Recently in News & Politics Category

I just randomly stumbled across this story while I was eating lunch: FBI Searches Office of Special Counsel Building

As a Detroit native, one paragraph jumped out at me.

I can imagine the staff's reaction: "No, no. Anything but Detroit! We'll do anything you say!!"

This reminds me of a line from The Princess Bride: Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) threatens Fezzik (Andre the Giant) that he'll send him back where he found him ... "Unemployed! In Greenland!!" I used to think that was the epitome of pathetic situations. But now, "Employed in a field office in Detroit!" has superseded it.

At first, I decided to support Obama because I really liked him, not because I had anything against Hillary. Over the last few weeks, however, as Hillary has become more desperate, I have started to actively dislike her.

Take, for example, her fear-mongering new ad that begins "It's 3 am and your children and safe and asleep..."

Of course, with all her "experience" comes a whole boatload of baggage. This clip featuring the other Clinton and his description of "one of Clinton's laws of politics" is a neat answer to Hillary's ad.

A couple years ago, I heard Barack Obama on NPR's amusing news quiz/comedy show, "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me" and I recall at the time thinking "Man, this guy is so funny, it'd be awesome if he were President!"

So, if that ends up happening, you have me to thank.

The show is archived here (warning: RealPlayer required). Obama appears as part of the "Not My Job" segment in which he talks about the graffiti on his U. S. Senate desk and how he was thinking of adding to it with spray paint, you know, "as the only African American in the Senate."

He's seriously the funniest person in the segment -- he holds his own against comedian Paula Poundstone and host Peter Sagal, has the audience rolling, and displays a respectable amount of knowledge about Wade Boggs.

Make sure you listen to the end when he avoids declaring his candidacy for 2008.

An estimated 700 people turned out to our local caucus at Whittier Elementary School this afternoon. From the reports of folks I talked to who have caucused here in the past, the turnout was amazingly high. I have no idea how many they expected, but they clearly were not prepared for as many as they got. Sign-in sheets were filled up, the Obama supporters ran out of "Obama '08" stickers (plenty of Hillary ones left over, though), and they had to open up several overflow rooms.

The national news is already calling the state for Obama with a nearly 2/3 margin over Hillary. In our little 79-person segment of the caucus, we were about 85-15 in favor of Barack. I overheard similar results floating around from the other tables, too.

It's a little hard to gauge turnout as numbers that are being reported are for delegates and not actual pledges of support. For example, out of our 79 individuals, we had 5 delegates (4 ended up for Obama; 1 for Hillary). The delegate count is based on both number of registered democrats in the neighborhood and the turnout at the last election, so it can't be assumed that there's a steady 1:16 delegate/caucuser ratio throughout the state.

Everyone was really psyched and fired up. The caucus format may have its issues, but there's something to be said for getting out and actively engaging in the process.

Here are some photos from the day.

Every year, I take my birthday off from work. Since it falls on a Saturday this year (today!), I took yesterday off, and planned a series of excursions with Amy.

Then Obama announced he was coming to Seattle.

Amy's a big fan of Obama, and has been for a while now. And since this was a rare opportunity, we canceled my birthday plans to attend the rally, and I decided to not pout too much (just a little). You can some of my photos of the day on Flickr. And here's The Stranger's recording of the speech with (better) photos. Damn those people with press passes!

I'll say this: the man can deliver a rousing speech. And he seems to have a lot of momentum here in Washington -- a poll I saw yesterday gives him a 55-40 lead over Hillary (who I've never been able to muster more than lukewarm interest in). And his appearance here outdrew hers about 20,000 to 5,000. But I'm reluctant to get too fired up about a presidential candidate as my track record in that area has been pretty poor.

Back in 4th grade, my teacher, Mrs. Alessandrini, built a whole faux campaign activity around the 1980 primaries and election. I was an ardent backer of Independent candidate John Anderson, and pushed hard to deliver for him the critical 10-year-old vote from room 241 of Lowrey Elementary School . I really got into it. That turned out well.

I hit 18 in time to participate in the 1988 election season. I wasn't really that politically minded at the time and sort of went with the flow, which unfortunately went with Michael Dukakis.

By the time 1992 rolled around, I was a bit more engaged and attended a Democratic Party rally at Cobo Hall in Detroit and actually, you know, discussed issues with friends and stuff. I briefly became a supporter of Paul Tsongas -- "briefly" only because, again, the flow started going in another direction pretty quickly.

In 2000, I originally supported Bill Bradley, but not very enthusiastically. I'd already had my heart broken twice, so I was a bit gun shy. And we all know how the eventual election turned out.

By 2004, I decided to stay on the fence until a front-runner emerged lest face more disappointment. I was never too excited about John Kerry; but I (and the majority of voters) cast ballots for him on the "Anyone But Bush" platform. It's just that not all those votes were actually counted (Ohio!)

So, today is caucus day in Washington, and I am heading out to pledge my support for a candidate. It appears that Obama aligns more closely with my opinions and beliefs than does Hillary, and I think he could do a lot better than her to repair our international reputation and make people feel good about being Americans again.

And, of course, Hillary voted for the war. One highlight in yesterday's speech for me was when Obama reminded the crowd that he never voted for the war, and that down the trail when candidates are pressed about it, he's the only one who can demonstrate that he didn't support it. To me, that's the tipping point, and an area where Hillary obviously has to be weaselly and evasive.

Once I cast my vote today for [delegates for] Obama (or go stand in the right corner, or however they do caucuses), I will become emotionally invested in it and will set myself up for crushing disappointment if "my guy" doesn't win -- either today, or altogether. Conversely, of course, if Obama does win, I can go dancing in the streets and rightfully claim that I supported him all along.

In many ways, Washington state is unique in the Republic, and the way we handle our presidential primaries is no exception.

We have both a caucus (coming up this Saturday, February 9) and a ballot-based primary election (February 19).

The Republicans (boo! hiss!) will count the results from both. The democrats, however, will only count the caucus.

This is not particularly well-known. I talked to a guy I know from the bus the other day and he was all proud of having already mailed in his primary ballot. He's planning to be out of town on Saturday, so his vote (for Obama) won't count.

So, if you live in Washington, get out and caucus on Saturday. Cancel your Jim's Birthday Day Parties (I'll understand) and go stand around a school gymnasium arguing about Hillary and Barack and participate in the democratic process.

You can find more information, including your caucus location, at the Washington State Democrats website.

I was pretty excited to get to see Bruce Schneier at the Educause 2007 conference here in Seattle a couple weeks ago. I've been a regular reader of his blog for a couple years now and I respect his broad-minded view on both information technology and general security.

A couple days ago, Bruce wrote a terrific essay on the post-9/11 fear state we live in called "War on the Unexpected." It's been widely reposted, but I thought I'd give it a mention here in my own minuscule corner of the blogosphere.

The gist of the article is that our national paranoia over terrorist threats has given rise to an environment in which ordinary people are being asked to report "anything unusual" and law enforcement professionals are forced to escalate the situation without performing any real threat analysis. When the threat turns out to be non-existent, the professionals are rewarded with praise and promotion for their "quick" over-reaction rather than being chided for wasting resources.

And in case you don't think Bruce Schneier has the chops to write such as essay, keep in mind that he knows the state of Schroedinger's cat.

Yesterday's decision by the International Astronomical Union to strip Pluto of its planetary status left thousands of Plutoans angry, confused, and uncertain about their future.

"I feel disenfranchised," said Pluto native Xbvghirfy who spoke to us from the farm where he works as a day-laborer. "I came here, to planet Earth, to find a job, provide for my family back on Pluto, and make interesting circular patterns in wheat fields. Now that my home is not even recognized as a planet, it will very difficult for me to bring my wife and children here to join me."

Dr. Rufvb!ws, the leader of Pluto's top scientific organization, says that Pluto's solar system demotion will have a negative impact on its interstellar exploration projects. "It will be very difficult for us to get grants to continue our research into the Earth's sparsely populated rural areas and trailer parks," he reported. "Already, our anal probing devices are antiquated; we have no hope now of obtaining the money necessary to update them."

Everyone agrees that life on Pluto is difficult, with its inhospitable atmosphere, no known water sources, average temperatures around -380 F, and stagnate economy based mostly on frozen methane mining. When Pluto was first spotted by astronomers from Earth in 1930, Plutoans geared up for a tourism boom, which never came to fruition. Since then, a steady stream of Plutoans have emigrated, mostly illegally, from their remote, barren home to the Earth.

The IAU defended its decision, citing Pluto's oblong orbit, which overlaps with Neptune's, and the former-planet's small stature. Despite early objections by some, the IAU reports that this decision has the consensus support of Earth's astronomers.

Other organizations expressed elation. Robert Brown of the Interplanetary Minuteman Society said: "This is a great day! Those dirty Plutoans do nothing but take jobs that should belong to citizens of the planet Earth. We can't build a wall high enough to keep them out, so let's see how they like living on an asteroid!"

The IAU's decision will likely have ramifications in Earth's science textbook and mnemonic device industries. Already, mnemonitians are at work on an alternative to the phrase "My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles." Roy G. Biv of Every Good Boy Does Fine, Inc., says, "We're thinking of keeping the first seven terms in place, but we are divided on whether the earnest mother will be serving Nutella, Nuts, or Nectarines."

Via Feministing:

In Canton, Ohio, a school board decided to expand sex education to allow for discussion on contraception after realizing that 13 percent of [Timken] high school's female students were pregnant.

An interesting footnote revealed by a comment on the original post:

This is the same Canton, Ohio that is home to the Timken Company. This is the same company that is run by Bush "Pioneer" William Robert Timken. George Bush visited the company in 2003 to push his tax cuts for the rich. A year later the plant closed.... So the High School, named for Timken, followed the BushCo abstinence-only doctrine and this is the result.

So, people sure are scared of terrorists again and are not really thinking much about Iraq and stuff anymore. Yesterday, there was even a terrorist threat in Seattle (or not), and a terrorist cell was recently uncovered near my home town of Dearborn (or not).

Somehow, the following expressions of skepticism about the alleged terror plot in Great Britain don't surprise me.

From the AP wire:

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

Highlights from the ruling [pdf]:

Defendants assert that they cannot defend this case without the exposure of state secrets. This court disagrees. The Bush Administration has repeatedly told the general public that there is a valid basis in law for the TSP.9 Further, Defendants have contended that the President has the authority under the AUMF and the Constitution to authorize the continued use of the TSP. Defendants have supported these arguments without revealing or relying on any classified information.... Consequently, the court finds Defendants’ argument that they cannot defend this case without the use of classified information to be disingenuous and without merit.

In this case, the President has acted, undisputedly, as FISA forbids. FISA is the expressed statutory policy of our Congress. The presidential power, therefore, was exercised at its lowest ebb and cannot be sustained.

The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to violate not only the laws of the Congress but the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, itself. We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all “inherent powers” must derive from that Constitution.

As Justice Warren wrote in U.S. v. Robel, 389 U.S. 258 (1967): "Implicit in the term ‘national defense’ is the notion of defending those values and ideas which set this Nation apart.... It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of ... those liberties ... which makes the defense of the Nation worthwhile."

That's how they smack down tyrants in Detroit, Mr. President.

Signs that things are getting better:

South Dakota Abortion Ban in Trouble

Mel Gibson's Holocaust Miniseries Project Canceled

Evolution Backers in Kansas Gather Political Momentum

Signs that things are getting worse:

Eyeful of breast-feeding mom sparks outrage

Colorado Residents Angered by Nude Sculpture

Young Conservatives Indoctrinated at 'Boot Camp'

The more things change, the more they stay the same....

My conservative uncle sent me an article from right-wing nutcase David Horowitz's site, Front Page Magazine, the other day. The article reports on my former employer, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has hired a controversial
lecturer to teach a course in Islamic religion and culture. The lecturer has publicly claimed that the 9/11 attacks were part of a U.S. government conspiracy to justify the invasion of Iraq. The issue has sparked a minor outrage and has prompted Republican lawmakers to call for his termination.

An editorial on the site claims to be agnostic about the political content of the lecturer's opinion and instead attempts to frame the issue as one of a failure of responsible "academic freedom."

True academic freedom also requires Barrett's colleagues to examine and challenge the points of his theories. Nobody is doing that.... Academic freedom requires action. Academic freedom requires educators to challenge preposterous theories.

Theories of astronomy and physics (not to mention economics) may be challenged by anyone, including by teachers, but opponents of ID have turned Darwinism from a theory into a theology, where no holes and contradictions in the theory can be constitutionally debated in a classroom.

The original article further states:

By planning to insert his personal view that 9/11 was caused by a government conspiracy into a course on the "religion and culture" of Islam, Barrett makes a mockery of these academic principles. His view is unscholarly, unstudied, and unsubstantiated and to include it in an academic course is an outrage and embarrassment for his university, tantamount to including a segment on Holocaust denial in a course on Jewish culture or a discussion of why the earth might be flat in a geology course.

Give it up, FrontPagers. You're pissed because the UW lecturer said bad things about Bush and not about the university's handling of "academic freedom." You're calling for political censorship, pure and simple.

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) has sponsored a bill requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in federal judiciary and legislative buildings. Stephen Colbert of "The Colbert Report" interviews him about that [link to embedded video].

Westmoreland also co-authored HR 1998, "Commending Mel Gibson and 'The Passion of the Christ'; and for other purposes."

via Metafilter

Bizjournals, the online media division of American City Business Journals, ranks Seattle as "America's Smartest City" in its most recent issue. According to their criteria, it's all about the college. In Seattle, 47.2% of residents have at least a bachelor's degree -- the highest percentage in the nation. I have observed that to be true; a great deal of the people who make me my coffee seem really well-educated!

At the bottom? Well, My Fair Birthplace of Detroit is down there with only 11% of the population hanging a degree on the wall. At least they have a better baseball team.

But as we all know, having a degree doesn't necessarily equate to being smart. We all know what the true measure of intelligence is in this country: who you voted for in 2004! In that regards, the Detroit area boasts more brains than here:

I couldn't find city-by-city data, but anecdotally Seattle was 80-20 for Kerry, so maybe we really are the smarter city after all!