July 30th, 2008
If so, take a few minutes to respond to the solicitation for feedback from the MDOT Office of Planning and Capital Programs below, please. Thanks.
Dear Friends and Supporters of Trails in Maryland,
I am very excited to let you know that MDOT is leading a strategic planning effort to guide development of a bicycle and pedestrian trail network that connects people to the places in which they live, work, and play. The plan will chart a course for Maryland’s state and local agencies to implement a seamless, multi-use trail system that can be used for transportation by bicyclists, pedestrians, runners and others. MDOT is committed to continue working with our local and state partners in this effort and we want your input in the plan development process to ensure that your plans, perspectives, needs and visions are included.
We have created two easy ways for you to provide input:
First, I invite you to complete a simple online survey. Click on the following link, which will take you to directly to the survey at the SurveyMonkey website. It will take just a few minutes to fill out.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=aFsezUukX8MtDQEpOXS3_2fQ_3d_3d
Second, through our project website, we provide an opportunity to use Google Maps to give us geographic information about where trail improvements and linkages are needed. Go to the website using the link below. You will find instructions there and a link to the Maryland Trails Google Map.
http://www.mdot.state.md.us/Planning/TSIP/trails.html
In addition to completing the survey yourself (and giving us ideas on a map), I want to encourage you to forward this invitation (by email or in newsletters) to your friends, colleagues and fellow members of bicycle, pedestrian or trail interest groups in which you are involved. The survey and map will remain open from now through September 30, 2008.
For more information about the project, I have attached a project announcement flyer that explains this exciting effort. You can also visit our project homepage at http://www.mdot.state.md.us/Planning/TSIP/index.html.
Sincerely,
Sylvia Ramsey
Manager Community Enhancements Programs
Office of Planning and Capital Programs
Maryland Department of Transportation
Sramsey1@mdot.state.md.us
July 30th, 2008
Glenn Greenwald has a nifty little piece up in which he highlights the hypocrisy of US lawmakers (like Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas)) who decry Chinese Internet monitoring efforts while supporting parallel programs here in the US.
July 29th, 2008
Waldo Jaquith does a bangup job of examining the gap between the fantasy line that the Bush Administration has been feeding the public for the last eight years, and the reality that’s going to smack the next administration:
There’s bad news on the economic front: Bush’s budget deficit will hit the half-billion dollar mark next year, which is precisely the opposite of what President Bush has been promising since he first sought the office.
Let’s take a look back at each year’s budget news since 2000, the year before President Bush took office.
Give it a look.
July 28th, 2008
I’m sure others will be going to town on this, but here’s a few gems (as ID’d by the Washington Post) from the DOJ IG’s report on the politicized hiring practices at DOJ:
Goodling regularly asked candidates for career jobs, “What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?”
And while that might be amusing, this most definitely isn’t:
In my view, the most damaging conclusion is this one from p. 136:
Goodling’s use of political considerations in connection with these details was particularly damaging to the Department because it resulted in high-quality candidates for important details being rejected in favor of less-qualified candidates. For example, an experienced career terrorism prosecutor was rejected by Goodling for a detail to EOUSA to work on counterterrorism issues because of his wife’s political affiliations. Instead, EOUSA had to select a much more junior attorney who lacked any experience in counterterrorism issues and who EOUSA officials believed was not qualified for the position.
There’s the money quote, folks. Bush official endangers national security for political purposes.
Remember, McCain and all his pathetic supporters are telling us that we’re supposed to trust the Republican Party to keep us safe. And they will! You know, unless the wife of the guy that is better at keeping us safe once said something some incompetent young staffer at DOJ didn’t like.
July 25th, 2008
Still not done with the project that’s keeping me, but (finally) making substantial progress. So back here soon, I think. In the meantime:
Hey, turns out that there’s lots and lots of oil in the Arctic, and whaddya know, all that troublesome ice that kept us from it before is disappearing. Now, the national lines up there aren’t entirely clear, but really, what’s Greenland going to do about it? Who’s up for a little Arctic Invasion?
~
Speaking of madness (and on a much more serious note), Bob Herbert’s column on Jane Mayer’s “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals”, has convinced me I need to pick up and read this book. In his view:
Americans still have not come to grips with this disastrous stain on the nation’s soul. It’s important that the whole truth eventually come out, and as many of the wrongs as possible be rectified.
Ms. Mayer, as much as anyone, is doing her part to pull back the curtain on the awful reality. “The Dark Side” is essential reading for those who think they can stand the truth.
~
On the subject of awful realities, I’ll again urge readers to give a few minutes to Vivian Paige’s (multipart) review of Tom Schaller’s Whistling Past Dixie. Simply offering practical solutions and better governance will not overcome the cultural beliefs and practices of some groups, and it’s time for the Democrats to stop banging their heads up that electoral wall. She’s got some very smart readers who, despite the best efforts of her resident trolls, could put together a very good discussion there. Pop in for a bit.
~
And on the topic of important discussions, it sounds like Congress actually took a few minutes to have one. Fifteen years (and how many wars?) has been more than enough time to demonstrate what an asinine policy Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has turned out to be.
July 24th, 2008
CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin did a series of reports about TSA’s practices in May, and guess what?
[S]hortly after I began a series of investigative reports critical of the TSA. Eleven flights now since May 19. On different airlines, my name pops up forcing me to go to the counter, show my identification, sometimes the agent has to make a call before I get my ticket,” Griffin reported. “What does the TSA say? Nothing, at least nothing on camera. Over the phone a public affairs worker told me again I’m not on the watch list, and don’t even think that someone in the TSA or anyone else is trying to get even.”
The TSA, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, said Griffin’s name wasn’t even on the watch list, and the agency blamed the airlines for the delays the reporter experienced. The airlines, on the other hand, said they were simply following a list provided by TSA.
Forced to clear himself 11 times in two months, just to get on a plane? Yeah, he’s not on the list at all. And it’s this sort of petty - yet effective - harrassment that will help subtly shape norms and discourse around TSA’s practices.
July 24th, 2008
When given the choice between advancing (admittedly troubled) counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, or making sure that Lockheed Martin gets a couple hundred million dollars, it’s an easy call for the Bush Administration.
July 21st, 2008
Here’s an interesting analysis of Google’s approach to privacy. The author, Scott Cleland, summarizes his testimony before Congress thusly:
Why Google’s the single biggest threat to Americans’ privacy today.
Case Study: How Google Systematically Threatens Americans’ Privacy:
1. Google’s radical “publicacy” mission is antithetical to privacy.
2. Privacy is not a priority in Google’s culture.
3. Google gives privacy “lip service.”
4. Google threatens the privacy of more people than most any other
entity.
5. Google collects/stores the most potential “blackmail-able”
information.
6. Google’s track record does not inspire trust.
Information is power. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts
absolutely. Google’s market power over private information is corrupting
Google, just like former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was corrupted by
his power and mastery of personally-sensitive information. Google’s
unprecedented arbitrage of privacy law combined with its exceptional
lack of accountability is fast creating this era’s privacy-invading,
unaccountable equivalent: “J. Edgar Google.”
More on this from me later, but I wanted to pass it on lest it get lost in the ever growing Draft Posts folder . . .
July 19th, 2008
Who better to opine on his plan for Iraq than the Iraqi Prime Minister?
(this kinda sweeps away the “general horizon” shellgame that the Bush Administration tried to float, doesn’t it?)
July 16th, 2008
I knew that we could expect some really ridiculous stuff getting shoveled out during the waning days of the Bush Administration, but this surprised even me.
