Ola Na Iwi
Tiny houses so far, but we are having fun (2nd Friday).
Friday, October 15, 2004
Latest Weird Dream
My dream was I was back in NM and I was anxious. I had to walk 150 miles around a mountain range by sunset, it was already 5 p.m., and I was hoping for a lift.
A female co-worker drove up in some sort of outlandish Humvee, along with 2 Chippendale dancer-types in Mad Max gear, to give me a lift. She said she was going to give up air pollution to study well-logging with her new petroleum engineer 'friends.' I said, "You Go Girl!"
Stranger than fiction? Better than truth? A vision for the future?
My dream was I was back in NM and I was anxious. I had to walk 150 miles around a mountain range by sunset, it was already 5 p.m., and I was hoping for a lift.
A female co-worker drove up in some sort of outlandish Humvee, along with 2 Chippendale dancer-types in Mad Max gear, to give me a lift. She said she was going to give up air pollution to study well-logging with her new petroleum engineer 'friends.' I said, "You Go Girl!"
Stranger than fiction? Better than truth? A vision for the future?
Times, They Be So Strange
The problem isn't that John Kerry talked about Mary Cheney's lesbianism, it's that Lynne Cheney, Mary's mother, feels lesbianism is somehow bad. And Mary Cheney is staying silent (to my mind, a silence that says it all - she could demand and receive a Kerry apology if she insisted, but that would be a homophobe victory she can't tolerate, so she stays silent.)
By bringing lesbianism up in the debate, John Kerry took a risk, but he knew it would really irritate his opponents, and demonstrate their hypocrisy for all the world to see. Republicans love to dish it out but scream like girlie men when porked by the opposition. Because of Kerry's cojones, he deserves to be President.
Too bad there isn't an endangered species act for American computer programmers.
What has the world come to when you can get arrested for just semi-naked protests where the President can see?
The problem isn't that John Kerry talked about Mary Cheney's lesbianism, it's that Lynne Cheney, Mary's mother, feels lesbianism is somehow bad. And Mary Cheney is staying silent (to my mind, a silence that says it all - she could demand and receive a Kerry apology if she insisted, but that would be a homophobe victory she can't tolerate, so she stays silent.)
By bringing lesbianism up in the debate, John Kerry took a risk, but he knew it would really irritate his opponents, and demonstrate their hypocrisy for all the world to see. Republicans love to dish it out but scream like girlie men when porked by the opposition. Because of Kerry's cojones, he deserves to be President.
Too bad there isn't an endangered species act for American computer programmers.
What has the world come to when you can get arrested for just semi-naked protests where the President can see?
Thursday, October 14, 2004
A Reprise of 1988
George W. Bush's 2004 community college sunny cluelessness reminds me of Michael Dukakis' 1988 bloodless cluelessness when asked how he'd respond if his wife was raped. In both cases a sympathetic figure was presented (an unemployed worker; a violated woman) and both times the candidates didn't get it. Hooray for Bob Schieffer: like Bernard Shaw in 1988, Bob got one right for once! Time to give Bush the Dukakis treatment.
George W. Bush's 2004 community college sunny cluelessness reminds me of Michael Dukakis' 1988 bloodless cluelessness when asked how he'd respond if his wife was raped. In both cases a sympathetic figure was presented (an unemployed worker; a violated woman) and both times the candidates didn't get it. Hooray for Bob Schieffer: like Bernard Shaw in 1988, Bob got one right for once! Time to give Bush the Dukakis treatment.
Worst Bush Gaffe of the Night
Sunny and clueless remarks that will haunt Bush the way Gerald Ford was haunted by saying the Soviets didn't dominate Poland in the 1976 presidential debate with Carter.
Outsourcing hits particularly hard young-to-middle-aged technical workers who completed their educations not that long ago. These are the folks that just got out of community college! They lose their jobs because eager foreigners are available to do the work for a fraction of the wages. Getting reeducated won't help if new jobs are unavailable, because long-term job investments featuring R&D have been neglected. Recommending education as a panacea borders on insult, and segueing to elementary education doesn't address the question.
Bush will pay for his blithe contempt for the modern American worker.
-------------------------------------------
SCHIEFFER: Let's go to a new question, Mr. President. Two minutes. And let's continue on jobs.
You know, there are all kind of statistics out there, but I want to bring it down to an individual. Mr. President, what do you say to someone in this country who has lost his job to someone overseas who's being paid a fraction of what that job paid here in the United States?
BUSH: I'd say, Bob, I've got policies to continue to grow our economy and create the jobs of the 21st century. And here's some help for you to go get an education. Here's some help for you to go to a community college.
We've expanded trade adjustment assistance. We want to help pay for you to gain the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.
You know, there's a lot of talk about how to keep the economy growing. We talk about fiscal matters. But perhaps the best way to keep jobs here in America and to keep this economy growing is to make sure our education system works.
I went to Washington to solve problems. And I saw a problem in the public education system in America. They were just shuffling too many kids through the system, year after year, grade after grade, without learning the basics.
And so we said: Let's raise the standards. We're spending more money, but let's raise the standards and measure early and solve problems now, before it's too late.
No, education is how to help the person who's lost a job. Education is how to make sure we've got a workforce that's productive and competitive.
Got four more years, I've got more to do to continue to raise standards, to continue to reward teachers and school districts that are working, to emphasize math and science in the classrooms, to continue to expand Pell Grants to make sure that people have an opportunity to start their career with a college diploma.
And so the person you talked to, I say, here's some help, here's some trade adjustment assistance money for you to go a community college in your neighborhood, a community college which is providing the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. And that's what I would say to that person.
SCHIEFFER: Senator Kerry?
KERRY: I want you to notice how the president switched away from jobs and started talking about education principally.
Let me come back in one moment to that, but I want to speak for a second, if I can, to what the president said about fiscal responsibility.
Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country.
(LAUGHTER)
This president has taken a $5.6 trillion surplus and turned it into deficits as far as the eye can see. Health-care costs for the average American have gone up 64 percent; tuitions have gone up 35 percent; gasoline prices up 30 percent; Medicare premiums went up 17 percent a few days ago; prescription drugs are up 12 percent a year.
But guess what, America? The wages of Americans have gone down. The jobs that are being created in Arizona right now are paying about $13,700 less than the jobs that we're losing.
And the president just walks on by this problem. The fact is that he's cut job-training money. $1 billion was cut. They only added a little bit back this year because it's an election year.
They've cut the Pell Grants and the Perkins loans to help kids be able to go to college.
They've cut the training money. They've wound up not even extending unemployment benefits and not even extending health care to those people who are unemployed.
I'm going to do those things, because that's what's right in America: Help workers to transition in every respect.
Sunny and clueless remarks that will haunt Bush the way Gerald Ford was haunted by saying the Soviets didn't dominate Poland in the 1976 presidential debate with Carter.
Outsourcing hits particularly hard young-to-middle-aged technical workers who completed their educations not that long ago. These are the folks that just got out of community college! They lose their jobs because eager foreigners are available to do the work for a fraction of the wages. Getting reeducated won't help if new jobs are unavailable, because long-term job investments featuring R&D have been neglected. Recommending education as a panacea borders on insult, and segueing to elementary education doesn't address the question.
Bush will pay for his blithe contempt for the modern American worker.
-------------------------------------------
SCHIEFFER: Let's go to a new question, Mr. President. Two minutes. And let's continue on jobs.
You know, there are all kind of statistics out there, but I want to bring it down to an individual. Mr. President, what do you say to someone in this country who has lost his job to someone overseas who's being paid a fraction of what that job paid here in the United States?
BUSH: I'd say, Bob, I've got policies to continue to grow our economy and create the jobs of the 21st century. And here's some help for you to go get an education. Here's some help for you to go to a community college.
We've expanded trade adjustment assistance. We want to help pay for you to gain the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.
You know, there's a lot of talk about how to keep the economy growing. We talk about fiscal matters. But perhaps the best way to keep jobs here in America and to keep this economy growing is to make sure our education system works.
I went to Washington to solve problems. And I saw a problem in the public education system in America. They were just shuffling too many kids through the system, year after year, grade after grade, without learning the basics.
And so we said: Let's raise the standards. We're spending more money, but let's raise the standards and measure early and solve problems now, before it's too late.
No, education is how to help the person who's lost a job. Education is how to make sure we've got a workforce that's productive and competitive.
Got four more years, I've got more to do to continue to raise standards, to continue to reward teachers and school districts that are working, to emphasize math and science in the classrooms, to continue to expand Pell Grants to make sure that people have an opportunity to start their career with a college diploma.
And so the person you talked to, I say, here's some help, here's some trade adjustment assistance money for you to go a community college in your neighborhood, a community college which is providing the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. And that's what I would say to that person.
SCHIEFFER: Senator Kerry?
KERRY: I want you to notice how the president switched away from jobs and started talking about education principally.
Let me come back in one moment to that, but I want to speak for a second, if I can, to what the president said about fiscal responsibility.
Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country.
(LAUGHTER)
This president has taken a $5.6 trillion surplus and turned it into deficits as far as the eye can see. Health-care costs for the average American have gone up 64 percent; tuitions have gone up 35 percent; gasoline prices up 30 percent; Medicare premiums went up 17 percent a few days ago; prescription drugs are up 12 percent a year.
But guess what, America? The wages of Americans have gone down. The jobs that are being created in Arizona right now are paying about $13,700 less than the jobs that we're losing.
And the president just walks on by this problem. The fact is that he's cut job-training money. $1 billion was cut. They only added a little bit back this year because it's an election year.
They've cut the Pell Grants and the Perkins loans to help kids be able to go to college.
They've cut the training money. They've wound up not even extending unemployment benefits and not even extending health care to those people who are unemployed.
I'm going to do those things, because that's what's right in America: Help workers to transition in every respect.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Debate 3
First impression: Kerry won in a walk.
Second impression: I think Bush inadvertently made a terrible error. In regards to what to do about people who have lost their job due to outsourcing, Bush emphasized the importance of education in retraining for the jobs of the future. The trouble is, unemployment from outsourcing principally strikes young to middle-aged technical workers who completed their education just a few years ago. Do you realize how insulting and angering it is to be told to return to school? These unemployed folks have to pay back their current burden of student loans, and they are supposed to sign up for some more? These folks already trained for the jobs of the future, but the future has been snatched from them by short-term thinking, in-it-for-stock-value people who just happened to be their superiors.
Education was the stock answer of America's industrial challenge of the 1980's, and it is heartening to see that Bush is only 20 years out-of-date. Nevertheless, with his blithe cluelessness, Bush demonstrated that he doesn't understand the world of this decade, and like his father with the automated supermarket checkout, is really fit only for retirement.
Third Impression: Bush's hopeful sentiments for a bright, happy future are charming, but there are so many broken covenants regarding Iraq and OBL that he has little credibility left. I suspect people will smile at his vision and vote instead for their real future, for Kerry.
First impression: Kerry won in a walk.
Second impression: I think Bush inadvertently made a terrible error. In regards to what to do about people who have lost their job due to outsourcing, Bush emphasized the importance of education in retraining for the jobs of the future. The trouble is, unemployment from outsourcing principally strikes young to middle-aged technical workers who completed their education just a few years ago. Do you realize how insulting and angering it is to be told to return to school? These unemployed folks have to pay back their current burden of student loans, and they are supposed to sign up for some more? These folks already trained for the jobs of the future, but the future has been snatched from them by short-term thinking, in-it-for-stock-value people who just happened to be their superiors.
Education was the stock answer of America's industrial challenge of the 1980's, and it is heartening to see that Bush is only 20 years out-of-date. Nevertheless, with his blithe cluelessness, Bush demonstrated that he doesn't understand the world of this decade, and like his father with the automated supermarket checkout, is really fit only for retirement.
Third Impression: Bush's hopeful sentiments for a bright, happy future are charming, but there are so many broken covenants regarding Iraq and OBL that he has little credibility left. I suspect people will smile at his vision and vote instead for their real future, for Kerry.
Leah Miller, CDF Firefighter
Last night, driving to Woodland from Sacramento for the first night's Nutcracker practice with this year's 'Clara', Megan Jackson from Robbins, it was hard to miss the glowering smoke plume and impressive sunset over the Capay Hills. I picked up a copy of the 'Daily Democrat' in the hope of finding a mention of Leah Miller, ballerina and firefighter, who lives in Madison, just a few miles below the fire. It seemed logical she might be up there in the hills, but you never know with CDF firefighters, since they get sent hither and yon to fight fires all over the West: she could well have been hundreds or thousands of miles away, in Oregon or Nevada.
Little did I know that Leah Miller was set to make a bigger media splash. Today she made the front page of the Metro section in the Sacramento Bee, in her trendy yellow jacket, as she wrestles the Capay fire to the ground. Leah is the most gung-ho, robust, personable, and above all, lovely girl I've had the pleasure to work with over the last decade in Woodland. Go Leah!
Meanwhile, the heedless gamblers at Cache Creek Casino are completely unfazed by the nearby fire. There are probably taking odds, even now, on the casino ignition temperature.
CDF firefighter Leah Miller of the CDF Brooks Station uses a drip torch Tuesday, Oct. 12, while "fireing out" an area to hold a road (an effort to contain the oncoming blaze by starving it of fuel), as the Rumsey Fire continues to burn nearly 30,000 acres in Yolo and Napa counties. Photo by Lezlie Sterling.
Last night, driving to Woodland from Sacramento for the first night's Nutcracker practice with this year's 'Clara', Megan Jackson from Robbins, it was hard to miss the glowering smoke plume and impressive sunset over the Capay Hills. I picked up a copy of the 'Daily Democrat' in the hope of finding a mention of Leah Miller, ballerina and firefighter, who lives in Madison, just a few miles below the fire. It seemed logical she might be up there in the hills, but you never know with CDF firefighters, since they get sent hither and yon to fight fires all over the West: she could well have been hundreds or thousands of miles away, in Oregon or Nevada.
Little did I know that Leah Miller was set to make a bigger media splash. Today she made the front page of the Metro section in the Sacramento Bee, in her trendy yellow jacket, as she wrestles the Capay fire to the ground. Leah is the most gung-ho, robust, personable, and above all, lovely girl I've had the pleasure to work with over the last decade in Woodland. Go Leah!
Meanwhile, the heedless gamblers at Cache Creek Casino are completely unfazed by the nearby fire. There are probably taking odds, even now, on the casino ignition temperature.
CDF firefighter Leah Miller of the CDF Brooks Station uses a drip torch Tuesday, Oct. 12, while "fireing out" an area to hold a road (an effort to contain the oncoming blaze by starving it of fuel), as the Rumsey Fire continues to burn nearly 30,000 acres in Yolo and Napa counties. Photo by Lezlie Sterling.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Weather Gods Finally Locate and Pummel Bothersome Geophysicists
A horrific hailstorm struck Socorro, New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon October 5, 2004, striking particularly hard in the vicinity of the campus of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (aka NM Tech: I attended my freshman and sophomore years there in the mid-70's). Courtesy of ex-Techie John Wright in Oklahoma comes an E-Mail from Socorro 6th-grade teacher Candy Lindquist detailing some of the damage:
This sort of event is very unusual, maybe unprecedented, in New Mexico, and probably indicates extreme displeasure at some level in the supernatural realm. Here is a photo displaying the wide diversity of the tennis and baseball-sized hailstones that hit the ground:
Photo courtesy Prof. Richard Sonnenfeld, NM Tech. (More images, plus some AMAZING video are available at Dr. Sonnenfeld's Tech web-site).
A horrific hailstorm struck Socorro, New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon October 5, 2004, striking particularly hard in the vicinity of the campus of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (aka NM Tech: I attended my freshman and sophomore years there in the mid-70's). Courtesy of ex-Techie John Wright in Oklahoma comes an E-Mail from Socorro 6th-grade teacher Candy Lindquist detailing some of the damage:
The worst damage was in the Tech area. Friends who live on "faculty hill" have many serious roof problems, among lots of other problems. Although our students weren't hurt, thank God, a lot of windows were broken in one building of my school (not mine, through some miracle), and many cars are a mess. (My school is near Tech.) And this is true for many, many cars all over Socorro! There was flooding in the streets, no power in the main part of town, etc. It was incredible!
At the time of the storm, I was with my 6th graders. They screamed like banshees, scared and excited. At points they hid under the table--v. good. We are in portables, and this stuff pounding on the roof and slamming against the doors and windows was beyond anything. I actually had to pull one kid away from the door several times--he was determined to go outside &, presumably, get his brains knocked out! (After the worst of it was over, the kids loved seeing the layers of the hailstones--what an opportunity!)
This sort of event is very unusual, maybe unprecedented, in New Mexico, and probably indicates extreme displeasure at some level in the supernatural realm. Here is a photo displaying the wide diversity of the tennis and baseball-sized hailstones that hit the ground:
Photo courtesy Prof. Richard Sonnenfeld, NM Tech. (More images, plus some AMAZING video are available at Dr. Sonnenfeld's Tech web-site).
Luau Extravaganza
Went to the big luau at the Red Lion Inn yesterday (a fundraiser for Interact Theater, KVIE TV, and also a birthday party for Genevieve Shiroma, SMUD Board member and local activist).
As Ola Na Iwi cast members, we were thrust into the important task of selling raffle tickets. It was OK: I made myself helpful by ripping apart raffle ticket stubs.
The food was great, but peripatetic Whyt appeared to skip the yummy pork, focusing on the rice and assorted vegetables. After two glasses of wine, I stopped worrying about the breezy day, occasional flying napkins, and the pork stain on my shirt. Maria and I talked about bruises: after tech week and opening weekend, she has some on her knees from the "Kawehi Go Boom" scene (Act 2, Scene 15). Ben was in the unaccustomed position of watching his former band play on the stage, and Eva chased her grandaughter around.
Heddy was everywhere, but Dennis preferred to stick close to George Takei (Star Trek's Mr. Sulu). Mr. Takei gave a rambling, praiseworthy speech, but like any Hollywood notable transplanted incongruously into the Central Valley, seemed slightly out of the local loop. Never mind. It was fun seeing him. I introduced myself to Genevieve Shiroma and was surprised she already seemed to know who I was (from last year's gubernatorial run - as a local politico, she appears to pay very close attention to the comings and goings of even obscure locals).
The live auction was interesting: some reluctance to bid on the fancy dinner, more interest in the trip for two to Maui, but no interest at all in the estate planning offer (like myself, everyone in attendance must have felt they would be immortal, and thus had no need for the service). Then the Ola Na Iwi cast sang "Hawaii Aloha," the first time ever to live musical accompaniment, and then it was off to Davis, for the latest theater kerfuffle there.
Went to the big luau at the Red Lion Inn yesterday (a fundraiser for Interact Theater, KVIE TV, and also a birthday party for Genevieve Shiroma, SMUD Board member and local activist).
As Ola Na Iwi cast members, we were thrust into the important task of selling raffle tickets. It was OK: I made myself helpful by ripping apart raffle ticket stubs.
The food was great, but peripatetic Whyt appeared to skip the yummy pork, focusing on the rice and assorted vegetables. After two glasses of wine, I stopped worrying about the breezy day, occasional flying napkins, and the pork stain on my shirt. Maria and I talked about bruises: after tech week and opening weekend, she has some on her knees from the "Kawehi Go Boom" scene (Act 2, Scene 15). Ben was in the unaccustomed position of watching his former band play on the stage, and Eva chased her grandaughter around.
Heddy was everywhere, but Dennis preferred to stick close to George Takei (Star Trek's Mr. Sulu). Mr. Takei gave a rambling, praiseworthy speech, but like any Hollywood notable transplanted incongruously into the Central Valley, seemed slightly out of the local loop. Never mind. It was fun seeing him. I introduced myself to Genevieve Shiroma and was surprised she already seemed to know who I was (from last year's gubernatorial run - as a local politico, she appears to pay very close attention to the comings and goings of even obscure locals).
The live auction was interesting: some reluctance to bid on the fancy dinner, more interest in the trip for two to Maui, but no interest at all in the estate planning offer (like myself, everyone in attendance must have felt they would be immortal, and thus had no need for the service). Then the Ola Na Iwi cast sang "Hawaii Aloha," the first time ever to live musical accompaniment, and then it was off to Davis, for the latest theater kerfuffle there.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Debate 2
The most interesting thing about Debate 2 was Bush speaking in code to the anti-abortion movement, with his Dred Scott remark, about his eagerness to appoint anti-Roe-vs.-Wade Supreme Court Justices. Bush's campaign has been remarkable in its effort to turn out his base, even at the risk of alienating everybody else.
The most interesting thing about Debate 2 was Bush speaking in code to the anti-abortion movement, with his Dred Scott remark, about his eagerness to appoint anti-Roe-vs.-Wade Supreme Court Justices. Bush's campaign has been remarkable in its effort to turn out his base, even at the risk of alienating everybody else.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Vanity Fair Election Special
I just read the gripping article in the current issue of Vanity Fair, summarized here:
A very disturbing article, particularly regarding how the Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has been carefully cosseted by right-wing clerks in order to be guided to predictable right-wing opinions. Chaos after this election may be nearly inevitable, given the horrible precedent of Bush v. Gore in 2000.
I just read the gripping article in the current issue of Vanity Fair, summarized here:
The 2000 Supreme Court decision that put George W. Bush in the White House capped the most disturbing and confusing fiasco in recent U.S. political history. Through the eyes of the shocked clerks of some of the justices, Florida election workers, and an outraged African-American community, David Margolick, Evgenia Peretz, and Michael Shnayerson get a clear look at how voters were disenfranchised—and investigate the chance of similar chaos next month.
A very disturbing article, particularly regarding how the Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has been carefully cosseted by right-wing clerks in order to be guided to predictable right-wing opinions. Chaos after this election may be nearly inevitable, given the horrible precedent of Bush v. Gore in 2000.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Sinclair Creeps
According to today's Sacramento Bee, local CBS affiliate KOVR TV 13 is one of the stations ordered by Sinclair Communications (led by sex creep David Smith) to air anti-Kerry propaganda just before Election Day. Time to kick KOVR, swift and hard.
According to today's Sacramento Bee, local CBS affiliate KOVR TV 13 is one of the stations ordered by Sinclair Communications (led by sex creep David Smith) to air anti-Kerry propaganda just before Election Day. Time to kick KOVR, swift and hard.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Saddam's "Ho"
The blogosphere is positively brilliant today:
How Halliburton under Dick Cheney made bucks subverting U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
Blistering sarcasm regarding Paul Bremer's punishment, after speaking truthfully for once, plus this phony election-season Breslan panic regarding terrorists and U.S. schools.
The blogosphere is positively brilliant today:
How Halliburton under Dick Cheney made bucks subverting U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
Blistering sarcasm regarding Paul Bremer's punishment, after speaking truthfully for once, plus this phony election-season Breslan panic regarding terrorists and U.S. schools.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Telling the Policymakers What They Want To Hear
I just read the fine article in Sunday's New York Times regarding how the White House and the CIA embraced the centrifuge theory, not the rocket theory, as the end-use for Iraqi anodized aluminum tubes seized in Jordan in 2001, even though all the American centrifuge experts at the Energy Department rejected the centrifuge hypothesis outright.
Like the Space Shuttle engineers worried about foam-impact damage to the Columbia, or O-ring problems on the Challenger, the Energy Department experts were thrust, by the CIA, into the position of having to prove a negative proposition, that the tubes couldn't be used for centrifuges, an inherently difficult, even impossible argument to make, especially when no one wanted to hear it.
Of course, all the CIA was doing was whipping the bureaucracies into line to support war-making rationales they knew the Bush Administration wanted to hear (even though their job isn't to whip anybody, but to analyze intelligence). It didn't help, of course, that Iraqi expatriate nuclear engineers like Dr. Hamza were beating the war drum with congressional testimony televised on C-SPAN.
I just read the fine article in Sunday's New York Times regarding how the White House and the CIA embraced the centrifuge theory, not the rocket theory, as the end-use for Iraqi anodized aluminum tubes seized in Jordan in 2001, even though all the American centrifuge experts at the Energy Department rejected the centrifuge hypothesis outright.
Like the Space Shuttle engineers worried about foam-impact damage to the Columbia, or O-ring problems on the Challenger, the Energy Department experts were thrust, by the CIA, into the position of having to prove a negative proposition, that the tubes couldn't be used for centrifuges, an inherently difficult, even impossible argument to make, especially when no one wanted to hear it.
Of course, all the CIA was doing was whipping the bureaucracies into line to support war-making rationales they knew the Bush Administration wanted to hear (even though their job isn't to whip anybody, but to analyze intelligence). It didn't help, of course, that Iraqi expatriate nuclear engineers like Dr. Hamza were beating the war drum with congressional testimony televised on C-SPAN.
Andrew Sullivan's 'Simple' Question (or Two Questions, Actually)
Andrew Sullivan is polling his readership regarding two perplexities of the Iraqi War:
Andrew Sullivan is polling his readership regarding two perplexities of the Iraqi War:
Why did the administration leave weapons sites unguarded for so long? Why did they not send enough troops to secure the borders? I'm still baffled. And rattled. Can anyone explain?
It is an interesting analytical challenge. Here is my response:
My answer to your 'simple' question is that the invasion wasn't about WMD and it wasn't about international terrorism. After all, you never invade countries that may have nuclear arms, for obvious reasons (e.g., N. Korea). Iraq didn't have nuclear arms, and the Bush Administration knew it in advance. Thus, there were no nuclear weapons sites to secure worth making it a top priority of the U.S. military.
Regarding less fearsome chemical and biological weapons, the Administration expected our military to decapitate the Baathist leadership and thus paralyze use of the weapons until they could be secured, along with the nuclear materials, at leisure. Compared to the rest of the Arab world, Iraq's totalitarian past and unusual disconnect from international jihadist movements, plus Sadam's paranoia, made transfer of weapons to terrorists seem a rather remote possibility. And we didn't anticipate anarchy, so rampant theft wasn't anticipated either. We feared cooperation between Baathists and terrorists, but those links didn't get forged until after our invasion.
After the war, securing Iraq's borders would have meant interfering with the Najaf pilgrimage and coffin trade, principally with Iran, which would have been injurious to the interests of our favored ex-patriot, Ahmad Chalabi. Besides, cross-border traffic has always served as a subversive anti-Baathist influence in Iraqi politics, and we favor free movement after decades of dictatorship. So the borders remain unpatrolled.
So why did we invade? A grateful Iraqi population would assist the U.S.:
- secure physical control of large oil fields (more important than ever as we reach peak worldwide pumping capacity);
- serve as an experimental laboratory to introduce democracy and make the region safe for international business;
- defang destabilizing Arab anti-Westernism and anti-Semitism with a successful example of U.S./Arab cooperation;
- serve as a geographic base for the U.S. military.
All worthwhile objectives, very daring, but completely at odds with the ancient and modern history of Iraq and the region, and thus with no possibility of success. Americans have a blind spot in this regard: we think that fortune will favor effort, but 'tain't always so. Plus it doesn't address international jihadism at all: September 11th hardly factors in at all, except as a providential opportunity. It was Woodrow Wilson all over again, but with Pottery Barn rules in effect. What Pandora's Box have we broken?
The Recall Candidates: One Year Later!
Courtesy of Diana Foss:
Courtesy of Diana Foss:
Here on the first anniversary of the election, we're back in the news. Here's an article about Jack Grisham and here's one featuring more candidates.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Admirable, but Just So Naive
Before too much goes by, I'd like to recommend the cover story in the Sept. 19th New York Times Magazine concerning Oklahoma lawyer Fern Holland and her crusade to empower Iraqi women. Her feminist vision was a latter-day echo of Woodrow Wilson, and she attacked her project with robust energy, but she was an idealistic all-American in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Before too much goes by, I'd like to recommend the cover story in the Sept. 19th New York Times Magazine concerning Oklahoma lawyer Fern Holland and her crusade to empower Iraqi women. Her feminist vision was a latter-day echo of Woodrow Wilson, and she attacked her project with robust energy, but she was an idealistic all-American in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Giggles
I just couldn't keep my composure last night at "Ola Na Iwi" rehearsal at the Eagle Theater in Old Sacramento. I was wearing a felt flat-brim hat, under a shroud, beneath a donkey's-head mask. I couldn't see damned thing. Then I announced, "Here we are!" The absurdity of each word, individually and as a phrase, struck me as hysterical - I felt like Stevie Wonder headlining the Super Bowl halftime show - and from me, the giggles spread to the rest of the cast. Thank goodness opening isn't till Saturday!
I just couldn't keep my composure last night at "Ola Na Iwi" rehearsal at the Eagle Theater in Old Sacramento. I was wearing a felt flat-brim hat, under a shroud, beneath a donkey's-head mask. I couldn't see damned thing. Then I announced, "Here we are!" The absurdity of each word, individually and as a phrase, struck me as hysterical - I felt like Stevie Wonder headlining the Super Bowl halftime show - and from me, the giggles spread to the rest of the cast. Thank goodness opening isn't till Saturday!
Republicans and the Draft
It is entirely plausible that a draft will be reinstated after the election, provided George W. Bush wins. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska recently called for exactly that.
In late-April or early-May, just as the Abu Ghraib mess was taking hold, I heard Rush Limbaugh himself suggest the desirability of a draft (can't yet locate a transcript, however). I had a creepy, hair-raising feeling I was listening to a White-House-approved trial balloon, a GOP talking point for the future. The creepiness was heightened by murky darkness: I was listening to the rebroadcast of Rush's earlier daytime show, on KFBK-1510 AM, at about 10 p.m., as I drove from Davis to Sacramento across the I-80 Yolo causeway.
Despite the recent House vote to kill New York Democrat Chuck Rangel's fairness-inspired draft bill (which had been sidelined for over a year until the GOP saw its partisan attack value and rushed it to the floor, forcing even Rangel himself to vote against it), a re-elected Bush administration will likely bring the draft back at the first politically opportune moment.
It is entirely plausible that a draft will be reinstated after the election, provided George W. Bush wins. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska recently called for exactly that.
In late-April or early-May, just as the Abu Ghraib mess was taking hold, I heard Rush Limbaugh himself suggest the desirability of a draft (can't yet locate a transcript, however). I had a creepy, hair-raising feeling I was listening to a White-House-approved trial balloon, a GOP talking point for the future. The creepiness was heightened by murky darkness: I was listening to the rebroadcast of Rush's earlier daytime show, on KFBK-1510 AM, at about 10 p.m., as I drove from Davis to Sacramento across the I-80 Yolo causeway.
Despite the recent House vote to kill New York Democrat Chuck Rangel's fairness-inspired draft bill (which had been sidelined for over a year until the GOP saw its partisan attack value and rushed it to the floor, forcing even Rangel himself to vote against it), a re-elected Bush administration will likely bring the draft back at the first politically opportune moment.
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