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« June 2008 | Main | August 2008 »
And McCain was actually speaking at the time. "My friends...."
Thanks to Marty Ennis!
"We have a lot of work to do. It's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border." --Sen. John McCain referring to a border that is nonexistent, ABC News interview, 21 July 2008
Ah, those goofy San Franciscans! They actually want to rename a sewage treatment plant in "honor" of President George W. Bush! What insolence!
Jared Simpson of Waterblogged.info, himself a denizen of even goofier Berkeley, alerted me to this important news item. He has even given his blessing to this effort.
Think I'm kidding? Read the original Los Angeles Times story.
Petitioners want to rename the Oceanside Treatment Plant in honor of the soon-to-be ex-President Bush (175 days!). It's actually an honor, as the plant is San Francisco's most modern. It's also near the San Francisco Zoo.
Check out the official plant seal, with the plungers in the eagle's talons.
The White House is not amused, but that's consistent with the rest of us, who are not amused at the mess George has made. It'll take quite a number of such plants to clean up his messes.
So inspired, Campanastan will prepare a proclamation renaming all our treatment plants - er, latrines - in honor of President Bush.
One wag suggested that the plant be named the 'George W. Bush Waste Treatment Facility', or 'George W. Bush WTF' for short.
"We think this is a fitting tribute to this president." -- Brian McConnell, a member of the group urging the name change
Well, just like my trip back to Oregon from Norfolk, VA, last month, my return from Raleigh-Durham (RDU) on 24 July became a 24-hour odyssey with an impromptu vacation in Denver.
Two hours into my United Airlines flight from RDU to Denver (DEN), our pilot announced that we would have to stop in Wichita, KS, to take on more fuel because of "rerouting". Airlines are required to carry at least 45 minutes' worth of extra fuel on each flight. They don't like to carry more because it adds weight, which uses more fuel.
As is customary with pilots, he stated that this process would only take "about 15 minutes" and then we'd be on our way. Forty-five minutes later, we took off for DEN, where we landed over an hour late, just in time for me to see my flight to Eugene (EUG) push back from the gate.
So I called Kumar in Bangalore for a new flight, and after allowing him to go through his entire, mostly superfluous, script (I've learned not to interrupt customer service people to volunteer information, because you'll just wind up repeating it as they go through their paces). Kumar finally got me another nonstop to Eugene the next day, after I refused a connection through SFO, which I told him simply provided the potential to miss another flight.
But just like my earlier experience at ORD I got to stay in a $300 per night hotel, the Denver Airport Marriott, and that was only because someone canceled just before I called. Every hotel I called was booked solid, as the long lines at the UA "customer service" center foretold.
But I did get free wireless Internet. And flying into/out of Eugene is always a diversion. Half the passengers look like they've been in a One Toke Over The Line video.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that." - George Carlin
Yusuf Islam, who collects names like some people collect spouses, turned 60 today. Hey, he's an OWG like me!
Happy BIrthday, Yusuf!
I remember him as Cat Stevens, the guy who wrote one of the greatest rock 'n roll tunes of all times, Here Comes My Baby. The cover by The Tremeloes, a pick-hit at WCWM-FM in 1967 by "Mountain Man" Charlie Dent, is one of my 10 greatest all-time rock 'n roll songs.
Here's a nifty C&W, Latin-flavored version by The Mavericks that I recently stumbled upon. Nice go-go girls. I don't think Yusuf Islam would approve of the video. Did I say that the go-go girls are nice?
So thanks for the wonderful memories, Yusuf/Cat/Steven!
“Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.” -- Persian proverb
Well, Ana Maria Caballero of Colombia's Shared Responsibility likes to think so, as reported in a recent story and audio report by Murray Carpenter in the 18 July 2008 Christian Science Monitor.
Caballero is concerned with the deforestation and environmental degradation caused by the Colombian coca growers and processors who supply 90% of the cocaine to the USA, the world's top consumer - an estimated six million users. She's hoping that the upscale coke snorters in the USA are ecofriendly and will respond to her message.
In the past 20 years, Colombian coca growers have cleared an area the size of New Jersey for coca production. It takes 43 square feet of land to produce one gram of cocaine. The slash-and-burn method used to clear the rain forest produces air polllution, and the toxic chemicals used to produce the cocaine from coca leaves are dumped on the land and into waterways, leading to further degradation.
The habitats of many flora and fauna are being threatened by coca cultivation.Colombia has the most bird species - 1,870 - of any country in the world, and some are rapidly losing habitat.
And don't forget the social and cultural disruption wreaked by cocaine production.
My take: best of luck to Ms. Caballero, although I'm not sure demand management via "ecofriendliness" will have much of an impact on most USA cokeheads. If you snort cocaine, you're invariably self-absorbed and narcissistic who's not going to let the possible extinction of some exotic bird in a remote rain forest interfere with your desire for instant gratification.
Caballero's message will more likely resonate with the young and/or those who have not yet started the coke habit. Let's hope so.
"It's probably not something that would influence me." --Anonymous "ecofriendly" cocaine user, quoted in the article
I can't take credit for this post's title - on 16 July 2008, Jon Stewart on The Daily
Show spoke of the Fannie Flagg-Bernie Mac fiasco, or was it the Fanny Pack-Freddie Prinze financial problem? Cute!
On NPR's Morning Edition yesterday former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said it best: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had the best of both worlds, where there was "privatization of gain and socialization of loss." In good times, when the companies made money, shareholders reaped the rewards. In bad times, the taxpayers would shoulder the losses. Such a deal!
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) also spoke of a "financial powderkeg" and the need for a strong regulator to oversee Fannie & Freddie on NPR. A conservative Republican calling for regulation? Then you know things must be bad.
Once again, thanks to the folks who brought us the S&L debacle of 20 years ago and bear some responsibility for the subprime mortgage fiasco - our wonderful lawmakers, who let Freddie and Fannie run amok with too little regulation and capitalization (about 20% of what a private bank would need) and too much largesse for lawmakers and their ilk. You guys know who you are.
Here's an opinion piece by Dick Meyer, Fannie Mae: The Real Scandals Are Legal.
“At every step of the way, somebody got a fee and then figured they would be able to pass the risk on to someone else.” -- Jonathan Tiemann, on the route of subprime mortgages through the system
Nelson Mandela celebrates his 90th birthday today. One of my all-time heroes, along with Jackie Robinson and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A remarkable man, who was "too busy to hate" after he was released from prison in 1990, he put South Africa on the road to true democracy when he was elected president in 1994.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Two excellent books about him: his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom; and Nelson Mandela: A Biography by Martin Meredith.
Here is what NPR said about Mandela.
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." -- Nelson Mandela
A couple of weeks ago I pulled into the local Starbucks for the usual 20-ounce, nonfat, caffeine-free latte with two Splenda (aka a "why bother?"). I had the top down on the MR2.
As I sat there gathering enough resolve to lift myself out of the driver's seat without looking like the OWG that I am, a man (mid-30s) and his young daughter (5-ish) strolled by.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed. "That car has no top!"
The man looked longingly at the car and sighed, "Daddy wants a car with no top."
That was enough to hoist me out of the cockpit.
"Philosophers are people who don't want what they can't get." -- Unknown
Wish former Secretary of Defense Ronnie Dumsfeld a happy birthday today - he is 76.
Some of my favorite quotes of his [from About.com]:
"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started."
"We know where they [Iraq's WMDs] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
"It is unknowable how long that conflict [war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." [said in February 2003]
"We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."
"[Osama Bin Laden] is either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive."
Those last two confused even the Dickster!
"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." [on looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens"]
For good measure I'll include a quote from Ronnie's former #1 deputy:
"The truth is for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction, as the core reason." -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Vanity Fair interview, 28 May 2003
And lastly, my closing quote highlights Dumsfeld's and the Bush Administration's shining accomplishments, Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo:
"There are serving U.S. military officers today who are of the view that the first [two] identifiable causes of combat deaths in Iraq are Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo." -- Alberto Mora, former general counsel of the U.S. Navy, referring to their power as "recruiting tools" (quoted in the Christian Science Monitor, 27 June 2008)
In between the fireworks, auto sales, and barbecues, take a few minutes today to read the Declaration of Independence and the remarkable Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution:
If you are an American citizen, thank your lucky stars for those 56 guys who signed the Declaration in Philadelphia in 1776 and started this thing rolling.
While you are at it, give extra thanks for the First Amendment, which guarantees five fundamental rights, which you can remember with the mnemonic RAPPS: religion, assembly, press, petition, and speech.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two giants in American history - friends, then opponents, and finally friends again, both died on this day in 1826. As I get older, I think less of Jefferson and more of Adams.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." -- Declaration of Independence
I spent a semi-delightful three days in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area at a conference. The meeting was held at the Founders Inn and Spa in Virginia Beach. The venue is adjacent to Pat Robertson's Regent University, whose law school gained notoriety by providing a disproportionate number of lawyers to the Bush Administration. Regent's law school is no slouch, however; Christian Lawyer recently ranked it #2 in the greater Norfolk-Portsmouth-Virginia Beach area, right behind the University of P.O. Box 8000's school.
A local told me that the Founders Inn is owned by Roberston (or his church or university). That accounted for the fact that only beer and wine were available in the restaurant. No demon rum there! But the WiFi was free (see below).
Pictures of our Founding Fathers graced the walls - Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, et al. I mentioned to one of the employees that they were missing a portrait of Sen. Harry F. Byrd, Sr. (D-VA). I got a puzzled look (see today's quote).
If staying at Pat's Place wasn't enough of a thrill, I was the beneficiary of an impromptu, pre-Independence Day vacation in Chicagoland.
Yes, ATC (Air Traffic Control) delays at O'Hare International Airport (ORD) necessitated a 2.5 hour delay departing from Norfolk International (so designated because there are nonstop flights to South Carolina). But that delay enabled me to study and appreciate the Pat Robertson mural at the airport.
Upshot: I missed my connection to Portland, OR, and spent the night of 2 July at the Hilton Hotel at ORD. Only $300/night!
Here are the many benefits of paying $300/night at to stay at the ORD Hilton:
But the real fun is yet to come, as I try to recover my $300 from the Oregon State University bean counters ("You could have gotten a cheaper room in Rockford.").
"Never was there a man who so dragged his feet through the sands of time." -- Unknown, said about Sen. Harry F. Byrd, Sr. (D-VA)
Hard to believe that there could be an African dictator worse than Robert Mugabe.
Scumbag extraordinaire Charles Taylor fortunately has been removed from consideration.
Let me see....How about Idriss Deby (shown to the right) of Chad? Nahhh - he hasn't been in office long enough (1990).
Well, let's try Omar Bongo of Gabon, who is now the world's longest-serving ruler (1967). Nope. Maybe José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola? A reasonable choice. Okay....here we go for sure - Omar al-Bashir of Sudan! Think Darfur and Southern Sudan. How can you beat that record?
Well, Peter Maass of Slate humbly proffers the name of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang, shown above left, who has ruled his tiny (fewer than one million residents) oil-rich dominion for almost 30 years.
This should whet your appetite:
But Mugabe may not be Africa's worst. That prize arguably goes to Teodoro Obiang, the ruler of Equatorial Guinea whose life seems a parody of the dictator genre. Years of violent apprenticeship in a genocidal regime led by a crazy uncle? Check. Power grab in a coup against the murderous uncle? Check. Execution of now-deposed uncle by firing squad? Check. Proclamation of self as "the liberator" of the nation? Check. Govern for decades in a way that prompts human rights groups to accuse your regime of murder, torture, and corruption? Check, check, and check.
Read the story, then you'll wonder why Condolezza Rice called him a "good friend" in 2006.
I still like Mugabe.
"The reason some people are alive is because it's illegal to kill them." -- Unknown
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