Tales of Seven

Subdued Voices

The News used to be its own Division.

  Then it was made a Subdivision under Entertainment.

     Then it was a Department run by Entertainment.

.................................................................

And then it began to raise its voice on things of low importance, report issues of substance in subdued voices, and ultimately went mute on the the very things of highest importance.

While the press remains quiet, I'm glad to see in recent months a voice of dissent arising from 2 Houses in Washington...though don't think we can ever forget the damage that was done by all the silence that preceded.

Twainology

Thanks, Mark Twain. You're pretty a pretty cool, insightful-with-dry-humor kind of guy....

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."

"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company."

"Let's  be thankful for the fools. But for them, the rest of us could not succeed."

"There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press."

Insightful Comments

CEO of the USA

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

"Wow! Brazil is big." -- Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 6, 2005

"The best way to defeat the totalitarian of hate is with an ideology of hope -- an ideology of hate -- excuse me --with an ideology of hope." --Fort Benning, Ga., Jan. 11, 2007

Great Firewall of China

Test to see .... Is Your Site Censored?

A Dash of Common Sense

Here it is with a layer of base logic on top. A 40 year old substitute teacher unfamiliar with computers, working on a system that 'couldn't be turned off at any cost', and with an expired internet filter license, hit an innocuous link that resulted in a barrage of 'adult' ads coming up in front of a classroom of kids.

It's unfortunate but not hard to believe an accident occurred. What happened next *was* unbelievable. She was taken to court, convicted of child endangerment, and faced up to 40 years in prison.

The number of fail points was incredible in this one.

• The parents actually felt it necessary to file charges (seems a loss of perspective)
• The school wasn't going to file charges, then caved and did.
• This was somehow turned into a 'child endangerment' issue (a stretch at the least)
• The justice system actually convicted her of a felony (wow) in what was a weak case

We expect people to sometimes lose touch with 'the rational' inside them. With that in mind, we expect our justice system to put a check when 'the rational' falls down. When it fails to do so, do we need to question the very health of the system?

It's not about the President. It's about the tree.

During the last two presidential terms, a number of immensely concerning issues have been raised about the CEO of the USA. These are issues that touch on abuse of power, falsification of information to justify a war, violations of constitutional rights, a silencing and misuse of science, and more... most of these would be serious, impeachment-level violations, were they proven.

Yet what has surprised me again and again is how quickly and silently these have dropped out of the public eye in the last two terms. (Compare this to the sustained uproar over Clinton's offenses, that while tangible, had a relatively minor impact on the world).

So here is the concern. Bad apples come and go. We know and expect that. But when we fail to keep these issues visible long enough to allow scrutiny and a thoughtful debate, do we need to question the health of our tree?

photo by Daniel James

The Plastic Bag and National Security

It's really a question of logic.

I was stopped at the airport security and told I've have to throw away all liquids, gels and creams unless I could find a plastic bag to put them into (they were already in a clear plastic toiletry container about the same size as a small bag) and that nothing over 3 oz would be allowed. A bit dismayed, I trundled off to a bookstore to buy the 'regulation' clear plastic bag.

In the 15 minutes I was standing in line again, I began to think on these rules a bit. If someone truly had bad intentions, would they even work?

They could simply:

a) carry multiple bottles, all under 3 oz each
b) bring items over 3 oz in mislabeled bottles (bring a few 6 oz bottles, labeled as 3 oz)
c) bring illegal items over 3 oz in bottles of anything represented as medicine (like saline) as these are exempted
d) simply not put the things in the plastic bag (I accidentally left multiple items in my carry-on, and none were detected)

While  I appreciate that our country intends to keep us safe, the lack of logic in this particular effort is rather stunning. Beyond all of that, the web is buzzing with claims that a bomb can't even be made this way. (I'd love to see MythBusters  take this one on).

I wonder at how much money and effort has gone into this, versus things that might have a more substantial impact on safety.

Un 'us'

I was first stopped at the *exit of the plane* itself for a passport check. I was stopped a second time at immigration and questioned rather extensively.

What do you do for a living? Who do you work for? For how long have you done this work? Describe what Product Management is (detailed discussion on this). How long have you been doing this work again? Which company was your last employer? What does *that* company do?  How long did you work for them?

He asked the same questions multiple different ways, in the same style I've seen the police do questioning.

After immigration, I went through luggage control and was questioned again by another officer. She motioned me to yet another officer who also asked me a whole series of questions, typed all my answers into a computer, then checked all my bags by hand.

All tolled, I was questioned in detail by 3 people and had to show a passport to four people. Everywhere, there were people in uniforms with the 'Homeland Security' badges. Over the loudspeakers, we heard proclamation of an "Orange Alert". This was my recent re-entry into the US. The change in environment was palatable.

It felt un-*us*  -- 'us' being American.

With this being just a small sample of recent changes, I have to ask, "In our attempt to protect ourselves, are we compromising those things we find of greatest value - privacy and a sense of freedom?" 

And does this approach really make us any safer?

How Our Duck Waddles

I was nothing short of ecstatic when the Democrats came into control of the Senate AND the House this mid-term election. Maybe it wasn't quite a 'happy-dance-around-the-living-room-in-your-underwear kind of moment' (because the effects remain to be seen), but it's a promising move in the right direction.

Now we shall see how 'The Duck' waddles. 'The Duck' is working to push through his agenda before the Democrats take over, but even his own party is beginning to have thoughts of 'Roast Duck L'Orange' for dinner.

See the article below for a nice taste.

And so it begins....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/10/bolton.congress/index.html