http://irregulartimes.com In a time of the fall, old paths close and new paths of progress open. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:32:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 Breaking News! The leaders of North Korea and Iran have agreed to limit the number of ready-to-launch nuclear weapons they have to 1,500 each, with additional nuclear warheads available to be placed on more missiles, should the nations decide to go to blast their enemies. [1]Good news, right? Of course, it's not exactly true. A disarmament deal of this variety has been reached, just not between Iran and North Korea. The deal was agreed to by Russia and the United States [2]. Yes, this agreement is a step in the right direction, but it's one step that's many miles from the end of that path. If we here in the USA are freaking out about the idea of North Korea or Iran having just a handful of nuclear weapons, then we cannot reasonably expect the world to be impressed with an agreement to reduce our nuclear arsenal to 1,500, plus a whole lot of spares in the atomic closet. [1] http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/obamamedvedevboom.jpg [2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/06/obama-russia-nuclear-medvedev http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/06/north-korea-and-iran-agree-on-nuclear-weapons/ Here's an important story you may have missed while blissed out on apple pie and rockets red glare over the 4th of July weekend: The Obama White House is helping Dick Cheney to cover up [1] his involvement in the leak of the true identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. You may remember that the Democrats used the Plame leak as a political weapon against the Republicans for years, saying that the Bush Administration's refusal to come clean and share information about the leak represented a criminal abuse of power, and showed that the Republicans were not fit to hold public office. People like us, who opposed the Bush Administration's agenda, joined in the criticism. So, what should we do now that Barack Obama is engaging in the same cover up? Should we fall silent, for the sake of political convenience? A while ago, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit seeking to obtain the transcript of an interview of Dick Cheney conducted prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Cheney was never promised that the interview would remain confidential. Yet, the Bush Administration refused to allow the information to be released. A few months ago, we might have expected that this matter would be quickly resolved, what with Barack Obama taking office. Yet, that's not how things have worked out. Yet again, President Obama has decided to support George W. Bush's policies of government secrecy. At the end of last week, the Obama Administration filed papers arguing against the release of Dick Cheney's interview, saying that if politicians being interviewed about suspected criminal behavior thought that their interviews might become public, they wouldn't agree to be interviewed at all... except under a subpoena, and who wants to see things come to that? Actually, that's how the system is supposed to work. People under investigation, or holding information that could be related to an investigation of somebody else, are asked to provide that information, without any expectation that it will be kept private. Many suspects and witnesses refuse. That's their right. Government investigators can then come back, however, and issue subpoenas that compel people to show up to be interviewed under oath. People still have the right to refuse to answer questions, because of the 5th Amendment's guarantee of protection from self-incrimination. If this is the system that applies to ordinary criminal investigations, why shouldn't it apply to investigations of White House crimes? The Obama Administration's arguments against providing information from the interview of Dick Cheney suggest that, if there isn't belief in secrecy of interviews with prosecutors, White House officials won't cooperate with investigations in the future. That resistant, secretive attitude isn't what Barack Obama told us he would bring to the White House. This isn't at all the first time that the Obama Administration has refused to share important information with the public. Barack Obama has been refusing Freedom of Information Act requests left and right. There's the case of photographic evidence of torture [2] that Obama won't allow to see the right of day. There's also the more recent case of Barack Obama's secret meetings with energy industry executives in the process of determining his energy policies. Remember how Bush and Cheney held secret meetings with oil and coal industry executives, giving them special access and influence over the development of an energy bill that was filled with big government giveaways for them? Now Barack Obama is doing the same thing. It seems Obama met with executives from companies that are in the business of burning fossil fuels. The American Clean Energy and Security Act subsequently offered government subsidies to fossil fuel companies for "clean coal" projects (call it "carbon sequestration" if you like). The Obama White House says it won't share the records [3] of which executives it met with - just as Bush and Cheney wouldn't share the records of its own meetings. Once again, Barack Obama is merely putting a new face on the same old rotten Bush-Cheney policies. Thank goodness that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [4] is on the job, offering the same kind of criticism of Obama that it once offered to Bush and Cheney. [1] http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/41268 [2] http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/05/13/obama-covers-up-torture-breaking-open-govt-promise/ [3] http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/07/01/white-house-pushes-keep-visitor-logs-private/ [4] http://www.citizensforethics.org http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/06/freedom-of-no-information-from-obama/ Sarah Palin is explaining herself [1] on Facebook. The Associated Press writes [2], "Palin's spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, confirmed Palin wrote the entry." Such disclosure is unnecessary; no ghostwriting consultant could have manufactured the glittering rhinestones that stud her essay: On this Independence Day, I am so very proud of all those who have chosen to serve our great nation and I honor their selflessness and the sacrifices of their families, too. If I may, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the last 24 hours and share my thoughts with you. First, I want to thank you for your support and hard work on the values we share. Those values led me to the decision my family and I made. Yesterday, my family and I announced a decision that is in Alaska’s best interest and it always feels good to do what is right. We have accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two – and I am proud of the great team that helped to build these wonderful successes. Energy independence and national security, fiscal restraint, smaller government, and local control have been my priorities and will remain my priorities. For months now, I have consulted with friends and family, and with the Lieutenant Governor, about what is best for our wonderful state. I even made a few administrative changes over that course in time in preparation for yesterday. We have accomplished so much and there’s much more to do, but my family and I determined after prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most. And once I decided not to run for re-election, my decision was that much easier – I’ve never been one to waste time or resources. Those who know me know this is the right decision and obvious decision at that, including Senator John McCain. I thank him for his kind, insightful comments. The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the “politics of personal destruction”. How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it’s right for all, including your family. I shared with you yesterday my heartfelt and candid reasons for this change; I’ve never thought I needed a title before one’s name to forge progress in America. I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness! God bless you! And I look forward to making a difference – with you! Sarah Oh, I will miss you, Sarah Palin. I will miss you so very, very, very much. [1] http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=99477538434&1&index=0 [2] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090705/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_resigning http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/05/sarah-palin-explains-herself-gems-from-the-moose-hunting-pen/ The 2009 Award for the Most Incoherent Fourth of July Speech goes to U.S. Representative Gregg Harper [1], who advised people gathered yesterday at the Kemper County courthouse down in Mississippi to "go back and celebrate Independence Day and carry forward and let us know to never forget the responsibility we have to others that have gone before us." If he goes on giving speeches like this, I think Congressman Harper may be qualified to run for Vice President on the Republican ticket in 2012. Harper might want to think about beefing up his resume a bit, though. It's been six months that the 111th Congress has been in session, and he has yet to write or even to cosponsor a single piece of legislation. [2] [1] http://thatsmycongress.com/house/repHarperMS3111.html [2] http://thatsmycongress.com/index.php/2009/07/04/gregg-harper-is-a-rep-without-a-cause/ http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/05/congressman-gregg-harper-goes-back-and-forth/ It was a couple of months ago that I started tracking the progress of the Plastiki project [1]. It's got a great story: A catamaran made out of recycled plastic bottles will sail across the Pacific Ocean, going through the great plastic gyre, where a giant island of plastic and other garbage floats. Led by Adventure Ecologist David De Rothschild, the journey will bring awareness to the problem of the garbage floating in the ocean... ...although there's already plenty of awareness of that problem, isn't there? It's at this part of the story that the Plastiki voyage starts to fall apart for me. People have been aware of the problems of excessive garbage, especially large amounts of plastic that never degrades, for as long as I can remember. Most people have been aware of the Pacific Ocean gyre for years. So, what do we need a Plastiki voyage to raise awareness for? The only thing that the Plastiki voyage seems to raise new awareness for is the "career" of its leader, David de Rothschild, the Adventure Ecologist. What is an Adventure Ecologist? You probably haven't ever met one before. There likely isn't a neighborhood Adventure Ecologist working just down the block from you. There's a good reason for that. Being an Adventure Ecologist takes a lot of money. David de Rothschild seems to be the first and only Adventure Ecologist there has ever been. An Adventure Ecologist is a person of leisure who has fun on a lot of adventures, using a lot of energy and resources in the process, but does so in the name of educating everyone else in the world about the importance of being ecologically sensitive. David de Rothschild, you see, is an heir of the Rothschild family, perhaps the most wealthy and influential banking family in the world. The Rothschild family has funded the development of the industrial economy that has led to us having huge amounts of garbage littering the land and floating about in the ocean. The Rothschild family uses huge amounts of energy and natural resources just to satisfy its whimsies. So, naturally, through his Adventure Ecology vacations, David de Rothschild seeks to educate us, the little people of the world who weren't born into rich and powerful families, about what we have to do to make things better. David de Rothschild isn't seeking to increase awareness within the Rothschild family empire about what the Rothschilds need to do to solve the world's ecological problems. No, instead, he's seeking to reform the rabble. The more I look at the Plastiki project, the more it takes on the appearance of recycled Rothschild snobbery. I'm not denying that the ordinary folks of the world have a lot of responsibility for the global ecological crisis we're in today. I just don't think it's appropriate for a man who was born into extreme luxury, who has always been able to consume whatever he wants whenever he wants, to lecture the rest of us about how we need to live more simply, and change our lifestyles. Have fun on your little corporate-sponsored South Pacific vacation, Mr. Rothschild, but please don't expect me to give you applause as you board your yacht. [1] http://www.adventureecology.com/theplastiki/main.html# http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/04/recycling-plastiki/ Smile! [1] "The N.S.A. is believed to have gone beyond legal boundaries designed to protect Americans in about 8 to 10 separate court orders issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, according to three intelligence officials who spoke anonymously because disclosing such information is illegal. Because each court order could single out hundreds or even thousands of phone numbers or e-mail addresses, the number of individual communications that were improperly collected could number in the millions, officials said." Smile! [2] "According to the reporter who first broke the NSA wiretapping story, there is no proof the agency has scaled back its interception of the personal phone calls and email messages of American citizens as promised by the Obama administration or even that it is being straight with Congress about its activities... one NSA analyst was even found to have been reading the private email of former President Bill Clinton. Risen told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann the next day that he knew of no other cases like the Clinton incident but that many NSA analysts had been abusing their powers in other ways. 'It sounded like, from the former NSA analyst that we interviewed, that it was rare to access the emails of celebrities or famous people,' Risen stated, 'but that it was fairly routine, according to him, for people to access the emails of girlfriends or wives or other people that they might know.'" Smile! [3] Not a soul in Congress has added their support to a congressional surveillance inquiry for three weeks. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/us/17nsa.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2 [2] http://www.prisonplanet.com/reporter-nsa-analysts-spied-on-own-wives-and-girlfriends.html [3] http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.00104: http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/04/happy-independence-day-dont-forget-to-smile/ Pssst. If you enter the coupon code "fireworks" at checkout when you buy one of our ethically-made-in-the-USA t-shirts from Skreened [1], you'll get 15% off the cost. That comes out to $3-$4 off per shirt, a pretty good deal. The coupon will work through the entire month of July. [1] http://skreened.com/irregularwear?partner=irregularwear http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/04/skreened-offers-3-4-discounts-on-custom-shirts-for-all-july/ [caption id="attachment_13111" align="alignright" width="300" caption="HTC Ozone from Verizon Wireless... reviewed by a political writer"][/caption]This week, spurred on by two developments, I decided to pursue my personal tech dream: a 1) mobile blogging device I can fit in my pocket 2) with photo, video, and sound recording and posting ability 3) on the internet with 4) javascript and flash functionality so that I can use blogging applications like WordPress, and 5) a QWERTY keyboard on which I can effectively write 6) on a Verizon wireless plan, since I'm moving to an area where only Verizon has decent coverage, and that 7) I can afford, not having much money to burn. The two developments enabling the pursuit of my dream: 1) My current 2-year cell phone contract just expired, and 2) The HTC Ozone, a new smartphone fitting the bill, just emerged onto the market through Verizon. The HTC Ozone works from a Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, which means that its Internet browser has the javascript and flash functionality I need to access online blogging software (check). At 4.5 by 2.5 inches, the phone can certainly fit in my pocket (check), but nonetheless has a full QWERTY keyboard and 5-way navigation so that I can write (check). A 2 megapixel camera for photos video is sufficient for online presentation (check). A sound recorder package is included and software to record phone conversations can be obtained [1] (check). Did I mention that the HTC Ozone is cheap? At a price of $50 after mail-in rebate, plus a $50 credit at the end of a previous two-year contract, after a mild amount of hassling a customer service rep to get the billing right I got this smartphone for free with my new contract (check-o-rama). On paper, then, the HTC Ozone looked like it would fit my needs. How has it worked in my hands? Physical Interface. Keep in mind as you read this that my previous cell phone was actually just that -- a simple cell phone [2], and that I've never used a Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone before. I'm not used to typing on a tiny keyboard, and the other little keyboards I've tried out in my quest for the perfect device [3] have driven me nuts. Don't even get me started on the "touch screen" virtual keyboards that are so slow and inaccurate I might as well write by smoke signal. This time, I'm in love. The HTC Ozone QWERTY keyboard has rounded keys with little spaces in between so that even my big lug fingers can manage to hit the right keys. In the space of two days, I've gotten to be reasonably adept at typing on the Ozone, quickly enough to post some of the articles you've read here while I'm on the road. No, it's not as fast as writing on a full keyboard, but it's fast enough to work. I appreciate that the keyboard has a "special symbol" key to press for odd or infrequently used symbols, like the greater-than or less-than symbols, that are nonetheless crucial for writing html code. The HTC Ozone is not a touch screen device, and I'm happy it's not. No, I can't swish or flick or do a twofinger thingamajig to bring up some new screen, but hey, I've borrowed an iPhone and I can testify to the frustration when one's flick isn't on target. You know what the 5-key navigation system does? It does exactly what I want it to do. Every time I press the right key. Style, schmyle. Hip, schmip. This navigation system does what I want it to do. It consistently works. Some more details about the hardware of the HTC Ozone: The Ozone has access to a 3G network, although you have to purchase a data plan for $29 a month. This is for unlimited data use, including e-mail. WiFi! You can connect to your home, library, university, or coffeeshop internet access point as well. The phone has a pretty high-capacity battery. I've been able to noodle with the phone on and off all day, leaving it on in between my sessions, and after 12 hours the battery is still half-full. There's a MicroSD slot in the phone into which you can put up to a 16 Gigabyte removable memory card to store all your music, photos, documents and so on. The little MicroSD card fits into a bigger SD adapter, and then can be stuffed into your regular computer for transfers. There is included sync software on a CD for my computer, which is a Windows Vista machine, and it works in a straightforward fashion with an included USB cable which you won't lose, because the cable is part of the regular AC wall charger. The HTC Ozone doesn't just connect to Verizon's American CDMA network, but also can connect to the GSM networks that populate the rest of the world. This is very handy if you're a traveler. Also handy: included in the Ozone box are multiple power cord adapters for various electrical systems around the world. I find phone call audio to be crisp and clear. The included 2 Megapixel camera takes shots that are resoundingly OK; this is a cell-phone camera that will produce web-standard, glossy-catalog-awful photographs. Below is a photo of a backyard sunflower I took with the camera. Look at the pretty thumbnail, then click on it to see the somewhat smudgy full-size results. [caption id="attachment_13115" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Backyard Sunflower, July 4 2009"] [4][/caption]Two minor problems mar the design: the screen smudges easily, and there's no 3.5 inch headphone jack, only a mini USB headphone jack. Eh. I wish these features were better, but I won't lose sleep at night over them. Software. I've heard complaints for years about the "awful" Windows Mobile smartphone operating system, but folks, I have to tell you I'm quite happy with it. Within 24 hours of the FedEx fella handing me a package and no previous experience with Windows Mobile at all, I downloaded, installed and used the correct applications to get worldwide satellite photos [5], a full Facebook interface [6] with photo and video upload, mobile blogging software [7] for when I don't want to use a browser, and RSS reads of the BBC, New York Times and Washington Post. It took me -- I kid you not -- two minutes to configure my phone to receive my Yahoo Mail and Gmail. I'm all set up not only with Microsoft Office editing programs but with full Google Docs access. To satisfy the curiosity of those interested in the browser wars, I have downloaded Opera Mobile [8] version 8.65, the latest for non-touchscreen phones. Keep in mind that you have to actually buy the Opera browser for $24 after 30 days, which means that if I'm going to keep Opera it's got to be a fair chunk better than the included Internet Explorer. I've used the Internet Explorer for the HTC Ozone and found it to be just fine in terms of download time. I don't find Opera Mobile to be appreciably faster, although I've heard some including the folks at CNET rave about Opera's speed. Opera has the advantage of processing every web page through its own server to try and shove each website down to a smaller width. Opera has the disadvantage of scrolling not across and down a page, but leapfrogging from link to link, which means that on some wide pages I can't center on the column of text I want to read. Since I'm interested in reading more than surfing links, this is frustrating. The included Internet Explorer browser does not have this disadvantage. What really impresses me is that the software for Windows Mobile 6.1 not only exists, but works and does so intuitively without a steep learning curve. To give you an indication of how easy it is to master these applications, I can tell you that 12 hours after I first turned on my HTC Ozone, I was at a dance club in Columbus, taking photos and videos and posting them to Facebook with commentary in the time it took my wife to head to the bathroom and back. I'm having a blast with the HTC Ozone and I recommend it to anyone else who might be looking for an inexpensive but highly functional mobile blogging device. You can find it on the web from Verizon [9]. [1] http://www.softtrends.com/products/livepvr/livepvrwmsp.htm [2] http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2008/05/01/review-samsung-sch-u540-cell-phone/ [3] http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/01/06/nokia-n810-review-larger-and-more-off-kilter-please/ [4] http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/2009-sunflower-at-hunter.jpg [5] http://mobile.google.com [6] http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/facebook.mspx [7] http://sampath.wordpress.com/moblog/ [8] http://www.opera.com/mobile/ [9] http://www.verizonwireless.com http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/03/htc-ozone-review-of-new-qwerty-smartphone-from-verizon/ CNN International [1]: "Sanford spending holiday weekend with family in Florida" The poor dear. If he weren't such a policy hypocrite on marriage [2], I'd give him a break. [1] http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/03/south.carolina.governor/ [2] http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/06/24/mark-sanford-governor-of-black-pots-and-kettles/ http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/03/intentionally-misread-headline-of-the-day-he-has-one-there-too/ If the reports are true and Sarah Palin is set to resign as Governor of Alaska [1], then surely she cannot be in the running any longer for a 2012 Republican Party presidential spot. If her level of experience was unsatisfying to the nation's voters, six more months of time in office (mostly spent on the national speakers circuit) won't change that. Unless Palin pulls a Perot and changes her mind before actually resigning, she'll have nothing new to bone up her scanty resume for the presidency... unless you count a tourist trip to Little Diomede Island to go look at Russia. Palin's reason for resignation -- that she has tired of the "political blood sport" of being Governor of Alaska and had tired of the critical attention focused upon her -- leads me to wonder: if the McCain-Palin ticket of 2008 had won election, how long would she have wanted to stick around in Washington, DC? [1] http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5624MB20090703?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/03/sarah-palin-out-as-governor-out-of-the-running-for-president-in-2012/