Shot In The Dark - Politics and Current Events in Minnesota and Beyond

Saturday, December 28, 2002

It'll Find You Everywhere - In a nation with few cars, certainly few built after 1960, it's wierd to see that Cuba has a horrific traffic problem.

Hah. I'd like to see them get from Chanhassen to Saint Paul at 5PM...
posted by Mitch Berg 12/28/2002 11:50:09 PM

Drought - I didn't blog yesterday. In explanation, a poem. Ahem:
Twere the days after Christmas, and all through the joint,
Mitch was stuck in meetings; staring at PowerPoint.
The quarterly specs nearly ready do dump,
on all the unfortunate programmer chumps.

When what, to my wandering eyes, should occur
but a manager who, up his butt, had a burr.
There were I's to be dotted! T's to be crossed!
Nostrils were flared! Tempers were lost!
Requirements changing! Changing Required!
And so, the designs I'd so lovingly squired
all through the quarter were brutally altered.
Artistry bowdlerized, function befaltered.

When, six hours later, from the meeting he bolted
(five minutes before the crew might have revolted),
he turned at the door, and said with a grin,
"Happy Christmas to y'all - 'til we do it again!"
Y'know - if I were to look in my Tip Jar and find about $30,000, I could quit this gig and devote myself to blogging! Hmmmm.

posted by Mitch Berg 12/28/2002 10:14:25 AM

Follow the Money - Chuck Simmins - apparently an EMT - asks where the money is going in the current "smallpox preparedness" program. It's not pretty.
I knew this was going to happen. When I saw plans to vaccinate hospital janitors, and hospital unions demanding two days off with pay for their vaccinated members, I just knew.

This is the deal, folks. You're contagious with smallpox when you feel awful. Most people will feel so bad that they will not be able to move around. So, they'll call the ambulance. And I'll show up, unvaccinated, along with the fire guys and the cops. And some ward clerk in OB/GYN will have received the vaccine.

And, to all the little kingdom builders in health departments and hospitals everywhere, GET A FREAKIN CLUE!

If smallpox breaks out, everyone working on VD, you'll be working on smallpox. All the lab space devoted to the flu and to West Nile will be devoted to smallpox. The bureaucrats assigned to getting teen age mothers maternity care will be working on smallpox. The guy with the toothache at the Emergency Department will be told to go home and get a life because they'll all be working on smallpox!

You don't need a new lab, a new laptop, more personnel. You'll all be working on smallpox!

I'll say it again. The smallpox scare is being promoted by people at the trough waiting for Uncle Sam's feed truck to fill it up. Is it possible that we could be attacked by terrorist using smallpox. Yep. Are we already under attack by terrorists sucking on Uncle Sam's teats? You bet! This is a manufactured scare, and if we are really attacked, my EMT butt is in a sling because all the wrong things will have been done.
As Instapundit says - Investigative Reporters? Have at it. Here's your entree to this issue.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/28/2002 10:03:25 AM

My Clone Sleeps Alone - Yesterday's cloning "news" set off tremors of revulsion, fear and anger, especially throughout the talkradio and blog worlds.

And I wondered - is this just another "Cold Fusion"? Especially given the geneology of the group making the claims? (We're all clones of extraterrestrials, indeed...).

Jay Manifold has the same idea.

I predict that this will be the non-story of the year. I also predict someone'll do it for real before too terribly long.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/28/2002 09:58:17 AM

Thursday, December 26, 2002

Try, Try Again - The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center were a second attempt (after the 1993 attempt which failed to topple one tower into the other only through blind luck, as it turns out).

The attack on the USS Cole was also a repeat of an attempt, months earlier, at a nearly identical strike on the USS The Sullivans.

And as this WaPo article makes clear, many in the higher ranks of our Homeland Security apparatus think Al Quaeda's tenacity bodes ill for Washington DC, especially the White House.
In an interview conducted in June but broadcast in September by the satellite television network al-Jazeera, al Qaeda operative Ramzi Binalshibh said United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, had been aimed at Congress.

U.S. analysts lean to the view that Binalshibh was lying. Four officials said the better evidence points to the White House as the target.
The article quotes retired Army Gen. Wayne A. Downing, who was President Bush's deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism until this past July.
"These guys continue to go back after targets they have tried to get before," Downing said. "That's why I expect they're going to go back to Washington and why I expect they're going to go back to New York, both because of the symbolic impact of those attacks and the economic effect."

The strongest expression of that view came in very personal terms from a participant in efforts against al Qaeda whose office is adjacent to Pennsylvania Avenue.

"They are going to kill the White House," the official said. "I have really begun to ask myself whether I want to continue to get up every day and come to work on this block."
The article also delves into the failure (so far) of attempts to build a concentric, anti-nuke detection barrier around the District.

Chilling stuff. Read it.

(Via Smart Genes)
posted by Mitch Berg 12/26/2002 01:12:20 PM

For the Geek Who Has Everything - When you've been through all the XBoxes, PalmPilots and other geekcessories, Eric Raymond has the one thing they don't have - and really do need.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/26/2002 12:59:35 PM

Putting the Christ Back in Christmas - D.J. Tice, the only local conservative writing full-time for either of the dailies, has this wonderful defense of the Christianity of Christmas. The motivation is a New Jersey school which cancelled a visit to "A Christmas Carol" because of a complaint about the Dickens story's Christian themes. Cal Thomas denied the theme, Tice upbraids Thomas...well, read the article.

This part stands out:
All religions include beliefs in miraculous events. But in none is the miraculous so central and indispensable as it is in Christianity, a religion founded entirely on faith in the ultimate miracle of Divinity entering the world as a human being.

The Christian emphasis on miracle — on the porous border between the natural and he supernatural — also helps explain why Christmas has more or less contentedly absorbed so many pleasing customs from ancient pagan winter festivals — decorated trees and mistletoe and lights and Yule logs and all the other earthy trappings that make the holiday seem less than fully "Christian" to some.

It's because Christianity believes nature itself was redeemed once for all by the Incarnation that the pagan instinct to detect something spiritual in natural forces, enchanted mountains, and the cycle of the seasons contains a truth Christianity can appreciate.

As for conversion, it is true once again that all religions seek enlightenment and transformation. But the Christian emphasis is special. The gospels are positively full of stories in which righteous people of the time were scandalized by Jesus' spending time with sinners. He set them straight with some of the best-loved Christian parables — the prodigal son, the shepherd who abandons the 99 to go in search of one lost lamb.
So there is nothing about Christmas that is by its nature exclusionary - and likewise nothing that should make Christians in the least bit bashful about proclaiming the festival's purpose and meaning.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/26/2002 12:42:07 PM

DUI or Not DUI - In its spare time, the legislature will be debating that perennial warhorse, lowering the Blood Alcohol Limit still further.
Minnesota already has failed to gain $14.6 million in highway "bonus funds" from the feds by not approving 0.08 in the past five years. Proponents of 0.08 say the budget-strapped and traffic-plagued state can't afford to send highway money back to Washington anymore.

Opponents, especially in the liquor industry, say Minnesota's relatively low level of drunken-driving casualties shows that 0.08 does little to address the problem and instead unfairly targets social drinkers.

"Joe Lunchbox is just going to get punished for having a couple of drinks with the boys after work," said Tony Chesak, associate director of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association (MLBA).

Nonsense, said Lynne Goughler, Minnesota public-policy liaison for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). "At 0.08, you're not a social drinker," she said. "That's a drink every 15 minutes."
First and foremost - always take MADD's statistics with a grain - no, a block of salt. These people are less interested in curbing drunk driving than eliminating alcohol from daily life, much as our anti-smoking zealots are doing.

For a refreshingly angry counterpoint, I refer you to the DUI Gulag. This part is of direct impact on the current debate:
MADD PROPAGANDA will never tell you that nationwide in 1996 only 8.9% of motor vehicle accident fatalities occurred in "alcohol related accidents" where no person involved in the accident had a BAC equal to or greater than 0.10%. This statistical percentage has decreased every year since 1996.
The site has many, many more factoids, most of which would seem to deflate most of MADD's claims.

I report, you decide - but I personally continue to consider MADD one of America's most corrosively authoritarian groups.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/26/2002 11:09:18 AM

I come not to Rip Strummer, but to R.I.P. Strummer - As I wrote the other night, right after I got the news, the death of Joe Strummer caught me right in my 40-year-old breadbasket.

Yeah, the Clash were a huge band for me when I was in high school and college. Part of it - only a tiny part - was that I was a far-left liberal until I was about 20 years old. That the Clash (which was not just Strummer - Mick Jones (punk's first heartthrob) played the wry, lyrical McCartney to Strummer's cynical, fiercely dour Lennon) stood up for me after my own political epiphany says less about their politics (and mine) than about the fact that they wrote a lot of punk rock that rocked, that dug into the crevasses of my brain and shook loose...something. Something I'd not really thought about in a while, until the news of Strummer's death.

And this happened during my own political conversion! Not only do you not have to agree with music to dance to it, or to listen to it until the wee hours and ponder what the song made you think about your own life - you don't have to agree with a political statement for it to affect your own statement.
The Elder, from Fraters Libertas, writes a dissenting opinion on the death of Joe Strummer.
I see this as a good time to make the point that IF I HEAR ONE MORE FUCKING THING ABOUT “IMPORTANT” FUCKING RECORDS I’M GOING TO DRIVE A TELECASTER THROUGH BONO’S MELON!

Am I the only one that does not look for music to be “Important”? I want music that excites my senses—I can’t imagine relaxing with a cocktail and Frank’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers and thinking “Yeah, this is one important record”. Give me groove goddammit. Give me excellent musicians at the peak of their craft. Give me someone who can paint a picture with their words without being overbearing. Give me a vocalist who can convey what they are feeling through their God-given ability to sing in tune and with power. Keep your teenage Take On The World to yourself. Punk is music for teenagers. Hear me adults? Adults USED to listen to adult music but that died with rock n’ roll (of which punk is just an offshoot, not some other genre as it pretends to be…SIDE NOTE: I’d rather listen to every Foghat, Boston and Toto record ever made than to have to sit though one side of a Clash record ).
Read the rest of Elder's piece - it's good.

But there's nothing about "importance" in a record that precludes it having "groove". After all, "importance" is judged among a committee of ofay Rolling Stone writers (or was, 20 years ago); the only arbiter of groove is in my own hypothalamus. In '80, the Clash were underrated musicians at the peak of their rough, snotty craft. And London Calling does groove: the title cut's ominous stompy shuffle, Working for the Clampdown's fearsome tattoo, The Card Cheat's heart-rending climax (Mick Jones' greatest moment), innumerable other moments that had an angry sheen that transcended most of the rest of punk (and I say this as someone who loved punk!) - and behind it all the politics. Yes, the endless, smug Eurotrash-socialist politics that Elder nailed in his screed.

Let's talk about that.

I'll say it here, even though it'll make Joe Strummer spin in his not-yet-occupied grave: The Clash made me a better conservative. Listening to London Calling exposed me to a lot of the tripe and trope that passes for political thought on the left; I could listen to Sandinista and rock out even as I became revolted by the smug, self-satisfied politics. Because it didn't take long to notice that Noam Chomsky's politics weren't a whole lot deeper and better-thought-out than Joe Strummer's doggerel (which was, itself, a whole lot more consistent).

Were the punks a bunch of poseurs, and are rock critics a bunch of wankers with overly-precious opinions borne of hothouse-flower outlooks, and are English punks a bunch of art-school fops with guitars? Does the sun rise? All are givens.

But to be a conservative rock fan is to be an adept filter and to excel at tolerance. I can't accept the politics of a Joe Strummer or a Joey Ramone (who at least shared his band with two conservatives) or Stuart Adamson or even Bruce Springsteen; but I don't like to think about the empty spots that London Calling, The Ramones, Steeltown or The River would leave in my life if they'd never existed.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/26/2002 07:09:53 AM

Christmas in Uniform - Austin Bay writes this excellent piece on the sacrifices our servicepeople make this, and every, Christmas:
The year 2002 ends in crisis, but name a recent year that hasn't? Peace on Earth is a great, empowering hope, but a dim and distant prospect. In our broken world the uneasy quiet that passes for peace anywhere on the planet is usually a lucky concoction, a mix of genuine good will, complex self-interest, mutual economic interest and armed vigilance.

Like it or not, at this point in world history American economic vitality, military vigilance and diplomatic engagement remain central to stabilizing the most threatening geo-political conflicts and promoting peaceful resolution.

There are many people who will say -- with callous accuracy -- that for servicemen and ser-vicewomen hard duty is their job. They signed up to go whenever and wherever they are sent.

That's true. But consider the persistent demands we have made on service members and their families over the last 13 years, the baker's dozen since the end of the Cold War.

Christmas 1989: Operation Just Cause in Panama. Christmas 1990: Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield, prelude to Operation Desert Storm. Christmas 1992: Somalia is on the horizon. Christmas 1993: Somalia, again, and new worries about North Korea. Christmas 1994: The pace of air and naval deployments to the Balkans increases. USAF, Marine and Army reservists reinforce regulars in Panama and Guantanamo to work the Cuban migrant camps. Troops deploy to Kuwait, responding to saber-rattling by Saddam. U.S. troops are also assigned to Macedonia.

Christmas 1995: the Bosnia occupation, which was to last a year but still remains an American duty post. In the background, the Navy continues to enforce the U.N. embargo against Iraq and patrol the Persian Gulf. Fall 1998, the Hurricane Mitch relief operation in Central America, with U.S. forces playing a major role in the relief and recovery effort. Spring 1999, the Kosovo War, which by Christmas 1999 becomes occupation duty. Fall 2001, Afghanistan, the duty station in December 2002 for the 82nd Airborne Division. December 2002, uncertainty on the Korean DMZ as the ramp up for action against Saddam continues.

This list, though incomplete, makes the point.

Anyone who has ever worn a uniform and spent the Christmas holidays guarding the motor pool, flying a mission or dodging bullets cannot help but recognize our soldiers' sacrifice and applaud their commitment.

The personal burden is real. At the moment two friends of mine are deployed in Kuwait. Another recently completed a tour in Afghanistan. A couple of Decembers ago I received a letter from a friend who mentioned that her brother-in-law, an Air Force air rescue pilot, was on his way back to the Balkans. She wrote: "My brother-in-law spends probably 70 percent of the year away from home."

That's a commanding example of service -- service above all else; and it is more than the pilot's service, for his family's sacrifice is an integral part of a war -- or peacekeeping -- effort.

To all my friends in the service overseas - and those ni the reserves waiting to get "mobbed" - the best wishes a grateful American can send.

(via Instapundit)
posted by Mitch Berg 12/26/2002 12:08:43 AM

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

What Next? - In the past year and a half, we've lost
Ben Orr
Joey and Dee Dee Ramone
Warren Zevon (soon)...
George Harrison, although he's the wrong generation
And now, Joe Strummer.

This is getting scary.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/24/2002 11:28:27 PM

Sunday, December 22, 2002

Off We Go - We're heading out to my Dad's place in North Dakota now. (Note to any burglars that prowl the blogosphere: my high school chum Vinnie "Blowtorch and Pliers" Cincinelli is house-sitting, with his four Rottweilers - War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. Don't get ideas). I'll try to post when I'm out there - in the same sense that I'll try to do some work on my laptop - but just in case, I'll give you my greetings now.

So from my daughter Daryll, my son Sam, my cats Nosemarie and Madeline, and yours truly, may you and yours have a wonderful and blessed Christmas, and I'll see you Thursday if not sooner.
posted by Mitch Berg 12/22/2002 12:24:45 PM

Vote Now! - The blog "Little Green Footballs" is running a poll for "the Fiskies" - the first attempt I've seen at a blogosphere-based award.

Vote early and often!
posted by Mitch Berg 12/22/2002 08:39:29 AM

Joyeux Noel - As I wrote a few weeks ago, Thanksgiving is my major holiday, personally - the time when I take stock of the year that's been, and make the little secret plans in the back of my head that'll carry me through til next year.

And Easter is the center of my faith - one of my favorite holidays for purely philosophical reasons (and thus, the holiday whose Hallmark-y aspects most irritate me).

But for all that, I love Christmas. Put me in a gingham skirt and call me pollyanna, but I think I've managed to get to age koff koff forty without succumbing to the wearyl cynical tolerance so much of adult America feels for this holiday. I still step out into the cold, brisk night on Chrismas Eve, hustle the freshly-scrubbed bratlets off to the church, and feel exactly the same sense of glorious wonder that I felt at their ages; the excitement, the sense of rebirth, the crisp air, the smell of wrapping paper and walnuts and the cheap candles at the Christmas Eve candlelight services.

I listen to the people who complain about the grind, the teeth-clenched stress of this holiday - and I sympathize (all too well!) but only to a point. Yeah, money's always a hassle this time of year (especially if the number and cost of presents you buy are an integral part of your self-image) - and yeah, if your family has a "dramatic" history, the holidays are always the end of the third act for the year.

But it's impossible for me to look at the wonder and anticipation on my kids' faces and not get caught up in it all, yet again.

Today, my kids - age 9 and 11 - both stated an eloquent case for Santa's existence. They gathered their evidence, ordered it well, and stated it forcefully - may they do so well in high school debate class - and refuted their more-cynical friends pretty convincingly, I must say. And I thought - in this day and age, when MTV and Nickelodeon and Disney try to train our children to be hip, cynical little consumer-bots, that they can still be so ingenouous - even innocent - is itself a minor miracle, a wondrous, maybe final taste of the early childhood that I'm even now missing in the pit of my gut.

And this week, at Gramma and Grampas, we get more of it - along with my sister and her kids and husband. I can hardly wait.

So - back to blogging for real on Thursday. I may blog a bit in coming days, but in case I don't, have a great holiday. -

posted by Mitch Berg 12/22/2002 03:18:03 AM

Berg's Law of Liberal Iraq Commentary:

In attacking the reasons for war, no liberal commentator is capable of addressing more than one of the justifications at a time; to do so would introduce a context in which their argument can not survive