Republicans are starting to line up against Donald Rumsfeld's comments made in response to a soldier's question about the lack of armor on vehicles destined for Iraq. ".... "you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have."
Where was the planning? Where was the strategy? Why is this guy still our DOD Secretary?
It reflects the arrogance of the administration, from the top, about our ability to successfully wage a war without cause. Or for that manner, without a clear plan for the aftermath. At the same time, our armed service personnel, especially the ones in harm's way, are scrounging through scrap heaps for bits of metal and bullet-proof glass to attach to their vehicles in an attempt to avoid getting killed.
Here's a thought. Since all the top brass in the administration are too old to serve, they should send instead a few top aides, let's say those 20-40 years old, to stand and participate side by side with our troops who are most involved in the fight against the insurgents in Iraq. Assuming they survive a 6 months to a year deployment, they can report back to their bosses just how safe it is and how we're winning the peace.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Thursday, December 09, 2004
post election....
A month since the election, and Washington State still really doesn't have a governor. Well, we do, but with only 42 more votes than the runner up (with ~2.8 million votes cast, after the first and mandatory machine recount), the hand recount is now proceeding and should be completed before Christmas. Of course, if this re-recount changes the results, will we have another one?
I wish we could recount the national election. But, all conspiracy theories aside, the results are what we have to live with for the next four years. It's not that I think the country cannot survive the administration. It will. In my lifetime we survived Viet Nam, Nixon and Watergate, Reagan's trickle down economics and 14% interest rates, Clinton's lying and affairs, and 9/11. We'll survive the loss of US prestige in the world, and we'll survive the war(s) we've become embroiled in. We'll even, eventually, get by the fact that besides going to war in Iraq for false reasons, in doing so we've created even more potential terrorists with a deep and all encompassing hatred of our country, and who only want to kill Americans and to damage our country physically and economically.
What's really been bothering me though, is that while the country will survive, so many in our armed services will not. How long can even the half of the country that supports our involvement in Iraq continue to do so without a clear reason? Will we end up slowly backing out, an exit strategy that we make up as we go? Will this end up being our next mini Viet Nam?
I wish we could recount the national election. But, all conspiracy theories aside, the results are what we have to live with for the next four years. It's not that I think the country cannot survive the administration. It will. In my lifetime we survived Viet Nam, Nixon and Watergate, Reagan's trickle down economics and 14% interest rates, Clinton's lying and affairs, and 9/11. We'll survive the loss of US prestige in the world, and we'll survive the war(s) we've become embroiled in. We'll even, eventually, get by the fact that besides going to war in Iraq for false reasons, in doing so we've created even more potential terrorists with a deep and all encompassing hatred of our country, and who only want to kill Americans and to damage our country physically and economically.
What's really been bothering me though, is that while the country will survive, so many in our armed services will not. How long can even the half of the country that supports our involvement in Iraq continue to do so without a clear reason? Will we end up slowly backing out, an exit strategy that we make up as we go? Will this end up being our next mini Viet Nam?
Monday, December 06, 2004
moving day, again
I'm moving all the entries to a different server space. I decided I want to be somewhat anonymous in these postings. Not that anybody's actually reading them, but they do pop up on google under my name and I'd rather be free to say what I want to, including anything I might want to say about my job, my employer (a science-based agency of the US Government), or whatever. In doing so, I'm not even going to try to have separate blogs for science, computer musings, or even those old posts that were really about my personal life. It will all go here. No rhyme or reason, no major theme.
Whatever.
Whatever.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
OK, the Diddy Factor wasn't
Two weeks post election and it's still hard to believe. Fellow government workers, scientists and administrators alike, find it hard to believe. Life will go on though.
I was really surprised though by the fact that the effort to register new voters (especially those with cell phones instead of land lines, and who should be underrepresented in public opinion polls), did not have a bigger impact on the outcome (see this post).
I'll let Cringely apologize and say why. See "Bob Don't Know Diddy".
I was really surprised though by the fact that the effort to register new voters (especially those with cell phones instead of land lines, and who should be underrepresented in public opinion polls), did not have a bigger impact on the outcome (see this post).
I'll let Cringely apologize and say why. See "Bob Don't Know Diddy".
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Election hangover
I'm still a little hung over from the election--it's a feeling of vague depression. But there it is. The Republican party managed to not only win the electoral college vote but also gain an overall majority of the popular vote.
Of course, they did it by dividing the country, or at least more so than it was. Blue in the West, North Central and North East. Red in the Middle and South, including the swing states of Ohio and Florida. Just enough for the new Republican mandate. Division over faith and morality.
The definition of the Republcan, Evangelical Morality is simple. No on personal choice (abortion rights), no on gay marriage or even civil unions. This new Morality does not extend to lying to the American public about WMD in Iraq in order to finish Daddy's war, nor does it extend to deals with the Saudis. It doesn't even extend to the extension of large tax breaks to the very rich and big corporations at the expense of the lower and middle class, the tax breaks that are driving up the nation's deficit to record levels.
When will the Republican's biggest constituency not counting Big Business, that is white, less educated males in the lower to middle income tax bracket, wake up to the fact that they are not better off in this climate? Good jobs are being outsourced out of the country in the quest to increase profits, replaced by minimum wage service jobs (do you want to supersize those fries?). Maybe they won't and will remain satisfied with the extra $200 bucks here and there and the idea that Big Government is being reduced (it's not, not by a long shot).
Maybe this is the way for quite some time to come. Maybe it's time to see if these divisions can be "healed." I find it hard to beliveve that the period of healing after this bitter election will last one day after the start of the next Congressional session.
After all, they have a mandate.
Of course, they did it by dividing the country, or at least more so than it was. Blue in the West, North Central and North East. Red in the Middle and South, including the swing states of Ohio and Florida. Just enough for the new Republican mandate. Division over faith and morality.
The definition of the Republcan, Evangelical Morality is simple. No on personal choice (abortion rights), no on gay marriage or even civil unions. This new Morality does not extend to lying to the American public about WMD in Iraq in order to finish Daddy's war, nor does it extend to deals with the Saudis. It doesn't even extend to the extension of large tax breaks to the very rich and big corporations at the expense of the lower and middle class, the tax breaks that are driving up the nation's deficit to record levels.
When will the Republican's biggest constituency not counting Big Business, that is white, less educated males in the lower to middle income tax bracket, wake up to the fact that they are not better off in this climate? Good jobs are being outsourced out of the country in the quest to increase profits, replaced by minimum wage service jobs (do you want to supersize those fries?). Maybe they won't and will remain satisfied with the extra $200 bucks here and there and the idea that Big Government is being reduced (it's not, not by a long shot).
Maybe this is the way for quite some time to come. Maybe it's time to see if these divisions can be "healed." I find it hard to beliveve that the period of healing after this bitter election will last one day after the start of the next Congressional session.
After all, they have a mandate.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
This might be it....
It's really hard to believe but it looks like President Bush has been reelected.
We can only hope saner heads will prevail at all levels of government to pull us out of the morass we're in economically, politically, and foreign-policy wise.
It might be a very long four more years.
We can only hope saner heads will prevail at all levels of government to pull us out of the morass we're in economically, politically, and foreign-policy wise.
It might be a very long four more years.
Election Day
This is it. The day that all of the advertisements have ended. The endless sound and video clips on the news that have assailed the senses have been completed.
It's also the day that we will likewise be assaulted with endless predictions, prognostications, and projections on the final outcome. Will it be truly known today who our next president will be? Or will it drag on like the 2000 election?
Four years ago at this time I was in Japan on a three week intergovernmental science exchange and tour, leaving just a couple of days before the election. We were in areas where news programs were unavailable in English for the large part. Since most of us also did not have ready access to the internet at that time, we relied on the occasional fax of CNN web pages that some of us received and would pass it around. It was a bit surreal. At the time we were all sure the outcome would be decided prio to our return in late November. Of course we all know how even that turned out to be a false hope.
Today, the direction of our country over the next four years, or even the over the next decade, will be decided. I truly fear that another win by the Bush administration will further degrade our economy (the deficit) and result in more terrorism not less. I fear that the current adminstration's policies will further degrade our environment through loosening of many of the barricades to exploitation that were in place prior to 2001. I fear that our deficit will continue to grow as more tax cuts are given to wealthy individuals and corporations, further burdening generations to come. I fear that corporations will continue their policies of outsourcing manufacturing, forcing many Americans to fill only service jobs at lower wages (although I guess companies like WalMart will benefit from this). I fear that there will be a continuation of the erosion of science through policies that have more basis in religious ferver than scientifically validated facts.
Simply put, this President has been a disaster but the Right doesn't want to admit it. He's too good for the big pockets that support him. But come on, he's not smart enough to be the President of the United States. He's a puppet. He can only put an intelligent sentence together if it's written down for him (OK, he's a good reader). I don't see how anyone who has seen Fahrenheit 9/11 can doubt this. It's time for GWB to go back to running oil companies into the ground. Of course, if he loses, how many "friends" will he have left? By then the family and all their supporters (the ones with both hands out) will focus on Jeb, the next annointed one.
Michael Moore's "Final Words" is a good read, particularly his plea to "To Decent Conservatives and Recovering Republicans." Of course, most of these folks won't read this, but maybe it will only take a small percentage to really tip the balance.
Will the next President be able to lessen the polarization in the population we have today? It will be very difficult to bring this country together by either candidate, but I feel the best chance lies with Kerry. He is intelligent, well spoken, thoughful, and empathetic. He doesn't smirk when discussing the deaths of our brave servicemen and women in Iraq. He has real plans and not the repeated "we will win the war on terror" without a clue as to how. He will not pander to our greatest fears. He will not lead by invoking fear.
Now we sit back and wait.
It's also the day that we will likewise be assaulted with endless predictions, prognostications, and projections on the final outcome. Will it be truly known today who our next president will be? Or will it drag on like the 2000 election?
Four years ago at this time I was in Japan on a three week intergovernmental science exchange and tour, leaving just a couple of days before the election. We were in areas where news programs were unavailable in English for the large part. Since most of us also did not have ready access to the internet at that time, we relied on the occasional fax of CNN web pages that some of us received and would pass it around. It was a bit surreal. At the time we were all sure the outcome would be decided prio to our return in late November. Of course we all know how even that turned out to be a false hope.
Today, the direction of our country over the next four years, or even the over the next decade, will be decided. I truly fear that another win by the Bush administration will further degrade our economy (the deficit) and result in more terrorism not less. I fear that the current adminstration's policies will further degrade our environment through loosening of many of the barricades to exploitation that were in place prior to 2001. I fear that our deficit will continue to grow as more tax cuts are given to wealthy individuals and corporations, further burdening generations to come. I fear that corporations will continue their policies of outsourcing manufacturing, forcing many Americans to fill only service jobs at lower wages (although I guess companies like WalMart will benefit from this). I fear that there will be a continuation of the erosion of science through policies that have more basis in religious ferver than scientifically validated facts.
Simply put, this President has been a disaster but the Right doesn't want to admit it. He's too good for the big pockets that support him. But come on, he's not smart enough to be the President of the United States. He's a puppet. He can only put an intelligent sentence together if it's written down for him (OK, he's a good reader). I don't see how anyone who has seen Fahrenheit 9/11 can doubt this. It's time for GWB to go back to running oil companies into the ground. Of course, if he loses, how many "friends" will he have left? By then the family and all their supporters (the ones with both hands out) will focus on Jeb, the next annointed one.
Michael Moore's "Final Words" is a good read, particularly his plea to "To Decent Conservatives and Recovering Republicans." Of course, most of these folks won't read this, but maybe it will only take a small percentage to really tip the balance.
Will the next President be able to lessen the polarization in the population we have today? It will be very difficult to bring this country together by either candidate, but I feel the best chance lies with Kerry. He is intelligent, well spoken, thoughful, and empathetic. He doesn't smirk when discussing the deaths of our brave servicemen and women in Iraq. He has real plans and not the repeated "we will win the war on terror" without a clue as to how. He will not pander to our greatest fears. He will not lead by invoking fear.
Now we sit back and wait.
Friday, October 29, 2004
More politics and science
The Scientist has a thought provoking editorial on how ideological policies in the federal government affect science development in this country. It's not surprising that ideology impacts all facets of a society, but this particular administration seems to impart more of a conservative religous tone towards science policy. Stem cell research, and the blocking of federal, taxpayer dollars towards embryonic stem cell research, is a good paradigm for this policy and Bush's "compassionate conservative" theme. This theme includes the failure to embrace the science behind global warming (and anthropogenic [man-caused] climate change), to fully support AIDS research, or the view that resource utilization trumps environmental stewardship.
This president didn't have a mandate to do much of anything after the 2000 election. 9/11 gave him a mandate, based on people's fears, and the Republicans have run with it, affecting deeper change in our society than they would have been able to otherwise. They still manipulate the populace using fear of terrorism as a tactic. Yes, terrorism is real and yes, it has to be dealt with in a very permanent way to make us all safer. But I believe the threat of terrorism can be reduced without invading countries that did not pose a threat to the United States. So far, it seems all we've really done is create a new breed of terrorist with no end in sight.
We can only hope that 11/2/04 reverses the ideology in power. The election of John Kerry will go a long ways towards reversing some of the extreme conservative changes and corresponding inroads on personal freedoms, as well has removing religion-based restrictions on science in this country. It will also remove the use of fear as a method to further a political agenda.
This president didn't have a mandate to do much of anything after the 2000 election. 9/11 gave him a mandate, based on people's fears, and the Republicans have run with it, affecting deeper change in our society than they would have been able to otherwise. They still manipulate the populace using fear of terrorism as a tactic. Yes, terrorism is real and yes, it has to be dealt with in a very permanent way to make us all safer. But I believe the threat of terrorism can be reduced without invading countries that did not pose a threat to the United States. So far, it seems all we've really done is create a new breed of terrorist with no end in sight.
We can only hope that 11/2/04 reverses the ideology in power. The election of John Kerry will go a long ways towards reversing some of the extreme conservative changes and corresponding inroads on personal freedoms, as well has removing religion-based restrictions on science in this country. It will also remove the use of fear as a method to further a political agenda.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
NY Times Endorses Kerry for President
I hadn't seen this earlier but the NY Times has endorsed John Kerry for President in an October 17 editorial. I think it's the most comprehensive and cogent list of arguments why the Bush Presidency has been nothing short of disasterous for the country and why Kerry has the ability and wherewithal to be a very effective and strong Commander-In-Chief. The Bush economic policies of tax cuts and more tax cuts (mostly for the wealthy and large corporations), combined with tremendous increases in spending and the war in Iraq, has made our country vulnerable.
Spending on education is down, Homeland security is not even close, civil liberties have been degraded, the American military is stretched to the breaking point, science is underfunded and abused, and the environment is being raped. This has truly been four years of ineffecutual leadership. People appointed to power like Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Wolfewitz are ideologues of the worst order, with agendas that only pay lip service to American values of truth, freedom, and civil liberties.
Spending on education is down, Homeland security is not even close, civil liberties have been degraded, the American military is stretched to the breaking point, science is underfunded and abused, and the environment is being raped. This has truly been four years of ineffecutual leadership. People appointed to power like Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Wolfewitz are ideologues of the worst order, with agendas that only pay lip service to American values of truth, freedom, and civil liberties.
The tight Presidential race could be decided by....!
With all the daily polls on the 2004 Presidential election, it gets really hard to pay attention to their results. Each poll uses slightly different questions, sampling size, etc., to make their predictions on who's ahead, what population demographic supports which candidate, and so on. However there's one growing segment of the US population that will not be included in any poll, and that's those who use cell phones as their primary form of telecommunication. And who are the most likely to fit this demographic? Young people, newly registered voters. Presumably many of these (e.g., college students) are more likely to be a little more liberal in their thinking, to be more against the war in Iraq, and to be more educated and pro-active in social and environmental issues. Robert Cringely discusses this in his latest I, Cringely column --he calls this the Diddy Factor, the reason which is made clear in his essay.
Now, couple the Diddy Factor with the extensive voter registration drives targeted at first time voters this year (see Rock the Vote or Democracy for America to name a few). The hope (at least by me) is that the number of pro-Kerry voters are continually being under counted in the various polls. With predictions of an election as close as the disputed 2000 one (where Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College), a strong turnout by the cell phone crowd could/should lead to a John Kerry win over George Bush.
Now, couple the Diddy Factor with the extensive voter registration drives targeted at first time voters this year (see Rock the Vote or Democracy for America to name a few). The hope (at least by me) is that the number of pro-Kerry voters are continually being under counted in the various polls. With predictions of an election as close as the disputed 2000 one (where Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College), a strong turnout by the cell phone crowd could/should lead to a John Kerry win over George Bush.
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