May 2008 archive

I only have a couple more hectic days here before thing2 has her 8th grade finale and says goodbye to middle school…and then thing1’s year is over, with a little break before summer school starts for her…

and i hope to be around more once things (and ‘the’ things) settle a little…

but for today, another cut-n-paste pony just to say good morning, and an open thread wherein we can prove once again that we’re NOT morning people 😉

Scott McClellan Is Not Himself

He’s Someone Else

The Truth Is Out There

Thursday’s Headlines:  Marines pass out Gospel verse to Iraqi Muslims, Iraqis say   Italy officer tells of spying on spies in cleric’s kidnapping  Secular Turks attack religious council’s code for women   Olmert urged to stand down over corruption claims   China quake: Controls cautiously lifted on flood of volunteers   End of a dynasty: Nepal’s Hindu king loses his crown   S.Africa union replaces sacked Mbeki ally   Nigeria militants step up oil attacks   Azteca shifts production of U.S. newscasts to Mexico

Citizens’ Groups Step Up In China

Wary Rulers Allow Role in Quake Aid

YINGXIU, China — Grass-roots organizations and informal networks of private citizens are playing a vital role in getting supplies to rescue workers and survivors of this month’s devastating earthquake in China. The government, in a notable shift, appears content to let them do so.

Officially, nongovernmental organizations in China must register with the government; the larger groups are as rigid and controlled as their official sponsors. Authorities remain deeply suspicious of smaller, independent groups.

USA

Ex-Colleagues Ask, ‘What Happened?’

Former Bush Aide Stuns Many With Critical New Book

Scott McClellan was the ultimate Bush loyalist. He went to work for George W. Bush when he was Texas governor in 1999, helped Bush gain the White House in 2000, and then came to Washington to defend the president for the next six years on such issues as the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.

But McClellan’s explosive new book, which alleges that the Bush administration waged a “political propaganda campaign” in favor of the Iraq war and bungled the response to the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast, prompted a counterattack yesterday from some of his oldest political colleagues, who accused him of disloyalty and questioned his credibility.

As aviation fuel prices continue to rise several air carriers have launched crash programs to search for alternatives and cut costs.

There were high hopes for one experimental program in which Jumbos were allowed to graze for their sustenance.

The experiment started out extremely well and a sense of near euphoria set in as Wall Street began to smell green.

Finally the Vilage media is being forced to confront some of their sell out stenographic sycophancy.  McClellan’s book, What Happened, is definitely making some of them very uncomfortable.  David Gregory had a melt down of umbrage on Hardball tonight which I hope to write more about tomorrow after the transcript is posted, but here’s a YouTube of it-

Bullshit.

An anti-labor group under the guise of, “Employee Freedom,” has been taking out newspaper ads in Oregon attacking Jeff Merkley. What are they attacking him on? They’re aiming straight for Merkley’s support of the Employee Freedom of Choice Act. The EFCA, aka the card check, would allow employees to control how they vote on whether to form a union rather than the management overseeing the process. The anti-labor group released two full page ads in two major papers in Oregon saying:

Jeff Merkley won the Democratic primary Tuesday through a mailed private ballot by Oregon citizens. Yet he supports eliminating the right to a private vote when unions are enlisting new members…tell Merkley to support true democracy.

Writer Molly Lambert wrote a remarkable essay about pornography, sexuality, and the sexualization of young girls over at the mp3 blog This Recording.

It is not (and never has been) shocking that people sexualize children, especially girls. It is not the pictures that rob these girls of their agency, it is the discussion around them. When an actually shocking story like the Austrian guy with the incest dungeon breaks, the public’s repulsion is matched only by their lust for sordid details. The flip side of disgust is fascination.

The internet is a Pandora’s Box for pornography, and shutting down provocative preteen modeling sites like Lil’ Amber will not stop pederasty or the sexual exploitation of minors any more than banning Lolita would have. Shows like To Catch A Predator play on the desire that morally outrageous crimes be stopped, and encourages the public to think that modern society and its evils are somehow responsible for outbreaks of sin.

But none of these problems are new. They occur behind closed doors in purposely antiquated settings like the FLDS, and reading any of the true crime records widely available online (or The Bible, for that matter) makes it obvious that most transgressions, no matter how hideous, have been happening for thousands for years. Which is not the same as deeming them acceptable.

The whole thing is worth reading (and talking about, if anyone cares to).

Note:  I put a fresh coat of paint on the title of this piece, what with it getting promoted and everything…

. . . to visit a new website / blog:  The Airport Report.  For all of us who buzz about the skies, and have to deal with airport frustrations, The Airport Report is a new site for us.  O.K., disclosure:  I’m a co-creator of it.

It actually started last month, when I was in the Detroit Airport (for the umpteenth time) and just came to the end of my rope about Detroit’s disgusting relationship with those cretins at “Boingo” – in sum, charging outrageous, loan-sharking rates (in my opinion) for internet access at an airport.  I was (once again) livid.  It occurred to me that a website to hail, and rant about, All Things Airports would be good medicine for travelers, both domestic and international.

As for New Jersey, some of my dear Docudharma Friends gave me “what for”; they sort of (good naturedly) lit into me when, back in early April, I lamented a then-upcoming layover at Newark Airport.  Well, my experience there, indeed, ended up being all-that-and-a-bag-of-poo  That was about 4+ weeks ago.  Since then I’ve been back to Japan, and back home again.  

I invite y’all to visit The Airport Report and weigh-in on how you think this nascent site can be improved.  

From a political standpoint, I think that were I a state legislator I’d be introducing a bill to have all airports within the state provide free internet, or lose any state supplemental funding, or something like that.  Too many airports do provide internet as a basic service for me to feel the least bit sympathetic to those airports that don’t.  

As for Newark Airport, well, internet access – and the lack thereof – is the least of it’s problems, I think.

All the best and Have a Good Flight,

Mu . . .