:: Archipelapogo ::

:: 31.10.01 ::

Congratulations, Archipelapogo! I've officially had 1,000 visitors. And in only about eight months. Of course, i've had like 400 this month, so traffic is increasing. Yay. Keep spreading the word!!!!!!!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Happy Halloween to us all. I celebrated by getting a cavity filled this morning. This was the first time i've had a filling done since I was about 8, so it was like a new experience. My mouth still feels as puffy as when my sister threw me down the stairs when i was about 10, but this is less painful and bloody.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sweet. Jordan loses in his first game back. Let's just hope he misses the playoffs. Then we'll see how much his "drive to play" is.
:: Scott [+] ::
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The Tulsa Disc Golf site is up and in effect. Check it out here.
:: Scott [+] ::
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If you go to the Progressive's website, you can get a free issue by mail, and it really is commitment free, far as i can tell. I got mine yesterday (the nov. issue). I haven't siphoned my way through it all yet, but i've read a good chunk. The whole issue deals with Terrorist attacks, response, war in Afghanistan, etc. In the editor's note, Matthew Rothchild give some samples of some of the hate mail they've been getting after he ran an Op/Ed that ran in several papers. Highlights of his highlights: "I wish you and Barbara T. Lee (California Rep. that was the sole member of Congress to vote against authorizing Bush to use force) were in the World Trade Center last week and got your terrorist-loving asses blown up". Also, "Shut your stinking communist mouths, you treasonous Hillary-Slick Hotrod Rodham lovers". That doesn't make sense, does it? The sample issue i received doesn't have the normal sections of letters to the editor, the poetry page, or the book reviews, unfortunately. There are, however, some very good pieces. Here are two that I really enjoyed.

The first is called "the Lone Dissneter" (unfortunately not available on-line.) It is about the aforementioned Barbara Lee, who is becoming the champion of the peace movement (maybe, and probably, wrongly after reading this article). On Sept. 14, lee was the sole member of Congress to vote against the House Bill that "granted President Bush broad authority to use force to counter the terrorist attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon." On the House floor, during debate, she said "I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States." She goes on to explain that she objected to several aspects of the bill, including: no identification for who we would be fighting, no end strategy, and the abdication of Congress's constitutional role. "Congress has a responsibility to step back and say, 'Let's not rush to judgment.' Let us insist that our democracy works by ensuring the check and balances are in place and that Congress is part of the decision making process in terms of when we go to war and with whom. This resolution really took away that ability of Congress to play a role, and I don't think that's a good thing. I think we disenfranchised the American people." The article goes on to tell about Rep. Lee's use of faith as a Christian and the role that played in her part ("I think my vote was based in my religion and my faith. Where else do you go in a time like this?"). It also talks about other Democrats who agreed with her, yet begged her not to vote no. Contradictory statements are given my Jesse Jackson Jr., Lynn Woolsey, and Pete Stark, all of whom voiced concerns about the bill, yet still voted to pass it. Why? "Several other members of Congress wanted to be there also (standing in dissent with Lee) but at the same time, like me, they didn't want to be seen as soft on terrorism," says John Lewis, Rep of Georgia.

There has been many criticisms of Lee's vote in dissent. Columnist Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle (Lee's Bay Area district) made some harsh comparison's of Lee's vote to the appeasement of Hitler, saying "Lee apparanetly belongs to the Neville Chamberlain school of dealing with murderous dictators that figures: Let the thugs kill some people, and then they won't kill more," adding, "the old peacenik talk doesn't work here...the doves don't get it: Pacifism begets violence." The article reports that at home in California, polls show that Lee's consituents still support her, saying that Lee can be expected to be reelected to Congress next year. It closes with Lee saying, "I am not sorry that I stood alone. I am one of those members of Congress who believes we are not elected to shy away from the challenges. We are elected to meet them."

This article brings up many good points. I have seen both criticism and praise of Rep. Lee for her actions. The point she makes about democracy working in Checks and Balances and Congress's role is, unfortunatley slmost moot. Congress has not passed a resolutoin declaring war since WWII. Since then, we've had Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and numerous military actions throughout Africa, Latin American, the Middle East, and Western Europe. It seems to not matter that a war has not been declared when it comes to the President leveeing his whims via the military. It seems we have given up the right and validity of this "check" on the system. Basically, when you look at it, this House measure being passed was no more than a show, a charade. Can you honestly tell me that if it hadn't been passed that we'd be in a different position than we currently are? It seems that this measure was passed to simply pacify the people, making it a "legal" action and giving the military a blank check and free reign. More attention has been paid to it than it is worth, so I'll end this now. However, I would expect that Barbara Lee's reeclection campaign will be among the most watched in the nation next year.

The other piece that i found quite interesting was this interview with Edward Said. The most interesting aspect to me is his comparison of the U.S. drive to capture bin Ladin to Captain Ahab's pursuit of Moby Dick. His response is extremely intelligent and worth noting. Especially his statement that we have made, through obsession and the media, a immortal of sorts out of bin Ladin, creating a super-natural persona about him that plays into his own campaign strategy. Said says "he's been made a symbol of all that's evil in the world -- (to give him) a kind of mythological proportion is really playing his game. I think we need to secularize the man. We need to bringhim down to the realm of reality. Treat him as a criminal, as a man who is a demagogue, who has unlawfully unleashed violence against innocent people. Punish him accordingly, and don't bring down the world around him and ourselves."
This makes me think of the famous Public Enemy Number 1's of the early 1900's, Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Capone, etc. Hollywood and the media made such a spectacle of them that when they became infamous, it made them celebrities of sort. These were bad people, yet they were made out to be heroes. Add to the formula a bumbling, paranoid idiot in charge of the FBI and you've got the idyllic recipe for worship of criminals. It is easy for us to look at bin Ladin and say "that will never happen here, in this instance", and this is true in the States, but in the Middle East he is being made to look like an outlaw in the Jesse James kind of way, permitting him to be lauded by more people in a way that should not be done. All of the blame for this does not go directly to the media, but also to the spokesmen and Bush and Cheney alike. One can say that "the media has put all of the attention on bin Ladin, and the war is not against him, but a network of terrorists and those that harbor. He is just icing." This is a true statement. However, in order to get the rallying support they needed, the government has had to put a face to the cause, a name on the "wanted:" poster, to quote Bush. By doing this they have facilitated the elevation of a human to a persona, and blinded many people, on both sides, to the matter at hand.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Okay, i'm back. Had a great weekend in the DFW area. As i was driving back last night, the sun went down at 5:30. Daylight saving is a farce. Now you have to start a round of golf at 4 to finish before it's dark. Crapola. My mom said it's mostly b/c people don't want their kids going to school while it's dark out. Good cause. My theory is that there's some vast lobby of morning people and senior citizens that want to go to bed at 6, yet have it be dark. Let's bring them down!!!!!!!!!

For anyone interested (and I know none of you are) here's the music that kept me awake and happy while driving:
At the Drive-In - in-casino-out; Youth Brigade (the canadian/cali YB, not the DC YB) - Sink with Kalifornia; A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes, and Life; Sonic Youth - Dirty (I'd forgotten how great this album is); Minor Threat - Discography; Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet - and various mixes of comps, NPR and homemade goodies.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I'm heading down to Texas for the weekend, so don't expect any posts. But, I'll leave you with this, one of the eeriest things I've ever seen.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Hell hath frozen over. Ryan is supposedly getting back on the wagon with his blog. We'll see if it sticks.
:: Scott [+] ::
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The Propaganda War continues: (can't find a link yet, but i'm sure i can tomorrow) CNN is reporting that the Taliban may accuse the US of poisoning food rations that are being dropped in Afghanistan. The Pentagon has said that this is "categorically wrong". I have little faith in our government, but this is absurd. I can blindly say that i don't believe this. However, i fear that this propaganda will be used to further demonize the Taliban for the US side of the propaganda war. I'm sure in the morning more will be available on this, and i may be looking like a fool, so i'll comment then.
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(via Sean) This may be redundant to post here since pretty much everyone that reads this probably reads Sean's blog, but this is amazing. The final photos taken by Bill Biggart, reportedly the only professional photographer to die in the WTC collapses. Very eerie, yet very powerful. He died doing what he loved, and that is commendable. His cameras were recovered in the rubble, and this is some of the result. Amazing.

Signs that everything is okay:

1) gas hit 99 cents in tulsa for the first time since at least i was in high school, i think. The prices here have gone down steadily over the past few weeks, and this is amazing. Hopefully this can be a strong argument against all of those opportunists that are rallying for drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge.

2) Seen on CNN's ticker tonight: "Dental Patriotism: Orthodontic patients are requesting red, white, and blue rubber bands on their braces". When this is "newsworthy" I feel a little bit safer, how about you?

3) The "United We Stand" stamp is to be released on November 4th or 5th. From past experience, when things start to get marketed heavily, i know they are on the downslide. Either the fear of widespread threat is waning, or people are forgetting, already. I've seen this kind of thing happen too many times to not take confidence in the fact that when something is exploited this heavily, it's on the outs.

I for one take solace in these things. do you??
:: Scott [+] ::
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Also on the Independent UK, i found this interview/story on Ryszard Kapuscinscki, the author i've praised many times before. He speaks about how journalism in the west really doesn't capture the essence of that which it is attempting to report in the Third World. How the reporters need to do more research, and live with these people, not just stay two nights in a hotel seperated from them.

"Television viewers are being manipulated, and are unaware of it," he says. "In the electronic age, we are receiving a lot of information and impressions, but no explanations. In the developed world of multimedia, we have too many fables, too much make-believe. In reality, people are hungering for authenticity and an understanding of the trends which affect their lives and those of others. Journalists must deepen their anthropological and cultural knowledge and explain the context of events. They must read," he says, sweeping his arm regally through the air to indicate his own landscape of research ­ a dense collection of books covering three continents, as well as maps and magazines, but no internet.

"The media magnates are increasingly, dangerously, marginalising the Third World, removing it from our field of understanding and making it out to be a place of disquieting fighting and horror, as against our own virtual pseudo-reality of consumerism."

"The greatest barrier to Europeans understanding Africans is the laziness of the European mind," he argues. "To liberate ourselves from thinking we create stereotypes. But... there are differences. You can explain everything historically because every culture is deeply logical."

To me, this point speaks volumes and has countless implications for the time we are in presently. As all of the news stations, papers, and magazines do their best to portray the plight of the Afghan refugee, the best situations for them, and the "what we should do"'s, it's increasingly difficult to put yourself in the position of those really involved. Many have been covering the political history of the Afghan area over the last 20 some odd years, as far as wars and rises to power. Yet we see very little about the culture and the anthropological makeup of these people. Until we can do our best to understand where the commond Afghani is coming from and what their hopes are, the best way to deal with them will elude us. Am I right?
:: Scott [+] ::
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"If Nike wants to be taken seriously as a company interested in corporate responsibility then it needs to engage honestly with its critics in the human rights community. Unfortunately the company's new corporate responsibility report fails to do this." This article from the Independent UK has some optimistic implications for the future.....maybe. Nike finally admitted that its record in the past has been bad regarding the use of chile labor in the manufacture of its prodcuts, mainly in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Pakistan. In their first "Corporate Responsibility Report", Nike made a presentation to their shareholders about the "vexing" nature of their issues regarding child labor.

Philip Knight, the company chairman, clearly stung by reports of children as young as 10 making shoes, clothing and footballs in Pakistan and Cambodia, attempted to convince Nike's critics that it had only ever employed children accidentally. "Of all the issues facing Nike in workplace standards, child labour is the most vexing," he said in the report. "Our age standards are the highest in the world: 18 for footwear manufacturing, 16 for apparel and equipment, or local standards whenever they are higher. But in some countries (Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example) those standards are next to impossible to verify, when records of birth do not exist or can be easily forged. Is it really that difficult to tell a ten year old from an 18 year old? Honestly?

The report said Nike imposed strict conditions on the age of employees taken on by contract factories abroad, but admitted there had been instances when those conditions were ignored or bypassed.
Contract factories are one of the major problems when it comes to keeping an eye on working conditions in other countries. They allow corporations to hide behind their own ignorance of the contractor's corruption. I'm sure sometimes this is the case. If so, then the corp has the personal resposibility to ensure that regulations are being followed, or take their money elsewhere.

You can find Nike's report here. It's pretty long, and has some positive things and some negative things. It's nice though to see at least a little effort for corporate accountability from the corporation. It'd be very easy for me to slam it as propaganda or half-truths, which some of it may be, but the simple fact that these issues are being addressed by someone other than the small group of dissenters is a big step.



:: Scott [+] ::
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Over the weekend, someone that i graduated high school with was shot in the head outside of a club downtown. I didn't know Di'Andre Blackwell. Probably never spoke to him, nor him to me. I remember seeing him though. He was a football player. Seemed kind of mean. As was typical of me in high school (and often today) I probably just stayed out of his way. This is apparently the 29th murder that the Tulsa Police Department has investigated this year, which is not very many. But murder is crap. The report in the paper said that they thought the shooter was aiming for someone else. There was a second gun that was fired in the air, purportedly to scare people off. As of this morning, noone had been arrested in the case, but there are "several leads". While i may not have known you, Peace, DiAndre'. I'll be praying for your family.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sorry for the lack of posts. I have no excuse. Anyways, via MeFi, there's a couple taking a tweaked out Land Rover Defender 90 all around the western hemisphere, going down to the tip of South America and back. Their website is pretty cool, and they have a blog for it. They're still in the States, and they are planning on the trip taking like 2 or so years, so be patient, but it's a cool concept. Plus, the site has more on fixing up a rover than you ever wanted to know.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I picked up an issue of the Economist last night because it covers international news much better than anything printed here, and doesn't have the American slant that many magazines here do, as it is published in the UK. They have an interesting piece on "the Propaganda War". This piece was written some time ago, before any bombings of Afghanistan had taken place. Keeping that in mind, here are excerpts and thoughts:

The author (there is not a name given) begins with contending that "(the propaganda war) promises to be no easier to win than the many other elements of the effort." He goes on to say "Success in the propaganda war is a vital preparation for military action; it will be vital if the coalition of allies is to be maintained during that action and amid the inevitable setback; and it will be most vital of all if defeats of these particular terrorists are to be followed up, as they should be, by a wider effort to make the ensuing peace more secure, within Central Asia and the Middle East as well as home." I'm glad he threw in that "as they should be". More on that following. He follows up these comments by saying that one of the main tasks in the propaganda war is to keep the coalition together, referring to the Arab states that are supportive of action, the ones that lept into action in the immediate days after the 9/11 attacks. He points out that when action is taken (or now that it has been taken) many of the Arab countries are concerned about their own publics' opinions (see all the protests in almost every Muslim-dominated country). He says "This argues for caution, and for careful preparation. Most of all, though, it argues for the release of some of the evidence for the guilt of Osama bin Ladin and his al-Queda network." You're damn right it does. We don't even have that info here, and while it was shared with the leaders of some of these countries, it most definitely was not shared with the publics, which hurts badly in the so-called propaganda war. The author rationalizes this statement by adding that this is a practical move, as it permits the supporting countries to display that they are participating in a just cause, not just the whims of the West.

The author goes on to say that winning the propaganda war, in addition to the rest of the "war" is vital in garnering support for whatever form of government is left behind in Afghanistan. An absence of this support is dangerous, as can be displayed in the Russian-Afghan war (which eventually led to the Taliban's rise) and, as the author points out, the Gulf War. To quote: "In 1991, when the American-led coalition drove Iraq's tattered army out of Kuwait, it stopped short of bringing down Saddam Hussein himself. President Bush's father (george sr.) was nervous that Iraq might descend into chaos, or that America might be left wih an enduring entanglement there, and so were his neighbouring allies. The result has been disastrous. Saddam remains in power; efforts to contain his military strength through UN inspections were only partially successful and helped to stoke Arab resentment; and sanctions have allowed him to play the victim."

The author ends the piece with a wonderful comment: "If you fight a war, you must be willing to deal with the consequences of victory." This is definitely a key factor. Hopefully history has taught the governemtns the lessons of not helping a country recover after a tyrannical regime is toppled. In World War II, there were all kinds of reconstruction plans, both in Japan and Europe. Why these weren't carried out in the middle east is a mystery to me, unless it can be attributed to "fear of entanglement" of laziness, or a desire to deal with larger issues on the homefront. The results of a lack of support are evident, and the propaganda war will only be more damaged by a continuation of these policies. What do you think?

:: Scott [+] ::
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So much for the pinpoint accuracy rockets....."The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said five people were killed and many injured in morning raids in Kandahar. Earlier officials had told Reuters that 12 civilians were killed and up to 30 wounded in overnight raids on the city.

In Kabul, a Reuters reporter watched as city resident Nazirullah mourned over the bodies of his family, killed at around midday at their home in the eastern suburb of Qalaye Zaman Khan. A Taliban military base lies a few hundred yards away.

``It was around 12 o'clock when the bomb hit here. My wife, sister, brother, sister-in-law and mother died in it. I don't know about my neighbors,'' he said.

A woman passing by was killed by a second bomb that created a huge crater in the street in front of what remained of Nazirullah's home.

Later in the day, eyewitnesses saw seven passers-by killed when U.S. planes hit an ammunition dump in the capital."

Yeah, mistakes will be made. Lately, it seems as if more mistakes are being made than targets actually being hit. Why do we spend billions of dollars a year on weapons technology if they don't work? Unfortunately, as patriotism wains and people's attention turns from war to overhyped antrax scares, less and less will hear of this. Piss.


:: Scott [+] ::
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....And the masses shall be heard!! Archipelapogo is back to being interactive, thanks to BlogBack. This service is very similar to the old blogvoices that mysteriously disappeared. Anyways, now you can once again voice your opinion on anything i post here. Just click on the little blue "comment" link below, and enter your info. Be forewarned, though, anything put there is public for all to see with their prying eyes. Enjoy, and don't just read, say something!

Also, i have my amazon wishlist linked correctly now (link to the left). I don't have it there so much for people to buy me stuff, although that would be cool, but more just so you all can see stuff i'd like to dig into in the near future. So check it out, and any recommendations are always appreciated.
:: Scott [+] ::
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In the meantime, Sean's in Iowa for a week, and i took Ryan's weblog off of my links, b/c even he admits that it's past dead, and on into the stage of decomposition. Also, the link to the "my amazon wish list" is not accurate yet. I know many of you were waiting to buy me the Tiger Woods book or the new Charlotte Church CD, but that's not my list. For some reason, Amazon is slow making the list available without logging into my account, but i'll let you know when it's up for real.

:: Scott [+] ::
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I finished "Culture Jam" last night. It wasn't the epiphany inducing book that i'd hoped, b/c i've been exposed to many of the ideas in the past few years. It's more of a book for those unfamiliar with Adbusters and their actions. Kalle Lasn is, at times, even more idealistic and oversimplistic than I am, which says a lot. There were, however, some great points made in the book. Lasn talks a lot about economics, and has a lot of negative things to say about neo-classical econ (and rightly so).

For the uninformed, neo-classical economics is basically the branch of economic thought that we live under today, and have for the past 220 or so years (Adam Smith being the father of neoclassical thought). Roughly, it states that the more production we have, the better, and the rest will be taken care of via "the invisible hand" as Smith called it, which inadvertantly leads us to take care of others even though we are only concerned with our own best interests. Obviously, it's faulty. However, to look at what "economics" was before then, it really was a big idea. The problem is, (as with our political system) we've stopped striving for better. Take into the account that Economics is a difficult, broad, and vague subject, and you have the recipe for apathy and over-consumption as we see it today.

Lasn talks about a second, emerging school of thought within econ. One of Ecological economics, which i'd never heard of in my 30 university hours in Economics over the past 4 years. These ecological economists, or bioeconomists, point out one of the great flaws in modern economic thought. There is no accurate way of measuring economic progress. There is Gross Domestic Product, which is flawed in many ways, not the least of which is that noone can agree on how to measure it. The other main flaw with GDP is exemplified by this passage in the book:
"When the Exxon Valdez spilled its load of oil onto the Alaskan coast, $2 billion was spent trying to clean up wand minimize the ecological damage. That money then circulated throughout the American economy, resulting in a significant increase in the GDP. When the Guf War broke out, America's GDP rose again. Money changed hands. The country became "healthier". Indeed, every time there's a car accident or a newly diagnosed cancer patient, whenever personal or societal catastrophes occur, the GDP goes up and the economy "gains".

Lasn further goes on to point out why driving a car benefits the GDP more than riding a bike. How, basically, almost everything that "raises" the GDP is worse for us than things that don't. Wearing an old sweater or opening a window vs. adjusting the thermostat, having a one or two child family vs. having six children, using a train vs. using an airplane, etc. The bioeconomists have come up with an alternative to GDP, and that is the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). This factors in such things as pollution, depletion of non-renewable resources and ecological related health risks. When these are factored in, the U.S. economy shows no improvement in economic welfare since the 1970's.

Lasn also speaks of a "true-cost" marketplace, where the prices of goods will relfect the true cost to society of their creation and consumption as opposed to the current situation of the value of the raw material and labor plus any additional money that can be raised via supply/demand. I have encountered various pricing models throughout my education, but this is the one that seems most realistic, yet least likely. Lasn does take it to extremes (citing cars would cost roughly $100,000 with a tank of gas costing $250) but it makes sense on many levels. In my mind, it is comparable to the fact that there are a bunch of government issued taxes on cigarettes, which is fine by my mind, if the money really does go to health care in the fields where cigarettes are causal, yet there are no likewise taxes on big macs. If they want to raise the price of smokes to $5 a pack, fine, but make the cost of a big mac or whopper $5 each too, with the government, and not mcdonalds getting the increased revenue.

:: Scott [+] ::
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There's a brief article in the Tulsa World today about weblogs. It focuses on people dealing with the terrorist attacks via the web, saying that since Sept. 11th, the popularity has risen. They speak of hundreds of thousands of weblogs out there, citing Kottke.org and MeFi, among others. No mention of blogger or blogspot, though. You bastards!
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Here's Michael Moore's account of passing through OKC on his way from California to NYC (his home) in the days following Sept. 11th -- "Sunday morning in Oklahoma City. The clerk at the hotel notices the California license plate on our rental car and asks about where we are going. I tell him New York City, and he tells me that this has been an especially hard week for Oklahoma City. He puts his hand out to me and says he went to three funerals himself after the Oklahoma City bombing, one of which he sang at. "It was the father of my best friend." Tears are pushed back.

We go four blocks down the street to the memorial. The streets around it had been blocked off all week for fear that someone may want to bomb it again. The barriers are down now, and the place is full of people stopping to pray and reflect. A large granite slab says "9:03" and I am struck by the fact that this is the same exact minute that the second plane slammed into the World Trade Center.

Kids are writing messages to the people of New York with chalk on the sidewalk. Nearby, a man tells me he hopes that our leaders pay heed to the words inscribed on the memorial about violence never again being used. Another lady points out that the business of vengeance is the Lord's, not ours. Again, I am hopeful, but the sadness of this site is too overwhelming, and we leave and don't say much for the next hour or so on the road.

I wonder if New York will honor those lost by turning the former blocks of the WTC into its own quiet, peaceful memorial site. Or, as the pundits insist, will they rebuild it immediately to show our enemies that the business of America shall continue uninterrupted? " He later goes on to demonstrating the irony of having a tollroad named after Will Rogers. For the whole piece, click here.

The spirit of OKC has been amazing in the 6 and change years since the bombing there. The city has really united, and you see it in many of the programs going on there. It's quickly becoming vastly superior to Tulsa in cleanliness, safety, beauty, and arts, a notion that ten years ago was unforseeable by anyone in the state. My dad ran the first OKC memorial marathon this past april. he said that it was amazing to see the people who sat outside of their homes and lined the streets to cheer the runners on. And not just at the beginning, but all the way through to the end, many hours later. That's really cool, and something you most likely wouldn't see in tulsa.

In other news, dreams are really strange. When i remember mine, they often scare me, not b/c they are frightening per se, but more b/c they are really really strange. Last night's dream ranged everywhere from, being on a boat-highway in seattle caught in rush hour traffic in about 3 feet of standing water, to being kissed repeatedly by a spanish-speaking nun in canada, to smoking weed and drinking Beringer's White Zin in the park on riverside with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. What does that mean????????
:: Scott [+] ::
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Another vomit-inducing gem from the "call the editor" section of the Tulsa World: "In a war, sometimes innocent people are victims. We are at war, and we should fight the war to win, not worry so much about what the rest of the world thinks, what our coalition thinks, what some of our liberal coves think. We need to win this war, and the only way you can do it is to go in and kill the people who are responsible. If innocent people are in the way, that is their problem. America is too concerned about political and worldwide opinion, and we need to concentrate on winning the war." Good point, buddy. Let's just nuke the bastards, and all the little kids just won't hinder us anymore, just like the evil little children in hiroshima and nagasaki. Glad we got rid of them, huh? They sure were a serious threat. If they'd just gotten out of the way, they could've had a nice, slow, respectable death of cancer. So, it's really their fault, huh?

Anyways, in archipelapogo news, I have had about 110 hits since the publishing of my essay one week ago. That's got to be the hightest i've had in any given week. This pleases me!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Hmm, I haven't heard about this anywhere else. I wonder why? The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by reports that U.S. officials pressured Qatar in an attempt to influence the news coverage of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel. This is really interesting. "Although the Qatari government subsidizes Al-Jazeera, the station has been widely praised for its editorial independence. Over the years, Al-Jazeera has drawn a steady stream of complaints from Arab governments angered by its reporting. "The U.S. administration is effectively urging Qatari authorities to interfere with what is essentially an independent news station," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Arab government attempts to influence Al-Jazeera have garnered widespread attention over the years. We are disheartened to see U.S. officials adopting similar tactics." It also says: "Following a meeting yesterday in Washington, D.C., with U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell, Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani acknowledged that U.S. officials had asked him to use his influence to rein in Al-Jazeera's news coverage."
Hmm, maybe this "war" isn't being fought as ethically as we thought. This is supposed to be an Independent media organization. Our government is already running a wide spread propaganda campaign via the radio and flyer droppings in afghanistan and surrounding areas. now we want to contorl the press there? maybe ted turner should just buy the organization.

"The US government was also irked by an unconfirmed Al-Jazeera report that Taliban forces recently captured U.S. Special Forces troops inside Afghanistan." Why would this piss them off so much? There are uncomfirmed reports abound on the 24 hour news stations here. that's how they get ratings. Noone says anything then. What's the difference. Guaranteed if CNN has reported this, the government not only would have not been mad, but addressed the issue as per their usual "we have no evidence of this happening" manner.

:: Scott [+] ::
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Okay, I'm looking for recommendations on Attention Span. Determinants, societal trends, recovery, etc. I just want to do some reading on it. This Culture Jam book has some good stuff in it, but i want to delve more, and possible do some regression analysis on it. Hell, i've got no job, what else can i do? So if you have any recommendations, I'd appreciate it.

In other news, Rush Limbaugh is almost deaf. Too bad he's not losing his voice too. 20 million listeners? Isn't that about 1 in 9 adults in this country? I've got a problem believing that. 600 stations is a hell of a lot, though.
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I found something while looking around the net. Check it out.
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Via Sean, you can find your Hobbit name. For some reason, mine is just Lotho Toadfoot. Sounds like a welfare hobbit. Denise is Camellia Bunce of Brockenburings. How regal.

Also, sean reformulated his friends links on his sidebar according to "a totally subjective mix of closeness and frequency of updates". I'm third now. How flattering! I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that i link to him about every other day?
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Well, i finally finished "A Prayer For Owen Meany" by John Irving last night. It was definitely one of those reads where you find a book at the exact right time in your life. Many great anecdotes about Vietnam and vaious reactions to it. Lots of informative and rant-ish commentary on the Iran-Contra affair and Reagan. And a really good story to boot. The main character is so full of faith and convinced that nothing is random, and the way his life plays out, he is right. It's interesting to see, or at least read about, someone with such strong conviction.

I started "Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America" which i've been salivating over for a while now. It's written by Kalle Lasn, one of the founders of Adbusters. I'm only about 30 pages into it, and although it doesn't have a whole lot of new information for me, putting all together and re-learning some stuff has really got me thinking. look for more soon....
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In other news, Sean and his wife Christine have started Twinlog:the life and times of Elizabeth and Wil Meade" their two year old twins. It's really pretty cool. Kids are weird, in a fascinating I enjoy looking at them but don't have any desire to have one right now kind of way. But, check it out.

Also, I got my first Spooky Simpsons light up halloween toy. It's Marge and her cauldron with eyeballs in it. Only 14 to go. (sean, you may take specail interest in this, since Burger King is the official fast food sponser of the Lord of the Rings movie, and will probably have toys too. we can work something out, eh?)
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Thanks to Sean for linking to my essay from the 4th (see below). I got a couple of comments on it, and they go something like this:

Shawn Kruggel (punk planeteer) says: "no...it is not about choosing sides..it IS about evaluating situations such as these from past, present, and future points of view and analysis. attacks such as the one on sept. 11 don't occur simply because in the world exist "the outlandish taliban" or "crazy arabs" which seems to be a good enough explanation for most americans...i've been pinned as anti-american so many times that it really doesn't bother me in the least...i am, however, not anti-american but rather insistent on americans to evaluate things on a more cause and effect rationale..." Good point. There's often many in society that say just because you're critical of the government or a politician, then you are against them. It just leads me to believe that these people don't think for themselves and cannot rationalize how someone else does.

Random Josh (i have no idea who this guy is) says: "I read your rant and thankyou very much for it. I've been struggling over the past few weeks trying to come up with the right words, and trying to educate ignorant people around me to the geopolitical realities and moral considerations of this whole thing and its getting really exhausting. Reading your essay was like reading my own thoughts broadcast right back to me, which is really gratifying since I've got to feeling alone in my positions on this issue." Cool, thanks. It's good to know that i didn't just write it for my own therapeutic purposes, even if that is the driving force. But, josh, we are not alone. there's people all over that feel this way, they're just muffled under the white noise of the mainstream media. But if you look, ye shall find. If you haven't check out Michael Moore's website. His letters are full of emotion and inspration in these times. There's plenty more, but this isn't a link page.
Josh also says "Its hardly neccesary to go on an anti-US rant. I know all about this country's atrocities. And I still love it. Can't help it. I think that flag-burners are the most patriotic people out there. They realize what this country could have been, could be... and it makes them/me sad enough to make a statement like that." No, anti-US rants aren't necessary, especially in these times. Unfortunately, there are still many who don't know or won't admit to the severity of this country's atrocities. And they are the ones who are most vocal about silencing the "dissenters" and the flag-burners. Some people look at protest solely on the face value of what it is, and those are the ones that miss the point. When the news just shows photos or interviews with the ones who are there, but don't know why, then the voices of those taking action are not heard, and continue to be missed.

Sean Meade cites the following statement from my essay: I can say that in one atrocity, the people that performed these horrible acts (still lacking proof on bin Ladin's influence, not that i doubt it, i'm just not willing to accept it based on heresay) accomplished what a generation of progressive thinkers have failed to do: convince conservatives of the hypocrisy and irresponsibility of a corrupt and self serving government controlled by the interests of few. and asks "do you think the conservatives are really so convinced? i think they're more convinced of their rightness than ever" Good point, sean. i just used the word 'convinced' b/c i was imitating the line that Sullivan used in his editorial. No, i don't think any of the conservatives have been convinced of anything. However, at least there has been some mention in the news of the reasons there is so much hatred in the US. Issues are being raised because they have been forced by people wondering "why?" This is what was accomplished in one atrocity. This is what thousands have been screaming about for years. But, no, i don't think anyone is changing their opinion, and i think both sides are now probably more convinced of their rightness, so Mr. Sullivan was wrong in that respect of his statement also.

By the way, after i wrote this essay, i sent an e-mail to Mr. Sullivan encouraging him to read it. I haven't heard from him, and I doubt I will, but i thought I'd give it a shot.

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Let me begin by saying/asking, who the hell has been reading this lately? I've been getting 20-30 hits/day, and i can only account for about half of them in my mind. So, if you're not sean, ryan, or denise, please, do me a favor and shoot me an e-mail to let me know you're reading. I also really appreciate feedback, whether you love what i say, hate it, or really think it's pointless. Thanks.

Down to business... I found this editorial, that apparently was printed in the wall street journal. Wow. Time for a rant, eh? There's been a significant amount of left-bashing lately, and it's definitely a straw-man argument that that vast majority of these people are making. At a time when patriotic and religious feelings are extremely high (most likely this will ride along with the amount of attention span our country has, which is very short) there has been this feeling of you are either 100% with us (the majority of the citizens, the govt., whatever) or you're with the enemy. What a steaming load of crap. Yes, as Mr. Sullivan states, the recent events have spawned an "an awakening on the left". I reevaluated and reconsidered many of my feelings and beliefs. There was a lot of guilt involved, a lot of self denial and a lot of self-nihilism (if that's not a phrase, then I just coined it) in the days after the attacks. I still was not ready to go out and die for the country, but I definitely thought about the role of progressive politics in these times. It was a positive and fruitful period of thought for me. The people on the "left" that i respect and trust also appeared to go through these emotions. I still looked to them for inspiration and advice, and some i took, some i left behind, as I always have, and hope to always do. However, this McCarthy-esque witch hunt on people that won't sit back and blindly accept whatever happens is just not going to fly. As a microcosmic example, let's break down some of Mr. Sullivan's critique.

In one atrocity, Osama bin Laden may have accomplished what a generation of conservative writers have failed to do: convince mainstream liberals of the illogic and nihilism of the powerful postmodern left. I'm not sure exactly what Sullivan's definition of the "postmodern left" is, but I for one really don't think it's powerful (this will be addressed later). However, just as he can make this comparison, I can say that in one atrocity, the people that performed these horrible acts (still lacking proof on bin Ladin's influence, not that i doubt it, i'm just not willing to accept it based on heresay) accomplished what a generation of progressive thinkers have failed to do: convince conservatives of the hypocrisy and irresponsibility of a corrupt and self serving government controlled by the interests of few. (see the next quote).

Of course the initial response of left-wing intellectuals to Sept. 11 was one jerking of the collective knee. This was America's fault. From Susan Sontag to Michael Moore, from Noam Chomsky to Edward Said, there was no question that, however awful the attack on the World Trade Center, it was vital to keep attention fixed on the real culprit: the United States. Of the massacre, a Rutgers professor summed up the consensus by informing her students that "we should be aware that, whatever its proximate cause, its ultimate cause is the fascism of U.S. foreign policy over the past many decades." Or as a poster at the demonstrations in Washington last weekend put it, "Amerika, Get a Clue." Maybe it's just because i agree with Moore, Chomsky, and the rest that I see right through the fallicy of this kind of thinking. As I've said before, bin Ladin and his peers are not the ignorant rebels against "freedom and democracy" that bush has labeled them as. Some of the theories behind their beliefs are completely straight on. the United States history in the middle east is full of anti-democratic, anti-freedom, manifest destiny crap that is reminiscent of Teddy Roosevelt's reign of terror. Yes, the mean taken by these people are horrible and inhuman, but so are many of the actions of the United States and the NATO controlled UN. Did we have it coming? Painful to say, but yes, we did. Did the country deserve it? As a unit, probably so. It's completely sad that 6,500 people had their lives stolen to prove the point, but it's an enormous disservice on our part to ignore our own transgressions.

This is therefore an excruciating moment for the postmodern, postcolonial left. They may actually have come across an enemy that even they cannot argue is morally superior to the West. This is one of the fallacies of conservative thought that I have argued about the most, with the most people. It's the same as saying "if you hate the US so much, why don't you go somewhere better". Of course there's nowhere better. There may be places equal as far as thought goes. There have been place that i've been where i felt more at peace (the UK), just as there are parts of the States that I feel more at home (Austin, Portland, etc.) But, the thing that these conservatives don't get is, THAT'S NOT THE DAMN POINT!!! Why do I fight for change? Why do i resist the corporate shit that is the status quo? Because I honestly feel that it will make this country better. Our country is so high off of its own farts (farce) that we can't see ourselves in the mirror. I'm trying to resist an anti-US rant here, but it's hard. In the 60's, there were very few who said "hey, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong are better than we are. We shouldn't fight them b/c they are right". That was not the point of the movement. The point was layered in very different motives. The government, with the help of the press, told countless bold-faced lies about how and why and how many youth from our country were dying in a war that was intrinsically senseless. That was the point then, that is the point now. We must learn from this in order to prevent it from happening again.

One immediate response is to argue that the U.S. itself created Osama bin Laden in its war against Soviet communism. This isn't true--but even if it were, doesn't this fact, as Mr. Hitchens has argued, actually increase the West's responsibility to retaliate against him? Ok, A) No, the US did not create Osama bin Laden. All we did was teach him how to train people, how to terrorize, gave him weapons, taught him how to make weapons and then sufficiently turn our back on Afghanistan when it had no remaining government or stablitly, after they had sacrificed the lives we were unwilling to in the fight against the soviets. That is not, technically, creating him. We just helped and then abandoned him. B) Does this increase the West's responsibility to retalitate against him? How in the hell do you make that argument? We create a pawn in a cold war that is full of all kinds of problems, then leave them suspended in the air, and that makes it better for us to justify the killings of how many? Yes, the people responsible for these acts (the actual actors are all dead, so it becomes a search for what-ifs and how's) should be punished and prevented from performing like acts in any scenario. However, what Sullivan is implying is that it's okay for the US government to use people in ways that we condemn others for using, and kill them when they disagree with us. It's happened time and time again. Look at the Iran Contra affair. We sold weapons to a country that we "visibly" disagreed with, that was controlled by a completely fascist asshole, and then took the money and funneled it into a country having a civil war, onto the sides of the people who killed, raped, stole, and commited many other atrocious acts. Denise's family living in Nicaragua at the time, and presently, were completely screwed by the whole affair. How were we moral then? The us has this concept that the world is its to use and dispose of as it pleases. Even when the government gets caught pulling this off, they get away with it, and it's forgotten by all but a few in a short amount of time.

The left's howls of anguish are therefore essentially phony--and they stem from a growing realization that this crisis has largely destroyed the credibility of the far left. Forced to choose between the West and the Taliban, the hard left simply cannot decide Damn, this guy is so full of it. Once again, it's not the choice between the West and the Taliban. Why do people insist on it being this way? Is their world completely black and white? It's so simple for people to make that argument. It really makes me believe that they haven't actually heard, read, or learned anything about the left. If, by now, you can't see why this is my least favorite phrase in the entire editorial, then your time has been wasted by reading this. Otherwise, you see.

End of rant: That was really therapeutic, and felt good. However, I would, as always, like feedback. Print this out and show it to those around you. Give them my e-mail (ssecrest48@hotmail.com). Hell, if you know me, call me. Just respond (or as Sean Meade would say, Interact). Because, no matter what your point of view, philosophy, etc., the worst thing you can do is sit on the sidelines and watch it all happen.
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In other sorely uncovered news, (via monday's dallas morning news), eight foreign-aid workers have been held in Kabul, Afghanistan since August 3rd and face an upcoming trial for preaching Christianity. They work for the German based Christian group Shelter Now International. Four are German, two are Aussies, and the other two are US'ns who both graduated from Baylor. They're both older than me, so i don't think i would've ever met them, but it's a wierd connection. The punishments can range from expulsion to jail to death. The chief justice of the Afghan Supreme Court told the workers that "they would be treated fairly and that the threat of a U.S. military assault would play no part in their trial". One of the girl's mother said she received a letter from her daughter written on Sept. 25 asking her to plead with President Bush "to not take any retaliatory action until we've been freed". That's some seriously bad timing.
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Tick tock, tick tock......we're still waiting, Colin, George, John, Rudy, Tony.....Bueller? KUWAIT (Reuters) - U.S. officials have been sharing evidence against Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) with Gulf Arab states to boost regional support in hunting down the world's most wanted man, diplomats said Wednesday. ``They have some good proof,'' said one official who was briefed but refused to disclose details or be identified. The article I got this from is really really vague; just as everything else has been. The Taliban reportedly is still looking for evidence linking bin Ladin and the attacks, and says if they receive it, then negotiations can resume. The US reply? (via New York Times) "President Bush has vowed repeatedly not to negotiate with the Taliban for the surrender of Mr. bin Laden" Yeah, we wouldn't want to avoid a senseless war, unnecessary loss of life, restoration of diplomacy, or anything like that, would we? The govt. has also reportedly shared evidence with Russia, Pakistan, and other, unnamed NATO countries. What's our gameplan now? (via LA Times): . "I have said that the Taliban must turn over the Al Qaeda organization living within Afghanistan and must destroy the terrorist camps . . . otherwise there will be a consequence," Bush told reporters after a meeting with congressional leaders. "There are no negotiations. There's no calendar. We'll act on our time." Do all the people who are boosting the approval rating for the pres or the fed gov't just listen to soundbites on the local news and read the headlines in the papers? Sadly enough, probably so.
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The NHL starts its regular season tonight. Thank god we can now get away from the boredom of baseball and football. The wings are looking good, but they acquired Brett Hull, who annoys me to no end. Can i still root for them? they've still got Chelios, so, yeah, i think i can.
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Found the last week's worth of Boondocks on yahoo. some great stuff that i've been looking for from them, that finally came out. I especially like September 28's. That's something i've been thinking alot about lately.
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Sorry for the lack of posts, but i went to texas for the weekend. I did, however, see a commercial tonight saying that Burger King is going to have Simpsons Spooky Lightup toys in its Big Kids meals starting soon. anyone patronizing bk, but not wanting the toys, you know where to send em. thanks in advance!!!! In the meantime, i'm still waiting for the overwhelming evidence that Colin Powell promised would be realeased soon. Anyone heard anything? Time magazine reported that bin Ladin wired $100,000 to one of the hijackers several weeks ago. That's all i've heard, and that's just from one source, so i doubt it's credible. Times ticking away, Colin. Maybe the govt. is just stalling until people forget about the attacks before they do anything in retaliation so that it won't be as noticed or get the massive coverage that it will require. Hmmmm....

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