March 2003 Archives

It's not a joke. Conversations are taking place that may lead to James Capozzola to run for Senate against Arlen Spector (R).

Speaking of webloggers, Gary Hart now has one! He should turn off commenting.

CIOMagazine: Your Open Source Plan

FastCompany: How Google Grows and Grows

Slashdot: US Jobs Jumping Ship

UC Davis DBIS: Oracle/SQL Tutorial

Wired News: Marking File Traders as Felons

A prayer for service men and women, their families, and our leaders to find the wisdom thru this.

TV news overage, portrays war like a spectator sport. Can't stand it. Newspapers and websites seem to be the only place to go.

Speaking of newspapers, Philly.com's is among the best. I work for the company and yes I'm biased. But it's good to see breaking news beyond the expected Reuters and AP.

Kevin Sites is very close to what's going on. Possibly why he hasn't updated his weblog since Tuesday.

Wbur.org's weblog on Iraq is impressive.

The Rational Enquirer is pulling links from around the web.

WashingtonPost: Putting Patriotism to the Test:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

SFGate: Family Portraits: A new generation for peace.

Times Shadow: Responsibility

So when the shooting starts and the terrible things happen, the burden is on us to keep faith with them, not to judge them, even if we couch our judgment in words like ?grieve.? Better one should grieve for oneself than presume to grieve for the moral failure of a soldier doing his or her duty, holding up their end of the bargain while we shirked ours. They will not fail in their military objective. Some few of them may fail in their duty as a soldier and as a human being, and commit acts not in accordance with the laws of war. Even then, the burden is on us to keep faith with them, because we placed them in those circumstances, through our own inaction and indifference. We keep faith with them by holding our tongues, and we forgive them, and we ask them to forgive us. We let them down first. Our institutions will hold them accountable. It?s hard to say if anyone will hold us accountable.

Thanks to Jonathon Delacour for the last one.

Mainstream TV news sucks beyond belief. It's commentary seems pulled directly from football games and boxing matches. You will need to dig to form educated opinions.

frontline: the long road to war. Find out how we got here. A comprehensive backgrounder on the last 12 years.

Esquire: The Pentagon's New Map. The expressed goals: To connect the world. Spread globalization. Disconnectedness defines danger. Shrink the gap.

Guardian: Bill Clinton: Trust Tony's judgment. President Clinton was globalization's greatest champion.

Reuters: no clear proof globalization helps the poor. Uh-oh.

Newsweek: Where did the love go?. I won't repeat their stupid title. But after 9/11 the world stood behind us. What about now? A must read.

WashPost: Gary Hart, out of the shadow of doom. A candidate?

Questions to ask yourself:

1. President Clinton acted without UN support in Bosnia. Read his speach to the United States justifying our actions. What is it about this time that is different?
2. Whether or not you believe our actions in Iraq are justified or not, how long do you think our commitment will need to be to reach our goals? How about after the military action stops?
3. What will the ramifications of the commitment be? Are we prepared to make the called for sacrifices? Is anyone asking us of them? Warning us of them?
4. What of Bin Laden, the bastard that attacked us? Are we safer today then we were before 9/11? If so, by how much?
5. Are you among those who think Saddam was behind 9/11? Why with the reporting (altnernative and mainstream) to the contrary?
6. Does the growing intolerance of thought and expression worry you?
7. Is patriotrism love of the flag or of the Constitution?
8. Did you vote last election? Is not voting patriotic? Did you not vote but recently feel someone else wasn't patriotic? What are your responsibilities as a citizen?
9. Where did the wide support after 9/11 go? Do you even remember it?
10. Do you feel these events are beyond your control? Do you wonder why you should even care?
11. President Clinton was the first Boomer President. President George W. Bush is the second. Boomers and Gen-X are largely in charge now. Do you think it a coincidence that the structures the WWII generation put in place are now being dismantled, marginalized, and maligned?
12. Broad cooperation is needed to fight terrorism. How have our diplomatic efforts gone to achieve this aim?
13. Doesn't it prove something positive that Germany is pacifist?
14. Are there any historical time periods that mirror our own and do they provide us with any lessons? What did leaders in that age do in response? Were the 90s a mirror image of the 20s?
15. Do you think that leaving Saddam in place is good for the civilian population of Iraq? How has it been the last 12 years? What are the alternatives?

Also providing you links that make you think: rc3.org, dangerousmeta, Oliver Willis, Eschaton, The Rittenhouse Review.

Like Rafe (rc3.org) I apologize for the current events linkage. I will refrain from commentary and do my best to not contribute to data smog. It's real, real thick right now.

TROOPTrax helps you to send them music.

Speaking of CDs, protestors are now smashing Dixie Chicks disks. I think what they said was stupid. But if I was pissed I wouldn't try and put words in their mouths and destroy them. Doesn't this remind you of Fahrenheit 451? If you havn't read the book... now is the time. Quote:

"It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time, you are allowed to read comics, the good old confessions, or trade journals."

"It happened when a tape of Lee Greenwood's song Proud To Be An American was playing. Some rodeo fans were standing and others were sitting down." Read the rest here.

Reuters: the Dixie Chicks are finding out that criticizing President Bush's plans for war in Iraq can cost you air play.

Have you seen Musicians United to Win Without War?

Update: Atrios shares a letter from a radio station that has principals.

Update: They apologized and still stations, listeners, and advertisers have walked away from them.

Bob Dylan is a great songwriter but his voice has always annoyed me. It seems designed to push away people more interested in performance then lyrics. That's why his songs have always made good covers: musicians recognize a good song from him and put a more accessible performance to it. Which "All Along The Watchtower" do you listen to? Be honest.

I know many of you feel the way I do. His voice sounds like chalk raked across blackboard. I can't take it.

There is an alternative: Woody Guthrie. Dylan was inspired by him, his songwriting was just as, if not more powerful, and he can sing!

"Do Re Mi." - Woody Guthrie, 1937

Lots of folks back East, they say, is leavin' home every day,
Beatin' the hot old dusty way to the California line.
'Cross the desert sands they roll, gettin' out of that old dust bowl,
They think they're goin' to a sugar bowl, but here's what they find --
Now, the police at the port of entry say,
"You're number fourteen thousand for today."

CHORUS:
Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

You want to buy you a home or a farm, that can't deal nobody harm,
Or take your vacation by the mountains or sea.
Don't swap your old cow for a car, you better stay right where you are,
Better take this little tip from me.
'Cause I look through the want ads every day
But the headlines on the papers always say:

If you ain't got the do re mi, boys, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

What? Couldn't take a complicated, but overall optimistic, post yesterday? Here goes some more:

Garret has asked, "where are the protest songs?".

So has The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The NYTimes.

My answer has been in two parts: 1. They are on the way. 2. They are underground.

To support my first point: it took years before the 60s peace movement had great songs behind it. Years before muscians even noticed. Today we expect an instant artistic response.

Well it almost has been. Musicians have been making statements, both for and against war. Sometimes in very public ways. Even Bon Jovi recently took the state in a "Gore/Liberman 2000" Campaign t-shirt for example. In Washington D.C.

But my guess is, where you will find true protest (pro and con) music, isn't on the pop charts. Look to country, metal, and hip-hop. If you're still looking for pop music - fughetaboutit. Isn't going to happen unless we venture into Vietnam territory. Although I wouldn't put it past someone like Pink to put out an R & B inspired plea for peace.

Beastie Boys: In A World Gone Mad. There ya go.

And Alwin found a pro-war one too.

Time to start up a database. Anybody want to contribute?

Here goes some more good news: Oliver Willis takes note of The Rise of Patriotic Liberalism.

Sacramento Bee: The Rise of Patriotic Liberalism.

Related Link: The Metaphor Project.

The Metaphor Project reminds me of how Newt Gingrich molded the language of the GOP with his memo, "Language, a mechanism for control.". Yes, you read that title correct. Gingrich was the GOP equivalent to Clinton. When you hear GOPers use the words mentioned - THINK.

Times Online: Bush Sr. has a message for his son. Quote: "The first President Bush has told his son that hopes of peace in the Middle East would be ruined if a war with Iraq were not backed by international unity." Here is the full text of his speach at Tufts. Salon's top story today is larger analysis of their differences. Thanks to rc3.org for bringing this to light.

Read the Salon piece. There is a major split, as far as foreign policy goes, in the Republican party. Check out today's NYTimes story on The Weekly Standard and see the gulf between it's view point and The American Conservative. That split goes beyond the Republicans.

Is it a generational split?

Disconnectedness defines danger. Memorize the phrase. According to this story in Esquire we are about to embark a strategy that President Clinton pursued thru peaceful engagement. The article gives you a bigger picture then what's been explained so far. I wonder how anti-globalization activists feel about this? The idea - "Disconnectedness defines danger" - rings true to me, but what of the strategy to fight it?

Tom Brokow in the NYTimes tells us that the Arab world is starting to tune in and "the fundamental structure of Middle East politics has been altered, if not over-hauled. Today, political pressure develops quickly and independently from the ground up, not just from the top down, a dramatic difference from a decade ago." He is, of course, more then a little biased.

The same is true in weblogging. Mike Sanders says, in his great 7-Habits series, "the solution is through reading other blogs and realizing that they are a mirror into ourselves." True of any media. But you need to have access to it in order to use it. Many webloggers act as islands of thought, only linking to sites similar to themselves. "Cyberspace is republican" according to the rule. But having easy access to alternative media changes everything. Even alternative blogs. I imagine many so-called far righties and lefties checking out the other side's sites in private, if not in public on their sites. That is a good thing. It's a start.

Speaking of a start, did you know we were launching a new high tech peace corps? Good news.

CNN, while declaring Blogging has gone mainstream, may have something when it quotes Chris Cleveland, "The way bloggers link and influence each other's thinking could lead to a collective thought process, a kind of hive brain.". The hive isn't a great thought to me, but people connecting to each other across vast expanses of geography is.

Maybe the digital divide should be purposely tackled after all, but not for the simplisitic idea that it helps to fight poverty. The primary reason(s) would be to spread freedom of expression and thought with the free flow of information, education, and commerce. If "Disconnectedness defines danger", then "Connectivity builds security".

I must share what I expect to be a great resource in the months ahead: Wikipedia's U.S. presidential election, 2004 page.

I highly recommend reading World of Ends: What the Internet Is and How to Stop Mistaking It for Something Else.

You'd think what this essay says is self evident. But it's not and this doc is a great clarifying piece.

I promised not to post anything bad. So here goes the good - In this country people might slander metal, but they don't jail you for it listening or playing it.

However, in Morocco heavy metal is a threat that deserves jail time. 14 fans and musicians thrown in jail. For music.

Charity packages including compilation CDs of the greatest metal tunes of all time anyone?

The Democrats have candidates. Just not of the typical variety. Atrios nominates Jim Capozzola, of The Rittenhouse Review, to run for Sentate against Specter.

Works for me. Do it Jim! Do it!

Too much bad news. Just too much. Everywhere you turn it's doom and gloom. Layoffs. Stock market losses. Leaders that don't instill confidence. It just goes on and on.

Fight it.

There are principaled people out there. Yesterday I linked to two of them. A Democrat and a Republican. Here goes four more... or should I say two more, a very good sign, and something to never forget:

1. Minneapolis agent Coleen Rowley still fights to fix the system.

2. Principal Joan Jackson is doing more with far less. With per-pupil spending among the lowest in the state, and 13 percent of students in poverty, Hill has all fourth graders at proficient or advanced levels on the state tests. I know her husband. And like her, he does what he can to make the world a better place. He's a Boy Scout troop leader.

3. Whether you agree with their politics or not - the youth of America are waking up. Like I said immediately after 9/11 - "whatever" is dead. There are things worth fighting for. The Boomers and Gen-Xers either can let these kids down, let the world down, or rise to meet the challenge of what's ahead. Let's hope that voter participation rises back to 60s levels. For too long, too few people have been voting.

4. Yesterday, in church, in the pew ahead of me, was an elderly gray haired man and his asian wife. At his side was a blue baseball cap. On it read "WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War Veteran". The love between him and his wife touched me. Knowing this man faught to defend me made me feel like the wuss I am. While I am heartened to see people voicing their beliefs - please - unlike the 60s - let's never put down those that are standing up to defend us. They deserve our respect, our understanding, and our prayers. Fight the politicians, if you feel they are wrong, it is them that make the policies. Vote them out of office. Use your vote. It's your right. Remember that. It's your right. So please do not put down these brave souls that are putting themselves in harm's way to defend it.

For Lent last year I joked about giving up weblogging. I did cut back, but I was joking. This time I do have a Lenten goal in mind for my site - to post the positive (like the above) and not the negative. To emphasize what I am for instead of what I am against. A crazy thing to try. Should be interesting.

Facing terrible deficits what does Rendell do - instead of offering tax breaks to buy votes that in the end will only make matters worst? He breaks down the budget into two steps: 1. Trim the size of government - balance the budget, get the house in order. 2. Invest in the future.

On the other hand, John McCain is more a Democrat then most Democrats.

Only true if you believe in the sweeping generalizations that everyone holds dear. What makes these two special is that they try and act on their principals.

"The Art Of The Muse: A songwriter's guide to inspiration" is a decent article on songwriting. It boils down to:

1. Write from your heart not your head.
   
2. Listen to your inner voice.
   
3. Keep the tools of the trade at hand: A notebook for lyrics, a guitar, and a little recorder.
   
4. Turn off your critic and open your soul.
   
5. Don't write a song. Just write anything!
   

Playing and writing songs. That's where. Lesson learned? D'Addario EXLs suck. Cheap, cheap, cheap guitar strings. They just don't last.

For whatever reason, my guitar is helping to center me far more then my ravenous addiction to news feeds. I just gotta step away from the keyboard... if ya know what I mean.

Part of that has included digging thru old songs I no longer play, some for as much as ten years, and then freaking out. Where have I been for the past ten years? Getting my life together. It's funny how old tunes can still be relevant. It's funny how much, and how little, we change.

Speaking of guitar, thru GeoURL I found Ben Garvey. Great songs. Local acoustic rock. Gotta check him out.

Shannon Campbell earns the coolest girlfriend of the year award for buying her guy Seymor Duncan Humbuckers. Her great, great song, "Oblivion" was downloaded almost 2000 times last month.

And Mark's The Phoenix Trap keeps on rocking. They make better use of MP3.com then almost anybody. Plenty of songs for you to dig there. They are being listed to on a whole bunch of MP3.com radio stations.