GRIM @ THE FOURTH RAIL answers "A Question of Victory:" Victory means doing right in Iraq -- standing fast, seeking out ways to embrace the tribes and tie them to democratic Iraq with webs of honor and hospitality, shared victories and gifts. If we do that, we will win. In winning, we shall come to be understood by the Islamic tribes as an honorable and fearless people, a tribe of warriors and true men. In coming to be seen that way, we shall find the peace that comes from being seen that way: the peace of the strong horse, the man no one wishes to trouble.
A wise and masterful essay. You'd be wise to read it all.
ONE COCKTAIL puts you into low orbit around the Planet Me. Two cocktails degrades that orbit. Three... check for chunks in your wings, you've become the Columbia.
Dorothy Spanos, of The Coffee Station, Crawford, Texas, doesn't mind the protesters at Camp Casey: "What makes America beautiful is that you have your freedom to speak your mind."
Dennis Kind, Camp Casey organizer, speaks his mind: "Honestly, this [country] is Adolf Hitler's dream."
Cindy Sheehan spent most of her time huddled with VIPS in and air-conditioned trailer. When she ventured out it was for a scripted and often televised moment. She was always trailed by her media people, and they were quick to keep her on point. During one conversation I had with her I tried to ask her a pointed question about how much time she would actually be on the bus tour to Washington (I had discovered she would only be on the tour for two days, and would be away giving speeches during the rest of the trip ... and I wondered if she were being paid for these speeches) Her media person grabbed her arm and led her back to the trailer, and away from me. The message was protected. I was left standing there... alone, and feeling a little less secure about my status at Camp Casey.
But just a few minutes later, she emerged from the trailer, smiling, and performing for the cameras. Like the chicken at the local carnival that plays tic tac toe, she eagerly performs for any microphone. She is relentless, and professional, well financed and on message. And the message is "All things bad are America's fault".
Really? I haven't noticed the Left/Liberal side of the political equation holding the moral high ground in this debate. I'll grant you it is a position repeatedly asserted by the Left, but just saying it over and over doesn't make it so anymore than "Bush lied. People died." gives the lie to George Bush.
The emptiness and vacuity of this false assertion of morality is on display daily at the Cindy Sheehan show in Crawford. The songs, the slogans, the agitprop that we've seen for nearly 40 years are there along with a false piety so tangible it rolls off of Cindy Sheehan faster than her crocodile tears. The whole dreary shebang is coming soon to a 60's Revival Tent show near you with the inevitable announcement of the dour bus tour. This is a good thing since it will allow a lot of Americans, if they care too, to expose themselves to this sorry spectacle.
At the zenith of the hippie era in the late 60s early 70s there was a rock-n-roll bus tour ("Medicine Ball Caravan," if I recall correctly), that toured the country with the lead bus sporting a sign that said "We Have Come for Your Daughters." About right for that era. Since then we've seen the proliferation of bus tours of all kinds, lately for political purposes outside of an election year. The coming Sheehan bus tour will be the ne plus ultra of these traveling medicine shows, only this time the slogan will read "We have come for your country" since this is the avowed wish of this current devolved species of pacifist carping about a specious morality.
Orwell, who had a lot of experience in the realm of the bizarre morality that aligns pacifists with fascists, said it best: "Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, ‘he that is not with me is against me’." Like others who think of themselves as "reasonable and responsible" members of the Left, Daou simply cannot see, or will not see that to be anti-war is to be pro-totalitarianism. It's admirable to set out to "look at life from both sides now," as if we were still in the sylvan summer of The Long Peace, but it begs the question. And that question is, in the argot of my long-lost comrades of the 60s, "What side are you on?"
Daou is far too quick to hand the Left the moral high ground and lumber the Right with 'Material Strength.' It is more and more evident that the classic split of Left vs. Right no longer holds water. It is actually a split between, with no political overtones implied, a question of right and wrong. And in this instance, the Left/Liberal grouping in America is becoming more wrong and hence more marginalized by the day. They thought they had a winning hand with Howard Dean. Went bust. Then they thought they could bluff their way in with John Kerry. Went bust. Now they think they have a winning hand with Cindy Sheehan's Morbid Mommy Review, but like all tapped-out card sharks they're just bluffing. When you get right down to it, hole cards of Joan Baez and Al Sharpton won't take you past the flop. Still, like every poker pigeon before them, I'm betting they'll go all in.
As is usual with these stock ham-handed bits of news "analysis," the last sentence tells you there's "a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points," which widens or narrows the range or both. The point seems to be that when respondents were fed details of the legislation, support dropped 8 percent, plus or minus 3.5 percent. Well, may the Baby Jesus open your mind and shut your mouth if you don't think knowing selected details of any omnibus item of Federal legislation doesn't shrink support every time whether its the Patriot Act or a new series of regulations for sexing chicken eggs. What's really interesting here isn't in the slant of the story, but in the numbers. Even knowing all the "bad mojo" of the Patriot Act still gives much more approval from the American people than you need to win the Presidency. Even with a "sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points."
Lockyear, elected in 2002, is naturally a Democrat and former teacher. When not contemplating the American flag in a toilet, he spends his time keeping voter initiatives off the ballot, and suing snack food manufacturers trying to get warning labels printed on bags of potato chips and french fries. What a man.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
-- Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875)
"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
-- Hillary Clinton, San Francisco, this day -- on behalf of Sen. Barbara Boxer.
Michael Moore has one good weekend at the movies, Bill Clinton has a good week cranking out his tome, and the New York Times takes a poll showing their boy falling seven or eight points in a month and says George Bush is losing. I like weeks like this since they embolden. empower, and otherwise encourage the standard bearers of the Democratic Party to open their mouths and tell us what is really in their plans for the country.
We should do everything we can to draw more statements like Hillary Clinton's out into the light of day. After all, if we are going to have an election based on the issues, and if one of those issues is who has what plans for your money, it helps to know that "We" (Hillary and her ilk) are going to "take things" (and by taking your money, they will be taking things which you might have bought) "away from you" (It was yours and now it is ours because we can) "for the common good." (Ah, the common good. That ancient shibboleth. That fetish of the nanny state.)
Once upon a time, mommy took things away "for your own good." Now Mommy Dearest has changed. She's going to take things away for "the common good."
A government system dedicated to taking things away from those that have them "for the common good...." Sounds familiar. Wasn't that tried in the 20th century? And it killed how many millions? It all seems so distant now that we eradicated "the evil empire" decades back, but it seems to me the total death toll was somewhere north of 100 million human beings.
Nice to know that Hillary Clinton and the rest of her ilk want to bring that back. Makes the choice this year much, much clearer. And easier too.
MEANWHILE, it was thought by many around the Net today that Paul Krugman probably could stoop lower, if he wasn't already snorkeling through the cess pool of his life.
Meanwhile, Krugman's arch nemisis Michael Ledeen knows "faster" is necessary, but is Bush listening? Doubtful. Nor is it likely the President is paying close attention to the great historian John Keegan as he continues his "American War" series.
Meanwhile, in Appleland did Kubla Jobs another pleasure OS decree: "It's going to drive the copycats crazy," Jobs said, meaning Microsoft.
Meanwhile, Orrin Hatch was planning to drive Steve Jobs nuts.
Meanwhile, other nuts still had jobs and were unlikely to lose them according to:Puffing Professors for Punditry is Profitable
Meanwhile, it became clear that while war wounds were the original and idealistic challenge, vanity was the payoff as Plastic Surgeons morphed from Heroes to Hustlers.
Meanwhile, as the days grew longer on Earth, the days on Saturn did the same and nobody could figure out why.
Meanwhile, variations on Evolution's "smart monkey" theme were creating things like the Son of Pet Rock, or becoming another Art Teacher from Hell, as others were telling you How Polaroid got it's groove before losing it, or how you can hack your SX-70... if you can remember where it is these days.
Meanwhile, still others were off on a 6 State Tour of Secret Bases because sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.
"The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a law meant to punish pornographers who peddle dirty pictures to Web-surfing kids is probably an unconstitutional muzzle on free speech....-- High Court Upholds Block of Web Porn LawThe majority, led by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, said there may have been important technological advances in the five years since a federal judge blocked the law. And, in a startling departure from tradition, Justice Kennedy sang his decision from the bench in what was reported to be a pleasing contralto:
Porn free, as free as the Web flows,
As free as your inbox grows,
Porn free to follow your spam!Porn free, yes, beauty surrounds you!
The Web still astounds you
Each time you click on a link!Porn free, where no filters deny you!
You're free as the broadband tide!
There's no perversion we hide!Porn free, online life is worth living,
But only worth living
'Cause you've free porn!Children, especially adolescents and their aged fans in libraries and AOL chat rooms, were thrilled by the continuing efforts of the Supreme Court to decide not to decide in this matter.
UPDATE: In an apparent homage to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's assistance in keeping Porn free across the web, her personal page on HotMature.com shot to the top of PornPageRank.com's list of mature amateur sites with her "InChambers Cam" gaining an estimated 73,000 new subscribers in the last 24 hours. Although no new retirements were announced at the end of the Court's session, Justice Ginsberg's prospects for comfortable golden years now seem assured.
===
In other news, lines were long at the Washington, New York, and Los Angeles airports where 600 ACLU lawyers were taking planes to Havana in order to start the 600 appeals of Guantanamo terrorists through the federal court system. Flight delays multiplied as Federal security agents at the airports suspended their "no-profiling" policy and searched the body cavities of any passenger fitting the description: "lawyer."
Commander William F. Probity of the LAX detachment commented: "I know we'll catch hell for this from the ACLU, but some of those lawyers could hide a SAM missile inside their orifices and we'd never know the difference if we didn't look."
Advised of the immanent arrival of 600 ACLU lawyers at the base, commanders promised to find them accommodations suitable for them as well as 600 orange jumpsuits.
Elsewhere, lawyers in the Justice Department were busy yesterday assembling the various stratagems and paperwork necessary to appeal any adverse findings in the above cases to, well, the Supreme Court.
The explanation is the same as at Athens, that the patriots, however much they desire it, cannot sometimes say anything agreeable, for they are obliged to consider the safety of the state; but the others by their very efforts to be agreeable are playing into Philip's hands.The patriots demanded a war-subsidy, the others denied its necessity; the patriots bade them fight on and mistrust Philip, the others bade them keep the peace, until they fell into the snare. [64]
Not to go into particulars, it is the same tale everywhere, one party speaking to please their audience, the other giving advice that would have ensured their safety. But at the last there were many things that the people were induced to concede, not as before for their own gratification nor through ignorance, but gradually yielding because they thought that their discomfiture was inevitable and complete.
A fine return the democrats of Eretria have gained for spurning your embassy and capitulating to Clitarchus! They are slaves, doomed to the whipping-post and the scaffold. A fine clemency he showed to the Olynthians, who voted Lasthenes their master of the horse and banished Apollonides! [67] It is folly and cowardice to cherish such hopes, to follow ill counsel and refuse to perform any fraction of your duties, to lend an ear to the advocates of your enemies and imagine that your city is so great that no conceivable danger can befall it.
Ay, and a disgrace too it is to have to say, when all is over, “Why! who would have thought it? For of course we ought to have done this or that, and not so and so.” Many things could be named by the Olynthians today, which would have saved them from destruction if only they had then foreseen them. Many could be named by the Orites, many by the Phocians, many by every ruined city.
-- Demosthenes, Third Philippic, 341 B.C.
Since, however, you all know this, you must take it into account and not let the war pass into your own country; you must not invite catastrophe through keeping your eyes fixed on the simple strategy of your old war with the Lacedaemonians, but arrange your political affairs and your military preparations so that your line of defence may be as far away from Athens as possible, give him no chance of stirring from his base, and never come to close grips with him.For so far as a campaign is concerned, provided, men of Athens, we are willing to do what is necessary, we have many natural advantages, such as the nature of his territory, much of which may be harried and devastated, and countless others; but for a pitched battle he is in better training than we are.
[53] But it is not enough to adopt these suggestions, nor even to oppose him with active military measures, but both from calculation and on principle you must show your hatred of those who speak publicly on his behalf; and you must reflect that it is impossible to defeat the enemies of our city until you have chastised those who within our very walls make themselves their servants.
And that, as all Heaven is my witness, you will never be able to do; but you have reached such a height of folly or of madness or--I know not what to call it, for this fear too has often haunted me, that some demon is driving you to your doom, that from love of calumny or envy or ribaldry, or whatever your motive may be, you clamor for a speech from these hirelings, some of whom would not even disclaim that title, and you derive amusement from their vituperations.
This is serious enough, but there is worse to follow; for you have granted to these men more security for the pursuance of their policy than to your own defenders.
-- Demosthenes, Third Philippic, 341 B.C.
MARK STEYN ON THE LIES THAT WON'T LIE DOWN:
Is there anything interesting in "My Life" by Bill Clinton? Oh, yes. Page 870.The Clintons are in New Zealand and finally get to meet "Sir Edmund Hillary, who had explored the South Pole in the 1950s, was the first man to reach the top of Mount Everest and, most important, was the man Chelsea's mother had been named for."
Hmm. Edmund Hillary reached the top of Everest in 1953. Hillary Rodham was born in 1947, when Sir Edmund was an obscure New Zealand beekeeper and an unlikely inspiration for two young parents in the Chicago suburbs. I mentioned this in Britain's Sunday Telegraph eight years ago this very week, after this little story was trotted out the first time, but like so many curious anomalies in the Clinton record, it somehow cruises on indestructibly.
"JUSTGOTEM" is "the world's first and only Breast Augmentation aftercare gift-box E-tailer."
We suggest you go big, go "Diamond."
"What do you get a girl who has everything?"
"More of the same."
ADMIT IT, you're having one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments right now. Just when you thought that it was useless to try and think up a fresh Internet based scam business, here comes: The Last Email : leave email messages for your loved ones.
The loss of a loved one is a difficult experience. At this complicated, and sometimes unexpected moment, you can bring comfort and strength to those you leave behind by sending them a message of love as you say goodbye.Although the site assures you that your information is "encrypted," and you can attach all manner of files, it does not explain what happens when somebody clicks "Reply."That is why The Last Email was created. This site is, after all, a way of celebrating life, memories and all the things that we love most. With our service you will be able to write messages, which will be delivered after your death to the ones you have chosen.
pa·ren·the·sta·sis
A momentary interruption in thought that becomes permanent. See: "brain fade"READING THROUGH THE GONE META MOMENT ON THE CHENEY EFFING ERUPTION: Post Editor Explains Decision to Publish Expletive in the Washington Post, we learn .... The Washington Post printed the word yesterday for the first time since publishing the Kenneth Starr report in 1998. And that set the town buzzing.
A sane man might think that it was the use of the phrase against a man who so richly deserved it that might be the cause of the buzz, but no, it is really all about the Washington Post's ability to float the most overused word in the English language into its august pages. This, of course, means that the whole thing has gone meta inside of one news cycle and we can look forward to at least four more cycles before it fades into oblivion.
At this rate, the arguments about when the Net will supplant Old Media are now over. The behavior of the Net has utterly entered the host body of Old Media and taken it over. From now on Old Media is just a zombie of the Net and all future news cycles will be merely "typical net.exercises" -- i.e. "It was a typical net.exercise -- a screaming mob pounding on a greasy spot on the pavement, where used to lie the carcass of a dead horse." (Source unknown)
" This long. If I'm lyin' I'm flyin' "
FRANKLY THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH OF A MUCHNESS being made of Vice President Cheney's words to Vermont's Senator Leahy during a Senate Luv-Fest yesterday. ( Cheney Curses at Leahy ) I think everybody's got this wrong. I don't think it was an attempt to denigrate the second bull-goose loony Vermont has afflicted us with in recent years, but rather an attempt on the Veep's part to give the Senator a clue. I mean, check him out. Just how lucky do you think he can get without whipping out the MasterCard and speed-dialing an escort service?
Cheney was simply pointing to the Senator how much easier Leahy's life would be if he practiced some up close and personal self-love. As Woody Allen says, "You don't have to look your best."
It was an engineering success on the order of stringing the first cables for the Brooklyn Bridge or coaxing the first glimmer of starlight through some giant telescope to unravel the structure of the universe.-- A fascinating account via the New York Times at : It's a Dirty Job, but They Do It, Secretly, in IraqBut when it occurred late last month, the achievement remained cloaked in absolute secrecy, marked only by a quiet celebration among participants who may remain forever unknown to history.
Raw sewage was treated in Baghdad.
The stream of treated water that eventually found its way into the Tigris River was hardly more than a trickle, roughly 20 million gallons a day from a city that produces raw sewage at something like 10 times that rate or more. But the accomplishment is all but epoch-making in a city where the sewage plants are in such disrepair that for the last 10 to 15 years, every drop of that muck was poured untreated into the river, fouling everything from boat landings to drinking water systems downstream.
"Three coins in the fountain
Through the ripples how they shine
(Just one wish will be granted)
(One heart will wear a valentine)
Make it mine!
Make it mine!
Make it mine!"
Via JL, our mole inside the Kerry Karass
ON THE INTERNET YOU CAN HEAR THE BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSE: Big Bang Acoustics: Movie and Sound Files
THIS INSIGHTFUL REVIEW OF THE RECENT FIRE IN LONDON that put paid to millions of dollars of really rotten art: via artburn:
A controversial display of burnt work has divided the world of art into non-identical halves, like a dead bisected animal.The exhibition, London Fire Brigade Incident: L05/1143, features more than 100 incinerated conceptual pieces by some of Britain's best-known artists, including Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Phil and Grant Mitchell, Guto Uhu, Dan Collins, Mark Woods, Alex Johnson and Fanny Ciabatta.
Some critics have praised the boldness of the show's 'anti-curatorial' approach to contemporary art, which challenges public perceptions of what ash really is, and how much it may be worth, both in terms of cultural meta-narrative and the insurance.
Others say it could have been an accident, or arson.
The fire transformed London's Saatchi Warehouse into a searing indictment of ordinary objects, space, form, flammable material and structure. Works lost include The Mitchell Brothers' Glued Airfixion and an embroidered hammock - All The Slags Who Have Slagged Me Off This Week So Fucking Far - by Emin.
Firefighters on overtime and a postponed 3.5% pay rise struggled for four hours to bring the blaze under control. Many wore breathing apparatus, slashed frocks and transplanted penises.
A fire brigade spokesman said: "We think the fire started in an adjoining factory unit at about 0400 hours. When we arrive at the scene, however, these first thoughts are displaced by feelings of existential nausea. We seem to be observing a kind of claustrophobic, personal apocalypse. Yet at the same time we cannot avoid a sense that somehow the fire is looking at us..."
Also on the scene were several specialist units of video installation artists. A selection of short filmed pieces with doleful, confessional voiceovers will be screened later this year in a mini-season at the ICA.
Darcy Farquear'say of the Creative on Sunday believes the destruction of so many iconic, tinder-dry works of art is made more tragic by a slightly nasty, or comical, sub-text. "Future generations will not now have the opportunity to see for themselves what these pieces were like. It will certainly add to their mystique, as they aren't actually there any more".
He believes further art fires will follow. "Charles Saatchi is a trend-setter. If he now owns a collection of iconic art reduced to cinders, other collectors will follow. I think - certainly for the purposes of Radio 4's Today programme - we may be witnessing the birth of a new movement. Post-Materialism, possibly. Or something with 'phoenix' in it."
What do you make of the 9-11 commission?
Victor Davis Hanson: Nothing like it is all bad or all good. Investigations, if done properly and timed right, are, of course, essential for a democracy. But look at this present politicized charade.
Televised grandstanding; hearings sometimes held in places like Greenwich Village; former Clintonites who need to be questioned for their own laxity now questioning others (who will police the police?); a jeering gallery; generals summoned from the front to sit and be hectored; and bad timing since we are in the most critical moment in Iraq as the handover nears.
It all reminds me of the Athenian Assembly during the last phase of the Peloponnesian War when the mob adjudicated critical negotiations and always came to the wrong and ultimately fatal decision.
The most recent hair-splitting over Saddam and al Qaeda was pathetic. We all know Zarqawi was close to bin Laden and was treated in Baghdad; we all know that al Qaedists were encouraged to attack Kurds in Iraq. Add the still strong possibility that Atta was in Prague and that Saddam knew a great deal about the first World Trade Center, and the statement of the New York Times that there were no "ties" is really shameful. Saying al Qaeda and Saddam had no relations is like saying Milosevic knew nothing about the Kosovar and Bosnian holocausts. Mr. Clinton would have none of it -- and neither should we now in Iraq.
Again, the New York Times headlines say it all.
-- Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers
THE AMERICAN DREAM LIVES AND HAS GROWN STRONGER, with freedom now in first place.
That's the bottom line to a Roper Report that has been tracking attitudes and beliefs about the American Dream since 1986. For a long time, the most important element of the American Dream was home ownership. But recently this has been overtaken by freedom as the most important component of the dream.
Perhaps the most significant change in the Dream, however, is that freedom has replaced home ownership as its top-ranked feature. Three in four adults, up 5 points from 2000, say that having “freedom of choice in how to live one’s life” is “very much” a part of the American Dream, edging out “to own a home” by 4 percentage points. In all previous readings, freedom tied with home ownership or was slightly behind.-- Roper Reports, Public Pulse -- June 24, 2004 "The findings in this report are drawn from surveys of adults conducted between October 1986 and February 2004. “The American Dream” 1986 study was conducted for The Wall Street Journal; all succeeding surveys were conducted as part of the Roper Reports service.On the other hand, freedom for oneself and equality for all are not totally in sync. There has been no similar gain in the share who feel that living “in an open society in which everyone has an equal chance” defines the Dream, although this still ranks third after freedom and owning a home.
These slight shifts aside, the American Dream is defined much as it has been in the past, more by quality of life than quantity of cash, more by a “rewarding career and family life” and the financial security to retire and to enjoy leisure time than by getting wealthy and being “able to buy all the things one wants.” For more than half, it means having an enjoyable job or moving up the generational ladder by doing “better than one’s parents did.” And for half of adults, the Dream still conjures visions of the ragsto- riches story popularized more than 100 years ago by Horatio Alger Jr.’s novels – i.e., being “able to start a business of one’s own” or rising “from clerk or worker to president of a company.” Not to mention the possibility of becoming president of the country.
IF YOU THINK OR KNOW ANYONE WHO THINKS that this war will be over soon, you should take a look at the games the next Muslim generation is playing. Here's a video: Muslim Children Play at Beheading a Hostage.
From Charles at LGF who notes, correctly, that "in order to play-act the decapitation of Nick Berg, these children must have studied the actual video."
READ ALL ABOUTOPERATION TIGER CLAW --DEBRIEFING from Protest Warrior. A detail account about how one American teenager explores the meanings and limits of free speech at this high school.
The rest is well worth reading, and the photographs make this exploration of the small minds teaching your children a special delight.
My name is Bryan Henderson and I am an 18 year old senior attending Princeton Senior High School. Better known as Templar_Crusader on the PW forum, I am the proud leader of the small but growing PHS chapter of ProtestWarrior.Operation Tiger Claw was my first attempt at leading a protest against the apathy and leftism running rampant at my school. It all started on Friday, May 14th with a small act of conservative pride. My socialist history teacher was on another kick about how articulate Noam Chomsky was, when I finally reached my limit.....
At the end of the day, my fellow PW chapter members and I felt it was time to fight back and strike at the public education indoctrination machine that seemed to be running out of control. Our school desperately needed some ideological balance, so we decided that the next day we would up the ante and place 500 signs in the halls of the school.
I got to a quick start the next morning...
"LODESTAR" -- FROM THE Popular Science | 2004 Design Competition, a synthetic star.
The designers of the magnificent Tribute in Light memorial for the World Trade Center turned their attention to urban night blindness: the blankness of the city skies. Urban Lodestar is a light-emitting five-pointed star designed to float serenely above a city center and pulse gently at the same rate as a resting heart to calm the city folk below. Lodestar hovers with the aid of helium-filled polymer balloons; propellant tanks and directional boosters attached to a GPS-equipped positioning system keep it from going AWOL. During the day, photovoltaic film panels harness energy from the Sun and store it in batteries; at night, electroluminescent strips in the shape of a star glow with that stored energy. Graphite composite struts provide stability, and a battery-powered xenon strobe creates the pulsing effect. Intermittent green flashes differentiate the Urban Lodestar from natural celestial bodies.
YET ANOTHER REASON TO SHORT AOL: AOL Engineer Accused of Stealing Subscriber List
An America Online software engineer was arrested and charged today with scheming to steal the Internet provider's subscriber list and send ``massive amounts'' of spam to millions of computer users.The AOL spokestool, Nick Graham, stated that they were reviewing AOL's security procedures. He also assured everyone that although the theft amounts to almost all of AOL's 30 million subscribers, their credit card information was secure because it was stored in a "separate data location."Jason Smathers, a West Virginia man who worked in AOL's Dulles, Virginia, data warehouse, is accused of stealing a list containing 92 million subscriber screen names. Interim U.S. Attorney David Kelley said Smathers, 24, sold the list to another man, Sean Dunaway, who then sold it to two spammers for $52,000. Dunaway was also charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
Yeah, right. You know, this little bit of bad news is probably news to nobody who thinks about AOL for two nanoseconds. But then again, the 'authorities" have never really been serious about the AOL virus that has been infecting cyberspace for over a decade.
You want to put a damper on pedophiles preying on children online? Simple, shut down the AOL chat rooms.
You want to get a handle on spam? Simple, shut down AOL's antiquated "security systems."
Is any of this going to happen. Nope.
We'll just be seeing more offers of the first 50,000 hours of AOL free flooding the mailboxes of the world.
Will it work? Fools login to where fools have logged in before.
THE MODERATE VOICE HAS A 10 POINT CHECKLIST ON What We've Learned From The Beheadings So Far
"(3)It's all about body count. The terrorists have shifted strategy from a quantitative body count (911; Madrid) to a qualitative body count (symbolic victims such as an American Jewish journalist, an American Jewish businessman, an American mechanic aiding the Saudi Arabian military, and a South Korean on the eve of his country sending more troops to the region).A gruesome list, but accurate."(4)They will likely raise the bar of barbarity to get publicity and continue to shock with the same impact. So far the victims have been males in their 30s and 40s. Will they choose a woman -- or a child? Or a group?"
THE REV. DONALD SENSING elucidates some fundamental reasons about the religious nature [ See: The War of Two Religions ]of our current struggle in The war of ultimates: Religious war is back in full force
Islam, not just the radicalized version, teaches that Allah's control over events of the world and human life is total and complete. Pretty much the extent of human free will is either to rebel against Allah or to submit. Yet even rebellion is, somehow, under the controlling purview of Allah. Everything that happens, without exception, is the preordained will of Allah.....In Islam, Allah holds all the power marbles. Humanity has no true self will or self power.
Bin Laden's sort of self-justifying extremism is not the mainstream of Islam, but neither is it as far removed as we might imagine. Fatalism is a characteristic of Islam. There is no human freedom. Human liberty, especially as Americans think of it, is literally a foreign concept to Islam, especially Arab Islam.
We say that the defining idea of American liberty is "self evident:" Human beings "are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This claim has no natural fit with Islam. The idea that humans, created by the power of Allah, could inherently possess unalienable rights of their own, which no authority may remove, would require Islam to surrender the idea that Allah enjoys meticulous control over all affairs of nature and humankind. But this notion is lethally dangerous to the defining idea of Islam itself: that Allah has all the power.
Liberty as we conceive it is at the heart of the conflict. For Muslims, the most desirable state of human society is not one that is free, in the Western sense, but one that is submissive to Allah, according to the dictates of Quran. This state of society is dar al Islam, the world of peace. Anything else is the dar al harb, the "world of war." Societies, peoples or nations are either at war with Allah or at peace (through submission) to Allah.
I'M PROBABLY FAR FROM ALONE IN THINKING this is the creepiest news out of Microsoft in a long time: Microsoft patents body power
Microsoft has been awarded a patent for using human skin as a power conduit and data bus.It is at times like this that I hear that old line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: "Who are those guys?"United States Patent: 6,754,472, which was published Tuesday, describes a method for transmitting power and data to devices worn on the body and for communication of data between those devices.
In its filing, Microsoft cites the proliferation of wearable electronic devices, such as wristwatches, pagers, PDAs (worn on people's belts) and small displays that can now be mounted on headgear....
Microsoft said, the physical resistance offered by the human body could be used to create a virtual keyboard on a patch of skin. And just to make sure it has covered all its bases, the filing concludes with a reference for Fido.
"It will be apparent," it says, "that the body may be that of a wide variety of living animals and need not be limited to being a body of a human being."
32 Volvos Sold in One Town in One Day and, no, it wasn't Marin.
"Jung says there is another dimension, if you will, beneath our existence..."
The Midwich Cuckoo Car "Documentary" at the link above. It would seem that the Michael Moore meaning of "documentary" is catching on.
"Meet the new boss .... "
TODAY WE RECEIVED THIS EARTHSHATTERING DISPATCH from the American Digest correspondent in Switzerland:
Dateline Geneva 6/23/2004, :
Hale Hubble Reporting
Today, Tim Berners-Lee (Creator of the World Wide Web) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) made two startling announcements:
First, as the result of a crash program begun June of 2004, common carriers and ISPs, working with almost every reader of SlashDot have managed to implement "Internet 2" a decade ahead of schedule.
The deployment "Internet 2" will bring the equivalent of 10 T-1s to every Internet user making it possible for iTunes to deliver songs faster than you can buy them.
In a related development, Seagate announced the delivery, by Federal Express, of 10 Terabyte drives to every Internet user free of charge. The drives come preloaded with all songs on the iTunes server and, via a chron job invoking Microsoft's .NET passport, will automatically debit the ATM cards of all Internet users for their entire balance on a monthly basis, making bill paying a seamless snap at last. New content to iTunes will be updated to the drives daily.
But the real news continues to be the amazing deployment of Internet 2 on a schedule that recalled The Manhattan Project. ( The WWII effort and not the 1986 film of the same name.)
Because of these Herculean efforts, almost all existing Internet 1 content will be migrated transparently to Internet 2 between 2:28 and 2:30 GMT on June 30 (with the exception of online discussions concerning "American Idol" which will take place from 2:35 to 6:45 GMT on the same day). This migration is made possible thanks to billions of dollars of donations of time, money and equipment by companies like AT&T, Microsoft, Oracle, and Six Apart.
In the second even more exciting announcement, Tim Berners-Lee said that the old Internet was being given to Dave Winer, of Userland fame. "From this day forward," Berners-Lee said, "Dave will own Internet 1, and all sites therein. Dave will immediately be granted root access to all servers, and will be allowed to decide who can be on his Internet, and what they will be allowed to say. As a provision of this grant, Dave understands that he not be allowed on Internet 2 at all."
"It was all we could do", Berners-Lee continued in an exclusive interview . "We've be trying to get rid of this guy longer than Bush has been hunting for Bin Laden, but he just won't go away. We finally decided that we'd all just leave instead.".
Asked if it was unfair that Dave was getting the "old" Internet, Lee replied "Have you seen his sites? They look like someone typed them in on a Selectric, then pasted a newsprint photo to the top of them! He could get by with two 1200-baud modems and a rusty wire, must less the whole old Internet!".
Winer, who seemed curiously unaware of the Internet 2 announcement, could barely be located, much less contained for a coherant statement. We caught up with him taking his things out of 15 paper boxes on a back street in Queens, where he said "Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally, everything is turning out as it should!"
Asked about his plans, Winer replied that he'd immediately collect all root passwords, and convert every site to run on Radio Userland, the "blogging" tool which he developed in 1970 and continues to maintain was the "true origin of the Internet".
Asked if he thought his plans would cause any "disruption," Dave calmly announced that the Internet would be shut down for 2 weeks while he worked on the conversion. We asked if that wouldn't inconvenience any remaining Internet users, and Dave replied "Look, not only have you guys been using it for FREE all this time, but I have some really painful hemorrhoids and can't deal with it any faster.
"Besides,", he continued, "the whole naming scheme is messed up. I want to get rid of those stupid .com, .edu, etc. crap. I'm going to replace them with RELEVANT stuff, like .davesdaysnotsmoking, .davewatchedthismove, .davesbowelmovement, etc, etc".
In a related story, both the Israelis and Palestinians have overwhelmingly elected Berners-Lee as their leader. Arial Sharon was quoted as saying "If he could get rid of that schmuck Winer, he can solve anything.". Palestinians expressed similar sentiments, and three blew themselves up on Winer's front lawn in a tribute to Berners-Lee.
Developing....
I USUALLY LIKE IT WHEN BIG MEDIA picks up on my ideas ( "Exactly when did we stop using the word 'traitor' as a functional part in the American conversation?" ) , but I have to admit I'm less that flattered when big media shows up in the form of Bill O'Reilly.
At the risk of offending the easily offended, I admit that I can't stand to watch O'Reilly; not because I disagree with him, but because he is such a tool.
Continued...
Tina in her signature "thoughtful
pondering hand hiding the double chin"
pose
Gothamist Interviews: Tina Brown, Editor/Writer/TV Host
Gothamist: Now you host a talk show on CNBC called "Topic A with Tina Brown." My question to you: Why television, why now?
Tina Brown: There is no magazine I want to edit now.
Translation: "After my professional sepuku with Talk Magazine, there is no magazine crazy enough to have me edit it. Most magazines still want to make money. And I have to do something to pass the time until Hillary is elected."
EVIDENCE FOR "THE SLIPPERY SLOPE" @ Deinsea:
The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves: Anatidae)
On 5 June 1995 an adult male mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) collided with the glass façade of the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam and died. An other drake mallard raped the corpse almost continuously for 75 minutes.
Pointer from the home of stunning links: growabrain.
AS I READ THE CHILLING Jason's rules for the NYC subway (kottke.org) it came to me once more how glad I am not to have these issues as part of my daily routine.
Jason's rules for the NYC subwayAnd, of course, like all New Yorkers now deep into the fugue of forgetfulness and denial, Kottke left out #10.1. Get the hell out of my way, I'm coming through.
2. Do not stop at the top of the stairs to put your MetroCard back into your purse/wallet. You are between me and my train.
3. Act more like a particle and less like a wave. When you're weaving all over the platform like a drunken sinusoidal, energetic particles like myself -- who, in keeping with Newton's first law of motion, like to remain in a uniform state of motion until acted upon by an outside force -- cannot easily get past you.
4. Slower traffic keep to the right.
5. Yield to persons crossing the platform from the express train to the local train (or vice versa). They need the right-of-way more than you do for that 15 seconds of your existance on this earth.
6. Have your MetroCard out of its holster before you get to the turnstile. Before.
7. If you are waiting for your train, suppress the urge to wander the crowded platform aimlessly. Pick a spot and stay exactly there. If you need to move, do so with purpose and well-defined direction.
8. I'm embarrassed that I even need to mention this one because it's so bloody obvious, but get out of the way and let everyone off the train before you attempt to board. (Calling Malcolm Gladwell...why haven't you written a NYer article that explains the particularly brain dead human behavior of people crowding into subway cars and elevators before people have exited them?)
9. Get the hell out of my way, I'm coming through.
10. If you're going to open up that cannister of Sarin gas or VX fresh from Iraq by way of Syria, please don't do it until after I've left the subway. Thanks for caring before sharing.
"Reason will not decide at last; the sword will decide." -- Robinson Jeffers
HAVING FOUND A SURE THING FOR GETTING THEMSELVES SOME ATTENTION, ISLAMIC SLIME continues to repeat itself: Militants Decapitate South Korean Hostage in Iraq
"We warned you and you ignored it," one of the men said. "Enough lies. Your army is not here for the sake of Iraqis but for the sake of cursed America.""Killed four people...." That's nothing to the inhabitants of Fallujah. Nothing at all. Wouldn't get their attention if air strikes killed four a day for a year. It just isn't enough of a shock to the noble inhabitants of that fabulous vacation paradise.A spokesman for the television network said the tape went on to show one of the men cutting off Kim's head with a knife.
Hours after Kim's body was found, the U.S. military launched its second airstrike in four days against suspected safe houses for Zarqawi's network in Falluja. The attack destroyed a garage and killed four people, locals said.
Since it does not seem as if the current administration has enough focus and courage to visit some extreme solutions on Fallujah and other outposts of swine throughout the region, perhaps the Koreans themselves can come up something.
But no. They will not. Instead it will be more of the same for many more weeks and months. The act will be called 'barbaric' and the nations concerned will state that they 'will not negotiate' with terrorists. 'Justice will be sought.' But, really, so what? So what?
The terrorists do not and never had expected to have any negotiations take place. All they expect is for their captive to die and for the media of the world to run their snuff tapes and for the ghouls of the world to search the web for them and... and.... and so it goes.
At some point, after an unknown number of innocent people have been killed in a public and barbaric manner, the Islamites involved will find their limit.
On that day, those people and, alas, tens of thousands of their neighbors -- who may or may not have known, who they were and what they were about will probably be reduced to ash. Perhaps a demonstation of death on a wholesale scale will sate the lust for death that seems to have latched onto the soul of the middle east.
Until then, heads will continue to roll. And the cameras will roll on in their coverage. And our heads of state will roll out their platitudes. It is all just a period in which the lives of the innocent will continue to be squandered.
But the middle-east and Islam has been running up a very big butcher's bill over the last few decades. Soon it will come due. Payable. In full.
Cheaper Than Therapy Can a woman feel lust for a truck?
The Anchoress reads carefully and finds "This book is filthy dirty!" Then she reads between the lines.
Bill Peschel John Cleese undergoes surgery "The good news for all Franz however, is that the infected bit which has been cut out by the surgeon, will be offered for sale on the website in the next few days."
BlameBush! asks "Would You Hit a Grieving War Mom With Glasses?" [We report, you decide.]
Achenblog: "I can't help but notice that Science asks us to believe in things we can't see. Quarks? Never seen one. Black holes? Ditto. Circulation of the blood? Seems to me it just pulses in place. Earth spins on its axis? Not that I can tell....."
Wizbang takes a long, hard look at the new "girly" condoms.
Radio DavidByrne is currently running a stream of really great hits from the 60s. Impeccable taste.
Banterist finds Apple guilty of "Homophone neglect, a misdemeanor." But fails to comment on The Penguin Movie. Loss of down.
Chris Lynch's A Large Regular, -- "stool pigeon."
badscience, the blog: Ben Goldacre's Bad Science column from the Guardian and More…
Ace of Spades allows that Elizabeth Edwards now feels a connection to Cindy Sheehan.
Rober Cadenhead @ Workbench wants Idris Elba cast as the new James Bond, completely ignoring the fact that I am available and will take the call.
AdScam/The Horror! : "Hunter went off in style yesterday. His ashes were fired from a cannon on top of a 150 foot tower at his compound in Aspen. Celebrating the occasion, guests included Sean Penn, Lyal Lovett, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Johny Depp, who paid for the cannon." [Ed: I would have tossed a buck in the hat to see that too. Years ago.]
Jarvis sez: "Imagine a local news operation that actually says something." Hard, very hard to do, but Fox may bring it off.
Porretto is holding a Sheehan Consolidated Fact Fest over at his place.
ARMOR GEDDON on Army Pilfering and Canister Shot: "This is just the way things are. Everyone knows it, everyone accepts it. The guys who need it most, get it last or not at all."
SciScoop || Quantum Teleportation Of Matter Demonstrated
Now the quantum-research branch of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced the first quantum teleportation of ordinary matter - the atoms from which you and I are made. Their teleportation gizmo is not the Star Trek style transporter quite yet. Instead of making an atom itself vanish and reappear far away at another place, the latest NIST experiment transfered the quantum properties of an atom instantaneously to another atom that was already far away. The far-away atom didn't become a "twin" of the original test atom; it effectively became the original atom itself, without having to be moved through space. A subtle distinction, but an important one in a breakthrough experiment on ordinary matter like that all around and within us.
"Ever wondered if there's a literary equivalent of someone attacking a hanging side of beef with a chain saw? Wonder no more." -- James Lileks
To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of "dissenting" bravery.-- Unfairenheit 9/11 - The lies of Michael Moore. By Christopher Hitchens
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AN EMAIL THIS MORNING asked: "Can you guess what this is?"
The broad "guess" isn't hard if you've been aware that last week we could see, if we lived in the right place, something that no one alive has seen in the heavens: The Transit of Venus.
But if you lived in exactly the right place during the Transit of Venus, you saw something more, something that, when you think about it, is truly a miracle.
But what is it that you are seeing in this picture? Take a guess. Answer tomorrow if the comments don't catch it before then.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO JUST DON'T HAVE TIME FOR AndrewSullivan's Daily Dish on Mondays, we've prepared a lite version below. The original weighs in at 2098 words, but we've pared it down to 478. This way you can get the essential Sullivan in one fifth the time:
RETHINKS: Mike Kinsley kills own editorial -- I remark that my blogging had inconsistent positions and rife with conflicts. Ask for slack. For Kinsley too.
- 5:35:47 PM
CALABRESI: Volokh
- 5:25:54 PM
BEGALA NOMINEE: "Supreme Court -- Bush /Gore =Mussolini / King of Italy = Hindenburg / Hitler. Bush not Hitler. Bush = Mussolini. Franklin Roosevelt same but elected big." - Calabresi , judge 2nd Circuit Court Appeals.
- 4:08:13 PM
ELECTROCUTION? Iraq prison badness "... electrocution genitals, rape and murder -- Saddam's former torture-palace. approved by higher-ups? Rumsfeld? I harangued for continuing to write -- huge deal if torture sanctioned secret + the president, against law. Need to know -- Rumsfeld authorize ? responsible? -- scape-goat underlings -- exonerate Rumsfeld? Supoena, say I.BBC EXPOSED: Devastating - true.
BECAUSE CAN: Child-molesting priests protected by Vatican -- sickening, important --vital.
GOD'S PARTY: Republicanism = holy war. Karl Rove / Ralph Reed make it. My column -- GOP abusing faith -- political ends -- opposite .
APPEASEMENT: foreign desk editor-- Lebanon + Syria -- people there -- friends -- Sharkansky sticks boot.
- 12:21:03 AM
QUOTE DAY 1: "Conservative -- SF marriages, adoption by same-sex , and NH Episcopal bishop. Gays married + children + church = OK. Next -- school vouchers, boycot HBO + Republican. Arguing not happening w/ conservatives -- formats radio/TV = no debate. Tone not trial of Socrates = Johnnie Cochran to O.J. jury." - P.J. O'Rourke , Atlantic.QUOTE DAY 2: "Deborah Solomon: Abu Ghraib okay?
Trent Lott: Mississippi said: 'America #1.' Interrogation not Sunday-school. No American lives saved withholding pancakes.
DS: Unleashing killer dogs + naked Iraqis not = withholding pancakes.
TL: Did dogs bite / assault?" - From NYT Magazine .
PEACE PROCESS: I amused @ UN: doves of peace, released "dead before dropped like a brick.'" inquiry. Dead dove? Priceless.
KRAMER VS SULLIVAN: Kramer Reagan = Hitler . I respond = Advocate. I surprised by Goldberg last week -- I not playing to gay = non-endorsement of Bush -- I alienate gay establishment -- against shibboleths. Oppose hate crime; reservations re: non-discrimination; favor Boy Scouts discrimination but deplor discrimination; challenge AIDS orthodoxy: battle victimology endorse Dole Bush over Gore praise drug companies HIV treatment. Very few gay controversial as I -- happens I believe Constitution not place = social policy+ marriage = l right for all not straight ones = I say all audiences. Always.
BLOGGING CONVENTIONS? Bloggers more statement = not going to infomercials; schmooze-fests for journalists, pundits politicals + corrupting donor parties -- political importance = television shows. New York = fun -- hang outside with left-wing freaks, not inside with right-wing freaks. Rationalizing Ptown? No. You kidding?
- 12:20:39 AM
GAY LIFE: List of occupations -- gay applicants -- marriage licenses -- Massachusetts -- Week1: [insert 360+ job descriptions]Challenge. Think of straight who does job, tell him/her no marry -- spouse = room mate -- children take away any time. Gay people live this every day; are treated sub-human -- beneath citizenship. Endit.
Click to enlarge
Imagine walking outside to hop on the company bicycle for a trip to the other side of the compound. Just before you plop your bee-hind down on the seat, you stop. "What's that buzzing sound," you wonder. Then, just as you raise your rump, you realize the ruckus is right below you. "Yikes," you yell, as the yellow and black covered bee-hive humms to life. -- Photo of the Week - Naval Safety Center
TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL covers the debacle of the Liberal/Left Radio experiment "Air America" in excrutiating detail. In a front page story, Inside Air America's Troubles: Optimism and Shaky Finances (Subscription Required), the outline of the "network's" start up days is notable for the long sequence of lies that began at the top and percolated down through the entire organization.
Of course, Air America's "million-dollar-a-year-man," Al Franken doesn't really see the sordid history of vapor cash at the company as a collection of lies. Franken explains them as: "In a startup, says Mr. Franken, people often exaggerate what they have. Mr. Cohen, he says, "did just that, and somehow got us on the air. For that, I guess I owe him some gratitude." We imagine that Mr. Franken has learned, over the years, how lies can result in profits for himself. Except in this case it would seem Franken himself was shortchanged:
" Mr. Franken had negotiated a pay package valued at more than $1 million a year, according to a copy of the contract viewed by The Wall Street Journal. On the evening of April 26, Mr. Goodfriend says he was asked by Mr. Cohen to show Mr. Franken a deposit slip that would prove he'd been paid a portion of his salary. Mr. Cohen says he only asked Mr. Goodfriend to negotiate with Mr. Franken."The next day, Mr. Goodfriend went to Mr. Franken's Manhattan apartment to meet Mr. Franken's wife, who manages her husband's finances. Over the Frankens' kitchen table, the two tore open an envelope sent over by Mr. Cohen that they thought was going to contain proof of the payment. All they found was a stack of irrelevant documents. "
Ooops, no pay slip. One would think that Mr. Franken would have noticed the deposit of a portion of one million dollars into his bank account. Evidently not. Nevertheless, the pattern of one party claiming one thing at Air America and another party denying it seems to be a normal way of doing business. That and short-changing junior staff or just, in the end, stiffing them:
"On March 30, the night before Air America went on the air, the liberal radio network threw itself a $70,000 party at Manhattan's hip Maritime Hotel...."Today several employees say they still haven't been reimbursed for the costs of attending the New York launch. "It was a fun party, until I knew I was paying for it," says Bob Visotcky, Air America's former Los Angeles market manager, who hasn't been reimbursed for his hotel room and flight."
The primary forces behind the launch of Air America were "Guam-based entrepreneurs Evan M. Cohen and Rex Sorensen." Why, if liberal talk radio was such a hot idea, those wealthy liberals promoting it had to go to a couple of guys from Guam to get it rolling, isn't really clear.
What is clear is that, for all the talk heard from around the liberal cantons, there weren't really all that many of them ready to open their wallets:
"Messrs. Walsh and Saade say Mr. Cohen told them that TV producer Norman Lear had given Air America $2 million and pledged another $2 million. They also say Mr. Cohen told them that Laurie David, wife of comedian Larry David, had invested $2 million and pledged another $4 million."Buoyed by the good news, Mr. Walsh told reporters on a March 11 conference call that the network was "well on our way" to raising "upward of $30 million" by its planned March 31 launch.
In fact, Mr. Lear and Ms. David were approached by Mr. Cohen but didn't invest, their spokespeople say."
This pattern of claiming investments from wealthy liberal investors was, evidently, part of Cohen and Sorensen's stock and trade. As was stiffing people they had agreed to pay from the small to the large, starting with the couple that had the "big idea" that a liberal radio network was just what the leftist Doctors of America ordered:
"Air America was conceived by a wealthy Chicago couple, Anita and Sheldon Drobny. Mr. Drobny is a venture capitalist and liberal activist who writes an occasional column for a Web site that has compared Republican control of Congress and the White House to the Nazis' rise to power in Germany. ....Mr. Cohen teamed up with Mr. Sorensen, 58, a business partner and the founder of Sorensen Pacific Broadcasting Inc., a network of five radio stations in Guam and Saipan. The two men agreed to buy the concept from the Drobnys for about $1 million, according to four people familiar with the transaction. The Drobnys haven't yet been paid. Messrs. Cohen and Sorensen say payment was based on performance milestones that haven't been met. "
Performance milestones which, if they existed, now seem never to be met. Still, seeing a turkey coming down the street for miles did not dissuade Cohen and Sorensen from continuing to pretend the glass was half-full when the glass had never even been a quarter full:
"Many of Air America's investors and executives say they thought the network had raised more than $30 million, based on assurances from its owners, Guam-based entrepreneurs Evan M. Cohen and Rex Sorensen. In fact, Air America had raised only $6 million, Mr. Cohen concedes. Within six weeks of the launch, those funds had been spent and the company owed creditors more than $2 million.Ah, those "cultural differences," which may mean "We don't want to throw good money after bad," but is more likely to mean that they didn't have any money to throw to begin with. It would seem that the primary funders and raisers for Air America were famous in Guam for what they would become famous for in the United States, stiffing people:When the problems came to light, "we realized that we had all been duped," says David Goodfriend, the company's acting chief operating officer. Messrs. Cohen and Sorensen say they didn't mislead anyone about the company's finances. They say they planned to invest more over time but didn't because of cultural differences with other managers"
"Joe Calvo, the general manager of Guam's Pacific Telestations Inc., which owns TV and radio stations, says Mr. Cohen's defunct ad agency owes him $20,000. Mark Pangalinan, president of Guam conglomerate M.V. Pangalinan Enterprises, says the same ad company owes his real-estate division four years in rent; it also owes another division several years' worth of employee health-insurance premiums. Mr. Cohen denies owing both companies money. Mr. Goodfriend says he thought Mr. Cohen was a successful businessman and says he was unaware of these disputes. "But when the chance to stick it to George Bush is dangled in front of some people, it quickly becomes a case of "Fools rush in where fools have been before. Enter Mark Walsh, a 50-year-old former America Online Inc. executive, had run an e-commerce site called Verticalnet Inc., which was briefly one of the highest-flying dot-com stocks with a peak value of $12.4 billion. More recently, Mr. Walsh headed Internet operations for John Kerry's presidential campaign."
Of course, Mr. Walsh did not think of himself as a fool. He was a savvy executive and asked to see some proof of net-worth:
"Mr. Walsh says he asked Mr. Cohen for proof of his assets. The entrepreneur showed Mr. Walsh documents that Mr. Cohen represented as real-estate and cash holdings valued at millions of dollars, Mr. Walsh says. Mr. Cohen denies saying the assets were his alone. He says the documents combined his assets with those of Mr. Sorensen and another business partner, Brooklyn real-estate developer Charles Cara. "Obviously oblivious to the extent to which a determined person might use copiers and Kinko's to pad their portfolios, Mr. Walsh bought it all. Or perhaps Mr. Walsh, like so many others attached like remora to Air America, just needed to believe in lies and the lying liars who told them.
Be that as it may, the fact that Air America was living in The Land of No Money was increasingly evident to creditors of all shapes and sizes:
"But bills weren't getting paid. Mr. Visotcky, the former Los Angeles market manager, says he discovered in March the company hadn't paid the rent on its office space there. He lost his job later when Air America was kicked off the air in that city. Mr. Cohen says the rent wasn't paid because of a contractual dispute. In April, vendors stopped delivering office supplies because they weren't getting paid and contractors, such as electricians, complained their checks weren't arriving.Ah, yes, those pesky "car services." The last refuge of scoundrels who could not put up or shut up. It wasn't the immense void of advertising interest in Air America that did them in, nor was it the fact that from the moment it was a gleam in the eye of the wealthy but wacky couple from Chicago Air America was stillborn, nor was it the unabashed greed of Al Franken in thinking he could start at one million a year and work up, nor was it a long and now carefully documented tissue of lies, that put Air America on the air with but a wing and a secular prayer. No, it was perks that did them in! The wanton and continuing abuse of 'car services.' Clearly, if Air America really wanted to be a success all it had to do was get the staff to agree to patronize mass transit en masse. After all, that's part of the liberal creed, isn't it?One of the network's on-air personalities, Randi Rhodes, formerly of WJNO in West Palm Beach, Fla., opened her own checkbook when her staff wasn't paid. Ms. Rhodes says she found "a group that was running the place that was absolutely not up to it." The New York studio had no air conditioning and some technical equipment didn't work. In its first few days, the network sometimes sputtered off the air.
Mr. Cohen concedes the company should have had tighter financial controls and blames the cash crunch on perks such as car services. "
In the end, those responsible for the limping liftoff of Air America continued to do what all good liars do. They parse the meaning of what is is and keep right on lying:
"[The board] asked Messrs. Cohen and Sorensen to resign and hand over voting control of their shares to Mr. Goodfriend, according to three people familiar with the negotiations.The bottom line? There never was much bottom line to Air America and it will now continue to exist only by the kindness of liberal strangers willing to dump excess cash into the drain from now until the elections, if then. But will the lies continue? Not at all. What we will see will be, as Mr. Franken parses it, just a little exagerration from time to time."After the meeting, Air America executives examined the company's finances. "When we finally gained access to the bank accounts, we realized they were empty," Mr. Saade says. Mr. Cohen denies the bank accounts were empty although he concedes there wasn't much money left."