Okay, now what?

Hi there Democrats. How’s the hangover? Feel up to speed yet? Good.

The honeymoon is over.

Get to work.

You now control both houses of Congress, and you don’t have any excuses anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Conservatives still control two of the three branches of government. Heck, if you include the mainstream media, they are three-for-four, but NO WHINING! You can no longer claim that you’re sitting on the bench. You’re back in the game, and you need to get in there and make things happen. Make what things happen? As you get older, you realize you need to start making lists. Here’s a dozen things for the Dems to keep in mind as 110th Congress gets ready to roll.

1) Remember: You didn’t win. The Republicans lost. As any sport fan knows, there’s a big difference between getting beat and losing. As a Detroit Tigers fan this year I know that difference all too well. The Cardinals didn’t beat the Tigers in the World Series. The Tigers lost it. How it happened doesn’t change the outcome, but it does change how the losing side reacts. The Tigers will come back next year with real fire and hunger. So will the Republicans. Guess what Democrats, you better be prepared because you are in for a fight.

2) Keep your nose clean. If you trust exit polls, one of the most important issues to voters last week was government corruption. It was a big part of why the Republicans took charge of Congress twelve years ago, and it’s why the Democrats are back in charge now. The Dems will justly find themselves out on their collective ass (forgive the pun) in two years if they let themselves feed off the trough too much. Punish ALL corruption that you uncover regardless of party affiliation. Some good, old-fashioned Puritanism would be a good thing up on the Hill right now.

3) It’s about the war, stupid! Number two on the voters' “why should we throw the bums out” list was the war in Iraq. Deal with it head on. Force BushCo to deal with it. You’ve got two years. There had better be MAJOR improvements or an exit strategy by then, or you’re going to be in deep donkey doo-doo. In two years it won’t matter how we got there, but it will matter what we are doing there.

4) Don’t obsess over impeachment, but don’t ignore it either. It would be political suicide to give the appearance that impeachment is a high priority. Be very public about doing other work first. However, conduct the necessary investigations. If there’s smoke, hold the necessary hearings. If you touch a nerve, Bush and/or Cheney will flinch. Remember, Congress and most of US people were not interested in impeaching Richard Nixon until special prosecutor Archibald Cox touched a nerve. Nixon flinched on Saturday, October 20, 1973 by dismissing Cox, Attorney General Elliot Richardson, and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. The infamous “Saturday Night Massacre” enflamed public opinion and started the machinery of impeachment. Just keep the pressure on. When they flinch, pounce!

5) Reclaim the ground ceded to the White House by Congress over the past six years. Remember separation of powers? Trust me, it’s a good thing. The Congress has essentially abdicated it’s responsibilities over the past six years and has been nothing more than a rubber stamp for the White House. BushCo has pushed Congress around like a bully on the playground. It’s time to push back. Reclaim your ability to check and therefore balance the power of the Executive Branch. Outlawing Presidential signing statements would be a good first move.

6) Don’t forget the little guy. Folks are sick of the rich getting all the breaks. Folks are sick of large corporations writing legislation that screws the average guy. Most of the candidates that upset Republican incumbents preached a populist ethos. It’s high time good governance was a priority again. FDR had the goal “to make a country in which no one is left out.” We’ve had 26 years of “personal responsibility.” It’s time for some social responsibility.

7) Fix bad laws right away. Don’t waste any time. Here is a list:

1. Rewrite the prescription drug bill so that it provides drugs to the people and not corporate welfare to the drug companies.
2. Fix the bankruptcy law and enact some serious reforms on the credit card industry.
3. Fix the Patriot Act to allow law enforcement agencies to do their jobs while protecting all of our civil rights.
4. Work on the tax code. Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Eliminate the marriage penalty (for real this time). Lower the threshold for the earned income tax credit. Reinstate the estate tax with exemptions for family farms and small family-owned businesses (which, by the way, were never actually impacted by the old law).
5. REPEAL, REPEAL, REPEAL the Military Commissions Act of 2006. We don’t need it. It doesn’t make us safer. It puts our troops in peril by lowering the bar on the treatment of prisoners internationally. Most of all, it seriously undermines the Constitution.

8) Talk about health CARE for everyone and not health INSURANCE for everyone. The insurance industry is a huge part of the problem with our health care system. Health insurance and health care are not synonymous. What we need is a system that provide health care, not a system that provides yet another dose of corporate welfare to the insurance industry.

9) Don’t get baited by non-issues. Talking heads call them wedge issues. They are issues that split some part of the electorate nearly in half. The classic examples are abortion and gun rights. The new wedge issues are gay rights and stem cell research. They tend to be emotionally charged issues that force other issues, like war and economics, off voters’ minds. The Republicans have been using them like scalpels to carve out electoral victories. Stick to boring old populism. Stick to rich versus the rest of us. Don’t get baited into wedge issue debates. You need only say two words to diffuse just about any wedge issue: States Rights. That’s it. Punt to the states. Don’t touch them.

10) Create a vision of hope to combat the specter of fear. The Republicans have been hammering on everyone’s fear buttons ever since September 11th. The specter of fear won two elections for them. It’s time for a new vision. Remember Democrats, you are the party of, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Embrace that tired old cliché and breathe some new life into it.

11) Don’t be afraid to call, “BULLSHIT!” The Republican M.O. for the past dozen years has been the same: Accuse the Democrats of committing precisely the heinous acts that they themselves are committing. A corollary has been their practice of using Orwellian double-speak by giving legislation titles that imply the exact opposite of what they actually do. Don't let them get away with it anymore. Just call, "BULLSHIT!" when try that game, and expose them for the hypocrites they are.

12) Student loan forgiveness. I like the idea of lowering the interest rates on student loans put forward by soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Personally, I would go one step farther: student loan forgiveness. Do you want to stimulate the economy? How about putting hundreds of dollars every month back in the pockets of recent college graduates? What do you think those 25-35 year-olds will do with that money? That’s right, they’ll spend it. BOOM! The economy is sparked! Everyone other industrialized country in the world offers inexpensive or free higher education to its talented citizens. We can do better here.

I could keep tacking on things (like dumping all of Bush’s incompetent cronies, reinstating the fairness doctrine in broadcasting, ending manditory sentencing in our courts, etc) but these twelve are a good start.

Have at it, Dems. We didn't vote you in because you're cute. We want change. You'll give it to us, or the voters will give it to you in two years.

Brooks gets my goat.

There are few things more futile than writing a letter to the editors of the New York Times. Okay, blogging is more futile, but that's understood. David Brooks consistently gets under my skin with his smug, conservative drivel. Recently he touted the great accomplishments of the current conservative era (1980 to present). I took umbrage. Here's what I wrote.

Hello,

Although I generally agree with David Brooks' assertion in his column titled “The Era of What’s Next” that the US is entering a period of political flux, I do take issue with his list of alleged conservative achievements over the past quarter century.

According to Mr. Brooks the big conservative accomplishments have been:

1) The defeat of communism.

There is no doubt that communism collapsed while conservatives were in power, but it is debatable as to the role that US and conservative politics played in that fall. There is every indication that communism would have tipped over all by itself without the aggressive US intervention that had us flirting with nuclear war throughout the 80s.

2) The reinvigoration of the economy through deregulation, tax reform and monetarism.

Deregulation has left our food less safe, our health care and prescription drugs too expensive, and corporations free to run amok. The tax code has been altered so that those who prosper the most from government supported infrastructure and policies are asked to pay the least, and those who reap the fewest rewards are required to pay the most: a “get rich or else” policy. The net effect has been to steer the US into a new Gilded Age where a few prosper and the vast majority suffer.

3) The rebalancing of the culture to emphasize family, work and individual responsibility.

The so-called ‘rebalancing’ has been in rhetoric only. One economic metric after another shows that families are far worse off after a quarter century of conservative policies. We certainly have been refocused on work. The average US worker spends more time at work for less pay in real dollars than his or her counterpart during the liberal era. How, exactly, does forcing someone – and their spouse – to work two or three minimum wage jobs just to makes ends meet help emphasize the family? Individuals have been held more accountable, but corporations have been allowed to shirk all responsibilities outside of making money by any means possible – which includes buying the conservative government. Thank God, however, that we can now throw all the pot-heads in jail.

The past 26 years have been the pendulum swing of the rich elite reasserting their power over the working class. Conservative vs. Liberal more often than not boils down to rich vs. not rich. One of my favorite definitions of the two sides is: “A conservative is someone who benefits from the evils of the day. A liberal is someone who wishes to install a new set of evils.” The liberals unleashed the ‘evils’ of personal freedom and civil rights and restrained the evils of trusts and monopolies. Now that conservatives have allowed trusts and monopolies to return, personal freedom and civil rights are under assault.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget that whole environment thingy. Deregulation has worked wonders in that arena. As some old codger who has a city named after him once said:

Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. - Chief Seattle

The conservatives have indeed run out of ideas, and it hasn’t come a moment too soon. Having bad ideas holds no virtue over holding no ideas at all. Luckily, that choice is not the one confronting voters this November. The liberal ideas and ideals are still there, waiting to be awakened after a 26 year slumber. They are ideas such as applying the rule of law to everyone regardless of status or party; banning torture and anything that even remotely approaches it; and governing with the good of people taking precedence over the good of your campaign contributors. Most of all, it is the ideal that the Constitution is more important than political expediency. Voting for the Democrats this November will be first step in reviving those ideals, but there is a lot of work to be done before we can recover from Mr. Brooks’ conservative achievements.

Ken Bergenham
Seattle, WA

Long time, no blog.

Not that it's been a bad thing.

Too much has transpired since my last post, so here's a bulleted list.

• The Tigers made the playoffs! Wahoo!
• The situation in Iraq has decayed but the White House is in denial.
• The Tigers BEAT THE F-ING YANKEES!!!! Hoody-hoo! ALCS here we come!
• The situation in Iraq has decayed but the White House is in denial.
• The White House denies its in denial.
• The Tigers WIN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE!!! World Series HO! Tigers in 4!
• The situation in Iraq has decayed but the White House is in denial.
• Okay, minor setback, but they won game 2: Tigers in 5!
• The situation in Iraq has decayed. The election is close. White House enters the spin cycle.
• Tigers in 6!
• Tigers in 7!
• The situation in St. Louis has decayed. Tiger fans are in denial.
• Tigers in 2007!! Tiger fans enter the spin cycle.
• Foley... HAHAHAHAHA!
• Limbaugh sticks foot in mouth... media actually pays attention for a change. HAHAHAHA!
• Kerry sticks foot in mouth... media pounces like a cat. Dems send a Dr. John letter.
• Who's Ted Haggard? Oh, THAT'S Ted Haggard! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
• Dems still find a way to lose the election. (Whoops, I was saving that for a later post.)

Oh look! An abyss!

Reading about Haditha, its comparisons to My Lai, and now reports that it was not an isolated incident have me even more gravely concerned about what we are doing in Iraq. Being a bit of a quotation junkie, I was immediately reminded of this comment.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146

As I said, I’m a quote junkie so I skimmed through all the quotes including the keyword ‘monster.’ What follows are some quotes that leapt out at me.

To conclude, all other living creatures live orderly and well, after their own kind: we see them flock and gather together, and ready to make head and stand against all others of a contrary kind: the lions as fell and savage as they be, fight not with one another: serpents sting not serpents, nor bite one another with their venomous teeth: nay the very monsters and huge fishes of the sea, war not amongst themselves in their own kind: but believe me, man at man's hand receiveth most harm and mischief.
- Pliny The Elder (23 AD - 79 AD)

Man’s cruelty to man is hardly a new phenomenon.

Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.
- Victor Marie Hugo

How can seven words say so much?

America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
- John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848)

Oh well. It’s been a long time since JQA was around, and this country is changed. We not only go abroad in search of monsters we actively create them when there aren’t any readily available. What else would you expect from a country with a foreign policy dictated by the military-industrial complex?

The Stretch: It Could Have Been Worse

The Tigers finished this year’s schedule stretch from hell on Sunday. They ended the 16 game run against the Indians, Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, and Blue Jays with an unimpressive 7-9 record. Most disappointing was that the Tiger lost each series against the three playoff teams from last year. The Tigers won only three of the ten games against the Yankees, Red Sox, and White Sox. Tiger pitching was a bit of a mixed bag. The starters faired well, but the bullpen repeatedly had difficulty holding leads and keeping games close. The Tiger hitters fell short in critical situations. They repeatedly failed to drive in runners in scoring position, but that is to be expected against better teams and pitchers.

Luckily, the White Sox also chose that stretch of games to stumble. The net result was the Tigers were left still clinging to 1.5 game lead in the Central Division and possessing the best record in the Major Leagues. They also still have the best team ERA in the MLB.

My impression is that the Tigers are close to being an elite team, but they haven’t yet made the mental leap necessary to get there. They didn’t look like they believed that they could win a series against the big three elite teams. The Tigers have the necessary talent. They are close. The playoffs are still a real possibility, but I don’t see them making a run at the World Series…yet.

El Fanfarron

The title translates to “the braggart.” My thanks go to Myke Gettle for his PhotoShop efforts. You can see the original poster here.

Happy Day of the Beast!

Happy day of the Beast: 06/06/06

Other than 666 one of the most often used symbols of the beast is the inverted pentagram.



That symbol is, of course, an inverted symbol of mankind.



Many of our nation's founding fathers were Freemasons and were well versed in this kind of symbology. Therefore, the stars on the US flag are the stars of man (with the point on top).



They considered the star-of-man pentagram so important that they even incorporated it into the layout of Washington DC with the White House placed at the apex.



Point on the top = man. Point on the bottom = the beast = Satan = evil.



Not a pretty picture, is it?

Now consider the stars on the symbol of the Republican Party.



Can you read the message in the stars? ;^)

Stalin's America

Regardless of your political preference, we all have to admit that the Florida 2000 recount was dubious. Bush was handed the victory in what was a statistical tie. As time went on, it looked more and more like the Supreme Court may have made the wrong call. As the New York Times reported on November 12, 2001, “An approach Mr. Gore and his lawyers rejected as impractical — a statewide recount — could have produced enough votes to tilt the election his way, no matter what standard was chosen to judge voter intent.” The study the Times quoted only concerned itself with votes that were actually cast. It doesn't even address all the people in heavily democratic areas who were simply not allowed to vote. Face the facts: Florida was stolen, and by extension Bush stole the 2000 election.

Fast forward to Bush vs. Kerry. Ohio 2004 was clearly broken, and now Robert F. Kennedy Jr's article in Rolling Stone magazine spells out GOP malfeasance in excruciating detail.

Voter fraud is nothing new in US history, but never before has it been so systematic and so extensive. The scary thing is that effectively nothing is being done to fix our voting system. It's just as broken now as it was in 2004. Before Democrats get too happy about Bush's terrible poll numbers and the prospects of the election this November they need to remember the words of Josef Stalin: "It's not who votes that counts. It's who counts the votes." It's become clear to anyone who makes the effort to look that we no longer have free and fair elections in this country. Everyone who claims to love this country should be outraged.

"My side won. What do I care?" What side is that, exactly? Aren't you on the side of democracy? Isn't that (allegedly) why we are in Iraq... to promote democracy? Isn’t the health of our republic more important than being able to say you rooted for the winner?

No, I am not wearing a tinfoil hat, but I'm not wearing blinders either. I am afraid for our Republic. Thomas Paine pointed out that voting, "is the right upon which all other rights depend." When your vote only counts if you choose the party in power, just how free are you?

ELECTION PREDICTION: The Republican Party will not only maintain control of both houses of Congress, they will expand their edge in the 2006 election.

Unless something dramatic changes, I'll be back in November to pick up my Nostradamus Award (or gladly eat crow).

A FAQ

Part of my job is to produce mailing lists of our membership. People requesting those lists sometimes have questions, and as a cubicle slave I must always have answers. I tried to put together a useful FAQ, but that effort lasted about twenty seconds and turned into this mess.

Q: What’s a member?

A: They generally reside between the legs of the male of the species. Why so many of them have joined the WSBA is difficult to explain. I try not to get into motivations.

Q: How can I get what I want?

A: Lower your expectations. Happy yet? Yes: stop. No: repeat.

Q: This count is too high/low. What happened?

A: I may have screwed it up, but it’s unlikely. I can do these damned things in my sleep, and the odds that I messed it up are pretty small. Perhaps you were ambiguous in your request. Perhaps you thought you requested one thing, but in fact you requested something else. Please check your request and assumptions before you ask me to check mine.

Q: I really need this right away. Can you rush it for me?

A: Yes, but it really annoys me when you do shit like that. I understand that things can get misplaced and deadlines can creep up on you, but you are getting paid to handle that kind of crap so please do. I’ll bail your ass out if you’re in a bind, but don’t make a habit out of it. I will whine to the authorities eventually.

Look! Another blogger. Use the 12-gauge.

Blogs in a nutshell.

Karl version 2006.05

It's been too long since I posted something important... like a picture of Karl. Thanks Ren for the great shot.

Could it be 1987? NO!!! (a fact checking moment)

On Friday night (yesterday) after the Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians and improved their MLB best record to 34-14 the Tiger manager spied a fan holding a sign. The sign read, "When do playoff tickets go on sale?" A veteran of 15 seasons as a manager Jim Leyland knew the guy was getting a bit over excited. The chain-smoking Leyland said, "My cigarettes have filters on them. I don't think that guy's did."

That guy could have been me on Friday when I wrote about the Tigers reaching 19 games over .500. I assured you, loyal reader, that the Tigers had last reached that lofty height in their last playoff year, 1987. Perhaps I got a contact buzz from all the BC bud in the area. I was just plain wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The Tigers were an impressive 23 games above .500 in 1988.

Why didn't I notice? I only looked that their final record that year: 88-74. A good year, but only 14 games over .500. What happen? The 1988 Tigers were indeed a robust 73-50 on August 21st, and then the roof caved in. They won only three of their next 23 games including a 17 inning loss to the Yankees on September 11th. They finished the season with a respectable run of 11-5, but still finished one game behind Boston for the AL East crown. It was probably for the best since Boston got hammered by Oakland in the ALCS four games to none. Oakland in turn was roughed up by the Dodgers in the World Series which featured former Tiger Kirk Gibson's now famous home run in game one.

Lessons learned:
1) Check your damned facts better!
2) No matter how promising things may appear, the roof can cave in at any time.
3) There's not a whole lot that's good about September 11th.
4) The Tiger's really missed Gibby that year.

By the way, the Tigers won again today. They are 35-14, have a 3.5 game lead on the White Sox, have won 15 of their last 16 games, and will break my heart at any moment now.

Could it be... 1987?

I’ve been busting my buttons about the Tigers so far this year. After the abusive relationship I’ve had with the franchise for the past 13 years I am still waiting for reality to deliver a smack upside my head. “This time it will be different,” the Tigers tell me. “This time I’ve really changed.” Yeah, right. I’ve heard that before, but like the battered spouse that I am I’ll keep taking them back. I keep hoping that it’s for real this time. I believe because it’s too heart-breaking not to. No doubt the heart-break will come again, but at least for now there is hope. We suffer though seemingly endless bad days to bask in the warmth of these precious few good days. Maybe it’s because I grew with those endless Michigan winters.

Yesterday the Tigers finished a four game sweep in Kansas City with a come from behind victory. They have the best record in the majors (33-14), and for the first time since 1987 they are 19 games above .500. Everyone who is a Tiger fan knows the significance of 1987. 1987 is that last year the Tigers made the playoffs. WE WILL NOT TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE REGULAR SEASON ENDED, but the Tigers had the best record in the majors that year at 98-64 (34 games above .500) and appeared to be back in the form that had netted them a World Series championship three years earlier.

Again the Tigers have the best record in baseball (albeit only the end of May), but there’s one number that sticks in my head: .479. That number is the combined winning percentage of all the teams they have played this year at the time the Tigers played them. It ranks 26th out of 30. The White Sox, who are only 1.5 games behind the Tigers, are ranked 30th at .456. In other words, the Tigers and the ChiSox have been playing soft schedules. Clearly I’m not the only one who has noticed this piece of trivia. ESPN.com’s power rankings for May 26th had this to say about the Tigers:

Power Rankings: Hold those Tigers ... at No. 2

What more does a team need to do? Yes, the Detroit Tigers have baseball's best record. Yes, they are hotter than "American Idol" Taylor Hicks. Yes, they've won 13 of their last 14. Yes, they own baseball's top pitching staff. Yes, yes and yes again.

But no, they are not the No. 1 team in this week's ESPN.com Power Rankings. Not yet. We're not trying to toss Simon Cowell's wet blanket on the Tigers' performance. We just need to see it to believe it, and the Tigers' time will come June 6 when they visit Chicago for a little AL Central showdown with the pole-sitting White Sox. Until then, they'll likely remain in the two-hole barring a major collapse for either team. Both teams just completed stellar weeks (5-1 for Chicago, 6-1 for Detroit).

I don't think it's really fair to wait until the June 6th showdown with the ChiSox. All that soft schedule stuff changes for the Tigers starting tonight. Tonight the Tigers start what my Tiger-fan buddies and I have been calling The Stretch. Over the next two and a half weeks the Tigers will exclusively play the best teams in the American League. It starts with a ten game home stand against the Indians (23-23), the Yankees (26-19), and the Red Sox (27-18). Then the Tigers hit the road for six games against the White Sox (31-15) and the Blue Jays (25-21). How the Tigers fair during this 16 game stretch might define them for the rest of the season. Will the nice, early season run come to an abrupt end as it did in 1993 with a ten game losing streak? Will the Tigers step up and claim a position among the elite in the American League? I’ll get back to you about it 16 games from now.

Bill Hicks: bridged the gap between Lenny Bruce and Stephen Colbert

Some of the best advice is spray painted on walls. I couldn't agree more with this idea.

If you're willing to take advice from a wall (and me) here's a good start, and here's part II of a good start. I haven't been able to find the rest of this documentary (called Totally Bill Hicks), but I'm sure someone is willing to sell it to you. YouTube has no shortage of clips from Bill's stand-up routines and talk show visits. One of my favorites is this interview in the UK. It's short but insightful, and I love his closing line.

Is the American Dream just a dream?

The Center for American Progress has just released a report about economic mobility in the United States. The report, titled Understanding Mobility in America, makes the following summary statements.

• Children from low-income families have only a 1 percent chance of reaching the top 5 percent of the income distribution, versus children of the rich who have about a 22 percent chance.
• Children born to the middle quintile of parental family income ($42,000 to $54,300) had about the same chance of ending up in a lower quintile than their parents (39.5 percent) as they did of moving to a higher quintile (36.5 percent). Their chances of attaining the top five percentiles of the income distribution were just 1.8 percent.
• Education, race, health and state of residence are four key channels by which economic status is transmitted from parent to child.
• African American children who are born in the bottom quartile are nearly twice as likely to remain there as adults than are white children whose parents had identical incomes, and are four times less likely to attain the top quartile.
• The difference in mobility for blacks and whites persists even after controlling for a host of parental background factors, children’s education and health, as well as whether the household was female-headed or receiving public assistance.
• After controlling for a host of parental background variables, upward mobility varied by region of origin, and is highest (in percentage terms) for those who grew up in the South Atlantic and East South Central regions, and lowest for those raised in the West South Central and Mountain regions.
• By international standards, the United States has an unusually low level of intergenerational mobility: our parents’ income is highly predictive of our incomes as adults. Intergenerational mobility in the United States is lower than in France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Among high-income countries for which comparable estimates are available, only the United Kingdom had a lower rate of mobility than the United States.
  
  Key findings relating to short-run, year-to-year income movements include the following:
  
• The overall volatility of household income increased significantly between 1990-91 and 1997-98 and again in 2003-04.
• Since 1990-91, there has been an increase in the share of households who experienced significant downward short-term mobility. The share that saw their incomes decline by $20,000 or more (in real terms) rose from 13.0 percent in 1990-91 to 14.8 percent in 1997-98 to 16.6 percent in 2003-04.
• The middle class is experiencing more insecurity of income, while the top decile is experiencing less. From 1997-98 to 2003-04, the increase in downward short-term mobility was driven by the experiences of middle-class households (those earning between $34,510 and $89,300 in 2004 dollars). Households in the top quintile saw no increase in downward short-term mobility, and households in the top decile ($122,880 and up) saw a reduction in the frequency of large negative income shocks.
• For the middle class, an increase in income volatility has led to an increase in the frequency of large negative income shocks, which may be expected to translate to an increase in financial distress.
• The median household was no more upwardly mobile in 2003-04, a year when GDP grew strongly, than it was it was during the recession of 1990-91.
  Upward short-term mobility for those in the bottom quintile has improved since 1990-91, with no significant offsetting increase in downward short-term mobility.
• Households whose adult members all worked more than 40 hours per week for two years in a row were more upwardly mobile in 1990-91 and 1997-98 than households who worked fewer hours. Yet this was not true in 2003-04, suggesting that people who work long hours on a consistent basis no longer appear to be able to generate much upward mobility for their families.

Is the US the land of opportunity? Yes, but not as much as our so-called socialist allies in Europe.

Cato Institute: Bush 'sharply at odds' with Constitution

Nobody can accuse the Cato Institute of being part of the loony left. Yesterday the libertarian think tank released its assessment of George W. Bush’s relationship with the legal document he swore to protect: the US Constitution. Titled Power Surge, the document summarizes how the Bush White House is, "sharply at odds with the text, history, and structure of the Constitution, which authorizes a government of limited powers."

Honestly, anyone who still supports this President has completely lost touch with what is healthy for our republic. Rummy called the insurgency in Iraq a group of “dead-enders.” The real dead-enders are the people in this country who don’t want to see Bush’s time in the oval office end as soon as possible.

TO: The Emperor RE: Your Clothes

You have to see it to believe it. The Washington DC press corps has been licking the Presidents boots for so long that they have forgotten what really good, biting satire feels, smells or tastes like. Stephen Colbert reminded them. Colbert rubbed their noses in it. It was a thing of beauty and long overdue.

The 92nd annual dinner for the White House Correspondents' Association was intended to be what the event has always been: a non-event. The well fed media get to bask in the aura of the President and all the other DC muckity-mucks, and pat each other on the back for another year of abysmal reporting. Someone forgot to include that agenda in Stephen Colbert’s invitation. He not only blasted Bush (who was sitting just feet away from the podium), he delivered scathing assaults on everyone in the room: Scott McClellan, Justice Scalia, and (most pointedly) the DC press corps. He definitely got Dubya's goat.

The laugher was tentative and nervous, and the room frequently went completely quiet (except – to his credit – Justice Scalia who had a good gut laugh at his own expense). The response in the room, however, was cacophonous compared the response by the media itself which essentially ignored the story until today.

Already a Thank You Stephen Colbert web site has sprung up. Over 28,000 people have said their ‘thank you’s to Stephen by the time I made this post.

Image © Salon.com

A kinder, gentler post...

I was happy to see that this blog has crept up to the fourth slot for the generic Google search on "bergenham." I gleefully clicked the link and was confronted with the "YOU SUCK" graphic from the previous post.

Now, that's no way to welcome people to my blog. No, that will not due. I'm not nearly that abrasive in real life. I'm only mildly irritating in real life.

Thusly, I thought I should add this post with a kinder dis on the Lions. My thanks to the anonymous Photoshop artist who created it.

A History of Sucking

Here’s the List of all-time worst sports franchises as voted by the ESPN.com Page 2 readers:

1. Kansas City Royals
2. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
3. Detroit Lions
4. Arizona Cardinals
5. Atlanta Hawks
6. New Orleans Saints
7. Pittsburgh Pirates
8. Golden State Warriors
9. New York Knicks
10. Detroit Tigers
11. Chicago Blackhawks
12. Toronto Raptors
13. Houston Texans
14. Portland Trail Blazers
15. Cleveland Browns
16. Pittsburgh Penguins
17. Chicago Cubs
18. Boston Bruins
19. San Francisco 49ers
20. Baltimore Orioles
21. New York Jets

I’ll give you my bottom 5 at the end of this post. I considered several criteria when I cast my votes.

1) A long history of suckiness outweighs recent, intense suckiness.
2) It’s easier to compete in some leagues than in others.
3) A championship goes a long way.

In the spirit of the first criteria, I disregarded all the new teams who haven’t been around for a full decade yet. The Devil Rays, Raptors, Texans and Browns are too young to get stuck with the label worst franchise. By the way, if you are about to say something akin to, “Hey, the Browns have been around forever,” then you’re an idiot. The NAME has been around forever, but the current team has only been around since 1999. When your team pulls up stakes and leaves, you get a reprieve.

The second criterion is an attempt to consider the differences in the structure of the leagues. It’s simply easier to be competitive in some leagues than in others. The NFL, for example, is fixated on the idea parity, and it is structured to keep player talent evenly distributed across all the teams. Any management team who knows what they are doing should be able to at least make a realistic run at a Super Bowl every decade or so. Any owner who allows a management team to stay in place after not winning for over a decade is clueless.

The opposite of parity is Major League Baseball. Every year it boils down to the Yankees versus the rest of league, and one out of every four years the Yankees win. If you’re stuck in a market with limited money and limited appeal, you’re going to have a hard time gathering together enough talent to be competitive. The NBA and the NHL are in the middle of these two extremes.

Almost all the sins of incompetent ownership can be forgiven if a team can make it to the championship game/series. Depending on the league, a championship appearance can buy you a 10 to 25 year pardon for even the most blatant stupidity. NFL teams get the shortest pardon and MLB teams get the longest. As a Tiger fan I can attest to the fact that the chill of current Tiger funk is still mitigated by the warming glow of the 1984 World Series victory, but the 25 year clock runs out in 2009. Are you listening Mike Ilitch?

Who’s on my list? I’m glad you asked:

1. tie: Detroit Lions and Arizona Cardinals
3. New Orleans Saints
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Chicago Cubs

Okay, my bitter, Midwest bias is showing, but I don’t see how you can complain about any of these clearly incompetent franchises landing in the top slots. The top three are NFL teams because I feel their league offers them the easiest path to competence: a path they have all failed to take. Golden State is a deeply dysfunctional franchise, and the Cubs flirt with being intentionally bad.

The Lions, Cardinals, and Saints all have achieved unprecedented incompetence in a league where only marginal competence is necessary for some measure of success. The only hope these teams have to make the playoff is if the NFL adopts the NHL’s every-one-but-last-place playoff structure. I let the Saints slide down one slot because New Orleans has been through enough recently. As Ah-nold would (not) say, “You have to have the right Suck-ti-tude,” and these teams have it.

Up until the past couple years when the NBA finally ended the stupidity of illegal defense, all you needed to be competitive in that league was one or two top shelf players. A single player could transform a loser into a (marginal) winner in that world of man-to-man defense and super-star calls. The Warriors somehow failed to notice that reality. Their upper management could somehow never seem to get even one or two great players on the court at the same time. Considering they had an endless stream of high draft choices that failure is unforgivable. Y’all suck!

The Chicago Cubs franchise wallows in the excrement of its own wretched incompetence. The Cubs cultivate the persona of the lovable losers, and commit the unforgivable sin of striving for mediocrity. I’m sorry, but when fans are paying more and more of their hard earned money to support a team the ownership has a DUTY to do its best to win more than one championship per century. A lovable loser is still just a loser, and the Cub fans should wise up. Stop going to games. Stop buying the merchandise. Hit these jokers in the executive suites in the only place they understand: the bottom line. If they threaten to leave, pull a Cleveland on them: have Chicago claim the name ‘Cubs’ and let the business move elsewhere. They can be the Oklahoma City Cowboys, but the Cubs will always play in Chicago.

Tigers Plus Five

The Tigers swept the Seattle Mariners for the first time in six years, and they have hit an utterly arbitrary benchmark of five games over .500. At the risk of dooming the Motor City Kitties to a protracted losing streak I have to make the following observations. The last time the Tigers were +5 in the win column: 1993. Sparky was still the manager. The American League still only had two divisions. The Tiger roster included: Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Cecil Fielder, Travis Fryman, Kirk Gibson, Tony Phillips, Mickey Tettleton, David Wells, Skeeter Barnes, Dan Gladden, Rob Deer, Eric Davis, Danny Bautista, Mike Henneman, and Storm Davis.

In 1993 I had not yet even applied to the University of Oregon for grad school, weighed about 40 pounds less, could easily touch my forehead to my knees without bending them, and was still emotionally reeling from my parents' divorce and a broken heart (how could she spurn me for HIM?!?).

Also in 1993 Jurrasic Park, Sleepless in Seattle, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Schindler's List are released. Bill Clinton is inaugurated, and nobody has heard of Monica Lewinksi. The World Trade Center is bombed. MLK Day is officially observed in all 50 states. David Koresh and the Branch Davidians run afoul of the US government in Waco, TX. The term 'spam' is first applied to unwanted e-mail. The Tomsk 7 nuclear accident occurrs. The US scandal rags introduce Heidi Fleiss to the rest of the country. Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shake hands after signing the last meaningful peace accord between Palestine and Isreal. US gets involved in a mess in Mogadishu, Somalia. Jean Chrétien becomes Canada's 20th PM. Tanks bombard the Russian parliament building. The Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins play their inaugural seasons. Lee Smith breaks the all-time save record. The Blue Jays beat the Phillies in the World Series. North Carolina beat Michigan in the NCAA men's basketball final. The Chicago Bulls complete a three-peat. The Cowboys beat the Bills in the Super Bowl. Florida State beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl to claim the national championship. Notre Dame fans whine about not getting more consideration (but that happens EVERY year).

Suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked...

Homer Simpson's famous quote has run through my mind more than once in water cooler discussions of the sports teams I follow. Having grown up in Michigan I am required to pathologically follow the exploits of the Detroit area teams. As you may know, it's 50-50 in Detroit these days. The Pistons and Red Wings have been dominating their respective leagues over the past few years. Meanwhile, the Tigers and the Lions have been down so long that most fans think its time to stop attempts at CPR. As a blindly loyal Tiger fan I am still burning a candle of hope that my long, baseball nightmare is about to end. I have no such delusions, however, about the Lions. In a rare, almost historic, circumstance, I actually agree with my father about something: the Lions will continue to suck as long as William C. Ford owns them.

Franchises in all professional sports have their ups and downs, but to STAY down really requires a commitment to ineptitude from the top. You really need a bonehead owner to throttle the hopes and dreams of a team's fans in the long term. The Lions have a world class idiot at the helm. The parity obsessed NFL shines a klieg light on incompetent management and ownership, and only the ever-hapless New Orleans Saints and Arizona/St. Louis Cardinals can compete with the Lions in sheer managerial stupidity. Ford runs the Lions only slightly more ineptly than he runs the Ford Motor Company, and you need look no further than the boarded up houses in the Detroit metro area to get a feel for how jaw-droppingly bad he does that.

The other hapless Detroit team, the Tigers, is owned by pizza mogul Mike Ilitch. To be fair to Ilitch, he purchased the Tigers as damaged goods from a TRULY horrible owner, Domino's Pizza dullard Tom Monaghan. (My personal Domino's boycott is now entering it's 20th year.) Ilitch, who also owns the Red Wings, seemingly purchased the Tigers to keep the historic franchise in Detroit and not out of any great love for the game of baseball. His first sports love is clearly hockey, and the Red Wings have reaped the rewards of an owner committed to winning. Luckily for the Tigers, the NHL's self-destructive lockout left Ilitch with nothing better to do than pay attention to his other team, and the long Tiger death spiral seems to be turning around.

In the spirit of suckiness, ESPN.com's page 2 is conducting a survey to determine who the fans think are the worst sports franchises in professional sports. Go ahead and take the quiz. I've looked at the results already and will be commenting on them in my next post.

You say Iraq. I say Iran. Let's call the whole thing off.

From the desk of Dr. Charles A. Meconis, Senior Research Fellow (Ret.) at the Institute of Global and Regional Security Studies, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. The following is his recent submission to Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.


What is all this fuss about Iran?

Reports of US planning for war with Iran, allegedly to stop that country from acquiring nuclear weapons, have dominated the news recently. Most notably, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh, writing in the April 17 issue of New Yorker, quotes many sources close to the Bush Administration, most of them anonymous, indicating that the plans for attacking Iran go beyond rhetoric, and are intensifying. According to Hersh's sources, one option “on the table” is a massive pre-emptive air strike at Iran's nuclear facilities using so-called “tactical” nuclear weapons such as the B-61-11 bomb.

In reaction, President Bush and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, have both described the article and other news reports as "wild speculation" and “fantasyland”.

But Mr. Hersh is standing by his story. Read the full New Yorker article: The Iran Plans

Are these report true? Is war with Iran imminent or inevitable ? What can and should we do?

The best “reality check” on these reports and denials thus far can be found in this week’s Washington Post blog by military intelligence expert William M. Arkin at http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/ Arkin once worked as Hersh’s researcher.

Arkin concludes that the reports are basically accurate: since May 2003, the U.S. military’s many planning agencies have indeed been engaged in intense “contingency” planning for an air attack on Iran, including covert operations. He finds that use of tactical nukes is indeed among the options being considered, but he also confirms Hersh’s reports about deep opposition to the use of nuclear weapons at the highest levels of the U.S. Military—the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But Arkin has furthermore uncovered the extent of planning for a major ground campaign against Iran as well.

Is war with Iran imminent?

No, says Arkin, but he also points out that an air attack could be mounted in as little as 12 hours.

Is war with Iran inevitable?

Not yet. Arkin does not believe we have yet reached a “tipping point” equivalent to the late summer of 2002 when the decision to go to war with Iraq was a done deal. But he agrees with Hersh that the inner circle of the Bush Administration is committed to “regime change” and time is running out for this Administration to accomplish that.

What can and should we do?

Hersh notes that at present there is little opposition in Congress to the plans for attacking Iran.

CONTACT YOUR CONGRESS PEOPLE NOW AND SAY “NO IRAN WAR!. USE DIPLOMACY TO STOP IRAN’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM.”
-----------------------

"If we make no effort to change direction, we will end up where we are headed." -- Chinese Proverb

Using Your 'Action Words'

My office is currently undertaking a salary survey. Step one requires everyone to write up a job description. We were given a list of 'action words' and were asked to start each sentence in our job description with one of them. I couldn't resist. I used them all.

1. Accumulate dust in your inbox.
2. Achieve plausible deniability.
3. Acquire excessive amounts of office supplies.
4. Act inappropriately in front of coworkers.
5. Activate the coffee maker.
6. Administer the annual NCAA basketball tournament pool.
7. Advise new employees on whom to avoid.
8. Allocate enough time for breaks and lunch.
9. Analyze contents of the fridge.
10. Archive all the best spam e-mails.
11. Assemble a group of coconspirators.
12. Assist in a discussion that has nothing to do with your job.
13. Calculate who shorted you on the bill at lunch.
14. Call your out-of-state family and friends.
15. Clean your desk as only a last resort.
16. Collect the best pens from the store room.
17. Communicate your dissatisfaction with your coworker’s lack of effort.
18. Compare cubicle size.
19. Compile a list of complaints.
20. Complete your tasks when you have to.
21. Compose your excuses ahead of time.
22. Conduct yourself with confidence. (Appearance is everything.)
23. Construct an elaborate fantasy world as a retreat from tedious meetings.
24. Control the urge to kill.
25. Convert sick time to vacation time.
26. Coordinate your wardrobe with computer wallpaper.
27. Copy the complete works of Shakespeare on the office Nokia.
28. Correlate productivity to the amount of time off offered.
29. Counsel fellow workers on best places for lunch.
30. Delete the porn off your work hard drive before anyone audits your computer.
31. Deliver engaging narratives about your weekend activities.
32. Design your new kitchen on the office CAD software.
33. Develop and unnatural ability to detect donuts.
34. Direct coworkers in how to do their work.
35. Distribute voluminous humorous e-mails.
36. Drive your projects straight into the ground.
37. Embark on meaningless escapades only tangentially related to your actual tasks.
38. Enclose enormous attachments to your voluminous humorous e-mails.
39. Encourage other to not concern themselves with arbitrary deadlines.
40. Enforce the arbitrary deadlines.
41. Ensure you have the best chair in the office.
42. Enter: It’s the big key with a little arrow under it on the right side of the keyboard.
43. Establish close friendships with other managers who will defend you.
44. Evaluate your résumé with frequency.
45. Execute a perfect 180º turn when your manager approaches you in the hall.
46. Extend each and every deadline.
47. Facilitate the procrastination of others.
48. Fill your outlook calendar with fictitious meetings and appointments.
49. Fix it so you can always be off on Monday and/or Friday.
50. Form close ties to those in power.
51. Function anonymously whenever possible.
52. Handle stress with frequent coffee breaks.
53. Help in visible ways to impress those who will defend you.
54. Hold grudges against those who question your work ethic.
55. Implement impenetrable defenses against blame.
56. Influence others to see it your way.
57. Inform management of your Herculean efforts.
58. Initiate a three martini lunch.
59. Install games on your work computer.
60. Instruct coworkers in how they should do their jobs.
61. Interview practice is a necessary part of any job hunt.
62. Investigate all possible job openings.
63. Invoice clients randomly to keep them on their toes.
64. Label everything in your cube as yours.
65. Lead everyone to believe you are swamped with work.
66. Lift nothing heavier than a ream of paper.
67. Locate the best happy hour spots within walking distance of the office.
68. Maintain the illusion of competence.
69. Monitor all the sports scores on the internet
70. Negotiate extensions to all deadlines.
71. Operate the photocopier with an air of authority.
72. Order more donuts and coffee.
73. Participate in all conversations regardless of topic.
74. Perform a song and dance when confronted with unfinished tasks.
75. Phone your significant other at least four times a day.
76. Plan your next vacation.
77. Post entries on your blog.
78. Prepare back-up excuses in case your primary excuses don’t work.
79. Print humorous Photoshop pictures on the color printer.
80. Process tasks in order of importance of the person who requested them.
81. Promote the notion that you should get a raise.
82. Read your personal e-mail.
83. Recommend the best lunch spots.
84. Recruit help in perpetrating office pranks.
85. Register your displeasure with office pranks.
86. Regulate your coffee intake to less than 15 cups per morning.
87. Reimburse petty cash only after six reminders.
88. Render complaints meaningless with your absence.
89. Renew your library books online.
90. Repair the printer yourself. No need to involve the IT department.
91. Report attempts by coworkers to repair the printer to the IT department.
92. Request extra personal days off.
93. Resolve conflicts by siding with whoever most directly affects your salary.
94. Review documentation over and over and over and over again.
95. Schedule a regular nap time.
96. Seek out and devour unattended food.
97. Sell extra office supplies on eBay.
98. Serve notice that your position is indispensable.
99. Service: What customers want and what your coworkers provide.
100. Suggest tasks that can be taken on by your coworkers.
101. Supervise the brewing of a fresh pot of coffee.
102. Teach the art of bringing snacks to the office.
103. Tend to your work when everything else is done.
104. Train your supervisor to not bother you during your ‘me time.’
105. Transfer your work onto unsuspecting coworkers.
106. Type memos in ALL CAPS just for emphasis.
107. Update your calendar to reflect your time off.
108. Vacate the office promptly at 5:00pm.
109. Verify your accumulated sick and vacation time.
110. Weigh the virtues of work against the virtues of another coffee break.
111. Write an endless stream of confusing and meaningless e-mails.

More Karl Pictures...

It's my right as a proud Papa...

I'm NOT Going to Read Too Much Into This...

Does this mean Karl will be a hairdresser when he grows up? He looks pretty focused. Oh well, as long as he's happy.

Ridin' the Pipe.

A day in the park.

Brushing Your Teeth 101: It's not just for athletes anymore.

Obviously Karl has moved to the advanced 'bag-on-the-head' stage of brushing his teeth. We are so proud.

Time on my hands.

I wrote this back before the courts in Pennsylvania pimp-slapped intelligent design out of the science class room. I worked really hard to make the simple graphics as accurate as possible, and I didn't want it to sit forever ignored on my hard drive. Now it can sit forever ignored on my blog. Cheers - KDB

A very good friend who was my roommate while he was working on his PhD in theoretical physics once told me that one of the unwritten laws of physics is, “That which is not expressly forbidden is compulsory.” In other words, unless there is a darn good reason why something will not happen, probability demands that given enough time it will happen. That’s evolution in a nutshell. All you need is a lot of time. Luckily for us a lot of time has passed on this rock we call earth. As James Hutton, the father of modern geology, famously said of the earth, it shows “no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.”

The earth formed 4.56 billion years ago (Ba). During its accretionary period the earth was being bombarded with a large number of meteorite and comet impacts. Those impacts have continued with decreasing frequency to this day. It has been discovered that many basic organic compounds exist in meteorites and comets. Therefore, the basic building blocks of life have existed on earth virtually from the very beginning. Urey and Miller showed that amino acids can be naturally synthesized in their famous experiment where they ran a spark through an approximation of the earth's ancient atmosphere. It has since been shown the deep sea volcanic vents also generate organic compounds, and the surrounding rocks themselves can act as a template to assemble the organic bits into very complex compounds.

Has enough time elapsed since the earth formed to allow this dilute brew to coalesce into simple cells and eventually complex life? Consider the following 4,560 lines. Each line represents one million years. I’ve color coded them to correspond to important periods or instants of time.

IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII


No noticeable life.
Non-cellular life only.
Prokaryotic cells (cells w/o a nucleus).
First indication of sexual reproduction.
Eukaryotic cells (cells with a nucleus) and multicellular organisms and invertebrates.
Vertebrates.
Age of dinosaurs.
Mammals dominant.
First primates.
Most recent ice age. Homo Erectus.

To look at what we call human history, you need only consider the very last line. The last line has been split up below. Each one of these lines represents 1,000 years.

IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII

Fire harnessed.
Neanderthal dominates.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens arises and dominates.
Neanderthal goes extinct.
First signs of agriculture.
First cities.
Iron Age begins.
Greek civilization rises/falls, Roman civilization rises/falls, Jesus Christ born/dies.
Pretty much everything else you can think of.

Okay, so what is the point of this little exercise? The point is to show that there has been plenty of time for things to happen on their own without the guiding hand of any manner of deity. To invoke a deity to explain anything exhibits, IMHO, a profound lack of understanding of nature, probability, and an even more profound lack of imagination. Certainly there are circumstances and occurrences that defy scientific explanation. However, to simplistically dub them “an act of God” is merely a game of one-upsmanship, and holds no virtue over the playground taunt of “I know something you don’t know.”

This point of view does not deny the existence of God. God is a metaphysical entity whose existence can be neither proved nor disproved. This perspective does, however, acknowledge that the existence of God is in no way required for life to evolve on this planet. Does it diminish God? Not in the least. In fact as Robert M. Hazen so elegantly pointed out in his book, Genesis: The Scientific Quest For Life’s Origin, those who deny evolution in favor of creationism (currently known as ‘intelligent design theory’) diminish God by relegating God to the gaps in scientific knowledge. As we learn more those gaps will close and so will the space reserved for God by intelligent design proponents.

As Hazen writes, “Isn’t more satisfying to believe in a God who created the whole shebang from the outset – a God of natural laws who stepped back and doesn’t meddle in our affairs? In the beginning God set the entire magnificent fabric of the universe into motion. Atoms and stars and cells and consciousness emerged inexorably, as did the intellect to discover laws of nature through a natural process of self-awareness and discovery. In such a universe, scientific study provides a glimpse of creator as well as creation.”

Goodbye Joy. Goodbye Katherine.

Two of my coworkers died in an automobile accident this weekend. Katherine Johnson and Joy McLean were driving in the mountains on their way from Missoula to Joy’s farm in Idaho. They were caught in a sudden snow storm, lost control of the car, crossed the center line, and were hit by an oncoming car.

Goodbye Katherine. Goodbye Joy. We were hardly what could be called close friends, but I want to thank you both for sharing a small fraction of your life with me. You’ll be missed.

Wahoo!

Baseball season is almost here!!! JOY!

It's about your republic, not about your team.

"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."

- Vince Lombardi, NFL coaching legend

That quote is ingrained in the American psyche. It's the mission statement of the country. "Just win, Baby," says infamous Raiders owner Al Davis. It's all about the winner, and if you criticize the winner you're just being a poor sport. "Get over it! We won!" We here in Seattle heard a lot of that message from Steelers fans after the refs had their way with Super Bowl XL. It's also a phrase those of us on the political left have been hearing a lot lately. Unfortunately, in politics we are talking about the republic and not just a football game.

Living in Seattle I still have visions of Steelers fans running about screaming, "We won! We won!" Congratulations. The team you root for won. Enjoy it. It doesn't happen that often. Take a moment, however, and think about it. Were you directly involved with the team? Will you get any compensation for it (outside of a bet on the game)? Yeah, your team won, but you're not gonna get anything out of it except the honor of wearing an overpriced sweat shirt. That Visa bill is going to hurt.

Now think about voting for George W. Bush. Yeah, the guy you voted for won the election, but trust me, YOU didn't win anything. You lost big time. Everyone not in the 99.999th economic percentile lost big time. You didn't even get a sweat shirt out of the deal.

Sadly, trying to convince a Bush fan that she/he isn't a winner by association is like trying to convince a Steelers fan that she/he isn't a winner by association. It's all about winning, but the victory will be hollow when the bills come due.

KMTT Loves Me. They Really Do.

Wahoo! I just won a two passes to see Jamie Cullum at the Triple Door next week at lunch time. A local radio station, KMTT - the Mountain, organizes short acoustic sets with artists when they pass through Seattle. The sets are typically pretty short. This one is scheduled to be only 45 minutes. Crystal and I are going to make a lunch date out of it. We've never been to the Triple Door, but I've heard that it's one of the best music venues in town. In fact, I'm more excited about the venue than I am about the artist (about whom I know next to nothing).

Mmmm... Progressive Propaganda

I've been passively listening to Air America lately and not doing enough reading. There are several good repositories of progressive writings on the web. Common Dreams is a excellent place to start. Another terrific site that fell off my radar until recently is Truth Out. In particular is this article by Williams Rivers Pitts which spells out precisely why we can't trust this administration.

We have confirmation...

Ice skating is NOT a sport. I swear this guy read the post on my blog. I found at least three points and two comparisons that were identical. Perhaps there's just not much that is original you can say about sports.

I do differ with him on, however, on boxing. He claims boxing is a marginal sport because one competitor can end it at any time with a knock out. Boxing is not a sport. It's not even a corrupt sport. Boxing is barbaric exhibition which only serves to satisfy our repressed human blood lust. It should be banned. Bogey agrees with me, so I must be right.

The Liberal Media Strike Again.

Not only does Cheney have a gun, he has the liberal media on his side. First, look at this screen capture of the original MSNBC online story about the accident. Now take a look at the updated story. Notice anything different? Notice how all mention of alcohol has been scrubbed from the story? Isn't that special?

The Kenedy County Sherriff's department has officially said that "no alcohol" was involved. There seems to be a minor conflict here. How could the Sherriff make that claim with any certainty when they were denied access to the VP until the next morning? Alcohol was certainly available before the hunt. I suppose the Sherriff department relied on Cheney's long history of selfless honesty.

As Josh Marshall points out, it doesn’t take a guy in a tinfoil hat to suspect that the Kenedy County Sherriff’s department may have been a bit less than rigorous. It puts me in mind of one of the greats in law enforcement history.

Mo betta blogs.

Here are some disturbing Orwellian observations posted on a good blog. Of course, most blogs are better than this one. Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall is an excellent political blog (yes, he's a leftie).

Also, most people write better than I do. I freely acknowledge that I'm probably the only person who actually reads my blog, and if you note the number of typos it contains you can accurately conclude that I don't read it very closely.

All quiet on the wasted front.

There's not much to report today. Politics are still political. Sports are still sporty. Work is still tedious. I've been relegated to making a hyperlink out of every tenth word in this post. Meanwhile, here's a blurry picture of my son proving that he's a Seattle boy. Yes, that's a Starbucks cup. No, it's not coffee (it's whipping cream). Yes, the fleece he is wearing is from REI. Yes, he is sitting in the Seattle Center under the shadow of the Space Needle.

Random Kewl Stuff

There are currently two bald eagles circling over the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. You're not gonna see that just anywhere. Westin Hotels aren't THAT common.

HSR updates. 500 the Cheats (it's even more annoying than it sounds). Can you find the severed hand in this Strong Bad e-mail?

Ah, shoot!

Was Dick Cheney drunk? It’s a reasonable question to ask two days after he accidentally shot a companion while quail hunting. The press and the police were kept in the dark for almost 24 hours after the shooting. Why? Was it just typical, Cheney-esque, knee-jerk secrecy or did the VP need time to sober up? A breathalyzer test is mandatory in most states following an accidental shooting, but it would be rendered meaningless if it were administered so long after the incident. Similarly, it’s not uncommon for a hit-and-run driver to turn himself/herself in to the police 24 hours after the incident to avoid additional alcohol related charges. Cheney has two DUIs on his record and still has the reputation around DC as a heavy drinker. I doubt the liberal media will bother investigating this aspect of the story.

Let the Games Begin!

Sound the trumpets! Let the doves fly! Light the flame! The Winter Olympics are here once again, and we once more get the opportunity to watch network TV absolutely butcher this spectacle. This year it is NBC’s turn to utterly fail to capture the excitement of this unique sporting event.

Can’t wait to watch the luge? Stoked about the hockey tournament? Too bad. You’ll have to slog through hour upon hour of “up close and personal” spots where we explore the profound stories of upper-middle class, so-called amateur American athletes as they struggle with the tragedy of bunions or some other such nonsense. Every once in a while they will sprinkle in a few minutes of an actual event, packed with commercial breaks, that took place several hours or days ago.

Meanwhile, using a propaganda machine that would make Karl Rove proud, they will try to convince you that figure skating and all the other events that involve judges awarding points are actually sports, and that you should give a damn about them. After two weeks of constant bombardment you will be bludgeoned into numbly believing that an event that includes “style points” is a sport. If Super Bowl XL hinged on style points both teams would have lost, and the University of Texas would have been named champions of the NFL. An athletic event that centers on judges to pick a winner is no more a sport than an episode of American Idol. I am proudly one of the eight people in this country that doesn’t watch American Idol, and I’ll be damned if I watch any of these alleged sports.

To me, a sport is some manner of physical activity with clearly defined rules and OBJECTIVE goals. In other words, given a specific set of rules for doing so, you or your team has to do something MEASURABLY better than all the other participants (i.e., more goals, a faster time, a longer distance, a higher velocity, etc). Funky costumes, flamboyant flourishes, and musical accompaniment are fine if they are legal and help you perform better. However, there will be no judge standing by to take away your medal if Zoolander doesn’t like your outfit or if your record-breaking time wasn’t pretty enough.

Mercifully, those of us close to our endlessly tolerant Canuck border buddies can watch the Olympics on Canadian television. Amazingly enough, Canada seems to understand the concept that the Olympics are a SPORTING event, and a broadcast should be focused on SPORTS. What a concept. It almost makes me wish I had cable so I could watch it. Go Norway!!

Baseball is Coming...

Only three more weeks until the World Baseball Classic begins! Joy!




















(Yikes! Look at those pudgy knees!)

Warning: This Cartoon May Be Harmful to Stability in the Region

If you are like me, the insanity revolving around cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad has you shaking your head in bewilderment. This article goes a long way in explaining the situation. Also, today's episode of Democracy Now! features an excellent segment exploring the controversy. I found two aspects of the story particularly interesting.

1) The western media is misrepresenting the story when they report that the outrage is about the mere depiction of Muhammad. The outrage is, as you may have suspected, about offensive and insulting depictions of the prophet.

2) The violence and riots were NOT incited by the cartoons in the Danish newspaper. Those cartoons certainly upset a great many Muslims, but the violence began when Islamic extremist agitators faked and circulated cartoons that were even more offensive.

There is blame aplenty in this sad tale. The Danish newspaper has essentially admitted to the fact that they wanted to offend people. Nice job, dumbass. See what hate speech does? Meanwhile, the rioters and agitators who are spurring them on have gone a long way reinforce the very stereotype illustrated in the cartoons. Maybe everyone should stop asking, “Why do they hate?” and ask, “Why do I hate?” The situation will only get worse until both sides admit how they worked together to create this mess. Sadly, that kind of introspection is rare and unlikely.

A Truth to Power Moment

The political tempest in a teapot du jour is the comments by various speakers at Coretta King's funeral. Apparently, some of the people who gathered to honor a woman who spent her life fighting for civil rights had the audacity to launch a few salvos at President Dubya for doing his level best to undermine civil rights during his time in office. Gasp and swoon! Who wudda thunk it!?!? /sarcasm off

To Bush's credit he was there in person to absorb the rhetorical blows, but he was politically obligated to do so. Presidents Clinton, Bush Sr., and Carter were also in attendance. President Ford's poor health was probably the only thing that kept him from attending. If George Jr. had been conspicuously absent it would have been a political blunder, so he was forced to change his schedule at the last minute and be there in person.

Now the right-wing echo chamber is trying to paint the speakers as disrespectful to the President. Pa-leees! Give me a break. Why should they have been respectful? The funeral was about a woman who fought against injustice. It was not just another photo-op for a President who is trying to institutionalize injustice. I guess the last-minute nature of King George's arrival didn't give the FBI enough time to set up one of his now infamous free-speech zones where the speakers could have had their say without polluting Dubya's beautiful mind. By the way, did you notice that Ms. Beautiful Mind herself, Barbara Bush, couldn't be bothered to attend? AP reports that she was giving her own speech down in Orlando.

Ms. King's funeral put me in mind of another funeral in 2002. When Senator and liberal Democrat standard bearer Paul Wellstone was tragically killed in an airplane accident shortly before the 2002 election a large funeral was organized. As with Bush and King's funeral, the resident Republicans were obligated to attended and feign grief for the passing of a man who they had been vilifying only a few days before. Not surprisingly, in that politically charged environment the speakers had a few choice words for the Senator's political opponents who were then unceremoniously booed by the mourners who were there to actually mourn.

The Republicans immediately went into spin mode, and painted the grieving followers of Senator Wellstone to be an angry mob that soiled the proceedings. The lap dog media picked up on the Reps spin, and before you knew it they turned it into a full-blown scandal that went a long way to bolster Republican Norm Coleman's rise to Wellstone's Senate seat.

Will it work again? Can the Republican spin machine once again paint those who dare speak truth to power as a menagerie of fringe elements? The early returns say no. Ms. King is not an unknown Senator from Minnesota. The national audience and the caliber of the people in attendance will not allow them to easily distort the facts. This spin job is a much harder sell, and the credibility of the Republican machine has started to slip. Besides, most Americans are not yet seriously thinking about the elections in November. They aren't a very receptive audience at the moment. Heck, there's a new episode of "Lost" on tonight. We can't be bothered with politics until October.

The Last Post Digging the Refs... Really This Time.

I forgot that I needed to wait 48 hours for the Photoshop artists to do their magic. Here are a couple more...

Pittsburgh Stealers

It's not just a song by The Kendalls anymore. I guess some folks simply refuse to get over it.

Rated 'P' for Poopsmith

Today's Strong Bad e-mail.

For those with nothing to hide...

Pointing out hypocrisy in the Bush administration is as easy as opening a newspaper. However, Tom Tomorrow has made a career out of doing it well.

(Click on it to view a legible version)

A final bitch about the Super Bowl refs

The very fact that people are still talking about the refs two days after the Stupor Bowl is telling. I can't believe that the NFL doesn't hire full-time referees. What's the problem? It can't be that it would cost too much. I'm just spit-balling here, but I'd wager that all the NFL officials combined get paid less than Peyton Manning. Oh well, it's over now. Here are my last two parting shots on the subject.