July 2003

Tuesday  July 1 , 2003

Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

I rode the Suzuki down to see "B" and give him some clothes. He actually seemed happy, like he was at home there. Something very strange going on here... "B" seems to thrive in restrictive environments. Liking being locked up is an alien concept to me, I can intellectualize it but I can't relate to it. "B" likes the regimentation and the fact that he is protected and safe.

It was my longest ride to date, about 160 miles round trip I rode up Rte 2 (Angeles Crest Hwy) to get home... It was a lot of fun being up in the mountains and going fast... been a long time... there was hardly any one up there.

Wednesday  July 2 , 2003

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

Thomas Mann, novelist, Nobel laureate (1875-1955)

I heard a fella on the radio talking about libraries being forced to restrict access to the internet and how historically they have been forced to ban books and censor reading material and he used the phrase "Reflexive cultural interdiction which is common in the United States and other repressive societies" Now, I have never considered America to have a "Repressive Society" but he's right, there are certain aspects of our homogenized little world that our benevolent leaders have deemed fit to protect us from. Books, art, politics, sex, homosexuality, drugs... I believe some regulations and laws are good but some are truly repressive.

An outfit named DARPA created a device to monitor cars... a scary gizmo... More BIG BROTHER crap.

I went to Wal-Mart and saw a copy of Kelly's Hero's in a big bin, I have always liked that movie, not sure why, I've never seen another movie like it... I think it's probably the best movie Donald Southerland ever did. Don Rickles was hilarious for about 6 months in the late 60's and Telly Savalas played Telly Savalas over and over again but I actually enjoyed them in these roles...

The little girls, Calie, Mokie and Autumn, are outside playing in the sand... they worked hard bringing up sand from the bottom of the driveway so that they could build sand castles... every once in a while there is an idyllic moment, a moment when I can believe it is all worth while...

Thursday  July 3 , 2003

The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.

Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)

Christy went down to visit "B", she took Christian. It thought that it was a good idea to have a Family Therapy Session with the one who is "B"'s chief nemesis, I had Calie and Monica. We went to WalMart (I bought Calie a bike) then to Kaiser to pick up some medications then to a late breakfast. I bought some tire patches and patched about 6 thorn holes in Monica's bike so that she could ride down to the school with Calie, she made it about 300 yards and came back with another hole, one of the patches didn't hold... I left to picked up the kids came home and patched her tire again. She wants to ride down to the parade tomorrow.

Friday  July 4 , 2003

We made it to the parade this morning, same arrogant Rent-A-Nazi creeps directing traffic. Same stupid parking regulations. They had a better MC this year, I think they forgot to play the National Anthem. Last year he made a big deal about telling people to take their hats off and to put their right hand over their hearts in a threatening tone... pissed me off I can't put the why of it into words, but it did.

Let me try:

 Imagine that you are watching a parade, you can see the Stars and Stripes coming down the street with three guys in uniform carrying the California flag and there is a band behind them raising their instruments to play the National Anthem and while you are reaching for your hat some sanctimonious Redneck asshole gets on the loudspeaker and says in his best Hank Williams Jr. voice; "I don't want to see any of you Liberal Hippies sitting out there with your hats on, IN AMERICA we stand and salute the flag by removing our hats and putting our right hand over our hearts." Now as I am reaching for my hat the implication is that I am doing it because that asshole told me to,  after all, I am a Liberal Hippie. It took a lot of the patriotic emotion inside me and turned it into anger.

There were a few participants that seem to have missed the point of what a 4th of July parade is all about but that's to be expected I supposed, about half the entrants showed up to plug their businesses and a few were there to make some sort of political statement (Dump Grey Davis leaps to mind) there were at least two maybe three competing Honey Dippers... I'll probably go back but I am getting irked but the arrogance of some of my fellow towns folk. There is enough room to park about 70 cars across from the school but about ten folks brought their motorhomes out the day before and blocked the whole side of the road... they parked in the school parking lot and took up three spaces with one Bubba Mobile and the rest... Grrrr. It was supposed to be reserved for handicapped...

Christy brought "B" back today, he is tired and slept most of the day. He seems fine and maybe even a bit contrite.

I just got back from the fireworks display in Palmdale, I promised the kids I would take them. Mike was still gone, Christian was at Shon's, Cindy didn't want to go, and "B" went to bed. so I took Calie, Monica and Autumn. It was a busy day.

 Sunday  July 6 , 2003

I got a neat joke from my cousin Lydia:

I have always been a pretty gullible guy, I believe just about anything someone tells me, but lately, though I have still been a trusting soul, I have been verifying everything,  there is no way to be sure your friends weren't lied to...  

Yesterday it was a smug belligerent diatribe supposedly attributed to George Carlin, the reality is that no one knows who wrote it... today it was a letter sent to me by a cousin, retired military. It was by a lady who's husband died on 9/11, an emotional account of her visit to Baghdad to present General Franks with a souvenir of the WTC and to thank the troops for getting revenge for the survivors and the people who died. Had the person who sent it been someone who's mind wasn't already made up about the rationale behind the war I would have felt comfortable calling their attention to the fact that though it was a well intentioned and emotionally moving rendition, there is not one single thread of evidence that Iraq or Saddam Hussein had anything to do with the attack on the World Trade Center. He would consider that an unpatriotic, if not treasonous, remark. I have a lot of empathy for the victims of 9/11, I wouldn't mind a taste of vengeance myself, I would much rather we take vengeance on the actual perpetrators and the people who supported them. I also have a lot of empathy for the 15000 or so innocent Iraqi civilians killed in the name of protecting me. Bush has put us into a no-win war, he can deem it to be over every day till Hell freezes over but it isn't over till Saddam is found and it isn't over till we can turn our back and leave. Afghanistan is still a mess and now we have to step into Liberia... it never ends.  

I have been looking at Dean, I have been reading as much as I can about him from his supporters, his detractors and as many dispassionate observers as I can find. It seems that Dean's main enemy is his mouth... he is tough enough but he is going to have to be damn careful to get his facts straight and not get trapped into lowering himself to Bush's level... He must remain above the name calling and finger pointing and focus on Bush's half-truths, lies, broken promises, failing tax plan, fractured economy... I think Bush is a total failure in everything he has touched, what he has succeeded at surrounding himself with the best damn Spin Doctors in the Republican Party.... he is very good at looking good. Dean seems OK... but I will wait to see how he holds up in the Primaries and I will see who's backing him. We already know who's behind Bush...

The Iraqi's seem to be going after Americans and British as "targets of opportunity" but they are actively hunting down fellow Iraqi's that they have deemed to be collaborators... I wonder if it's possible the the Iraqi Army didn't run away, they just went underground... they seem to have set up an organized resistance, I get a bad feeling about our troops being able to leave there any time soon. Bush may have declared victory prematurely.
 

Saturday  July 5 , 2003

Interesting news story, the only major city that doesn't have vacant office space is Washington D.C.. Government is expanding, while 21% of the office buildings in San Francisco are vacant Washington DC is building new ones.

Heard a Filipino on NPR talk about the Fourth Of July and what it meant to some Filipinos. He told a very brief history of the Philippine - American War... well, that's what it's called in the Philippines, in America we call it the Philippine Insurrection. Here is a little bit of what was left out of our History Books, it is interesting reading. I had a discussion about Revisionist History a while back and how history is written by the victors, the truth is sometimes altogether different. I am occasionally awed by the extent of my ignorance about what has gone on in the world and how it differs from what I was taught. I can't really blame the teachers I guess, the information wasn't hidden, it was there if I wanted it but I believed the text books, who knew.

Sunday  July 6 , 2003

I listened to another Motorcycle race from about 1000 till 1400, well I listened to most of it... Ricky and Bubba are awesome.

Christy was gone till about 1600 and I had Monica, "B", Cindy and Autumn.

Friday as I was leaving the parade someone handed me a printed version of an Internet tract about the signers of the Declaration of Independence attributed to several people, Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh, Rush Limbaugh's father, Readers Digest and a few others... It is full of half truths, mistakes, misspellings, lies and just plain sloppy research. I have written about it before but here is the definitive authority on it.

(George;s cusswords not mine)

"PARADOX OF OUR TIME"
One of the more embarrassing items making the internet/e-mail rounds is a sappy load of shit called "The Paradox of Our Time." The main problem I have with it is that as true as some of the expressed sentiments may be, who really gives a shit? Certainly not me.

I figured out years ago that the human species is totally fucked and has been for a long time. I also know that the sick, media-consumer culture in America continues to make this so-called problem worse. But the trick, folks, is not to give a fuck. Like me. I really don't care. I stopped worrying about all this temporal bullshit a long time ago. It's meaningless. (See the preface of "Braindroppings.")

Another problem I have with "Paradox" is that the ideas are all expressed in a sort of pseudo-spiritual, New-Age-y, "Gee-whiz-can't-we-do-better-than-this" tone of voice. It's not only bad prose and poetry, it's weak philosophy. I hope I never sound like that.

NEW DRUGS FOR WOMEN:

D A M M I T O L

Take 2 and the rest of the world can go to hell for up to 8 hours.

St. M O M'S W O R T

Plant extract that treats mom's depression by rendering preschoolers unconscious for up to six hours.

E M P T Y N E S T R O G E N

Highly effective suppository that eliminates melancholy by enhancing the memory of how awful they were as teenagers and how you couldn't wait till they moved out.

P E P T O B I M B O

Liquid silicone for single women. Two full cups, swallowed before an evening out increases breast size, decreases intelligence, and improves flirting skills.

D U M E R O L

When taken with Peptobimbo, can cause dangerously low I. Q. causing enjoyment of Country Western music.

F L I P I T O R

Increases life expectancy of commuters by controlling road rage and the urge to flip off other drivers.

M E N I C I L L I N

Potent antibiotic for women. Increases resistance to such lines as, "You make me want to be a better person ... can we get naked now?"

B U Y A G R A

Injectable stimulant taken prior to shopping. Increases potency and duration of spending spree.

BUY-ONE-ALL Extra Strength

When combined with Buyagra, can cause an indiscriminate buying frenzy so severe the victim may even come home with a Donnie Osmond CD or a book by Dr. Laura.

J A C K A S S P I R I N

Relieves headache caused by a man who can't remember your birthday, anniversary or phone number.

A N T I-T A L K S I D E N T

A spray carried in a purse or wallet to be used on anyone too eager to share their life stories with total strangers.

S E X C E D R I N

More effective than Excedrin in treating the, "Not now, dear, I have a headache," syndrome.

R A G A M E T

When administered to a husband or boyfriend, provides the same irritation as ragging on him all weekend, saving the woman the time and trouble of doing it herself.

U.S. Develops Urban Surveillance System

Wed Jul 2, 1:46 AM ET By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Police can envision limited domestic uses for an urban surveillance system the Pentagon (news - web sites) is developing but doubt they could use the full system which is designed to track and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a city.

AP Photo   Dubbed "Combat Zones That See," the project is intended to help the U.S. military protect troops and fight in cities overseas. Scientists and privacy experts say the unclassified technology also could easily be adapted to keep tabs on Americans. The project's centerpiece would be groundbreaking computer software capable of automatically identifying vehicles by size, color, shape and license tag, or drivers and passengers by face. The proposed software also would provide instant alerts after detecting a vehicle with a license plate on a watchlist, or search months of records to locate and compare vehicles spotted near terrorist attacks, according to interviews and contracting documents reviewed by The Associated Press. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, (DARPA) which develops technologies for fighting 21st century wars, is overseeing the project. Scientists and privacy experts — who have seen face-recognition technology used at a Super Bowl and monitoring cameras in London — are concerned about the potential impact of the emerging DARPA technologies if they are applied to civilians by commercial or government agencies outside the Pentagon. "Government would have a reasonably good idea of where everyone is most of the time," said John Pike, a Global Security.org defense analyst. DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker dismisses those concerns. She said the Combat Zones That See (CTS) technology isn't intended for homeland security or law enforcement and couldn't be used for "other applications without extensive modifications." But scientists envision nonmilitary uses. "One can easily foresee pressure to adopt a similar approach to crime-ridden areas of American cities or to the Super Bowl or any site where crowds gather," said Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. James Fyfe, a deputy New York police commissioner, believes police will be ready customers. "Police executives are saying, `Shouldn't we just buy new technology if there's a chance it might help us?'" Fyfe said. "That's the post-9-11 mentality." Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske sees law enforcement applications for DARPA's camera project in "limited" scenarios. But citywide surveillance would tax police manpower, Kerlikowske said. "Who's going to validate and corroborate all those alerts?" Fyfe endorses using cameras at high-risk sites, like the Brooklyn Bridge, but doubts the value of tracking all vehicles. "The bad guys will learn we can track cars by license plates, so they'll steal a car, leave it at the scene and flee by subway," he said. DARPA plans to award a three-year contract for up to $12 million by Sept. 1. The first phase would help protect troops at a fixed site, using at least 30 cameras, mostly small $400 stick-on devices linked to a $1,000 personal computer. In the second phase, at least 100 cameras would be installed to support "military operations in an urban terrain." Both prototypes should be expandable "to handle ... thousands of cameras." The second-phase software should be able to analyze the video footage and identify "what is normal (behavior), what is not" and discover "links between places, subjects and times of activity," the contracting documents state. The program "aspires to build the world's first multi-camera surveillance system that uses automatic ... analysis of live video" to study vehicle movement "and significant events across an extremely large area," the documents state. Both configurations will be tested at Fort Belvoir, Va., south of Washington, then in a foreign city. Walker declined comment on whether Kabul, Afghanistan (news - web sites), or Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites), might be chosen but says the foreign country's permission will be obtained. DARPA told more than 100 executives of potential contractors in March that 40 million cameras already are in use around the world, with 300 million expected by 2005. U.S. police use cameras to monitor bridges, tunnels, airports and border crossings and regularly access security cameras in banks, stores and garages for investigative leads. But many of these cameras record over their videotape regularly. Officers have to monitor the closed-circuit TV and struggle with boredom and loss of attention. By automating the monitoring and analysis, DARPA "is attempting to create technology that does not exist today," Walker explained. Though insisting CTS isn't intended for homeland security, DARPA outlined a hypothetical scenario for contractors in March that showed the system could aid police as well as the military. DARPA described a hypothetical terrorist shooting at a bus stop and a hypothetical bombing at a disco one month apart in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a city a bit larger than Miami in size and population. CTS should be able to track the day's movements for every vehicle that passed each scene in the hour before the attack, automatically compare their routes and identify any vehicles with a common starting point. Joseph Onek of the Open Society Institute, a human rights group, said current law that permits cameras in public areas may have to be revised to address the privacy implications of these new technologies. "It's one thing to say that, if someone is in the street, he knows that at any single moment someone can see him," Onek said. "It's another thing to record a whole life so you can see anywhere someone has been in public for 10 years."

Bush to NGOs: "Watch Your Mouths"

by Naomi Klein Published on Friday, June 20, 2003

by the Globe and Mail (Canada)

The Bush administration has found its next target for pre-emptive war, but it's not Iran, Syria or North Korea -- not yet, anyway.

Before launching any new foreign adventures, the Bush gang has some homeland housekeeping to take care of: It is going to sweep up those pesky non-governmental organizations that are helping to turn world opinion against U.S. bombs and brands.

The war on NGOs is being fought on two clear fronts. One buys the silence and complicity of mainstream humanitarian and religious groups by offering lucrative reconstruction contracts. The other marginalizes and criminalizes more independent-minded NGOs by claiming that their work is a threat to democracy. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is in charge of handing out the carrots, while the American Enterprise Institute, the most powerful think tank in Washington, D.C., is wielding the sticks.

On May 21 in Washington, Andrew Natsios, the head of USAID, gave a speech blasting U.S. NGOs for failing to play a role many of them didn't realize they had been assigned: doing public relations for the U.S. government. According to InterAction, the network of 160 relief and development NGOs that hosted the conference, Mr. Natsios was "irritated" that starving and sick Iraqi and Afghan children didn't realize that their food and vaccines were coming to them courtesy of George W. Bush. From now on, NGOs had to do a better job of linking their humanitarian assistance to U.S. foreign policy and making it clear that they are "an arm of the U.S. government." If they didn't, InterAction reported, "Natsios threatened to personally tear up their contracts and find new partners."

For aid workers, there are even more strings attached to U.S. dollars. USAID told several NGOs that have been awarded humanitarian contracts that they cannot speak to the media -- all requests from reporters must go through Washington. Mary McClymont, CEO of InterAction, calls the demands "unprecedented," and says, "It looks like the NGOs aren't independent and can't speak for themselves about what they see and think."

Many humanitarian leaders are shocked to hear their work described as "an arm" of government; most see themselves as independent (that would be the "non-governmental" part of the name).

The best NGOs are loyal to their causes, not to countries, and they aren't afraid to blow the whistle on their own governments. Think of Médecins sans frontières standing up to the White House and the European Union over AIDS drug patents, or Human Rights Watch's campaign against the death penalty in the United States. Mr. Natsios himself embraced this independence in his previous job as vice-president of World Vision. During the North Korean famine, he didn't hesitate to blast his own government for withholding food aid, calling the Clinton administration's response "too slow" and its claim that politics was not a factor "total nonsense."

Don't expect candor like that from the aid groups Mr. Natsios now oversees in Iraq. These days, NGOs are supposed to do nothing more than quietly pass out care packages with a big "brought to you by the U.S.A." logo attached--in public-private partnerships with Bechtel and Halliburton, of course.

That is the message of NGO Watch, an initiative of the American Enterprise Institute and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, which takes aim at the growing political influence of the non-profit sector. The stated purpose of the Web site, launched on June 11, is to "bring clarity and accountability to the burgeoning world of NGOs."

In fact, it is a McCarthyite blacklist, telling tales on any NGO that dares speak against Bush administration policies or in support of international treaties opposed by the White House.

This bizarre initiative takes as its premise the idea that there is something sinister about "unelected" groups of citizens getting together to try to influence their government. "The extraordinary growth of advocacy NGOs in liberal democracies has the potential to undermine the sovereignty of constitutional democracies," the site claims.

Coming from the AEI, this is not without irony. As Raj Patel, policy analyst at the California-based NGO Food First, points out, "The American Enterprise Institute is an NGO itself and it is supported by the most powerful corporations on the planet. They are accountable only to their board, which includes Motorola, American Express and ExxonMobil." As for influence, few peddle it quite like the AEI, the looniest ideas of which have a way of becoming Bush administration policy. And no wonder. Richard Perle, member and former chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, is an AEI fellow, along with Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice-president; the Bush administration is crowded with former AEI fellows.

As President Bush said at an AEI dinner in February, "At the American Enterprise Institute, some of the finest minds in our nation are at work on some of the greatest challenges to our nation. You do such good work that my administration has borrowed 20 such minds." In other words, the AEI is more than a think tank; it's Mr. Bush's outsourced brain.

Taken together with Mr. Natsios's statements, this attack on the non-profit sector marks the emergence of a new Bush doctrine: NGOs should be nothing more than the good-hearted charity wing of the military, silently mopping up after wars and famines. Their job is not to ask how these tragedies could have been averted, or to advocate for policy solutions. And it is certainly not to join anti-war and fair-trade movements pushing for real political change.

The control freaks in the White House have really outdone themselves this time. First they tried to silence governments critical of their foreign policies by buying them off with aid packages and trade deals. (Last month U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said that the United States would only enter into new trade agreements with countries that offered "co-operation or better on foreign policy and security issues.") Next, they made sure the press didn't ask hard question during the war by trading journalistic access for editorial control.

Now they are attempting to turn relief workers in Iraq and Afghanistan into publicists for Mr. Bush's Brand U.S.A., to embed them in the Pentagon, like Fox News reporters.

The U.S. government is usually described as "unilateralist," but I don't think that's quite accurate. The Bush administration may be willing to go it alone, but what it really wants is legions of self-censoring followers, from foreign governments to national journalists and international NGOs.

This is not a lone wolf we are dealing with, it's a sheep-herder. The question is: Which of the NGOs will play the sheep?

Naomi Klein is the author of 'No Logo' and 'Fences and Windows'.

© 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc.

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DEFINITION OF NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level. Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of service and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and encourage political particpation through provision of information. Some are organized around specific issues, such as human rights, environment or health. They provide analysis and expertise, serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and implement international agreements. Their relationship with offices and agencies of the United Nations system differs depending on their goals, their venue and the mandate of a particular institution.



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