George Takei is a very funny fellow

"We will disrupt their workday with a mildly offensive blinking light! DEATH TO AMERICA!"

College Humor has the exclusive video of the plot to terrorize Boston with Aqua Teen Hunger Force advertising.

One Laptop Per Child Program to Launch Test Machines Next Month

The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)program was founded by Nicholas Negroponte with the objective of providing laptop computers to children in the developing world at a cost of around $100 per computer. It's an ambitious goal with a number of pretty obvious challenges. What they've come up with for their test machine is pretty interesting and perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the software that was designed for it. I can imagine that educators in the developed world will be very interested in taking a look at it too.

Here's a picture of the test machine:


Link to the demo here.

The laptop runs on a linux based operating system that was designed especially for this program. It features a simple interface and some nifty features that allow students to collaborate on projects and view web sites as a group, with real time commenting and discussion. This software looks like it could be a useful tool for lots of educational environments and especially so for distance learning in situations where transportation and availability of educational facilities are limited. For more information on this interesting program, including how you can become involved as a developer or financially, check out their site.

Presidential Ticket Quiz

Taking a tip from Southwest Progress, I took the Presidential Ticket Quiz over at Blue Pyramid. Here are my results:

You're Nader-Ventura!


As Ralph Nader, you are a profound and prolific standard of non-conformism. You are
utterly unafraid, strong in your convictions, and unashamed of your actions. You have been
accused of being a bit egotistical and have an utterly dull social demeanor, but this should
not detract from your strengths as a fire-starter. You like creating groups and then discarding
them, as well as being a lone voice of reason in a horrifyingly bleak atmosphere. Above all,
you have a very clean nose.

You select Jesse Ventura as your running mate, just in case the Vice Presidential
debate is replaced by a grudge match.


Take the 2008 Presidential Ticket Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Good god! Nader/Ventura? I really need to rethink my politics. :-P

The subject of protest marches and rallies has come up a few times today, both on blogs and in conversation. It always brings me back to this terrific Matt Taibbi column from 2004. The whole piece is great, but this section sums the whole thing up nicely:

That's why the one thing that would have really shaken Middle America last week wasn't "creativity." It was something else: uniforms. Three hundred thousand people banging bongos and dressed like extras in an Oliver Stone movie scares no one in America. But 300,000 people in slacks and white button-down shirts, marching mute and angry in the direction of Your Town, would have instantly necessitated a new cabinet-level domestic security agency.

Why? Because 300,000 people who are capable of showing the unity and discipline to dress alike are also capable of doing more than just march. Which is important, because marching, as we have seen in the last few years, has been rendered basically useless. Before the war, Washington and New York saw the largest protests this country has seen since the '60s – and this not only did not stop the war, it didn't even motivate the opposition political party to nominate an anti-war candidate.

There was a time when mass protests were enough to cause Johnson to give up the Oval Office and cause Richard Nixon to spend his nights staring out his window in panic. No more. We have a different media now, different and more sophisticated law enforcement techniques and, most importantly, a different brand of protester.

Protests can now be ignored because our media has learned how to dismiss them, because our police know how to contain them, and because our leaders now know that once a protest is peacefully held and concluded, the protesters simply go home and sit on their asses until the next protest or the next election. They are not going to go home and bomb draft offices, take over campuses, riot in the streets. Instead, although there are many earnest, involved political activists among them, the majority will simply go back to their lives, surf the net and wait for the ballot. Which to our leaders means that, in most cases, if you allow a protest to happen... Nothing happens.

Troop Surge

"Interestingly enough, one administration official admitted to us today that this surge option is more of a political decision than a military one because the American people have run out of patience and President Bush is running out of time to achieve some kind of success in Iraq. While this plan will clearly draw some stiff opposition on Capitol Hill, the president is expected to announce it a week from today," - NBC's Jim Miklaszewski, on the reasoning behind the new Iraq "strategy."

Remember this the next time you hear President Bush talk about how much he cares about the lives (and lost lives) of American troops.

(emphasis added by me)
h/t to Andrew Sullivan for the quote.

Make It Stop

Transcript here...

365 Days

A sidewalk chalk shrine made by neighborhhod kids decorates the steps on the front porch of the Harvey family house. (Dec. 29, 2006) ERIC DAVIS/TIMES-DISPATCH

One year ago many Richmonders had their whole world view shaken right down to the roots at the news of the murders of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey in their home, on New Year's Day. Throughout this past year there have been a number of milestones, both beautiful and horrific, that have marked the path through these 365 days. I think the trials were hardest for me personally. As each one passed I felt myself let out a sigh of relief. A little bit of the weight comes off with each one.

I don't know if I'm the only one who saw January 1st looming ahead somewhat menacingly. Another marker in the road...but maybe the last of the really hard ones. It's been one year since that terrible day and I am so proud of Carytown for ringing this day in right. Rather than allow New Year's Day to lurk as the dark anniversary of terrible loss, the merchants chose to throw a great party (benefiting the Harvey Foundation and The Byrd Theater). Kudos to Carytown for choosing to banish the boogymen and reclaim New Year's Day for optimism, fun, and thoughts of the future. It's the right way to remember them well.

Update:
Another good article in the T.D. about the NYE festivities in Carytown.

It was as if Richmond-area residents wanted a massive dose of togetherness and harmony to end a crazy and violent year that began with the New Year's Day massacre of the Harvey family, said Todd Schall-Vess, manager of the Byrd Theatre and the man who designed and built the ball.

Kathryn Harvey operated the World Of Mirth shop in one of the blocks anchoring the street party.

"We really -- more than a lot of years past -- needed a point to say, 'This is where it starts over,'" Schall-Vess said. "This is where we start anew again."

More here...

Water, Water, Everywhere...

For residents of north Richmond, a day's worth of torrential rain can only mean one thing...




















..Battery Park is flooded again.

Happy friggin' New Year. :/

The 10 Most Outrageous Civil Liberties Violations of 2006.

Slate has the list.

Opponents and Enemies

Over the last week or so I've watched a controversy erupt within the Virginia community of political bloggers. It involved an owner of a Virginia political blogs aggregator deciding to remove a blog in order to remove an offensive image (a terrorist propaganda photo of a beheaded American man) posted on that blog from his aggregator. What followed was a drama that reflected what I consider to be a troubling trend in politics and political discourse in general over the last decade - decade and a half. People seem unable to distinguish the difference between an opponent and an enemy. In this particular case, nearly all of the people involved in that controversy are obviously Virginians who care about their state, their community, and their country. They wouldn't be bothering to blog about politics if they didn't care. They are people who all care about the same things yet disagree about how to approach political issues. Yet some participants in that controversy began to speak in terms of their political opponents as "the enemy" and using military jargon to describe their own behavior toward "the enemy".
Where did people lose the capability to distinguish between a real enemy and a political/ideological opponent?

Talk radio and trashy cable news channels, with all the hours that they have to fill, have created programming that has encouraged this way of viewing political differences, certainly. As have some columnists and web sites and, of course, blogs.

It gratified me to see that there were many observers and participants in that particular tiff that did seem to recognize that there are deeper and more important things we all have in common that transcend political, religious, or ideological differences. However, I was troubled by the few folks that didn't see that and by the tactics and pressure they applied to their ideological and political brethren to try to pressure them into taking up the same extreme position of viewing their political opponents as enemies. When it really counts, will these people be able to figure out the difference?

"It's A Wonderful Life" maligned as 'commie propaganda' by the FBI

Wisebread has the details, including the original FBI memo from 1947.

'It's A Wonderful Life' has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Yes, it's sappy, yes, it's played over and over, year after year, but for me it never loses its charm. I think its message just gets more and more relevant every year. However, I'm not at all surprised to learn that it was despised by people obsessed with free market capitalism and eat up with suspicions of commies hiding under every bed. It is a film that glorifies the virtues of the working man and disdains greed and materialism.

Why?

I've spent the last two weeks or so listening to the various "smart people" in Washington discussing the idea of a troop 'surge' in Iraq, ostensibly for the purpose of 'fixing' things there. What's been driving me nuts about this debate is that none of the people who are advocating this increase in troop levels will explain WHY they think it would be helpful.

Even the folks who are advocating this surge just for the purpose of intensifying training for Iraqi military and police seem to be ducking serious questions on this issue. How will more US troops working to improve the skills of the Iraqi army address what might be the most serious problem affecting the Iraqi military and police: the obviously deep infiltration of sectarian and political militia within the ranks of the Iraqi forces?

Why would 20,000-50,000 more troops make things any better there? How would such and increase in troop levels address any of the REAL problems that are undermining security and stability there?

Baghdad ER

I managed to catch HBO's excellent documentary about the 86th CaSH (Combat Support Hospital) in Baghdad this past week. HBO will be airing it in prime time again on Memorial Day. I can't say enough good things about this program. I think it's important for Americans to see it, if for no other reason than to see the amazingly skilled and dedicated people (volunteers) that are keeping the number US war dead much lower than it could be (remember, nearly 18,000 US service persons have been injured). Thanks to the medical staff at the CaSH, the US has a higher survival rate for injured soldiers than in any previous war.

I think it's also important for us in the US to remind ourselves about the realities of war. It's not glorious and noble adventure. It's not nifty videos of "surgical strikes" that are released to CNN for our amusement. It's blood and guts. It's kids getting their asses blown off. And it's the shocked, blank expressions on their faces as they wonder what the hell happened to them.

Update*
Fresh Air's Terri gross interviewed Baghdad ER filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill on Monday. You can listen to it here.

Memorial Day Weekend

Don't forget to take a moment to think about the men and women who will never come home, and those who will come home but will never be whole again:

2,400 killed
17,774 wounded

ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH

by Wilford Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in The hands of boys but in their eyes
Shall shine The holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Empty Spaces

Fan District residents know that today was the Strawberry Street Festival. This event is a lot of fun for the neighborhood and the kids who attend Fox Elementary School (which benefits from much of the proceeds). This year we are missing some good people. Bryan and Kathy Harvey and their daughters aren't here this year. Kathy had organized the games at the festival for the past couple of years. Bryan used to help with the week long run-up to the event, doing his goofy Elvis impersonation act, which he would perform for the kids as they made their way to their classrooms in the morning. Obviously, Stella was a student here. She's gone too. No doubt her pals are thinking about the empty space she's left behind. Their absence is hard to miss.

This year the proceeds from the children's games and activities were donated to the Harvey Family Memorial Fund. More info on that is available here.

WTF?!

So however many millions have been spent on an investigation into the Plame leak, one reporter was jailed, others were threatened with the same, a White House staffer is under indictment and Bush could have spared all of this by simply stating that he, himself, had authorized this leak of information? Do I have this right? In all of the coverage/discussion that I've seen and heard on this most recently revealed element of the Plame story I have yet to hear anyone point this out. Bush could have simply come forward with this fact from the very beginning. Instead, he apparently decided to lie and pretend that he had no idea how this information become public. Is this not a relevent aspect of the story?

Nuthin' to see here...

Blogging will be very light for the next couple of weeks. We just bought a house and will be indulging in the delicious experience known as 'moving'. I'll be busy schlepping heavy things in and out of trucks and attempting to talk some poor soul into helping me remove that massive stump at the rear of my back yard.

Holy crap...

This could be the spark that sets off the long threatening civil war that's been percolating for a couple of years now in Iraq:

In Iraq, bombing sparks fears of more violence

Today's bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, Iraq, has renewed fears of an escalation in violence between the country's Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities. Protests erupted in Samarra (photo) and elsewhere around Iraq, while some Shiite leaders appealed for calm while others promised retribution. President Bush has condemned the bombing and urged Iraqis to "exercise restraint" in responding to it. Here's a roundup of the latest news:

and...

Update at 5:55 p.m.ET: Three imams were killed as Shiite gunmen attacked 27 Sunni mosques.

- Al Jazeera reports that Shiite leaders in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood "called for demonstrations against the blast." The Arab network also gives this background on the shrine that was attacked: "The shrine contains the tombs of two revered (Shiite) imams, both descendants of the prophet Mohammed. ... An attack at such an important religious shrine would constitute a grave assault" on Shiites.

And more here.

Drinking Liberally in Richmond, VA

Don't forget, Drinking Liberally (hosted by Richmond's own J.C Wilmore) is this Thursday (February 23), 7-9pm at Richbrau Brewing Co. 1214 E. Cary St. Join Richmond's 'Drinking Liberally' mailing list here. More info on 'Drinking Liberally' here.