RelentlesslyOptimistic

The Agonist to the National Press Club: Hello?

The supposed "liberal" media has covered several events centered around blogging. All have had little or no representation from liberal or progressive blogs, and overwhelming representation from conservative ones.

Sean-Paul Kelley of The Agonist. is asking the National Press Club to include a serious liberal blogger in an upcoming forum. The "discredited conservative media operative Jeff Gannon, neé Guckert," who wasn't a blogger until after he was unmasked, was invited to be a panelist. "Guckert's token liberal counterpart will be a gossip blogger and sex comedy blogger."

As Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise said:

You can't make this stuff up: The National Press Club's panel on blogs and journalism includes Gannon/Guckert and Wonkette, but no liberal bloggers.

The Gannon/Guckert story was investigated and written first and most in blogs, primarily by John Aravosis of Americablog.org, yet the National Press Club, that bastion of the "liberal" media, did not think to invite him to be on the panel. Sean-Paul's full letter asking them to include Aravosis is here, along with contact info to weigh in with the Press Club.

Solar Pasteurization

Cool product!

Solar Solutions
Solar water pasteurization is the most economical and safe way to eliminate pathogens (bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc.) like cholera and salmonella from fresh water sources.

This company has created a reusable Aqua Pak that will pasturize 4 gallons of water - daily drinking water for a family of four. They also have an Aqua Cone that uses solar energy to distill water, which removes disease agents and many toxins.

The World Health Organization estimates that over a billion people lack access to purified drinking water...Over 5,000 children die every day from drinking contaminated water...Eighty percent of all illnesses in the developing world result from waterborne disease.

Via Treehugger

Found Art Records

show and tell music has two very full galleries of thrift-store records, including three pages of "do-it-yourself" cover art. There's some amazing folk art here, so many that it was hard to make a choice for this post. The buddhist in the woods with a rabbit in his lap? The "Hot Bagel" cellist? The non-Elvis impersonator? There are even some downloadable MP3's!

Sleepwalking to disaster in Iran

Scott Ritter former UN Chief Weapons inspector in Iraq, wrote this essay about the clear US intention to attack Iran later this year. Many of the quotes of neoconservatives could have been about Iraq before the war: unsubstantiated allegations of intelligence and denying the knowledge of inspectors as justification for doing what they want to do anyway.
Sleepwalking to disaster in Iran.

"Late last year, in the aftermath of the 2004 Presidential election, I was contacted by someone close to the Bush administration about the situation in Iraq."[...]
"The American media today is sleepwalking towards an American war with Iran with all of the incompetence and lack of integrity that it displayed during a similar path trodden during the buildup to our current war with Iraq."[...]
"Enter John Bolton, who, as the former US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security for the Bush administration, is responsible for drafting the current US
policy towards Iran.
In February 2004, Bolton threw down the gauntlet by stating that Iran had a 'secret nuclear weapons programme' that was
unknown to the IAEA. 'There is no doubt that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons production programme', Bolton said, without providing any source to back up his assertions."

Sounds too familiar, doesn't it?

Onward Christian Soldier

Another day, another astounding post from Billmon that has to be repeated in its entirety. Welcome back, Bill!

Whiskey Bar: Christian Soldier

The legal battle over the life of Terri Schiavo may have ended, but a thick, fervent crowd remains in the makeshift encampment outside the Woodside Hospice House here . . .

No, we're not going to go home," said Bill Tierney, a young daughter at his side. "Terri is not dead until she's dead" . . .

Mr. Tierney, a former military intelligence officer in Iraq who works as a translator and investigator for private companies, cried as he talked about watching the Schiavo spectacle on television and feeling the utter need to be at the hospice.

New York Times
Protesters With Hearts on Sleeves and Anger on Signs
March 28, 2005

 

Bill Tierney . . . had just returned from eight months working as an interrogator for US forces in Baghdad, and had come to talk, on the record, about torture.

''The Brits came up with an expression – wog,'' Tierney said. ''That stands for Wily Oriental Gentleman. There's a lot of wiliness in that part of the world.''. . .

After explaining his various psychological tactics to the audience, interrogator Bill Tierney (a private contractor working with the Army) said, ''I tried to be nuanced and culturally aware. But the suspects didn't break.''

Suddenly Tierney's temper rose. ''They did not break!'' he shouted. ''I'm here to win. I'm here so our civilization beats theirs! Now what are you willing to do to win?'' he asked, pointing to a woman in the front row. ''You are the interrogators, you are the ones who have to get the information from the Iraqis. What do you do? That word 'torture'. You immediately think, 'That's not me.' But are we litigating this war or fighting it?'' . . .

Asked about Abu Ghraib, Tierney said that for an interrogator, ''sadism is always right over the hill. You have to admit it. Don't fool yourself – there is a part of you that will say, 'This is fun.' ''

Boston Globe
Spy world
February 13, 2005

Arizona eliminates Department of Environmental Quality; Hijinks ensue

Last year I was told about a Missouri House Natural Resources Committee meeting, late in the day and the session, that erupted into chants by the conservative members targeted at the Department of Natural Resources to "Burn it down!" I was never able to find any media reports of the hearing, but it certainly is believable, given Missouri legislators' history of constant attacks on the Department.

Now, in the "it could be worse" genre comes this story from the Arizona Star: "Senate votes to disband DEQ" (Department of Environmental Quality). Jesus' General, from whom I found this story, is excited about the opportunity this presents:

"Like so many of your contributors, I, too, was a victim of DEQ's tyrannical diktat. For years, they've stonewalled my attempts to put what I call "sound science wading pools" in public parks throughout the state. These pools are designed to teach children the principles of sound science while providing them with an opportunity to participate in my favorite childhood activity, playing with mercury."

So remember, whenever you're discouraged by the latest acts of the Missouri  Legislature, take consolation from the fact that at least we're not as whacko as Arizona!

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics at CNN

Heaneyland pointed to this Media Matters for America story: CNN.com posted misleading graph showing poll results on Schiavo case. The results didn't change; the first graph merely uses a different scale to imply that Democrats supported removing Terri Schiavo's feeding tube to a much greater extent that Republicans or Independents. In fact, the difference was less than the poll's margin of error. The adjusted graph replaced the first one after the Media Matters story ran.  Pathetic.

First:                                                                    Adjusted:

Terri Schiavo and Moral Relativism

Whiskey Bar: Billmon says it best using the words of the Right.

Moral Relativism

The central weakness of the liberal case is that it is morally thin. Once you say that it is up to individuals or families to draw their own lines separating life from existence, and reasonable people will differ, then you are taking a fundamental issue out of the realm of morality and into the realm of relativism and mere taste . . .

What begins as an appealing notion -- that life and death are joined by a continuum -- becomes vapid mush, because we are all invited to punt when it comes time to do the hard job of standing up for common principles, arguing right and wrong, and judging those who make bad decisions.

David Brooks
Morality and Reality
March 26, 2005

"I don't know anybody on the right who would say, 'I'm in favor of innocent people being tortured.' But that said, I think a lot of people on the right are skeptical of hype: That the allegations are not nearly as horrendous or as widespread a matter of policy as the media portrays" . . .

"There are lots of things that are ugly and terrible about war," Goldberg adds. "I think that people on the right are more comfortable allowing for that."

Jonah Goldberg
Interview with Salon
February 28, 2005

Update 3:30 PM ET:

DAVID BROOKS: But the interrogation process and how we react at Gitmo, how we react in Iraq, these are issues that I think we should have memos about. You know, every week we sit here and we watch on Fridays the soldiers that have been killed in Iraq and...

JIM LEHRER: We have some more tonight.

DAVID BROOKS: And we know very little about the insurgents. And we have got to somehow do a better job in knowing about the people who are killing the faces we see every Friday night. And this is part of that process. And I think his [Gonzales] role has been utterly appropriate.

David Brooks
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
January 7, 2005

The Flight of the Hedgehog, Episode II

When last seen, our intrepid hedgehog, let's unimaginatively call him Harry, was floating in the atrium of the Marriot's conference area. This Flickr photo from earlier in the evening may even be Harry himself (my next phone will have a camera!).

Saturday morning before leaving I checked to see Harry's situation. Some of his balloons were hanging a little lower, presumably from the cold of resting against the skylights' glass. But there were lots of balloons, and thus still plenty of lift to keep our hero afloat. It was clear that they hadn't yet cleaned up the ballroom and atrium area, though. The remnants of the ribbons of balloons that had been tied to chairs (not all of them ones that I'd liberated) were still hanging like loose threads on a new shirt.

I like to think of the conference center staff dealing with Harry. These can't be the first helium balloons to have made their way to the atrium, with or without help. And most conferences, and thus conference centers, take themselves too seriously to have a helium balloon from a previous event left to descend on the next unwary attendee

So we know that Harry's destiny is not to be stranded in the atrium. He could be presently captivating the heart of a Marriot employee's child. But what do they do when balloons rise up, as they are wont to do? Do they have an official conference center BB gun to pop trapped balloons, and an official balloon wrangler? Darts? A very very long pole or a big ladder? A secret passage leading to a panel that accesses the top of the atrium? Or perhaps, just perhaps, the atrium windows open, and Harry is free, and even now descending to his new home somewhere in Michigan.

I hope he writes.

While they had no role in Harry's flight, I have to say thanks to Hedgehog Hosting. They were a conference platinum sponsor, and their representative  was the most exuberant, joyful and generous sponsor I've ever met. He and they didn't have to do more than the sponsorship package. But he was generous with drink tickets, meals, and told one of the funniest stories of his path to his current job I've ever heard. I'm sure he'd be happy to hear of Harry's escape from the confines of the conference center.

The Old Negro Space Program

The Old Negro Space Program
Andy Bobrow is a TV writer who's created a brilliant parody of Ken Burns' documentaries. This is worth watching even if you have to do it on a slow modem! Five stars, some thumbs up, and an endorsement or two. You'll laugh! You'll sigh! You'll giggle!

Via Blast Off!

Hedgehogs and Helium

I think I might have been spoiled by having my first national professional conference be for the nuclear freeze. I was living on a barely sustainable income, as were most of the people I knew. And the conference was in the Peachtree something or other in Altanta - a very expensive hotel that I couldn't possibly have afforded normally.

Jesse Jackson spoke; I'd never really considered him as a serious candidate until I heard him preach and been inspired by his words. Hanging around afterwards in the ballroom, a group of us were playing , running around in the ballroom with big bunches of helium balloons trailing behind us. The cleaning staff showed up, and we talked about Jackson, who they considered a serious contender, the only one who really represented their views.

It's harder, after that experience, to take some aspects of conferences seriously. Even after having been involved in host committees for conferences (not the lead organization, but the lead group in the community in which the conference is located), I'm acutely aware of the "behind the curtain" activities. I'm also, as always, alert to possibilities for fun. [Note that I do take seriously the role of sponsors - they want and need to promote themselves, and they make the conference possible in return]

Tonight as I returned to my room I had to stop on the conference floor to change elevators. I almost just went from one to the other, but happened to see, from the corner of my eye, that the ballroom lights were still on. I walked in, and saw a hedgehog (the symbol of Hedgehog Hosting, a conference sponsor) attached to a helium balloon from the final sponsorship gathering earlier that evening. I thought at first it was the one I'd been trying to make float earlier, but it wasn't. Nonetheless, it was there, and throughout the huge ballroom were bunches of two or three or four balloons, beginning to hang lower as their helium leaked out.

I collected all there were and tied them to the poor hedgehog. By the time I finished, there must have been 30-40 of them lifting Mr. Hedgehog far above the crowd. I considered taking him downstairs and freeing him outside, but knew the balloons wouldn't last in the cold. Instead, I let him go in the atrium, where the balloons flattened themselves against the skylight, almost invisible from the floor below. I laughed, and then saw a guy cleaning nearby. I wished him goodnight and left, hoping that Mr. H would stay up until some conference next week.

I'll check in the morning before I leave, to see where he is.

Update: I know I shouldn't blog after slightly-too-much wine and beer. Edited for corrections and clarity.

Cephaloblogging Friday: Octo-Walk

Camouflaged octopuses 'walk' on two tentacles

If you are using your limbs to disguise yourself, how do you flee danger without giving yourself away? The answer, when you have eight arms, is to use six arms for disguise and to walk across on the seafloor on the other two.

Before my mom became a lesbian...

The mom in question is not mine, but Patrick Hughes' of Bad News Hughes, and that's the first line of the latest "Diary of Indignities." The kind of writing that makes you laugh out loud when you're alone is a treasure, even if it involves beatings, snot, blood and suburban pedophilic predators. Or maybe especially so.

Warning: if you're easily offended, pass on this one. Also, don't eat or drink while reading unless you like the feeling of things coming out your nose.

Gone to Chicago

Light or nonexistent posting for a few days while I'm at a conference in Chicago. Makes me wish I had a camera in my phone....

Cool map software: zipdecode | ben fry

Enter the first digit of your zipcode, and the boundaries of that area light up on the US map. Each additional digit narrows the scope even further - below is the area covered by 6 - Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.

zipdecode | ben fry