Last week our Electrolux ECV 1590A (Model E117A) "central vacuum" failed, in an unpleasant way - it refused to turn off. I had to unplug the canister in the basement from the wall outlet to silence it.
A little simple troubleshooting seemed to suggest that
controller board (was
dead:
Searching the web for Electrolux parts, I
discovered MD Manufacturing,
aka CentralVacuum.com. Their part number
235S:
was just the ticket to replace the original part (labeled on the component side with a sticker marked "1527-02 VF5", and on the solder size as "1528-02"). For about $43 ($34.25 + $8 shipping) we were back on the air. Thank you, MD Manufacturing!
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman highlights energy security as an "gut issue" in his October 13th NYT column. In particular, he quotes campaign strategist James "it's the economy, stupid" Carville as stating:
"Energy independence [...] It's now the No. 1 national security issue. ... It's become kind of a joke with us, because no matter how we ask the question, that's what comes up."Also quoted is former Clinton pollster Stan Greenburg, who says:
"When we lay out different plans for how to deal with Iraq, any plan that also includes energy independence tops any other plan that doesn't," said Mr. Greenberg, who added that people are not expressing this view because they are worried about price, but because they are starting to understand that our oil dependence is fueling a host of really bad national security problems. "There is frustration that leaders have not taken it up," he added. "There is a sense that the public is ahead of the leaders, and there is actually a sense of relief when anyone talks about [energy independence] with any seriousness."I can only hope that Washington wakes up to this, too, and that whoever controls Congress for the next tow years will finally do something about energy policy.
It's been years in the making, and heaven knows I've done my
shared of grumbling about it along the way, but today
Katy's persistence bore fruit:
|
That was then; this is now. McCain is planning another run at the presidency in 2008, and he's been pandering like hell to make sure he gets his change. The latest example, and to me most offensive thus far, is his willingness to deliver a graduation speech at Jerry Falwell's "Liberty University" this past weekend. Thank you, John, from making your position perfectly clear. This web site won't forget. |
Way back in 2000, I was impressed as hell by Senator John McCain as he fought
W for the Republican presidential nomination. McCain, while
conservative, seemed not to be some sort of wacko idealogue.
This week's news has been full of stories about energy: Bush suspending filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Senators from both parties offering idiotic ideas like tax credits, drilling in ARWR and suspending fuel taxes, and calls to build more nukes. But today's NYT editorial Pander at the Pump is spot on:
... The last thing the country needs now is another irresponsible quick fix...
... It's appalling that a generation after the first oil shock, in 1973, politicians are still reacting with such hysteria....
Precisely. This problem didn't sneak up on us. I'm going to be obnoxious and say, "I told you so." For year's I've been calling for a tax-driven steady increase in gas prices; have the government set a floor on the price per gallon and announce a steady, predictable increase in that price of, say, 50 cents every year. The we wouldn't need to impose efficiency standards on cars; the market would do it for us. Instead, though, the price lurches up whenever there's a "crisis", making the pain much more acute.
This is the sort of problem that is difficult to solve in our society. Capitalism is by-and-large focused on near term results, so it's a tough sell to get companies to invest in long-term energy efficiency if it hurts the current quarter's bottom line. And getting our divided government to reach any concensus on sensible policies, like target gas prices, tax breaks for investments in energy efficiency and alternative production, and government purchases of emerging technologies (like photovoltaics) seems to be impossible.
I honestly don't know what the answer is. I think that there's probably some broad "hidden concensus" on policies like the ones I've mentioned above, but there doesn't seem to be a way to make them happen.
NIMBYism is alive and well and living at the NRDC
Today I received a mailing from the Natural Resources Defense Council, an organization I have supported, in one way or another, for over 30 years. It was, of course, a fundraising appeal, accompanied by petitions to President Bush and the U.S. Senate for my signature - and a cover letter from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Kennedy had the gall to open the letter with the greeting, "Dear Fellow Environmentalist." But Kennedy, it seems, is only an environmentalist when it suits him. This past winter, the New York Times printed Kennedy's essay An Ill Wind Off Cape Cod on the December 16, 2005 op-ed page. (It's also available here.) In it, Kennedy again starts with "AS an environmentalist, I support wind power..." - and then goes on to offer up every generic argument imaginable against wind power anywhere.
That the NRDC would use someone like Kennedy as a spokesman is appalling, especially in light of this NRDC press release blasting Alaskan Rep. Don Young for attempting to block Cape Wind, which reads in part:
Why would Congressman Young be so interested in wind power projects located nowhere near his state?Families like the Kennedys?
One answer might be that his longtime friend and former Alaska state environmental official Guy Martin, has been hired by a group of wealthy families trying to block a proposed wind farm several miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
I'm proud of my past support of the NRDC, but they won't get another penny - or kind word - from me as long as they continue their association with Kennedy. I sent this letter to the NRDC; I hope others will similarly express their views.
Tonight my buddy Dave sent me this nifty little tune called Code Monkey, by Jonathon Coulton. See this SlashDot article for more information on its origins.
Sad news today.
On my way into work this morning, WBUR's local news blurb mentioned something about a "systems analyst" named Greg <indecipherable> at B.U. who fell to his death early Sunday morning from the roof of his apartment. "That's weird," I thought, "that could almost be Greg, but the last name isn't even close." The news moved on, and I continued my drive to work.
A while after arriving at work, I got a call on my cell from Sue, a very close friend, former coworker and collegue of Greg Coulon, my successor at BCDSP. It turned out that WBUR mangled the name. It was, in fact, the Greg I know.
I didn't know Greg well, but I sure did like what I knew of him. He always seemd to be smiling, he was incredibly bright, and he was - I mean this in the best possible way - a geek's geek. Most non-geeks don't realize that the goofy stereotype of geekiness is only a small part of the story, in most cases; real geeks have lots of interests, are often quite presentable in appearance (the present author excluded...) and fun to be around. Greg was the first person I knew to have a truly handheld device that ran Linux. He had a wonderful sense of humor (check out the links to journals on the BCDSP web site...). He was about to fly to Paris with his girlfriend (a surprise trip for her, no less...) to propose.
Greg, I don't know what when wrong on that rooftop, but I do know that the world holds less joy today because of it. Rest in peace.
[I'll have to update this posting later; I'm writing about an essay
in the Sunday New York Times
magazine section for April 16th, and the article isn't yet on the
web. As regular Times readers know, you can get most sections of the
Sunday times on Saturday...]
Writer Walter Kirn has a wonderful essay about the growing wage gap between corporate CEOs and the "ordinary" workers in this week's New York Times Magazine. I'd do violence to it by extracting quotes; go read the whole thing (it's only a two pages). Or listen to my mp3 reading of it.
Aside: Kirn likes his work:
Here's an little chart I extracted from
Executive Excess 2004: Outsourcing, Unexpensed Stock Options and
Rising CEO Pay, by the
Institute for Policy Studies.
|
In other news: the Times also contains an editorial about the new Massachusetts health insurance law, offering this (granted, somewhat tepid) praise:
Lots of details must still be worked out, and there are already concerns that the financial underpinnings of the plan are shaky. But Massachusetts deserves credit for tackling a problem that Washington is failing to address.What the plan does is make it illegal to be uninsured in Massachusetts. This bill is nothing more than a giveaway to the insurance industry. As David Leonhardt's NYT article on Wednesday pointed out, the health insurance industry generated profits last year of $100 billion. That money came from premiums; obviously it wasn't used to purchase health care if it was reported as profit.
Leonhardt's article is an interesting read in its own right; it closes with these paragraphs:
I know that a lot of fans of a government-run system will find the Massachusetts solution complicated and inefficient. But the reality is that a national system will remain a fantasy as long as employers offer health insurance. Mr. Romney and the legislature have given Massachusetts companies a way to drop coverage without appearing brutish. If they do so — if they really want to get out of the insurance business — the debate about health care will change very quickly.Leonhardt's point that health insurance costs are a drag on American business — one not shared by businesses in most other industrialized nations — seems to me to be the approach that we should take in selling single-payer health care to Congress.
No reason at all for posting, except that I encountered this lovely
picture and wanted an excuse to post it:
I've just consumed, in one sitting, Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried. I don't recall how I first heard about it, but it somehow popped back into my conciousness a few days ago and I ordered it from Amazon. It's left me exhausted. Read it.
Early on in the war on Iraq, I discovered and started reading Where is Raed?, a blog by a Baghdad resident using the pseudonym of "Salam Pax". Tonight I was stunned to hear him interviewed by BBC's "The Interview" program. I don't know how long their RealAudio of the interview will be available; if you can't get it from there, as a last resort try here. It's a very large download (around 25 MB), so my puny little pipe would appreciate it if you got it elsewhere...
Many moons since I last posted. Two things have roused me from hibernation:
- Robert Winters is pursuing a seat on the Cambridge Election Commission, and I want to wholeheartedly support his candidacy. His response to a questionnaire from the Cambridge Democratic City Committee, along with a brief description of the selection process and the responses of the other candidates, can be found on my "Cambridge Election Commission 2006" page.
- The struggle to save contra dances at the Huron Avenue VFW hall (along with swing and tango) has entered a new phase. A dedicated group of dancers has convinced the City Council that dance should be accommodated in the design of the new Youth and Community Center being planned for the site. I'll have more on this soon (I hope...), but this is really good news. I'm saddened that the original hall most likely will not be saved, but I'm delighted that, with luck, the dances will be able to return to Cambridge at some point.
The Electronic Freedom Foundation has discovered that many color laser printers now include a secret watermark that enables prints to be tracked back to a specific printer and the time and date of printing to be determined.
EFF's web site seems to be chronically a bit overloaded, so I've created copies of their test pages for download from my own site. [Do you trust me? heh-heh-heh....]
Apropos of nothing in particular: I just found a page describing a talk given by Howard Morland, author of The H-Bomb Secret: How we got it, and why we're telling it, published in 1979 in The Progressive. It's interesting along many axes: technological, political and legal.
I'm back in the thick of local politics at the moment; a group of us is trying to save the VFW social hall for contra, swing and tango dances. This is happening as Cambridge prepares for City Council elections.
One of the surprises awaiting me when I started working for IBM was that there is an active, and officially encouraged, blog culture. It's strictly for internal consumption, which I thought would mean that it's all work and no play.
Wrong! It's a mixture, and I've picked up some interesting pointers recently:
- Paul Graham has written an interesting article on nerdliness and popularity. He's also written on essays and writing.
- The process of becoming a good programmer is examined by Scott Johnson.
- Joel Spolsky wrote this essay on programmer productivity, success and happiness.
As part of the clean-up from the recent theft of my laptop I've done a little digging to privacy stuff. Here's how to opt out of pre-approved credit offers, telemarketing, etc.
That's what the pro-choice group NARAL is doing with this ad opposing John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court. [Note: the original link was pulled and now merits a 404. I'm sure glad FactCheck.org kept a copy...]
I used to be a supporter (as in, I gave them money and wrote letters to my congresscritters when they asked me to) of NARAL in the 1980s; I can't believe they are doing this. The Annenburg Public Policy Center's FactCheck.org web site, a non-partisan project that monitors political advertising and spin, has vigorously denounced the ad.
I could be dead wrong, but Roberts seems to me to be exactly the kind of person I want on the Supreme Court: intelligent, thoughtful, strong sense of self (and ability to separate that from his legal rulings), and, yes, a sense of morality. If I have to eat my words at some point, I will, but from what I've seen thus far, I hope Roberts is confirmed.
NARAL has blown it with this ad.
Follow-up, August 12, 2005
NARAL has retracted the ad.
Long time, no post. No excuses; I just haven't had the energy for
it. But a variety of things have me stirred up, so it's time to get
them off my chest.
- Dogshit Scofflaws
It really bugs me when dog owners don't take responsibility for their pets and clean up after them. Of course, a lot of things bug me that I can't do much about, but I've decided to start using the camera in my cell phone to capture the faces of the perps and then post them to a new page: A few of my favorite scofflaws. There's nothing there yet, but I'll post a notice here whenever a mug shot appears.
- Cambridge City Council elections
This is a city election year, and as the race heats up, I'll be posting my Cambridge 2005 election slate, as I did for the 2003 elections. I'll be posting my ongoing thoughts on the candidates and issues; watch me as I make a fool of myself!
- The Valerie Wilson affair
The story that wouldn't die: I first mentioned this in September 2003, when I described it as "politics as usual". Well, this "minor peccadillo" has turned into a major issue, thanks in part to the jailing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller for her refusal to reveal to a grand jury the identity of a source she didn't even use. There is evidence that Karl Rove leaked Wilson's identity to several reporters, and now President Bush is backing away from a promise to fire the leaker.
I still think there are better issues on which to skewer the Bush administration, such as the war on Iraq, but at this point I'll take what I can get.
| We are tempted to reduce life to a simple search for happiness. Happiness, however, withers if there is no meaning. The other temptation is to disavow the search for happiness in order to be faithful to that which provides meaning. But to live only for meaning - indifferent to all happiness - makes us fanatic, self-righteous, cold. It leaves us cut off from our own humanity and the humanity of others. We must hope for grace, for our lives to be sustained by moments of meaning and happiness, both equally worthy of human communion. |
These words are from Chris Hedges' book War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. It's a difficult book; Hedges is a journalist, a foreign correspondent, and he seems to have struggled with a book-length piece of work. But a patient reader will be rewarded.
Beyond writing style, it's a difficult book because Hedges was present for a fair sampling of the atrocities of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Guatemala, Sudan, Gaza, Bosnia, Afghanistan - all have left marks on Hedges, and he takes us to the heart of these conflicts.
February 21, 2004"Gonzo" journalist and poet Hunter S. Thompson died yesterday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound (in other words, he blew his brains out...) at Woody Creek, Colorado. Details, along with book reviews and other material, can be found at the New York Times' Hunter Thompson reference page
For much of his career Thompson worked with artist Ralph Steadman, whose visual sensibities are frighteningly appropriate to Thompson's prose. The picture to the right appeared with the Rich Cohen's NYT Sunday book section piece "Gonzo Nights".
What liberal bias? I'm generally a fan of the New York Times, but today's article about a proposed spy satellite system is incredibly biased. The article's lead paragraph describes it as
...a new $9.5 billion spy satellite system that could take photographs only in daylight hours and in clear weather...I guess the reporter, Douglas Jehl, slept through science the day optics was discussed. Helloooo! Photography involves light, and light doesn't pass through clouds, and there's not much light available at night. Doh!
To be fair, the article does point out that other satellites have radar or infrared sensors, allowing them to produce images through limited cloud layers or at night. But, as the article also notes, the sharpest images come from photo reconnaissance.
I have no idea whether or not a new system of spy satellites is justified. But to criticize the system for conforming to the laws of physics seems a bit harsh....
The recent Vioxx flap has prompted this New York Times article on the relationship between the F.D.A. and the industry it regulates. The article bemoans the funding cuts for post-marketing surveillance - the field practiced by my former colleagues at the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program. My friend, Dr. Susan Jick, is mentioned briefly.
OK, so it's childish sniping. Fine. I'm sure I'll be able to provide
something a bit more reasoned in a few days. For now, though, sniping
is the order of the day.On a more serious note, Thomas Friedman's post-election column expressed very clearly how I feel right now:
We don't just disagree on what America should be doing; we disagree on what America is.
It seems as if John Edwards is right that there are two Americas, but it's not just rich vs. poor; it's more along the lines of the Metro/Retro thang.
Meanwhile, here's a portion of what President Bush said today at a press conference, when asked if he felt "more free":
You ask, do I feel free? Let me put it to you this way. I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style. That's what happened in -- after the 2000 election. I earned some capital. I've earned capital in this election, and I'm going to spend it for -- for what -- what I told the people I'd spend it on, which is -- you've heard the agenda -- Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror.
I earned political capital, and now I intend to spend it.
I can hardly wait.
A time for healing?!?
The evening of the day after. The NPR talk shows are busy echoing Kerry's concession speech, with the theme being, "It's time for healing and compromise."Horse-shit!
It's time to be mad as hell, because Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress has clearly demonstrated that they will take no prisoners, be it on judicial nominations, tax policy, or those sleazy "cultural issues". The Right smells blood in the water, and we on the Left can chum or be chummed.
Why did Kerry lose? Simple: he and the "mainstream" Democratic leaders (the whole DLC cabal) have no program. When you run on a platform of "I'm not Bush," it's pretty difficult for people to be very inspired. The exit polls have shown that most Bush voters voted for Bush; Kerry voters mostly voted against Bush, not for Kerry.
Here's some what I think Kerry should have run on:
- Universal, single-payer health care. The medical non-system in this country is a mess. Employers would love to get rid of health insurance as a benefit; it would make this country a more attractive place to do business. This is no longer a fringe position; many doctors are saying that "managed care" is delivering all the supposed ills of single-payer health care with none of the benefits. Ask the 45 million uninsured Americans what they think of this idea.
- Do something about our energy future.While most other developed countries are moving aggressively toward improved energy efficiency and alternative energy sources, we continue to be mired in the petroleum era. We need to, yes, raise the tax on gasoline, mandate dramatically improved fleet mileage standards, encourage the development of renewable energy by government purchases and utility policy, and generally keep energy in mind in everything the government does. It's good for the environment, good for the economy, and good for foreign policy.
- Adopt true education reform. This entails offing
a Democratic sacred cow: the teacher's union. Democrats
have this allergy to vouchers that has to end.
Matthew Miller
at the Center for American
Progress, a liberal if ever there was one, has argued convincingly
that vouchers have to be part of a program of
school reform, along with reforms in how teachers are
hired, evaluated and rewarded. Along with, yes, more
money, including higher salaries for teachers.
We can't test our way to good education; the cruelly-named "No Child Left Behind" act must go.
- Deal with the Social Security system. This starts with paying down the debt, and that means increased taxes. It also means increased payroll taxes now. Eliminate the cap on social security payments. Increase the rate by the percent point needed to deal with the boomer's impending retirement. Leaving this problem to our kids is evil!
- Cut idiotic defense programs. Start with the F-22 fighter, the anti-missile system and a new generation of nuclear attack subs. Put the money into increased salary and benefits for service personnel and weapons that make sense. [Note that Dems have often fought in favor of bullshit defense systems in the name of pork for their home states. The trough is evidently bi-partisan.]
- If they want a culture war, let's have one. Keep abortion legal, safe, available and affordable. Fight teen pregnancy with sex education and easy access to birth control. Teach evolution, and don't water it down. Science matters! Sexual orientation is none of the State's business; if the idea of providing benefits for gay couples offends you, then let's just write marriage out of the law and make it purely a religious issue, not a tax and benefits issue.
I'll try to add to this in the coming weeks. My point, though, is this: whether you like it or not, the Republicans stand for something concrete. Most Democratic politicians, sadly, don't have a clue anymore what they stand for. That has to end.
Show a little passion. I'll take Howard Dean's screaming to John Kerry's 2 minute non-answers anytime.
The day after. As I write this, Kerry still hasn't had the grace to concede defeat, but it's over, and we're getting Four More Years (unless we can impeach the bastard). Thank you, "mainstream" Democrats, for giving us an "electable" candidate.
This table pretty much tells you all you need to know about the 2004 presidential election. Source: CNN exit poll data
| 2004 presidential vote by income | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Income | Bush | Kerry | Nader |
| Under $15,000 (8%) | 36% | 63% | 1% |
| $15-30,000 (15%) | 41% | 58% | 0% |
| $30-50,000 (22%) | 48% | 51% | 0% |
| $50-75,000 (23%) | 55% | 44% | 1% |
| $75-100,000 (14%) | 53% | 46% | 0% |
| $100-150,000 (11%) | 56% | 43% | 1% |
| $150-200,000 (4%) | 57% | 43% | * | $200,000 or More (3%) | 62% | 37% | 1% |
The folks over at Metro vs. Retro don't see it in quite the same terms, but their thesis in interesting.
Election day. Watch this Eminem flick. Get it locally only if you must; I serve through a soda straw.
This is in the "stupid but amusing" category: highlights of the 2004 Republican convention
After reading about it in the New York times, I decided to try out a new service that enables you to have your image put on an official U.S. postage stamp. For me, it didn't work.
I've started a compendium of material on the Presidency of George W. Bush.
The Bush administration is getting to be just as definitionally challenged as Clinton, who famously said in grand jury testimony, "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is". But this time it's not about a blow job - it's about presidential power and the war in Iraq.
The New York Times, picking up on a story that broke in the Wall Street Journal, reports that a team of administration lawyers concluded in a March 2003 legal memorandum that President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal antitorture law because he had the authority as commander in chief to approve any technique needed to protect the nation's security.
In other words: the rule of law does not apply to the President if he
is acting to protect national security. Kewl! I'm sure that
Idi Amin, Pol Pot and JV Stalin shared this opinion.
I've started a log of Kerry annoyances.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that the C.I.A. was wrong about Iraq possessing mobile biological weapons laboratories, and that they had, in fact, been deliverately misled. An article in today's New York Times quotes Powell as saying, "It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading."
I've created a separate page for the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Don't expect images.
|
Two observations today. First, The Economist has
weighed in on the firestorm surrounding the recent revelations that U.S. soldiers have
abused Iraqi detainees. Subtle, eh?
I also discovered today that Microsoft considers "unacceptable" font symbols to constitute a "critical" update. |
Make a link, go to jail
The Ashcroft Justice Department is at it again; this time they have imprisoned a webmaster (Sami Omar al-Hussayen) for linking to the wrong sites.
UPDATE: al-Hussayen was acquitted on the terrorism charges on June 11, 2004. A mistrial was declared on several other charges.
The April 11th issue of the New York Times Magazine contains two articles I found very interesting.
The first is by James Traub. Making Sense of the Mission explores the topic of "nation-building": why it's become so important, what works and doesn't work, and implications for the U.S. involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Haiti and other hot spots.
In What the World Needs Now Is DDT, Tina Rosenberg makes the case that the demonization of DDT has cost millions of lives in malaria-ridden parts of the world, and that the responsible use of DDT - specifically to fight malaria, not as a general-purpose pesticide - is blocked by the visceral reaction DDT evokes in western countries.
Yesterday national security advisor Condoleezza Rice appeared before the commission investigating the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. I'm no big fan of Ms. Rice, but I'm not sure that this particular venue was conducive to candor.
 |
| Condoleezza Rice surrounded by wolves |
|---|
Once in a while I come across a web site that's just weird enough that I want to link to it - like Bubba's
Wow - sometimes Internet-based organizing works. Rossignol, a major manufacturer of skis and related gear, had planned to introduce a new topsheet on its 2004-5 "Scratch BC" skis that depicted a woman having her throat slashed. Public outcry caused them to reconsider. Kudos to Rossignol for doing the right thing, and to TelemarkTips.com for an effective response.
Who gave how much to which candidate, and from where? You can find out at FundRace 2004! This is really cool: you can search by name or address - check out your neighbors!
A related site, but with much greater depth, is that of the Center for Responsive Policies. They track campaign contributions by organization, issue, etc. It's a great site.
Yesterday Donald Rumsfeld was on "Face the Nation", along with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, and CBS News' Bob Schieffer, the moderator. Rumsfeld tried to dismiss assertions that the Administration had called Iraq an immediate threat "folklore"; Friedmen then read a quote of Rumsfeld using exactly those words. The exchange would be funny if it weren't in the context of an unnecessary war...
Super Tuesday. I voted today, for John Edwards - who was soundly defeated everywhere by the Establishment candidate, John Kerry. Edwards is likely to concede tomorrow and withdraw, leaving the nomination to Kerry. I have to believe that Karl Rove is delighted with the outcome.
So what now? Beats me. Maybe Kerry can win in November, but so what? I don't believe he can provide the sort of leadership that we so desperately need right now on very tough issues: energy, health care, trade policy, taxes. It's important not to underestimate the power of the executive branch; a lot of idiotic policies can be overturned - or instituted - with a simple change of management at the Cabinet level. And there will almost certainly be Supreme Court nominations to be made in the next 4 years. But the really big issues require Congressional action, and I don't believe that Kerry has the stature to push a progressive agenda through Congress. Nor do I believe he has the right instincts; he's not inclined to try new solutions, a la Matt Miller's 2% Solution.
No, I'm afraid that, regardless of who wins in November, it's going to be a long, grim 4 years.
The Democratic primary race seems to have narrowed to a field of two: John Edwards and John Kerry (the current frontrunner). I've never been one of those "anyone but Bush!" types, so I'm pretty unhappy with Kerry's lead. As of this morning, after the Wisconsin primary, the delegate totals are:
| Candidate | Delegates |
| Dean | 162 |
| Edwards | 161 |
| Kerry | 448 |
| Kucinich | 2 |
| Sharpton | 13 |
| Clark | 105 |
However, the number of candidates required to win the nomination is 2,161. Kerry has a strong lead, but of Dean drops out (as I expect he will later today), Edwards will, I believe, benefit from a groundswell of "stop Kerry" sentiment and may be able to deny Kerry the first-vote nomination. Imagine - an open convention! It's been decades since that's happened, and I'd love to see it.
George Bush's 2004 State of the Union address has me frothing at the mouth, as usual.
"What's the difference?"
That's what Dubya said when Diane Sawyer pointed out that the White House rhetoric has shifted from Iraq having actual weapons of mass destruction to having a desire for WMD. Details here.
Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean brings both promise and peril to the Dean campaign. On the one hand, this makes Dean look like less of a radical (which he isn't, but the other candidates and the press love to portray him as such), and therefore more "electable" (jeez, I hate that term). On the other hand, Dean has to be careful not to allow his campaign to be captured by party insiders, which would alienate his current (and highly effective) grass roots support.
My fantasy scenario: Dean clobbers everyone in Iowa & New Hampshire. Clark sees the handwriting on the wall, and he and Dean get together on a Dean/Clark ticket. By mid-March the Dean/Clark ticket is solidly nailed so that the usual late primary season nastiness is averted, and the entire party can focus on Bush.
The BBC interviewed Lieutenant General Jay Garner, the man originally responsible for post-war administration in Iraq. Garner confirms that the State Department's pre-war planning efforts were deliberately ignored by the Defense Department. The Guardian has a bit more detail, if you don't want to or can't listen to the RealAudio version. Selected excerpts...
It's not just Democrats who are angry about the GOP's attempt to ram major bills through at the last moment, like H.R.6, The Energy Policy Act of 2003 and H.R.1, The Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003. Some notable Republicans are unhappy, too, like Arizona Senator John McCain, who said of the energy bill, "I never believed that it was accidental that we didn't receive this bill until a very short time ago, 1,200 pages, because it will not bear scrutiny."
In the House, the 1,100 page medicare bill was first released to most representatives just one hour before they were asked to vote on it."Here we've got a bill that's over a thousand pages, some of them extremely technical," said Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona. "Even the members of the Ways and Means Committee, who worked on it, took hours to digest the various changes. It's something we really needed more time to digest."
The New York Times has more detail.
Just when you thought the "Fee Demo" program, which charges backcountry travelers for access to federal wilderness and forest areas, was about to die, a bill (H.R. 3283) has been introduced to replace it with a permanent recreation fee. Read more on my current issues page.
The debate-a-thon is over. You can read the full text of the sessions via Thomas; you can get started here.
George Bush is trying to pack the federal judiciary with conservative extremists. Tonight the Republicans are starting 30 hours of hearings on the judicial nomination "crisis". This is unvarnished horseshit, and I urge you to contact your Senators about it.
The Cambridge Chronicle ran my letter regarding their coverage of the 2003 Cambridge elections. Local copy here.
In this New York Times article (also available here), reporter James Risen describes alleged attempts by Iraq to make a deal with the U.S. to avert war, as late as mid-March 2003, within weeks of the start of the war.
My God - what have we done?!?
The attempt to bring rent control back to Cambridge was defeated by a wide margin in yesterday's election. All 9 incumbent City Councillors were re-elected; there was some turnover on the School Committee. For more details, visit the Cambridge Civic Journal and/or the official Cambridge government web site.
According to the Village Voice, the RNC [Republican National Committee] says:
"Lacking a positive agenda to offer the American people, the Democratic Party now returns to what they have long seen as their best opportunity to defeat President Bush and Republicans -- scandalmongering."
I'm shocked - shocked! that any political party would stoop to something as low as -- scandalmongering. Heavens, consider the restraint the Republicans displayed while Bill Clinton was president. Why, in spite of all the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by Bill, the Republicans never, not once tried to tar his administration with scandal.
Thank you, RNC, for revealing the base behavior of the Dems.
I'm in the process of preparing my slate of candidates for the upcoming Cambridge elections. I've also added a Cambridge politics and government section to this page.
Seymour Hersh has a remarkable piece in The New Yorker that accuses the Bush Administration of systematically abusing the intelligence organs of the U.S. government.
I wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times last week, regarding the U.S. manned space program. They printed it today.
OK, it's time for me to go public. I'm currently supporting Howard Dean for President in 2004.
[Busy news day...]
My buddy Dave has alerted me to another instance of the Ashcroft Justice Department's heavy-handedness. This one centers on the case of Adrian Lamo, a 20-year-old self-described hacker, who has made a bit of a career cracking high profile web sites. His victims include AOL, Excite@Home, Yahoo!, Microsoft and the New York Times.
That the Justice Department is investigating is not surprising. However, they've told a number of journalists who've been following the case to expect a subpoena for all of the information they have about the case, under provision of the USA Patriot Act.
In the "politics as usual" category, there's now a tempest brewing regarding Robert Novak's outting of Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative. The Justice Department has opened an investigation, described here, into this breach of national security.
Why do I call this politics as usual? It's a classic case of trying to nail an administration on relatively minor peccadillos instead of openly attacking it on serious policy issues.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003: some follow-up. GOP USA has published an interview with Wilson regarding his trip to Niger and the outting of his wife.
I'm rather taken by the ideas in Matthew Miller's book The 2 Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love. Read more here.
Rent Control may be re-imposed in Cambridge.
