Once upon a DreamCon Pt. 3

Well I'm here at Dream Con still. Attended panels this morning without annoying any of the panel members. I'm losing my touch. But went to panel on H.P. Lovecraft which was not the most exciting. And walked past the line of people waiting to get autographs from Ron Perlman.



Those musicians to the left sounded pretty good actually. Soothing.

Anyway back at it.

Once upon a DreamCon Pt. 2

Well yesterday was interesting. Went to a panal discussion with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, which was a bit depressing. Like all writers they stood up and said "Well, nobody makes any money in the writing game (except us of course), so you might as well give up right now."



Interesting to note the dynamic between the two; Pournelle is obviously a bit more of a businessman than Larry Niven.

Then I went to a room on where comics are going where I got under the panelists skin by mentioning CrossGen. What are you going to do?

Then I played a five hour game of Vampire the Resurrection which was annoying. There was a lot of good stuff, but it turns out little annoying kids come to these science fiction conventions as well, and one of them played with us.

They are also having some sort of boating convention here in town. So I took a picture of a boat. Here it is.

Once upon a DreamCon Pt. 1

Well I have arrived at Dream Con, got my room, parked (more difficult than it signs) signed in at the Dream Con, and now I'm up in my room writing to you, my loyal fans.

Also I've seen the truth, as emphasized by this sign.



In other news it's pretty quiet so far; although we have hopes that it will pick up. Caleb, who is providing libertarian commentary, stated, "As long as they are providing a service that people are willing to pay for, it will be a great event. I realize that's a stupid statement, but I had nothing."

Here's a picture of the creepy eye they make you walk past to get in.



More to come!

Around the Horn, Vol. XVI of XXVII; The Rise of the Hamburger

Quick blogaround today; for reasons I will explain at the end of my post.

Echidne of the Snakes has a very thought provoking article on the Mummy Wars and the expectations that are placed upon women.

It's Craptastic is doing a series on Medicare and Medicaid, of which the latest post is here. Interesting political ramifications.

Trish Wilson reveals that there are some sharp tacks out there who don't want women to have the vote.

Respectful of Otters has some typically well thought out comments on the memos which laid the "intellectual" ground work for Abu Ghraib.

musing's musings has a bit on a very scary bit of information coming out of the White House. Unsure how accurate this is, but it is definitely scary.

Bark Bark Wolf Wolf has a review of some recent poll numbers that look good for Kerry and bad for President Bush; although he also cautions against being to optimistic.

bloggg has a picture of a wombat. Not a very flattering picture.

Corrente has a section on President Bush's mental health. Such as it is.

Anyway I'm off. I am on the road to DreamCon which is a science fiction type convention. I will be doing reports from the convention, complete with pictures and additional commentary. Look forward to it. And yes, I am kind of a geek. Why do you ask?

Meet Michael Badnarik

Apparently the Libertarian Party has selected their candidate in Michael Badnarik. According to the Economist (which I purchased this very day, and so can't link to), he was kind of a dark house candidate, but won over the convention.

Did he think al-Qaeda was behind the September 11th attacks? He was not sure; "I know I don't necessarily believe everything the federal government tells me." From a Libertarian's point of view, an excellent answer. Elsewhere Mr. Badnarik has promised, if elected, to wear his handgun during state-of-the-union addresses, blow up empty United Nations buildings and require violent criminals to lie in bed all day for the first month of their incarceration.

Sounds like an interesting guy, and I wish them all the best.

Does Torture Work?

One of the arguments in favor of torture is the practical one; if we need the information to save lives, why not torture to get it? Donald P. Gregg, Former National Security Advisor (to George H. W. Bush) and Ambassador to Korea has an interesting answer to that question.

"In 1951, as a young paramilitary officer trainee in the C.I.A., I heard my instructors say that to win the cold war, "fighting fire with fire" would be required. I remember asking, how, if we did that, we could maintain any distinction between what we stood for, and what our communist opponents represented. I was told to sit down and shut up.

But the agency, I am gratified to say, took a strong stand against the use of torture in Vietnam. Under William Colby's direction, interrogation centers were set up, under American control, and coercive techniques were forbidden. I learned from my experiences in Vietnam from 1970 to 1972 that by treating prisoners humanely we frequently (though not always) gained valuable intelligence from them. This was particularly true of battered prisoners who had held out against prolonged South Vietnamese torture, but responded to being treated with compassion by Americans."

Something to consider.

President Reagan and President Bush

Interesting article by Arianna Huffington on the difference between the vision of America presented by President Reagan and the vision presented by President Bush.

"Reagan built his legacy on hope; Bush has built his on fear. And no matter how hard Karl Rove tries, he'll never be able to cloak Bush in Reagan's mantle. It just doesn't fit."

Good article all the way through; she also covers hedgehogs and fox's. I'm a fox who wants to pretend to be a hedgehog. But I'm really a fox.

A Note

I'm kind of out of it for various reasons today; hopefully I'll be back up to full speed tomorrow.

A Poem by Emily Dickinson

’T WAS just this time last year I died.
I know I heard the corn,
When I was carried by the farms,—
It had the tassels on.

I thought how yellow it would look
When Richard went to mill;
And then I wanted to get out,
But something held my will.

I thought just how red apples wedged
The stubble’s joints between;
And carts went stooping round the fields
To take the pumpkins in.

I wondered which would miss me least,
And when Thanksgiving came,
If father ’d multiply the plates
To make an even sum.

And if my stocking hung too high,
Would it blur the Christmas glee,
That not a Santa Claus could reach
The altitude of me?

But this sort grieved myself, and so
I thought how it would be
When just this time, some perfect year,
Themselves should come to me.

- 1924

Life and How to Live It

This is the rule I care about today. Do not buy puppies from a chain Pet Store without doing some research.

Most puppies in chain Pet Stores (PetSmart being an exception) come from what are called puppy mills. Here is PETA's description of a puppy mill.

"Recently, PETA found dogs at one puppy mill living on hard wire with no bedding, little protection from the searing hot summers or the frigid winters, and little to no veterinary care. Crusted, oozing eyes, raging ear infections, mange that turned skin into a mass of red scabs, abscessed feet from the unforgiving wire floors—all were ignored or inadequately treated. Some dogs injured their feet by catching them in the wire of their cages, and they hobbled painfully around their small space, trying to keep their balance. The collar on one Labrador retriever had not been adjusted as the dog grew and had become embedded in his flesh. Even though the gangrenous skin fell away as the collar was removed, his neck was treated with nothing but a worm-repellant spray.

Timid dogs were terrorized by their more aggressive cagemates, who often prevented them from eating and drinking. Sadly, many of the old mother dogs had gone mad from confinement and loneliness. They circled frantically in their small cages and paced ceaselessly back and forth—their only way of coping with their despair.

These conditions are typical at hundreds of puppy mills across the country. Laws offer little protection and are poorly enforced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

Since the government is apparently powerless to affect this situation; it is up to us as consumers to remove the demand for Puppy Mills. Instead of getting a puppy that way, why not contact your local vets or animal shelters. Consider adopting an older dog; I can speak from experience that they are often very good companions. PetSmart (who I am not affiliated with in anyway) has a program whereby you can adopt an older dog. I plan on availing myself of it in the next couple of weeks.

Anyway you all probably know this already; but I thought I would remind anybody who didn't know.

Danger! Danger!

There was an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal on a new memo that has come forth in which the Bush Administration explored the legal jungle created by the administrations willingness to consider using torture as a tool in the war in terror. Bad enough already, but one part of the article is particularly frightening

To protect subordinates should they be charged with torture, the memo advised that Mr. Bush issue a "presidential directive or other writing" that could serve as evidence, since authority to set aside the laws is "inherent in the president."

You'll see this discussed around the blogosphere today. The phrase is pretty chilling, but thankfully, the Wall Street Journal buried it pretty deep in the article.

Still the implications are clear enough. The Bush administration, or parts of it, consider the President above the law.

Talking Points Memo (from which I lifted the quote, although I do have the paper and could have typed it out myself (if I weren't so darn lazy)) has a great discussion of this, tying it back to Jefferson.

The press needs to ask President Bush or his press secretary what this means and if the President himself believes it. I suspect the answer will be something like "I will do everything I can to protect the American people." Which is an answer, more or less. Still, the odds are, he'll never have to answer the question.

Even Better than the Real Thing

Paul Krugman has an article today on Reagan (as does everybody else). In it he looks at the Mantra that Reagan lowered taxes and therefore we had an enormous boom. As it turns out the facts don't exactly bear that out, and the true story is a bit more complicated than that.

". . . Ronald Reagan does hold a special place in the annals of tax policy, and not just as the patron saint of tax cuts. To his credit, he was more pragmatic and responsible than that; he followed his huge 1981 tax cut with two large tax increases. In fact, no peacetime president has raised taxes so much on so many people. This is not a criticism: the tale of those increases tells you a lot about what was right with President Reagan's leadership, and what's wrong with the leadership of George W. Bush.

The first Reagan tax increase came in 1982. By then it was clear that the budget projections used to justify the 1981 tax cut were wildly optimistic. In response, Mr. Reagan agreed to a sharp rollback of corporate tax cuts, and a smaller rollback of individual income tax cuts. Over all, the 1982 tax increase undid about a third of the 1981 cut; as a share of G.D.P., the increase was substantially larger than Mr. Clinton's 1993 tax increase.

The contrast with President Bush is obvious. President Reagan, confronted with evidence that his tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, changed course. President Bush, confronted with similar evidence, has pushed for even more tax cuts."

The world is almost always more complicated than it first appears. But I guess you knew that.

A Poem By E. E. Cummings

Had to make this a picture so as to get the spacing right. Plus makes it stand out. Enjoy.

Not that this wasn't Predictable

But Media Matters has a bit on how the right wing is trying desperately to connect Ronald Reagan and President Bush in our minds.

You can kind of see why; I mean I'd rather run on Reagan's record than President George W. Bush's. No Contest.

History

"History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity." - Cicero

"History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we made today." - Henry Ford

I just want to say that the true evaluation of Ronald Reagan's life will not happen for a couple of months at best, and more likely it will take a couple of years. A lot of people are going to try; some are even going to try hard. But right now there's too much emotion invested in his passing for anybody to think straight.

Right now a lot of the discussion is centered on a childish black and white level. Reagan was either totally great or terribly terrible. It should be obvious that those two options can't really contain the fullness of even a normal life, let along one like Reagans.

Plus you have politics thrown into the mix. If you thought that Democrats politicized the Paul Wellstone memorial, you haven't seen anything yet. For the Republican party and their media buddies (like, say, Fox News) this week is going to be about reminding us that President Reagan was one of the two great presidents of the 20th century and that President Bush is a lot like him. So watch for that.

The difference being, of course, that President Bush's and the media's enthusiasm for Reagan is genuine and heartfelt; what happened at the Wellstone Memorial was a cynically staged political rally (for a good dissection of this, check out "Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them" by Al Franken.

Anyway I guess I agree with John W. Gardner (as quoted by Bill Moyers).

"History never looks like history when you are living through it."

New Quote

For those who don't know, Ronald Reagan died yesterday. Should make for an interesting week. I am still collecting my thoughts on him. But in the meantime, this weaks quote is from him and, of course, there's a new Quotes Page.