Fact-esque

Good Evening Godless Sodomites

UPDATE:   I've been looking for a place to mention this and since 24 did so well at the Emmy's last night and just in case you hear anyone say that Colbert and Stewart were over-the-top, I'll put it here: Over the weekend, C-Span re-ran an American Heritage Institute panel discussion entitled "’24′ and America’s Image in Fighting Terrorism: Fact, Fiction, or Does It Matter?"  Sec. Michael Chertoff was there and in fact gave a speech.  Rush Limbaugh moderated.  Mash has an excellent review of it here.  You can get a good idea of the agenda of the forum from it:

Limbaugh began by blaming the "drive-by" media for constraining American interrogation techniques. He wanted to know what "24" taught us about how to act in the ticking time bomb scenario. He was told that in real life the ticking time bomb scenario does not occur and the panelists could not think of one instance in history in which it had occurred. That was the high point of the discussion. A discussion about fiction then became more and more disconnected from reality. The actors and writers protested that "24" was only a television show and not reality, but Limbaugh seemed to find hidden meaning in the "optimistic" plotlines of the show. He found that "24" portrayed America at its best and underscored the need for harsh interrogation techniques. In "24", America always wins in the War on Terror.

But the most interesting question to me, one that Limbaugh asked repeatedly, was "24 is a very pro-America show, made in Hollywood.  Do you get any criticism from your Hollywood friends about being involved with it?"   

Every state must have its enemies.

Nobody Could Have Known

Katrina August 28, 2005

No Kidding

Gretchen Morgenson is my favorite business writer at the NYT.   She's my favorite writer to read on the subject of stock options, which is a scandal that seems doomed never to break beyond Martha Stewart. Today she wrote about Vinod Gupta:

Mr. Gupta is, shall we say, a piece of work. He often prevents large shareholders from asking questions on conference calls. He has received compensation that was not earned under the terms of the company’s executive compensation program, according to a lawsuit that Cardinal Value Equity Partners, infoUSA’s largest outside holder, filed against the company. And, the suit alleges, his board has given him free rein to dispense stock options to whomever he likes.

But  here's why I love her.  This are the last paragraphs:

In coming weeks, a judge in Delaware will rule on whether the Cardinal lawsuit can proceed. InfoUSA has asked the judge to dismiss the case, saying that it has no merit.

“Unfortunately, the system is broken in this case,” said Donald T. Netter, senior managing director at Dolphin Financial Partners, a private investment partnership in Stamford, Conn., that is an infoUSA shareholder. “The board has failed to protect the unaffiliated shareholders. When the system works properly, you shouldn’t get into these situations.”

No kidding.

Happy Anniversary to Me (and my husband of sixteen years)

In June,  Avedon Carol put my anniversary celebrations in perspective forever more:

I meant to wish y'all a happy Solstice, but I didn't get around to it. Anyway, we had to celebrate the fact that our marriage had survived another year in spite of the fact that Elton John got married.

We too have made it through the assault. 

And there was much rejoicing. 

Shakespeare I Can Understand!

When I was teaching, I did a lot of work with kids with learning disabilities.   I thought I could begin to imagine their frustration because I'm a pretty empathetic gal, but tonight I think I got a little bit closer to knowing how they felt when something finally clicked for them.  Tonight I discovered No Fear Shakespeare.

I admit it: I'm a Shakespeare dunce.  I got Othello easily but the rest of what I read was an ordeal.  Or. Deal.  I always felt like I was about to drown in the words.  I felt guilty because everybody loves Shakespeare.  He's a genius of language and oh, my god the jokes are so funny!!  Right.   I spent most of my time in class feeling like the singers in ABBA who memorized the words of their songs in English and didn't know what they meant.  James Joyce was a relief to me.  That's bad.

Well no more.  Now I have these great No Fear Shakespeare books that translate the play for you.  The original Shakespeare is on the left page, the translation is on the right.  It's having thy cake and eating it too.  I bought Romeo and Juliet for my son immediately because he'll be reading it this year in eighth grade. 

So - great mom or the greatest mom?   Or is all of this just cheating that's going to deprive him of the beauty of the bard?

P.S.  I don't care what you say I LOVE THESE BOOKS!!

Nothing Good Has Come from NAFTA and I Blame Bill Clinton, Stupid Triangulating DLC Jerk

Here's another NAFTA Superdorridor post from a dKos diarist.   Arkadius joins TXSharon in opposition to the NAFTA Supercorridor.  He even provides a handy lists of pros and cons:

Pros:
1. You'll be able to drive to Mexico from Canada. It might be easier for you to vacation in Mexico if you have a car.

Cons:
1. Decline of US economy and political destabilization brought  on by the strengthening of the North American Union.
2. Continued economic dependance on Chinese imports.
3. US ports on the west-coast will be sidestepped and container ships coming in from Asia will dock in Mexico instead to avoid the Longshoreman's and Teamster's
Union).
4. Weakened border security brought on by eased border controls for freight trucks and the highly controversial Kansas City SmartPort.

I've made my position on this non-union privatization of our highways clear and am always happy to help a brother out, so here's a link to a pretty cool video he made on the topic and I'll pass along the impassioned plea as well:

PLEASE LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROPOSAL, TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS, AND HELP ORGANIZE A GRASSROOTS OPPOSITION.

Go forth and block this thing.  At the very least let's get someone in the corporate media writing about it.  Letters to the Editors are always a good idea. 

Murphy Fitzpatrick Debate: What we had here, folks, was a failure to communicate.

With the second radio debate scheduled for tomorrow, I figured it was about time to get the recap of the first one up over here.   I planned to do a blow-by-blow recap of the event but now I don't think it will be worth it.  I already weighed in with the opinion that the whole thing didn't do much for me.  Both candidates were alernately defensive and offensive and never informative.  The local paper, the Courier Times, characterized the whole thing as a verbal sparring match.   I guess it could have risen to that level if Patrick were a better speaker and if Fitzpatrick did anything other than treat the whole thing like a game of gotcha, breaking format to ask the same questions over and over again as if that proved anything.  When Murphy learns how to deflect that tactic - and he's almost there now - Fitzpatrick will wish he had something else in his bag of tricks. 

If the debate tomorrow is any better, I'll do a better job of blogging it.   I prefer to liveblog these things anyway.

UPDATE:  I don't know if there's going to be a repeat debate tomorrow.  Murphy has a lunch scheduled with Nancy Pelosi at noon, which was when the first show happened.

UPDATE:  Ah, I see.  Murphy couldn't make it so Fitzpatrick did the hour by himself.   I only heard the last ten minutes but I did hear the host tell Fitzpatrick that he's a gentleman in every sense of the word.  I also hear a caller, who disagrees with Fitzpatrick's position on vampire (reverse) mortgages, say this: (paraphrased)

Well, I'm going to vote for you anyway even if we disagree on some points because we have to keep control of the House and the Senate.  If the Democrats get in there they're gonna get us all killed.

Fitzpatrick ended the interview by setting up the return appearance for next week and mentioning that candidate Murphy is "out there raising money" and so couldn't be here today.    I can't guarantee much, but I can guarantee that Fitzpatrick has at least one scheduling commitment carved into stone in his calendar between now and Election Day.  Patrick Murphy should do the same.

Back to School!

It's very simple to do.  All you have to do is shop at the Hunger Site:

In the month of August and beyond, each completed order at any of our stores will help build an elementary school in an area of rural Afghanistan which had no school before. This is in addition to the regular donation we make with every item you buy.

Schools are built by Central Asia Institute, a registered 501(c)3 non-profit based in the United States. Their mission statement is "To promote and provide community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Central Asia." Founder Greg Mortenson is committed to bringing education to the most remote and rural areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, believing that education -- especially for girls -- is the key to a more peaceful future. To date, CAI has built 55 elementary schools in some of the most remote regions of the world. We're excited to raise that number to 56, with your support!

You can get a really cool Blue Morpho butterfly necklace or  a Cultivate Peace pin, pictured above.   Or, for twenty bucks, you can outfit two Afhan girls to be able to attend school  in the first place. 

Now do what BushCo thinks Americans do best and go buy something.

eVoting Fight Raging in Bucks County

I just posted this at the Phillyburbs site.  I'm busy with other work right now but I hope to have more later.  The story in the local paper really was pretty horrible.  This post was based on one line in the whole thing:   

Of all of Charley Martin's quotes and attributions in today's Courier Times story about the battle raging over the use of the unverifiable, unsecure and too-expensive Danaher touchscreen machines in Bucks County, this is the one that best captures the attitude of the County and the one that should  most outrage anyone who is interested in seeing their vote recorded and counted accurately in November:

Martin added that the Danaher machines are here to stay, so instead of debating and causing disruptions, the coalition should focus its efforts on educating the public on how to use them.

Not only is it wrong on practically every count, but it also captures the kind of arrogance of power and obvious disregard for the voter that the Coalition for Voting Integrity is devoted to combating.    First of all, the Danaher machines are by no means "here to stay."   But while I can't understand why anyone would be opposed to voter-verified paper ballots in Bucks County and Pennsylvania, I do  understand why the only elected county commissioner to vote for unverifiable, unsecure and over-priced machines that don't use VVPB would like to shut up any dissent and quell any growing awareness of the issue.   It's that arrogance of power thing.  Luckily for Pennsylvania voters, there are two lawsuits currently pending that would stop the use of the Danaher machine, which does not create a permanent physical record of each vote.   There is a small chance that there will be an injunction against their use  in time for November.

Secondly,  there is legislation about to be introduced in the PA General Assembly, which would allow all PA voters the option of voting on paper in November.   The bill is the Alternative Paper Ballot bill (SB1299) and was introduced by Joe Conti (R-10) in the Senate.   The companion bill in the Assembly doesn't have a number yet, but it is supposed to be being introduced soon by Rep. Chuck McIlhenny (R-143)   Call him and find out when that's going to happen.   Call your state representatives and encourage them to pass SB1299 the week that the General Assembly returns from summer vacation.

Now it's true that offering the voters of PA the option to vote on paper at the polling place via SB1299  won't  make the Danaher machines disappear.   And it's true that SB1299  wouldn't get any of the money that two out of the three county commissioners voted to waste on the Danaher machines back in the county's coffers, but it would provide a secure  and verifiable option to voters who don't trust a machine that provides no independent, voter-verified paper record of the vote.    Since polls show that 85% of PA voters do not trust electronic voting machines that don't use a voter-verified paper ballot, we can expect a lot of Bucks County voters will be walking past the Danaher White Elephants and asking for those paper ballots.  Commissioner Martin would, of course, be welcome to vote on the unsecure and unverfiable machines he bought. 

Thirdly, the Coalition for Voting Integrity did not cause any disruptions at the Grange Fair.   The CVI volunteers who worked at the fair were successful in maintaining a civil and welcoming atmosphere to anyone who came by wanting information about the voting situation in Bucks County and Pennsylvania.   I have statements to that effect and can probably get dozens more.   I also have statements from citizens who visited the County's voting education booth only to be confronted by angry and/or misinformed workers who defamed CVI and CVI volunteers.   A County worker told a citizen that if he doesn't trust the Danaher machines, his other option is not to vote.   So much for caring about everyone voting.   I have a signed statement from a woman who was told by a County worker that the CVI people don't know what they're talking about.  I have recording of a County worker telling a citizen that CVI volunteers don't vote and suggesting that they  want others not to vote.   (To be clear on that last point, included in the CVI literature is the following statement in boldface:  MOST IMPORTANTLY - VOTE!  WE NEED TO MAKE SURE OUR VOICES ARE HEARD.   Further, CVI volunteers handed out voter registration forms and took names of people interested in being poll workers in November. ) 

Of course, everyone who visited the County voter education booth during the fair was given the misleading information that the Danaher machine provides a paper audit trail, when what it really provides is a useless strip of paper that is never seen by the voter.  It is a self-audit run by the machine, of the machine and for the machine and is only a record of what the machine says were the voters' intentions - not of what the voters intended. 

Lastly,  Martin unbelievably suggests that CVI should focus its efforts on educating voters how to use the unverifiable, unsecure and over-priced Danaher machines.   The idea that the Coaltion of Voting Integrity should give up the fight to bring voter-verified paper ballots to Pennsylvania thereby betraying the over six hundred people who signed the petition urging the immediate passage of SB1299, SB977 and HB2000 over the five days of the Grange Fair as well as the 85% of Pennsylvanians who don't trust electronic voting and the thousands of Pennsylvania citizens devoted to and counting on CVI's work is, frankly, absurd.   He and the voters of Pennsylvania can be assured that CVI will do nothing of the kind.

Prince Spaghetti Tastes Great Cold

According to the TV Guide, it's still Wednesday and that's good enough for me.  I owe this blog a million updates.  I've been spending what little time I have for blogging over at  PhillyBurbs writing about voter-verified paper ballots because OUR DEMOCRACY IS DEAD!!!  Sorry to shout, but you know how I feel about that issue.  The good news is that the Coalition for Voting Integrity did a great job getting the word out about the dangers of eVoting at the biggest event Bucks County has all year, the Middletown Grange Fair.   As you know, I was there saving seniors from the ravages of the  privatization of our social safety net (rest easy fellow Americans!).  I have stories to tell about that too, but it's like quarter to one.  And I still haven't reviewed the Murphy/Fitzpatrick debate. 

As for the CVI stories, I'm waiting until I see what the local reporter writes until I write any more.  If he doesn't lead with the fact that our democracy is dead and its corpse is being defiled by the Bucks County commissioners and both major parties, then he won't have captured the true story. 

I managed to get two posts up at the American Street.

1. Pay-per-View: Jesus v. Corporate America - guess which one gets naked?
2. Can't we get some new data that shows that charter schools are big scam or, failing that, can't charter school advocates get some new excuses?