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Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Category: Society Page 58 of 69

Why the rush to praise Sen. Warner?

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On August 31, 2007

In Politics, Society, Virginia

I had friend in high school, and reading over the outpouring of praise for John Warner (here and elsewhere) brings to mind something she often said about her boyfriend – “But he’s really great when he’s not hitting me!”

Yeah.  Some things really shouldn’t be overlooked.

I really don’t understand this rush to praise – as decent and honorable – someone who hasn’t been that at all, when it’s come to the important things over the past six years.  Does it arise from some need to convince ourselves that there really are decent Republicans left out there?  The traditional aversion of the eyes from the bad that comes when someone announces a retirement?  Perhaps that he’s been your Senator for as long as you can remember?

What purpose does it serve to excuse his real and substantive failure to stand up for the Constitution, the military, and basic human decency these past few years?

Remember Richard Jewell

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On August 29, 2007

In Personal, Society

Richard Jewell, wrongly implicated in the bombing of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, died today:

Jewell, who was working as a sheriff’s deputy as recently as last year, was a security guard in 1996 at the Olympics in Atlanta. He was initially hailed as a hero for spotting a suspicious backpack in a park and moving people out of harm’s way just before a bomb exploded during a concert.

The blast killed one and injured 111 others.

Three days after the bombing, an unattributed report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described him as ”the focus” of the investigation.

Other media, to varying degrees, also linked Jewell to the investigation and portrayed him as a loser and law-enforcement wannabe who may have planted the bomb so he would look like a hero when he discovered it later.

I lived less than a mile from the bomb site, and had left the actual site only a couple of hours before the bomb exploded.  Like everyone else in Atlanta at the time, I was intensely focused on it.  And, also like everyone else, I soon became damn sure that Richard Jewell had done it, after listening to and reading all the reports.  Except:

Eventually, the bomber turned out to be anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph, who also planted three other bombs in the Atlanta area and in Birmingham, Ala. Those explosives killed a police officer, maimed a nurse and injured several other people.

Remember this, the next time you just “know” that someone did something.  I’m sorry, Mr. Jewell.  We did you wrong.

On Senator Craig

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On August 28, 2007

In Politics, Society

David Kurtz and a reader over at TPM cover pretty much all that’s worth saying about Sen. Larry Craig:

Look at the police report. Did he directly ask a cop for sex? No. Did he expose himself lewdly (as opposed to exposing himself to use the facilities)? No. Did he do anything that was unambiguously sexual? No.

All he did was tap his foot, reach down (possibly to pick up a piece of TP), wiggle his fingers, and put his bag in front of him when he sat down. Oh, and he waited in front of an occupied stall. Even if he did everything the cop said he did, where was the lewd conduct? No actual sex happened. No actual sex was discussed. And if it wasn’t for the sheer embarrassment of the situation, you’d be writing about the overzealous cop who arrested a sitting US Senator for no apparent reason.

You know, when this story came out and I read the details, I thought – huh, I was in the MSP airport a couple of weeks ago.  I did wait in front of a stall.  I did set my bag near the door.  And I did pick up a piece of paper (I dropped my boarding pass – believe me, I wouldn’t have picked anything else up).  I didn’t do a tap dance nor flash my US Senator card, so maybe that’s why I was safe.

But the bigger point is this:

If Craig was looking for sex, I hope that he can look into his heart and realize that it’s 2007, and gay people are allowed to be out, and even get involved in meaningful relationships that don’t begin and end in a squalid men’s room. I’d hope that he’d recognize that there are even gay Republicans out there (look at former Rep. Kolbe, for one), and that a lot of the stigma and fear that still exists about homosexuality in this society has to do with the behavior of people who are in the closet.

More Puppies!

By

On August 21, 2007

In Society

A comment in a thread elsewhere about Vick highlighted this Jen Sorenson cartoon, which is amusing – and then not so much, when you realize how right it probably is.

Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2007

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On August 19, 2007

In Law, Society, Travel

Howling Latina brings us up to date on the most recent efforts in Congress to get rid of the absolutely ridiculous prohibitions on American citizens traveling to Cuba.   It sounds like we might actually get somewhere on the matter.

I’ve never understood the point of this specific policy (beyond the Miami pandering and making Jesse Helms feel good).  I still remember cluing into the fact that my government actually prohibited me from traveling to another country.  It was right after we moved back from West Germany.  Where I’d been to East Germany.  Which was horrible because it wouldn’t let its people travel.

Yeah.

Friday Notes: Reviewing the Basics

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On August 10, 2007

In Cycling, Distribution, Law, Politics, Society

Josh Marshall asks an obvious question about the validity of a bill that was signed by the President, but not passed by the House or Senate. Is there really a question here? And if so – was I’m Just a Bill on Capitol Hill all a pack of lies?

Speaking of having to concern ourselves with things that ought not to have occurred in the first place, you’ve probably heard about the problem with Pearl Jam’s webcast performance this past Sunday. One of AT&T’s webcast editors apparently cut out parts of the performance that were critical of Bush (a few lines, it seems). AT&T is blaming an overzealous editor, and is claiming no nefarious intentions. Which I’m perfectly willing to believe. But it still leaves me asking: what kind of culture do we have where it makes sense to you – an editor covering a Lollapalooza concert, for godsake – to dump a few mildly critical lines about the President? Are you that afraid? That bitter? It makes no sense to me.

And in the category of things that make no sense, you might have seen the amusing video of CNBC financial show host Jim Cramer’s on-air meltdown. Actually, it was only amusing if you didn’t listen to the details of what he was going on about. If you actually listened to him, it was really sort of nauseating. Short version: my free-market titans got too greedy trying to make money off of loans that never should have been made, so now we need the Fed to bail us out. Funny how that works, no? And even funnier is this annotated video of his meltdown, which details the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

~

And the Discovery Channel cycling team is dead.  Despite their having the most recent Tour de France winner, 8 TdF wins, and a solid roster of riders, they couldn’t come up with a sponsor.   Huh.

Witness

By

On August 6, 2007

In Society

I’ve shown you my wounds
because I want you to know
this can’t happen again

-Sumiteru Taniguchi
Nagasaki, Japan

Buy, beg, borrow, or steal to do it – but be sure you watch this.

Friday Notes

By

On July 20, 2007

In Society, Travel

I have this little text file on my desktop that fills up with things I want to write about or pass along. I’ve come to realize that it’s where ideas go into permanent stasis. So, in the spirit of moving right along, here are a few things from it:

Engines of the World, Unite! BUYO does an excellent job of tackling a grave and serious problem:

I hate Thomas. These stories, written from the 1940s by an apparently rather crusty old vicar, seem to me to constantly harp on about how all the little engines should be obedient and “really useful” to the corpulent rich man who runs absolutely everything on the Island of Sodor. There are some really quite nasty punishments handed out to anybody who doesn’t conform (poor Bulstrode).

Anyway, I have to read these stories, so I decided to write my own Thomas story with a difference: “The Really Revolutionary Engine“.

You really should read the story. Via Racing Union.

~

Jakob Nielsen does an excellent job of explaining why what I’m doing right now is nearly worthless. Read and consider.

~

I know he’s so yesterday, but I nonetheless enjoyed this interview with cook/traveler/vegetarian-hater/author/hopefully-one-day-Rachel-Ray-slapper Anthony Bourdain.

~

And finally, one of my favorite authors points us to something good.

(One of the few reasons that I don’t make fun of the folks lining up for the Harry Potter book tonight is that I’ll be right there the moment I can put my hands on Spook Country.)

Nobody’s Afraid of Vegetarians

By

On July 11, 2007

In Society

Wired’s 27Bstroke6 blog informs us of the new DHS security threat menu, based on “gut feelings“:

Further thought:  would this make Kobayashi a WMD or our only hope?

€ > $ + £ 2x > $ = !?!?!?!?!

By

On July 10, 2007

In EU, Society, UK

I had a practical interest in the international currency exchanges at an early age.  When I was 10, my allowance came in US dollars, but the all the places I wanted to spend it at only accepted Deutsche Marks.   I had discovered that my one US dollar would get me much more in my hometown village of Eichenzell than it would get me at the US dollar store at the base exchange at Downs Barracks in Fulda.  That was the start of an understanding that would lead me to the thrills of the black market rates of the East German Marks when we went to Berlin, the generous exchange rate with Venezuelan Bolivars in the late 90s, and the joys of cheap Euro-denominated vacations in 2001.

But everything comes at a price, no?  I had an inkling this was coming, as my last trip back to England was pretty expensive.  But I wasn’t entirely prepared for this:

The euro rose to an all-time high against the yen and traded near a record versus the dollar on prospects the European Central Bank will signal plans to raise its benchmark interest rate at least once more this year.

[ . . . ]

The pound was near a 26-year high against the dollar on speculation the Bank of England will raise rates today.

[The Euro] was at $1.3614 against the dollar from $1.3613 yesterday and an all-time high $1.3681 reached on April 27.

[ . . . ]

The pound traded at $2.0152 after touching $2.0207 yesterday, the most since June 1981.

If you’re an American reading this, and don’t know why this matters to you, let me help – it means that it looks like you’re living on a soon to be third world currency.

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