Archive for 2004
January 23, 2004
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE: Writing from London, Scott Norvell takes on the BBC for hypocrisy:
Case in point: a recent stunt by BBC Radio 4’s Today program. As an exercise in grass-roots lobbying, Today asked its 6 million weekly listeners to propose a new law for the new year. A labour MP, Stephen Pound, was drafted to front the bill when it was all over.
More than 10,000 new laws were suggested over the course of a couple weeks. Of those, five were short-listed and voted on via email and telephone by some 26,007 respondents. The results, as one wag put it, “blew up” in the face of Today’s producers and presenters.
Clearly expecting some sensible law mandating fat-free potato chips or renewed efforts to save the ruby-throated thrush of Upper Equatorial Guinea, the organizers were obviously aghast when the winner, with 37 percent of the vote, was a law allowing homeowners to use “any means” to defend their property from intruders. . . .
And while a few listeners of Today wrote in to express horror that their compatriots could “endorse vigilantism,” most nailed the real problem illustrated by the whole exercise. “Is it surprising that the public is disenchanted with politicians when they patronisingly treat clearly expressed majority democratic wishes like this?” one viewer wrote.
Martin’s Law is clearly not going anywhere anytime soon. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott found the wishes of thousands of the citizens he ostensibly represents to be “amusing.” The Guardian called it “embarrassing.”
And people wonder why Brits are cynical about their government and media?
Well, some people wonder. (UPDATE: More here.)
MORE: Tim Lambert emails (as I expected him to) that the poll is unscientific. Maybe so — but that’s an argument against the BBC using it — not an argument for discounting it after it produced a result the BBC didn’t like.
The nanotech act of 2003 is certainly one for the history books. Future marketing students might marvel at how a group of salesmen achieved political victory – complete with requisite silencing of dissenters – for an “industry” that does not yet exist. . . .
But for now, it is commerce that is driving the nanotech vision, redefining “real” nanotechnology to suit what is best for nano business. Business leaders and policy-makers did this by carefully selecting which theories are the ones the general public is supposed to believe, then marginalizing the rest.
I predict failure for this strategy. But read the whole thing.
I STILL HAVEN’T read the Frum/Perle book, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, but the InstaWife is reading it, and she reports that it’s very good. (I’ve been so busy with appointments committee work that I haven’t read much this week. Night before last I did manage to settle down with a beer in front of the TV — to watch a videotape of a job candidate’s presentation that I had had to miss that day because it conflicted with a class. If you’re wondering why there’s been less blogging than usual, well, that’s why.)
DAVE WINER defends the Dean Scream. Worth reading.
ZEYAD’S SCOOP OF THE NEW YORK TIMES has become the subject of a big story in Salon, where Zeyad has already been covered once. For those unwilling to sit through the ad, Jeff Jarvis has an excerpt, along with comments on the lameness of the Times’ excuses.
UPDATE: By the way, in connection with this piece, you might want to read this item on problems with the NYT Baghdad bureau (and this item, too, on problems there that haven’t gotten much Western press), along with this column that Dave Kopel and I wrote on gamer culture and the war.
January 22, 2004
EUGENE VOLOKH: “A little bit of embarrassment seems to be in order.”
Actually, The Volokh Conspiracy has been on a roll. Just start with the above post and keep scrolling up.
JOSH MARSHALL, blogging from New Hampshire: “I think Dean is in very bad shape. The issue isn’t so much, or isn’t exclusively, the loss in Iowa or the whole business with his speech. Rather, I have the sense that he’s neutered himself in the final stretch.”
His readers paid to send him there to report. Looks like they’re getting their money’s worth.
UPDATE: Roger Simon has observations on tonight’s debate. And Jeff Jarvis observes: ” This debate got more attention than any before. This was the chance for a candidate to electrify the audience. Nobody did.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Mark Kleiman says that Clark is getting the shaft from the Kerry spin machine. Meanwhile Andrew Sullivan says that Clark is toast. The two are not, of course, mutually inconsistent. (Kleiman also takes me to task for even linking an earlier Tacitus item without doing extensive research into the pro-Clark spin. Personally, I think that’s a bit grumpy of him.)
I JUST NOTICED that the Corvids CD is ranked 1,028 on Amazon. That’s pretty impressive, especially considering that its sales are probably just about all blog-generated.
UPDATE: Just looked again and it’s up to #873. Good going, guys!
ANOTHER UPDATE: Now they’re #695. With a bullet!
MORE: 524!
STILL MORE: 430!
BLOGGERS: Killing off Old Media? Or raising ’em from the dead?
MAUREEN DOWD SNEERS AT SOLDIERS: Soldiers sneer back. “I didn’t know that poodles were eligible for service in the Australian SAS. Please clarify.” The bit about the Fijians is good, too.
I’VE GOTTEN A BUNCH OF EMAILS asking what I think about this scandal:
Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe.
From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight — and with what tactics.
I don’t know. This may or may not be illegal — I wouldn’t be surprised either way — but it’s certainly cheesy. “Gentlemen don’t read other gentlemen’s mail,” and all that. But nobody ever mistook these guys for “gentlemen.” Certainly no hacking skills seem to be involved:
A technician hired by the new judiciary chairman, Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, apparently made a mistake that allowed anyone to access newly created accounts on a Judiciary Committee server shared by both parties — even though the accounts were supposed to restrict access only to those with the right password.
We’ll probably hear more about this — although, on the other hand, it’s so embarrassing for everyone concerned that maybe we won’t.
UPDATE: Reader Rick Giovanelli thinks this is mostly an embarrassment for the Republicans:
A fat lot of good it did them. Hard to believe they could have had LESS success had they not been snooping.
Good point.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Allen S. Thorpe emails with a contrary view:
If I were Leahy, I wouldn’t make a big deal about this. It will only make him look like a doofus.
Is there a Latin term for “Beware of the Techie,” say, Cave Geekem?
I don’t think the Romans had geeks.
UPDATE: Reader John P. Wilson says I’m wrong:
Please, the whole Republic and Empire was crawling with civil and weapon engineers, the original geeks. The Greeks too. Heron, Philon, Frotinus, and Vitruvius, weren’t they all geeks? Can’t you just see them arguing over where the best cement can be found, what makes the ideal aggregate, optimal draw weights by limb cross-section on bows?
It’s easy to believe that the Romans had plenty of nerds. But geeks? I’m not so sure.
IN OTHER WORDS, the question is “Do we want Dr. McCoy for President?”
JAMES LILEKS MAKES MTV with his Howard Dean remix.
It doesn’t get much cooler than that.
HEY, thanks, Colby! But am I old enough for a “lifetime achievement award?” In Internet years, I guess.
IS WEB VIDEO COMING OF AGE? I look at that subject over at GlennReynolds.com.
WHITE AFRICAN-AMERICANS: A reader emails:
Here’s an addition to the “white African American” story you posted to yesterday – this appears on CNN today :
…and these kind of stories support why I have ambiguous feelings about the “African American” tag for people of black descent.
I was born here in the United States, but was educated in a variety of Southern African countries. All my records for my primary and part of my secondary education are from African schools. When I came back to the States to go to college, I had to go to an interview for incoming students. I walked into the professor’s office, and it was obvious that she took great pride in her heritage, with all sorts of “pride” posters, etc. on her walls. It was also evident that it was a shock for her to see a white guy walk in, based on the documents I provided.
Yes, I’ve encountered this phenomenon from time to time. Africa is a rather large and complex place, and there are, in fact, lots of white people, as well as ethnically Chinese and Indian people, who have many generations of African ancestry. For that matter, black Africans are a highly various group, and don’t tend to think of themselves as an undifferentiated mass. Unfortunately, many people — including many people who think of themselves as culturally sensitive — persist in stereotyping.
Of course, this works both ways. My brother — who doesn’t look any blacker than I do — is sometimes asked by Nigerians (in Nigeria) whether he is black. At first he thought this was odd, but one explained “We have Americans coming here all the time who say they are black, but they look white to us.”
UPDATE: More thoughts from Tacitus: “What’s amusing in Omaha is sometimes deadly in Africa.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Julie Carlson emails:
I lived in Liberia for 2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer (1982-84). Allow me to make a few observations about race and Africa. First, people in Liberia at least, are very upfront about skin color. To them it is just another way to identify you. I had short hair and was rather thin, and little kids would occasionally say, “Hello white man” when I passed by. I am female. The adults just laughed good-naturedly. Several of my students were discussing another student and I couldn’t place him by name. They said, “well, he’s black”. After a few minutes of back and forth I finally said the obvious. “Well, you’re all black. That doesn’t help me.” Again, lots of laughter. Evidently this particular student had very black skin.
Second, to most Africans, we are less about race than we are about being American. Several of the black volunteers had a tough adjustment. They thought they’d be welcomed as a long lost brother, so to speak. But Americans LOOK American, WALK like Americans, etc. in spite of skin color. They were seen first and last as Americans.
Yes. Too bad more Americans don’t see it that way.
DAVID PINTO: professional blogger-about-baseball? Looks like it could happen. Cool.
HERE’S AN after-action report from the volunteer effort at Camp Pendleton.
TACITUS says that Wesley Clark shouldn’t belittle John Kerry’s military record. There’s a lot of interesting discussion in the comments.
LEE HARRIS: “It isn’t like Howard Dean is the first man to shriek. I shriek quite a lot myself, and have already done so several times during the current election campaign.”
Read the whole thing. Meanwhile Jeff Jarvis comments: “The scream merely gives voters the excuse they were looking for to vote against Dean, to find an alternative, to blow this race wide open.”
THE CURMUDGEONLY CLERK has thoughts on statutory rape, which should probably be read in conjunction with this post by (but of course!) Will Baude. My own sense is that child molestation — along with real, as opposed to statutory, rape — is mala in se, while statutory rape is mere mala prohibita. This is a distinction that is often not reflected in the law, or in public discussion.
My column on society’s attitudes toward teen sex from 2002 is, somewhat, related.
UPDATE: More thoughts here, from Anne Cunningham.
ANOTHER UPDATE: More here.
PROF. BAINBRIDGE COMMENTS on Bush and gay marriage: “The move Bush makes here is to begin shifting the terms of the debate from outcome to process. Yes, he’s still focusing too much on whether the law should recognize gay marriage, but at least he has begun to shift attention to the real question, which is ‘who decides?'”
January 21, 2004
STILL MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT: And blatant racial prejudice, too! Eugene Volokh has more.