Category: Networks

Some character named Britt Blaser says I’m doomed:

Mitch has had a run-in with someone who appears to be a legend in his own mind, but who probably would not thrive in an Obvious Society.

What’s an Obvious Society, you ask? Why, it’s the Fourth Prophecy, right after ubiquitous video cameras talking to video phones powered by Open Source Software controlled by the Mob of Peers, apparently. I wonder who would do well in such a place, other than machines, of course. Oh well.

Meryl Yourish’s International Eat an Animal for PETA Day would be good time to place your order for a side of grass-fed, environmentally responsible, tasty beef. You can order from Marin Sun Farms or Morris’ TO Ranch in the Frisco Bay Area, Northern Longhorn Alliance for nation-wide shipping, or any of a number of other producers across the country. Place your order in March, and you’ll be first in line for tasty beef in June, peak of the slaughter season. Then you can celebrate PETA all year long, as you eat your low-cholesterol, juicy beef.

If you have a favorite supplier of artisan beef, leave a comment.

Yesterday, the Mercury News ran front-page story alleging a big gender split on the war to liberate Iraq. As some stats buried after the jump made clear, there isn’t a gender split: both men and women support the liberation by big margins. The story, of course, was written by the reporter who does all the battered women stories. One alert reader took the paper for task in the letters section today:

No gender `split’ on the war

A Mercury News anti-war headline (Page 1A, March 3) blares out: “Gender split on war — With invasion of Iraq looming, women emerge at forefront of peace movement.” But when you actually read the statistics, it turns out that 63 percent of women favor military action in Iraq (as opposed to 73 percent of men).

There is no headline story here. Your readers are quite familiar with your editorial board’s position on the war. Keep it in the opinion section, not on the front page.

Scott Abramson
San Mateo

The table showing the poll numbers Abramson cites wasn’t in the on-line edition of the paper, and it didn’t show undecideds either. On all polls concerning international events, more women than men are undecided, and that’s the only gender split on this issue.

Craig Schamp reports that the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood City has taken down its French flag. The Mercury News explains why:

Many French in the United States say that Americans have misunderstood their country’s position on Iraq, and Americans do not appreciate that two world wars in your back yard can bring a different perspective.

“The two world wars are still very fresh” for the French, said Sophie Ravel, a Palo Alto real estate agent who has lived in the United States since 1984. “People in America have never seen their family killed in front of their eyes.”

Before Sept. 11th, this was true, but now it’s not; it’s interesting, however, that so many French have seen American soldiers killed in front their eyes.

Back on planet Earth, Emmanuelle’s on strike against the Radio France.

Shark Blog has translated an interview with a Kurd activist from Der Spiegel:

Berwari: We view the Americans and British as liberators. The no-fly zone they’re guarding in Northern Iraq has allowed the Iraqi Kurds to administer our own region since 1991.

Berwari says German pacifism is not helpful, but you probably knew that.

A lot of people are upset about the recently uncovered memo on US surveillance of UN Security Council members, going back into the Watergate slam bag by calling it a “Dirty Tricks” campaign. Dirty Tricks, of course, is a lot more than surveillance – Nixon’s campaign was about making things happen in the world that were embarrassing to McGovern, not just getting info on his plans. The NSA is simply monitoring communications between and among Saddam’s key business partners and allies on the Security Council, as well they should. The Security Council is one of the battlefields of the War on Terra, and we have to know what Saddam’s buddies are planning there just as much as we have to keep up with their plans in Iraq, the Philippines, and Israel.

Failure to monitor for lobbying purposes would actually be negligent.

Robert Fisk doesn’t believe that Khalid Sheikh Muhammed has really been caught, but forces himself to face the possiblity that his head may be up his ass again:

Of course, it may all turn out to be true. We may be provided with the proof the Taliban demand. Or Mr Mohammed may be kept in Pakistani custody until another “mastermind” can be discovered. Or it may be that reports of the “arrest” of the likes of Mr Mohammed are very useful to General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s President, when he’s just angered the Americans by criticising any US military attack on Iraq, or when Pakistan’s new regional government in the North West Frontier province has just instituted Taliban-style laws in Peshawar.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Dean’s Esmay raises the question of torturing Hairy Boy Khalid Sheikh Muhammed, and rejects it. I have to say that I’m all in favor of torturing Hairy Boy, up to the point where the torture limits the amount of useful intelligence we can get from the Pathetic One. Electric shocks on the balls, fine; water torture, splendid; slivers under the fingernails, AOK; endless repetitions of Rod Stewart albums, groovy; West Wing reruns, spiffy; Ron Jeremy porn, totally cool; Berkeley City Council meetings, good; and best of all, reading dead Islamic scholars writings on Aristotle and religious tolerance would be commendable. But if he starts to scream and go into shock, back off because we shouldn’t let having a good time get in the way of the War on Terra.

The scum deserves no compassion, of course.

John Perry Barlow, the hippie cattle rancher, Grateful Dead lyricist, EFF co-founder, and Berkman Center benefactor, wrote a long and rambling essay about Dick Cheney recently, which was posted to the Interesting People listserv. Barlow used to go fishing with Cheney, so he’s in a position to understand how the man thinks, which makes it worthwhile to slog through his awkward prose:

With the possible exception of Bill Gates, Dick Cheney is the smartest man I’ve ever met. If you get into a dispute with him, he will take you on a devastatingly brief tour all the weak points in your argument. But he is a careful listener and not at all the ideologue he appears at this distance. I believe he is personally indifferent to greed. In the final analysis, this may simply be about oil, but I doubt that Dick sees it that way. I am relatively certain that he is acting in the service of principles to which he has devoted megawatts of a kind of thought that is unimpeded by sentiment or other emotional overhead.

In the end, Barlow embraces the comfortable hippie stereotypes about globalism and McDonalds, but not before flirting with (and getting the phone number of) common sense. Aside from the observations about Cheney’s mind and lack of greed, the essay is interesting because of the obvious tension between what Barlow knows to be true and what he allows himself to say, as a professional hippie and all. It’s unusual to read someone bullshitting himself with full waking awareness that he’s required to bullshit himself for professional or social reasons.

On the left, porn star Ron Jeremy, and on the right, Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, recently captured in democratic Pakistan.

UPDATE: John Cole did this first, and many others did it later.