You’ve heard it a million times, and I’m just going to say it again – you should be watching The Wire.
(For those of you who, like me, thought the season started out roughly: come back and catch up. Yesterday’s episode? Damn.)
Category: Society Page 53 of 69
Today, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. Maybe it’ll run as a back page story in American newspapers tomorrow. Or maybe it will find its way to the front soon, with talk of NATO security guarantees, Serbian demands, and Russian/American pressures. Doesn’t it all sound familiar? From Jasmina TeÅ¡anović, over at Boing Boing:
The Sirens :: 02.17.2008
It’s starting again: the language of war is the daily bread in Serbia. The sirens of nationalism are turned on again, as if nothing had changed in the eight years after Milosevic was toppled.
[ . . . ]
In Belgrade yesterday a thousand nationalists with Serbian flags marched downtown to the Slovenian embassy. Today, in front of the American embassy, potential riots were controlled by the police. In Kosovo province, two thousand policemen from EU mission will be deployed for 120 days until the situation “becomes stable.”
[ . . . ]
The president of the government with much harsher tones accused the US and EU of robbing Serbia of its territory, after destroying Serbia in 1999 with bombs. High ranked Orthodox priests also condemn the loss of their historical heritage. The members of the Serbian government tour Kosovo, encouraging Serbs to stay there. They could have done that eight years ago by coming to terms with the criminal ethnic cleansing.
Over and over again.
That was not a foul, woman! – A private high school in Kansas, center of American enlightenment, refuses to let a woman referee a high school boys’ basketball game, because – as described by the referees – the “[woman] could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy’s beliefs[.]” You know, I try not to mock people for their religious beliefs, but . . .
What could possibly go wrong? – Was I the only person that thought that, when hearing about the US plans to shoot down the satellite it says is falling out of orbit? When I first heard that the US was talking about the decaying orbit last month, it struck me as a bit odd – this isn’t really an Administration known for its open and straightforward approach. Well, surprise of surprises, it turns out that the claimed justification for shooting it down – dangerous gas clouds forming from the remaining satellite fuel – is most likely bullshit. Shocker. I’m giving it, at best, even money that they hit the damn thing on their first try.
Don’t like it? Tough. That, essentially, is how Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) office has responded to a request for an explanation of his vote for telecom immunity and the subsequent Senate FISA bill. Get the details (along with a tidy explanation of this history of FISA) in Mark Levine’s diary at Raising Kaine. I was particularly impressed with Webb staffer Jessica Smith’s attempt to get the proprietors of Raising Kaine to delete/edit what Mark wrote. Fortunately, the RK folks did the right thing and ignored her request, but it should put the rest of us on notice that this is something thought to be acceptable.
Well, okay. But just not when you’re hitting the ball. In response to this earlier article on the BOA’s attempt at muzzling its athletes, a Blacknell.net reader and friend sent in this Guardian story outlining BOA’s walking back of the restrictions. Apparently, athletes can say what they like, but just not when they’re in Beijing. I suspect that by the time we get to Beijing, the restrictions will be gutted (as they should be).
Take note, America.
The British Olympic Association (BOA) has decided that it needs to protect China’s feelings from British Olympic athletes:
British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China’s appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.
In case you’re wondering, no, neither the US, France, Australia, South Africa, or most any other civilized country imposes such requirements on its athletes.
Yesterday’s examination of Arlington’s call to “respect mah authoritah!” (warning: sound at that link) reminded me of another public document apparently following the design principle of “there can never be too much Red, White & Blue” – the new passport. Despite the fact that I was aware of the coming ugliness, I failed to renew my passport in time to take advantage of the old stock. Now, every time I open it, I expect it to act like one of those old musical cards, except this one plays a Toby Keith song. As you’ve probably heard a dozen times by now, yesterday was the first day that the US government started requiring passports for travel between Canada and the US. A little sad, really, when even countries like Germany and Poland (they’ve got a slightly different history . . . ) can manage to avoid such silliness.
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Speaking of travel – this is an excellent resource for vegetarians on their way to Japan (or a good sushi bar). It explains, in detail, how to make sure your meal arrives veg friendly (and that your options range beyond seaweed and rice).  I wish I’d seen this before I went to Tokyo, where I found ordering veg food a surprisingly difficult process.
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Looking for some new online reading? Check out WWI: Experiences of an English Soldier.  A relative has the full collection of Mr. William Henry Bosner Lanin’s letters home from the European theater, and is posting them exactly ninety years to the date they were written. It’s a really fascinating way to revisit the Great War.
This James Fallows article, The $1.4 Trillion Question, should be read by every American. Why? 
Through the quarter-century in which China has been opening to world trade, Chinese leaders have deliberately held down living standards for their own people and propped them up in the United States. This is the real meaning of the vast trade surplus—$1.4 trillion and counting, going up by about $1 billion per day—that the Chinese government has mostly parked in U.S. Treasury notes. In effect, every person in the (rich) United States has over the past 10 years or so borrowed about $4,000 from someone in the (poor) People’s Republic of China. Like so many imbalances in economics, this one can’t go on indefinitely, and therefore won’t. But the way it ends—suddenly versus gradually, for predictable reasons versus during a panic—will make an enormous difference to the U.S. and Chinese economies over the next few years, to say nothing of bystanders in Europe and elsewhere.
It’s incredibly hard not to quote the whole thing. In short, China affects the daily lives of Americans, and America affects the daily lives of the Chinese. The Chinese are beginning to understand this, but Americans seem blissfully ignorant (if not of the relationship, then definitely the possibly consequences). Seriously, take 15 minutes and give this a read. And then send the link to your friends.
Photo:Â The (decidedly privileged) Bund, Shanghai, 2004
Today brings us new Federal guidelines related the REAL ID Act. Passed in 2005, the Act purports to “prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of identification documents that State governments issue.” Well, that’s how the Department of Homeland Security puts it, anyway. And how is it going to accomplish that? Well, by essentially turning your state-issued driver’s license into a Federal national ID card. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m rather opposed to national ID cards, for a number of reasons:
- It’s a completely unnecessary invasion of my privacy. The REAL ID Act requires that my driver’s license contain machine readable biometric details, residential address, and hi-res picture of me. While my local DMV has a perfectly legitimate interest in having my details and address, the doorman to the Federal Trade Commission most certainly does not. And today’s rules make it clear that in order to enter any Federal building in 2014, the doorman will get those details. Further, before a REAL ID can be issued, the DMV will need to verify your birth certificate with the original issuing authority. Not so hard to do for me, perhaps, but my father? Not likely. And if someone else has used your Social Security number? Be prepared for a thorough government investigation into your identity.
- It creates one stop shopping for identity theft. Think not? Ask 25 million Britons how they feel about that. Sure, you can suffer from identity theft now, but there is no single repository that contains as much information about citizens as there would be in a post-REAL ID world.
- This is yet another industry-generated “security problem” in search of an industry-generated solution in the form of massive government contracts. Like so many other ineffective and pointless schemes to “keep us safe”, much of the impetus behind the REAL ID Act can be traced to the companies that would provide the technology and services to implement it. Digimarc (reaching beyond the DRM mines it has mastered) has latched onto the REAL ID Act, spending $350k to lobby for implementation of the REAL ID Act. And that was just in the first half of 2007. Further, the cost to state governments to implement the Act is massive. Oh, and remember that rule about showing REAL ID to get into a Federal building in 2014? Well, that’s only if you’re 50 or younger.  Clearly a system focused on safety, eh?
- Once this universal identity system is in place, it is ripe for expansion and abuse. This, by far, is my biggest problem with a national ID. I think we’ve got some pretty awful historical lessons in the abuses governments are capable of when they can clearly identify members of a given minority or collect and store information on individual citizens. Further, looking forward, I think there’s a real risk of limiting your access to communications and travel, depending on your identity. Don’t believe me? As far as DHS is concerned right now, unless you get one of these IDs, you’ll not be able to board a plane in 2014. And just wait until the MPAA/RIAA start convincing Congress that the way to cut down on piracy (and keep our children safe!) is requiring that everyone use their REAL IDs to log in when using the Internet.
So, what can you do?
- Well, you can learn more about the REAL ID Act and its impact. I hope I’ve given a good summary of the risks here, but many organizations have put a lot of work into summarizing and analyzing the impact. I recommend checking out EPIC’s and the ACLU’s REAL ID sites.
- You can urge your Senators and Representative to repeal the act. EFF makes that very easy, with this tool.
- You can urge your state to reject the REAL ID Act. In doing so, it would be joining 17 other states that have passed anti-REAL ID legislation. The results range from simply urging the Federal gov’t to repeal the act, to outright declarations that a state will not comply with the act. What’s happening in your state? Find out here. If you live in Virginia, you can urge your delegate to work with Del. Chris Peace (R-97) to improve HJ42.
Mark Story is a photographer sharing his latest work, Living in Three Centuries: The Face of Age, online. Most of the subjects are well over 100. Here’s your chance to look age in the face.
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“Have a Plan to Kill Everyone You Meet.” That’s the sign inside a Marine forward operating base in Fallujah, and it’s posted with little – if any – irony.  It also helps provide the narrative construct in this very well written article by journalist Michael Totten.
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Iggy Pop’s The Passenger + Peggy Lee’s Fever = musical brilliance. (really, follow this link)
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Early-bird registration for David Isenberg’s annual Freedom to Connect conference ends on Sunday. I’ve been to a number of Isenberg’s events over the years, and I cannot recommend them enough. If you’re interested in participating in a conversation (not simply hearing from) some of the top thinkers and actors in where the Internet is going, check it out. I’ll probably write more about this later, but thought I’d give the heads up on the end of early-bird registration now.