Know Your Rights

Indexes and algorithms radically shape our lives. From credit to advertising, our every decision is captured and crunched into a multiverse of databases, and carefully distilled into probable behaviors. This result is highly-tuned media, thrust back upon us.

Corporate America has massive stockpiles of data, and they know our dirty tricks.

Witness the ads on this webpage. Google's algorithm searches my posts for common keywords. Customized advertising is then served back to the page, items that could interest my readers. (So far, Google seems a little confused by topic selection.)

The bugaboo is the unpredictability of human nature. We have a natural right to be passionate, nonsensical, improbable creatures. We should take this further by swapping Kroger cards, responding to surveys with unrealistic answers, and buying outlandish, surrealist product combinations at the giant megastores: twenty yards of bungee cord, a turbot, and a gentleman's hat.

Another Roadside Attraction

If you've driven north of Cincinnati on I-75 you've probably seen the gigantic roadside Jesus by the highway near the Solid Rock Church. His arms are raised skyward as if he just heard a very uplifting traffic report. He also appears to be made from a yellowy plaster that resembles cheese.

Notice to prank-minded college students: Get some of those triangular foam Wisconsin cheese hats, and buy a couple of hunks of provolone and Monterey jack at the deli. Then stand around the statue when church lets out, shouting things like, "Why do you remain silent, Cheesus? Do our offerings not please you, Cheesus?"

UPDATE: My friend Spike suggested that somebody should install a gigantic statue of a quarterback on the other side of the highway, getting ready to throw a long pass.

Ritual de lo Habitual

Around my local city neighborhood there is a ritual that sometimes plays out on the soccer fields, the cub scout meetings, and among the minivan pickup brigade. It's when two Moms compare notes on why they still live in the city instead of the suburbs. It's like two insects in the rainforests tapping each other with their antennae.

This is what gets affirmed: We live in the city because of the culture of people and institutions, the diversity of experiences for our kids, the fact that it's the real world. We like being able to walk down the street for a cup of coffee.

Still, demographic trends in Cincinnati are towards the outlying areas. You get more for your money, and there's simply less crime. People without kids, people who aren't considering home ownership, young people who are responsible only for themselves and a car payment -- they have a hard time understanding why this is a difficult choice.

But fathoming the psychology is very important -- not only for the civic-minded urban planners, but also for people who want to see the Democrats return to political relevance.

Related post and discussion on Cincinnati Blog.

Light and Gravity

NASA Cassini Image: Nature's Canvas - Mimas and Saturn's Rings | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Massive context shift, and your tax dollars at work: Saturn's moon Mimas orbiting against a ring of light.

Amazon.com: Books: The Bottomless Well

Amazon.com: Books: The Bottomless Well

The Internet abounds with tales of people who have posted the most benign comments about their employer, coworkers, clients

Nation of Patience

Either you choose to treat us with respect based on an exchange of interests ... or we will continue to fight you until you change your policies.

Pop quiz. This is a message from:

a) Hardcore Christians, to the people they see as coastal elites.
b) Obdurate Democrats, to the Bush administration.
c) Al Qaeda second-banana Al-Zawahri, to the Western world.

The correct answer is 'c'. But no matter what you picked, you're in the same boat. A videotaped message, recorded before the election (and notably lacking in nuance) includes this nugget:

Vote whoever you want, Bush, Kerry or the devil himself. This does not concern us. What concerns us is to purge our land from the aggressors.

And if you know your al-Qaeda geography, you know that "this land" includes Palestine, Iraq, the Saudi peninsula, and possibly suburban San Diego. To properly sketch out those borders we would need a more precise understanding of 8th-century gerrymandering.

At least Americans are now united by virtue of being equal opportunity targets. And if you're playing along at home, you may want to note that statements by Dr. Z track much more closely with subsequent terror attacks than statements made by Mr. Gangly.

Smiley-faced Investors

The early news from the holiday retail shopping world suggested a lukewarm season, but that was mostly due to poopr performance on the part of Wal-Mart.

The real news might be more subtle ...
http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2004/mft04112908.htm

Fighting Wal-Mart in Michigan ...
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1101742830166720.xml

Purchasing decisions are political decisions. You can buy solely on the basis of price, and live in communities that result. Me, I'd rather pay less in taxes, and more to my neighbor who owns a profitable business. And neighbor is defined as neighbor, not shareholder.





Lean discounts and limited variety - Nov. 29, 2004

There a lot of people that dispise Wal-Mart because it destroys local businesses, and because it has pushed the labor market overseas, where it expects it's suppliers to pay workers nickels and dimes in comparison to U.S. wages.

I'd like to see Wal-Mart destroyed too, but in the old fashioned way.

the crappiest possible shopping experience
unfamiliar names (Tatung flatscreens, anyone?)

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.

amyannisaurus: Oootay!

amyannisaurus: Oootay!

The Big Country

This is the time of year I go see family in Washington D.C. -- a place I accidentally call home, even though I haven't lived there for years.

Sometimes in airplanes; more often in automobiles, riding up and out of Ohio, through the mountains, coasting down the Chesapeake Bay watershed into the city. My pulse begins to quicken as I join into the bumper-to-bumper, 90-mile-an-hour Beltway traffic.

Years ago I was the detached city kid on the D.C. Metro train, watching the families from the Midwest have too-loud, unironic conversations about seeing the dinosaur bones and ruby slippers at the Smithsonian. Lately I am on the other side of the glass, and a much happier person.

My latest trip confirmed everything about the divide between the Blue and Red states. The chasm of misunderstanding is daunting. The country needs a cultural exchange program within it's own borders.

Holiday Break

Spacetropic is on hiatus until Monday, November 29th, at which point blogging will begin again in earnest.

Thanksgiving Post

At the table, eating at home, we usually take a minute or two to reflect on the days events and our good fortune, in the form of a simple doxology.

Several years ago, when my daughter was little, we had dinner with some of my friends, people without any religious affiliation. Before the meal commenced my little girl (who was about four years old) chirped "Aren't we going to say grace?"

After a moment of awkwardness, my secular friends suggested that I do the honors. I managed to utter a non-religious expression of unfocused gratitude that I hoped would not offend. It sounded more like a bad socialist poem in honor of farm laborers.

So on this holiday, in the company of family and friends, let us reflect on the good fortune we enjoy, and the agro-industrial complex and the workers who have played a role in bringing our feast to table. And, because it couldn't cause any harm, may this "prayer" drift upward in gratitude.

Price Check Japan

Amazon Japan is launching a service that will allow consumers to scan product bar codes with their cell phone camera, and instantly get a price comparison back from Amazon. Link here.

Sister Mary

Yesterday my great aunt died. Her brain is being sent to a lab.

She was a Catholic nun of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Boston Irish, and sharp as a tack into her 90s. She had a prayer for everyone each day. I remember her on a Maine beach, wearing a sun hat, and already impossibly old, but with a sparkle in her eye, watching my daughter play in the cold summer waves.

Why is she being studied by scientists? Because the rate of Alzheimer’s disease is so suspiciously lower among nuns that my great aunt was included in a multi-year study made by neurologists to try figure out the reason. This 'Sister study' was even featured on an ABC 20/20 news program a couple of years ago.

The nuns would explain this in terms of their relationship with God. There may be a scientific angle too; prayer, as a practice, does focus the mind. Or perhaps nuns, many of them educators, keep using their cognitive abilities long into old age.

Aside from all of that, it will be a bittersweet Thanksgiving. But the whole family will be together, and there might be a great Irish wake.

Hardcore Politics and Hope

The Left is eviscerated. We live with one-party rule, where the only meaningful political struggles, in terms of legislation and policy, take place between moderate and ultraconservative Republicans.

I'm not passing a value judgment on any of this. In fact I think it's bad for democracy. It means we're contending with turf wars between congressional strongmen and their affiliate bureaucracies.

Democrats need to rebuild. They tried their best with traditional constituents this past cycle, and couldn't make it work. Some still insist that "it's the cities, stupid". But they only appeal to anger and condescension. Politicians who are intuitively disdainful of capitalism, and are reflexively dovish on foreign policy, they can't fake their way into capturing a majority.

Look to centrists, reformers, pro-business politicians who don’t pin their success on the country’s impending failure. Consider the work being done by various think tanks who are soberly sorting through the electoral numbers to gain insight into our country.

The United States needs fruitful dialogue between political parties which may vigorously disagree, but which both have something to offer the electorate.

Whassup Europe!

Hey congats on that new constitution. Get off our ride, dudes! How long did it take you, 1500 years of warfare? Just kidding. ;-) Yeah, we had our civil war too, whatever.

Look, lets just say it again: we're TOTALLY sorry we got so mixed up on the WMDs. I guess we just kind of blew that one completely. Still not sure what happened, but you gotta admit, Saddam was a loser. France, Germany, I know you were buds and all, and doing business, but still. You know? Chopping off guys hands? That's messed up.

Here's the thing. It looks like Iran is getting ready to make nukes. No, seriously. You may choose not to believe us, and whatever, payback's a bitch. But seriously. Like, in the next two years the mullahs are going to be busting out up to five nukes.

Now don't get all freaked out, Europe. Even if we wanted to invade, we couldn't because, well, we got a full plate. Israel said they would "do the deed", but we told them good luck finding this stuff in the desert. I guess we were just wondering if you had any better ideas. (Even our boy Kerry kept talking trash about this nuke prolifieration B.S., so it's probably something we should figure out.) So IM, or text message when you get a minute.

Peace out,
U.S.A.

Harrison Bergeron Syndrome

This article in today's NY Times discusses 'The Incredibles' and the educational trend towards rewarding mediocrity. In many schools the harsher consequences of competition are nullified by the "everybody-gets-a-medal" philosophy.

No reasonable person wants to subject little children to win-or-lose realities during the years they need nurturing and positive reinforcement. But by the time grammar school wears on, kids need the experiences of both triumph and defeat in sports, academics, and their social lives.

This is not because we want to raise brutal and greedy little capitalists. It's because we want kids to develop the emotional wherewithal to rebound and recover, to keep growing right though the bumps and knocks that go with living. (If you want to witness a tantrum, be there when Overprotected Johnny, who has been told his whole life he is "special", gets handed his first F in a high-school class, or a resounding loss on the playing field.)

Email me with comments, and I may add them to this post.

Enter the Monkey

This monkey appears to be practicing his karate moves on Jim Cramer (investment guru from TV's Kudlow and Cramer). Requires Quicktime.

Healing Iraq

Healing Iraq

Common Sense

Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs, and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything, but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it.

That’s Bill Murray’s character in Rushmore, one of my favorite movies. He’s giving advice, with his usual deadpan delivery, to the not-rich kids who are lucky enough to attend a good prep school. It’s the American idea going back further than Gatsby, and it’s something Europeans can never comprehend.

It also resonates with the changes taking place in today’s media, as the centers of power become subverted by the blogosphere. No one has a permanent lock on wealth or information in this society, because democracy and the free market are systems that (usually, eventually) redistribute those things to the honest and hardworking.

Bloggers can proudly trace this heritage back to Thomas Paine. And the bastions of legacy, mainstream media shouldn’t forget it.

Clinton Revisited

Does anyone still hate Clinton? I’m sure there are a few. And many people today feel a similar unfocused rage towards Bush II. In both cases there’s a reasonable basis for the disagreement, but hate seems overblown.

I saw some of the coverage of the opening ceremonies for the Bubba Pavilion down there in Little Rock. It always strikes me, when they line up presidents current and past, how they make up a strange and lonely fraternity. For all of their differences, who else could understand the unyielding pressure of the presidency?

And seeing Clinton in the rain, hatless, thinner, and recovering from surgery, it seems like so long ago. I think he must feel it each day, the footnote to his legacy. But looking back on that era, don’t we wish we had those kinds of problems today?

Friday Morning Meta

Today I'm taking a vacation day from work, to have a root canal. I also agreed to stop by the parish center of my church, to help the ladies set-up e-mail.

So hopefully the later part of the day will involve dentist-perscribed painkillers. Otherwise I'm planning on a bottle of 'Two-buck Chuck' from the Trader Joe's which recently opened nearby -- another sign Cincinnati is advancing steadily into the 90s. In either case I will be blogging for your entertainment.

Careful observers will see some upgrades to the site. A big thank-you to John, my oldest and closest friend from D.C. and a brilliant graphic designer. And shouts out to Google for the vain promise of income.

UPDATE: I'm glad I don't know any military secrets, because I now know my breaking point. Although a close second, on the pain scale, was the fact that I was forced to endure 'The View' on the TV while the root canal was taking place. Marquis de Sade, white courtesy phone.

s p a c e t r o p i c

s p a c e t r o p i c: "An independent view on politics, policy, culture, and the media revolution."

Switch-Case

Switch-Case

Some Luck

I discovered that people are visiting this website as the result of people seraching for "kim cattrall naked". I recently (and innocently) referenced both concepts. The Internet never ceases to amaze.

Welcome, new visitors! Once you get over the disappointment, I hope you stick around for my attempts at commentary.

Wired News: Senate May Ram Copyright Bill

Wired News: Senate May Ram Copyright Bill

Secession of Cascadia

Both parties will basically be starting fresh in 2008. Cheney won't run, and whoever gets the GOP nomination will inherit the Bush II legacy. And while Democrats control nothing, they also are responsible for nothing. As long as they don't get Daschled they could theoretically eat Pop Tarts and watch karate movies for the next three years.

But from the leftist fringe come radical ideas about secession. The old playground comeback applies: You and what army? Be serious. I'm picturing the virtuous citizens of Seattle and Portland making Molotov cocktails out of their bottles of Pinot Gris, and ordering olive and khaki outfits online.

This may become a big theme on my weblog: Neither Republicans nor Democrats are well served by assigning credibility, even half-jokingly, to their fringe elements. The biggest threat to the nation may end up being the stupid, forwarded political email.

Pop Tarts are a trademark of Kellogg's World Domination, Inc.

Fragment

If you paint everybody between the coasts as fundamentalist hilljacks, you won't help build a winning majority for next time. It's more a matter of artithmatic than opinion, since millions voted for Kerry in the red states. Consider investigating

Deer Insolence

Something is amiss with deer populations and suburban neighborhoods. I feel very strongly that we are the dominant species and the deer should prance off into a wooded glade and nibble flowers. Or else there will be consequences.

Once again, a deer stepped casually into the path of traffic on a well-traveled road in my neighborhood, and I had to swerve to avoid it. The deer paused for a moment to gaze at me indifferently.

I could have been bouncing down the street in a rainbow-colored ice cream truck with sirens all over it, and he would not have moved out of the way any faster. I had to hold myself back from leaping out of my car and whacking him with an umbrella.

Roundup

HoustonChronicle.com - Texas school district nixes 'cross-dressing day'
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2904409

You know I love the French Muffins.
Requires Macromedia Flash

Lawrence O'Donnell
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080444/

Wired News: Senate May Ram Copyright Bill
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65704,00.html

Now would be a good time to send a pick-me-up-bouquet to Daimler Chysler CEO Jurgen E. Schremp, who may be feeling blue.

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3349002/c_3349022?f=home_todayinfinance

Blogs

Sadgirlseven
http://www.sadgirlseven.net/
(Karen, Cincinnati)
karen.whyte@gmail.com

Walk In Brain
http://straightmute.blogspot.com/
(John Flinn, Cincinnati, music)
wfmusic@rocketmail.com

Cincinnati Blog
http://cincinnati.blogspot.com/
(Brian Griffin, Cincinnati, politics)
mailto:CincyBlog@aol.com

Perpetual Blonde
http://cutthecrap.typepad.com/
(Keli?, Cincinnati area, food, bugs and knitting)
perpetualblonde@gmail.com

http://www.blurbomat.com/
husband of ...
http://www.dooce.com/


Another guy
http://blackcincinnati.blogspot.com/
Another guy

Squid-Related

ABC news reports that warmer climates are causing a population boom for everyone's favorite cephalopod. Meanwhile, Peruvian drug lords invent their own version of stuffed calmari.

Our Impending Destruction

A cheery prognosis from children's-literature lady Helen Caldecott, from a site the specializes in upbeat commentary. She says Bush's reelection will destroy planet Earth.

Well, she actually says that Bush "threatens mankind" and we should expect "endless war, and I think that could mean nuclear war". She did win a Nobel Peace Prize, so she probably hangs out with the other award-winners and peace experts.

Caldecott spent the 1980s in the disarmament movement. This is the movement that used protest marches and teach-ins to convince Reagan and the Soviets of the moral virtues of a nuclear freeze, thereby ending the Cold War and bringing peace to Eastern Europe.

In the Agora

In the Agora

AltWeeklies.com

AltWeeklies.com

Jello-Related

Is Jello a popular dish among Al-Jazeera's viewers? Scott Ritter deserves credit for trying. But I'm also curious if that old gelatinous dessert has the same wiggly appeal in the Qatar and Iran.

On a related note, former Jello spokesperson Bill Cosby is sure kicking up dust with his latest incendiary remarks. On the drive to work this was the hot topic on my local hiphop/R&B radio outlet.

Jello is a trademark of Kraft Foods Uber Alles Inc.

Two-Fisted Culinary Tales

To an epicure, certain items are beyond praise: Olive oil, holy basil, noodles, good stock. Counted among these magnificent essentials is the simple tomato. Grown in summer or in a hothouse off-season, they are always worth it, always important.

Something to reflect on during these difficult times.

Also, rogue chef Anthony Bourdain is back with a new cookbook. From the roast chicken recipe : Don't throw away "the pope's nose" (the ass). That's flavor. The entire volume is like that, obscure secrets of the trade laced with profanity. I spent a while with it in the bookstore yesterday, and came away with provocative new ideas about vinagrette and boeuf.

Purple Rain

William Raspberry from the Washington Post admits that divisive politics makes for better copy:

Scores of public controversies are reported as to-the-mat battles between unyielding opposites -- in part because our journalistic habits send us looking for these irreconcilables.

But Raspberry doesn't go far enough. By exaggerating these political conflicts the media rubs salt in the wound, and soon enough the extreme groups on both sides of an issue feel more justified in portraying each other as grotesque caricatures, worthy of contempt.

Then both sides keep amplifying the rhetoric, and 'purples' get to hear them repeat the latest bombast from Fox, or Franken, or Limbaugh, or those velveteen socialists at NPR, as if we simply never had the pleasure of being assaulted with a "reasonable position" before.

Thinking Local II

A young, well-educated workforce is essential to the health of modern cities. Their economic participation and cultural decisions (in art, music, and nightlife) are a feedback loop that increases the vibrancy of the city, and it's attractiveness to others. Read this book about it.

In Cincinnati, some groups have made it their mission to add cultural cachet to a town that has a reputation for being sedentary and bland. Their efforts are praiseworthy. But 'the creative class' eventually gets tired of coming home at 3AM, gets married, has children, and needs a place to live. These things actually happen. (People in their 20s think of this like Logan's Run, the 1970s sci-fi movie where people float up to the ceiling and explode at the age of 30.)

This changeover means other issues become important, such as public safety, neighborhoods, and schools. Robert McCluskey put this very elegantly in a children's book. Except in a modern re-telling, the ducks would be suspicious of Officer Michael, and form an action network against kids on bicycles.

Our local government in Cincinnati (like many towns), halfway-understands some of these issues, but is mostly preoccupied with getting the next retail-derived tax fix spiked into a vein.

Animated Movie Items

'The Incredibles' is a massive hit, but you may want to think twice. This article from our nation's leading progressive magazine contends that the movie may be pro-freedom, and even family oriented.

'Polar Express' isn't doing as well. This is because ultra-realistic computer generated animation freaks the living daylights out of everyone. Had Zemeckis called I would have warned him.

My daughter and I are both Miyazaki buffs, and so we anxiously await 'Howl's Moving Castle'. It was previewed in Japan recently by this person, on the site that specailizes in rambling reviews and nerdy movie hype, Ain't It Cool News.

Health and Fitness

A sign of the times. No word yet on a remake of the 1987 classic. Obviously Ms. Lopez would take Kim Catrell's part. Andrew McCarthy, incidentally, has apparently parleyed his lack of comedy skills into a new career writing for conservative publications.

Which reminds me, I keep seeing a Korean family at my local YMCA. Now, being naked in the locker area is normal, but this family feels obliged to run back and forth naked, in a group. The first time I thought they were in a rush. But I saw them again today, racing around the lockers, the sauna, and the showers.

It's a father and his two boys, and the boys are usually explaining the complexities of some video game in between short breaths, while the father nods, and runs naked. "And then you. Hide under the castle. Until. The princess returns. Then you. Use the red gemstone!"

I don't know what this means. It doesn't appear to be wrong or unwholesome. Maybe they are simply enthusiastic about exercise.

Thinking Local

Cincinnati is my home town, and I recognize the civic virtue of knowing her better, being more involved.

But the primary media, like the city in general, always comes off as dull and smug, and vaguely complicit with the politicians and their development cronies. And the alternate media waves their arms endlessly about social issues and the native conservatism.

So I'm looking for people in blogosphere in Cincinnati proper, northern Kentucky, and the outlying areas. I'm more interested in how our local issues tie back to national ones, but I'm also getting tired of watching the city make unfortunate choices.

Thanks to Cincinnati Blog for the cordial welcome. I would like to likewise send a link out to Schizophelia Jones, a strong local voice I've been reading. A Blogroll is forthcoming, with national and local selections. Meanwhile send comments here.

Madeleine Eruption

Madeleine Albright has been dusted off and placed in front of the cameras to wag a finger at the Bush administration about "moving the process forward" between Israel and Palestine.

But Arafat's funeral turned into a mosh pit with machine guns, which doesn't inspire confidence in existing Palestinian leadership. And I expect Hezbollah also has ideas about moving the process forward, especially since they acquired those funny new Iranian robot planes.

Maddy has played the expectations game in the past. I have a hunch she'll be visiting the Sunday morning legacy media shows spinning the same talking points. Something similar is happening to Tony Blair, who has been told by the Labor Left to assume the position prior to the next election.

Roundup

Pay attention, I'm moving quickly.

• Partisanship rides again: Some people are toying with a case against the Gonzalez appointment over the Geneva Treaty.
  
  
• Reflexive guilt from the non-winners. But not as alarming as gloating fat men with firearms. Everyone, anyone: bust out the digital camera and join the fun! Maybe both sides can swap domain names in '08 if the election goes Blue.
  
  
• Clowns, gaijin, and sandwiches make a disturbing mix. (Requires Windows Media)
  
  
• Firefox Mozilla is the surfer's choice, especially if you visit blogs with many links. The tabbed browser makes it easy: Press the control key when you click, and another tab magically opens up underneath for that website.
  
  
• Some members of my miniscule readership continue to ask for the ability to post comments. But I've been on the Internet long enough to know that political discussions go one of two ways: An echo-chamber of agreement, or a downward spiral of nastiness, ending with "Nazi" accusations. In both cases half the readers go away.
  
  
• I am 2/3 of the way into the 'His Dark Materials' series by Philip Pullman. It's billed as juvenile literature, but it's better: First class, inventive fantasy, and a subversive re-telling of Milton's Paradise Lost. The only reason these books haven't been banned by the extreme religious right must be because they simply haven't heard of them.

There's the roundup. Please send me email, I would like feedback.

Marine Items

Liability Warning: Today's items are not suitable for the exceptionally embittered.

If you don't read the NY Times you might have missed this story about a marine and CNN journalist that 'met cute' amid the mayhem in Iraq.

She looked up from her desk at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad a few days later, and there he was: dirty, loaded with weapons, and grinning because he had found her.

Also, this marine writes harrowing, battlefield-level accounts of the fighting around Falluja, posted as letters to his dad. This is the real McCoy. (But ... people who don't think war is ever necessary should steer clear.) His last post, incidentally, was November 3rd.

Bought and Sold

Conflicting news stories of Yassar Arafat's death are in keeping with his life: He always dragged things out, and wanted it both ways.

Dennis Ross, author of 'The Missing Peace', was on Chris Matthews tonight. I actually sat up and paid attention. Ross explained how Arafat consolidated his power by bilking Europe for aid money to the tune of $300 million, and "governed" by shrewdly doling it out to friendly political factions in exchange for favors. The future of the region may depend on who among Arafat's potential successors has control over the remaining pile of money, and whether or not they are capable of making the system more transparent.

Progressive European guilt in exchange for kleptocracy? Sounds familiar.

UPDATE: Soon after this post went up it looks like Arafat actually died. Let's hope the final result of this will be a new opportunity for peace in the region.

Ciao, John

Three years have elapsed without another terrorism attack. This is either the result of skill and planning if you support Bush and Ashcroft, or blind luck if you do not. The second answer becomes more implausible the longer we appear to be safe.

The real answer may be a combination of the two, but the precise mix is unknowable due to intelligence concerns and the logical difficulty of proving a negative.

I have a strong suspicion that the true reason for our safety lies in the hard work that is being done by everyday people in law enforcement; nonpolitical, cup-of-coffee Americans who are just making it difficult for terrorists to gin up a plan.

Here's my question: Now that Ashcroft is leaving, will the Spirit of Justice be restored to her former glory?

J.P.B.

John Perry Barlow is a proud liberal and product of the 1960s, but he's never stopped looking forward. His work and commentary is always generous, honest, and optimistic.

His latest column is worth reading. He manages to rein back his anger, survey the situation, and do a little soul-searching without devolving into name-calling or bitterness. He even admits that he was made uncomfortable by being obliged to hope for defeat in Iraq, or a lousy economy. No political party should succeed by hoping for it's country's failure.

By pointing this out I am not engaging in schadenfreund. I just think Barlow is, as usual, a couple of steps ahead of everyone.

Exurbs II

Speaking of Warren County, David Brooks today underscores the seismic importance of the exurbs in election demographics.

Here's the latest group that doesn't get this, and deliberately mischaracterizes it by perpetuating the myth that America splits cleanly into fundamentalist hayseeds and inclusion-minded city folks.

Maybe 'Retro Vs. Metro' will become a new home to activists, now that MoveOn.org has become so ironically named.

Scotsmen and Marines

I can't seem to discover very much frontline coverage about Falluja, but here's one article which makes the Marines sound more vicious than the insurgents. It also mentions LRAS (Long Range Aquisition Systems), which allow troops to target the enemy almost 1000 meters away, at night. This technology lends a fearsome advantage to the coalition.

On a related note, this article describes the infantry regiment that has been tasked with guarding the perimeter of the town, and hunting down any Zarqawi followers that might be slipping away. I wouldn't want to be up against a group of heavily armed Scotsmen with a name like 'The Black Watch'. I don't know if they've got LRAS too, but you can be certain they've got dirks, and they've been using them on their enemies since the Napoleonic Wars.

Exurbs I

Republican arch-villain Karl Rove was on TV last night, and he named Warren County, in Ohio, as the key bellwether political district in the country. It's just up the road from Cincinnati, and it's the place to which you relocate when you are tired of the city, and you want to live in a safe, spacious locale with new construction. Demographic gurus call these the "ex-urbs". Warren County is not my cup of tea, being a city mouse, but it's a fine place to live.

Perhaps teams of scientists can be assembled from east-coast universities, the DNC, the New York Times, and broadcast news outlets. They could live amongst these people and learn their customs, language, and lore. I have a mental picture of Paul Krugman eating a Blizzard at the Dairy Queen off Rt. 48, while a pudgy kid in a soccer uniform stares at him for a few minutes before telling him he's got toppings in his beard.

No Comments

Because the readership of this blog is limited to a small group -- friends, family, and accidental visitors who type in the wrong web address -- and because that group includes birds of every conceivable political feather, I am not going to allow comments or outside posts.

Tempers are still hot after the election, and there's nothing more painful than listening to a person trying to "convince" someone else. (Plus this is supposed to be about me and my mad, self-serving ego.)

Caucus Origins

With the election now over, I’m thinking back to the beginning.

On C-SPAN, on a cold Iowa evening, they were broadcasting from somebody’s house during a caucus. The rooms were packed with white people, most of them middle-aged, female, and pleasant. Complicated sweaters with cute attachments seemed to be the fashion, along with down-home democracy.

The arcane rules of caucus procedure meant the ladies would shuffle in groups from room to room, past the TV crew, making physical their politics by assembling a literal majority of bodies who supported John Kerry. Brief moments of negotiation were followed by consensus. One woman who supported Lieberman was politely informed she could either leave or join the Edwards group in the den.

I think John F. Kennedy’s ghost was in those rooms, the smiling handsome prototype of Massachusetts Democrats, a man of conviction who could be winsome or serious, depending on the political need. I have no evidence, but I think those Iowa Democrats might have hoped that Kerry was as close as they come, these days.

Nine months and half a billion dollars later we’ve got a president, it’s not John Kerry, and the Democrats are adrift at sea. Both sides fought the good fight. But I hope those shuffling Iowa ladies have better choices at hand next time, among Democrats and Republicans, because too much depends on them.