Miasma: Democracy

Reposting old Radio Archives: 6/14/2002: Bush Distances Himself From Attorney General

Thu, 29 May 2003 20:13:36 GMT

yeah yeah, I know I'm breaking my permalinks, but I can't get the folks at Radio to figure out why the program won't recognize the old files. I'm thinking of switching the whole bit to moveable, but that would be a job and a half, eh? Miasma Friday, June 14, 2002

Bush Distances Himself From Attorney General

This is more like what I was expecting to see, the kind of stuff I went into on that previous post about the PR people, handlers, spin doctors, and the odd nature of the announcement made from Moscow, of all places. Makes it seem as if Ashcroft's copy of his statement wasn't exactly "cleared" through the kind of channels Karen Hughes would put it through. Maybe Wolfowitz or Rove signed off on it, told Bush about it second hand. And god knows, Ashcroft can play the wild-eyed panic fanatic in nearly any speech, he looks so much the part--that hard, mean edge in his eyes. I'm not saying it is always there, cuz I don't think it is where his singing and stuff comes from. As much as I really despise this guy and what he is doing to this country & the constitution, I have to acknowledge he is a complex person, a complex and awful person. He is what Eric Hoffer calls, in his classic book, _The True Believer_, which is why he will always be a bad politician. His eyes carry the gleam of fanaticism, whether hard in condemnation, or softer, for what is blessed. Miasma

Bush Distances Himself From Attorney General by James Ridgeway Mondo Washington | VillageVoice.com Wednesday, 12 June, 2002 Washington, D.C.--As Bush angrily backpedals away from Attorney General John Ashcroft's statements Monday about the supposed dirty- bomb plot of former Chicago thug Abdullah al Muhajir (a/k/a Jose Padilla), Washington officials are nervously watching the nation's top lawman and wondering what's next.beans Yesterday everyone here had their maps out to see whether their homes were in the range of the radioactive plume of the bomb the attorney general claims was going to be set off. Ground zero was near the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, extending across parts of the Capitol lawn, the Archives, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, and on into Union station. J. Edgar Hoover's memorial FBI building seems to be out of the high-risk zone, and, of course, the CIA is across the river in Langley, Virginia. According to press reports, the White House thinks Ashcroft made too much of Padilla, who has not been charged with a crime. The government attorneys apparently could not get an indictment out of a New York grand jury and, rather than let him go, handed Padilla off to the military. According to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking from Quatar, he might never be tried. By this morning, there were charges flying around the capital that Bush had known about the Muhajir case for at least a month, and that Ashcroft released the information hurriedly only to divert attention from Intelligence Committee inquiries into the FBI and CIA handling of 9-11. The White House has been desperately trying to stay clear of accusations that the intelligence agencies knew about terrorist threats well before 9-11. Up to now Bush has been letting FBI director Robert Mueller take the heat within the Intelligence Committee investigations, where the members of Congress and Spook officialdom are close buds and everything can be kept under a lid. But now Bush is having to push away from Ashcroft. Even though he's high in the polls, Bush can't afford bad press, because crucial elections determining control of Congress are coming up in the fall. So this is serious politics. If Ashcroft should go, then Bush is in danger of losing the Christian conservatives who form a small but important part of his administration and are among the most ferocious grassroots political campaigners. "The information was available earlier. Why was it not announced?" asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who has proposed setting up a commission to investigate 9-11--a move Bush strenuously opposes. "I'm very concerned about rumors that there might not be much to it," said Intelligence Committee member Dianne Feinstein. One anonymous Republican senator told the Washington Times, "Did it have to be done [Monday]? Why didn't they do something earlier?" And John McCain said, "He [Padilla] cannot be kept without some legal rights, the rights of a citizen, indefinitely," adding, "I think there's going to have to be an explanation why he should not have the rights of a citizen. People who are a clear and present danger to the country have been held, and there's a rationale for that. They've got to make the case, that's all."

Boycott absurd online content archives charges!

Wed, 07 May 2003 06:27:07 GMT

Opening Up the Vaults.

State of Denial

"Today one of my professors told us about an article in the Sacramento Bee called State of Denial. When I went to go read this article I found I had to pay $1.95. Tell me, how many copies of the paper could I get for that price? At least two, maybe four, or even eight! Now tell me, what sort of value is that to me? None. I won't pay $1.95 for one article. Because the Sacramento Bee is charging so much they are effectively locking away the past in their vaults." [Grant M. Henninger]

Another reason not to lock away your content behind a cost figure that is perceived to be too high by the user but too low for a credit card-based transaction (at least until micropayments are a reality).

And, of course, a friendly reminder that you can usually get this type of article for free from your local library!

[The Shifted Librarian]

How will Blogs and Wiki merge into one giant CMS?!

Wed, 07 May 2003 04:58:18 GMT

I left some thoughts on Don Park's site, but all I really want to say here is that I would bet good money the Google/Blogger folks are working on this already, as well as the Moveable/TypePad folks. If they aren't, they should be, and if they just got the idea from me here, I will be happy to send a bill for my consulting fee. [G] Don Park: "Wiki is like a fun house for cheery gully dwarves, endless interconnected rooms with five-feet high ceiling and no housemaids." [Scripting News]

If Blog is an one-mensional animal with a single continuous stream of consciousness, Wiki is a N-dimensional animals with many segmented strands of consciousness. While the two are related on the surface, they are two very different beasts.

UI-wise, Wiki is like a fun house for cheery gully dwarves, endless interconnected rooms with five-feet high ceiling and no housemaids. Think neck pains and perma-mess.

This debate looks interesting

Wed, 07 May 2003 04:36:37 GMT

John Palfrey asked me to debate Jon Bonne at MSNBC about the value of citizen blogging in the 2004 presidential election. I reluctantly agreed, figuring I'd get slimed with all kinds of gratuitous boasting about how they check facts, and know all the insiders, and have big budgets, etc etc. I wasn't disappointed in the first round. He begins his rebuttal to Citizen Bloggers in NH with this gem: "The elusive part of the feedback loop in election reporting has always been the voter." That's like saying the elusive part of skiing is snow. The elusive part of cooking is food. The elusive part of sex is (use your imagination). I'll have a rebuttal tomorrow. [Scripting News]

I had to go to BBC to find out what is going on right here in Georgia with iPods

Wed, 07 May 2003 04:21:47 GMT

Students get iPods as study aids. Students at a US university have been given Apple digital music players to help with their coursework. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Students enrolled on the Gothic Imagination course, which looks at 18th to 20th century art, architecture, literature and music, were given 5GB of music on their iPods. Assignments included looking at how the music related to other art forms of the day. A course entitled War, Politics and Shakespeare incorporated war-related music, asking students to make connections between a variety of protest songs and a selection of Shakespeare plays. As well as specific music functions, the iPods also offered a way to share other students' work, with some assignments being downloaded on to everyone's machine.

Campus 'mini-Napster' suits settled: One of them at my alma mater

Fri, 02 May 2003 07:34:46 GMT

News.Com: Campus 'mini-Napster' suits settled. "The settlements will see each student making payments to the RIAA totaling between $12,000 and $17,000, split into annual installments between 2003 and 2006." [Scripting News]