"But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer."

U.S. Diplomat's Letter of Resignation. (username: opensewer; password: iswatching)

The American government - working hard to bring a police state home to you!

Some recent good stories: Whites Swim in Racial Preference, Mansionization, Can Suburbia Develop Real Urban Centers? and One Nation Under Wal-Mart. Enjoy.

One of my favourite writers, George Orwell, seems to be in the news an awful lot lately, generating so much controversy you'd swear it was the 1930s. Last year, Christopher Hitchens published Why Orwell Matters, a biographical essay on the continuing relevance of the novelist, essayist, broadcaster, activist. That seems to have triggered a debate in cultural magazines as well as daily newspapers. About a month ago, Louis Menand wrote an intrepidly obtuse piece of criticism in The New Yorker, and it wasn't long before an editor at The New Republic presented his rebuttal: "He [Menand] derides Orwell's linguistic contributions to modern liberalism--'Big Brother,' 'doublethink,' 'thought police'--as 'belong[ing] to the same category as "liar" and "pervert" and "madman." They are conversation-stoppers.' But why should some conversations not be stopped, not concluded with the demonstration that a man who was called a liar actually lied?" Then, a few weeks ago, I caught this remark in Canada's National Post, in a column arguing that Orwell's importance has fizzled now that the iron curtain is down: "Lacking a real-world reference point, students will in time find 1984's perfect dissection of the totalitarian state befuddling, nonsensical, a little bit silly even." I guess this guy doesn't bother reading any political satires that are now "out of date." Don't anybody tell Jonathan Swift.

"Candeo Glacia is powered by hydrogen. Its residents submit to regular iris scans for security purposes. And the leaves on its bioengineered trees turn purple at any sign of radiation."

What the kids dream of - the city they design for the future. A mix of environmental concerns and terror inspired hyper-security nightmares. Kids in the 1980's dreamt of the world ending from nuclear war; kids now dream of environmental decimation and terrorism. Just some of the differences that divide generations...

This is interesting. Regan revisited in the age of Dubyah. Well, maybe it's just a speech comparison. "Evil Empire" vs. "Axis of Evil." The contrast in rhetoric is notable for both the difference in eloquence and content.

Bush said that the size of the protests against a possible war was irrelevant.

I suddenly have this picture in my mind of a child blocking out his parents' voices by putting his hands over his ears and shouting, "Nah nah nah! I can't hear you!"

Remember, kids, “patriotic hacking” is still a crime.

Warning: semi-sweeping (but nonetheless accurate) generalization ahead.

“We” view the state of the world one way, and “the rest of the world” views it a different way.

The growing chasm between our cosmology and that of the many of the other nations of the world, particularly those who reside in that deplored tranche referred to as “the third” world, is, in my humble opinion, the greatest threat to a peaceful earth.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “Can you imagine what we'd be able to do if half of what we invested in war, we invested in peace?”

Why are we thinking of going to war again? I forget...

The Wordsmith word for today is Rubicon:

Rubicon (ROO-bi-kon) noun: A point of no return, one where an action taken commits a person irrevocably.

Is it a mere coincidence or a subtle warning that this is the word of the day on one of the most decisive days in the pending war on Iraq?

Ted Rall sums up some of my thoughts on the student loans most college kids are forced to acquire in the United States. I have also always thought that these loans should be interest free, too - it seems like they are about the best possible investment the Federal Government can make in the future, even in simple economic terms. Not only are they among the least defaulted on of any loans, in general, college grads = higher incomes = more taxes paid and less social-services needed.
yup, we're blogging at 3:30am here. the sewer is open all night.

The Justice Department has planned a new bill that is being called a sequel to the freedom-devouring USA PATRIOT Act. It's been on a couple of news sites, but I thought it bore mentioning. Here's the full text in PDF format.

Rose - skip the dinner, but go for the jerky. I love jerky. Jerky Rules! High in protein, low in fat and sugar, it's a great healthy snack (a little salty, that's all). But buying retail jerky certainly can be expensive. However, you can do it at home, even without your own smokehouse! Recipies vary, but you really get to individualize your dried meat. And there are products, too, you can order for your jerky making. Beef, pork, deer, even emu is perfect for jerky. Just remember to use the proper safe temperatures in your jerky making. Enjoy!

Well, I don't totally agree with John's take (below) on the WTC finalists...I don't really like Libeskind's design; it lacks clarity. But I do like Raphael Vinoli's. I love Norman Foster's proposal--it's my favorite. I think it's elegant, respectful and full of the human spirit without being defiant. All of the proposals, however, are missing something quite important--just a dash more practicality. At least that's what Larry Silverstein thinks.

My take on it is this: Thirty years down the road, I'd like to visit a structure full of life and economically vital--not just a mostly-empty monument, regardless of its architectural and cultural merit. The original towers were working towers; the new structure should also be a noble laborer.

The two finalists have been chosen for the WTC site replacement design, and I will say they both have a hefty dose of awful in them. (NYTimes login: opensewer; password: iswatching.)

The always excellent Paul Krugman is a bit more articulate today than I was yesterday. (login: opensewer; password: iswatching).

Principal to teacher - "This morning I observed that during the morning news program, you and your students were engaged in activities other than watching television." - Put the books down, kids, and watch the tv! Yeah, a skill the kids really need to work on.

The first to fly is the second to go... Columbia is gone, taking seven more lives in the process. A marvel of technology, the space shuttle(s) also succeeded in making space flight normal, less exotic, and regular. There are a lot of articles on the disaster and its implications, from straight news to personal accounts to vaguely political (for example, reason.com looks at the event from its free markets or die perspective).
If you are like me, you probably didn't know why they were on this flight. You might have heard there was an Isreali astronaut, but really, why was it necessary this time to have people flying up there? What were they doing? That's half of the shuttle fleet that has been destroyed during its "normal" usage now. This article I found (via metafilter) written in 1980 brings a lot of perspective to the situation. I am not one to question the value of science for science, but when something of this scope, scale, and cost doesn't mean anything to the average citizen unless it fails spectacularly, it leads me to question the nature of the shuttle missions.

For those of us (females) who are more or less expected to wear make-up, it's alarming how little we know about the contents of those products. The other night I watched an illuminating show on the CBC (Canada's version of, um, PBS?) about carcinogens in cosmetics, and how little Canada's government is doing to regulate the industry or even to ensure that all products are thoroughly labeled. To offer an analogy, about 400 carcinogenic substances are banned from Britain's cosmetics industry; about 40 are banned in Canada. For you Americans, here's a list of substances flagged as carcinogenic by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, but it is not cosmetics-specific. Here's a list of cosmetics products to avoid. Or maybe, ladies, it's just time for us to stop wasting time, money, and our well-being on lifestyles that for centuries have been expected of one sex and not the other.

To follow up on Rosie's blog of January 22nd, regarding McDonald's legal victory over a 19-year-old girl who blamed the chain for her obesity, I've just read a thoughtful account in The Toronto Star arguing the story ain't over yet. Apparently the judge in the case (aptly named Judge Sweet) has given the plaintiffs 30 days to tweak their complaint. If they can prove "that McDonald's products have been so altered that their unhealthy attributes are now outside the ken of the average reasonable consumer," (and how hard will that be?) they might just win. In principle, I think it's misguided to blame weight gain on the food rather than the food consumer, but with the majority of Americans still getting their daily ration from what Judge Sweet called "a McFrankenstein creation of various elements," how else are you going to regulate a megachain's version of "food"?

The subject for today's Working Assets Radio is Preempting Bush’s State of the Union, sounds like a better use of my time.

The world continues, whether we blog about it or not.

To keep yourself from dissolving, to stay human, keep your sense of your place.

Yesterday up here in Canada, our prime minister made a statement about Canada's position on a U.S. war with Iraq. This morning, two major newspapers print the story. But what is wrong with this picture?

From the national paper, The Globe and Mail, we get this front-page headline: "PM to Bush: Hold off on war."

From The Toronto Star we hear that "Chretien supports U.S. push for war."

It's my favorite kind of journalism -- Choose Your Own Adventure!

From The New Republic, some fresh vitriol against reality TV: "The irony is that if 'Joe Millionaire' were an explicitly fictional sit-com or miniseries, people would be enraged by the message it was sending. But under the absurd cover of reality TV, FOX can essentially give the finger to an entire gender -- to the delight of audiences everywhere, if the ratings are any indication -- without raising an eyebrow."

Following up from yesterday on things new and pschyo-manipulative, the Village Voice has an article today about trauma therapy drugs with some other potential uses that are particularly nasty - severe guilt reduction. Imagine an army of guilt free soldiers...

"There is a disconcerting symmetry between Prozac and Ritalin," he (Fukuyama) writes. "The former is prescribed heavily for depressed women lacking in self-esteem; it gives them more the alpha-male feeling that comes with high serotonin levels. Ritalin, on the other hand, is prescribed largely for young boys who do not want to sit still in class because nature never designed them to behave that way. Together, the two sexes are gently nudged toward that androgynous median personality, self-satisfied and socially compliant, that is the current politically correct outcome in American society."

This kind of stuff gets my brain buzzing (the ideas, not the enhancemements) and wondering all about what we will be doing to our brains in the next 20 - 30 years. While I am not sure how much I agree with the author's take on it, it's fascinating stuff, very real, and not far away.

Tom Tomorrow caught a press conference with our president babbling about the cost of malpractice insurance in the state of Pennsylvania.

Affirmative action seems to be gathering momentum as a hot topic these days. And having spent the past three months applying to various graduate schools across the country, I know a bit about it. There's a section about ethnicity on all the application forms -- and filling out that section is "optional." I chose to not exercise that option, even though my chances of getting into these schools would have been higher had I identified my minority origins as a Czech immigrant. Personally, I found it insulting that the mere facts of my birth, mother tongue, and economic status should be weighed alongside my grades, skills, and experience. So I'm not exactly pro-affirmative action. But I also find it vaguely odious that the Bush Administration is involving itself with a lawsuit on the matter.

NY Times login: opensewer; password: iswatching.