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Oh, How I Wish . . .

this to be real.

Watch Obama on Intelligence

From today’s WSJ:

President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party.

This is likely just an opening salvo from one (of many sides) in a war over the future of our government, but this should serve as a wake-up call to those Obama supporters who are willing to just sit back and “trust him” on most everything.  Who’s driving this particular story?

Mr. Obama is being advised largely by a group of intelligence professionals, including some who have supported Republicans, and centrist former officials in the Clinton administration.

That is to say, largely those that have a vested interest in the status quo, and a future interest in the contractors that support it.  Add them together with Obama’s demonstrated cautious nature, and the inevitable bias towards keeping power that has already accured to the office, and we’ve got a problem.  He may yet surprise and please.  But it’s something to watch carefully.

If the Taiwanese Can Do It . . .

Yesterday, in Taiwan:

Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian was led away in handcuffs Tuesday after investigators questioned him for more than five hours in connection with a lengthy money laundering probe.

This post over at Booman Tribune - Treat DC as a Crime Scene - has been linked a lot, mostly in bitter amusement.  But I’d take its prescriptions as an entirely reasonable start.  Some might read this and think that I’m overreacting, or that perhaps we’d be better off with more magnanimity in victory.  No.  There is no shortage of reasonable suspicion pointing to real and actual crimes by this Administration (up to and including the President).  Further, what we’d be better off with - both now and in the future - is a clear demonstration that we are a nation ruled by laws, not men.  Fear of prosecution for breaking the law should be universal - whether you’re a member of the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration, or any future administration.

With God On Our Side, 2008 Version

Bob Dylan’s With God On Our Side recently reentered my regular music rotation when Vivian Paige linked to this thoughtful piece on the election - and peculiar reception, by some - of Barack Obama.   So, of course, it was that song that immediately came to mind today when Boing Boing posted this video of a Greek v. Armenian monk smackdown in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre:

According to the BBC:

Dressed in the vestments of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations, rival monks threw punches and anything they could lay their hands on.

The Greeks blamed the Armenians for not recognising their rights inside the holy site, while the Armenians said the Greeks had violated one of their traditional ceremonies.

Personally, I find
who-would-win-in-a-fight-between-Superman-and-Spiderman speculation far more useful.  Alas, folks like these monks prefer the live-action version of that argument.

(I do admit to wondering, though, what would have happened if some Turkish Orthodox monks were rolling by when this went down.)

Miriam Makeba Passes

From the Guardian & Mail:

South African singer Miriam Makeba, “one of the greatest songstresses of our time”, died on Sunday night after collapsing as she left the stage following a performance in Italy, the Foreign Minister said on Monday.

“One of the greatest songstresses of our time, Miriam Makeba, has ceased to sing. Miriam Makeba, South Africa’s Goodwill Ambassador, died performing what she did best — an ability to communicate a positive message through the art of singing,” said South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

“Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid colonialism through the art of song.”

I’ve featured her music here before, including one of her most famous hits, Pata Pata (this is a great performance she gave in Brazil, 1967):

Remembrance Sunday

Photo by smcgee.

Recommended: Ethicurean

While I don’t often write about it, I’ve always been interested in the hows and whys of the food that arrives at my table.   My grandfather was a stockyard worker, and it was early in my life that I followed a pig from the stockyard to the back of his truck to the slaughterhouse to the butchering table to my dinner plate.  It was a good lesson in the costs, choices, and implications of what I ate then, and has remained something of a framework in my choices about what I eat now.  I’ve never been particularly evangelical about my food choices, and my interest in the ethics of food production and consumption have generally been limited to wanting to ensure that my own choices were consistent with my values.  But the recent reemergence of food supply as a political issue (if you’re in the US or Europe, you might not have noticed it, but it’s definitely becoming a problem) has heightened my interest in food policy and supply.  I’ve encountered some difficulty in getting useful and interesting analysis, though.  This subject area tends to attract a lot of what I call “true believer” authors who are steadfastly dedicated to their cause (organic farming, local sourcing, etc.) to the exclusion of all other perspectives.  While these folks occasionally produce an interesting read, I don’t come away feeling like I’ve got any better understanding of the bigger issues.

Enter Ethicurean.  I only recently discovered it when a regular read linked this summary of Obama’s various food policy-related positions.  I found it well written, and as I poked around the site for a bit more, I found a good mix of big picture policy pieces and this-cheese-shop-is-great bits.  Despite multiple authors, it’s got a consistently informed tone that I quite appreciate.  Maybe you will, too.  Give it a read.

Midweek Makeover: Writ Large Edition

Midweek makeover?  Forget that, today is a milestone makeover, and that’s probably underselling it.  No covers, either.  It’s the real thing.

Prop 8

The less I say about it right now, the better.  It’s a bitter edge on a day of great joy.  Not everything is counted, there will be various legal challenges, but it doesn’t at all look good.  This is one of many things we need to address in an America that just expressed a renewed committment to decency, and it should be right there near the top of the list of priorities.

Delivering on Hope

There remain many things to be said about the politics that resulted in yesterday’s massive vote for change.  And I’ll get to them.  But taking everything in is leaving me rather circumspect, at the moment.  Further, I’m very much looking forward to spending less time on politics, and more time on governing.  We placed an enormous amount of hope on Barack Obama last night, and now it’s time to make sure he delivers.  His election was not an end in and of itself.  It is - if we all do our part - a means to a better country and a better world.