"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." -- Helen Keller

Happy holidays to all! I hope yours was as happy as mine, and that you have a happy, healthy and safe 2003.

Does this advance the cause of women at all?: At the Las Vegas Bowl yesterday, Katie Hnida became the first woman to appear in an NCAA Division 1-A football game. She attempted a PAT and it was blocked. Does this move women's equality and/or Title IX (gender equity) issues forward at all? Doesn't seem (to me) like it will have much impact either way.

Somebody got a nice gift this year: A West Virginia man was the sole winner of the $315 million Powerball lottery yesterday. After choosing the upfront (vs. spread over 30 years) payment option and paying federal and state taxes, the winner receives approximately $111.7 million. What can you do with $111.7 million? Well, you could buy 745 houses (at $150,000 each), or houses that cover about 62 blocks (i.e., about 6 miles of medium-priced houses in my hometown of Minneapolis). Or almost 14 million copies of a $7.99 paperback novel, or 6.2 million CDs (at $17.99 each), or perhaps just one professional hockey team.

"A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." -- Bertrand de Jouvenel

Somebody May Get the World's Richest Christmas Present: The Powerball jackpot is $280 million (estimated) this Wednesday. What would you do with all that money? What does Bill Gates do with all his money?

More on Ann Coulter: Okay, now I've had a chance to read a little of Coulter's writing. Here is an excerpt from today's screed on Trent Lott:

The idea that Lott took the occasion of an old timer's birthday to introduce a new policy initiative to bring back segregation -- a Democrat policy -- is ludicrous. Lott is a fine fellow; he just has some sort of liberal-Tourette's syndrome that makes him spout Democrat ideas at random.... Up until two weeks ago conservatives were clamoring for Lott's removal precisely because of his annoying habit of saying dumb things. (Showing their inferior intellect, liberals have only recently figured that out.) Republicans should ask Lott to step down as leader, but only for all the nice things he's said about Teddy Kennedy. (emphases added)

Well, I'm starting to understand why some people are virulent anti-Coulters, as I mentioned yesterday. But I wonder how long this kind of shtick can last -- how long will anyone but the fringe listen to or read the non sequiturs and ad hominem arguments of a loose cannon like Coulter?

The important thing is not to stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein

AOL IM Patent Follow-Up: Micah Alpern's blog has some more on this, and a link to The Shifted Librarian's blog. [by way of John Robb's blog.]

I Want my Technology: Robb's blog also had a link to Beamer, a video-telephone station that you can buy retail for about $300 (2 for $500, which makes sense if you (a) have more than one telephone in your home or (b) want to give one to someone that you wish to video phone* with). It made me think about what else might be next in technology (especially Wi-Fi, which is Robb's question about the Beamer). Here's what I want: a light, 15-inch flat panel wireless monitor with an attachable wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, so that I can carry the monitor all around my house while still using the power of my desktop PC rather than a notebook. The keyboard have to attach to the monitor so that I can carry one thing around the house, and I want the whole package to weigh less than 10 lbs. That way, I can have one central CPU and carry my monitor and input devices to the kitchen, dining room, bedroom, etc. Eventually, I want the video screens in my house to be able to accept the wireless signal from the PC, so that my television can be both a television and a monitor for the PC, connected wirelessly. I know this is doable now, but it isn't being done. Let's get on it, please!

* I'm not sure what this is going to be called (video phoning? tele-conferencing or tele-conning? {probably not tele-conning}, and I think it will be interesting to see how the English language will change to add this concept.

Ann Coulter: Wow, she elicits strong reactions! I haven't seen much of her (okay, well, basically none of her, since I don't watch much TV). But I did find, in my web travels, this Anti-Coulter site, as well as this List of 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2002 (yes, Ann Coulter is #1). Guess I'll have to see why everyone's up in arms -- to me, she sounds like a publicity-hound who had some original ideas for a while (not that I would agree with many of them) but has lost them in the tangle of self-promotion. Kind of like Gov. Ventura here in Minnesota.

Nearly all men can withstand adversity; if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln

AOL Can Ride Herd on Microsoft, Yahoo?: If I was AOL, would I enforce the newly minted patent I received for instant messaging? You're darned tootin' I would! Why wouldn't you license the technology? From a very selfish, personal standpoint, I would like IM to continue to be a free application, but it is difficult for me to argue that someone's proprietary technology product should not be available to them as a revenue-generating application under current patent law. Now, let's see what AOL does ...

Another Reason Why the Cubs are the Cubs: Yes, they haven't won a World Series in almost a century. And, now, they think that they own the physical viewing rights to their product. This is a very difficult position for the Cubs to take as, unlike AOL above, I don't believe they have any government-sanctioned rights in a view from afar. The Cubs are asking nearby bars (and their patrons) to pay for the right to see the Cubs play from seats not in the stadium. This treads down a slippery slope -- should business owners on Fifth Avenue in New York City not be allowed to charge people money to watch parades down Fifth Avenue from their offices, roofs or balconies? Should restaurants along Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis be unable to charge a cover charge to allow patrons to have window seats for the holiday Holidazzle parades? I am not aware of any that do, but I don't think they can be stopped from doing so if they choose (whether patrons would actually pay when they can sit on the sidewalk outside for free is another matter).

DNA to the Rescue Again!: When I lived in New York City, there were several high profile criminal cases that seemed to remain on the covers of the tabloids for months. There was the Lisa Steinberg murder, the Bernhard Goetz subway vigilante case, and then there was the Central Park Jogger Rape which, like the Bernhard Goetz case involved complicated race issues. Five young men, ages 14 - 16 at the time, were convicted despite no physical evidence linking them to the crime (i.e., no DNA match). The crime even spawned a new slang term -- "wilding" -- which was not actually a term used by the accused or, apparently, anyone at the time, but was made up by an overzealous New York tabloid writer who misheard the accused young men speak. As it turns out, these young men were not the rapist(s) of the Jogger -- the real rapist came forward much later and was definitively linked by DNA evidence to the rape crime. The young men's convictions were vacated. Just another in the many exonerations by DNA evidence popping up these days.

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." -- George Bernard Shaw

Cast Your Lott: Sorry, couldn't resist the pun. I am surprised that such a furor has descended upon Trent Lott after his remarks at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Many politicians have said much worse things, in my estimation, and in the estimation of John Aravosis at About.com. Yes, what Lott said was stupid, but he's a politician -- we should be accustomed to stupidness emanating from him. I think Republicans seized on this as an opportunity to move out a long-term guy they felt needed to be put out to pasture to let a new face lead the party in the Senate. Personally, my money's on Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, but then again, my money was on Al Gore in 2000, so what do I know?

"The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls." -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Where Are All the Detainees?: This is scary. I spent part of the morning searching for information on the Guantanamo Bay detainees, to find out if there still are people being held without due process and how many. This is very difficult information to get, as you can see from this 12/12/02 story on CNN:

"Most of the more than 900 people arrested in the far-reaching federal investigation that followed the September 11 attacks have been deported, released or convicted of relatively minor crimes not directly linked to terrorism, according to the Justice Department.

"An additional undisclosed number -- most likely in the dozens -- were held as material witnesses, people the government asked a court to detain because they may have direct knowledge or connection to terrorism. Some are possibly still being held." (emphasis added)

This is from the same article:

"Justice officials refuse to disclose even the total number of material witnesses held at one time or another, citing prohibitions against releasing the proceedings of secret grand jury investigations.

"The government continues to resist releasing the names of any detainees, which 22 public interest groups are seeking through lawsuits in federal court. Officials say al-Qaeda and other groups could find out how the United States tracks down terrorists or learn other secrets if the names were made public."

I did find mention of the detainees in this article in the Navy Supply Corps newsletter for November/December 2002, which indicates there are more than the "dozens" of detainees CNN mentioned being held. In fact, the article suggests that there are 604 detainees. And this report on globalsecurity.org suggests that there may be as many as 625 detainees as of early December.

In short, the US is holding as many as 600+ people on the Guantanamo Base in Cuba without charge and without the availability of legal counsel or access to the normal channels of justice that any others would and should be afforded. This is a slippery slope down which I never want to tread. Be afraid. Be very afraid. I am.

More on the "Mayberry Machiavellis": Now even the Christian Science Monitor is piling on the Bush Administration's zero tolerance policy towards what it calls "disloyalty." Basically, that appears to mean that if you publicly disagree with the Bush Administration and are employed in the administration, you will be fired. Ah, yes, the Bush Administration's strong commitment to free speech rides roughshod over human rights.

Even His Own Party Doesn't Buy It: A new poll shows that even 60% of Republicans -- and 72% of all poll respondents -- do not feel that Bush has made a valid case to go to war with Iraq at this point. Absent a finding that Iraq has been building weapons of mass destruction, only 41% of respondents favor such a war. Way to speak for the majority.

A Hero's Fall: Kirby Puckett was one of my heroes growing up. Two World Series Championships, numerous honors, a Hall of Fame career sadly shortened by glaucoma ... I was going to say he has been unmade, but that's not true. His true legacy is only now coming to light.

This May Be Of Interest Only to Me: Max Headroom may be making a comeback! That would be a great thing -- one of the few TV shows (only 14 episodes were made!) I have truly enjoyed watching, because it explored both sides of the new technology coin, including the positive and negative roles of media in the new pollution. By the way, the Beck link that came from is excellent -- a Beckology tour de force!

Who is Michael Medved and Why is He a Moron?: This is why -- a rebuttal to his goofy arguments for war in Iraq. (by way of Fark)

"The only thing needed for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

Some Numbers Circling Me: The numbers in this article from the WashPost are very thought-provoking (to me, anyway). These data seem to show that political polarization grows with party affiliation. If true, one logical conclusion is that voters identify with the party rather than the person, a big change from our past. It would suggest that parties hold more sway than individual politicians, and that it is possible for a political party to guide an electorate, rather than the reverse!

A Busy Weekend!: Wow, lots of stuff on Friday and over the weekend to ponder:

Boston's Cardinal Law resigns -- it's about damned time. In conjunction with Cardinal Lawbreaker's resignation, the Vatican finally agreed to the reforms that the U.S. Catholic prelate had thrown together in July in the face of the firestorm, albeit modified. A step in the right direction (though it took too long), but it still won't get me back to Mass.

Al Gore announces that he will not be a candidate for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination in 2004 -- I feel a bit saddened by this. I voted for Mr. Gore for Vice President in 1992 and 1996, and for President in 2000. I genuinely like the man, even more so after his funny and biting participation on this week's Saturday Night Live (Dec. 14, 2002). However, I do agree that this will open up the field, and perhaps give the Democratic Party an opportunity to try on some new ideas.

What is a blog? These students have some great ideas about it, and I think that eventually there will be a kind of demarcation between blogs and "journals" along the lines of the comment posted by steyblind:

A blog could go one of two ways, IMHO:

1 - A blog could be a professional or intellectual exchange of information that encourages progress & promotes thinking wherever it goes...

2 - ...or a blog could be a personal ball of complaints and/or deep (read that: shallow) thoughts about his or her day.

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting. -- e.e. cummings

In Defense of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Distribution: An excellent article on P2P distribution, written by Tim O'Reilly that should be required reading for everyone, but especially for Hilary Rosen, Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Hilary, despite your protestations, O'Reilly is right: file-sharing is not piracy, and a balanced accounting of P2P impact on the recording industry would show that. Let's get to reality: the RIAA is desperately trying to hold on to its antiquated distribution channel despite the emergence of a more efficient method that, of course, forces RIAA members to rethink how they do business, as O'Reilly makes clear:

The question before us is not whether technologies such as peer-to-peer file sharing will undermine the role of the creative artist or the publisher, but how creative artists can leverage new technologies to increase the visibility of their work. For publishers, the question is whether they will understand how to perform their role in the new medium before someone else does. Publishing is an ecological niche; new publishers will rush in to fill it if the old ones fail to do so.

Adapt or die! (N.B. I was pointed to this article by the terrific Doc Searles blog, which you should definitely visit regularly, along with John Robb's blog.)

"The street finds its own use for things." -- William Gibson: The P2P stuff led me to an excellent article by Cory Doctorow about innovation and the intended uses of new products. That led me to an article on BBC News online about how the deaf are using cellphones. This is a "clunk me on the forehead" kind of use -- of course text messaging with phones that have a vibrating ring would be useful to the deaf! Ah, the happy circumstance of unintended consequences -- they aren't all bad!

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -- George Orwell

Tort Reform Issues at Forefront: As if Mississippi hasn't gotten enough publicity from tort reformers on its handing out of huge jury awards in class action cases, now a couple of the jurors who participated in this goofiness are suing 60 Minutes for $6 billion for airing a story about jury awards in Mississippi. They each participated in handing out $150 million personal injury/product liability awards. At the same time, a ridiculous award of $145 million has made its way to the Supreme Court and will be heard. Sooner or later, the phrases "jackpot jury" and "coffee spill millionaire" will, with luck, no longer mean anything.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. -- C. S. Lewis

A boon for online bill payment?: I'm not sure if I'm in favor of privatizing the postal service or not. Theoretically, it makes sense to me, but what would be the practical fallout? Would it cost $1.20 for a normal letter to be mailed? Would this decrease junk mail? Lots of potential ramifications, not all of which are bad. Even the former Postmaster General, William J. Henderson, favors privatization, as he wrote in this Washington Post editorial column in August, 2001:

"Not long ago, it would have been unimaginable. But [in 2001], under the terms of a $7.2 billion contract, FedEx began carrying and helping to sort some first-class, priority and express mail for the U.S. Postal Service. ... While having contracts with private companies is nothing new (airlines have tossed sacks of mail into their cargo holds for as long as they've been flying), the deal with FedEx, the Postal Service's traditional competitor, is a major step forward in the Postal Service's increasing collaboration with private business. ... As the postmaster general until I retired three months ago, I oversaw the negotiation of the FedEx deal. And I continue to see it as an innovative solution for a Postal Service struggling to remain competitive under market conditions that have changed strikingly over the past decade. But such alliances with private business don't go nearly far enough. What the Postal Service needs now is nothing short of privatization. And while I've said in the past that privatization is inevitable, I'm saying now that it's something that must be done."

Things I Miss About NYC: I used to love to read the New York Post, not for the quality of the journalism but for the unusual story selection and fabulous headline composition. Today's issue includes the following story: Killer Pit Bulls Rip Granny to Shreds. The New York Times headlined it Pet Pit Bulls Kill Woman, 80, in Her Home, while the Bergen Record went with the straightforward Pit bull kills 80-year-old woman. It is a horrific story in any context, but the sensationalizing of the Post headline is beyond journalistic, firmly in the lurid tradition of the National Enquirer. The National Enquirer is too much for me, but I have always enjoyed the 10 minutes it took to glance through the Post, sort of in the same way that I can watch the Jerry Springer Show for about 5 minutes before I just can't take it any longer. What is my fascination with this stuff, even for a few minutes?

"In the fight between you and the world, back the world." -- Franz Kafka

For Saying "Bushwacked," You Get 15 to Life: Richard Humphreys is spending 37 months in jail for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. I grant you that Mr. Humphreys isn't necessarily firing on all cylinders, but this seems ridiculous. Are we in America, or is this some weird parallel universe where Mr. Kafka writes the script?

The French Have a Word For It: Yes, the French finally have an officially approved word for the ampersand -- the "arrobase." They also approved words for webring ("anneau de site") , website (not surprisingly, "site") and portal ("portail"). Next up: a word for the symbol for Prince's former glyph.

Only in America: Would you believe it if I told you a 21-year-old man was married to a 31-year-old woman? That they had 4 kids, ages 10 months to 10 years (I assume they're not all his)? That they lived in a trailer park in Vermont? That they had another couple living with them? And that she shot him in the shoulder because he had a pornographic video hidden under their bed? Why do I find this story funny? It is also quite sad.

Whiz Kids: Okay, these kids rock! I wish that (a) I had spent more time learning science and math in high school and college and (b) I was a kid now, when orthodoxies are being constantly challenged and knowledge is exploding and traveling at light speed (or, at least, internet speed). Check this:

High-school scientists from across the United States showed off work in genetics, molecular biology, mathematics and other fields that judges said rose to the professional level. "It just blows me away. They're all just incredible," said Joel Spencer, a New York University professor who served as a judge at the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Research done by finalists in the nationwide competition could lead to faster Internet speeds, more effective antibacterial drugs and better energy conservation.

Craig Venter, who helped to develop a map of the human genetic code as chief scientist at Celera Genomics Group, told the finalists that advances in computing power and more teamwork between scientists in different disciplines has led to a climate in which innovation is almost constant. That sense of discovery and excitement is a marked contrast to the early 1970s, when graduate-school professors told him that nearly everything had been discovered, he said. "Now it's almost impossible not to discover something," Venter said.

Okay, time to get off my gluteus and maximize.

"If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won't." -- Admiral Hyman Rickover

The Stella Awards: These "awards" are named after Stella Liebeck, the infamous New Mexico 79-year-old victim of her own inability to properly use a McDonald's coffee cup. They are handed out by a journalist in Colorado, Randy Cassingham, who publishes This is True books and a newsletter. Here's more information, from the site:

"Funny But True: 'This Is True' is a syndicated newspaper column by Colorado humorist Randy Cassingham that contains bizarre news items from legitimate newspapers. (Free e-mail subscriptions are available at thisistrue.com.) It's not rocket science, but Cassingham generated enough income to quit his job as a software engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. 'True' is a great place to read about Fabio getting smacked in the face by a bird, French conservative Jean-Marie Le Pen defending male nudity, and a woman who created a ceremony so she could marry herself. Cassingham's kicker? 'She also apparently had a hand in planning her wedding night.'"

I was led to this site by receiving one of those "check this out" e-mails from a friend. So I did check it out and found that although the Stella Awards are real, and do highlight frivolous lawsuits, the items in the e-mail were fabricated! Which leads to one of my favorite categories of web information: Urban Legends Debunking websites. Whenever I receive information I believe to be inaccurate (for example, the e-mail chain letter warning of AIDS-infected needles placed in public phone change slots), the first place I go is Snopes, which I have found to be a terrific urban legends/e-mail myths debunking (or confirming) site. An alternative that I use less often is The AFU and Urban Legends Archive. Both are worth visiting regularly.

Guns: Nothing Propinks Like Propinquity: Despite what you hear from Republicans (and especially from Charlton Heston and his ilk), evidence abounds that the more guns you have, the more gun deaths you have. Logical, right? Not to the NRA. But there are good studies cited here, here and here to back this up. And goodness knows we can't trust such ultra-liberal, Commie-pinko organizations such as Harvard University, the American Journal of Public Health and Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles. Can we?

"These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." —Thomas Paine

From Clinton speech to DLC: "Where are we now? Well the Republicans have what they want -- the White House and the Congress -- so presumably, they'll finally have to stop playing the blame game and take some responsibility, and the American people can determine whether they agree with what they wish to do. Meanwhile, we have a heavy responsibility to cooperate in uniting this country on security issues and also to come up with better ideas across the board. We don't have to be more liberal but we do have to be more relevant in a progressive way. We have to have a clear and strong national security stand. We have to compare the results of their efforts and ours. And we have to be tough and disciplined. We cannot wilt in the face of higher negative ratings for our leaders. They have a destruction machine, we don't. Somebody has got to lead the Democrats in the House, in the Senate and in running for president, and the rest of us have got to stand up for them and stand with them when they're subject to these attacks. They cannot be avoided. That's what the other party and their allies are organized to do and they get rewarded for it if we wilt. So we abandon our leaders at our peril."

Landrieu, Alexander win in Louisiana: Despite full-court press from President Doofus, the Republicans lost a House and a Senate seat in Louisiana. So I guess that "Republican sweep" business wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes...." -- Isaac Asimov

Management lesson: From an article on Larry Jodsaas by Neil St. Anthony in the Strib, who is donating $1 million to Normandale Community College: "Despite his well-established reputation as a blunt, direct boss, Jodsaas learned early in his career that the key job of any manager is to hire, train and retain good people. You build loyalty not by dictating and nitpicking but by setting clear expectations. You reward for performance. Those who don't fit will weed themselves out." (Emphasis added.)

Timeo Hominem Unius Libri (I fear men that have learned from a single book). -- St. Thomas Aquinas

State budget deficit: Our legislators were surprised this week with a much larger than expected budget deficit for the June 2003 - June 2005 biennium -- which was estimated up from $3 billion to $4.2 billion. As the table from the article shows, the money comes overwhelmingly from individual taxpayers (only 4% -- less than $1.1 billion of the total of $26.8 billion collected -- is generated from corporate franchise taxes).

The largest expenditure for the state (49.5% of the total expenditures of $27.1 billion) is on education -- 39.3% or $10.7 billion fpr K-12 and 10.2% or $2.8 billion for higher eduation. The next biggest expenditure category (25.0% of expenditures) is for health care and human services -- 17.8% or $4.8 billion for health care and 7.2% or $2.0 billion for Health and Human Services. The state also expends 15.2% or $4.1 billion on "other," which I'm guessing is mostly for physical infrastructure requirements (roads, buildings, bridges, debt service, etc.). Finally, the state provides 10.3% or $2.8 billion of its expenditures in the form of aid to local governments, for things like state mandates, affordable housing assistance, administration, etc. Where will the cuts come from to make up this huge deficit? I don't even want to think about it yet. It has to sink in for a day or two.

Back on the soapbox: the sum of budget deficits in 2001 and 2002 (estimated, excluding reserves) is $2.75 billion. The surpluses in 1998, 1999 and 2000 add up to just a bit more than that so, effectively, we spent our surpluses (particularly on Gov. Ventura's givebacks to taxpayers, which he has had the audacity to call "Jesse checks") that should have gone into our plans for the future. Dammit, I have been harping on this for three years, but at this point you have to actively avoid this information not to get the point: Gov. Shit-for-Brains made a big mess and now is leaving it for the rest of us to clean up. The taxpayer rebate checks for 1999 and 2000 were misguided at best, and a crass political maneuver for certain. The deficit now stands at $1,000 for every living state resident (not every taxpayer, but every man, woman and child in the state).

Another driveway moment: Caedmon is 50 years old, a fact thankfully brought to me by NPR Morning Edition's Renee Montagne. If you don't know of Caedmon, they produce spoken-word recordings and have recorded the greatest poets of the 20th century, including Yeats, Auden, Pound, Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Frost, and many others. Amazingly, you can get a sort-of "Greatest Hits of Caedmon," called The Caedmon Poetry Collection: A Century of Poets Reading Their Work, for $21. Which is exactly what I'm going to do!

Dorm porn followup: Get this! The Indiana University chancellor says he won't stand for "the school's cream and crimson IU trademark [being] violated." Allowing women (and men) at IU to be in a porno movie on campus is okay, but don't you dare touch our school logo! (Note: I am okay with consenting adults appearing in adult films, but there has to be a more appropriate place to film it than a public university.)

Sad story: A 42 year old woman gets a year in jail for having sex with a 15 year old boy (which was probably the highlight of his life up to this point). Lots of extenuating circumstances. Clearly, this judge and justice system is not interested in addressing the underlying problem.

Next, we'll be "the competition": I went to school with Erich Mische, and he's a good enough guy and all (although he did make the jump from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party when his boss, Sen.-elect Coleman, made the flip-flop). But calling constituents "customers" is taking it a bit too far, Erich.

Neuromarketing: I thought this was a bit scary, but on reconsideration, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Is it better marketing, or just more manipulative?

Scary civil-rights issue: Like many Minnesotans, I have a love-hate (or maybe a like-dislike) mixed bag of feelings about our state's Attorney General, Mike Hatch, who is both a staunch defender of the law and a shameless publicity hound. However, on this issue I am right along with him: he opposes the Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, a purportedly anti-terrorism program that is about as frightening as they get. Here's the crux of the issue, in a quote from Hatch:

"I think the concern [of public officials] is that any concern they express on a Bush initiative may be seen as anti-American," Hatch said. "Still, I'm surprised there aren't more people speaking out. This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue. It crosses all lines and becomes the ultimate civil-rights issue."

Why aren't more people up in arms about this? This sends chills down my spine.

And that isn't the worst of it: Upon researching the Total Information Awareness project, I came upon a list of all of the activities of the Information Awareness Office, run by John Poindexter -- yes, that John Poindexter, from the Iran-Contra fiasco (and if you want some interesting short reading, start at the Concluding Observations portion of Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's report on Iran-Contra). Among the list of projects that the TIA is working on, there is something called the Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery (EELD) program, from which I will quote one of the most chilling aspects:

The goal of the Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery (EELD) program is development of technologies and tools for automated discovery, extraction and linking of sparse evidence contained in large amounts of classified and unclassified data sources. EELD is developing detection capabilities to extract relevant data and relationships about people, organizations, and activities from message traffic and open source data. (Emphasis added.)

And I remind you that the guy who is now heading the government office that is officially tasked with this program is John Poindexter, who, again:

was tried and convicted in April 1990 of five felonies, including: one count of conspiring to obstruct official inquiries and proceedings, two counts of obstructing Congress, and two counts of false statements to Congress (this is from Mr. Walsh's report).

(Note: These convictions were overturned on appeal not because they were found to be defective on the merits, but because Poindexter had been extended a limited grant of immunity from prosecution, which the appeals court judges ruled shielded him from prosecution on the charges. This just keeps getting scarier.)

In (much) lighter news: According to this study, it seems that (a) sex is a low-risk activity overall (with respect to susceptibility to heart attacks) and (b) extra-marital sex is apparently more stressful than sex between long-time partners. I use the word "stressful" liberally.

IU Dorm Porn Film: depending upon your point of view, either this ratchets Indiana University way up your list of schools to attend, or it drops IU off your list entirely. Or maybe, if you're like me, it really isn't an issue applicable to you, but you still find it amusing.

Only in San Fran: in other adult-related news, I just found out that there exists a union for exotic dancers! And they're on strike! Seems that, among other things, management wants to take away their one paid sick day per year. Note to management: for the good of your customers, maybe an increase in sick days would be useful. I can't imagine there can be much enjoyment in watching a nude woman wipe her runny nose. But that's just me.

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness -- John Kenneth Galbraith

Heard a great interview with John Collins, an assistant professor of Global Studies at St. Lawrence University, on MPR. He was plugging his book, Collateral Language (he's a co-editor of the book). He clearly favors an anti-war on terrorism perspective (and was surprisingly effective and interesting), and he clearly is no fan of the current administration (or regime, as he might prefer due to it's connotation of both impermanence and opposition). He described how the Bush administration is attempting to win the public relations battle for America by employing words like "unity" (as opposed to any kind of dissent or questioning of actions) and "weapons of mass destruction." He suggests that the latter is one of the biggest Orwellian doublespeak usages today: although the administration identifies "WMD" (for short) as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, in the past, the weapons that have provided mass destruction most often have been conventional weapons. He also noted that the only government ever to have employed all three of the WMD is the U.S. Touche!

It was truly a driveway moment.

Speaking of our fearless (?) leader, another person has had to apologize for disparaging remarks directed at the White House, this time a "former Bush aide." This following the hilarious (for us, but not for Ms. Ducros) incident in which President Bush was labeled a "moron." Although Mr. Dilulio recanted his remarks as "groundless and baseless," it is hard to believe that they were insincere or untruthful, given that they were made when Mr. Dilulio believed he was off the record, and that Mr. Dilulio is a Democrat.

This leads me to a reflection on Presidents of the recent past. Thanks to our friends at the evening talk shows, caricatures of Presidents are not hard to come by. As I consider our recent leaders, this is my single image of each of them, as reflected in the opening monologues of Jay Leno and David Letterman:

Richard Nixon - a crook
Gerald Ford - a bumbler
Jimmy Carter - (Okay, I have a special place in my heart for Jimmy Carter. He wasn't particularly effective, but he is, without doubt, a good, decent man.)
Ronald Reagan - confused
George H. W. Bush - a hapless goof
Bill Clinton - a dog in heat
George W. Bush - without question, the biggest bungler of all

What does this say about our leaders?

Sadly, this is what amuses me: Doo-Wop Horses (my name for them -- I have no idea what the site is there for). I can have hours of fun with these guys.