tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58770022011-04-21T12:29:52.108-07:00When it really gets bad out there, apply chocolate. It can't fix the big stuff, but it activates the brain's pleasure center, making everything seem all better for now.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comBlogger1321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1160587979331031252006-10-11T10:27:00.000-07:002006-10-11T10:32:59.396-07:00

So House Speaker Dennis Hastert says "The buck stops here." But not on his desk, apparently. "I'm deeply sorry that this has happened," Hastert said at a news conference in his Illinois district. "And the bottom line is that we're taking responsibility, because ultimately, as someone has said in Washington before: 'The buck stops here.'" [By William L. Watts, MarketWatchLast Update: 5:12 PM ET

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1160067395772663562006-10-05T09:48:00.000-07:002006-10-05T09:56:35.800-07:00

WTF?!? And while this may sound partisan, it's really just about the party in power. Either party is as likely to try anything just this side of criminal to keep their majority ... this year it's the Republicans. If you're going to tout yourself as the party of strong moral values, however, as the Republicans have inarguably done, then party members need to be a helluva lot more stringent when

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1154810194349641902006-08-05T13:32:00.000-07:002006-08-05T13:36:34.366-07:00

... and subjects just seem to pile up. The new job has become a lot more time-demanding, and there's no space to login for a few stolen moments to post a thought. Now that I've discovered my local library branch has WiFi, though, I'm in heaven at the thought of being able to do more online. (Not just blog, but maybe go back to school?)Here's what I think this week:Too much religion poisons the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1144084090293015912006-04-03T10:00:00.000-07:002006-04-03T10:08:10.306-07:00

It's a GREAT book. Author is David Berreby. We're tribal, we know. Why? Maybe because it's an essential part of being human, but choices are not hardwired one way or the other (we CAN choose our tribe). Thus, tribal thinking is a tool that can be used well or badly. The downside is having to recognize that people choose their groupthink largely for emotional reasons ... hard to argue logically

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1143069723130115222006-03-22T16:20:00.000-07:002006-03-22T16:22:03.140-07:00

For as long as this link holds, it's worth looking at.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1139344076035952242006-02-07T13:21:00.000-07:002006-02-07T13:27:56.046-07:00

It's overwhelming! The effrontery ... the insolence ... the megalomania!! You know all those sci-fi books you read back in the 60s 70s and 80s? Well, that Big Brother state is just around the corner ... ... not only will TeamBush listen in on whatever conversations they damn well please, thank you very much, they'll also tell us what to think about it, what we can do with our opinions to the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1134074359861352332005-12-08T13:32:00.000-07:002005-12-08T13:39:19.873-07:00

If those who say they are "Christian" (i.e., our fearless TeamBush leader) were actually practicing "Christianity," we wouldn't be at war in Iraq, right? And the wealthiest 1% of the US population wouldn't be getting tax breaks, they would be breaking down the doors to give money away (because it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into Heaven),

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1131810887392399012005-11-12T08:49:00.000-07:002005-11-12T08:56:55.756-07:00

Go read this about more TeamBush ineptitude in governance. This man, our president, has an MBA. Doesn't that mean, at some point, he took a class on organization, maybe even one on ethics? Good companies don't run well when you put untrained cronies in charge of major projects. True, it may be getting hard to find a good Republican who has sufficient science knowledge, but maybe this should be

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1130949212922840242005-11-02T09:29:00.000-07:002005-11-02T09:33:32.936-07:00

So it's not okay for the federal government to make rules about owning machine guns, but it is okay for federal and state governments to tell a woman what she can and can't do with her body?WTF?I want a government that is by, for, and of the people. Not just male people.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1130881425235850042005-11-01T14:39:00.000-07:002005-11-01T14:43:45.246-07:00

So Tom DeLay gets his way ... he gets a new judge in his monkey money matters trial, and gets to continue to act like a smug Napoleon wanna be. Now this from Bloomberg news: DeLay's legal troubles have not hurt his fund-raising efforts. He raised $318,000 for his legal defense fund between July and September, the most ever for a three-month period, including $59,500 from his fellow House

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1130776897390410662005-10-31T09:38:00.000-07:002005-10-31T09:41:37.403-07:00

The nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court:A treat for the Right, a trick on all of us.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1130603509093706822005-10-29T09:22:00.000-07:002005-10-29T09:31:49.106-07:00

If it's not Mother Nature getting us all worked up, it's political idiocy.Can't do anything about the hurricanes themselves, but it does seem like we could be a helluva lot smarter about how we respond. Like not building, rebuilding, cleaning up, rebuilding in areas prone to being swept away by the ocean? And if you have to have your ocean view, then take responsibility for it. Don't run to the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1128103896215780162005-09-30T11:05:00.000-07:002005-09-30T11:11:36.220-07:00

I've been searching for words ... and then George Will lands in the mailbox where I work: "All of the great arguments that have roiled American politics over the years have not been pocketbook issues. They have been about the soul of the country and what kind of people we would be. ... [t]he kind of people we are is a people who rise to the challenge ..." We disperse decision-making; we allow

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1127578774385790772005-09-24T09:16:00.000-07:002005-09-24T09:19:34.390-07:00

Whew ... a lot can happen in a month! The biggest revelation is how thin the veneer of civilization is in these United States. A few feet of water, some wind, and whoa, nelly ... Third World right here at home, and on television for all around the world to see. It seems like the more infrastructure you have, the harder it is to respond to a disaster. How sad for us.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1125004420892678412005-08-25T14:10:00.000-07:002005-08-25T14:13:40.896-07:00

Boy were those Framers smart guys! And reading The Federalist Papers is like reading Shakespeare ... challenging, familiar, and oh, yeah, written hundreds of years ago. Which means that humans are evolving VERY slowly, if at all. Here's a nugget:"... of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1124140020590054152005-08-15T14:03:00.000-07:002005-08-15T14:29:32.273-07:00

... besides a way for the Bush government to prevent the American people from finding out how badly it is screwing up (and screwing us)? Is the United States a democratic republic, or a privately held corporation? Hard to tell, these days, from any side. "Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean someone isn't really out to get me."Ha

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1123021159386233662005-08-02T15:15:00.000-07:002005-08-02T15:45:15.776-07:00

I've finished Frank's "Kansas" book, and found it vastly illuminating and entertaining ... I wish there were more specifics, but hey, it's just one book.I'm still working out how I feel about some of his points about the far right wing of the Republican party ... but I found this point very illustrative of a point on the other side:"Democrats no longer speak to the people on the losing end of a

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1122655915041615442005-07-29T09:46:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:51:55.046-07:00

I just started reading "What's the Matter With Kansas?" by Thomas Frank, and I'm already impressed and shocked by a couple of sentences on pages 6 and 7 ... he's talking about the overwhelming success of conservative politicians as a "backlash" against the "radicalism" and liberalism of the 1960s:"The leaders of the backlash may talk Christ, but they walk corporate. Values may 'matter most' to

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1122589029802296832005-07-28T15:09:00.000-07:002005-07-28T15:17:09.806-07:00

I wish I could clearly say what mine is. I know that I value individual effort, but I also appreciate that no person is an island. I think that if you derive great benefit from the circumstance of living in the United States of America, you should pay your taxes and stop bitching (or trying to find loopholes). But I also understand that greed and sloth are fundamental to human nature, and we tend

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1122499969172108062005-07-27T14:32:00.000-07:002005-07-27T14:32:49.176-07:00

Time makes more converts than reason. -- Thomas Paine

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1122050380742797032005-07-22T09:39:00.000-07:002005-07-22T09:39:40.743-07:00

And then, back in the saddle at work, I read this in CJR, by Douglas McCollam:"Reporters often seem perplexed by the venomous attacks directed at them. They have a hard time seeing that it is not so much the idea of bias that infuriates their critics as the refusal to admit any bias at all. That line is getting increasingly hard to toe, so I'll suggest an alternative that most reporters, of

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1122049873499772832005-07-22T09:17:00.000-07:002005-07-22T09:39:08.980-07:00

I confess that, while I love technology, I refuse to turn my home into tech central. I don't get cable, I don't want a satellite, I just want a TV that works and something to play movies on. Last week I was visiting family in Colorado, and all of them are loaded to some extent with the accoutrement of our modern culture, including the ComCast version of TiVo. When the news came on, my two sisters

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1119637669196475972005-06-24T11:24:00.000-07:002005-06-24T11:27:49.200-07:00

Unions: To give the people actually doing the work a say in the way they work. Not an entitlement to expansive benefits that constrict the ability of the business to do business.Laws: To make sure that even people who don't know each other, and don't necessarily care about the welfare of strangers, act in such a way to make a community's survival possible.Government: To make larger communities

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1118273474542028742005-06-08T16:31:00.000-07:002005-06-08T16:31:14.590-07:00

Salmon Rushdie says "But religion today is big public business, using efficient political organization and cutting-edge information technology to advance its ends. Religions play bare-knuckle rough all the time, while demanding kid-glove treatment in return." As much as I would like to disagree with him, I can't. I call many people "friend" with whom I can't discuss the personal and important

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1117057885538725442005-05-25T14:48:00.000-07:002005-05-25T14:51:25.543-07:00

"A big fire was destroying the forest. All the animals fled, except the hummingbird. It flew to the river, picked up one drop of water in its tiny beak, flew back, and poured that drop on the fire. Again and again it returned to the river, each time scooping up a single drop and pouring it on the fire. The other animals watched from the far shore, laughing and mocking. 'Just what do you think

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1116883078692759182005-05-23T14:16:00.000-07:002005-05-23T14:17:58.696-07:00

... to have a real government (of/by/for the people) and not just a perpetual election cycle?

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1116630297563267972005-05-20T15:57:00.000-07:002005-05-20T16:06:20.393-07:00

Out of the bombardment of debate over the filibuster, I heard one senator say that members of the Senate should be allowed to vote their conscience in regard to judicial nominees. Pardon me for a rather (informed) cynical view, but individual decisions of conscience in the august body of the US Congress are rather rare. By the time you get to be a senator or representative, you have racked up

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1115943060188080502005-05-12T17:06:00.000-07:002005-05-12T17:11:00.193-07:00

I have a friend who occasionally visits here to see what I'm saying/thinking/reading. He wrote me a very nice note saying I sound quite angry, shrill even. Hmm. Well, I am. I don't want to be nice[r] here. I spend a lot of time in the real world having to be nice, pleasant, accommodating and acquiescent. Here is where I want to be able to say what's going on behind my pleasant facade. Here is

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1114810766677757802005-04-29T14:33:00.000-07:002005-04-29T14:39:26.676-07:00

Not that all rules are good ... Nazi Germany had some pretty bad ones; ditto for Stalinist Russia. Not all religious rules are good, either, but at least they have the biggie "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Done Unto You" ...If you want people to waste your time, then by all means, go through the drive-through teller without having your transaction prepared, and send the canister back three

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1114104096582261902005-04-21T10:21:00.000-07:002005-04-21T10:27:43.260-07:00

Religion is a PERSONAL choice, NOT a political platform. And FYI, Preacher Frist, a Democratic filibuster on a judicial nominee is NOT an attack on people of faith. A car bomb in Jerusalem is. We are one of the bright lights of history primarily because we don't have sectarian religious violence in our streets or in our courtrooms. Our history is replete with luminaries who were (and are) people

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1111706690719220342005-03-24T16:15:00.000-07:002005-03-24T16:26:25.303-07:00

I thought I was over the whole "Tom DeLay is the devil" thing, but apparently not. Esquire's March 2005 issue included an article about Ronnie Earle, the district attorney with character who is pursuing the issue of questionable fund-raising tactics used by DeLay minions to subvert the democratic process in Texas, and because the Texas tail is wagging the US dog, everywhere else, too.I'm

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1110409765970945462005-03-09T16:01:00.000-07:002005-03-09T16:09:25.970-07:00

Hello, Government Agency? I'd like to access information through your website. Public knowledge kind of information, but ... you have it in a PowerPoint presentation?!? What the heck?!?! Not everyone uses PP, you know. Some of us actually have skills outside the MS Office set, and our offices/homes are not dominated by the overly coded programs promulgated by the MS behemoth. Please please,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1110211761967668682005-03-07T09:05:00.000-07:002005-03-07T09:09:21.970-07:00

The debate about the future of Social Security is EVERYWHERE! But I don't see much discussion about an important contributing factor: the role of work in our lives. Why aren't we talking about changing the way we work so that retirement isn't some Holy Grail to be slaved toward? Why can't we have better balanced lives and jobs, making an arbitrary retirement age unnecessary, and giving everyone

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1106237644178724652005-01-20T09:12:00.000-07:002005-01-21T10:25:59.243-07:00

The more expensive the party, the more insecure (or overconfident) the leader? Bread and circuses, everyone!!

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1105661326248797942005-01-13T17:01:00.000-07:002005-01-13T17:08:46.246-07:00

If God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, then what does it need us for? We need it ... for whatever reason. I'm leaning toward the idea that religion is a byproduct of sentience: We're so overwhelmed by our awareness of our mortality that we have to create a framework of meaning to avoid dealing with it. If there's a god, then we aren't in charge. If we worship god, then we avoid the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1105118674626407342005-01-07T10:24:00.000-07:002005-01-07T10:24:34.626-07:00

Orson Scott Card's ideas for health care reform make a lot of sense!

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1103647325911166962004-12-21T09:37:00.000-07:002004-12-21T09:42:05.910-07:00

I wish that elected representatives who were either defeated in November, or have chosen to retire had to return to their districts to live, rather than being able to walk into high-salary arrangements with lobbying groups (now to be known as the Tauzin effect), or even into high profile media arrangements as consultants for networks, news agencies, talking heads shows, etc. Yes, it is highly

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1103325056354381962004-12-17T16:05:00.000-07:002004-12-17T16:10:56.353-07:00

Charles R Kesler says: "Democracy requires that majorities accept and protect individual rights, observe due process of law, respect free speech and free exercise of religion, protect private property and observe the obligation of contracts." It's tough to get this to happen in tribal societies, he adds. But I see that it's increasingly difficult to find it here at home, too, as we get more

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1102697965361626612004-12-10T09:59:00.000-07:002004-12-10T09:59:25.360-07:00

Read this American Prospect article on how the Democrats can begin to mount an effective challenge to Republicans in future elections: The Democrats’ Da Vinci Code Here's a taste: In the aftermath of the recent election, the stale cadre of campaign consultants who helped run the party into the ground now say the solution is for Democrats to simply invoke God more often and radically change

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1102092385416823342004-12-03T09:42:00.000-07:002004-12-03T09:46:25.416-07:00

I would desperately like to bitch-slap the spammers who have hijacked email addresses and even a business domain name in their damnable attempts to get a response to their porn and prescription come-ons. This is a Wild West economy ... all promise, no purpose. Just exploit the resources and move on. It does make me wish humans had better hard-wiring for principled behavior.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1100105122196127132004-11-10T09:42:00.000-07:002004-11-10T09:52:47.790-07:00

On bushflash.com: IF YOU'RE A REPUBLICAN COMING HERE TO GLOAT... ...save your breath Bush may have won...but YOU lost. Here's why: • When overtime pay is eliminated, it won't just be terminated for liberals. You're going to lose yours, as well. • You're going to have to live in the same polluted America as the rest of us. • When the next terrorist attack hits us -- and it will -- the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1100102720528896052004-11-10T08:44:00.000-07:002004-11-10T09:14:59.890-07:00

Okay ... in the wake of last week's election there's all this hand-wringing about what the Democratic Party can do to improve its appeal to all those moderate voters who might have voted for Kerry but said they just couldn't. Today I say ... Fuck 'em. All of them. They bought into one of the biggest corruptions of our republic since maybe the magic of capitalism pre-Black Tuesday. When the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1099498940494050312004-11-03T09:13:00.000-07:002004-12-03T09:50:09.310-07:00

So, Shrub is in for another four years. Not surprising, given his highly effective pandering to Americans' deepest fears and insecurities. It is always easier to unite people with fear ... making us feel powerless in the face of some faceless threat is a sure way to consolidate power. It's a path taken by all the best tyrants. Does our political system have enough strength to resist tyrannical

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1099077857408547282004-10-29T13:23:00.000-07:002004-10-29T12:25:16.560-07:00

Really good reason NOT to vote for the president.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1099077357784977202004-10-29T13:03:00.000-07:002004-10-29T12:15:57.786-07:00

... and overwhelmed. The quality of our general citizenship is poor, but is it any poorer than it's ever been? Do you think there were people in 1789 who thought "why bother to vote ... George W's got it locked up?" Or was voting important ... vital to a person's self-interest, not just to the national (federal) interest? Was there ever a "golden age" of citizenship? I'd love to think so, so I

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1098464382677416042004-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:002004-10-22T09:59:42.676-07:00

Half empty? Half full? Hard to know, but Gregg Easterbrook's book The Progress Paradox says that we should be more grateful all around (if we live in America or Europe), because life is zillions of times better now that it was for even our grandparents. We're not happier, though, because we've got too much time to think about what we don't have. Hmm. Does evolution reward negative thinking?

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1097537050574162692004-10-11T16:14:00.000-07:002004-10-11T16:26:13.820-07:00

The Right Nation helped me look at my world from a slightly different perspective for the couple of weeks it took me to get through it (don't take that as a scary thing; I just couldn't read it for hours on end like I can a novel). In the end, however, I ended up where I began -- it's just Not Okay for this country to be under the spell of either fervent religiosity or rampant individualism that

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1097195326080301842004-10-07T17:25:00.000-07:002004-10-08T16:49:22.456-07:00

I was slogging along through this interesting, but dense, post on the nature of a university education, and I came to this: By putting a world of facts at the end of a key-stroke, computers have made facts, their command, their manipulation, their ordering, central to what now can qualify as humanistic education. The result is to suspend reflection about the differences among wisdom, knowledge,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1096650718012808552004-10-01T10:07:00.000-07:002004-10-01T10:11:58.013-07:00

I'll say it again: What kind of god/transcendent power/undefinable "Is" would care how you decide to worship it? Religion-influenced conflict is just another way for humans to express their most basic stupidity: that tribe is more important than species.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1095447016859345492004-09-17T11:50:00.000-07:002004-09-17T11:56:45.833-07:00

Bill Moyers explains what's wrong with the direction we've taken under the leadership of our esteemed Shrub and his toolbox full of hammers, screwdrivers, pliers and duct tape. Here's just a piece: This “zeal for secrecy” I am talking about—and I have barely touched the surface—adds up to a victory for the terrorists.  When they plunged those hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1094746009776098002004-09-09T08:54:00.000-07:002004-09-09T09:35:04.106-07:00

I spent quite a bit of time in my college career studying war. Being a girl, though, I knew I was never going to experience combat duty, and there were always aspects of war memoirs I just didn't get ... the male bonding, the coarse jokes and black humor, the essential loneliness of being a warrior. I did understand, and am grateful for the education, that war is "fog and friction" ... motives

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1094688778133451422004-09-08T17:05:00.000-07:002004-09-09T09:16:12.386-07:00

I really really want to be able to vote with a clear conscience this November. I think it's important to care about the state of the community, the country, the world. But when local politics are about who knows whom and who has money, and national politics are about fear, and the world is just a crazy place, it makes me want to run away and hide (with a large stash of dark chocolate). Okay ...

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1094163000848757962004-09-02T15:10:00.000-07:002004-09-02T15:12:24.573-07:00

No democracy can flourish against the corruptions of plutocratic, imperial forces—or withstand the temptations of militarism in the face of terrorist hate—without a citizenry girded by these three moral pillars of Socratic questioning, prophetic witness, and tragicomic hope. Our enemy is ourself, the battle is engaged ... Read the whole thing:http://www.logosjournal.com/west.htm

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1093986351068468602004-08-31T13:51:00.000-07:002004-09-02T15:13:27.876-07:00

I guess if your platform isn't worth standing on, the only thing you can do is bash your opponent, Senator McCain's [lame and discouraging] speech notwithstanding.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1093297711097803742004-08-23T14:46:00.000-07:002004-08-23T14:48:31.096-07:00

... does a new law increase the ability of those with resources to acquire more resources, and to more effectively, and with fewer restrictions, dominate those who provide labor/material/support?

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1092776308048366502004-08-17T13:46:00.000-07:002004-08-17T14:00:26.963-07:00

David Halberstam has a brilliant essay in the most recent Vanity Fair (the Reese Witherspoon ? September 04) issue. His main points, as I understand them, are: 1. The current president and vice-president of the United States have never personally experienced the matrix of decision-making challenges that even 18-year-old soldiers in Iraq are having to navigate right now. 2. These men, and many

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1091751733261869442004-08-05T17:08:00.000-07:002004-08-06T16:34:31.186-07:00

I want to quiz those people saying, "George Bush shares my values." What exactly do they mean? Honesty is a value. Human dignity is a value. Freedom of mind (or of spirit, or of belief) is a value. Denying gays the right to marry? Banning abortion? Tax cuts only for targeted pieces of the community? Military action without just cause? These are choices based on beliefs about who should

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1091204840280803412004-07-30T09:07:00.000-07:002004-07-30T10:02:43.330-07:00

I know that political conventions are scripted, designed, produced and promoted to give the nominee a big bounce in polls and voter awareness. Even knowing that, though, I was impressed by John Kerry's acceptance speech. I don't think it was award-winning rhetoric, but it was passionate, and well-made, and I could vote for him now. These things I particularly liked: 1. "I don't wear my religion

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1090621076199841062004-07-23T15:02:00.000-07:002004-07-23T15:17:56.200-07:00

I went on a quick walking trip through the Capitol Hill area of Washington DC on Wednesday, on my way back home from a trip to Argentina (whole 'nother post) ... I worked for a US Rep for a little over a year, over a dozen years ago. I remember the Capitol area as green, lovely, welcoming ... the stately ivory stone buildings open and accessible, the way they should be in a democracy. No more.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1089394616237128502004-07-09T10:32:00.000-07:002004-07-09T10:36:56.236-07:00

And there's always so much to think about, therefore blog about, but where have I been? Well, working, actually, and then trying not to think too much when I'm experiencing "downtime" :-). Things that I want to think about today: 1. Dick Cheney should never be in a position to be the president of the United States. Period. 2. People who vote only the party ticket are doing all of us a

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1087590379239593482004-06-18T13:26:00.000-07:002004-06-18T13:26:19.240-07:00

The publication of Bill Clinton's book demonstrates the triumph of the celebrity president. I actually voted for him, once, and think that in comparison to the current prez, he is smarter and communicates more effectively. However, $10 million paid to him and advance orders of 2.3 million books? That's just too much interest in too little story. We're buying the voyeur's package ... It

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1087515934653406582004-06-17T16:45:00.000-07:002004-06-17T16:46:45.126-07:00

Making the trains run on time isn't a good measure of the success of a government, I remember learning in my college sophomore year government class. Is this where democracy goes when it gets afraid of consequences? Socialism is too hard to sell ... people get, at a fundamental, inescapable level, that work=success. Selling fascism is easier ... you just have to make people feel afraid first,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1085438658557622092004-05-24T15:41:00.000-07:002004-05-24T15:44:18.556-07:00

Saudi Arabia = ally IS LIKE crack dealer = friend.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1084555447951220062004-05-14T10:11:00.000-07:002004-05-14T10:24:07.950-07:00

Remember those campaigns to rid the Holy Land of non-Christians? Not Christianity's finest hour, my friends, and worth thinking about a bit now. All mono-theistic religions that I've looked at have some kind of brutal period in their history, when the faithful fought against other ways of thinking, justifying war and its horrible cousins -- torture, rape, murder -- by claiming "god's" blessing

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1084464852894567182004-05-13T09:04:00.000-07:002004-05-14T10:03:22.196-07:00

Merriam-Webster defines rogue: Main Entry: (3)rogue Function: adjective 1 of an animal : being vicious and destructive 2 : resembling or suggesting a rogue elephant especially in being isolated and dangerous or uncontrollable Stop calling those American service people "rogue"! Misguided, ill-trained, unsupervised, perhaps even amoral ... but they aren't "rogue". Tossing that term into the mix

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1083776224288848482004-05-05T09:43:00.000-07:002004-05-05T10:02:17.686-07:00

Good people can do bad things. Bad people are likely to initiate bad things. There are bad people everywhere ... and good people who get sucked into their web, for whatever reason. (And sometimes it's not even someone else's web ...) And the president's protests that this is not how America does things? Well, we in America do do these things. Our prison system may not have the same kind of

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1083370328794403342004-04-30T16:59:00.000-07:002004-04-30T17:18:14.700-07:00

My boss today: "I'd rather have somebody getting a blow job in the Oval Office instead of the snow job that's going on in there right now." Very interesting discussion... she says, if Shrub gets reelected in November, he and his administration will even more flagrantly stomp on the American system ... look at what's going on now: he has to have Dick Cheney with him in the room to talk about 9/

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1083100420099445282004-04-27T14:13:00.000-07:002004-04-27T14:48:36.780-07:00

Sometimes, when I get on one of my feminist rants (solitary, except for a puzzled-faced cat), I stop and wonder, "Is it really that bad out there?" Then I find something like this: The enemy is not America - OpinionPamelaBone - www.theage.com.au: "Is not fear of women the basis for the punishing, the covering up, the locking away, the banning of them from public life, that reached its most

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1082743946431413592004-04-23T10:44:00.000-07:002004-04-23T11:16:35.560-07:00

Head spinning ... a thought maze ... information overload ... How do you even begin to sort out the craziness? 1. Iraq exit strategy. Ranges from "get the hell out now" to "stay as long as it takes" .... What did we hope to accomplish? Get rid of Saddam? Done. Establish Western democracy? Not gonna happen. 60 years after the end of WWII, we're still in Germany. Not like we were at the beginning

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1081446025677763052004-04-08T10:25:00.000-07:002004-04-08T11:15:31.420-07:00

Condi Rice laments that we had trouble "connecting the dots" before 9/11: RICE: There was no silver bullet that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. In hindsight, if anything might have helped stop 9/11, it would have been better information about threats inside the United States -- something made very difficult by structural and legal impediments that prevented the collection and sharing of

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1080241386471302322004-03-25T12:03:00.000-07:002004-03-25T12:17:47.750-07:00

The Perpetual Adolescent: "'Obviously it is normal to think of oneself as younger than one is,' W.H. Auden, a younger son, told Robert Craft, 'but fatal to want to be younger.' I'm not sure about fatal, but it is at a minimum degrading for a culture at large to want to be younger. The tone of national life is lowered, made less rich. The first thing lowered is expectations, intellectual and

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1079107993519263612004-03-12T09:00:00.000-07:002004-03-12T09:22:17.856-07:00

Unfortunately, a constitution is not a magic wand. It's just a tool. And like all tools, it's only as useful as the people putting it to use (assuming it was well-made to begin with). If you don't respect anyone else's perspective, nothing in a constitution can make you. If you don't respect a system of law that doesn't discriminate based on shared affiliations, family connections, or financial

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1078854366479971352004-03-09T10:46:00.000-07:002004-03-09T10:53:25.436-07:00

Read the whole thing, but here's an excerpt: No, the broader reason why mainstream society has become more disposed to immerse itself in fantasy is because of a general cultural stagnation that exists today. At a time when we feel less certain of our ability to impact on the world around us, we tend to retreat into fantasy worlds instead. One consequence of this is that we are increasingly more

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1078506968674348312004-03-05T10:16:00.000-07:002004-03-05T10:45:49.826-07:00

(scroll down to the "screed") but James, it's not the hammer, it's the screwdriver. And it's not a bomb at the mall, it's the morass of unintended consequences. It's not the poles we need to populate, it's the middle.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1078435693043936212004-03-04T14:28:00.000-07:002004-03-04T14:31:13.436-07:00

Of course they do! The ads use images designed to provoke our 9/11 anger, horror and sorrow all over again. If the Bush/Cheney campaign wants to use images of leadership, these ain't them! I understand the goal of advertising. I understand the impact of emotional imagery. I can see someone running for the office of Chief Terrorist using the images. I can't see a responsible American

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1078419684415437822004-03-04T10:01:00.000-07:002004-03-04T10:04:24.920-07:00

This Lileks column has some good points, but quite honestly, it's not a Republican hammer I fear if Bush wins again, it's the screwdrivers that come with his tool kit.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1078329268070438702004-03-03T08:52:00.000-07:002004-03-03T08:58:26.373-07:00

1. A government program for everyone, without enough resources to make any program work well. or 2. Trust that big corporations really care about the longterm interests of their workers and customers.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1078183089081198822004-03-01T16:12:00.000-07:002004-03-01T16:24:01.326-07:00

damnit. I don't want someone forcing his or her belief system down my ears at every opportunity. I don't want to listen to someone stumbling over a lame attempt to craft an answer to a question about what God would or wouldn't do in any situation. I don't want to engage in a debate about whose side God is on. Religion is a belief system crafted by humans in order to preserve some semblance of

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1077728784130498992004-02-25T10:06:00.000-07:002004-02-25T10:09:13.576-07:00

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." -- Justice Louis Brandeis (thanks to RefDesk (2.25.2004) for putting the quote up on his page)

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1076353061752609292004-02-09T11:49:00.000-07:002004-02-09T12:18:05.890-07:00

I'm reading now that some of the documents used in Paul O'Neill's book about his Executive Branch experience were "classified" ... I've worked with classified material, and I know that there is a lot of it so marked to cover someone's ass, not because the content necessarily needs to be protected. Our goverment is supposed to be transparent unless it's vital to our security for information to be

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1075479860511992972004-01-30T09:12:00.000-07:002004-01-30T09:26:33.950-07:00

Does it matter where the experience comes from if you're running for President? Since 1968 (Nixon's election), four of the last six elected presidents have been governors first. I guess it makes some sense to elect someone with executive experience, but what about Kerry's point (Thursday night) that the President also needs to know how Congress works (and most governors don't)? I'm trying

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1074877152476827052004-01-23T09:59:00.000-07:002004-01-23T10:01:15.780-07:00

So Dick Cheney invites his buddy, Tony Scalia, on a hunting trip, and thinks his socializing with the Supreme Court justice has no bearing on his case to be heard this spring by the Supreme Court. And then there's this: "The White House has argued the courts and Congress have no business making inquiries, even limited ones, into the decision-making power of federal agencies and offices. Cheney

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1074700175928427072004-01-21T08:41:00.000-07:002004-01-21T08:53:13.450-07:00

I confess: I can't stand to watch Pres Shrub speak. He mugs for the camera, and his speechwriters craft the syllables to best obscure his speaking inadequacies (not a crime, just hard to watch when you know it's happening). So he talked about the sanctity of marriage? A president is not a pope, an archbishop, an elder, rabbi or imam. Sanctity is not a word that I want to have an elected official

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1074269390102741542004-01-16T09:09:00.000-07:002004-01-16T09:11:44.436-07:00

Terrence O. Moore wrote this with good intentions, I'm sure. But he misses one really important point about the goals of feminism. Women don't want to be treated as the weaker, lesser half of the species, and using language about girls that denigrates a boy only reinforces a species-destructive dynamic ... We need to raise boys to be personally responsible, conscientiously courteous, morally

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1073671630432439122004-01-09T11:07:00.000-07:002004-01-09T11:07:30.840-07:00

Lt Smash discusses the US/Mexico border in this post ... supporting a guest worker program that would be handled by employment offices in Mexico. It sounds reasonable. We are a country built by immigrants (for better or worse), and our current policies just aren't handling the flood of people crossing our borders illegally. I have to say, though, that there has to be some action taken by

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1072913747137059012003-12-31T16:34:00.000-07:002003-12-31T16:36:04.743-07:00

I remember that it happened, but really fast, like a 33 rpm record played at 78. Yes. I'm that old. I had a record player, and I remember messing with it. Anyway, Happy 20-04!

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1070562656454553862003-12-04T11:21:00.000-07:002003-12-09T09:21:40.110-07:00

Is not what's going on here, although it appears that the jury will hear about Congressman's Janklow's prior Speed-Racer activity, finally. This man, as a result of decisions he made, caused the death of another person. I understand "innocent until proven guilty," but there's no question that the car he was operating hit a motorcycle and killed the rider. Janklow was conscious, making decisions

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1070143500989960852003-11-29T15:04:00.000-07:002003-11-29T15:05:59.296-07:00

Now you can take the quiz to see where you land on the grid of political philosophy. *Centrists favor selective government intervention and emphasize practical solutions to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on new issues. Many centrists feel that government serves as a check on excessive liberty.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1070142492491598892003-11-29T14:44:00.000-07:002003-11-29T14:48:21.763-07:00

On a Saturday, even! On the weekend after Thanksgiving ... I've already been to the mall. I have some ideas for the holiday gift season now, but ohmigod, the people, the spending, the insanity. I saw one man holding a spot, standing, in front of a store, bags collecting around his feet. He had a glazed kind of smile on his face, like he wasn't quite sure where he was. Self-defense mechanism?

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1069438874775605612003-11-21T11:12:00.000-07:002003-11-21T11:24:56.453-07:00

"Mexifornia"??? I live in a border state, near the border. I see the faces of a different culture everywhere, everyday, and they're usually doing hard, sweaty, dirty grunt work. I'm grateful for their labor (while feeling guilty, usually), but I can't help but wish I knew they were here legally, choosing to become citizens, not existing below the radar as unrecognized guest workers. Then I read

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1069438244084542772003-11-21T10:56:00.000-07:002003-11-21T11:11:44.010-07:00

I recommend the December issue of Vanity Fair (no online version, sorry) for its article about the USAF Academy rape scandal. Winds of Change had a really good wrap-up of the situation, but the VF article puts faces on it. I know men and women who went to the Academy; some of them are my very best friends. I went to school in Colorado Springs and dated cadets (was even married briefly to a grad

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1069263839944350862003-11-19T16:13:00.000-07:002003-11-19T16:21:52.046-07:00

A Good Oman is discussing law in a fashion that's mostly above my head, but what I think is going on is macro vs micro law. Macro is what makes our society and its government work, micro is what makes us behave with each other. With all the talk going on today about Massachusetts' gay marriage court decision, and the possibility of a Constitutional amendment formalizing one man-one woman

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1069086752195490252003-11-17T15:27:00.000-07:002003-11-17T15:30:17.703-07:00

In this interview, political observer/humorist/satirist/commentator/etc. PJ says very well what I've been pondering all weekend. Can we really make the world any better? Or do we in America live in some kind of experiential bubble, an anomaly that could burst at any surprising moment? Within (near the end, actually) there's this nugget: When you look at a chaotic region like the Middle East,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1068830276329296182003-11-14T10:17:00.000-07:002003-11-14T10:22:28.210-07:00

LILEKS writes: I think it had to do with listening to the Senate debate, if that word applies, and wondering: are they always this banal? This condescending? Are bloviating prevarications the rule rather than the exception? In short: is the world’s greatest deliberative body really filled with this many dim bulbs, card sharps and overstroked dolts who confuse a leaden pause with great rhetoric?

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1068652084692401362003-11-12T08:36:00.000-07:002003-11-12T08:51:52.900-07:00

It sure would be nice if more of us, especially those who seek to lead or judge, would be more interested in exemplifying the spirit of religion and less willing to force the letter of evolved traditions down our throats.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1068489760139462002003-11-11T08:40:00.000-07:002003-11-11T08:46:54.870-07:00

"Why don't women run the world? Maybe it's because they don't want to." Maybe we don't want to run the world as it is .... in systems and structures that don't mesh with the realities of a woman's biological roles and responsibilities. I definitely want to participate in making big decisions about how the world should work, but I don't want to have to make those decisions "as a man would."

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1068241207623883562003-11-07T14:32:00.000-07:002003-11-07T14:58:28.913-07:00

The Nov/Dec 2003 issue of CJR included an article (sorry, no link) adapted from the recent book by political cartoonist Doug Marlette wherein I spied this meaty nugget: With the rise of the bottom-line culture and the corporatization of newsgathering, tolerance itself has become commodified and denuded of its original purpose. Consequently, the best part of the America character -- our generous

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1068227340680186972003-11-07T10:49:00.000-07:002003-11-07T10:49:37.150-07:00

Orson Scott Card's recent essay on why we need to be in Iraq and Afghanistan right now is a good one! Except that his conclusion (quoted in the title of this entry) is too true. Maybe it will help to pass around this idea wherever possible? Let's really talk to each other, even if we're doing it between machines over ribbons of light and energy.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1068225935496379362003-11-07T10:25:00.000-07:002003-11-07T10:26:42.513-07:00

Yea! A presidential speech worth reading I would like to commend the speechwriters who came up with this gem ... it is a succinct expression of some of the best ideas America is in a position to demonstrate. Just a taste: There are, however, essential principles common to every successful society, in every culture. Successful societies limit the power of the state and the power of the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877002.post-1068162485001619532003-11-06T16:49:00.000-07:002003-11-06T16:54:41.100-07:00

From Citizen Smash - The Indepundit It starts like this: WE ARE ENGAGED in a military occupation of a foreign land. Such occupations are always bloody and troublesome. This war may appear to some to be a hopeless quagmire, with no end in sight. It’s especially important, therefore, for us to remind ourselves what we are trying to accomplish – and to remember who we are. and gets better (when I

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07946856089534111955noreply@blogger.com