November 3, 2007 archive

We watched a show on DHC channel where Dr.Mehmet Oz visited ordinary Americans and made them toss food out, take up an exercise program, and eat healthier. As a rule, he used to annoy me, because almost everybody who goes on Oprah annoys me and my husband actually puts her show on to annoy me. Oz cited general guidelines about what the safe measurement for a male and female waist are. So we measured out waists and kind of sighed…..

The sad part is I do exercise… I walk and lift light weights.. tennis once a week in the summer.. a bit of hiking in the Fall. And I still need to lose weight…

To liberals and libertarians, the question of freedom is not even a question. We take for granted not only the freedoms we have come to expect, but that we have the fundamental right to expect them; indeed, that all people have a fundamental right to personal and political freedom. The American and French Revolutions were liberal and libertarian, and so were the fights against slavery and for suffragism. Liberals and libertarians continue to fight for the freedom of the GBLT community, and for oppressed minorities everywhere. Many of us dream of a world free of warfare, hunger, and deprivation. Many of us dream of a world where everyone has a birthright of peace, justice, opportunity, and the human community’s compassion and support in times of crisis. We dream large because our ideals are large. Those who ridicule us as unrealistic would have also ridiculed those in the Eighteenth Century who dreamed of freedom from despotic monarchies. We take for granted the freedoms we have, and often forget the intrepid efforts of those who had to fight to win them for us.

We have a choice.  We can live with our current doctrine of Peace Through Strength, which has much of the world hating the actions of our government.  We can live with our government fighting a war where 3500+ of our servicemembers have died, and over 1000000 Iraqi civilians have died.  We can live in a world where our troops are spread out over the world to protect our ‘national interests.’  Or, we can live in a world where we are a nation amongst many.  A world where we sit down and figure out what our interests are and how we can help them coincide with the intests of the people of the world.  We can live in a world where we don’t go to war at the drop of a hat.  We can live in a world where our doctrine is Strength Through Peace, where we work with the world, not dictate to it.

OK, so I juggled funds and went to buy a new, slightly better, garbage department store bike on Thursday. I did that in case I was called in on Friday, and then I was not called in, so I got all weekend to get the gear off the shoddy department store bike that just was not designed for 1,000 miles in five months, and onto the new one.

But what I really want is an electric bike. Let me tell you the electric bike I am probably going to end up with, and the electric bike I wish I could have, after the fold.

And of course, as always, this is also a cycling open thread.

This is the last installment of Datamining.  I’m simply out of ideas for another poll.  I could ask about sexual orientation, or your pick for the Democratic nominee, but I simply don’t care.  Your orientation is none of my business and your pick is not going to affect the outcome of the Democratic convention, or change anyone’s mind.

I’ve enjoyed doing this and I’ve learned a lot about my fellow dharmaists.  If anyone has an idea for another informative poll I would be glad to drive.

So here are the results of my polls:

Today’s Washington Post has more happy Blackwater news:

The Prince Group, the holding company that owns Blackwater Worldwide, has been building an operation that will sniff out intelligence about natural disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas regulations and global political developments for clients in industry and government.

The operation, Total Intelligence Solutions, has assembled a roster of former spooks — high-ranking figures from agencies such as the CIA and defense intelligence — that mirrors the slate of former military officials who run Blackwater. Its chairman is Cofer Black, the former head of counterterrorism at CIA known for his leading role in many of the agency’s more controversial programs, including the rendition and interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects and the detention of some of them in secret prisons overseas.

Its chief executive is Robert Richer, a former CIA associate deputy director of operations who was heavily involved in running the agency’s role in the Iraq war.

Which begs the question: what role does this agency play in domestic spying? What role does it play in shaping international policy? Richer once headed the CIA’s Near East division. The CIA spent a fortune helping train Jordan’s intel service. Jordan now hires Blackwater. Nifty, huh?

As for the new spy unit:

While I was at work on Tuesday night the absolutely most fun thing happened. A gigantic pipe broke right near the new building. I happened to have my camera because I was there taking pictures of Halloween decorations. Somebody called and said,”You’re the supervisor go do something.” So I went out and asked the maintenance guys if they had called X and they said yeah we are waiting for X. I was a bit worried because the parking lot where patients and staff is adjacent to where the leak spurted up and had potential for problems if the water show went on for a long time, when I mentioned that they all looked at me as if it had never occurred to them. However, X arrived and it got taken care of.