:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Friday, September 17, 2004 ::

Gaba gaba hey...

Yahoo! News - Johnny Ramone of 'The Ramones' Dies at 55:

"Johnny Ramone, guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band 'The Ramones' that influenced a generation of rockers, has died."

I still remember my first Ramones show. It was at Big Day Out in Atlanta. I was 15. They played unbelievably fast. I ran around. It was fun.

:: Jim Nichols 9/17/2004 11:44:00 PM [+] ::
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AP Wire | 09/16/2004 | Laura Bush brings campaign to hopeful Republicans:

"'I'm here to support Mrs. Bush and President Bush,' Sweetapple said. 'I support them because they're pro-life. I respect what they do and they are born-again Christians.'"

That about sums up most peoples support for Bush.

:: Jim Nichols 9/17/2004 11:34:00 PM [+] ::
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You know you're getting old when

A girl at school had a New York Dolls shirt on. I commented nice shirt to which she replied "oh whats it mean?" She had never heard of the band, I can only wonder what the shirt meant to her.

:: Jim Nichols 9/17/2004 07:19:00 PM [+] ::
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Could it be God?
Australia Fights Biggest Locust Plague in Decades:

" Australia has started battling its biggest plague of locusts in decades as billions of the insects hatch along a wide front covering much of the country's central east region. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/17/2004 06:59:00 PM [+] ::
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Human ingenuity Deaf Kids in Nicaragua Give Birth to New Language:

"Deaf children thrown together in a school in Nicaragua without any type of formal instruction invented their own sign language -- a sophisticated system that has evolved and grown, researchers reported on Friday.

Their observations show that children, not adults, are key to the evolution and development of language, the researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/17/2004 06:56:00 PM [+] ::
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Minnesota Poll: Bush inches up on Kerry:

"On the eve of President Bush's bus tour across Minnesota, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows him potentially gaining ground on challenger John Kerry in what has long been a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections.

The poll, conducted Sept. 7-13, found that Kerry has the support of 50 percent of likely voters in Minnesota, while Bush has the support of 41 percent.

The president's support has increased by 3 percentage points from the level he had in March, the last time the Minnesota Poll measured support for the candidates, while Kerry's support remained unchanged."

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 09:49:00 PM [+] ::
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BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Bush and Kerry battle over science:

"The leading international science journal Nature has focussed the US presidential election campaign on science by asking both President George Bush and Senator John Kerry for their views on the major issues."

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 09:46:00 PM [+] ::
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BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US blasts Saudi 'religious curbs':

"In an unusual public rebuke, the US State Department put its key Arab ally on a list of states causing particular concern over freedom to worship.

According to its annual report, freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia does not exist either in practice or in law. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 09:43:00 PM [+] ::
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BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Iraq war illegal, says Annan:

"The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the BBC the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter"

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 09:42:00 PM [+] ::
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The New York Times > Washington > The Reconstruction: U.S. Intelligence Shows Pessimism on Iraq's Future:

"A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq, government officials said Wednesday.

The estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 09:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Eschaton:

"CBS and Dan Rather have their problems which they're going to have to sort out, but as anonymous reminds us in comments, this is the key point:

Q Scott, on the National Guard documents on '60 Minutes,' the First Lady says she believes these are forgeries. The RNC has accused the Democratic Party of being the source of these documents. Knowing then what you know now, would you still have released those documents when you did?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, that's a hypothetical question, John. We received those documents from a major news organization. We had every reason to believe that they were authentic at that time.

If the basic thrust of the memos was false - if, say, Bush came forward and said 'Hey, wait a minute! Those can't be real! I never disobeyed a direct order...' then why would our dear Scotty say such a thing?

And, yes, trolls, if the documents are proven to be forgeries than Rather and CBS will have major egg on face, and they'll get their punishment like the Bush administration did when they fell for forged documents recently. And, yes, if they're proven to be forgeries, then whoever passed them to CBS, at least if they *knew* they were forged, should be outed.

But, none of that changes the fact that as Scotty said, they 'had every reason to believe that they were authentic at that time.'"

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 09:32:00 PM [+] ::
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The problem with blogging through a hurricane (here .... http://weatherbug.blogs.com/, and here... http://redcoyote.blogspot.com/ ) is the power goes out and you can't give people any updates...

Will be interesting to see how long it takes people to get back online...

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 08:58:00 PM [+] ::
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Watch the wind blow

I've been watching the hurricane coverage. I don't know why I find it so fascinating. Maybe because they are talking about a place I usually go to every summer. I love that area of the country. The Red Neck Riviera. The armpit of the south.

update: If there is a curfew why is the media allowed out in it?

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 08:42:00 PM [+] ::
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The Role of Blogs in the world
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: September 12, 2004 - September 18, 2004 Archives:

"Whenever I get interviewed about blogs I'm always asked whether I think blogs will replace the conventional media or whether they're in competition with it. The question always strikes me as ridiculous since most of what blogs do feeds off of newspaper coverage -- either criticizing coverage, expanding on coverage, running with stories that aren't getting much attention and so forth.

That's not to say blogs aren't important, only that they're in a synergistic or interdependent relationship with the conventional media. That means newspapers and even more the investigative journalism done by newspapers and magazines. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 08:12:00 PM [+] ::
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Don't think you'll hear this from Bush

Edwards: No Military Draft if Dems Win:

"Vice presidential candidate John Edwards promised a West Virginia mother on Wednesday that if the Democratic ticket is elected in November the military draft would not be revived.

During a question-and-answer session, the mother of a 23-year-old who recently graduated from West Virginia University asked Edwards whether the draft would be reinstated.

'There will be no draft when John Kerry is president,' Edwards said, a statement that drew a standing ovation."

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 08:04:00 PM [+] ::
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The Official Blog of CBS
I haven't been keeping up with the story but this is funny...

Making Shit Up:

"Welcome!
You talked, we listened!

We learned a lot about the Blogosphere this week and, as they old saying goes ... if you can't beat 'em -- join 'em!

CBS News is happy to join the world of blogging with our new blog:

"

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 05:59:00 PM [+] ::
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The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > Kerry Sharply Criticizes Bush's Record on the Economy:

"In a tough-worded, focused attack, Senator John Kerry lashed out at the Bush administration today over tax policy, jobs, the economy and health care."

Now this is the Kerry I like to see...

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 05:08:00 PM [+] ::
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People on Mars Possible in 20 to 30 Years:

"People could land on Mars in the next 20 to 30 years provided scientists can find water on the red planet, the head of NASA's surface exploration mission said on Wednesday. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 05:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Bush, Kerry to Finalize Debate Plans:

"The co-chairmen of the nonpartisan presidential debate commission told representatives for President Bush and Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday that they must act immediately to finalize details for the debates, the first scheduled in just over two weeks. "

So does anybody think Bush will pull out of one of the debates? I think they've been holding off to see if his convention bounce would be big enough for him to squeeze through doing only two debates. But I don't think his lead is big enough, he'll take a huge hit for skipping out on a debate. I'd guess around 2-4 percentage points.

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 04:56:00 PM [+] ::
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The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > Vote Drives Gain Avid Attention of Youth in '04:

"After dismal turnout by young voters in 2000, surveys this year show that interest in the election among the young is near the highest level it has reached at any time since 18- to 20-year-olds were given the vote in 1972. And state election officials say registration of new young voters is coming in at levels they have not seen in years.

Polls in the spring and summer from the Harvard Institute of Politics, the Pew Research Center and MTV all found that young people say they plan to vote at a rate that will far eclipse the low-water mark of four years ago. The pool of potential young voters is substantial - about 40.6 million Americans ages 18 to 29, or one in five eligible voters, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or Circle, a nonprofit research group that has concentrated on the youth vote.

'This is a bigger group than 50- to 65-year-olds,' said Carrie Donovan, the youth director at Circle, which is based at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts and Carnegie Corporation of New York. 'It seems like so much of it is influenced by the kind of buzz that's out there, and this year, there's a real buzz.'"

I've never understood the young people = apathy perspective. But then again my friends and I have always been political.

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 09:34:00 AM [+] ::
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New poll shows Bush bounce fading | csmonitor.com:

"More than a week after the Republican National Convention - and in the wake of new questions about President Bush's National Guard service - the race for the White House is once again tightening, just as pollsters and strategists for both campaigns had predicted it would. "

A new Monitor/TIPP poll finds Mr. Bush and Sen. John Kerry currently tied among likely voters nationwide, with each receiving 47 percent of the vote in a two-man race, and each receiving 46 percent when independent candidate Ralph Nader is added to the ballot. The poll of 674 likely voters was conducted Sept. 7-12, and has a margin of error of 4 percent.

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 01:26:00 AM [+] ::
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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Sharon hints that Arafat may be killed:

"Ariel Sharon has threatened that Yasser Arafat will meet the same fate as Hamas leaders who were assassinated earlier this year by the Israeli military.

In ambiguous comments to Israeli newspapers to mark the Jewish new year, the prime minister said he intends to force the Palestinian leader into exile. But he also hinted that Mr Arafat might be killed. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 01:23:00 AM [+] ::
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Save Wonderfalls

Looks like Wonderfalls will be coming out on DVD this december. They only showed three of the episodes before it got cancelled. I'll probably check out the DVD, the show was pretty good. Of coarse it doesn't beat Gilmore Girls, but lets be honest, what does?

:: Jim Nichols 9/15/2004 01:08:00 AM [+] ::
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Survey: Spend More on Health Care for Aged and Kids:

"Most Americans do not feel that children or the elderly are getting adequate health care and a clear majority feel it is the government's job to pay for it, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Men and women, Republicans, Democrats and independents alike, agree that the government needs to spend more not only to care for poor children and old people, but all children and old people, the survey found. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/14/2004 09:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Schroeder Won't Drop Equality Aim for East Germans
International News Article Reuters.com:

"The German government will stick to its disputed goal of raising living standards in the formerly communist east to western levels despite the spiraling costs, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Tuesday. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/14/2004 09:24:00 PM [+] ::
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The Washington Monthly:

"Despite the best efforts of conservatives to scare everyone under 30 into thinking that Social Security is doomed, it's actually in fine shape. It's going to need some modest tax increases and some modest benefit reductions starting in about a decade, but that's it. People who suggest otherwise are either ignorant of the underlying numbers or else motivated by an ideological dislike of government programs for its own sake. A concern with providing stable pensions for the elderly doesn't seem to play a role."

:: Jim Nichols 9/14/2004 07:32:00 PM [+] ::
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From Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond...

"chiefdoms introduced the dilemma fundamental to all centrally governed, nonegalitarian societies. At best, they do good by providing expensive services impossible to contract for on an individual basis. At worst, they function unabashedly as kleptocracies, transferring net wealth from commoners to upper classes."

He also notes the 4 rules Kleptocrats use to gain support from the populace

1. Disarm the populace and arm the elite.

2. Make the masses happy by redistributing much of the tribute received, in popular ways.

3. Use the monopoly of force to promote happiness, by maintaining public order and curbing violence.

4. Construct an ideology or religion justifying kleptocracy.

Chiefdoms characteristically have an ideology, precursor to an instituionalized religion, that buttresses the chief's authority. The chief may either combine the offices of political leader and priest in a single person, or may support a separate group of lkeptocrats (that is, priests) whose function is to provide ideological justification for the chiefs. that is why chiefdoms devote so much collected tribute to constructing temples and other public works, which serve as centers of the official religion and visible signs of the chief's power.

Is the Bush administration a Kelptocracy? Are the tax cuts a popular way to redistribute tribute? Is the philosophy of preemption an attempt an attempt to maintain public order? Is terrorism an ideology justifying the Kleptocracy?

:: Jim Nichols 9/14/2004 01:33:00 AM [+] ::
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Volume 2

Just watched Kill Bill Vol. 2. You know I didn't really like the first one too much. I thought this one was a little better but not much better. Actually let me take that back, as I'm writing this I'm really wondering which one I liked better. They are both pretty films. Quentin Tarantino does know how to shoot a movie. And some of his one-liners are great. I don't know maybe I should sleep on it. I saw the first Kill Bill because I was on a Martial Arts kick, ever since I started taking Kung Fu I have been checking out Martial Arts films. Anyways I don't know what else to say about Kill Bill tonight. Maybe I'll feel more inspired to write more in the morning; more inspired than simply saying "it was pretty" but really thats about all I can say.

:: Jim Nichols 9/14/2004 01:05:00 AM [+] ::
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KnowItNow

Cutting edge technology at work for the everyone... as long as you live in Ohio

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 09:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Science News Article | Reuters.com:

"A stroke that robbed a woman of her dreams may help pinpoint where and how dreams are born in the brain, scientists said on Friday.
They found the stroke had damaged areas deep in the back half of the brain, which is involved in the visual processing of faces and landmarks.
Writing in the Annals of Neurology, they said the finding suggests that this area was crucial for dreams.

'How dreams are generated, and what purpose they might serve, are completely open questions at this point,' said Dr. Claudio Bassetti, a neurologist at the University Hospital of Zurich in Switzerland, in a statement. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 09:16:00 PM [+] ::
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Trash talk trumping policy talk | csmonitor.com:

"'Bush wins in the war on terrorism, and loses on everything else. But Kerry is off his game.... If Kerry can get it back to the economy and healthcare and stem-cell research, he wins. But he has to get his footing.'"

Amen...

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 09:13:00 PM [+] ::
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Looking for the great leap forwardGuardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Revive union festivals, say Benn and Bragg:

"Tony Benn and Billy Bragg joined together today at the TUC conference in a bid to revive traditional trade union events such as the Durham Miners' Gala."

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 09:04:00 PM [+] ::
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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Roll out the barrels:

"Simon Jeffery offers a rundown of the weapons that can legally be sold in the US again from today "

This is the best article I've seen on the issue so far today...

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 09:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - $3 Trillion Price Tag Left Out As Bush Details His Agenda:

"The expansive agenda President Bush laid out at the Republican National Convention was missing a price tag, but administration figures show the total is likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion over a decade. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 08:20:00 PM [+] ::
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California Insider - Single payer blues

Over at California insider Daniel Weintraub takes a shot at Single Payer Health care. But if you read between the lines you'll see the attack comes up short. Go read the article in the times Canada Looks for Ways to Fix Its Health Care System
It states that

The government statistical agency estimates that more than 3.6 million Canadians, representing nearly 15 percent of the population, do not have a family doctor. That remains better than in the United States, where an estimated 20 percent do not have a regular doctor.

So yes Canada is having problems but our problems are far worse.

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 06:43:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Study: Racial Profiling a Growing Problem:

"Authorities' targeting of people because of their racial background or religious affiliation is a deep-rooted problem in the United States, with nearly 32 million people reporting they've been racially profiled, a human rights group said Monday.

The report by Amnesty International USA also said at least 87 million people- one in three-- in the United States are at high risk of being victimized because they belong to a racial, ethnic or religious group whose members are commonly targeted by police for unlawful stops and searches. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 04:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Something You Can't Do in California...:

"Having sex with corpses is now officially illegal in California after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill barring necrophilia, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

The new legislation marks the culmination of a two-year drive to outlaw necrophilia in the state and will help prosecutors who have been stymied by the lack of an official ban on the practice, according to experts."

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 04:42:00 PM [+] ::
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The New York Times > Books > Sunday Book Review > 'I'll Be Your Mirror': The Art of the Interview:

"In the end, what comes through in ''I'll Be Your Mirror'' is a special kind of resoluteness, Warhol's remarkable and admirable poise. Though he was a churchgoing Roman Catholic, he lived without God, without ideals or aspirations. Abstractions meant nothing to him. Existence was the here and now. Warhol's world was a landscape out of Samuel Beckett, cold and desolate. Art for him wasn't a transformative endeavor but merely ''something to do,'' a way to pass time. ''Why do people buy your art?'' he was asked. ''I don't know,'' he answered. His passivity mystified people. He in turn was mystified by them. How could they maintain their illusions, go on telling lies to themselves to give meaning to their lives? He was as tough-minded as the bleakest existentialist; Danto calls him the ''closest to a philosophical genius of any 20th-century artist.'' Warhol explained his outlook this way: ''I always had this philosophy of: 'It really doesn't matter.' '' And in an interview with Roman Polanski (not included in this volume), he elaborated: ''People make such a big thing out of living and it really isn't that important. . . . You go to bed at night and you fall asleep and it's all over. Then you wake up the next day and you have to start all over again.'' "

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 01:10:00 AM [+] ::
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TIME.com: "I've Been in Worse Situations" -- Sep. 20, 2004:

"America is not as safe as we ought to be after 9/11. We can do a better job at homeland security. I can fight a more effective war on terror. The standard of living for the average American has gone down. People's incomes have dropped. Five million Americans have lost their health insurance. The deficit is the largest it's been in the history of this country. They're taking money from Social Security and transferring it to the wealthiest people in America to drive us into debt. They're shredding alliances around the world with people we have traditionally been able to rely on. That's what bothers me. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/13/2004 12:43:00 AM [+] ::
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Calling all QWERTY typists.

The QWERTY keyboard layout was designed to force typists to type as slowly as possible, scattering the commonest letters over all keyboard rows. The reasoning was that typewriters in the 1870's jammed if adjacent keys were struck in quick suscession so manufacturers were trying to slow down typists. After they solved the jamming problem in the 1930's the QWERTY keyboard was too entrenched to ever change to something more efficient.

:: Jim Nichols 9/12/2004 07:57:00 PM [+] ::
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The Fall dance...

The New York Times has the down low on upcoming albums. Some of the highlights: Green Day is doing a rock opera. Tom Waits, REM, and Elvis Costello for you purist. Le Tigre, Chicks on Speed, and the last Elliot Smith recording for you indie dorks. Gwen Stefani's solo album, Beck, and Eminem you can file under pop icons. And System of a Down in December rounds out the only stuff i'm interested in. And like always i'm sure to find something new to tempt my palate.

:: Jim Nichols 9/12/2004 05:10:00 PM [+] ::
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Marginal Revolution: The Economists' Voice:

"We--that is, Joe Stiglitz, Aaron Edlin, and I [Brad DeLong]--aim to start an online publication, The Economists' Voice, to be 'published' by Berkeley Economic Press, to try to remedy this situation. The two youngest of us are confident that we have a very good chance of succeeding. Our confidence is based on one fact: Joe Stiglitz thinks that this will work, and his judgment in this area is very good, as is shown by the remarkable success of the Journal of Economic Perspectives which has greatly increased the flow of information across the subfields of economics, and done a remarkable job of welding the American Economic Association into a stronger intellectual community.
The Economists' Voice will aim for pieces longer than an op-ed and shorter than (and much more readable than) a piece for a standard journal. We thus avoid the op-ed problem--the problem that op-ed space is too short for an argument, and only provides space to be shrill. But we also hope to stay short enough to be readable, and understandable. And we will aim for quick turnaround--days rather than the years of journals.
The level will be non-technical but sophisticated: perhaps what one expects to read in the Financial Times and the news pages of the Wall Street or National Journal, or perhaps a notch above. The aim will be to provide an economist's argument and point of view on some salient and interesting issue: a survey of something interesting happening in the economy, or a call for some change in policy or institutions--which would consist of a review of what the principal important factors are, what the objective function is, what the constraints are, why the objective function is maximized at the particular set of policies or institutional arrangements that the author prefers.
We "

Could be interesting

:: Jim Nichols 9/12/2004 05:16:00 AM [+] ::
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Size of Battleground May Be Smaller Than Expected (washingtonpost.com):

"The Kerry campaign and Democratic Party officials face difficult choices in the coming days involving the allocation of millions of dollars of television ads and the concentration of campaign workers as they decide whether to concede some states to Bush that they earlier hoped to turn into battlegrounds. Bush may have to do the same but on a more limited scale. "

:: Jim Nichols 9/12/2004 05:07:00 AM [+] ::
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UA study suggests people reminded of 9/11 support Bush:

"Worried about another Sept. 11-style attack?

Then you might need a little George W. Bush in your life, a new University of Arizona study suggests."

:: Jim Nichols 9/12/2004 04:29:00 AM [+] ::
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