My Archives: May 2003
Saturday, May 31, 2003
As the G-8 summit in Evian, France -- and the leadership meetings that surround it -- spin out over this week, it appears that global politics and US foreign policy will be based on "grudges" -- a proclivity against which Bush Sr. felt it necessary to warn Bush Jr. [more]
Posted by mac @ 05:13 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Cartoon of the day by Jack Ohman -- "You Are Watching Big Brother." [more]
Posted by mac @ 08:19 AM EST [Link]
Monday, May 26, 2003
Yeah tho' I walk through the Valley of the Geeks...that's a website featuring "high tech humor served fresh occasionally." Especially fun is the article "Jayson Blair Witch Hunt", which "reports':
"Mr. Blair had written over six hundred stories for the New York Times since he joined as an intern in 1998. Further investigation by a panel of editors, reporters and several prominent smokers at the newspaper revealed that his deceipt included thirty-six national stories ranging from an interview with Elvis Presley published this spring to a lead story on the New York Mets 2002 World Series victory, despite the fact that they were eliminated by Anaheim in the first round. "We all felt bad about that," said New York Times chairman and publisher Arthur Schmaltzburger, Jr. "I thought it was odd that he was able to tell such a dramatic story when no other paper seemed to be covering the Mets." The editors assumed it was just another scoop for the Times and never questioned the details of the story or why the photos were from a 1973 world series against Cincinatti." Ouch! [more]
Posted by mac @ 08:28 AM EST [Link]
Sunday, May 25, 2003
A whimsical beginning today. I've been enjoying Jason Nolan's blog, entitled " Just differently intelligent: not actually stupid," especially his travel chronicle of attending the Transylvanian Society of Dracula conference held in -- where else? -- Transylvania! aka Romania. I will be visiting the site every morning for the next few days in order to live vicariously. [more]
Posted by mac @ 12:00 PM EST [Link]
Friday, May 23, 2003
A good cartoon entitled "Lawyers Then and Now", compliments of Marc. B. This article just received..."SARS is a very dangerous virus with links to Al Osama Bin Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's former regime in Iraq," declared Bush as he advocated bombing Toronto to rid the world of the disease And, yes, the story is another bit of humor which springboards off my last blog entry about the hysteria gripping the US.
But this next article is serious. The Register reports, "Microsoft's latest security lapse with its Passport information service could trigger a $2.2 trillion fine on the company courtesy of the US government. The Federal Trade Commission last year demanded that Microsoft improve its Passport security or face stiff fines of up to $11,000 per violation. Redmond promised to work harder to protect consumer information and launched it's Trustworthy Computing initiative to put regulators' minds at ease. Well, the FTC is looking into the Passport breach and could slap Microsoft with a fine of $2.2 trillion to cover all 200 million violated users."
[more]Posted by mac @ 09:50 AM EST [Link]
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
The US seems to be awash in waves of hysteria, with the government and people wildly over-reacting to extraordinarily remote, vague threats and, yet, at the same time, virtually ignoring the in-your-face daily realities that threaten to devastate the lives of average Americans. [more]
Posted by mac @ 06:19 AM EST [Link]
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
I'm back blogging from the long Victoria Day Weekend -- a glut of yard-sailing, sunshine, good conversation, yard work and much relaxation. Today's blog will be a brief one due to the backlog created by my wretched excess of neglect.
The first of order of business is clear, however. I wish a speedy and thorough recovery to Justin Raimondo, the moving force behind one of my favorite sites antiwar.com, who was hospitalized briefly due to a mild heart attack. Take care of yourself, my friend. You are not replaceable. [more]
Posted by mac @ 08:42 AM EST [Link]
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Posted by mac @ 07:35 AM EST [Link]
Saturday, May 17, 2003
The latest Boondocks cartoon entitled "Riley Gets the Scoop" is cute in its cynical way. Even more cynical are the Chicken Hawk Playing Cards -- definition of a Chickenhawk = "THEY'RE ALL FOR WAR...AS LONG AS THEY DON'T HAVE TO SERVE!" The deck is the anti-war movement's answer to the Iraqi playing cards handed out to Coalition troops which featured the photographs of the 52 "most wanted" fugitives within Iraq. Personally, I thought it was a clever way to familiarize the soldiers with the faces of fugitives. What I objected to was the media's reporting of captures as (e.g.) "the 2 of Spades is now in US hands!" For me, it epitomized the trivialization and sanitizing of war that defined/defines the news coverage in America. [more]
Posted by mac @ 06:00 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Mark Fiore's latest cartoon entitled
Photo Op" lampoons both Bush's impressive posturing and the Democrats seeming inability to do the same.Thanks to Lee K. for this item..."Chief security officers (CSOs) and senior security executives are worried that the United States could be on its way to becoming a police state, according to a poll released Monday by CSO magazine." I am worried as well. Particularly troubling is the tendency of the
[more]Posted by mac @ 08:53 PM EST [Link]
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Two cartoons to start the blog rolling: Liberation by Clay Bennett; and, Homeland Security by Chappatte.
I am intrigued by several reviews I've read of "Defying Hitler" by Sebastian Haffner. [more]
Posted by mac @ 01:49 PM EST [Link]
Saturday, May 10, 2003
The Associated Press reports, "In proposing a U.N. Security Council resolution on sanctions, the United States and Britain for the first time refer to themselves as "occupying powers'' rather than ``liberating forces'' in Iraq. Here is a look at the main responsibilities of being an "occupier'' under the 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian law, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross based in Geneva." [more]
Posted by mac @ 06:09 AM EST [Link]
Friday, May 9, 2003
Raed is back online. Raed is the Baghdad blogger who offered a window into the reality of Iraqi experience as the bombs were falling. He is posting again and is still -- to my mind -- one of the best sources on the impact of the war. I quote one of his recent blogs at length.
[more]Posted by mac @ 10:03 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, May 8, 2003
Gulf II...the movie.
Another regime change in Iraq."Rumsfeld had handpicked retired general Jay Garner to oversee the occupation and report to Centcom commander, General Tommy Franks....But it now appears that Garner will report to Bremer [the State Department's choice], who may report directly to the White House without even going through Franks. Leak of his appointment clearly embarrassed Rumsfeld..." [more]
Posted by mac @ 07:15 AM EST [Link]
Wednesday, May 7, 2003
The Lifetime Movie Title Generator skewers the movie channel Lifetime's daily and incessant diet of movies about women being beaten, raped, stalked, kidnapped, dying of terminal diseases etc. Create a movie by chosing whether your heroine is a housewife/nurse/student etc. who is raped/battered/murdered/ etc. by her husband/father/employer/etc... Hilarious.
The Canadian dollar has been climbing steadily over the past few weeks, rising from the low .60 cent-range (against the America $) to break through the .70 cent barrier. Globally, people are dumping American $s and buying Euros or Canadian ones. There are several reasons for the rise in the value of Canada's currency. Unlike the States, there is no widespread inflation and the interest rates remain both stable and comparatively high. (BTW, the higher interest rates have not had a dampening effect on industries such as housing and construction, which are booming.) There is no federal deficit. The provinces are close to deficit-free. In a sense, I am sorry to see the increasing value of Canada's currency because it will hurt tourism and dissuade US businesses from setting up shop here. The movie/TV industry, for example, routinely shoots in Toronto whenever they want to capture a city that is New Yorkish without having to pay New York prices. Well...despite the SARS scare, Toronto just got more expensive to shoot.
Best to all,
macPosted by mac @ 10:35 AM EST [Link]
Tuesday, May 6, 2003
Take Dante's Ring of Hell Test and find out which ring is your natural niche. (BTW, you may have noticed...I tend to open each blog with a distracting or amusing item because the world's horizon is not growing rosier and a smile once a day is to be valued.)
I was distressed to hear about the arrest of 12 anti-war demonstrators near the KSU [Kent State] campus this last Sunday, the 4th. [more]
Posted by mac @ 08:00 AM EST [Link]
Monday, May 5, 2003
Two cartoons caught my eye....Check Out by Ann Telnaes, and Planning for a Free Iraq by Joel Pett.
The coming conflict between the US and UN over the latter's sanctions against Iraq will be a fascinating snapshot of the UN's true face. [more]
Posted by mac @ 07:45 AM EST [Link]
Sunday, May 4, 2003
The ACLU of Northern California has filed a federal lawsuit challenging secret "no fly" and other transportation watch lists. At least 339 passengers have been stopped and questioned at San Francisco International Airport since September 2001. The lawsuit follows two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act requests filed in the last five months. The ACLU filed the FOIA and Privacy Act requests on behalf of itself and peace activists Jan Adams and Rebecca Gordon. Last year, both women were told by airline agents at San Francisco International Airport that their names appeared on a secret "no fly" list and they were briefly detained by San Francisco Police while their names were checked against a "master" list. The ACLU lawsuit is a response to the government’s refusal to confirm the existence of any protocols, procedures or guidelines as to how the "no fly" lists were created. The government has also refused to detail how the lists are being maintained or corrected and, importantly, how people who are mistakenly included on the list may have their names removed. The ACLU's legal complaint in this case is online. Could your name end up on a secret government "no-fly" list? You might be surprised. Take the new ACLU quiz about CAPPS II, "no-fly" lists and your right to travel freely. [more]
Posted by mac @ 09:15 AM EST [Link]
Friday, May 2, 2003
Here is Tom Tomorrow's latest cartoon. Here is the news item upon which the cartoon is based. Thanks to Aron Trauring for supplying the latter. I recommend his Israelblog.
Best,
macPosted by mac @ 03:49 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, May 1, 2003
Marc Brand, with whom I am acquainted from his participation in anti-globalization protests, has a decent political cartoon page that is worth checking out.
Thanks to Lee K. for the link to one of the best commentaries I've read on the "battle for the soul of the American republic" which has begun in earnest in Washington between the "flag conservatives" (epitomized by the neocons) and those who do "not support such an imperial expression of power." Ahmad Faruqui delineates the *casus belli*: First, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a special interest group in this country found itself marooned from reality. Its raison d'etre had disappeared; Second, the state of Israel was gripped with insecurity flowing from its 30-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; Third, US dependence on imported oil, especially from the Middle East, has continued to grow; Fourth, and most importantly, a small group of people began to argue for the virtual American takeover of the globe within a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I used to think that the extreme emphasis placed by the Mises Institute and LewRockwell people on refuting neo-conservativism was overblown. Now I think it was understated. [more]
Posted by mac @ 08:02 AM EST [Link]