Entries from November 2004 ↓
November 29th, 2004 — impolite company, the web-wide world
BERLIN (Reuters) – Lawyers acting for a U.S. advocacy group will Tuesday file war crimes charges in Germany against senior U.S. administration officials for their alleged role in torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
“German law in this area is leading the world,” Peter Weiss, vice president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a human rights group, was quoted as saying in Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper’s Tuesday edition.
According to the group, German law allows war criminals to be investigated wherever they may be living.
The group filing charges is the Center for Constitutional Rights, and their description of the action is here. This is not some fringe organization. The have been working since 1966 to defend and advance our Constitutional rights, arguing numerous cases before the Supreme Court.
They will be holding news conferences tomorrow, and they ask that interested people check back on their home page over the next couple of days for the address of the German prosecutor. Letters in support of the prosecution will show the prosecutor that there is worldwide support.
This isn’t the action I would have liked to see in response to the Abu Ghraib crimes, but since our government is not interested in pursuing justice — or even asking for Rumsfeld’s reignation — we’ll have to shop for a proper venue. Despite support from all around the world, I wonder how much diplomatic resistance a lone prosecutor is willing to endure if he chooses to pursue this case. And I wonder how long it will take the Senate to pass another law authorizing an invasion of Germany in case a US Citizen is held for war crimes there.
November 29th, 2004 — brain-candy, groupmind, me & mine
I grew up in Suffolk County, Long Island, a suburb of New York City. Although they were liberal-minded, my folks moved us there from the city during the ‘white flight’ of the late 60s. A massive welfare housing project opened next-door to our apartment building, and suddenly there was vandalism and grafitti and a huge fence around our building; suddenly, I was the only white kid in my 3rd-grade class and I was mugged several times walking the 2 or 3 blocks home from school. It bothered them to leave the city, but they felt they had to.
So, I grew up in a very white, middle-class neighborhood of wide streets, green lawns, cars, and a complete lack of anything that could be called “culture.” No museums, no galleries, no place to meet people except the mall or the 7-11. There was a black family on our block, but the kids were jocks, and I was a brain and a druggie, and other than saying cordial “Hi”s to each other, there was no real contact. There were no Hispanics in my classes, as far as I can recall, no Asians, no Native Americans; when it came to minorities, I was it… the token Jew.
My family spent many years striving for some inclusion, fighting to have the school system recognize that, at the very least, I shouldn’t be penalized for missing a test given on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur (the Jewish High Holy Days), or that maybe the winter choral concert could have one number about Hannukkah — or at least one number without Christ — or that perhaps if history class was going to refer to the religious foundations of the dominant Western civilization, they could refer to it as “Judeo-Christian” heritage, instead of just “Christendom”, or that if the luchroom was going to serve ham that day, they should also have an alternative I could eat: not sausage pizza. And their efforts paid off; there’s now some sensitivity towards other cultures in those schools. (There are also catalogues of the ridiculous extremes to which political correctness can be taken, but…)
Because of my experience, I thought of Long Island as a kind of blandly tolerant place. I moved away from there permanently in 1995, although I visited regularly, since my parents lived there until just a couple of weeks ago, my sister still lives there, and we have a bunch of friends still living on the Island. My image of the place has stayed frozen in that sweet light of childhood.
Suffolk County, alas, has not remained frozen. An article in today’s New York Times details some of the nastiness directed at the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants.
…the issue of illegal immigration is rapidly gathering political force in Long Island’s patchwork of historically white suburban hamlets, and as the complaints grow, politicians are responding with get-tough rhetoric, crackdowns and new laws.
“Public opinion has changed,” said Sue Grant, one of several Farmingville residents who rise each morning to stand on street corners and demonstrate against the day laborers in their community. “More and more people are coming forward and saying, ‘I’m sick of this.’ They don’t want this anymore.”
The “this” they claim to be protesting against is what in other areas and other countries is referred to as the continuing and growing problem of illegal immigration. But in Suffolk County, the leading voices in this anti-immigration crusade say:
The definition of today’s immigration problem is very clear. Not every new arrival here, born in another country, is an immigrant. “Illegal immigrant” is a contradiction in terms. Euphemisms such as “undocumented” or “day laborer” or “migrant” are false definitions serving only to disguise the real definition of this population phenomenon.
We, the residents of Farmingville, have always had the courage and conviction to call it what it really is – nothing less than “an invasion and occupation of communities all over this country.”
It’s an “invasion”. These nasty, dirty, smelly people who talk a different language are invading our communities, infesting our houses, congregating on our street-corners, taking the jobs we don’t want, looking at our women… The Greater Farmingdale Community Association (whose leader, Ray Wysolmierski was formerly head of the Sachem Quality of Life Organization, a disgustingly racist group profiled in the recent film “Farmingville”) is not ashamed to wear its racist Ashcroft-ism on its sleeve, saying:
That this is an invasion and occupation is not simply our opinion or viewpoint. It is a fact. Even if one dares to reject or dismiss all the mountains of compelling evidence – the many essays, speeches, videotapes, audiotapes, conversations that attest to the invasion or re-conquest of this nation by Mexico – one cannot dismiss the simple definition of “invasion” found in the highly regarded Oxford English Dictionary: To intrude upon, infringe, encroach on, violate the property, rights and liberties of, to invade is to usurp, seize upon, take possession of.
They who refuse to accept that this is an invasion and occupation are in a state of denial that is dangerous not only for them but for our nation because people who impose themselves upon or intimidate unwilling victims are, in fact, by definition, low-level terrorists.
Those who support them, therefore, are not compassionate humanitarian advocates, but terrorist sympathizers. And it’s difficult to gather sympathy, to feel the pain of your local arrogant terrorist invader.
Others are less in-your-face with their racism, hiding it in seemingly-compassionate concerns, which they claim are “necessary, fair and colorblind. They said they are not singling out Hispanic immigrants, but are trying to break up the networks of overcrowded homes, unlicensed contractors and absentee landlords that exploit day laborers.” So, to save them from exploitation, poor working conditions and poverty, these compassionate folks are seeking to deport these hard-working immigrants to places — mainly Mexico and Central America — where there are no jobs, no money and no future.
Steve Levy, the County Executive for Suffolk, recently stirred up the outrage some more by suggesting that the county police department should be “deputized” by the Department of Homeland Security, to expand their jurisdiction to immigration crimes:
Deputization is a new and little understood concept. Police departments nationwide already have the power to report to immigration authorities undocumented immigrants who commit criminal offenses, and often do. But deputization expands their powers, allowing them to detain immigrants solely for being undocumented. It also allows them to more easily question immigrants about their legal status and to initiate deportation proceedings. For instance, when making routine traffic stops police can ask to see immigrants’ legal papers.
“Your papers, please.” Those should be chilling words to anyone who hears them. To their credit, the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association‘s president, Jeff Frayler, spoke out against the proposal, saying, “the deputization plan is ill-conceived and will serve only to destroy the hard-won goodwill police have built up with Mexican day laborers in Farmingville and other communities.” And faced with the rising tide of criticism of his plan, Levy has decided to back off, although he is still seeking other ways to deal with the problem.
The most disgusting thing about this whole mess is the transparency behind the lack of any given reason for the anti-immigration tide. If the problem truly is poor-quality housing and abusive landlords, then go after the landlords! If the problem is unlicensed contractors, then go after the contractors, or let the shoddy workers shit where they eat and drive themselves out of business. Is the problem jobs? Are the immigrant workers really taking away jobs from the decent white folk? Are the sons and daughters of the decent white folk really clamoring for the right to harvest the potatoes, clean the offices, mow the lawns, slap together the million dollar tract houses for wages small enough to keep everything affordable for the decent white folk?
No, this isn’t about any economic issue. This anti-immigrant sentiment wouldn’t have been out of place in the Deep South 40 years ago. This is racism, pure and simple. This is “bar the doors before the savages ruin our way of life.” This is, “I moved here 30 years ago to get away from those kinds of people.” This is, “I don’t want my daughter to have to sit next to one of them in school.” This is irrational, all-consuming hatred of the Other. And it’s not any place I ever have a desire to call “Home” again.
November 27th, 2004 — the web-wide world
The UK Department for International Development (DFID), in association with Rough Guides has created a wonderful new book called The Rough Guide to a Better World. The book is available for free in UK Post Offices starting on Monday, 29 November, or is ready for free download in a number of formats, including PDF and several e-book formats, as well as readable online in HTML format.
The book was developed to forward the eight Millennium Development Goals agreed to by nearly 190 countries at the UN Millennium Summit in September, 2000. Those goals are:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development
DFID found that
…lots of people are concerned about poverty, but that they aren’t sure what positive action they can take. Many in the UK also feel powerless in the face of the negative images and stories about the developing world carried by television and newspapers.
We have worked with Rough Guides to publish Better World to encourage people to become actively engaged in fighting poverty. Better World explains the challenges, the Millennium Development Goals and highlights progress that has already been made.
With a forward by Saint Bob Geldof, the book features a terrific introduction to the issues, the challenges, and the actions people can take to begin changing the world. Globalization is often looked at with great skepticism by people of my political persuasion, but it is not the process of globalization I find objectionable, it is the horribly inequitable way in which it occurs. Globalization of healthcare has helped alleviate a great deal of suffering already. As the book states:
Not many people know this… The number of children who die before reaching their fifth birthday, for example, halved between 1960 and 2001. The number of adults who cannot read or write fell from 53 percent in 1970 to 27 percent in 2001, while today twice as many people now have access to basic sanitation than did in 1975; and over the last twenty years the number of children attending primary school in the world has gone from eight out of ten to nine out of ten… if you live in a developing country – in 1960 you could expect to live until you were 46. Today you can expect to live until you are 64.
Of course, in the UK, “…men can expect to live to 75, and women to 79.” The hope for a book like this is that by reading about some of the simple steps we can all take, the next 40 years will eliminate this disparity in longevity altogether.
Oh… the title of this post? I t comes from a saying quoted in the intro to the Rough Guide: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
Listening to: Air Miami | The Event Horizon | Me, Me, Me
November 25th, 2004 — the web-wide world
Over at Wampum, a short but hysterical take on the first Thanksgiving:
Dad: What was the name of the Indian who met the Europeans?
Grace: Uh … Samoset?
Dad: Very good. Where did he come from?
Grace: Maine!
Dad: Uh huh. Who were his people?
Grace: That’s easy. Us! The Abenakis.
Dad: Uh huh. You are related to Samoset. What were the Europeans doing?
Grace: Uh … Waiting for Samoset?
Dad: Nope. Grave robbing. They were hungry. They were opening Pautuxet graves and eating the spirit food, the maize.
Go read the rest. I won’t steal his punchline.
November 25th, 2004 — me & mine, the web-wide world, why, daddy?
On Thanksgiving, it’s customary to evaluate your possessions, both spiritual and physical and to take some time to appreciate them. I have a wonderful wife of 22 years and a nice home. We share our home with a dog and 5 cats, all of which we’ve rescued from shelters. My parents are healthy (touch wood) and now happily retired to Florida, my sister is newly freed from the the constraints of a terrible marriage. My brother and his wife have a new daughter — a baby sister for their 2-year-old twins. My wife’s brothers are all in pretty good places financially and family-wise and my 15 nieces and nephews are all doing well. After 2 years of uncertainty about the future of the company I work for, things seem to be looking brighter. I’ve paid off all my credit card debt this year, I’ve lost 60 pounds and I feel much healthier. I am thankful for all of this.
So, of course, I feel strange about having so much when others have so little. While I sit down with my family for a nice Tofurky dinner, what will be the scene in the homes of the 34.6 million people in this country who are living in poverty?
I like the clarity of numbers. At Poverty USA, they have some of the clearest numeric descriptions of what it means to be poor in America today. I took their “Poverty Tour” and saw how the budget breaks down for a family of four living at the government’s “poverty line” pre-tax income of $18,392. I compared that with the $11,128 annual income for a person working at the minimum wage. I took a look at their “Poverty Map” and noted the states — which they depict in red — which are the poorest. Mississippi ranks first in the nation in overall poverty (19.9%), child poverty (26.7%) and senior poverty (18.8%) (Strangely enough, the map lists the rates for Washington, DC, but doesn’t rank the statistics for our government’s back yard. If it did, DC would be 1st in the nation in overall poverty: 20.2%, 1st in child poverty: 31.1%, and 3rd in senior poverty: 16.4%. The presence of all the rich old legislators and government functionaries is probably what bumped DC from 1st place in the senior poverty measure.)
Closer to home, the Maryland Food Bank has an eye-opening Flash interaction called “Hunger 101″. I chose a character and followed his scenario and see who is hungry and how difficult — impossible! — it is to obtain the minimums which EVERYONE in a rich country such as ours should be able to take for granted.
I took on the role of Bryan Jenkins, who is 38 years old. “He was recently laid-off at a high-profile technology company and has applied for unemployment. His wife Katie works as a substitute teacher, earning $1460 a month, but $300 goes to taxes. They have two children in elementary school. The car payment is $350 and the mortgage on the house is $700. His savings is depleted and he is struggling to make ends meet.” After paying the bills, Bryan/I had $15 to spend to provide the 51,800 calories our family needed to survive this month. He/I make too much money to qualify for food stamps, the soup kitchen was closed, the food bank was empty… what do you do? The numbers are TOO clear here.
I can donate* some money, and today, I am most thankful I can do that.
*To find a local food bank where you can donate, check out America’s Second Harvest.
November 24th, 2004 — brain-candy, me & mine, the web-wide world
A friend of my wife’s was on BBC 4 last night discussing Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, with Dr. Raj Persaud on his show, “All in the Mind”. Joshua Cole is the founder and primary force behind BPDWorld, a UK-based site which is “…committed to raising awareness and reducing the stigma of mental health, but focusing on Borderline Personality Disorder… providing information, advice and support.”
BPD is recognized in the DSM-IV (the standard diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association) as including “…unstable impulse control, interpersonal relationships, moods and self-image. These persistent or recurrent qualities are present in a variety of situations…” A professional will make a diagnosis of BPD when a patient demostrates at least 5 of the following behaviors:
- Frantic attempts to prevent abandonment, whether real or imagined (don’t include self-injurious or suicidal behaviors, covered below)
- Unstable relationships that alternate between idealization and devaluation
- Identity disturbance (severely distorted or unstable self-image or sense of self)
- Potentially self-damaging impulsiveness in at least 2 areas such as binge eating, reckless driving, sex, spending, substance abuse (don’t include suicidal or self-mutilating behaviors)
- Self-mutilation or suicide thoughts, threats or other behavior
- Severe reactivity of mood creates marked instability (mood swings of intense anxiety, depression, irritability last a few hours to a few days)
- Chronic feelings of boredom or emptiness
- Anger that is out of control or inappropriate and intense (demonstrated by frequent temper displays, repeated physical fights or feeling constantly angry)
- Brief paranoid ideas or severe dissociative symptoms related to stress
It’s a pretty scary set of feelings, and its seriousness is not served well by the name “Borderline.” When Adolph Stern first described the symptoms of BPD in 1938 , his choice of terminology was not intended to belittle its severity, but to refer to its position on the borderline between neurosis and psychosis. In Europe, the disorder is referred to as “Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder,” but “Borderline” seems to have stuck here in the US.
Josh was diagnosed with BPD when he was 17 and as he describes, he struggled with its effects for many years. Setting up BPDWorld was supposed to be his final act, before he committed suicde. It wouldn’t have been his first attempt; in the interview, he describes, very matter-of-factly, how, “…There was once where I went into a field and threw petrol over myself and was gonna set myself on fire, and also slit my wrists and took an overdose…”
But, he found, instead, that BPDWorld, instead of being a final act, was going to be something which involved him and gave him purpose and a sense of community. “…I’ve seen how much it helps people and how much they support each other, which I think is great. And that sort of gets me through, because I believe they’re depending on me and I’m depending on them, so it keeps us all going…”
No future is certain, and the future for people with BPD is dangerous, at best. As he states on his site, “1 in 10 Borderline Personalites commit suicide.” Let’s hope that the community he’s created helps to keep him and others strong and healthy for a long, long time.
(I’ve transcribed the portion of the show where Josh was interviewed. You’ll find the transcript by clicking the “Read More” link.)
Continue reading →
November 21st, 2004 — the web-wide world
Dear Senator Mikulski,
I am disgusted at your vote yesterday to approve the Omnibus Budget Bill, despite its inclusion of the abhorrent abortion-limitation provisions. In the first major chance for the Democrats to show some spine as the minority party, you buckled. There was no doubt that the bill would pass, but by joining with the Republicans, you gave them further ammunition to claim that they have the majority of America on their side. Was it a CYA move? Well, you were just re-elected by a resounding margin and there will be plenty more opportunities to CYA in this new one-party government. Was it because you wanted to “get home for the holidays?” Personally, I and the millions of other Americans whose holidays don’t begin until Wednesday evening don’t care about your precious holidays when you members of Congress already receive much more time off than the average American. This was a shameless, spineless move by a politician I expected more of, and it leaves me with further dread for the next four years.
Dear Senator Sarbanes,
I want to thank you for casting your vote in opposition to the Omnibus Budget Bill in the Seante yesterday, and for voicing your strong opinions against the shameless inclusion of the anti-privacy clause inserted by Representative Istook during closed chamber sessions late on Friday night. Even though it was never in doubt that the bill would pass, we need every Democrat to be on the record against any such Republican maneuvers, preventing them from claiming that they have any kind of mandate. As your colleagues said last night: When the Republicans are being shameless, the Democrats must not be spineless.
November 21st, 2004 — brain-candy, the web-wide world
Suicide is often seen as a weakness, an inability to cope with the pressures of everyday life. I don’t know what went through Iris Chang‘s mind just before she ended her own life on November 9, but, for the 36-year-old Chinese-American historian, it most likely wasn’t “everyday life” as you and I know it.
Nearly 10 years ago, she went to Nanjing, China (formerly Nanking) to begin researching the book which would eventually become “The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II“, an international best-seller and the first book to expose the horrors of that event to the Western public. It was nearly 60 years after the Japanese invasion of China, and her visit represented one of the last opportunities to interview the survivors of the massacre. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
“It all had such a huge impact on her mind,” recalls Duan Yueping, then assistant curator of the Memorial Hall of the Nanking Massacre Victims, who worked every day with Chang, guiding her to massacre sites and through stacks of documents and photos.
Duan, a tough middle-aged woman who studied the Nanjing atrocities for years and considers herself a seasoned pro, still has nightmares from the stories she’s heard and photos she’s seen. Chang, she says, worked incessantly in Nanjing interviewing survivors, immersed in graphic pictures and documents, all the while agonizing over why the story was not widely known outside China. By the time she left Nanjing, Duan says, Chang was physically weak but even more committed to telling the story.
“The subject matter had to affect her. Perhaps she could not bear it,” Duan says, her eyes filling with tears as she pulls out a picture of herself and Chang at a dinner in Nanjing.
Continue reading →
November 19th, 2004 — groupmind, impolite company
From sorryeverybody.com:
Some of us — hopefully most of us — are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us — hopefully most of us — are truly, truly sorry. And we’ll say we’re sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren’t.
So, it’s not profound… except in emotion. Its not deep… except in conviction. The pictures are self-promoting, narcisistic, goofy, touching… whatever. This is a collection of photos of Americans — mainly young, but plenty of old and middle-aged folk, too — apologizing to the rest of the world for the outcome of the presidential election. Over 5000 photos so far, and the site-owners report they’re pushing 350GB/day down the wire. There are plenty of photos of citizens of countries other than the US accepting our apologies. What does it mean, well, as the FAQ says:
What’s this site about?
Most people who think carefully understand that Americans are not really any more jingoistic or xenophobic than people in other countries, but it never hurts to reinforce, especially considering what happened on November 2nd, 2004. What must it have looked like to the world outside our borders? America proudly re-appointed her reckless, incompetent and corrupt government. How much of America? Fifty-two percent. The rest of us are aghast and dismayed.
Lots of fuss is made about the “global village.†The Internet was supposed to make communication between cultures, countries and peoples painless and easy. It was supposed to build bridges. But it doesn’t do this automatically; somebody has to reach out. The Internet was supposed to lead to education and understanding. It doesn’t. Rarely do people on the internet apologize. I thought it was high time. The world needs to understand that there are people in America who don’t like what our government is doing. And from the mail we’re receiving, there are people in the international community who appreciate this.
Also, come on, it’s kind of amusing.
November 18th, 2004 — time-wasters, why, daddy?
It’s 9pm and my co-worker K. just IM’ed me in a panic.
K says:
hey u there?
eo eo eao says:
ayep
K says:
I need some help!
eo eo eao says:
uhoh
K says:
how do i clean pen off my laptop monitor?
Yoiks! I can imagine the knot in her stomach, especially since the laptop is a brand new HP which the company just bought her when she came back from her second mommy leave. But, a quick Google on “pen stain lcd monitor” brought up a page on Appletechs.com’ forums entitled “Help! My 3-year-old wrote on my Powerbook screen with a marker!” Obviously, K isn’t the first one to suffer this problem, since this post was started on January 2, 2003 and the most recent addition was yesterday, November 17, 2004!
The range of suggestions is pretty amazing, from eucalyptus oil to a product called Kleen Screen, to fingernail-scraping to WD-40. The consensus seems to be either 70% Isopropyl alcohol on a Q-tip, or — and this one is pretty weird — writing over the mark with a dry-erase marker and quickly wiping it off. Seems the dry-erase marker has a pretty strong solvent in it to keep the ink liquid, so writing over the ink dissolves whatever is there.
You find amazing things on the web when you are trying to stay away from politics for a little while!
