Here's a submission for the 'least exciting title in government' competition:

Associate Administrator for Administration for the Federal Highway Administration

I guess the only thing I can say about this posting on one of the listservs I subscribe to is -- huh? I'm half tempted to ask for more information. But, then again, the other half has more sense.

1 -- Crazy Boy - Empowered By Girls (MD/DC/VA)
Reply to: anon-19244216@craigslist.org
Wed Nov 12th

Do you have a teen-aged daughter who struggles with self esteem issues? Perhaps she is hanging with "the wrong crowd," or when conversating with her you just don't seem to connect. "Crazy Boy - Empowered By Girls" can help. We use science to help teen-aged girls through what is one of the toughest periods in life.

If interested, please e-mail us and we will give you information on our next workshop.

Peace and blessings!

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests this is in or around MD/DC/VA
This posting can be found at:
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/grp/19244216.html

Things have been absolutely crazy these last few days-- should have a few hours or so to breathe a little..

Got to hear the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni tonight at the "premiere" of the new travelogue he has produced with the help of the Discovery Channel. Of course, things were swept up and they only gave the most optimistic view of his rule and country but his time in power actually hasn't been all that bad for the Ugandans. (He came to power in a coup overthrowing Idi Amin but has now held generally free and fair elections.)

It should be showing on the Travel Channel in mid-December sometime. It's well done-- but don't let his role as the gruff guerilla leader and African head of state fool you-- he's really funny!

Going to crash soon, but this warranted a mention:

The German Post Office and Weltbild, a German publishing company, have teamed up to provide "witching hour delivery service" for the next German installment in the Harry Potter series. German Harry Potter fans can sign up for a service that will have the book delivered to their homes at the witching hour-- midnight-- of the day it is released to the public (Nov. 8).

No word yet on how many owls they're going to employ....

There is a small, metallic ladybug balloon with little legs and a bright red carapace trapped up in the vaulted ceiling of the 'Metro Center' station. When I saw it up there last week, I could just imagine a toddling little one losing grip of this sparkling treat in the onward crush of DC's metro system and seeing this wide-eyed balloon with its exaggerated antennae float out of reach to be trapped in the sprawling concrete arches.

Today, I happened to be walking through the same part of the station and the balloon was still there--its little legs dangling and body dented by lack of air.

I could see a little face, hanging up there in the arches. Deflated.

And now for a little bit of fun:

The stuff this guy/gal scripts is amazing!
I especially recommend checking out the eye and face scripts.

And in celebration of Halloween, here is an interview with Bill Kelly, Vice-Chairman of the Jelly Belly Company. It starts out talking about candy corn but listen for some insight into the mystery of the buttered popcorn jelly bean.

More soon.

In the line of fire:

One of my mom's first graders described the fire-line as the edge of a lava flow-- glowing and leaving ash and charred wreckage behind. We're not being affected, thank goodness, but we're just over the pass from the San Bernadino fires and not too far from the others. Some of my friends, however, aren't as lucky. This tragedy is more than blood red sunsets and huge clouds of smoke ringing the edges of my home valley. All of you are in my thoughts--if you need anything, I'm here.

The scary thing is that, for all the destruction they have wrought, the fires have only burned a fraction of the fuel that's out there. All the "Old" fire needs to do is hop over a ridgeline and there's a whole other set of heavily populated valleys full of dead, dry trees with hot, dry winds making things worse. It was 99 degrees at home a couple of days ago-- a pretty toasty end to October, even in the desert.

Here's what it looks like:



Keep in mind that this map is about 150 miles west to east.

*&!!@??!!^%!! Damn Dubya! Either he and his advisors are even bigger idiots than I thought or he is simply satan's spawn.

When the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, another ultra-conservative politician, was at Dubya's ranch in Crawford, TX, Dubya made a big show of praising Howard in general and specifically for his support for the invasion of Iraq and the "war on terr." (sic)

One of Bush's biggest ways of talking up his Australian counterpart was to call him a "man of steel."

Not a good man. Not a great leader. Not even a visionary. Specifically a "man of steel!!"

If you don't understand what I'm getting so worked up about, consider a certain someone who killed millions of his people by both enforced starvation and direct killing. Whose name is synonomous with extreme repression and brutal tyranny. He was also US enemy number one for a good chunk of the 20th century.

Consider the name Joseph Stalin. People who know Russian history or a little about the politics of the time will remember that "Stalin" was actually not his real name. He was born Iosip (Joseph) Djugashvili but started to use the surname "Stalin" for political effect.

What does "Stalin" mean? You guessed it. It translates into "Man of Steel."

And what did our current president call one of his closest allies in a speech yesterday in front of the Australian Parliament?

Five months ago, your Prime Minister was a distinguished visitor of ours in Crawford, Texas, at our ranch. You might remember that I called him a "man of steel." (Laughter.) That's Texan for "fair dinkum." (Laughter.) Prime Minister John Howard is a leader of exceptional courage, who exemplifies the finest qualities of one of the world's great democracies.

He even has the stupidity or gall to bring it up again!

Why does it feel like my life is a concerted attempt to thwart Occam's Razor?

Tomorrow will come. But the question is-- How will it leave us?

oy-- I hate office politics. Does anyone out there know of foreign policy openings that might fit? Thanks.

California Recall Results

Still in shock. Dreading the hangover.

Realize too though, California is a huge part of the rest of the country and the world. It's the most populous and has the largest representation in Congress. It's also the 5th largest economy (by itself) in the world.

This is not just a funny headline.

Congrats to all those Red Sox fans out there!

It was a nail-biter, as nearly all Sox games have turned out to be, but they atypically won.

The Sox closer, Derek Lowe, said, "It's not like anything I've ever felt before. It's a win for Boston, for the Red Sox nation.''
(Yahoo Sports 100603)

It's interesting for someone to mention specifically the possibility of a 'Red Sox nation.' And I'm not sure that it's that far from the truth either..

I've not been lazy in not writing-- quite the opposite. Things have actually been a bit overwhelming. Lets just hope they come out positive in the end.

Please let the voters of California make a sane decision tomorrow. Please let the voters of California make a sane decision tomorrow. Please let the voters of California make a sane decision tomorrow.

Wait a minute! What am I saying?

Please let there be a miracle! Please let there be a miracle! Please let there be a miracle!

Ahhh-- this is my first time that I've been able to log on to my blog in over a week, in what looks to be a problem with my cookie settings...

Lots has happened, so I'll prolly be putting up a long entry one of these days :-)

Be well!

I had a good time at a reception at the Chinese Embassy this evening. The ambassador made a good speech, the "cultural presentation" (film) was interesting, and they had a very good spread of Chinese food-- prawns, marinated beef, lots of fruit, fruit dumplings (all very delicious) and........ waffles. There were inch-square pieces of what looked and tasted like commercially produced waffles with little dabs of butter on top. It wasn't bad-- just different. Still strange seeing a platter of waffle pieces surrounded by dinner foods...


And as I was walking back to the metro from the embassy, I saw something that literally made me do a double-take. Imagine walking by a bus stop and seeing the following ad out of the corner of your eye:

Enjoy Better Sex!
Legalize and Tax Marijuana!

If you don't believe me, follow the link.

Speaking about marijuana-- read this story about how government-produced marijuana in Canada has been rejected by the terminally ill patients for which it was grown-- on the basis of its quality.

Going to find some hatches to batten down before Hurricane Isabel gets here....

Johnny Cash died early this morning in Nashville.

(from Folsom Prison Blues)

Well, if they freed me from this prison,
If that railroad train was mine,
I bet I'd move out over a little,
Farther down the line,
Far from Folsom Prison,
That's where I want to stay,
And I'd let that lonesome whistle,
Blow my Blues away.

Enjoy your freedom, Johnny.

0

Curiouser and curiouser....

Freeze! FBI!
(Washington Post 090803)

Odd things, really odd things, can happen in Las Vegas. Take the case of FBI agent John T. Hanson III, who works out of the FBI's training center in Quantico.

Back on May 15, Hanson, 35, was visiting Las Vegas for an accounting seminar. At some point, he walked into the kitchen of the Barbary Coast casino, pulled out his .45-caliber Glock and squeezed off two rounds into a walk-in freezer, according to a police report.

Authorities say he allegedly was drinking. After he was collared, the police report said, "the suspect stated that he did not remember firing his weapon at any time." It was not clear what the freezer had done to offend or if service that evening had been slower than usual.

In any event, Hanson was detained and issued a citation for discharging a weapon in public. He surrendered his weapon to a local FBI agent.

Hanson pleaded guilty in June to a misdemeanor. Last month he paid a $65 court fine, $45 for Alcoholics Anonymous and more than $12,000 in restitution for damaging the freezer.

Local folklore has it that the bullets hit frozen lobsters, Todd Palmer, a spokesman for the FBI in Las Vegas, told our colleague Allan Lengel. But Palmer said it was not certain if that was the case, only that the freezer was full of frozen foods.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said, "As far as the case is concerned, he got treated like anyone else under similar circumstances."

The FBI said it is conducting an internal probe, which could result in discipline or even dismissal.

Maybe the freezer was trying to get away?
===
Speaking of getting away and freezing:

Man Ships Self in Air Crate to Dallas

DALLAS (Reuters 091003) - A New York man trying to save a few dollars on his air fare is under investigation for stowing himself in an air cargo crate that was delivered to his parents' home near Dallas, authorities said on Tuesday.

Investigators suspect Charles McKinley of taking a two-day, 1,500-mile trip from New York to Texas, with a stop or two along the way, hidden in a wooden crate.
[...]

Sources in the air cargo industry said it was lucky for McKinley that he was traveling in pressurized cabins with climate control, because he could have easily been killed if he flew in a cold, unpressurized compartment.

(read the entire story)
===
Here, Democratic presidential aspirant Al Sharpton to a group of minority contractors, the Central Virginia Business and Construction Association, in Richmond the night of September 6th:

"We must not be in a relationship with a Democratic Party that takes us for granted. We must no longer be the political mistresses of the Democratic Party. A mistress is where they take you out to have fun but they can't take you home to mama and daddy. Either we're going to get married in 2004 or we're going to find some folks who ain't ashamed to be seen with us."
(Washington Post 090803)

Ok-- maybe that last post was a little too daunting. How about an anecdote about people's foibles and personal appearance?

This morning, the usually hazy process of my getting up in the morning got a jolt when my old electric shaver not only died, it literally fell apart-- plastic, rotors and casing all over the place. Well, that just meant I had to go and pick up a replacement at the local CVS and drop it back at home (only a few blocks away).

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, the phantom shaver I followed the clerk around the store for ended up not existing. It was a regular stock item, the store manager promised even though their shaver shelf was bare. The Radio Shack down the street didn't open for another 2 hours.

Exhausting my neighborhood's potential shaver-vending establishments and with time passing, I decided to try my luck at the CVS down the street from work (in the middle of DC, for those keeping score).

Perhaps it was just a reaction against the thought that humans might have once needed to fend for themselves or (gasp) do without their triple mocha frappo-latte in the morning but when I got on the metro, I became nearly immediately a furtively-viewed roadside attraction. Come one, come all! See the caveman in dress clothes masquerading as one of us! Hearken back to the time when we humans hunted wooly mammoth!

The only time I've caught that many smirks and slightly longer than normal glances on the metro was when I (under the influence of an insomnolent night) misbuttoned my shirt. I know, I know. You think I'm being paranoid. But sitting across from the door, I could see a good number of people’s faces over the top of my newspaper.

The CVS downtown was packed, so the clerks (democratically) nominated the 24 hour photo technician to spring the lone shaver from what seemed to be a maximum security appliance prison in a steel-reinforced glass case. After the tech closed the case and hustled back to the photo kiosk, I got in the checkout line and, finally being able to fully read the intentionally vague packaging, realized that what I had in my hands was actually a mustache and beard trimmer. My hair grows quickly, but not that quickly.

In exasperation, I walked up to the counter, returned the box and decided to see if the Radio Shack a couple of blocks away was open. I only had about 15 minutes before I was supposed to be at work. The Radio Shack clerks’ faces went blank when I asked about an electric shaver. One recommended helpfully that I try CVS. In a last ditch effort, I took his advice and ducked into another nearby CVS (in near Starbucks-like proximity to the other one). Again, nothing.

Perhaps DC had declared electric shaver rationing. Or maybe Bush had sent them all to Iraq and Afghanistan to shear the beards off Muslim clerics there.

I like electric shavers because with them I can focus on more important things as I’m shaving—focusing on the news or perhaps getting my last few seconds of shuteye. It had been over six years since I had shaved “unplugged.” Besides, those of you who know me understand what a bad idea it is for me to have anything as sharp as a razor blade.

Given no alternative, though, I bit the bullet and bought a razor with packaging that would have looked more natural on an Air Force recruiting poster.

Thankfully, not many people use the bathroom on my office’s floor. If there were, I would have a hard time explaining to them why there were so many paper towels speckled with blood. It wasn’t like a bad horror movie, but I did knick myself once or twice—just small things—but with the head being the most vascularized area of the body, it was hard to get them to stop bleeding. Damn the little swivel head!

Finally rid of that pesky stubble (and a few little pieces of epidermis), the caveman that had entered the office bathroom emerged as the regular researcher that comes to work every day. I only have three or so self-inflicted little red spots on my face, which I’ve had a couple of people mistake for pimples. Great…as if I needed people to think I am any younger. ;-)

And all this before the craziness of the workday began. Blargh. I got a lot done but, as one of my colleagues said, “this place is too small for office politics."

Does anyone know of any IR/research jobs I might be able to transition into?

(this posting was written last night but I had problems posting it then)

I've been reading the newly released transcripts of closed-door hearings held during the "Red Scare" by Joseph McCarthy and his cronies. Really scary. And definite echoes for the present. (Read them here) Here are a few excerpts from the interrogation of a Mr. David Ayman, who was in the Signal Corps and as of this session (Friday, October 23, 1953), teaches at Samuel Tilden High School. He also served as a "teacher-advisor" for the Teachers Union of New York that was itself under investigation for having Communist leanings. Here we pick up the questioning before the Committee on Government Operations Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations with "The Chairman" (Joseph McCarthy R-WI); Roy Cohn, General Counsel to the Subcommittee; and Robert Jones, Research Assistant to Senator Charles Potter (R-MI) asking him about his views on Communism in the public schools and other things. Just read this and think about what's happening today:

[...]

Mr. COHN. You don’t think somebody who refuses to answer the question of whether or not they are a Communist, you don’t think that furnishes reasonable grounds to believe that person is a Communist?
Mr. AYMAN. It is hard for me to make a judgment of a thing like that. There are things a person may believe in. He may feel this type of thing doesn’t involve this type of activity.
Mr. COHN. Do you believe Communists should teach in the New York school system?
Mr. AYMAN. I believe a person ought to be judged.
Mr. COHN. Do you believe a Communist party member should teach in the New York City school system? That is a very simple question. Just answer ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no.’’
Mr. AYMAN. Well, my own feeling about this, that answer is not quite as simple as you put it.
Mr. COHN. Answer ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no,’’ then you can make any explanation you care to give us.
Mr. AYMAN. My answer would be ‘‘yes,’’ provided, of course, this person did not engage in activities in the school system in which he used his position to officially propagandize for the Communist party or any other group.
Mr. COHN. Do you think that a member of the Communist party would not use any position he held to propagandize and attempt in every way to aid the cause of the Communist party?
Mr. AYMAN. Well, I would say this. Any person who believed strongly in any position he held, it might be possible for him, not necessarily and I believe necessarily that he would not actually use his position to do that. It is possible for him to do that.
Mr. COHN. Do you believe it is possible for a Communist party member not to use any position he holds?
Mr. AYMAN. I wouldn’t be in a position to answer that?
Mr. COHN. I think you should be. You are teaching children in the public schools in New York.
Mr. AYMAN. My function as advisor was to see that these people don’t get rattled. I am not legal counsel. I can give them no legal advice. They wanted somebody to go up there and make sure they were represented.
The CHAIRMAN. Is it your position that a man who is a member of the Communist party should not be barred from a teaching job unless it is first proven that he is using his membership-unless it is proved he is teaching communism to his students?
Mr. AYMAN. No, sir. That was not my position.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you think that mere membership in the Communist party and nothing else should bar him from teaching?
Mr. AYMAN. Off-hand, I would say no.
The CHAIRMAN. You would say it takes more than that?
Mr. AYMAN. That is my opinion. My feeling is this.
The CHAIRMAN. What more would it take?
Mr. AYMAN. Some act, some either technical act as a teacher in the classroom or in connection with the school system which he used to actually propagandize in one form or another about this proposition that should cause him to be eliminated.
The CHAIRMAN. You realize the more clever the Communist is, the less possibility of catching him in the acts?
Mr. AYMAN. That is possible.
The CHAIRMAN. You might catch the dumb ones, but the clever ones you wouldn’t catch. You would say that unless you catch the Communist, know that he attended Communist meetings, unless you catch him in the overt act of propagandizing, unless you catch him doing something like that, you should keep him on as a teacher?
Mr. AYMAN. Not only Communist, anybody else. Fascists. I believe in some other kinds of systems, the same thing is true about those individuals as well.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you know anything about the Communist movement?
Mr. AYMAN. Not enough to make judgment about it.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you know what is meant by being under Communist party discipline?
Mr. AYMAN. Well, in my mind, under discipline, he accepts the dictates from the Communist party. I assume it means——
The CHAIRMAN. Do you mean in good standing of the party and must obey orders?
Mr. AYMAN. I can’t make such a statement. I am not a member.
The CHAIRMAN. If you were told now—witnesses have testified over and over, witnesses the government considers reliable men, who were active in the Communist party—Bella Dodd whom you knew testified such is the case; that a member in good standing is under Communist discipline and obeys orders. Would you have any reason to doubt that? Do you have any information to the contrary?
Mr. AYMAN. No, sir. I do not have information to the contrary.
The CHAIRMAN. Don’t you think a teacher, regardless of how good a teacher he might be, should be a free agent and should not be under the discipline of any organizations, particularly the Communist party dominated by Moscow?
Mr. AYMAN. Yes, sir. I believe that not only about those but everybody else.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you still say someone under Communist party discipline should be allowed to teach, realizing they are not free agents, no freedom of expression but expression of the Communist line. Do you still say you think such a man should be teaching our children unless he is caught in the overt act?
Mr. AYMAN. My own feeling is, as I said before, that is a belief I have. Whether it is a good belief or a bad one, it would be a question of somebody besides myself to be able to answer.
The CHAIRMAN We are not trying to change your beliefs. We are just curious as to what your beliefs are on communism. We are not concerned with your other beliefs. We are concerned with your belief or attitude toward the international conspiracy.
Mr. AYMAN. The international conspiracy, I am not in a position to make judgment. I am not sufficiently well acquainted with it. It is not in my field. If it is, I think government officials knowing these facts, being aware of it, they ought to take appropriate action. If they can show that persons have performed acts as part of this conspiracy, well, obviously they ought to do something about it.
Mr. JONES. Are you married?
Mr. AYMAN. No, not now.
Mr. JONES. You were before?
Mr. AYMAN. Yes.
Mr. JONES. Was your wife a member of the Communist party?
Mr. AYMAN. I have no way of knowing.
Mr. JONES. Do you have any children?
Mr. AYMAN. No, sir.
Mr. JONES. I assume if you did have children you would not object to them receiving their entire education under a Communist teacher?
Mr. AYMAN. I wouldn’t say that.
Mr. JONES. You said it.
Mr. AYMAN. If these people were Communists and if they did not use their position to propagandize for their beliefs, I would have no objection to them any more than a person who is a Fascist not using his position. I would say it was perfectly all right, American principal. If they were using that position, then I would say that person should not be permitted to teach my children or anybody else’s.
The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you wouldn’t object to having a Communist teacher teach your children?
Mr. AYMAN. No.
The CHAIRMAN Would you have any objection to having a man convicted of rape a number of times, even though be was not caught committing rape in the classroom——
Mr. AYMAN. I don’t think you can make that comparison. I assume a man convicted of rape would be sentenced to jail for a number of years and not permitted to get a license. I don’t see how those two things are relevant.
The CHAIRMAN. Suppose he did not advocate rape in the classroom, but had been convicted several times; that he was not in jail. Would you have any objection?
Mr. AYMAN. I don’t know how he would get a license. If he didn’t use his position in the classroom, I don’t see what the objection would be.
The CHAIRMAN. If you were looking for a babysitter, you and your wife were going out——
Mr. AYMAN. I would think twice before using him as a babysitter.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you still have a reserve commission in the army?

[...]
Inquiry continues to go all over the map.

This is what the government gets for so often cutting music instruction out of the schools:

Pentagon Approves Push-Button Bugle

Chronically short of musicians for military funerals, the Pentagon has approved the use of a push-button bugle that plays taps by itself as the operator holds it to his lips.

Only about 500 buglers are on active duty on any given day, but about 1,800 people who have seen military service die each day and are eligible for honors ceremonies, said Air Force Lt. Col. Cynthia Colin, a Pentagon spokeswoman. So the Defense Department worked with private industry to invent the "ceremonial bugle," which has a small digital recording device inserted into its bell. The vast majority of families endorsed its use in a six-month test from November to May in Missouri, where 50 prototypes were distributed to military units and others who provide funeral honors, the Pentagon said in a statement. A real bugler will be used when available. Otherwise, the family of the deceased service member will be offered the ceremonial bugle as an alternative to pre-recorded taps, often played on a boom box. Use of the $500 instrument "is intended to enhance the dignity of military funeral honors," the Pentagon said.

(Washington Post 090603)

Whee!

Here's an article in the Nation written in March by one of my professors and friends at Dartmouth, Juliet Johnson. As an undergrad at Stanford, she took a class from the one and only Condi Rice, "then just a lowly associate professor," called The Role of the Military in Politics. One of the most useful parts of the class was a simulation in which student teams were split up into several groups mirroring the foreign policy branches of the US executive branch and tasked "to resolve an emerging international crisis peacefully if possible, by force if necessary." (read the article for more detail.)

The article mentions three important things Juliet learned from Professor Rice:

1. Rhetoric Matters

2. Seek International Support

3. Maintain Credibility

Kudos to you (now Dr.) Johnson! You actually learned something that our now National Security Advisor supposedly "taught." The first point especially needs to be made a lot more frequently and forcefully.

"In short," Juliet concludes, "Rice's class taught us that C students rush to war, while A students work diligently and patiently toward peaceful solutions to international problems."

That pretty much says it all.

So I was on the Hill for a good part of the day today and I noticed that things seemed strangely deserted after the summer interns have left.

Taking a shortcut through one of the underground Congressional parking lots, I came across a parking space reserved from none other than California Congressman Darrell Issa. I have to admit that I was sorely tempted to bounce his car to get back at the person largely responsible for the gubernatorial recall but also to give the 'car alarm czar' a taste of his own medicine.

Whee!

My home town (OK-- it's two towns down from that) finally gets into the national news and what is it called? Mecca, California is "a desolate farm town" in "a bone dry desert" near the "freakishly overgrown wetlands of the Salton Sea." It's actually an interesting story about how California is monitoring and trying to deal with the spread of West Nile Virus. Listen to it here: California Prepares for West Nile.
Home, sweet home!

A while ago, I saw an advertisement in the Pentagon City Metro Station for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Museum that was pretty good:
Visit the DEA Museum and Visitor's Center. Target America: Traffickers, Terrorists, and You!
I wonder how long it took them to come up with that one.

I was reading the front section of yesterday's Wall Street Journal (090303) that I found on the metro and there was a teaser for a story about how one school district is charging students $60 to join the high school band and similar fees for "school activities and services that once came at no extra charge." Not having the section where the actual article was printed, I tried to look it up on the internet but had no success. Does anyone else know about this? I'm curious.

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Yea, verily: Who is that, skulking out of the fields! It is Hradcany, hands clutching a vorpal blade! And with a bloodthirsty roar, his voice cometh: "Ares, God of War, be praised! I swear that on this night, you shall dine in hell!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

My vorpal blade goes snicker-snack!

There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the human trampouline.
Sometimes when I'm falling, flying, tumbling in turmoil,
I say, woah! So this is what she means!

Paul Simon Graceland

======
"You are what you eat" does translate into Russian:

Meals You Eat Reveal Your Character
(Pravda 082903)

The moral of this story: Spicy meals lead to "love deeds."

======

D'oh!

London and its surroundings are struggling to recover after a half-hour power outage swept the region.

I seem to think something similar just happened, but I just can't put my finger on it....

Walking around the mall last weekend during the celebrations of MLKjr's March on Washington got me thinking about the history of the area. I've also been doing a project involving the National Archives and stumbled onto this nice set of photos that make the point nicely:

Panoramic photographs taken east from the Washington Monument (1916 and 1996)

People assume The Mall was always there-- especially when reinforced by scenes in Forrest Gump and other movies. But just look 80 years back-- easily within a person's lifespan-- and things look radically different.

Speaking of DC changing, take a listen to this group of stories NPR did about Walter Pierce Community Park in Adams Morgan. (that's right, Tim!)

=====
And on a different note...

Why do bagpipers always walk when they play?
-- They're trying to get away from the noise.

Given this flawless piece of musical wisdom, it's unsurprising that we hear (or perhaps not) the same thing from the proverbial horse's mouth:

Bagpipes hit sour note for hearing

By: James Doherty

FOR many a Scots regiment, the Highland bagpipe was as potent in the advance toward battle as artillery and rifles.

But a survey conducted by Piper & Drummer magazine has revealed the resonating force of the pipes can damage more than the morale of enemy troops.

Half of those surveyed reported hearing loss and repetitive strain injuries after years of playing.

Some 10 per cent also reported that their passion for the pipes had led to the break-up of marriages, while 84 per cent claimed to know pipe-band members who are alcoholics.
(excerpted from The Scotsman Magazine 082503)

Got to head out... More to come...

For someone whose horse came out from under him at about 30 mph, my dad is actually in good shape. Now that some of the swelling has gone down, x-rays don't show any broken/cracked bones; just a bunch of tendon and ligament damage; especially in his rib cage, shoulder and hip. I guess that's the risk of working with horses, but this is pretty much like a car wreck. You don't expect it but know vaguely that it might happen. Still, it could have been much worse.

Got to roll with the punches-- just like DC did last night with the storm front that came through. It was so self-contained and concentrated into a crescent-shaped band, striking just at the evening rush hour, knocking down trees with 50 mph winds and knocking out power to a good chunk of the metro area. And all this crammed into two hours. With DC the only major population center the storm hit, it almost seems like the weather was taking a swipe at Washington for all the crazy stuff coming out of here. Well, I guess it might make a good premise for a science fiction novel.

Anyway, got to run. More soon.

And congratulations to "It's Academic!" for being the longest-running quiz show on television! It's a kick to think that some of the HS and college players I've worked with in this and other similar competitions will likely make the same impact as some of the people listed below, especially with me helping them out!

It's No Longer Academic -- It's a Fact
(Washington Post 082103)

It's official. The high school quiz show "It's Academic" has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running TV quiz show in the world, with a whopping 42 years (and counting) on the air.

"We received an e-mail telling us that a British show had started a year after we did, so we had beaten them out," said an ecstatic Sophie Altman, the executive producer and founder of the show. "The fact that we're getting old also went through my head -- but overall this is fantastic!"

And you can bet that throughout its reign, "It's Academic" has tested the minds of many, including New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton -- "She was part of the show as an alternate in 1964-5," says Altman -- ABC's George Stephanopoulos, former Maine governor Angus King, CNN anchor Leon Harris and The Post's own Donald Graham. "All of our people are good people," she assures.

We wonder when Mac McGarry, quizmaster since the show's 1961 inception, will get his own Guinness recognition (hint, hint).

Sigh. It's getting to the point that I don't tell anyone that I'm from California any more-- That half-grin and narrowing of the eyes every time I say those few syllables and a mocking question whether I'm going to be voting for AH-nold. True, I'm going to xerox my absentee recall ballot and keep it as a souvenir but more as a testament to how a conservative car alarm magnate, movie stars, well-dressed chimpanzees, and hawkish zealots can rip the American democratic process. Politicians and issues may come and go, but the true core of the American way of life is a dedication to fair, transparent, and unbiased processes of the Federal government all the way down to our everyday lives. We even package it for international consumption as the "rule of law." Largely due to the current administration, that which has sustained us for over 200 years and acted as a model for the rest of the world is unraveling.

Given widespread opposition to intervention in Iraq, Bush went on record saying he "respectfully disagree[d]" with the people he was supposed to serve and pointedly disregarded any arguments that he didn't agree with. Texas republicans decided that they wanted to redraw congressional districts simply because they wanted to take political advantage of their being in power. A system that was designed to adjust for population growth and movement based on the decennial census was wrenched into change only about a year after it was adjusted for the 2000 census. The Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee rewrote a bill to his liking and then tried to stuff it down the Democrat's throats with the help of the Capitol Police. The Vice President's office still refuses to tell even other branches of the government who the administration talked to when writing up the country's energy policies. Bush also pulled out of important treaties and ignored the rest of the world just because he didn't like what they said. And, of course, there's AH-nold and the California recall. I'm just waiting, like Huey of the Boondocks said, for John Connor to run.

Speaking of the comics, this one is pretty telling:

Hagar the Horrible
The King doesn't want you to think of his tax collectors as cruel, heartless monsters.... As a matter of fact, the King doesn't even want you to think!

Having a little fun in the context of Nation States, specifically the "QB Alliance." Here's a small excerpt from the international traveling corps of storytellers the government of Teresh sent to the Dezzan court:

In a land far, far away, there is a benevolent dictator named Garba who is renowned for his legendary oratory. With incredible dedication, he is able to uplift his, the Tereshi, people from their squalid existence. Beset on all sides by fierce and shadowy enemies, Teresh stands defiant. Garba's upright carriage and richly embroidered robes give added clarity to his face, at once animated and impassive, warning that all those foolish enough to move against the Tereshi nation "shall know our velocity!"

But wait! From far across the water and well beyond the soaring mountains of Teresh comes-- It can't be!-- a challenge?

One who fancies himself a scribe of "staggering genius" has stepped forward and shown his cowardly hand. For, this pretender indeed shows not his face but a scribbled missive itself frantically attempting to remake itself in Garba's image. This shadow boxing worm who calls itself Eggers and has barely the wit to parrot a true master has clumsily snatched at Tereshi honor, entitling his mere rags "You shall know our velocity." Blasphemer!! He must be taught the lightning fang of the Tereshi people! He must be dispatched forthwith!

So this is what a rubber chicken feels like....

I'm pretty much asleep already, so take these with a nice big salt block....

Is it just me, or would it be a good thing for W to read Robert Fulghum's book All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten? Sure, it's oversimplified and, in this case, used primarily in sarcasm but there's just something about a book that relies on such subliminal religiosity and moral certitude that makes it a perfect way to put the government's current policies in perspective.

Here are the things Fulghum has learned and some, W has too:

Share Everything
Play Fair
Don't Hit People
Put Things Back Where You Found Them
Clean Up Your Own Mess
Don't Take Things That Aren't Yours
Say You're Sorry When You Hurt Someone
Wash Your Hands Before You Eat
Flush
Warm Cookies and Cold Milk Are Good For You
Have A Balanced Life-- Learn Some and Think Some and Draw and Sing and Dance and Play and Work Some
Take A Nap Every Day
When You Go Out Into the World, Watch Out For Traffic, Hold Hands, and Stick Together
Be Aware Of Wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
And then Remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned- the biggest word of all- LOOK.

Another interesting news story that's flying under the radar: Bush has taken the Sudanese government off the hook, saying that despite military actions "primarily but not exclusively by the government" and a lot of instability in the country, he would not declare sanctions on Khartoum.

Not that I think what either of the (generally) two sides of the Sudanese civil war, or any side in any other situation is necessarily more or less worthy of international attention than another, but I find it interesting that W’s all of a sudden trying to make nice with a country that not only hosted Osama bin Laden for a long time, but is also an Islamic theocracy waging a formal war with Christians in the south of the country.

Bawk!

Any of you out there know of a good deal on a scanner and/or printer? Or maybe your input on things I should look (out) for. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

This was just so unusual, I felt like I had to put it up, despite not liking the tone all that much. But, maybe against my better judgement, here it is:

This is from a DC listserv I'm on that, among other things, runs something like the "I Saw You" ads in the Washington City Paper and elsewhere. If you're not familiar with them, someone would post one of these classified-like ads when they saw but didn't approach a cute guy or gal that the poster is still interested in.

Enough with the intro already! Here's the post and 'response':

6 -- To the tree that fell on my car - 29 (Capitol Hill)

Reply to:
Thu Aug 7th

I couldn't quite make out what type of tree you were because of the
way you shattered when you fell on my trusty Saab. But don't worry -- you
DID make quite an impression. I had just picked Saab-o up on Friday
after paying $1400 in repairs -- so your timing was impeccable. Had you
fallen in the same spot while my car was being repaired for that nasty
incident of my front right tire coming off the car while I was driving it
-- well, then, we never would have met.

I also thought the way that you fell on my car while I was attending
church on Sunday morning was a nice touch. Nothing says, "The world is
out to get you" like a tree falling on your car, smashing your
windshield, hood, roof and both (!) front doors while you are at worship.

It's cool, though, because I don't have many other exciting things
going on in my life -- like the mold and mildew that is keeping me from
sleeping in my own bedroom. I actually enjoy sleeping on the sofa on the
main floor with my roommate Loudy McLoud banging pots and pans around 10
feet away in the kitchen when she comes home drunk at 4:00 AM.

And that frantic apartment search was actually made easier by not
having a car. Oh wait, actually that's not true.

But, again, thanks for the introduction. Because I had to pay for
repairs for our little encounter, I wasn't able to go to LA for the premier
of my best friend's new movie or go see for the first time my six-month
old nephew in Denver. But it wasn't like I even wanted to do either of
those things, you know?

So, yeah, it was nice meeting you. And I hope things are well. If you
want to catch up, let me know. Maybe one of your buddies can, like, drop
by/into my house while I pack up and move.


it's NOT ok for trees to contact this poster unless they're just
offering fruit or shade. This is in or around Capitol Hill

The Response

11 -- From the Tree that fell on your car - 90 (wood chipper)

Reply to:
Thu Aug 7th

You know, it really rakes me the way you think I fell on your car
intentionally. That wasn't my doing. And now that I'm down, you want to
kick me? Take it easy buddy.

And since when do pornos have premieres? And don't worry about the
nephew - it's not really your brother's kid anyways.

By the way, all trees are Jewish - so we don't care that you were at
Church worshiping your false god. Now leaf me alone - you're barking up
the...well you know.

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial
interests this is in or around wood chipper

Big news! Azerbaijan's government is imploding. The 80 year-old strongman and apparatchik Geidar Aliyev is in Turkey suffering from a "terminal illness, the current Prime Minister suddenly resigned and was replaced by Ilham Aliyev (or Aliyev Jr.). I'm exhausted so I'll add why this is so important in the morning but this is huge. Look at this in the meantime:

Government Changes in Azerbaijan

My grad class in Russian was good. Again, more in the morning.

Two trailblazing researchers:

Ladder of the Law: Another Side of Bob Dylan



Kansas is Flatter Than A Pancake

With Bob Hope, Strom Thurmond, Katherine Hepburn and many other famous (or infamous) Americans being eulogized recently, it's a pity that the American public has overlooked one of its true heroes:

Arnold Nawrocki, Cheese Innovator

If you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it.

Here's the last line of the appendix written by Nobel Prize Laureate Richard Feynman to the Rogers Report on the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster:

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

The entire text of Feynman's Appendix can be found here.

The front page of the Rogers Report can be found here.

I'm curious about your ideas about this one:

If someone could wave a magic wand and "win" the "war on terrorism," what would actually happen?

One of the things that jumped out at me in today's Washington Post was in an article quoting a 'source' about new reports of airline hijacking threats:

"It's the most specific I've seen since we entered this new world" after the 2001 hijackings, the source said.
from "Memo Warns of New Plots to Hijack Planes" Washington Post 073003

Does the American public, or at least the administration, really believe that we've entered some kind of 'new world,' as opposed to before? That somehow the fundamental nature of the world changed on a September morning? Is there something more than our own shaken sense of ourselves?

And as for our sense of ourselves:

Enemy Combatant Vanishes Into A 'Legal Black Hole'

It is incorrect to say they were "defending" him, because he hadn't been charged with a crime. "What we aspire to, our hope, is to be able to defend Jose Padilla," Patel said. He scoffed at the Mobbs Declaration, the sole piece of public evidence that supports the detention. Mobbs's own footnotes conceded that the government's "confidential sources" probably were not "completely candid," that one source subsequently recanted and another was being treated with drugs, and that their information may have been an attempt to mislead interrogators.

"Someone who's a confirmed liar and someone else who's on drugs and one of the two has recanted," Patel snorted. "You really think someone should be locked up for a year in solitary confinement based on that?"

"What we're asking for Mr. Padilla," he said, "is something I consider a very core American value: A guy's entitled to his day in court. That's how we do things here. We don't just throw people in jail because we think or believe they're bad."

Washington Post 073003

Much more to come

And in the vein of taking things way too literally, I thought this headline was fun:

Study Shows Ice Cream More Fattening Than Thought

The Secret Service is investigating a pro-Bush editorial cartoon depicting W about to be assasinated by 'politics' before an Iraqi backdrop, referencing a Pulitzer-winning photo of the assasination of a Vietcong prisoner.

Some people say a picture is worth a thousand words-- but this one is worth just three.

"Bring it on"

I rest my case.

I was watching the Milos Forman film Firemen's Ball (Horí, má panenko), a biting social satire, still relevant after 35 years and the fall of Communism. Out of all the great lines, one struck me as particularly meaningful:

"You can't fix a scandal."

Discuss.

Eeep!

What you read might be held against you according to this article, published by Creative Loafing, Atlanta and reaching me via Penguinal Ebullience.

Blargh-- The cold I was hoping Ny/DayQuil would kick is back with a vengeance. Let's see how active those "active ingredients" really are...

My trip up to Princeton was enjoyable-- I see my mother and grandmother all too infrequently, so that was nice. With the health problems they are having, though, it was another reminder of human mortality.

Oh yeah-- Princeton sucks (as do MIT and Virginia)!

In the meantime, I wanted to put up some things that have flown under the radar.

Earlier this month, Condoleeza Rice made a speech about US involvement in Africa but a section in that speech signaled a major policy shift in the administration. Gone is the narrowly-defined sense of national interest. The administration is now talking about taking on situations that might breed terrorism which might not pose a direct threat to "Homeland Security." Here's the passage in question:

The national security advisor defended the president's consideration of sending troops to Liberia, despite the president's 2000 campaign rhetoric against nation building. She said, "I think that we've also recognized since 9-11 that one wants to be careful about permitting conditions of failed states to create conditions in which there's so much instability that you begin to see greater sources of terrorism."

(Quoted from the GOP USA news service)

Not that such a shift to a more holistic view of foreign policy is necessarily a bad thing. But the route the administration is taking is not encouraging.

And here's a particularly eloquent commentary by someone who should know.

Squandering Capital
By Madeleine K. Albright
Washington Post
Sunday, July 20, 2003; Page B07

Now would not be a bad time to start worrying. Tens of thousands of American troops will be in Iraq, perhaps for years, surrounded by Iraqis with guns. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says this is not a quagmire; I pray he is right. But the practical problems faced by the talented American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, and by U.S. soldiers trying to maintain order without a clear way of separating enemies from friends are daunting.

It would help greatly if we had more assistance from the international community, but in fairness, the war was an Anglo-American production; it's unlikely we will get substantial help without yielding significant authority, something the administration is loath to do. Meanwhile, U.S. credibility has been undermined by the failure to find weapons of mass destruction and by the inclusion of dubious information in the president's State of the Union address.

Among other things, the war in Iraq was supposed to reduce the dangers posed by al Qaeda terrorists and prompt resumed progress toward peace in the Middle East.

Time will tell whether the former was achieved, but reports of a rush of new al Qaeda recruits are not encouraging. As for the latter, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has indeed made progress in negotiations -- with Chairman Yasser Arafat. Despite a welcome cooling in rhetoric and upcoming visits to Washington by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the Middle East road map has yet to be unfolded.

In the Far East, the North Koreans may be building nuclear weapons or may not; we don't know. They could have a half-dozen by the end of the year. If the administration has a strategy for responding, it is not telling, but it seems to be relying on China to pressure North Korea effectively. Relying simply on China? As I say, it is a worrisome time.

Overall, the outlook for preventing the spread of potentially destabilizing weapons systems is bleak. The administration, openly allergic to treaties and arms control, has made no effort to promote restraint in developing arms as a normative ethic to which all nations have an interest in adhering. Instead, it has decided to fight proliferation primarily through military means and threats. Is this adequate?

Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified recently that "new alliances" are pooling resources "to deter or offset U.S. military superiority." Globalization has made the technology and resources necessary to develop sophisticated weapons more widely available. "Some 25 countries," Jacoby warns, "possess or are actively pursuing WMD or missile programs. The threat to U.S. and allied interests will grow during the next decade."

While in Africa this month, the president raised expectations that the United States will help stabilize Liberia, a noble mission that would help repair the administration's thoroughly battered image overseas. At the same time, there is a risk that the Pentagon -- already stretched thin -- will try to get by in Liberia on the cheap, investing American prestige but insufficient clout. We have seen this movie before -- in Somalia. If we do go into Liberia, we must be prepared to do the job right.

I am an optimist with immense faith in the ability of U.S. leadership to mobilize world opinion on behalf of democracy, justice and peace.

Leadership is not possible, however, without resources. It takes money to secure borders, defeat terrorists, safeguard nuclear materials, build democratic institutions, create educational systems in which tolerance is valued, and help nations recover from conflict. So when I see that the combined federal budget deficit this year and next will approach $1 trillion, I have to wonder. The president has made a lot of promises about "draining the swamp" in which terrorists thrive, combating AIDS, promoting development and meeting commitments to nations such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Liberia. Will the White House and Congress be able to meet those commitments when police, firefighters and schoolteachers must be laid off at home on account of budget cutbacks? If we do renege on the president's promises, what further damage to U.S. credibility will result?

Three years ago, America had vast diplomatic capital based on the goodwill we enjoyed around the world, and vast financial capital based on our international economic leadership and a record budget surplus. Now our capital of all kinds has been dissipated and we are left with more intractable dilemmas than resources or friends.

As someone who has served in positions of responsibility, I know it is much harder to devise practical solutions from the inside than to offer theoretical solutions from the outside. The nature of today's world, not the Bush administration, is responsible for the majority of problems we face. I would be less concerned, however, if I thought the administration was learning as it went along -- learning how to attract broader international support for its policies, make better use of neglected diplomatic tools, share responsibility, be more careful with the truth, finish what it starts and devise economic policies consonant with America's global role.

The quickest way to a more effective national security policy is to acknowledge the need for improvement; until that happens, we will continue to slide backward toward ever more dangerous ground.

The writer was secretary of state from 1997 to 2001.

The Buck Stops Where?

Been in the netherworld known as migraine for the last day or two-- and taking a quick break from work since I'm feeling a bit tired and disconnected. Yes-- I know, even more spaced than usual :-)

I've been meaning to post this for a while:

As many of you know, my mother is a first grade teacher. See "The Wonder Readers" link in the Beyond the Pale section of my blog. To reward the student who has worked the hardest and been the best behaved, Sparky (a stuffed dalmatian in fireman regalia) whispers into my mother's ear and tells her who he wants to go home with for the week. That child then brings Sparky back, tells the class what s/he did with Sparky and writes about it in their daily journal. Here's a wonderful story my mother sent me that I just had to post:

Last Wednesday Sparky couldn’t decide who to choose, until his glance fell on Edon, the sweetest, smallest, squeakiest, specialest child in the class. When Edon heard his name, he almost exploded to his feet with an enormous grin on his tiny face. After Sparky had made his choice, we remembered that Edon would be absent the next day for Yom Kippur, so I asked Edon to teach Sparky about how his family celebrates that holiday, and then to tell us about it on Friday.

When Edon returned, his brother brought him to the classroom door before class, and told me, “Sparky got something.” Edon pulled Sparky out of his bag, but instead of his fire hat, he was wearing a yarmulke!!! On Sparky, it covered his whole head and came down over his eyebrows, but still, it looked quite authentic. Edon and his brother were very proud.

When the class came in, they immediately noticed, and shrieked, “Sparky has a new hat! Sparky has a new hat!” When Edon told the class about Sparky’s adventures, he told about buckling Sparky in the seatbelt to go to Temple (they didn’t take him in) and that the ‘hat’ is called a “kipa” and is worn only by men or boys and is worn when praying. Then Edon told us that Sparky had learned a new word in Hebrew: “Shalom.” I asked him what it meant and he said, “Well… it means ‘hi.’” The children were totally fascinated and easily related to the unfamiliar religion. What an opportunity!

For what it's worth, this is just one of millions of examples of how public education is working despite the strident chorus claiming otherwise.

Happy Hamster! And twins to boot! :-)


You are a Siberian Dwarf Hamster!


What Breed of Hamster Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And now for something completely different: A serious post (!).

W Is His Own Worst Enemy

Two of Bush's main foreign policy drives turn out to be (surprise!) directly incompatible.

Whatever your feeling about the 'coalition of the willing,' it seemed this spring that W was bent on rewarding those countries who pleased him and vice versa, if only in the most infantile ways. A free trade treaty with Chile (who spoke out about the US' position on Iraq) was delayed for months because of supposed difficulty in translating it from Spanish, for example. But even the countries that are supposedly on the US' 'good list' are finding out that W is less than serious about their relationship even without the help of Haliburton.

Enter the International Criminal Court. The US has for years been working with the international community to set this kind of thing up, being one of the main negotiators for the Rome Statute (the ICC's founding agreement), responsible for its underpinnings being almost identical to the US Bill of Rights, and signed by President Clinton in 2000. W changed all this in going back on the US signature of the Rome Statute. His ongoing tantrum against the ICC is driving a dagger into the back of the US' supposed 'coalition of the willing' and other 'friends' by yanking military assistance from nearly all parties to the ICC (like the majority of the states coming in to NATO; Colombia, our 'partner' in the drug war; regional powers like South Africa, etc.). There are only a few 'waivers' for huge countries like the UK and Germany.

Before the ICC, there was no established way to legally hold individuals accountable for causing genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity (which have all been specifically defined and agreed upon by all countries in international law). The International Court of Justice (an original part of the United Nations) is set up only to hear cases between national governments (border disputes, problems with the control of international resources, etc.) The only way the world could deal with individual criminals like the Nazis, Slobodan Milosevic, and Rwandan genocidaires was to create entire court structures from scratch, supremely expensive, logistically nightmarish, and only really possible after a massive tragedy (political will, etc).

When the Allies set up the Nuremburg tribunal, they assumed that the proceedings would only need to be temporary and limited to crimes committed in relation to the war since the world would surely not allow anything like that to happen again. Oops. In only a few special cases, there was enough political momentum to reinvent the wheel (an entire legal system) only after a huge conflagration and without any established material or financial support. This is basically what happened after the Yugoslav and Rwandan genocides, whose tribunals have come under strong criticism, largely because of the restrictions I just mentioned.

Some conservatives see the court as a threat to truth, justice and the American way but others just think it will sap their precious bodily fluids. In the last Congress, a provision was tacked on to one of the omnibus foreign relations bills that took a very critical view of the court. Called The American Servicemembers Protection Act (ASPA) by its supporters and The Hague Invasion Act by its detractors, the amendment (now law) refuses to recognize the ICC (which has entered into force with well over the 60 necessary countries ratifying it), takes punitive action against member countries. It also authorizes the president to prevent, by force if necessary ("all means necessary and appropriate"), the investigation of any American, or person the government takes an interest in ("covered allied persons"), by the International Criminal Court. Picture W taking "all means necessary" in the middle of The Hague (where the court is based) in the Netherlands (which is incidentally a member of the 'coalition of the willing').

Any individual even gathering information for the ICC in the United States is subject to arrest. Nobody can use US funds to speak with the court or meet with other countries to address the ICC. According to provisions in this "Hague Invasion Act," the US can't even share information with any other government or body that might conceivably, in any way and at any time, be made available to the court.

Floor debate on the issue included a detailed and sarcastic description of how US forces might carry out this "Hague Invasion Act" should a 'US or allied person' create enough evidence of their involvement in premeditated genocide, war crimes, and/or crimes against humanity to convince a three-judge panel (with each judge from a different region) first that there's a compelling case and second that the US is unwilling or unable to mount a good faith investigation into that evidence. The court can only act on those three crimes, on crimes that occur after its formal establishment on July 1, 2002 (that means that Kissinger is safe folks), and after all good faith domestic legal options have been exhausted.

Not only has W done his best to ruin an important means of bringing future individuals like Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden et al to justice, his misplaced hysteria condemns a body that has been tailor made by US negotiators to be both as similar to the US justice system and as narrowly defined as possible.

But even as the current US administration is lunging at shadows, it is doing real damage to the coalition and its standing in the world that they say they want to protect. Countries thinking they could stand with the US against terrorism and other horrendous crimes that seemed ever more likely after September 11th now find the basis of their preparedness kicked out from under them and bilateral relations even worse than before. All this because they agreed that there needed to be a way to address three equally terrible crimes while still maintaining the rule of law. Even countries that haven't even touched the Rome Statute are getting shoved around. Washington is leaning hard on any country it can (including Micronesia, Nepal and Bolivia) to force them to sign bilateral Article 98 agreements (a US-negotiated back door to the Rome Statute) and force the country to ignore the Rome Statute when the US is involved. So much for compassionate conservatism.

So let's see. W is yanking from ICC countries in ASPA the very assistance that he is counting on in the 'coalition of the willing.' All the other countries in the ICC are getting kicked in the teeth and left with the equivalent of a third-grader-drawn happy face on notebook paper. Countries that don't fall under ASPA are treated even worse than usual.

Wow, Bush and company is talented! They've got themselves in a no-win situation pretty much singlehandedly.

It's a pity Jean de Brunhoff couldn't talk directly to Bush about the world. "This is not a toy, Mr. Elephant."

The US government just announced a $25 million reward for Saddam Hussein and $15 million each for his sons. If they get what they want, it'll be $50 million!

And how much of the federal and state budgets are being slashed?!!?

I've been looking into setting up a new blog where young Dartmouth alums in the DC area could submit and have access to posts about housing, job, networking and other opportunities or events.

The few people I've talked to about it think it's a good idea, but I wanted to put it up here to reach whatever Dartmouth refugees I might not have talked to. (and that don't care that I ended that sentence with a preposition)

Drop me a comment or email with your thoughts.

A bunch of random thoughts and links--


Some great things to know if you have young kids, from our friends Tom and Ray Maggliozzi (Highly Recommended) (Real Audio link)

----

Just because nobody understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.

----

How is 'speculative fiction' different from 'science fiction?' Hear this Real Audio link of Margaret Atwood responding that in 'speculative fiction,' "there's no talking squid." The link is an interview on Minnesota Public Radio about Atwood's books The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake.

----

There's a controversy back home about a trail that goes through a mountain nature preserve and how open to the public it should be. Pretty normal, no? Think of a very conservative and dogmatic area fighting over the rights to...... wait for it....... the Bump and Grind Trail. The best comment is at the end of the article by a leading pro-access hiker: "I know people that hike it for their health. I know people that hike it for spiritual reasons. I know people that get up at four in the morning to get up there."

Priceless

----

I've been looking through Congressional Directories and found that legislators can get together to address some important issues:

Congressional Fatherhood Task Force
Congressional Manufactured Housing Caucus
Congressional Wine Caucus
Congressional Fire Services Caucus
Congressional Prevention Coalition
Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus
Congressional Privacy Caucus
Congressional Automotive Performance and Motor Sports Caucus
Senate Sweetener Caucus
Senate Beef Caucus

The Prevention Caucus is about infectious disease prevention, but there's one, the Congressional Bearing Caucus, that's puzzling me. It's most likely ball bearings, but its description is suspiciously vague:

Purpose: The mission of the Congressional Bearing Caucus is to support the domestic bearing industry, which plays a critical role in preserving national security and our industrial base.

Outside maybe the wine caucus, it paints a pretty compelling picture of our legislature, doesn't it?

-----

How easy is it to differentiate between dictators and sit-com characters? Find out here. (Thanks Josh)

-----

A while ago, I was bored so I actually read one of the disclaimer for one of the virus programs I was installing on my new computer. It read, in part:

You hereby acknowledge that the software may not be available due to any number of factors including, without limitation, periodic system maintenance, scheduled or unscheduled, acts of god, technical failure of the software, telecommunications infrastructure, or delay or disruption attributable to viruses, denial of service attacks, increased or fluctuating demand, actions and admissions of third parties, or any other cause reasonably outside the control of the company.

"Acts of god" aside, notice that the antivirus company specifically rules out any responsibility for virus or denial of service attacks (which by definition are, at least initially, out of the control of the company).

-----

A great definition that I heard most recently from Tim:

Suburbia: Where they cut down the trees and name the streets after them.

----

On our way out to Cleveland, the group of us (Trish, Tim, Edmund, and me) started playing "Titles" in which you name the titles of works/shows/movies that are somehow connected by actors and the like. Along the way, we somehow ended up with a Terminator movie, raising the spectre of connecting to one of his stinkers. The conversation went like this:

Tricia: There's still plenty of Arnold Schwarzenegger to go around.

Edmund: Actually, with the amount of steroids he's taken, there probably isn't all that much of him to go around.

Tim: God! His nuts must be the size of lima beans!

(pause)

Did I mention how much I hate lima beans?

----

And with that, I'll leave you vegans to your thoughts.

*** Warning! This comment could disturb some people. ***

Has anybody else noticed a new innovation in bathroom sanitation?

It's a little device mounted on the wall about the size of a phone book that encloses a little device that sprays a puff of deodorizer every hour or so.

It's not bad in itself, but I wonder if the people who haven't noticed them consider themselves aware about the possibility of a bio or chemical weapons attack.

This post is designed to make the point that it's ridiculous to try to get rid of all 'threats' however much they might be trumped up.

Lots to catch up on:

Two weekends ago, I went out to Cleveland with assorted loons to help out with running PACE nationals and see a bunch of impressive highschoolers play on a very nice set of packets. Some of the players could actually have been pretty good on the college circuit. And the people running the thing weren't all that bad either :-) The ringleaders deserve more kudos than I can give...

There was the issue the protest in the finals that really shouldn't have been accepted: Cape Verde (the Lusophone country) for Cap Vert (the peninsula in Francophone Senegal). Especially since the lead in was very specific about the impact of French imperialism. That's like accepting the Black Hills (South Dakota) for Montenegro. Ah, well. It's a small point and didn't end up making any difference, but it still has been bothering me (as a geography person) to no end......

As for Cleveland, I had never really been there before (changing planes at the airport doesn't count) and can say it is a unique experience. It can generally be summed up in a conversation I had with my brother afterwards:

Him: What did you do last weekend? I'm sure DC was more exciting than here.

Me: I wasn't in DC. I went to Ohio.

Him: (long, shocked pause) WHY??!

It actually wasn't all that bad-- the company, food, accomodations, and work were all good. It just takes some talent to emulate the Boston street system in a relatively flat and modern setting. It was also kinda disconcerting to see street after street of mansions in rather questionable architectural taste (in my humble opinion) in which a small village or neighborhood from a developing country could make themselves quite comfortable. And yes, it was strange and vague.

And afterwards, I got to come back to the wonders of DC. WooHoo! Back to being underemployed and networking with all the ease of a chess player. Shah Mat!

I've been working on the continuation of a project I managed when I was at the Campaign for UN Reform; a questionnaire sent to candidates (in 2002 just for the US Congress, but now including the presidential race) to gauge their standing on foreign policy issues. We've revamped it a lot for our present draft, but I'd be interested to hear your reaction to the previous one posted here.

I should actually get back to doing work-- I've got a lot more stuff to put up, but it'll have to wait until the end of the workday...

Until then......

As I was coming back from the Hill this afternoon I saw a oddly perfect scene for both a Washington DC postcard and a reminder of how security-happy the government has become.

From the taxi I saw a huge linebacker type with reflective aviator sunglasses, olive uniform and crisp tan ranger hat under the main arch of a huge federal building just below the capitol. He was completely alone and motionless, but I'm sure his unblinking eyes took everything in. Not a thing was out of place; uniform perfectly creased, military haircut, black skin and dark uniform clearly distinct from the surrounding white marble. He had that peculiar exaggerated unreality of a blueprint in an art gallery, standing there tense and watchful as the world thought better of approaching and continued along Pennsylvania Avenue.

I found myself wondering whether this was a good or a bad thing-- whether the adornment of the US government with these unflinching living gargoyles separates it from their popular basis or if human pit bulls like this one remind those who would challenge their authority and the administration's profound dedication to avenge any wrong done to it.

Wow-- it never rains but it pours! At least all the rain has kept things cool, though extremely humid, for me to deal with the tidal wave of things coming up recently.

I've not heard back from the Kennan Institute after my interview there in the first week of June. I'm worried that I came off as over-qualified, not because I'm arrogant, but since they seemed to expect to spend most of the interview explaining what they do (sponsor research and speakers on Russian and Post-Soviet affairs, prepare policy backgrounders, coordinate interaction between the policy and academic worlds, etc.). They were obviously flustered to find out that I not only knew what they did in general, but knew a bunch of the individuals that were at the Institute both from their research and hearing them speak. Later on, one of the interviewers asked me what languages I know. I went down my list, mentioning that I knew Russian, but wasn't fluent. "But," she wanted to know, "can you figure out what the letters in the Cyrillic alphabet correspond to?" When I told her that I could read Russian newspaper articles, there was another awkward pause.

I'd rather have that than another thing to worry about, but still......

Maybe they were worried that Literacy is the Path to Communism like this great Soviet poster claims. People often don't realize how effective Moscow was in promoting literacy and similar development projects especially in the first years of the USSR. The ideas behind and ways of doing so were incredibly brutal and counterproductive, but it jumped the country from early Medieval throwback to massive industrial power in only a decade or so....

Speaking of heavy-handed government leaders, I spent last week running around for a series of meetings in the Capitol for work.... The fact that there is a framed street sign above the Senate Appropriations Committee conference room that reads TED STEVENS WAY is quite telling. I was impressed, though, with Senator Inouye who showed that he was both extremely intelligent and well-spoken and very interested in doing the right, instead of the most politically expedient, thing.

Got to go back to work.... I'll have more time to post later today.

I've been reading recently about how a 13 year-old who is going to graduate school in math at the University of Virginia after getting his undergraduate degree this spring.

This is great-- more power to him, especially for a person who was "solving math problems at 14 months," but it has gotten me thinking.

We occasionally hear about the meteoric rise of some children through the education system by superior achievement in math or, in fewer cases, in the sciences (a la Doogie Howser, MD). But how many examples have there been of similar young prodigies doing the same thing (like going to grad school on their 14th birthday) in the social sciences or humanities?

I have my own theories about this, but I just wanted you to think about it.

I think it's a good thing whenever equestrian anything gets into the news, personally, but damn-- you know it's a slow news day when two of the seven possible headlines on Yahoo's main page are about a gelding not winning a race. (please, no more bad jokes about that!)

I just saw Adaptation (thanks Tim, Stuart, et al) and have been doing a little thinking-- the character Charlie Kaufman is pretty much meant to be the general personification of Americans' foibles and awkwardness. The film was obviously directed at a large audience and the character was casted and played to fulfill that role for the maximum number of people (and hence sell that many tickets).

Charlie Kaufman is what they came up for the whole audience. But what about the individuals? Who or what do you think would be the personification of that part of yourself?

I haven't decided what it would be for me yet.....

I wonder when Alan "bad brother" Greenspan will be testifying again.....

Helping Kids Understand Money

It's not every day that Al Broaddus gets introduced as a "cool dude" or Alan Greenspan as a "bad brother." But there they were yesterday, both in standard issue blue suit and tassel loafers, in the library of the District's John Philip Sousa Middle School, riffing about money, careers and life.

Broaddus, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, recalled the snazzy '55 Plymouth Fury he bought for $735 just before it broke down and he had to sell it for scrap at $35.

Fedmeister Greenspan told of his youthful disappointments in coming to the realization that he wasn't going to be a professional baseball player or keep up with his pal, saxophonist Stan Getz, on the clarinet. It turned out, however, Greenspan was pretty good at keeping the books for the jazz band and the rest, as they say, is history.

Read the whole Washington Post article (060603)

Rumors of my disappearance have been (largely) exaggerated-- I've just been insanely busy with work, meetings, job search, very interesting research, and the bizarre chess game that is networking in this fair city.....

My interview went well, though strangely. Will explain later. Thanks to all your encouragement!

The world is also still turning in its furious apathy-- The Pentagon pulling back from the Korean DMZ and being both petulant and heavy-handed in its plans to shift a large portion of its European deployments to bases in the Eastern European countries where they have a huge amount of leverage and away from those pariahs, France and Germany, who had the temerity to question Rumsfeld, W, Wolfowitz and Perle in their headlong and colossally stupid rush to war.

Oh, and rampaging thugs killing and looting throughout Aceh (Indonesia), wholesale slaughter in the villages of the Congo, and the sinister "disappearing" of innocents in Belarus don't even get near the front pages.

We all need a bit of a diversion, like this scintillating piece of news:

Early-morning break-in: An Old Town Alexandria couple was awakened about 2:15 a.m. yesterday in their upstairs bedroom by a man wielding their Calphalon wok. The male resident confronted the intruder and was struck on the head with the pan, which the intruder had taken from the kitchen after breaking into the home on North St. Asaph Street, police said.

The two men continued to fight, and the resident, who managed to gain control of the intruder, walked him out the front door, police said. The suspect fled, but police were alerted and made an arrest nearby. Martin D. Lorton, 39, of the 300 block of Colonial Avenue, was charged with unlawful wounding, burglary and destruction of property. The resident sustained minor injuries but declined treatment.

(Washington Post Metro Section 060503)

The whole thing is absolutely horrible-- I've been attacked myself-- but with a wok?
And he couldn't have just appeared in the second-floor bedroom.... He had to have climbed the stairs with it!

Woah!


You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Thanks, Tricia)

I also heard a truly great answer to the question "What was the colonial power of Angola?"

Answer: Cuba!!!

Their only downfall was using Ukrainian planes.....

And something to think about when you crazy coffee drinkers make your next cup:

Coffee historians have recounted a story in which coffee was "brought to earth by the Angel Gabriel in order to revive Mohammed's flagging energies. Mohammed himself was suppose to have declared that, when he had drunk this magic potion, he felt strong enough to unhorse forty men and to posses forty women."

(As told by Sir Thomas Herbert in the early 1600s; reprinted in The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug, page 9)

(Blogger hit a strange server error so I couldn't post this until now-- It's actually designed to follow the last post directly)

D'oh! Can we get someone who can identify Al Capone by sight? We (mostly Tim and Edmund) wiped the floor with the other people in pub quiz but for our lousy score of 2 on the picture round.

And damn House Office Building security goons and their inflated egos--

This isn't Amman for heaven's sake!

Journalist With Bomb Sentenced in Jordan


AMMAN, Jordan -- A Japanese photographer was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison after a bomb he took from Iraq as a souvenir exploded and killed an airport security guard in Jordan.

Hiroki Gomi was passing through a security checkpoint at the Amman airport on May 1 when an X-ray machine detected the cluster bomb. The explosive detonated as a guard searched the bag, killing the man and wounding three people.

Gomi, of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, said he did not know the bomb was live. He was talking on his cell phone several feet away when it exploded.

"We take this verdict seriously and would like to express again our condolences to the relatives of the deceased and our apologies to those who were injured," the newspaper said in a statement.

(World Wire reports in the Washington Post 060203)

Maybe the transport authorities are on a hair trigger because of this?

Fender Bender for Rumsfeld

The US is tilting towards Kafka more and more.

I was going home on the Red Line tonight (~10:30) when the metro operator came on the PA- "Passengers be advised that we will be holding at this station" (Van Ness). OK-- usually that's a sign that either it's the last train or there's something mechanical amiss somewhere. Fine.

But after about a minute, a string of police descend upon the train, hustling from car to car apparently looking for someone. I heard "he's wearing a blue jacket" as crew-cut heads popped into every doorway and made a less than cursory scan of the passengers. After about 5 minutes, a cop (decked out in neon orange reflective gear) came to the doorway nearest to me and snapped, "would you step out of the car, please" with a very quick hand gesture. None of us (people in the general direction in which he was talking) could figure out who he was talking to. It could have been any one of at least 20 ppl. The cop appeared a minute later and more exasperatedly indicated that the guy sitting next to me (a well-dressed black man with headphones who was not, by the way, wearing a blue jacket) come out of the car with him. He was out for maybe 30 seconds, and then sat back down, pointedly listening to his headphones.

After about 3 more minutes, there was activity in the other end of the car (hard to see through the moderate crowd). But a large black man in a suit started loudly asking, "Is he under arrest?"

-- Inaudible --

"Then you can't take him off ...."

-- Inaudible --

"Then arrest me! I have a lawyer..."

They apparently backed down, because we were moving about a minute afterwards.

About 30 seconds after that, there was another announcement on the PA: "Passengers be advised that the intercoms at the ends of the cars are for emergency use only."

So it sounds like someone bumped an intercom button or thought they would be funny-- but to prompt a search of the whole train? And to have such a detailed description of the guy they were looking for? And picking people from the middle of various cars? I'm not so sure.

Whatever happened-- that was a pretty poor police reaction to an incident, especially in DC and given (all) the circumstances. They stopped the train in a station where innocents were waiting, calling out descriptions of the person they were trying to find (OK, they might have been talking about someone else), and not being able to pinpoint in which car any misuse of the intercom system had occurred.

I'd recommend any new funding to go to training, or at least mini copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Then they might be able to know what the rules for search and holding (or arresting) people instead of (at the very least) shying away when questioned....

And if there's going to be an actual stated shift in procedure-- the writings of Beria, or Fidel's internal security services.

Any official/news information people find would be greatly appreciated.

The slogan "Uncle Sam Wants You" has an entirely new meaning for me now.

You know, for all the logical gaps and crises attributable to W's foreign policy, I've actually been able to detect an amazingly clear central vision. It is truly stunning in its simplicity and elegance.
The bad guy is always the one with the black hat or facial hair.

Just look at the Axis of Evil-- Saddam's moustache was legendary and so is Khatami's long salt and pepper beard. As for black hats--- Kim Jong Il's huge black pompadour, of course!

And we all know the French wear those devious black berets......

Thanks, Tricia, for letting me know about this surprisingly insightful quiz. While it's not necessarily 100% true, it fits nicely.





WHAT TYPE OF WILD CREATURE ARE YOU? (New Pictures!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Huh-- Just got a message offering to help me "Quit smoking in 7 days guaranteed!" How could I go wrong? I don't smoke!

Trying to think of what other thing would be ok to put in your mouth while it's burning.....

Oh well-- like Finjan, a favorite Klezmer band of mine (and many others have) said, Das leiden ist un schpass. Life's a joke!

And the Minnesotans seem to agree with me.