E Pluribus Unum - Out of Many, One

Australian energy marvel in the works.

2004-10-06T01:21:00.000-07:00

What will generate as much electricity as a small nuclear reactor while avoiding radioactive waste and pollution?
Read the article: Australia plans world's tallest tower

Enviromission says the tower, at a proposed height of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), will be more than twice the size of the world's current tallest freestanding building, the Canadian National Tower in Toronto.
The one billion Australian dollar (US $0.56 bn) project is being backed by the Australian Government, and is expected to be completed in 2006 in the remote Buronga district in New South Wales.
If successful, the structure could provide enough electricity for 200,000 homes. It will save more than 700,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases which may otherwise have been emitted by coal- or oil-fired power stations.

Kerry shines through

2004-10-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

After months of spin-doctoring, after millions of dollars spent on ads attacking each others character, we finally get a little more clear picture of the contendor John Kerry. We had become so used to the media-filtered view, that this was a suprising and refreshing chance to listen to Kerry as Kerry talking to Bush as Bush.

I, like many others, expected watching the debate to be like drinking a nice glass of 3-parts water. But somehow the seriousness of current events, or perhaps the demeanor of the canidates, or the careful questioning of the moderator, made the debate quite watchable.

And we saw Kerry, poised, presidential. While Iraq has had the central focus for a long time, Kerry's explanation of North Korea was welcome. It is something I've wondered about before. Clinton's administration had North Korea in talks, on the road to reconciliation with South Korea within a few years. Just like East-West Germany became one, Korea was on its way. But the Bush administration threw away the opportunity. They simply, flat-out, were not interested, and as Kerry pointed out in yesterday's debate, they stopped speaking to North Korea for two years. Now North Korea has nuclear weapons, partly because of this, and probably also because we were so caught up and obsessed with non-existent chemical weapons in Iraq.

It's no wonder countries are so interested in obtaining nukes these days. It's a club like no other. The Bush administration has made the ground-breaking move to develop stock-piles of small, "tactical" nukes, including a new bunker-buster variety. These nukes are new and special, in that their smallness means it wouldn't be so devastating to actually use one in battle. The attitude seems to be, "Forget mutually assured destruction. If we're going to spend so much money on nukes, let's use 'em."

Add to this the new aggressive doctrine published by the Bush administration of preemptive strikes. If you're becoming powerful militarily or economically, the policy states, we may well send missiles your way, not because you're a threat, but because we feel like it. We have loads of weapons, we're making more, and we're quite happy to use them. It definitely is useful for boosting the sitting president's approval ratings and distracting the public from things like reckless spending that takes the country's annual budget from a record surplus to a record deficit.

In such a climate, where the bar for using nukes will be greatly lowered, where the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from it's 1980's era nuclear treaty, where the U.S. has shown its willingness to invade a country that was actively allowing inspectors to verify that it did not have WMDs, its no wonder, North Korea and other countries are scrambling to join the nuclear club. Getting in requires secrecy, hard work, and careful diplomacy, but once you're in, you've got staying power. Suddenly, the world will take you seriously. Suddenly, people like the Bush administration are forced out of their war-thirsty mode and back to doing things the old fashioned way--diplomatically.

The countries of the world still work with us--when they have to, when it's clearly in their best interest. But they're holding their noses when they do. If Bush was in Kindergarten, his teacher would pin a note to his back that says, "doesn't play well with others."

Kerry, while recognising the need to start what we finished, to clean up the huge mess we made in Iraq, has a plan that will focus our energy back on the greatest threats. He will show the free world that we are once again on the same side. And in yesterday's debate, he showed we Americans that he has the personality, the intellect, and the assured, calm persistence to figure out the right thing to do, and then get it done.

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

2004-10-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

A Slate editorial compares the debate responses of Bush and Kerry to increasing evidence that the Iraq war was a mistake.

We don't want to believe that we were wrong, that we've committed $200 billion and sacrificed more than 1,000 American lives in error. We can't imagine asking thousands more to die for a mistake.

Bush can't imagine it, either. So he offers himself—and you—a way out. Ignore the bad news, he says. Ignore the evidence that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated. Ignore the evidence that Saddam had no operational relationship with al-Qaida. Ignore the rising casualties. Ignore the hollowness and disintegration of the American-led "coalition."

2 items: CBS eats crow; why Bush is so bad for our nation

2004-09-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

It seems that CBS was lying when it issued the statement that "Contrary to some rumors, no internal investigation is underway at CBS News nor is one planned."

I got that statement from CBSnews.com yesterday. Today, CBS has issued a new statement that quotes Dan Rather saying, "after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically."

"I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers," he said.

Of course, this whole fiasco may well lead us to be stuck with four more years of record deficits, misguided aggression, and tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the ultra-rich.

Bush went into office with the biggest surplus in history. Bush will (God willing) leave office with the biggest deficit in history. He spent his opening days focusing on a Star Wars defense system that would be a misuse of resources and was pissing off the rest of the world. Whereas Clinton had met with his head of counterterrorism regularly and was making progress against Al Quaida, Bush did not meet with him and deemphasized Al Quaida, did nothing about a memo warning of hijacking attacks. September 11 happened and Bush went on the offensive against The Taliban, who was harboring Bin Laden and Al Quaida. Growing bored of this after a few months, Bush decided to attack Iraq, routinely citing Sept. 11 and then talking about the threat of Iraq as if they were related. Iraq had allowed weapons inspectors in, who were doing their jobs, but Bush grew impatient. "I want a war now!" seemed to be his thinking, and he got it. Now this and future generations will be stuck cleaning up the mess and paying off the bill. 1000 troops have now died in this war that could have been averted. France had a very decent proposal to double or triple the number of inspectors. But inspectors don't give you control of a country's oil fields; they don't let you install a puppet government; they don't let your Vice President's company make billions performing reconstruction; they don't let you build at least 6 permanent military bases in the country; and they don't give you the automatic approval rating boost that seems to come whenever the country is at war.

The Bush PR machine is working carefully to spin this. In a scene almost straight out of 1984, we see the minds of the populace being placated by images of U.S. tanks and guns threatening really foreign looking people far away.

At the Republican National Convention, Bush said these words, which included an explicit lie and once again attempted to associate Iraq with Sept 11 in our minds:
"We went to the United Nations Security Council, which passed a unanimous resolution demanding the dictator disarm, or face serious consequences. Leaders in the Middle East urged him to comply. After more than a decade of diplomacy, we gave Saddam Hussein another chance, a final chance, to meet his responsibilities to the civilized world. He again refused, and I faced the kind of decision that comes only to the Oval Office -- a decision no president would ask for, but must be prepared to make. Do I forget the lessons of Sept. 11th and take the word of a madman, or do I take action to defend our country?"

So Saddam Hussein still had weapons of mass destruction? Not on this planet. Which planet is Mr. Bush from? I would like to think that this lie was merely an oversight, but given the great care put into such an important speech, it can only be another example of the cunning deception orchestrated by Karl Rove and the Bush PR machine. And somehow this country seems to have swallowed the lie.

Lies can be most insidious when they're indirectly spoken. Think of the BowFlex advertisements featuring a body-builder who deftly states, "I'm 37, I'm in the best shape of my life, and I can tell you Bowflex really works!"

It's very likely the body-builder didn't use the bow-flex to get the body he has, but by juxtoposing two statements, his script writers make us a believe a lie that wasn't even spoken. An unspoken lie can't be called out on the carpet. The FTC can't shut down bowflex for an unspoken lie. But the vast majority of us leave the ad believing that the body builder has just told us he uses the bowflex.

And the majority of Americans still believe the unspoken lie that Saddam Hussein was somehow behind September 11th.

Forged documents, part 2

2004-09-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

Having read about the Word correlation with the 60 minutes documents, I decided to give it a try. I downloaded the documents from CBS and typed their text into Microsoft Word. In no time flat, they matched exactly what was there.

There were only a couple of nearly-trivial hurdles. Word automatically turns a number followed by text into an indented list. I had to hit ctrl-Z to undo this effect in a few places. In addition, I had to use ctrl-Z to undo the superscript "th" in a few places. Elsewhere, the "th" is small and high, Word style. In two of the documents, default margins yielded the correct results, but in two others, I had to change the margins a little.

The spacing is a perfect match. The documents have obviously been through a fax machine that was set a bit dark, so thin lines become thick ones, and everything is choppy, but it's hard to find a single detail that makes this not look like an exact match.

The only part I don't understand is: who would be stupid enough to use everything down to the default Times New Roman font in Word in making such a forgery?

If I was working for Bush and wanted to really make Kerry supporters look bad, I would do exactly this--make a document that any of the millions of Word users in the world could trivially tell was a fake, slip it past the editors at a major network, sit back, and watch all the fun. Unfortunately, only 60 Minutes knows who gave them the documents, and I doubt they know where those people really got them.

And as if being the village idiot for one day wasn't enough, CBS has issued a statement, the last sentence of which reads: "Contrary to some rumors, no internal investigation is underway at CBS News nor is one planned. We have complete confidence in our reporting and will continue to pursue the story."

Under what possible circumstances could the documents have been produced in 1972? Well, apparently IBM made two typewriters in that era that had proportional spacing, but at a price $20,000+. Also, the superscript "th" was an optional feature that could have been ordered with the typewriters. So, owners of used IBM Executive C or D typewriters (now closer to $20 on e-bay), let's see the results. Something tells me it won't be pretty.

Two political items

2004-09-18T01:28:00.000-07:00

Two interesting items:

1) What is with the forged Bush military records? Whoever did it is 1) immoral and 2) an idiot (unless the person is working for the Bush side, and then only 1 applies). Let's stick to the truth or things will just spiral into a dirtier and dirtier mess.
2) A mosaic called "The War President", using the faces American soldiers who died in Iraq to make up the face of President Bush. There are comments below with some interesting back and forth.

This reply was interesting. Note that the lines in italics were quoted by this poster, who then replied to them.

Maybe the author of this mozaic should have done a mozaic of Saddam and all the people he's killed, and while he's at it make one of Hitler, Stalin, Milosevic, etc and the list goes on...

Every life is sacred, every death a tragedy. As a free nation, founded on this principle amongst others, we have a duty to ensure this remains true for us. Yes, from Iraq to Afghanistan, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, from Hitler's Germany to Stalin's Soviet Union, hundreds of millions of lives have been destroyed by crooked rulers, megalomanic dictators, or thoughtless commanders.

Instead of wasting countless hours making a mosaic of an "opinion" (albeit respected), maybe do something constructive like helping Our Troops stay alive.

As a former member of the armed forces, as someone who subscribed - and subscribes - to an ideal that includes my death for a cause I deem just and worthy, I don't think of this mosaic as a "waste". These men and women in uniform, these soldiers, died to disarm a dictator who needed no disarmament. The man who sent them there, pictured as a mosaic comprised of their images, has yet to honor one of them by attending
their funerals. The man who smiled, when he cried "bring it on", the man who smiled, when he announced, a few days ago, he'd expect more of those deaths as the deadline draws near. This mosaic shows whose lives have been destroyed to allow this man to smile. It shows someone who cut their danger pay, their salaries, and who is unwilling to pay their injured brothers and sisters in arms enough to live after they lost limbs in a war, this man wanted to be "brought on".

This mosaic shows more than just a bunch of DDSs (dead and disposable, served), it shows what he, who is nothing but a mosaic of other's sacrifices, is made of.

Forget politics for one bit, besides we're already in this mess, and focus on the important things.

I am not a politician. I am a soldier. For me, the accountability of a commander in chief is the most important thing.

Who knows? maybe you can make a difference in one soldiers life so that he may not loose it and come back home.

I would hope to make a difference in more than just one life. I would hope, that I am able to show, why those men and women died, able to show their need for adequate armor and training, able to show, that I care about their safety and their lives.

I do this, by exposing those who endanger them. I do this, by exposing those, whose decisions and words created a situation you so aptly describe as a "mess" up there. A mess it is, indeed.

I put my money where my mouth is (so to speak). I am a volunteer for an organization call Operation Gratitude we send care packages to the troops to boost their morale

I applaud your efforts, and I bow before you. You, like the men and women in Iraq, are a hero in my book. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and - as a veteran, soldier, and human - will hold your name in the same esteem I hold the names of my living and fallen brothers and sisters.

I must, however, ask you this one thing - if, as a soldier, I had to chose between someone sending me a care packet and someone lobbying my fellow Americans to show who got us into this mess, hoping the next commander in chief will not deny my request for a kevlar vest and more diplomacy instead of "bring it on ", I would chose the latter.

My morale will improve in either case, yet having a psychologist on staff in my unit, a kevlar vest that could have saved so many lives, and the knowledge that "up there", someone acts to reduce violence rather than dismissing it as necessary, might do even more the trick.

Don't let your political opinions get in the way of helping our husbands, wives, brothers, sisters or sons. Who knows maybe someone will make a mozaic of the counless people who care (it's gonna take a whole lotta pictures!).

If someone does, I will print it and hang it in my bedroom. There is a lot of good will and support out there, that can REALLY help our troops. You are one of those people. Flags on SUVs and "bring it on", however. . .

Comment by Jonas M Luster (c) Thursday April 8, 2004 @ 2:11 am

When Big Brother short circuits

2004-08-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

The Boston Globe reports
that Senator Kennedy was almost grounded several times by the "no-fly list". Fortunately a high-up official was able to recognise him and let him go. But what about the rest of us who happen to not be Senators?

"A Kennedy spokesman, David Smith, said the senator was halted by the no-fly list three times before his staff called the Transportation Security Administration. Although the TSA assured Kennedy's staff that the problem would be taken care of, the senator was halted by the no-fly list on several more occasions.

Finally, in early April, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called Kennedy to apologize, and the problem stopped.

''He told the story to underscore the point that . . . if a member of Congress is having this much trouble getting a name off the list that doesn't belong there, then what kind of problems are citizens having?' Smith said."

Big Business buying friendship with F.C.C. hopeful

2004-08-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

When investing your hard earned millions, which government offices do you buy into first? The New York Times reports:

Becky Armendariz Klein is widely expected to lose her bid for Congress in Texas. But that has not stopped executives and lawyers from the nation's largest telephone and energy companies from pouring money into her campaign.

Indeed, some of her strongest supporters expect her to fail.
. . .
Why is Ms. Klein such a draw? Because administration officials have said that in the event of a second Bush administration she would be considered by the president, whom she served as a senior policy adviser when he was governor of Texas, as a candidate to be the next head of the Federal Communications Commission.

Scotsman.com News - Health - Prozac seeping into water supplies

2004-08-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to try a free sample of Prozac? You may not have to wait.

THE anti-depressant drug Prozac is being taken in such large quantities in Britain that it has entered water supplies.
Experts from the Environmental Agency are calling for an immediate investigation after it emerged that quantities of the medication were found in rivers and groundwater used for drinking supplies.

Did they authorize torture?

2004-07-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Remember the memos from Bush's legal team that Rumsfeld refused to give to Congress? Reportedly, they gave the legal opinion that torture was legal as long as the Commander-in-Chief approved of it.

Not long before that, the New Yorker investigated a secret special-access-program related to just that.

“If you even give a hint that you’re aware of a black program that you’re not read into, you lose your clearances,” the former official said. “Nobody will talk. So the only people left to prosecute are those who are undefended—the poor kids at the end of the food chain.”

. . . .

Last week, the government consultant, who has close ties to many conservatives, defended the Administration’s continued secrecy about the special-access program in Abu Ghraib. “Why keep it black?” the consultant asked. “Because the process is unpleasant. It’s like making sausage—you like the result but you don’t want to know how it was made. Also, you don’t want the Iraqi public, and the Arab world, to know. Remember, we went to Iraq to democratize the Middle East. The last thing you want to do is let the Arab world know how you treat Arab males in prison.”

Nobody for president

2004-07-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

Join the campaign:

"If a majority of people voted for "None of the Above" rather than "voting for the lesser of evils", it might force a situation where American Voters would have to find someone competent to lead them."

They list some interesting alternatives to our current system, such as:

Change the requirements for President.

Require prospective candidates to take an extremely hard civil service exam.
The top 100 scores of the exam move on to participate in the "Prezolympics".
The top 10 winners from the olympics become canidates and are entitled to campaign.
The winner of the election becomes President.
Gets a device implanted in their brain that explodes if they tell a lie.

Eliminate the office of President and hire a Ribbon Cutter.

Money saved on elections is used to pay off the national debt.

“We’re out there risking our lives. We deserve benefits like that.”

2004-07-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

Little known to the rest of us, U.S. military personnel are eligible for an unusual job perk.

Says the New Yorker, "[P]ersonnel in all four branches of the military and members of their immediate families can get face-lifts, nose jobs, breast enlargements, liposuction, or any other kind of elective cosmetic alteration, at taxpayer expense. (For breast enlargements, patients must supply their own implants.)"

Enron's "Kenny Boy" is being indicted

2004-07-08T00:20:00.000-07:00

But Enron’s former CEO still thinks he has done nothing wrong.

A few thoughts for Mr. Lay:

When you’re the CEO of a company, shouldn’t you at least have an inkling that the company has been hiding billions of dollars in debt? Or maybe you don’t see anything wrong with this practice.

It has been said before, but it bears repeating: I would much rather get mugged on the street than have a run-in with someone like you. If he’s lucky, the mugger might get $30 out of my wallet. You, on the other hand, could wipe out my life savings. And when I say “could”, for countless people, the word is “did”.

As the icing on the cake, when you knew your Titanic was about to sink, you sold your millions in stock to a horde of anonymous suckers trying make a good investment. But you knew the company had no future. You were the CEO. The man who guides the company with great vision; the one who now claims to be completely blind.

The human connection

2004-06-26T03:10:00.000-07:00

We number more than 6 billion, yet we share the need for for air, water, food, and love. A lot more connects us than we know. Yet distrust, violence, usury, and other forms of malice continue to push us apart. So many of the world's problems would be reduced if we would all learn to open our ears a little more. Sometimes what we hear will trouble us and cause pain in our already stress-filled lives. But when it does, we will experience a moment of catharsis, when our minds and hearts might be opened, and we might learn to have compassion. And of all things that give life meaning, compassion is one of the greatest.