Interesting article presented by Pro Publica via Twitter this pm, which linked to an Atlantic article about the rather antique Antideficiency Act.
What's different about today's conniptions is that "privatization" of government functions, including the military, wasn't at the great extent it is today, thanks to Republicans from "red states" that have the biggest military bases. They're clearly not making private companies employed by the military and who voted majority Republican very happy.
Gives the phrase "cut off the nose to spite the face" a whole new meaning.
News just now down the pike is that there are some congressional tantrums being thrown about the closing of national parks even though they're not an essential service, just because of what happened with a group of veterans. Apparently those who originally thought we wouldn't miss the government there totally forgot what global attractions they are for people of other nations on holiday, and that the shut down of national parks basically advertise to the world just how bonkers (and myopic) the whole deal is.
It hasn't occurred to politicians worried about "optics" just how big an ass they've made of themselves to the entire planet. Passing a new bill NOW isn't going to undo that. Nor will we find out in a timely manner what every result of every congressional vote is because people that issue updates have noted that their congressional sources have been dismissed for the duration.
Since the time I wrote the above earlier, President Obama appeared for an interview on CNBC to talk about all this in terms of the American economy, and BBC World was right on top of this interview too, noting that global economies are tied to the tanking that the Dow Industrials have been engaged in of late, related to the #shutdown. Republicans have thusfar been presumed the corporation-friendliest party, and yet one of the arguments forwarded by them is a resentment for a corporate exception in the previously-submitted budget bill from the Senate. Are they even considering how their failure to send a riderless clean resolution to the Senate is also jeopardizing the ability of corporations to do business overseas when their overseas business partners have become skeptical of their favorite party's inability to do political business?
Everything that conservatives have ever stood for previously (pro-business, government privatization, etc.) have been shown, under these circumstances, to be complete folly in terms of global leadership. As of the #shutdown, America has abdicated global leadership both politically and economically at this point--who would be stupid enough to follow us now?
DAY THREE:
I note with interest that Obama's speech in Maryland this morning did cover the international implications of this congressional snit but that's not going to undo the damage that's already been done to what little global leadership the U.S. had even after the foolish Iraq invasion, which had already eroded that. Everybody was shocked, but certainly not awed, and what little awe we had then was already dispensed with.
A government that conducts itself in the manner that Congress has, clearly cannot be relied upon by others elsewhere in the world.
And now an NRA-protected lunatic is shooting at the U. S. Capitol. NRA = BFF of organized crime and loonies, not the least of which are the loonies in the House. I hope that the Capitol police haven't been furloughed. Of course the internationals are right on top of it as if the U.S. could do with another hit to its global leadership.
Word up is that the security breach occurred just outside the White House on the side near the Treasury Department (15th St. & Pennsylvania Ave) and via pursuit wound up at the Capitol building. Lockdown is now lifted at this time.
Telegraph--video
Deja vu 1998 incident
Washington Post--reactions of lawmakers
Oh yeah--NOW we forget about Iraq.
Okay, DC incident is over and I'm sure you'll get full details from your usual favorite source of news.
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Monday, September 30, 2013
Celebrating kindred spirits, known and unknown
Jim Bray at his exhibit, "Vanishing Landscapes"
People who share an interest in common are labeled by professionals as "demographics" (yes, they call other things demographics as well, but that's not the point), but people who hear buildings talk aren't of commercial demographic interest, I'm sure, but I see them as special people all the same...
I don't know this guy from Adam and yet a connection was made, via the art. And I know I wasn't alone in that, either. Also in attendance was Tom Boepple, Enid's official greeting card watercolorist. If I remember correctly, Bray was Boepple's instructor many moons ago. I was happy enough to chat with Tom, at least. Not only buildings talk to Tom, I knew, but also old abandoned farm machinery and assorted vintage tin, as it were.
The ever-amiable Tom Boepple & somebody
Actual contact with kindred spirits don't always work out, but this was one that did, and still does. Sorely wish that they all could.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Latest technology renders a prehistoric generation?
Among all the big topics on the talking head programs this weekend was the fact that schools in most states don't require learning cursive handwriting anymore, the excuse being that literacy isn't dependent on that, that keyboarding is the thing to learn in gradeschool.
I'm stepping forward to point out that if Plato had that technology back in his day, we wouldn't have a clue as to who he was, let alone what he wrote, because when technology becomes just two years old, it's perishable, let alone thousands of years. Think about what the term "prehistoric" actually means. As in, history that pre-dates written record.
Just because data is written on silicon, it's not really carved in stone. Picture an archaeologist digging up an ancient personal thumb drive 2000 years from now. Has he discovered the personal letters of some famous person of the past? I'll bet he'll never know.
Related article
The Friday immediately following the date of this post was a day that NHK World ran a story about how the Chinese government expressed similar issues with basic Chinese spelling and it's now periodically running lesson blurbs on China state media, even where it's explaining the root of the nature of Chinese characters, at their basis, hieroglyphic. Hmmm.
November UPDATE: Doris Kearns Goodwin echoed the above sentiment at the 2013 Miami Book Fair International on a panel discussing presidential history (took place on November 24), observing that letters on paper won't exist, by and large, for our current era and therefore it's a lot that's going to be lost to future historians. In another posting regarding the Enid City Council, I did say to Google this and that about stuff that happened just a few years ago, let alone decades ago, and because much of what I wrote back then has been taken off of the Internet by the hosts of those websites, I'm sure nobody can google, say, HuffPo's Off The Bus project prior to the time that HuffPo was sold to AOL. There's a lot that's lost, including my old MySpace blog. Gone. Well, gone off of the Internet, that is. I did make a point of making my own archives of that, but as to the rest? Poof. And Google no longer produces archived (cached) stuff in its searches anymore. It used to.
I'm stepping forward to point out that if Plato had that technology back in his day, we wouldn't have a clue as to who he was, let alone what he wrote, because when technology becomes just two years old, it's perishable, let alone thousands of years. Think about what the term "prehistoric" actually means. As in, history that pre-dates written record.
Just because data is written on silicon, it's not really carved in stone. Picture an archaeologist digging up an ancient personal thumb drive 2000 years from now. Has he discovered the personal letters of some famous person of the past? I'll bet he'll never know.
Related article
The Friday immediately following the date of this post was a day that NHK World ran a story about how the Chinese government expressed similar issues with basic Chinese spelling and it's now periodically running lesson blurbs on China state media, even where it's explaining the root of the nature of Chinese characters, at their basis, hieroglyphic. Hmmm.
November UPDATE: Doris Kearns Goodwin echoed the above sentiment at the 2013 Miami Book Fair International on a panel discussing presidential history (took place on November 24), observing that letters on paper won't exist, by and large, for our current era and therefore it's a lot that's going to be lost to future historians. In another posting regarding the Enid City Council, I did say to Google this and that about stuff that happened just a few years ago, let alone decades ago, and because much of what I wrote back then has been taken off of the Internet by the hosts of those websites, I'm sure nobody can google, say, HuffPo's Off The Bus project prior to the time that HuffPo was sold to AOL. There's a lot that's lost, including my old MySpace blog. Gone. Well, gone off of the Internet, that is. I did make a point of making my own archives of that, but as to the rest? Poof. And Google no longer produces archived (cached) stuff in its searches anymore. It used to.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
B-25 and Springs Fling
Events overtook blogging again with Fling at the Springs, and so put off posting about the vintage B-25 yet again. Fling at the Springs (in the park in Enid named Government Springs) is an annual music event that showcases local talent and is filmed then aired on PEGASYS at a later date. Kind of like what they have been doing with the parade in past weeks to the near exclusion of a lot of other things they usually air.
That's the PEGASYS camera on stage there...
It's a gorgeous park...
...but...I'm overdue posting about what I intended to post about earlier: the Maid in the Shade war bird that was on display at Woodring Airport just outside of Enid.
It kinda had a Studebaker signature. If this had happened in an automobile garage, a person used to be able to say "A Studebaker was here". :)
The last time a vintage warbird was advertised to be on display, the thing got stuck in Kansas and couldn't make it in at all for the entirety of the scheduled display. Ya sorta get a feel for why that is, right here. At least this bird was able to make it in from Arizona. GO ZONIES!
Side window gun...
The cockpit and tail guns were blocked off...
...but that doesn't stop a camera with a good zoom on it...
The view of the tail section...
...and a better shot of the two tail guns...
Friday, September 27, 2013
Limbaugh is a time traveler now. Really?
Last night while I was fixin' to post a blog entry about Maid in the Shade, the antique B-25 currently on display at the Woodring Airport just outside of Enid, The Colbert Report reported that Rush Limbaugh has written a kiddies' book about a time traveling horse he rides under the guise of Rush Revere. I'm sure that last name is something his listener base gave him the impression of, but that's THEIR problem.
For the record, the claim I make as a time traveler does NOT in any way resemble Limbaugh's second childhood fantasies. When I do it, I do it for the purpose of establishing accurate history, not to rewrite it. However, here's another cautionary note to actual historians: time travel is adventure, it's sexy, and you guys are just melba toast by comparison even when you "bring history alive" with your two dimensional presentations. Limbaugh has invented a third dimension--I urge again that you guys shoot for an actual one. Doctor Who has a much bigger avid audience than Doris Kearnes Goodwin. So does Marty McFly, for that matter. Remember that.
Wikia on Time Travel, for what it's worth
My version
What I do--the basics
Speaking of Yahoo Answers, I've found the new changes there to be daunting and so I'm not participating as much in that as I used to. Still there, but not much.
For the record, the claim I make as a time traveler does NOT in any way resemble Limbaugh's second childhood fantasies. When I do it, I do it for the purpose of establishing accurate history, not to rewrite it. However, here's another cautionary note to actual historians: time travel is adventure, it's sexy, and you guys are just melba toast by comparison even when you "bring history alive" with your two dimensional presentations. Limbaugh has invented a third dimension--I urge again that you guys shoot for an actual one. Doctor Who has a much bigger avid audience than Doris Kearnes Goodwin. So does Marty McFly, for that matter. Remember that.
Wikia on Time Travel, for what it's worth
My version
What I do--the basics
Speaking of Yahoo Answers, I've found the new changes there to be daunting and so I'm not participating as much in that as I used to. Still there, but not much.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Iranian developments, new over old
Young folks who find that talks with Iran are actually possible at the UN quite astonishing would do well to review just how western Iran's elders actually are. I should know, because those elders are my contemporaries and I went to school with a few of them when Iran was ruled by a western-backed tyrant named Shah Pahlavi.
Back in that day, Iranian students in the U.S. were numerous, but they were also organized in protest to the Shah. I should know--I joined that protest. It was like a Persian Spring when the Shah was deposed, but what happened to Iran is what Egypt fears happening in its own land now: simply trading one tyrant for another. That wasn't what was supposed to have happened, even by Persian protester standards.
Believe me when I say that I know that what opposition exists in Iran is led by western-schooled Persians that I know enjoyed what freedoms they had in the U.S. and hold that as a high standard, but that includes the freedom to be Muslims--freedom of religion--something the Shah had prohibited. Iran went from one extreme to the other, but here we have before us today is an opportunity to normalize, AND with Iranian support. A different Ayatollah is in charge from the one that took power after the Shah was exiled, and a different president presides. There are Iranian elders that see this as promising.
Let's not blow it, America.
With all the hullabaloo over the #shutdown it seems that the rest of the world's news came to a screeching halt over here. Had to go on Twitter to watch what my Middle East follows were posting. Interestingly enough, Fire Dog Lake posted an interesting take on it, re: Bibi and including Syria. So, what of Netanyahu now that our government doesn't have the money for his big ideas? Hmmmmmm.
I know which party claimed all along that shutting down the government would be a good thing and nobody would notice the difference unless it was an improvement, but I'm sure none of them are members of AIPAC, or the American Jews who were convinced enough by Romney's claim that Republicans were Israel's best friends forever to vote for him in the last presidential election. So--who else is being pissed off by the #shutdown? Republicans in "red states" with military bases because their privatization effort means that civilian support gets the axe first. Thanks for proving that privatization doesn't work well in government, genius. Republican patriots my arse. What they're good at is making Khrushchev look like a prophet by fulfilling his wildest dreams.
Sorry I haven't written an update on this topic although one is called for after recent P5 talks with Iran. Another meeting is scheduled and it's too soon to comment further, although I will when the situation develops into something in less fluctuation than is the case currently. By all means, stay tuned.
Back in that day, Iranian students in the U.S. were numerous, but they were also organized in protest to the Shah. I should know--I joined that protest. It was like a Persian Spring when the Shah was deposed, but what happened to Iran is what Egypt fears happening in its own land now: simply trading one tyrant for another. That wasn't what was supposed to have happened, even by Persian protester standards.
Believe me when I say that I know that what opposition exists in Iran is led by western-schooled Persians that I know enjoyed what freedoms they had in the U.S. and hold that as a high standard, but that includes the freedom to be Muslims--freedom of religion--something the Shah had prohibited. Iran went from one extreme to the other, but here we have before us today is an opportunity to normalize, AND with Iranian support. A different Ayatollah is in charge from the one that took power after the Shah was exiled, and a different president presides. There are Iranian elders that see this as promising.
Let's not blow it, America.
That was CAIF in the late 1970s. Today's CAIF
A gal representing the IRIB on Facebook has more than just a page representing Iran Radio on shortwave now, and has invited me to like all of those pages. I did, mainly to keep a closer eye on where official Iran is at on various topics.
Iran English Radio Blog on Facebook
Media Blind Spot Facebook Page
Save Palestine on Facebook
A gal representing the IRIB on Facebook has more than just a page representing Iran Radio on shortwave now, and has invited me to like all of those pages. I did, mainly to keep a closer eye on where official Iran is at on various topics.
Iran English Radio Blog on Facebook
Media Blind Spot Facebook Page
Save Palestine on Facebook
With all the hullabaloo over the #shutdown it seems that the rest of the world's news came to a screeching halt over here. Had to go on Twitter to watch what my Middle East follows were posting. Interestingly enough, Fire Dog Lake posted an interesting take on it, re: Bibi and including Syria. So, what of Netanyahu now that our government doesn't have the money for his big ideas? Hmmmmmm.
I know which party claimed all along that shutting down the government would be a good thing and nobody would notice the difference unless it was an improvement, but I'm sure none of them are members of AIPAC, or the American Jews who were convinced enough by Romney's claim that Republicans were Israel's best friends forever to vote for him in the last presidential election. So--who else is being pissed off by the #shutdown? Republicans in "red states" with military bases because their privatization effort means that civilian support gets the axe first. Thanks for proving that privatization doesn't work well in government, genius. Republican patriots my arse. What they're good at is making Khrushchev look like a prophet by fulfilling his wildest dreams.
Sorry I haven't written an update on this topic although one is called for after recent P5 talks with Iran. Another meeting is scheduled and it's too soon to comment further, although I will when the situation develops into something in less fluctuation than is the case currently. By all means, stay tuned.
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