenure as president. A humorous, fake resume for Bush suggests that he set the record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history — a bit of an exaggeration, but still cause for some teasing.
As opposed to:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says about 20,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq three months longer than had been expected. The Pentagon says the soldiers — a quarter of whom serve in National Guard and military reserve units — are needed to cope with renewed fighting in Iraq. The troops had been told they would return home this month, part of a Pentagon promise that Iraq duty would be for 12 months only. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
Seems to me if a president is going to send troops into harms’ way and then extend their time of service in a war zone, the least he could do is forego his own vacation while they’re over there. Show some kind of acknowledgment and reciprocity for their (the troops) sacrifice.
Jun 20, 2004
File under chickens coming home to roost.
The dozen militants who were arrested elsewhere during the sweeps in Riyadh included Rakan Saikhan, one of the Saudi government’s 26 most wanted terrorist suspects and an alleged conspirator in the attack on the Cole, a Saudi security source said. The Interior Ministry said police also confiscated large caches of weapons, including three rocket grenade launchers, computers and $30,000 in cash.
“Over the course of the last year, Saudi Arabia has taken a number of really important steps,” Snow said. “I am convinced they’re deeply committed and sincere about this effort.”
He said the Saudis are cooperating with U.S. experts “to make sure Saudi Arabia is not a source of terrorist money, that Saudi Arabia takes all the steps they can to close off those flows.”
Snow’s comments appeared to be somewhat at odds with those of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who praised Saudi Arabia for cracking down on Muslim militants but said the kingdom can do more to stop the flow of charitable money to terror groups.
“I do think that even greater pressure can be put on Saudi and Saudi officials to go after the financing mechanisms, the support of charities both there and around the world that may be funding some terrorist activity,” Frist, R-Tenn., said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Excuse me if I fail to shed tears or leap in elation over this sudden change of heart on the part of the Saudis.
The Saudis have been good over the last decade at playing both sides against the middle - presenting a face of moderation to the west and at the same time funding Wahabbism, turning a blind eye to the fundamentalist movement within their own borders and vilifying the west to their own people.
Our own hands are not free of blood when it comes to the formation of groups like Al-Qeada (referred to during the Reagan administration as the heroic freedom fighters in Afghanistan) but, before we wring our hands over the abuses of prisoners in an Iraqi prison let’s take a look at the governments and societies in the region who are only to happy to take money for oil simultaneously blaming the people giving them money for the problems in their own societies they fail to address. Also of note is the due process exercised on the part of the Saudi authorities (no messy trials here). Wonder if that will get up the moral indignation of the Arab world on the next broadcast of Al Jazerra?
Saudi Arabia told al Qaeda militants on Sunday it would not allow them to destabilize the kingdom and warned they would share the fate of their slain leader unless they repented.
Undeterred by the death of Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, the leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, the group vowed renewed “holy war” in the country.
The dozen militants who were arrested elsewhere during the sweeps in Riyadh included Rakan Saikhan, one of the Saudi government’s 26 most wanted terrorist suspects and an alleged conspirator in the attack on the Cole, a Saudi security source said. The Interior Ministry said police also confiscated large caches of weapons, including three rocket grenade launchers, computers and $30,000 in cash.
“Over the course of the last year, Saudi Arabia has taken a number of really important steps,” Snow said. “I am convinced they’re deeply committed and sincere about this effort.”
He said the Saudis are cooperating with U.S. experts “to make sure Saudi Arabia is not a source of terrorist money, that Saudi Arabia takes all the steps they can to close off those flows.”
Snow’s comments appeared to be somewhat at odds with those of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who praised Saudi Arabia for cracking down on Muslim militants but said the kingdom can do more to stop the flow of charitable money to terror groups.
“I do think that even greater pressure can be put on Saudi and Saudi officials to go after the financing mechanisms, the support of charities both there and around the world that may be funding some terrorist activity,” Frist, R-Tenn., said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Excuse me if I fail to shed tears or leap in elation over this sudden change of heart on the part of the Saudis.
The Saudis have been good over the last decade at playing both sides against the middle - presenting a face of moderation to the west and at the same time funding Wahabbism, turning a blind eye to the fundamentalist movement within their own borders and vilifying the west to their own people.
Our own hands are not free of blood when it comes to the formation of groups like Al-Qeada (referred to during the Reagan administration as the heroic freedom fighters in Afghanistan) but, before we wring our hands over the abuses of prisoners in an Iraqi prison let’s take a look at the governments and societies in the region who are only to happy to take money for oil simultaneously blaming the people giving them money for the problems in their own societies they fail to address. Also of note is the due process exercised on the part of the Saudi authorities (no messy trials here). Wonder if that will get up the moral indignation of the Arab world on the next broadcast of Al Jazerra?
Saudi Arabia told al Qaeda militants on Sunday it would not allow them to destabilize the kingdom and warned they would share the fate of their slain leader unless they repented.
Undeterred by the death of Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, the leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, the group vowed renewed “holy war” in the country.
Jun 19, 2004
So there’s this strange dichotomy going on:
On the one hand, I do the whole blog thing because it’s something to get the ’ole muscles exercised in the hopes one day, I‘ll be able to write something a little meatier (the blog being the training - laps if you will - before the marathon - a book if possible).
It’s not something so much produced for an audience, as much as a means to an end.
There’s also the guilty catholic aspect which views any ostentatious or prideful display as vulgar and shameful (man, that whole Catholic thing can take a lot of the fun out of life, I tell you).
Yet, I find myself surprised when I do hear someone actually reads this thing!
Surprised and pleased both for I can’t possibly imagine anything I produce being entertaining or interesting. Too many years of being beaten into the ground growing up I imagine - I know other people have gone through it but it’s one of those learned behaviors it takes years of therapy (and many dollars to break) and I’m a cheapskate so I’ll just have to suffer through it.
Anyway, I think I may have an audience of about a half dozen or so and to the select few I thank you for your kind indulgence. And of course, I do get a charge finding out people do read.
On the one hand, I do the whole blog thing because it’s something to get the ’ole muscles exercised in the hopes one day, I‘ll be able to write something a little meatier (the blog being the training - laps if you will - before the marathon - a book if possible).
It’s not something so much produced for an audience, as much as a means to an end.
There’s also the guilty catholic aspect which views any ostentatious or prideful display as vulgar and shameful (man, that whole Catholic thing can take a lot of the fun out of life, I tell you).
Yet, I find myself surprised when I do hear someone actually reads this thing!
Surprised and pleased both for I can’t possibly imagine anything I produce being entertaining or interesting. Too many years of being beaten into the ground growing up I imagine - I know other people have gone through it but it’s one of those learned behaviors it takes years of therapy (and many dollars to break) and I’m a cheapskate so I’ll just have to suffer through it.
Anyway, I think I may have an audience of about a half dozen or so and to the select few I thank you for your kind indulgence. And of course, I do get a charge finding out people do read.
Jun 18, 2004
I usually have the TV on while I’m working. It just provides background clutter to offset the ringing in the ears. When commercials come on I normally zone out on them not paying them any heed.
Men who experience an erection for more than four hours should seek immediate medical attention.
Yet, when I hear a line like the one above, I can’t help but think about all the rather humorous implications such a statement elicits.
It’s shouldn’t be surprising in a society where boob jobs are given as graduation gifts, men want equal time for their own drugs.
I just can’t help but think though if something like the statement above happened you’d be able to break cinder blocks or something.
(If you click on the link and check out the website, dig the smiling happy couple...)
Men who experience an erection for more than four hours should seek immediate medical attention.
Yet, when I hear a line like the one above, I can’t help but think about all the rather humorous implications such a statement elicits.
It’s shouldn’t be surprising in a society where boob jobs are given as graduation gifts, men want equal time for their own drugs.
I just can’t help but think though if something like the statement above happened you’d be able to break cinder blocks or something.
(If you click on the link and check out the website, dig the smiling happy couple...)
Jun 16, 2004
Courtesy of the Lying in the Gutters column on Comic Book Resources dotcom
Jun 11, 2004
Just another quick note while I have the presence of mind:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.
Reagan was a President, not an emperor (even though the media would have you think otherwise with the wall to wall coverage of his passing). When his death was announced late Saturday afternoon, the commentators pointedly remarked on two events during his term in office.
First, was the assassination attempt on the President’s life by John Hinckly.
Second, was his handling of the air traffic controllers strike by firing most of the air traffic controllers.
One gave us the Brady Bill, an attempt by the federal government to put the genie back in the bottle where handguns were concerned and the other put back the cause of labor in this country to a point where it had been at the turn of the century and managed to erase most of the gains made by the organized labor movement.
So, there was good and bad. There were a lot of scandals during the Reagan years (which people are forgetting) but, it is true Reagan was a force that changed the world.
In the end, he was just a man. Flawed and as human as any of us.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.
Reagan was a President, not an emperor (even though the media would have you think otherwise with the wall to wall coverage of his passing). When his death was announced late Saturday afternoon, the commentators pointedly remarked on two events during his term in office.
First, was the assassination attempt on the President’s life by John Hinckly.
Second, was his handling of the air traffic controllers strike by firing most of the air traffic controllers.
One gave us the Brady Bill, an attempt by the federal government to put the genie back in the bottle where handguns were concerned and the other put back the cause of labor in this country to a point where it had been at the turn of the century and managed to erase most of the gains made by the organized labor movement.
So, there was good and bad. There were a lot of scandals during the Reagan years (which people are forgetting) but, it is true Reagan was a force that changed the world.
In the end, he was just a man. Flawed and as human as any of us.
No news is good news.
I’ve been offline for four days. Sunday afternoon I broke down the old machine and shortly afterward found I couldn’t get the laptop to log on for some reason.
The upshot was I was offline from Sunday afternoon through this past afternoon.
Truth be told, it was probably one of the best things I could do. This week was eventful in what got done. I never get as much done as I would like but, a lot more got done without me wasting hours surfing aimlessly.
I think if I can cut this and TV viewing life will be much, much better - just another move forward into a productive phase (I hope).
So, if you send an email and don’t get an immediate response, don’t be upset or shocked.
Also, when I finally did log on again there were 64 emails. Out of the 64, 37 were spam or just a shade under 58%. Obviously, I have to do something about that.
I’ve been offline for four days. Sunday afternoon I broke down the old machine and shortly afterward found I couldn’t get the laptop to log on for some reason.
The upshot was I was offline from Sunday afternoon through this past afternoon.
Truth be told, it was probably one of the best things I could do. This week was eventful in what got done. I never get as much done as I would like but, a lot more got done without me wasting hours surfing aimlessly.
I think if I can cut this and TV viewing life will be much, much better - just another move forward into a productive phase (I hope).
So, if you send an email and don’t get an immediate response, don’t be upset or shocked.
Also, when I finally did log on again there were 64 emails. Out of the 64, 37 were spam or just a shade under 58%. Obviously, I have to do something about that.
Jun 3, 2004
File this under one of those things most people don't know about:
Pepsi Picnic Area
Every Wednesday home game, the first 1,000 fans to arrive at Shea with an empty Pepsi can or bottle will be admitted to the Pepsi Picnic Area for free.
So, on those nice summer evenings when you have a day off and are looking for something cheap to do you can actually get in to see the Mets for free if you get out there early enough (or close enough to free if you bring along a can of Pepsi).
Pepsi Picnic Area
Every Wednesday home game, the first 1,000 fans to arrive at Shea with an empty Pepsi can or bottle will be admitted to the Pepsi Picnic Area for free.
So, on those nice summer evenings when you have a day off and are looking for something cheap to do you can actually get in to see the Mets for free if you get out there early enough (or close enough to free if you bring along a can of Pepsi).
Jun 2, 2004
In the parallel blog universe there but for the grace of an underscore go I:
Where you will go if you type http://writingwrong.blogspot.com forgetting the underscore in http://writing_wrong.blogspot.com/
Where you will go if you type http://writingwrong.blogspot.com forgetting the underscore in http://writing_wrong.blogspot.com/
I haven’t posted any overtly political snippets lately (at least not in my mind although undoubtedly someone will point out something to me).
Anyway, blog sensei had posted how her preference would be to vote on issues instead of voting on personalities as we now do: I wish we had a political system that let us vote on the issues, not on one person who is supposed to embody everything we believe in, from our taste in music to our position on alternative energy or universal health care.
The more I thought about it, the more I found myself in agreement.
Then, I was thinking about the upcoming political conventions, are these things really necessary anymore? Aren’t they just an excuse to spend money which could be put to much better use for all of this country’s citizens?
Political nominating conventions had more relevance in a day and age where there were only a few television channels and people traveled mostly by train.
Today though, we have four or five cable news channels, C-Span 1 and 2, a couple of public TV channels and the old standby broadcast news outlets. This plus newspapers, national news magazine, the internet and of course a slew of radio stations.
The primary process has undergone a radical change over the last decade, by the time the convention rolls around the candidates for the two major parties have been decided? Is there some surprise in who is going to be nominated at this point - I think not. So, why have these big conventions? I mean at one time their purpose was to get a party’s message out and at this point in time, if you’re a person who is going to make the investment of time and watch the conventions, chances are more than likely you’re pretty well-informed to begin with and have been following the campaign for the last 12 months.
Anyway, blog sensei had posted how her preference would be to vote on issues instead of voting on personalities as we now do: I wish we had a political system that let us vote on the issues, not on one person who is supposed to embody everything we believe in, from our taste in music to our position on alternative energy or universal health care.
The more I thought about it, the more I found myself in agreement.
Then, I was thinking about the upcoming political conventions, are these things really necessary anymore? Aren’t they just an excuse to spend money which could be put to much better use for all of this country’s citizens?
Political nominating conventions had more relevance in a day and age where there were only a few television channels and people traveled mostly by train.
Today though, we have four or five cable news channels, C-Span 1 and 2, a couple of public TV channels and the old standby broadcast news outlets. This plus newspapers, national news magazine, the internet and of course a slew of radio stations.
The primary process has undergone a radical change over the last decade, by the time the convention rolls around the candidates for the two major parties have been decided? Is there some surprise in who is going to be nominated at this point - I think not. So, why have these big conventions? I mean at one time their purpose was to get a party’s message out and at this point in time, if you’re a person who is going to make the investment of time and watch the conventions, chances are more than likely you’re pretty well-informed to begin with and have been following the campaign for the last 12 months.
May 31, 2004
The banker and father of one takes a sip of his beer and stares at my breasts.
“I bet you get amorous when you're drunk. I'd like to see that.”
Yesterday’s Post had a disturbing article. The writer placed an ad up on Craig’s List posing as a married woman seeking a married man to have an affair with.
The article probably confirmed a lot of women’s poor opinion of my gender. Hell, I can’t say I didn’t find it sleazy myself.
While I could understand the motivation (of the men), it just struck me as very sad.
There is this great ‘gender divide’ in how men and women come at relationships. I’m not excusing cheating, but some people are put together one way and some people are put together another.
Among my friends I’ve known serial cheaters and I’ve also known loyally devoted husbands.
Coming off my own seven year hitch, I always felt it was more of a bother than anything else. The other thing I thought was, if you do it (cheat) it tells you a lot about your relationship (and probably how you shouldn’t be in it).
There are always going to be moments when any man (or woman) is tempted, it’s easier to cheat, the tough thing is sticking it out with someone and making things work. Then again, it took me a bit of time to arrive at that wisdom.
“I bet you get amorous when you're drunk. I'd like to see that.”
Yesterday’s Post had a disturbing article. The writer placed an ad up on Craig’s List posing as a married woman seeking a married man to have an affair with.
The article probably confirmed a lot of women’s poor opinion of my gender. Hell, I can’t say I didn’t find it sleazy myself.
While I could understand the motivation (of the men), it just struck me as very sad.
There is this great ‘gender divide’ in how men and women come at relationships. I’m not excusing cheating, but some people are put together one way and some people are put together another.
Among my friends I’ve known serial cheaters and I’ve also known loyally devoted husbands.
Coming off my own seven year hitch, I always felt it was more of a bother than anything else. The other thing I thought was, if you do it (cheat) it tells you a lot about your relationship (and probably how you shouldn’t be in it).
There are always going to be moments when any man (or woman) is tempted, it’s easier to cheat, the tough thing is sticking it out with someone and making things work. Then again, it took me a bit of time to arrive at that wisdom.
May 28, 2004
Days rocket past so rapidly. I haven't been paying attention to the news because of the headlines in my own life. I am happy that the Mets finally made it to the .500 mark and still manage to catch a game every now and again.
In the meantime, I have been doing all those things I manage to put off. I make a list a couple of days out and see how many things I can cross off of it.
I’m not always as successful as I would like but it seems I get much more accomplished than I would have it things weren’t written down.
In the meantime, I have been doing all those things I manage to put off. I make a list a couple of days out and see how many things I can cross off of it.
I’m not always as successful as I would like but it seems I get much more accomplished than I would have it things weren’t written down.
May 26, 2004
Wahhhhh, wahhhh, wahhhhh - this is me crying and being depressed, just not pretty.
So, today (and over the last several days) I found myself in confronted by a situation to really get upset about. I know I had my moments too.
Fortunately, I think I am getting a little bit wiser as I get older (not much, just a modicum mind you).
Rather than indulge myself in the obsession over something bad and spiraling into a good, deep depression - I stopped.
Usually there’s this period when I’m angry or depressed about something (fill in the blank with the negative emotion). It doesn’t do a lot of good feeling crappy, it just colors the day making it that much harder to get through it.
Now today, I tried something different, I stopped and thought how feeling that way doesn’t do me a whole lot of good. I still feel a little crappy but, when I come out the other side (from whatever crappy emotion it is), I feel a lot better when I start moving into a productive direction again.
So, I was thinking, maybe I might just want to skip over the crappy, obsessive, depressed part and get to the better spot and believe me when I say that’s a great deal of progress for me indeed..
So, today (and over the last several days) I found myself in confronted by a situation to really get upset about. I know I had my moments too.
Fortunately, I think I am getting a little bit wiser as I get older (not much, just a modicum mind you).
Rather than indulge myself in the obsession over something bad and spiraling into a good, deep depression - I stopped.
Usually there’s this period when I’m angry or depressed about something (fill in the blank with the negative emotion). It doesn’t do a lot of good feeling crappy, it just colors the day making it that much harder to get through it.
Now today, I tried something different, I stopped and thought how feeling that way doesn’t do me a whole lot of good. I still feel a little crappy but, when I come out the other side (from whatever crappy emotion it is), I feel a lot better when I start moving into a productive direction again.
So, I was thinking, maybe I might just want to skip over the crappy, obsessive, depressed part and get to the better spot and believe me when I say that’s a great deal of progress for me indeed..
May 21, 2004
As much as the whole Iraq thing gets painted in a negative light, I think some of the most interesting comments on it can be found on Salaam Pax‘s blog which got a lot of press leading up to the war.
Surprising how it isn’t getting as much notice now?
Moderates who want Americans around long enough to establish a stable, democratic government tend to get drowned out by the more extreme views on either side of the spectrum.
In a perfect world, things would be easy enough as asking someone to join in the spirit of partnership but then the world is a far from perfect place.
So, I find myself in agreement - I don’t cotton to a lot of the posturing that lead up to the war but, the genie is out of the bottle now and foreign policy works best when it isn’t built around public opinion polls.
Anyway, all that doesn’t matter now. Saddam is gone, thanks to you. Was it worth it? Be assured it was. We all know that it got to a point where we would have never been rid of Saddam without foreign intervention; I just wish it would have been a bit better planned. Does this mean that I will be wearing a (I [heart] Bush) t-shirt? NO, because I don’t believe there is any altruism in politics and the way he sees the world scares me.
What I do really and sincerely hope for is that the day you and other soldiers and US civilians here don’t have to stay behind those high concrete walls isn’t too far away; and that you feel safe walking in the streets without those hard and heavy flak jackets, so that we can sit and talk about these things in a Karrada Street tea shop.
There are many challenges Iraqis have to face now, so please stick around a bit longer and try helping us get thru them. One of the more serious challenges is the fact that Iraq has become a sort of an open playground for many political and religious factions who are using Iraq as a fighting ground. So there you have it [Mr. Somewhere-in-the-north-of-Iraq], and by the way you never told me whether you had a blog or not.
Surprising how it isn’t getting as much notice now?
Moderates who want Americans around long enough to establish a stable, democratic government tend to get drowned out by the more extreme views on either side of the spectrum.
In a perfect world, things would be easy enough as asking someone to join in the spirit of partnership but then the world is a far from perfect place.
So, I find myself in agreement - I don’t cotton to a lot of the posturing that lead up to the war but, the genie is out of the bottle now and foreign policy works best when it isn’t built around public opinion polls.
Anyway, all that doesn’t matter now. Saddam is gone, thanks to you. Was it worth it? Be assured it was. We all know that it got to a point where we would have never been rid of Saddam without foreign intervention; I just wish it would have been a bit better planned. Does this mean that I will be wearing a (I [heart] Bush) t-shirt? NO, because I don’t believe there is any altruism in politics and the way he sees the world scares me.
What I do really and sincerely hope for is that the day you and other soldiers and US civilians here don’t have to stay behind those high concrete walls isn’t too far away; and that you feel safe walking in the streets without those hard and heavy flak jackets, so that we can sit and talk about these things in a Karrada Street tea shop.
There are many challenges Iraqis have to face now, so please stick around a bit longer and try helping us get thru them. One of the more serious challenges is the fact that Iraq has become a sort of an open playground for many political and religious factions who are using Iraq as a fighting ground. So there you have it [Mr. Somewhere-in-the-north-of-Iraq], and by the way you never told me whether you had a blog or not.
May 15, 2004
I was flipping channels last night and came across some Elliott Gould movie - it was odd since I thought I knew most of his movies (child of the 70s). He was behind the wheel of some sabotaged car, it was a really badly done sequence.
It was then I realized I was watching Capricorn One. Notable for being one of the few dramatic roles OJ Simpson has played besides murder defendant - it also has the distinction of being one of being so horribly bad it managed to put me to sleep when I went to see it during it’s original run.
I remember going to see it with my friend Don before he left for California - we had gone to a drive-in (when they still had those - Drive-ins were great in that you could actually get smashed watching a movie - a big thing when you’re a teenager but, the thought of which gives me shivers to think of now).
It was also during the showing of Capricorn One I was alerted to the fact that I sleep drive (and also talk in my sleep), which managed to freak my friend out no small amount as he thought I was awake and watching the film.
Capricorn One ranks right up there on my list with other such classics as My Dinner with André and Daredevil. Two other films which I managed a good nap during..
It was then I realized I was watching Capricorn One. Notable for being one of the few dramatic roles OJ Simpson has played besides murder defendant - it also has the distinction of being one of being so horribly bad it managed to put me to sleep when I went to see it during it’s original run.
I remember going to see it with my friend Don before he left for California - we had gone to a drive-in (when they still had those - Drive-ins were great in that you could actually get smashed watching a movie - a big thing when you’re a teenager but, the thought of which gives me shivers to think of now).
It was also during the showing of Capricorn One I was alerted to the fact that I sleep drive (and also talk in my sleep), which managed to freak my friend out no small amount as he thought I was awake and watching the film.
Capricorn One ranks right up there on my list with other such classics as My Dinner with André and Daredevil. Two other films which I managed a good nap during..
May 12, 2004
They recently upgraded blogger. This I imagine would be a good thing if I wasn’t so resistant to change.
I’m still struggling with the whole OS X thing and this is just another rock on the pile adding to my woes.
I just got the Panther upgrade last week - so I could install it on several of the machines around the house. It came to a point where I haven’t been given much choice as most of my clients these days are running OS X.
Everybody talks about the benefits of System 10... it’s Unix, it’s truly multitasking, a single application crashing doesn’t take down the machine but, it really is a Tech Support guy’s wet dream more than anything else.
Finally, they can set privileges on a machine - meaning you have to adjust to the computing environment the Tech guy decides is right for the company.
Gone are the days when you could customize your machine to work the way you’d like it. Seems like a pretty big step backwards. One of the great things about working on a Mac was being able to customize the machine so you could take advantage of all those great shortcuts. Hell, half the people I run across don’t even know the basic finder (OS) shortcuts.
Of course, it depends on the client and the tech guy at the client and how rigid a person they are.
Unfortunately, as is often the case, while they may be good tech guys, they certainly aren’t aware of what makes a job easier to do. So, you get locked into this situation of having one more hurdle thrown into your path when you’re just trying to do your job.
In the late eighties, I remember being at these big companies where they would have all these computers set up on peoples’ desks which were clients to a larger mainframe. When the desktop computer came along, there was something freeing about computing in general, the tools were finally in the hands of the people that used them.
The more rigid these networks become (and the computing experience), the less likely is the possibility of innovation, wouldn’t you think?
I’m still struggling with the whole OS X thing and this is just another rock on the pile adding to my woes.
I just got the Panther upgrade last week - so I could install it on several of the machines around the house. It came to a point where I haven’t been given much choice as most of my clients these days are running OS X.
Everybody talks about the benefits of System 10... it’s Unix, it’s truly multitasking, a single application crashing doesn’t take down the machine but, it really is a Tech Support guy’s wet dream more than anything else.
Finally, they can set privileges on a machine - meaning you have to adjust to the computing environment the Tech guy decides is right for the company.
Gone are the days when you could customize your machine to work the way you’d like it. Seems like a pretty big step backwards. One of the great things about working on a Mac was being able to customize the machine so you could take advantage of all those great shortcuts. Hell, half the people I run across don’t even know the basic finder (OS) shortcuts.
Of course, it depends on the client and the tech guy at the client and how rigid a person they are.
Unfortunately, as is often the case, while they may be good tech guys, they certainly aren’t aware of what makes a job easier to do. So, you get locked into this situation of having one more hurdle thrown into your path when you’re just trying to do your job.
In the late eighties, I remember being at these big companies where they would have all these computers set up on peoples’ desks which were clients to a larger mainframe. When the desktop computer came along, there was something freeing about computing in general, the tools were finally in the hands of the people that used them.
The more rigid these networks become (and the computing experience), the less likely is the possibility of innovation, wouldn’t you think?
May 9, 2004
SPC Neil A Wallin, 109th Area Support Medical Battalion, a medic testified that: “Cell 1A was used to house high priority detainees and cell 1B was used to house the high risk or trouble making detainees. During my tour at the prison I observed that when the male detainees were first brought to the facility, some of them were made to wear female underwear, which I think was to somehow break them down.”
In some parts of the city men wearing women’s underwear is considered a good Saturday night - talk about a culture clash.
The link takes you directly to the full ARTICLE 15-6 INVESTIGATION OF THE 800th MILITARY POLICE BRIGADE.
This is the investigation undertaken by the military after learning of prisoner abuse, it seems quite thorough - surprise, surprise.
This link will take you to a timeline of the events that led up to the investigation. Again, there doesn’t seem to have been any foot dragging about conducting an investigation once the information about abuse was brought to light.
Is it bad press?
Certainly.
Does it help our country in its foreign policy goals in the Middle East?
No, it does not.
Maybe, we should just round up this bunch of soldiers who are responsible for these abuses and just hang them. Plain and simple, just throw a rope over a tree and be done with it. Let’s forego any investigation and just allow ourselves to be swept up in the moment. The pictures speak volumes about the horrors endured by these prisoners. It’s just something we really can’t be expected to discuss. It’s just a reflection on how this administration has failed us in so many ways - how could the chief executive allow something like this to happen? The indignity!
Oh, please.
I’m not about to put myself in the position of being an apologist for the current administration but, neither am I going to give myself over to the ‘chicken little’ frenzy of the moment. Something bad happened, it came to light and it is in the process of getting fixed.
It proves a point.
Think if something like this happened before Iraq was invaded it would get this kind of press? Think there would be the level of outcry? How likely would it be that there would be any kind of change after the fact and the abuse would stop?
Ask yourselves those questions before allowing yourself to be carried away in your moral indignation. Be thankful you are living in a society where although something like this can happen, there is still the opportunity to bring it to light and effect some kind of change so it is less likely to happen going forward.
Republicans or democrats, you are not the enemy. You are the opposition and there is a difference. Even as both major parties move closer to the center, people should recognize vilifying the opposition does nothing to enhance your argument. There are real issues the current administration can be taken to task on. Issues that affect the lives and future of every citizen. Set out your argument in a logical fashion and you will stand a much better chance of swaying opinion.
In the meantime, let’s not forget we bombed and destroyed a Chinese embassy on the watch of the previous administration. Nobody was out in front of Congress offering up their job on that one and believe me the consequences could have been a lot worse from that gaff.
Jamey Hill, a local postal worker, said the photos of naked prisoners in sexual positions, in a pile or on a leash, were nothing compared to the images of murdered Americans dangling from a bridge in the town of Falluja in March.
“I’m not happy about it (the prison abuse). I’m not very happy about having the pictures of us on the bridge either,” Hill said.
Tanya Vargas, 29, who said she knew two of the soldiers linked to the scandal, said it had been hard to believe her friends were involved.
“What were they thinking to do this, and then to take pictures of it?” she said. “When they come home, it’s not going to be the welcome home the soldiers usually get,” she said.
These are your fellow citizens! While I am not in agreement with what happened and recognize something went wrong, pause before giving yourself over to hysteria of the moment.
Prison life was punctuated by riots and guards’ shootings of inmates. The few soldiers who had worked in civilian prisons in the United States taught the others what they knew, the report says.
Karpinski, a Gulf War (news - web sites) veteran and a business consultant in civilian life, is faulted for much that went wrong. But her job was never going to be easy.
Last June, Karpinski took command of the 800th MP Brigade, a unit led to believe it was going home shortly after major combat ended May 1, 2003.
Instead, it got a new mission: running the entire U.S. prison system across Iraq — 12 camps and jails.
“Morale suffered, and over the next few months there did not appear to have been any attempt by the command to mitigate this morale problem,” the Taguba report says.
Those sent to Abu Ghraib found themselves living in one of Iraq’s toughest regions — the Sunni Muslim rebel stronghold west of Baghdad. The prison, which also houses the base, became a target for guerrilla mortar barrages that killed dozens, mainly prisoners.
In some parts of the city men wearing women’s underwear is considered a good Saturday night - talk about a culture clash.
The link takes you directly to the full ARTICLE 15-6 INVESTIGATION OF THE 800th MILITARY POLICE BRIGADE.
This is the investigation undertaken by the military after learning of prisoner abuse, it seems quite thorough - surprise, surprise.
This link will take you to a timeline of the events that led up to the investigation. Again, there doesn’t seem to have been any foot dragging about conducting an investigation once the information about abuse was brought to light.
Is it bad press?
Certainly.
Does it help our country in its foreign policy goals in the Middle East?
No, it does not.
Maybe, we should just round up this bunch of soldiers who are responsible for these abuses and just hang them. Plain and simple, just throw a rope over a tree and be done with it. Let’s forego any investigation and just allow ourselves to be swept up in the moment. The pictures speak volumes about the horrors endured by these prisoners. It’s just something we really can’t be expected to discuss. It’s just a reflection on how this administration has failed us in so many ways - how could the chief executive allow something like this to happen? The indignity!
Oh, please.
I’m not about to put myself in the position of being an apologist for the current administration but, neither am I going to give myself over to the ‘chicken little’ frenzy of the moment. Something bad happened, it came to light and it is in the process of getting fixed.
It proves a point.
Think if something like this happened before Iraq was invaded it would get this kind of press? Think there would be the level of outcry? How likely would it be that there would be any kind of change after the fact and the abuse would stop?
Ask yourselves those questions before allowing yourself to be carried away in your moral indignation. Be thankful you are living in a society where although something like this can happen, there is still the opportunity to bring it to light and effect some kind of change so it is less likely to happen going forward.
Republicans or democrats, you are not the enemy. You are the opposition and there is a difference. Even as both major parties move closer to the center, people should recognize vilifying the opposition does nothing to enhance your argument. There are real issues the current administration can be taken to task on. Issues that affect the lives and future of every citizen. Set out your argument in a logical fashion and you will stand a much better chance of swaying opinion.
In the meantime, let’s not forget we bombed and destroyed a Chinese embassy on the watch of the previous administration. Nobody was out in front of Congress offering up their job on that one and believe me the consequences could have been a lot worse from that gaff.
Jamey Hill, a local postal worker, said the photos of naked prisoners in sexual positions, in a pile or on a leash, were nothing compared to the images of murdered Americans dangling from a bridge in the town of Falluja in March.
“I’m not happy about it (the prison abuse). I’m not very happy about having the pictures of us on the bridge either,” Hill said.
Tanya Vargas, 29, who said she knew two of the soldiers linked to the scandal, said it had been hard to believe her friends were involved.
“What were they thinking to do this, and then to take pictures of it?” she said. “When they come home, it’s not going to be the welcome home the soldiers usually get,” she said.
These are your fellow citizens! While I am not in agreement with what happened and recognize something went wrong, pause before giving yourself over to hysteria of the moment.
Prison life was punctuated by riots and guards’ shootings of inmates. The few soldiers who had worked in civilian prisons in the United States taught the others what they knew, the report says.
Karpinski, a Gulf War (news - web sites) veteran and a business consultant in civilian life, is faulted for much that went wrong. But her job was never going to be easy.
Last June, Karpinski took command of the 800th MP Brigade, a unit led to believe it was going home shortly after major combat ended May 1, 2003.
Instead, it got a new mission: running the entire U.S. prison system across Iraq — 12 camps and jails.
“Morale suffered, and over the next few months there did not appear to have been any attempt by the command to mitigate this morale problem,” the Taguba report says.
Those sent to Abu Ghraib found themselves living in one of Iraq’s toughest regions — the Sunni Muslim rebel stronghold west of Baghdad. The prison, which also houses the base, became a target for guerrilla mortar barrages that killed dozens, mainly prisoners.
May 8, 2004
Last night I went to the Mets game.
I had probably the best seats I’ve had in several years only 8 rows off the field right at third base.
You think you’ll be sitting among the ‘swells’ but, you’re really not. You still find the same drunken, loud-mouthed fools who appear to at ballparks more frequently these days.
It was a beautiful night to be at the game, the weather was perfect, even if the Mets lost. Also, it was worth suffering people loudly pleading and cursing players to throw them a ball at the end of each half innings’ toss around.
Sometimes though, even among all the drunken shouting there can be a few funny moments. There were two ‘portly’ fellows behind us who were shouting out Milwaukee’s third base coaches’ last name which became a bit of a betting game among us in the latter stages of the game (well past 20 times in one inning).
Their moment came when the scoreboard urged the fans to cheer, ‘Let’s Go Mets!’ and they shouted ‘Pull Up Your Pants!’ at the guy an aisle over and a few seats down.
Seems he had a real look going - tats, ponytail, some poor man’s excuse for a beard, a wife beater t-shirt with a motto you wouldn’t want to repeat in polite company and a pair of jeans which kept him in an almost permanent half moon state.
I hadn’t realized what the commotion was about until my companion pointed out the wayward man’s condition and then found myself taking up the cheer as well.
I had probably the best seats I’ve had in several years only 8 rows off the field right at third base.
You think you’ll be sitting among the ‘swells’ but, you’re really not. You still find the same drunken, loud-mouthed fools who appear to at ballparks more frequently these days.
It was a beautiful night to be at the game, the weather was perfect, even if the Mets lost. Also, it was worth suffering people loudly pleading and cursing players to throw them a ball at the end of each half innings’ toss around.
Sometimes though, even among all the drunken shouting there can be a few funny moments. There were two ‘portly’ fellows behind us who were shouting out Milwaukee’s third base coaches’ last name which became a bit of a betting game among us in the latter stages of the game (well past 20 times in one inning).
Their moment came when the scoreboard urged the fans to cheer, ‘Let’s Go Mets!’ and they shouted ‘Pull Up Your Pants!’ at the guy an aisle over and a few seats down.
Seems he had a real look going - tats, ponytail, some poor man’s excuse for a beard, a wife beater t-shirt with a motto you wouldn’t want to repeat in polite company and a pair of jeans which kept him in an almost permanent half moon state.
I hadn’t realized what the commotion was about until my companion pointed out the wayward man’s condition and then found myself taking up the cheer as well.
May 5, 2004
So, I managed to nab a couple of days of work last week. Always nice to pick up another client (although that has happened less than I would like of late).
It’s fairly obvious the market is shifting. The demands of clients are changing again. It’s a lot like it was in the late eighties and early nineties when the desktop computer first appeared on the scene.
Back then, before the computer made it’s impact on the workplace, there were all these other jobs in the graphics industry. There were typesetters, stat camera operators, board people (not bored people - even if they usually were), comp artists and a bunch of other professions which are no longer in great demand.
The group of guys I get together with occasionally for coffee are all storyboard artists and their profession is also in the process of undergoing change. I have peers close in age and out of work who are finding it hard to get another job at the pay scale they were accustomed to.
Things have changed...
If there is one sure thing a person can bet on, it’s the likelihood some aspect of their professional life will undergo dramatic change. A person has two choices, they can either try to foresee the change coming and take steps to confront it or ostrich like, they can hide from it until events are beyond their control and they are carried along by it like a piece of flotsam in a tidal wave.
When I got the my first computer, it was a new toy plain and simple and it held all the allure a new toy holds. Fifteen years later, I find myself struggling to keep up as the rate of change increases with each passing year.
Just as I get to the point of being comfortable with a program, boom! Here comes another upgrade making the damn thing the swiss army knife of all programs.
It seems it has become all about making it easier and easier to do things in terms of program upgrades. I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with that if it meant that things worked better but, in many instances they don’t. It’s more like giving an automatic weapon to someone who doesn’t know how to use a popgun. They just manage to create a bigger problem which will have to be fixed at some point.
Well, I digress...
So, we have all this new equipment, all this new software and now when you see a job listing you’re basically supposed to know every package, be the world’s greatest designer and be able to mop the floors when there is downtime... cause we can’t have any waste nowadays in the corporate world, you know?
I just find it interesting I’m hearing the same complaint from a bunch of different people.
The curious thing is, have wages gone up? Not really, if anything there appears to be a downward pressure on wages these days. One friend was commenting on how he finds clients calling him at the last minute, expecting him to be on site at the drop of a hat (meaning he has to live in Manhattan) but ironically a lot of these jobs don’t pay enough for someone to live in Manhattan.
So, things are changing again...
As I’ve said in the past and in conversations with friends, when a person is caught up in the bubble of the present, it’s hard to see the bigger picture. When a trend is going on, you have a lot of trouble seeing it because you’re in among the bushes not high up on a mountaintop.
So, last week I was down among the bushes again. I was reminded what a small world this industry is (which is really bothersome). When you’re confronted by change, you have to change along with it to survive but, the hardest thing there is to change are people’s perceptions of you.
I worked on a project, it was fairly straight forward and afterward the person I was working with came over and expressed their surprise (I was matching a layout and setting up a word template - not really rocket science). The person was surprised I had done such a remarkable job matching their layout (???? Huh?).
It was a compliment to be sure but, it reminded me once again, how hard it is to combat people’s perceptions. Once you’re pegged as being good for something, it’s hard to branch out into other areas (or make clients think of you as a resource for other projects).
It just makes me realize I have to put in more time and do a better job at marketing myself and my skills and I’m probably not alone in that either.
It’s fairly obvious the market is shifting. The demands of clients are changing again. It’s a lot like it was in the late eighties and early nineties when the desktop computer first appeared on the scene.
Back then, before the computer made it’s impact on the workplace, there were all these other jobs in the graphics industry. There were typesetters, stat camera operators, board people (not bored people - even if they usually were), comp artists and a bunch of other professions which are no longer in great demand.
The group of guys I get together with occasionally for coffee are all storyboard artists and their profession is also in the process of undergoing change. I have peers close in age and out of work who are finding it hard to get another job at the pay scale they were accustomed to.
Things have changed...
If there is one sure thing a person can bet on, it’s the likelihood some aspect of their professional life will undergo dramatic change. A person has two choices, they can either try to foresee the change coming and take steps to confront it or ostrich like, they can hide from it until events are beyond their control and they are carried along by it like a piece of flotsam in a tidal wave.
When I got the my first computer, it was a new toy plain and simple and it held all the allure a new toy holds. Fifteen years later, I find myself struggling to keep up as the rate of change increases with each passing year.
Just as I get to the point of being comfortable with a program, boom! Here comes another upgrade making the damn thing the swiss army knife of all programs.
It seems it has become all about making it easier and easier to do things in terms of program upgrades. I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with that if it meant that things worked better but, in many instances they don’t. It’s more like giving an automatic weapon to someone who doesn’t know how to use a popgun. They just manage to create a bigger problem which will have to be fixed at some point.
Well, I digress...
So, we have all this new equipment, all this new software and now when you see a job listing you’re basically supposed to know every package, be the world’s greatest designer and be able to mop the floors when there is downtime... cause we can’t have any waste nowadays in the corporate world, you know?
I just find it interesting I’m hearing the same complaint from a bunch of different people.
The curious thing is, have wages gone up? Not really, if anything there appears to be a downward pressure on wages these days. One friend was commenting on how he finds clients calling him at the last minute, expecting him to be on site at the drop of a hat (meaning he has to live in Manhattan) but ironically a lot of these jobs don’t pay enough for someone to live in Manhattan.
So, things are changing again...
As I’ve said in the past and in conversations with friends, when a person is caught up in the bubble of the present, it’s hard to see the bigger picture. When a trend is going on, you have a lot of trouble seeing it because you’re in among the bushes not high up on a mountaintop.
So, last week I was down among the bushes again. I was reminded what a small world this industry is (which is really bothersome). When you’re confronted by change, you have to change along with it to survive but, the hardest thing there is to change are people’s perceptions of you.
I worked on a project, it was fairly straight forward and afterward the person I was working with came over and expressed their surprise (I was matching a layout and setting up a word template - not really rocket science). The person was surprised I had done such a remarkable job matching their layout (???? Huh?).
It was a compliment to be sure but, it reminded me once again, how hard it is to combat people’s perceptions. Once you’re pegged as being good for something, it’s hard to branch out into other areas (or make clients think of you as a resource for other projects).
It just makes me realize I have to put in more time and do a better job at marketing myself and my skills and I’m probably not alone in that either.
May 3, 2004
The announcement was recently made, one of my favorite comic titles is about to be canceled. I just picked an issue up out of curiosity originally but found it a good read and was hooked. Since then I’ve picked up each issue. I was a bit dismayed by the low circulation figures I had seen for the book so, I can’t say I was totally surprised when I heard the news.
I had never read anything else by the writer Micah Ian Wright. In fact I didn’t know much about him other than the fact he was writing a book I had come to enjoy.
Turns out Wright was a rather virulent anti-war guy. He claimed to have been an Army Ranger so had first hand knowledge of the destruction and aimless violence inherent in war. He even was author of a book gathering old war posters:
From Publishers Weekly Former Army Ranger turned antiwar comic book artist Wright had what he calls a moment of clarity after participating in the U.S.’s 1989 invasion of Panama. Feeling that media coverage was blatantly pro-war, but that the post-invasion results for Panama were far from positive, he offers this as a (belated) warning against war on Iraq. Reworking American propaganda posters from WWI and WWII, Wright reveals his satiric take on current events: one poster reads, “Millions of troops are on the move - All To Protect Your Oil Supply! Is your SUV really worth their lives” In another, a girl sitting in her father’s lap asks, “Daddy, why don't YOU or any of your friends from ENRON have to go to war” And many are messages from the Orwellian-sounding “Ministry of Homeland Security:” The Statue of Liberty points to the onlooker and commands, “You! Stop Asking Questions! You’re Either With U.S. or You’re With The TERRORISTS!” The antiwar contingent will read these and weep, rather than laugh.
So anyway, quite the stir was apparently caused this weekend when the Washington Post ran this story:
In the Style section last summer we profiled a Los Angeles writer named Micah Ian Wright, who’d just published a shrill antiwar poster book called “You Back the Attack! We’ll Bomb Who We Want!” In his book, he described himself as a veteran of combat, a former Army Ranger whose experiences during the 1989 invasion of Panama turned him into a peacenik. In interviews with The Post and other media, he played up that background.
Needless to say, there has been significant fallout.
May 2, 2004
I caught Kill Bill volume 2 this week with Sung. It was great seeing Sung and the movie was absolutely terrific. Also, I just wanted to note there is a special screening as part of the Tribeca Film Festival this coming Thursday, rumored to be attended by Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman the movie will run in its entirety (both parts 252 minutes).
There was an article in the Sunday Post about these two books, The Bitch in the House and The Bastard on the Couch.
Women today have more choices than at any time in history, yet many smart, ambitious, contemporary women are finding themselves angry, dissatisfied, stressed out. Why are they dissatisfied? And what do they really want? These questions form the premise of this passionate, provocative, funny, searingly honest collection of original essays in which twenty-six women writers—ranging in age from twenty-four to sixty-five, single and childless or married with children or four times divorced—invite readers into their lives, minds, and bedrooms to talk about the choices they’ve made, what’s working, and what’s not.
_____
Last year's much-ballyhooed The Bitch in the House, edited by Hanauer, collated essays by women on their frustration and rage. Now Jones (Hanauer's husband and a novelist and journalist) offers the male version, wherein guys discuss how they feel about their standing in today’s shifting cultural landscape (that is, if they care at all). As Jones notes, “The fact that women are in charge of their own birth control and reproduction may be a gigantic cultural shift, but I've yet to hear a single man complain about it.”
It was interesting synchronicity running across the article today. I had awoken contemplating my own current bachelordom and the experiences of several friends who are married. One described waking up in the middle of the night to find his wife sobbing woefully, another described his wife’s ennui and the unease it causes him daily, still a third described his wife’s conflict with her own parents. Then, I was also thinking about an old flame who indicated she was separating after 20 years with her mate, a series of comings and goings in and out of her life for two decades.
Numbering among ‘the bastards,’ I was trying to think about what we do... we men.
The phrase blessed ignorance is what came to mind. It’s not that we don’t know or aren’t aware of our mates. It isn’t that we’re so cavalier as not to care about their feelings either. We just lack the capacity and the tools.
Men like to fix things, if they can’t fix something it frustrates them and quite plainly, women can’t be ‘fixed’ to men’s satisfaction. It’s like asking someone for the solution to the equation 3 plus 2 and getting the answer ‘BLUE!’ Just like one of those robots in an old sci-fi film, a man’s brain more often than not short circuits (if it could, you’d see sparks flying out of our ears).
I’m in my 40’s now and have less of a clue about women than I did as a young man. Well, maybe I should qualify that, I’ve gone into the blessed ignorance phase of life I think. Like a doctor, the approach can best be summed up as ‘just do no harm.’ Of course, men probably have about as much of a grasp of what motivates women as doctors have an understanding of the human body - some things can be fixed but by and large we don’t truly understand the inner workings of the complicated machine.
So, probably the only thing I can offer up for myself and the rest of the bastards of my gender ladies, is to beg for your patience and indulgence while we try to make our way through this morass that is life.
Women today have more choices than at any time in history, yet many smart, ambitious, contemporary women are finding themselves angry, dissatisfied, stressed out. Why are they dissatisfied? And what do they really want? These questions form the premise of this passionate, provocative, funny, searingly honest collection of original essays in which twenty-six women writers—ranging in age from twenty-four to sixty-five, single and childless or married with children or four times divorced—invite readers into their lives, minds, and bedrooms to talk about the choices they’ve made, what’s working, and what’s not.
Last year's much-ballyhooed The Bitch in the House, edited by Hanauer, collated essays by women on their frustration and rage. Now Jones (Hanauer's husband and a novelist and journalist) offers the male version, wherein guys discuss how they feel about their standing in today’s shifting cultural landscape (that is, if they care at all). As Jones notes, “The fact that women are in charge of their own birth control and reproduction may be a gigantic cultural shift, but I've yet to hear a single man complain about it.”
It was interesting synchronicity running across the article today. I had awoken contemplating my own current bachelordom and the experiences of several friends who are married. One described waking up in the middle of the night to find his wife sobbing woefully, another described his wife’s ennui and the unease it causes him daily, still a third described his wife’s conflict with her own parents. Then, I was also thinking about an old flame who indicated she was separating after 20 years with her mate, a series of comings and goings in and out of her life for two decades.
Numbering among ‘the bastards,’ I was trying to think about what we do... we men.
The phrase blessed ignorance is what came to mind. It’s not that we don’t know or aren’t aware of our mates. It isn’t that we’re so cavalier as not to care about their feelings either. We just lack the capacity and the tools.
Men like to fix things, if they can’t fix something it frustrates them and quite plainly, women can’t be ‘fixed’ to men’s satisfaction. It’s like asking someone for the solution to the equation 3 plus 2 and getting the answer ‘BLUE!’ Just like one of those robots in an old sci-fi film, a man’s brain more often than not short circuits (if it could, you’d see sparks flying out of our ears).
I’m in my 40’s now and have less of a clue about women than I did as a young man. Well, maybe I should qualify that, I’ve gone into the blessed ignorance phase of life I think. Like a doctor, the approach can best be summed up as ‘just do no harm.’ Of course, men probably have about as much of a grasp of what motivates women as doctors have an understanding of the human body - some things can be fixed but by and large we don’t truly understand the inner workings of the complicated machine.
So, probably the only thing I can offer up for myself and the rest of the bastards of my gender ladies, is to beg for your patience and indulgence while we try to make our way through this morass that is life.
I get the thing from the Learning Annex. On the cover is a big picture of Lizzie Grubman.
The ability to make a client's image sparkle and shine - whether it's an individual, a restaurant, a special event or a cultural phenomenon - is a valuable skill that's much in demand - and nobody does it any better than Lizzie Grubman!
In this expert in-depth look at what it takes to launch and maintain a successful P.R. career, Lizzie will reveal: * Her "been there and done it" P.R. tips and strategies * The essential skills and qualities of a top P.R. person * What P.R. firms are looking for when they recruit * The importance of networking - and how to develop your own P.R. network * Attention-getting ways to present yourself in writing and in person * The 101 things a P.R. pro does * Where the money is * And more!
Lizzie Grubman is one of New York's top spinmeisters and founder of Lizzie Grubman Public Relations. Her celebrity clientele have included NSync, Reid, Jay-Z and Britney Spears - as well as some of New York City's hottest restaurants, bars and clubs.
Funny, I was thinking she might be teaching a class on offensive driving.
The ability to make a client's image sparkle and shine - whether it's an individual, a restaurant, a special event or a cultural phenomenon - is a valuable skill that's much in demand - and nobody does it any better than Lizzie Grubman!
In this expert in-depth look at what it takes to launch and maintain a successful P.R. career, Lizzie will reveal: * Her "been there and done it" P.R. tips and strategies * The essential skills and qualities of a top P.R. person * What P.R. firms are looking for when they recruit * The importance of networking - and how to develop your own P.R. network * Attention-getting ways to present yourself in writing and in person * The 101 things a P.R. pro does * Where the money is * And more!
Lizzie Grubman is one of New York's top spinmeisters and founder of Lizzie Grubman Public Relations. Her celebrity clientele have included NSync, Reid, Jay-Z and Britney Spears - as well as some of New York City's hottest restaurants, bars and clubs.
Funny, I was thinking she might be teaching a class on offensive driving.
Apr 29, 2004
Somehow over the last two decades or so, people in this country have come to the assumption war is enacted with the military precision of a video game.
Surprise! It’s not.
So, what does that mean?
It means a lot of people are hurt or killed. People lose their lives in stupid, stupid ways which never seem to make sense and generally seem to cheapen the value of human life.
Now, there’s a certain outrage that goes along with looking at pictures of innocent women and children injured and killed in a war zone. It’s a moral indignation which rises in one like bile after an unsettling meal and of course war is humanity’s unsettling meal.
But, it’s not going away.
I’m not condoning the injury of innocents in a war nor do I place small value on any person’s life however, it’s hard to escape the fact that when you talk about the human condition, you are talking about animals and though we may like to gussy ourselves up in the robes of society an inescapable fact is we are indeed animals. Bigotry, racism, ethnic cleansing all spring forth from the dark, recesses of the human animal in no shortage no matter how civilized we declare ourselves.
Is it right? No.
Should we try to do better? Of course.
Are we doing better? One would like to think so.
However, until that day when mankind as a whole can escape those baser aspects of the human makeup, I sure as hell want to be the biggest, nastiest bastard on the block, if only not to be trounced on by someone else.
We live in a free society (regardless of what people would have you believe) and the level of discourse in this country is far more open to debate than it is in much of the world.
Something to remember when people are pointing fingers.
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