raising the Twin Towers of reason and compassion
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| Project For A New Century Of Freedom raising the Twin Towers of reason and compassion |
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Thursday, July 17, 2003 States Leading The Way In Electoral System Innovation - IRV Next? The California draft Help America Vote Act (HAVA) plan was released on June 17. It has very clear language about promoting compatibility with instant runoff / ranked choice ballots and with cumulative voting. Vermont's draft HAVA report also has strong language about equipment supporting instant runoff voting, and New Jersey's draft HAVA report has language about proportional voting methods in general. See excerpts and links below. This is great news, and well worth your perusal. We will implement electoral reform, whether the emperors like it or not, and whether they choose to wear clothers or go au natural. This is not a partisan issue. It is to make our democracy work better, and to strengthen our freedom and voice as a people. posted by Jimm ~ 12:02 AMWednesday, July 16, 2003 Dubious Democracy 2003-2004 We believe presenting this information effectively is extremely important. There is a disturbing and powerful message in the array of numbers in this report. We hope all visitors to this site will leave it with a better understanding of U.S. House elections -- and why democracy as practiced in elections to the U.S. House of Representatives has indeed become all too "dubious." From the Center For Voting and Democracy. posted by Jimm ~ 11:47 PMA National Security Scorecard for the United States Afghanistan: D — For lack of follow-through From Gordon Adams over at the Globalist. Some very harsh assessments...are they deserved? In many ways, I would have to think so. Putting aside our initial show of dominant force, which is a given considering our military expenditures and superiority, how are we really doing? Will our commitment to see this through, stretched already as we are while alienated from some of our deepest allies, alongside the long emerging threat of North Korea and our unsustainable economic debt, be sustained and ultimately effective? Or are we just blowing our wad, and making things more difficult, and our security less assured in the long run? posted by Jimm ~ 1:49 AMStream of Commute - 7/11/2003 clearly the opposition to the war, the mobilization in the streets, in this nation and worldwide, put a lot of pressure on those attempting to justify it. in fact, as momentum picked up against the war, the competition got hot. this competition for the hearts and minds of people is what caused the distortions and falsehoods. in order to keep pace, assertions and threats became more forceful and threatening, with less veracity and certitude. the game was on. war is not a game. politics often is. this trend continued when the war started, which needed to be "won" at all costs and as quickly as possible. again, to stem the momentum. to put a knife in the opposition. it seemed to work in the beginning, but those in the know suspected a ruse. and yes, since we've "won", it seems it's been nothing such. the resistance to this war is not discredited, the arguments for sensibly and respectfully engaging our allies and the process before going to war all the more reasonable. on three continents we have the chickens coming home to roost... the trend is clear, keep the pressure on, there is no more sensed prize or jewel to latch onto (for the war proponents), and thus rather than extending in the face of pressure for the desired, you will see a strategic and contested retreat, a backing down, as the hits just keep on coming and the positive now so seem to have paled in comparison to the costs and negatives of war. all in the pursuit of certitude, about the threats we may face, in the face of fear. acts of disrepute, bad character. now those we ridiculed, and sewed the seeds of culture war, such as France and Germany, for disagreeing with us, for acting on their freedom to do or to not do, are now deemed needed or desirable now that we've hit the wall, and are not so invincible after the fireworks (shock and awe) are over, the realities on the ground day-to-day hitting home. posted by Jimm ~ 1:15 AM Monday, July 14, 2003 When Broad Is Not A Good Thing In Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech, Brooks counted 39 examples of "empty language...broad statements that are so abstract, and mean so little, that they are virtually impossible to oppose." Excerpt from Cursor, while referencing an out-of-the-box analysis of President Bush's communication style. Clinical psychologist Renana Brooks argues that while President Bush "is generally regarded as a mangler of the English language. What is overlooked is his mastery of emotional language -- especially negatively charged emotional language -- as a political tool."posted by Jimm ~ 11:42 AM Who Said The Smoking Gun Might Be A Mushroom Cloud? "It is ludicrous to suggest that the president of the United States went to war on the question of whether Saddam Hussein sought uranium from Africa," Dr. Rice said on Fox. "This was part of a very broad case that the president laid out in the State of the Union and other places." Maybe. But who was it again who frightened us with the image of the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud? Where was the rest of the case involving nuclear weapons - i.e. mushroom cloud makers? Certainly not the phony aluminum tubes charge.
Monday, July 07, 2003 Berlusconi Keeps Racking Up Points Even though seemingly unable to recognize his fate should he continue to be a pretentious billionaire oligarch, Berlusconi keeps racking up victories at home, which is always instructive to keep an eye on because it underscores the struggles we are enduring here at home (in America). As especially in regards to the media, and who owns it, either Berlusconi will soon be a relic, or a signal of the troubling future. While European leaders fret about Silvio Berlusconi's conflicts of interest and legal problems, the Italian government is pushing legislation that would allow his already dominant media empire to grow more rapidly. We can at least be happy about one thing. Well, actually two. Neither Berlusconi or Rupert Murdoch were born in America, so we know they won't ever become president. As far as being the future governor of California though, who knows? posted by Jimm ~ 12:56 AMGlobal Corruption Report 2003 "The right to access information is a powerful weapon and protection against the corrupt. That is the message that runs through the Global Corruption Report 2003," said Mame Adama Gueye, President of Forum Civil, the Senegalese chapter of Transparency International (TI), at the launch in Paris today of the French language edition of the GCR 2003. The report was prepared by TI, the world's leading non-governmental organisation fighting corruption. "From the assets of politicians and public officials to government spending and corporate accountability, transparency - enforced by disclosure requirements - is a vital check on the abuse of entrusted power," said Mame Adama Gueye, a member of the international Board of Directors of TI. Transparency International (TI) has released their Global Corruption Report 2003. It's chock full of relevant information worthy of your immediate review, and puts itself squarely in the camp of those championing the freedom of information. Human nature being what it is, secrecy is a losers' game, while transparency keeps everyone honest as we all stick up for ourselves and balance each other out. Wholesale reform is needed to improve corporate governance, writes TI Board member, Jermyn Brooks, in the GCR 2003. "Truly independent directors should hold a majority on the board and should chair audit and remuneration committees," he writes. "All elements of directors' remuneration should be fully disclosed in the financial statements and be subject to separate voting at each annual general meeting." The audit committee, he continues, "should approve any non-audit work awarded to auditors". Auditors should be in a position "to demonstrate that they have reviewed their clients' anti-fraud and anti-bribery systems and recommended improvements."posted by Jimm ~ 12:45 AM Sunday, July 06, 2003 Ruminating On This Where the heck is Lisa English? Did she move to Timbuktu, and can't get an Internet connection? Has the family cat turned savage? I'm almost getting worried about her. Everyone, let's rouse her with emails to return to the blogosphere. (All three of us:) After all, the media battle is not won yet. posted by Jimm ~ 10:53 PM Speaking Of California The GOP has no idea what they're getting into. The facts and accusations will come out about Ken Lay, Enron, and our energy crisis come the next big election. If they steal the governorship in this ridiculous recall effort, they will lose so badly, and so dishonorably, in 2006 it won't even be funny. And forget about gaining anything in the House or Senate. I highly recommend the GOP drops this effort. Now. The hornet's nest stirred up would be far bigger than anyone has yet realized. And let's face it...Gray Davis is not a threat. Nationally. What's the point? Talk about wasting your capital. Geez. posted by Jimm ~ 10:44 PM Splendid Editorial Over At The Philadelphia Inquirer Best I've read in a long time. Via Thomas Spencer over at Thinking It Through. About Iraq, "bringing 'em on", and facing reality. It's so good, I'm using the word "splendid", which I'm not sure I've ever done before. It's not very California. posted by Jimm ~ 10:38 PM Stream Of Commute - Last Wednesday 1. imaginary crimes - freedom - God's Laws are not to be instituted by man, by caveat, but to be understood and accepted or rejected by free will - the root of freedom - along with that, humanity forms own laws, which by our standards revolve around rights and harms - too indirect a connection between acts and harms endangers this principle - we've gone too far - made wide range of imaginary crimes real 2. people, suffering, just keep on keeping on. do they contemplate suicide when the chips are down, when this is a normal thing? thinking of Camus, do they commit suicide over grand ideals, over great principles, or do the majority see this as odd? what is the natural situation? people just being here, and living, and thus striving, and doing what people do? *** shouldn't be deprived of life, liberty and estate because of differing moral view than majority. this is tyranny of the majority against the minority. yes, as far as the public sphere goes, morality legislation may come into play, but in terms of the private sphere there is no jurisdiction of the state, no trump to use by the state to enforce morality and private behavior that does not "harm" another's rights. this is the ironclad principle. there is no "harm" here, and no public interest, other than a rival moral belief acted upon in private. this is not the realm of government, or the state, and any limited government conservative should freely see it as such. *** seems the whole thing is a confusion of sex and reproduction, sex and marriage, when sex has become more than that in the modern world, and independent of both marriage and reproduction. this is the real culture war, and it's already been won, at least until a devastating std epidemic may once again change social mores. posted by Jimm ~ 6:13 PM Thursday, July 03, 2003 Why Wasn't Congress Evacuated Much Earlier? On the morning of 9-11, a second hijacked jet struck the World Trade Center, at 9:03am. Surely, something was amiss, whether or not individuals or organizations were privy to suspicions of such possible events beforehand. Yet, with the nation in chaos, people staring transfixed at their television screens, and others dying or about to die in the World Trade Center, our Congress was not evacuated. No, not until around 10:00am, several minutes after the White House was evacuated, 15 minutes after the Pentagon was struck at 9:43am, and almost an hour after the second strike on the World Trade Center, was Congress finally evacuated. I don't know all the facts here, but how could this be possible? We could have lost almost our entire legislative branch. This should be part of the investigation. How could we be so incompetent with information that, barring the actual prevention of the attacks, once they were clearly underway it took an hour to begin evacuating the halls of American democracy? This is incompetence of the highest order, and someone should be fired. When the Pentagon was struck, it just as easily could have been Congress, or the White House (which also wasn't evacuated until after the Pentagon was struck). Where was the Secret Service, and how come they weren't privy to the information about imminent terrorist strikes? posted by Jimm ~ 6:17 PM Tuesday, July 01, 2003 Duty And Work Call Very busy today. Added a few Stream of Commute posts, and that will have to do for now. Please feel free to critique, expand upon, or utilize the thoughts and insights found here. Much to come this week, and several previous Stream of Commutes not yet published. A few thoughts. I'd like to credit President Bush and his team for pushing hard against both Israel and Palestine. If they can succeed in this mission, it will be a great triumph. This conflict has been going on far too long, and only serves as a barrier to larger efforts to secure the world for and in freedom and democracy. Obviously, much more is to come, and these efforts have been largely futile in the past. Let's hope that the Bush Administration does not lose focus. Second, the Supreme Court has given much food-for-thought in the latest round of decisions. The institution is clearly not a threat to democracy, despite the showing in the Bush/Gore elections. In fact, analysis of the main decisions shows more centrist and moderate concessions by the Right then the Left in this past session. This is surprising, and bodes well. One must address the facts of experience and the world as they are, and in this case the Supreme Court has emerged as hardly a partisan party to Right-wing takeover of America. It's time for this nonsensical talk to stop among the denizens of the Left. Last, we must deal with the disappearing rainforests in Brazil and the larger Amazon region. If anything, the "lungs" of the world would seem to demand more of a relaxation of sovereignty and aggressive international security action than the case with Iraq. We cannot allow the forest to be cut down. Period. The commons, especially its most critical components, must be protected. Along with this, every nation will have to show good faith by accepting shared sacrifice. As long as this good faith happens, then a very compelling case can be made that if Brazil cannot control the clearcutting, then the international community will have to. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Biological disaster may occur without human intent, or by the indirect effects of human acts. We must grow up and begin to integrate these concerns and realities, in the framework of freedom, democracy, and law, and juxtaposed against concerns of security and sovereignty. posted by Jimm ~ 2:09 PM Stream Of Commute - Oil - 3 wake up to the world around us. see through the haze of denial and greed in order to see the effects of our actions. we spend so much time and resources nursing our dependency on oil that we are unable to address the more pressing issues of survival that confront us from technology and overpopulation. the cutting down of the rainforests, the "lungs" of the earth, is a far more pressing issue, and one that we are losing. if anything would require the relaxation of sovereignty, and armed intervention if necessary in order to guarantee security, it is the maintenance of these forests, which our truly a global resource and commons. yet our leadership seems to want to ignore these problems, or brush them under the rug, because this is what they are paid to do. get paid to do by the actions that lead to the decline. *** evidence required for war justification, and evidence required for global warming. evidence required to show the harm of drugs, evidence required to show the harm of pollutants and estrogen. in almost every case, a pattern of denying evidence and demanding rigorous and strict standards for assertions that go against economic self-interest, along with a pattern of unremittingly and overconfidently citing assertions based on sketchy and anecdotal evidence in the matter of "moral" issues, and where no prevailing and established economic interest exists (except the underground economy or organized crime). *** was the Capitol evacuated (during 9/11)? if not, why not? certainly we must have known by this point that prominent buildings were targets... posted by Jimm ~ 2:06 PM Stream Of Commute - Oil - 2 why is iraq so different than any other dictatorship? oil, and weapons sophistication. why weapons sophistication? oil revenue. (larger strategy of freeing Iraq, the most secular Islamic state already, makes little sense) why is oil so important to us? economy, and automobile culture. what are we doing about reducing our dependence on oil, let alone foreign sources of oil? not much. hummers may be purchased as a tax write-off, and SUV's are the chosen vehicle of the land. greed (and/or selfishness). what are the risks of oil consumption? global warming, pollution, noise, accidents, dependence. are these honestly acknowledged and integrated? no. global warming links to tailpipe emissions conveniently edited out of EPA report. so global warming is held to the most strict and rigorous standards of scientific proof, before we do anything about it. even though it is acknowledged that the effects may be disastrous to civilization, and our security and freedom. what are the standards for justifying war? as compared to the standards of justifying environmental policy? who's ignoring this, denying this, falling into greed? The American people. who benefits from oil? a minority. where are these people? almost entirely in different lands than where the oil is extracted. who benefits from clean air and stable ecology? everyone. who is the only party that can do something about this? everyone. who will definitely not go out of their way to reduce their advantage? the minority. who are the vast majority of the minority? Americans. All Americans. Who are the minority in the oil-extraction lands who benefit from oil? privileged dictatorial elites. what of the standard of living, freedom and prosperity of their people? horrid. have we done anything about it? no. why? oil. burma posted by Jimm ~ 1:46 PM Stream Of Commute - Oil - 1 the american people must change. we must each individually choose freedom, demand power and information, and accept responsibility for our actions and nonactions. highest, subtle form of the political game, of denial of our oil ambitions, greed and empire, is to pinpoint it on the Right, and on the Bushes. in fact, we are all responsible. why is it about the oil? well, isn't it that it IS about the oil, but not in the way it's made out to be? well, yes and no. yes, it is different than it's generally made out to be, in the sense that oil does bring revenue to opposing leaders such as Hussein, but no in the sense that the larger picture very clearly speaks of our need for this oil. thus, our enduring presence and influence on the scene. really though, this is a collective denial of the American people at large, protected subtly and, if necessary, less than subtly and vociferously by our leaders and elites. not just because they make money off of it, but because that is what the people want. to be whitewashed. to be cleansed of the guilt, of the responsibility for our dependencies. *** selfishness. narcissism. national. posted by Jimm ~ 1:44 PM July 2003 posted by Jimm ~ 12:01 AM Sunday, June 29, 2003 Freedom Century Was Down For Awhile...But No More I had some problems with Blogger last week. They have been resolved. I've been crazy busy on a work project lately, so in some ways the disruption worked out. I've bought a new domain, and will be publishing a mirror site to this, with enhancements and deeper content, shortly. I will announce when it is ready. With that site, I will be introducing many new blog elements, including intelligent agents. This Blogger site will remain here, as I'm confident I'll concoct a straight-forward way to update two sites with new posts, at least for awhile. Last, Sandra Day O'Connor deserves praise for her intelligence and integrity in the latest Supreme Court case decisions. Buzzflash does her a disservice, and contributes to an irrational and overblown atmosphere of conspiracy and intrigue, by suggesting as publicly as they do that O'Connor is privy to Right wing machinations to assure W. Bush reelection. I won't go into their arguments, if you could indeed characterize them this way, but instead I will repost on this a bit later (by tomorrow). This is the real world, not the X-Files, and Sandra Day O'Connor has contributed to a great victory in the ongoing march for civil rights in this country, not to mention an expanding defense of equal protection under the law. posted by Jimm ~ 9:42 PM Thursday, June 26, 2003 Home Of The Brave, Land Of The Free, Homeland Of The Savage Sometimes I ask myself what is happening with the American Dream. We've come a long way here in America, from the founding fathers keeping slaves and bearing children with them, while all the time expounding on the inalienable dignity and rights of man. And they meant man. Not human. At least in the beginning. Since then, we've grown a lot as a culture and nation. We have given women, and people who are not white, or Irish, equal rights and dignity. More or less. There is still a lot of personal and subcultural opposition, but this is to be expected, and not suppressed. A change can't be completed overnight. It takes time and generations. And people need to choose freedom and tolerance, it can't be forced on them. Michael Savage is one of these people. To be honest, who knows what his deal is personally, but his public persona is deplorable. Who is this guy? He sues people for making fun of him, and for pointing out his mistakes, because he has made such a colossal ass of himself in the public arena. Boo hoo. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. I don't listen to Savage's show. Never have. I've heard here and there some snippets, and some resulting controversy, and that's all I need. I have no tolerance for those who despise, ridicule, or work to marginalize those who express themselves sexually in a different way than oneself. It's tawdry, and often makes one wonder why this seeming fear of this behavior is aroused anyhow. Is there a secret titillation? A curiosity that upon being considered momentarily brings on the threat of religious doom? Perhaps we will never know. I do know this however. Savage needs to back off his homoerotic arousal, and accompanying subsequent denigration and humiliation of such feeling, for the better good of this country, and our people. He is on the public stage, and shows no sensitivity or wisdom at all in his diatribes on the air. With this in mind, neither should his critics have to display these qualities either. As for the truth, this is not Savage's game, and thus is also up for his critics manufacture. With freedom, all expression is fair game, to a limit. We haven't even come close to the limits, so let Savage cry and whine all he wants, he has brought this on himself. Show some courage man! Fight back with words, not lawsuits! If it were up to Savage, we would be home of the correct, land of the sissies, and homeland of the weak-willed. Beginning with his name, Savage is just a limp joke. My fellow man of rock'n'roll, Neal Pollack, has more on the situation. I encourage you to go visit him. posted by Jimm ~ 2:22 PM Wednesday, June 25, 2003 Stream of Commute - June 25, 2003 does anyone expect that W. Bush knew exactly how many troops we had months before the party convention? does anyone remember how little he knew at all when ambushed in a similar fashion as Dean in his run? *** affirmative action - need to assure that the minority kids who do get in really are from a diverse base, and not just coming from the same good schools. how would this work? differentiation by school, or neighborhood? probably best by school, so that an elite sampling from each, of the best achievers at each, would get into the best schools, and thus ensure a representative sampling of the nation actually, this makes more sense than anything, since if true diversity is what you're looking for, than it should be a diversity rooted in the diversity of our schools. this would also assure against receiving less of an education at one school than another, since the university should equally educate individuals from all regions and neighborhoods of America, and minor differences in entrance scores and grades don't necessarily predicate success at the university, as a low-income student with a lower quality education isn't necessarily worse off for wear at the university because the SAT scores are less. it doesn't mean much, plus the success of the university itself shouldn't be solely on the so-called "brilliance" of its students, compared to each institution, but in successfully educating the incoming diversity of students so that the mission is met. one would also want to assure that an individual does not transfer to a lesser school for just the final year, or any such nonsense as that. there must be a workable and accountable system in place, to determine the grades a student receives along with the ranking of the school from which the grade took place. *** Israel is detaining individuals for being in the same mosque? or being a friend or associate of, having grown up with, a "suspected" Hamas militant? *** the anti-semitism forces just seem too heavy-handed in the face of freedom of expression and art. surely all portrayals of Jews cannot be cleansed of any negativism, just as negative portraits of any ethnicity can similarly not be cleansed. otherwise, what do we end up with? what kind of history? "revisionist" history? surely there are bad guys in the course of world history, of any number of ethnicities and cultures, take the Catholics during the Crusades for example, but does this mean one should not ever portray one's interpretation of such events? so we will only have positive portrayals of everything? what kind of history is that? or is history now to be seen as distinct from media and entertainment? if this history is to go forward, how would it depict the peoples of the world throughout history, the wars, and culture clashes? as unfortunate remnants of the past, and that's it, with no critical examination? I mean, the Jews themselves in Zionist Israel do not embrace any postmodern dignified global transhumanism. far from it. they support and defend cultural difference, while at the same time seeking to control the communication and interpretation of such difference. will we have "official" enemies or evil that can legitimately be portrayed negatively, or would this be just a cynical turnaround of the negative role Jews have played for hate-provoking, evil-projecting cultures and individuals? perhaps the solution would be to show everything as the product of individual decision, independent of any collective identity. if so, this would be admirable in some ways, as a value to be asserted, but would this really be the case throughout history? to assert that individual difference, decision and moral responsibility trumped cultural and collective roles? the anti-semites open up a pandora's box of political correctness that should never be loosed. let history be history, and interpretation be interpretation. no collective is more special in this regard than any other, any more, so to wish it for one's own group will mean to wish it for all, with any legitimacy, and then what do you have left in terms of history and legitimate expression? by the way, expression does not have to be legitimate. in America, the only check on it is as a "clear and present danger" to rights and to America. this does not fit the bill, and thus the ADL works against American values. this is their right, but must be seen in the proper light, and not given more credence or legitimacy, and certainly no legal status, than it deserves. *** so Gibson can't show a movie that depicts some Jews as negative, but Israel can detain non-citizens without cause merely for attending the same mosque as "suspected" militants? BS. *** rollo may - oppressed peoples and projection. we are losing the battle to redirect the projection of the oppressed Iraqi people. more and more, it is becoming us as the source of projection of evil, and of their misery, and not Saddam, who is the rightful target. *** in regards to LA Times editorial today by Caleb Carr... we didn't just lie about the war to the American people, we lied to our allies and the world. in addition, if lies were indeed made, they were about the very rationale and justification for going to war in the first place. there is no compelling (or consistent) strategic reason that any but a small minority would buy into that we needed to democratize Iraq. also, occupation fatigue may be easy to emerge in Iraq because we weren't suppose to occupy Iraq. they were supposed to want us, and to celebrate us. this is different than afghanistan. one cannot make generalizations across the board. the strategy to go to war in Iraq, if not based on the deception, is based on a radical blueprint by which the vast majority of Americans, both regular citizens and strategists, would have not have signed on for, or agreed to pay for. posted by Jimm ~ 1:47 PM After Blogger Pro Takes Me Down...I'm Back Also, I'll be adding some new friends to the blogroll this evening. The blogosystem is growing. posted by Jimm ~ 1:32 PM |
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