Monthly Archives: September 2006

Who Cares Where I Was 18

This entry was posted in constitution politics on by (updated 7210 days ago)

Over the last few days I have repeatedly heard the question asked “Where were you on 9/11?” Who the hell cares. If you weren’t there, your location is utterly irrelevant. What happened, happened. Why do people insist on dwelling on such trivial shit? Americans in particular seem to love wallowing in the past. People who where alive at the time still think about where they were when JFK died 43 years ago. It is important to be aware of history and learn lessons about what to do and not to do so you don’t repeat the same mistakes. But it is even more important to live in the present. Replaying the video of past events ad naseum is neither helpful nor productive. It just contributes to the urge to wallow. We all know what happened. We all saw it. Let’s look at what is going on around us today. By watching the past over and over it just feeds the climate of fear. By keeping people afraid, it makes it easier to persuade people to give up their freedoms. The reality is that the chances of being a victim a terrorism are so infinitesimally small that it really isn’t worth being afraid of, not to mention fomenting fear is the whole point. If you live in fear you are more willing to tolerate the government watching you all the time, listening to your private phone calls, make you show your ID all the time. You might be willing to let people in power send your kids off to fight and die in a foreign land for now apparent reason. You might not be able to read or write what you want. You might even tolerate people being arrested and locked away indefinitely without trial or charges.

Hey people! Start living in the present and pay attention to the gutting of the constitution! Take a minute to remember on Monday, but then when the replays come on, turn off the TV and the radio and go for a walk and think about why you want to protect freedom. Then get write or read something that you might not be able to do without freedom. Don’t let politicians convince you to give up freedom to save it. If you give it up now it is already lost.

What I Am

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Geoffrey Nunberg is a familiar name to anyone who has listened to Fresh Air on NPR. Numberg is a linguist and professor at University of California at Berkely. He has a new book out about how Republican activists have manipulated language for political gain in recent years. The book is titled Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show

If by any chance there are any republicans reading this blog, I would like to set the record straight.

-I am indeed an unrepentant liberal
-I am not generally in favor of raising taxes, but if it is necessary I will support it.
-I don’t drink Lattes, ever. I drink my coffee strong, black and without sugar.
-I’m not a big fan of sushi. I will eat it but I don’t go out of my way for it.
-I don’t drive a Volvo. I drive a 2005 Ford Mustang. I like cars, I always have.
-I don’t read the New York Times. I generally avoid newspapers that publish the administration bullshit without real investigation.
-I don’t have any piercings and probably never will.
-I don’t like Hollywood. The major players in Hollywood are a bunch of no talent hacks who can’t come up with an original idea if there life depended on it. The top executives only care about making money and locking up there content in perpetuity.
-I hate freak shows.

I know lots of liberals and not one of them fit the above generalization. I resent republicans trying to pigeon hole all of us progressives with with labels that even if they were true, are only meant to scare small town religious people who don’t like anything different and don’t know any better. There is nothing wrong with driving a Volvo (they are extremely safe cars), drinking lattes, getting piercings or eating sushi if you like it. Hollywood and the Times are both well past their sell by date and ought to tossed on the compost heap, but that is another story.

Ypsilanti Government Podcasts 2

This entry was posted in podcasting Ypsilanti on by (updated 7214 days ago)

During the recent Mayoral campaign in the city of Ypsilanti I recorded the audio and video of the debate held at McKenney Union and then made them available as a podcast for the community. In the interest of continuing and expanding community awareness and involvement of what is going on in local government, I want to expand on this and start a new initiative. I want to record all the public meetings of the various local government bodies including the Ypsilanti City Council, the Township Board of Trustees, and the School Board. My idea is to setup an account on Podshow+ and create feeds for each body. This part is already in progress and I’ll let everyone know when it’s ready to go. The next step is to get all of these meetings recorded. Finally I will get them posted so that anyone can listen to them. Podshow is a company set up by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom to provide podcasts and podcasting related services. On the Podshow+ site they offer free hosting and bandwidth for podcasts. So this initiative will cost nothing other than the time it takes to record edit and upload the audio files. If anyone out there is interested in helping out with getting the meetings recorded, please let me know.

Update: It appears Steve Pierce has already had the same idea. I’m going to talk to Steve about participating in this project.

Cell phone bridge bombers released 2

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Do you remember the guys that were accused of plotting to destroy the Mackinac Bridge with cell phones a few weeks back? That whole plot thought up by the local prosecutor proved be bullshit, so the US Attorney came up with some bogus fraud charges against these guys for buying and reselling prepaid cell phones. Well yesterday, a federal judge in Bay City\ decided that these guys had had enough and dismissed the entire case at the preliminary hearing and released all three men. Another republican terror plot foiled.

The City of Ypsilanti Deserves Better

This entry was posted in Ypsilanti ypsivotes on by

Many years ago I learned that you cannot control the events that happen to you only how you respond to them. The way that you respond to events is a reflection of who you are. Someone who stands back and declines to respond when others launch attacks on your behalf is not worthy of respect in my opinion. Until a few months ago I had not really heard of either Paul Schrieber or Steve Pierce. I still don’t know either man personally. However, what I have witnessed in the course of the recent mayoral primary campaign and in some personal communications leads me to think that Paul Schrieber would not be the best person to be mayor of the city. Mr. Schrieber to my knowledge did not personally attack either of his opponents during the course of the campaign. However, supporters of Mr. Schrieber did attack Mr. Pierce. To the best of my knowledge Mr. Schrieber never publicly disavowed of their actions. By declining to condemn the actions of supporters, he tacitly approved of those actions. Now his wife Penny Schrieber has written a very nasty letter to Mr. Pierce attacking him and his supporters. In a post on his blog today Eric Touchberry wrote about contacting Mrs. Schrieber to confirm whether she had written the letter, she not only confirmed it, she also called all of us local bloggers “idiots”.

I don’t deny Mrs. Schriebers right to express her opinion of myself and other members of this community. Make no mistake, we Idiots are members of the Ypsilanti community and most of us have been involved in trying to make this a better place to live and work. If Paul Schrieber is to be mayor of Ypsilanti, he needs to step forward and tell the whole community exactly where he stands, on this and also on the actions of his other supporters. If he decides that he will continue to sit back quietly and let others do the dirty work than maybe the voters of the city should reconsider who should be mayor before the election. Maybe if Mr. Schrieber decides that being honest with the community is not important, there should be a write-in campaign for the November general election.

A dose of relief

This entry was posted in media podcasting on by

I don’t watch TV news anymore except for the only ones that actually expose the truth like the Daily Show and Colbert Report. I also don’t get the newspaper anymore. I do read news online, from various sources. I also know that I am probably in the minority on this in the population as a whole, although maybe not among readers of this page. So if you are still being inundated by the crap from the mainstream media, I have just the thing for you. For some time now America’s Finest News Source, The Onion has been producing a daily news podcast. It is short, only 45-60 seconds typically. It is however one of the finest news broadcasts in the world. The Onion Radio News is hosted by the great Doyle Redland is far more informative than anything you will ever hear on Fox News. I urge all thinking humans to immediately go to the site and subscribe. If you only listen to one podcast, then you should listen two of them, The Onion Radio News and the MewzikCast. Your sanity depends on it. The brilliant journalistic minds of The Onion have triumphed again!

Skipping 9/11 TV 4

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Over the next couple of weeks television viewers in this country will be bombarded by specials reminding them of the fifth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. I was around when it happened the first time and have seen it repeatedly over the past five years. I don’t need to see it yet again. You can count on the media to also bombard viewers with “fear the terrorists!” propaganda at the same time. I will be skipping all of these shows. There is only one 9/11 memorial I want to see, the opening of impeachment proceedings.

Roadside shrines 12

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This post may seem cold and insensitive to some. I don’t mean it that way. I just notice things and want to vent a little. In recent years I’ve noticed an increasing trend toward roadside shrines or memorials at the site of fatal traffic accidents. I appreciate that people want to remember their deceased loved ones, nothing wrong with that. I have a couple of issues with these memorials though. First off, although probably minor they are another roadside distraction for drivers. The last thing drivers need is yet another along the side of the road that grabs their attention away from the task at hand. Between phone calls, screaming kids, and the plethora of signs advertising some huge sale at practically every intersection, yet another thing that has people wondering that is for is the last thing most drivers need. The other that I think bugs me more, is that these little memorials stay there for years on end. The flowers, teddy bears, wreaths and other stuff are obviously being replenished at fairly regular intervals. Many of these sites are along major freeways. Having people go out and stop alongside an interstate is always dangerous. It’s bad enough to have to do it if you have a flat tire or some other malfunction. To do it to put out or replenish a memorial is an unnecessary risk. Also strapping a dozen bears to a roadside utility pole costs some money. Nothing is ultimately accomplished by this. Instead of spending the money on teddy bears or flowers to tie to a pole, take the money and give it to some worthy cause in the name of the person who died. Instead of spending your time and effort and possibly risking your own life on maintaining the memorial, go volunteer somewhere and help living people who need help. Remember the person in your heart and memories, because most of the people who drive past that memorial don’t know who it’s for and don’t care. Let the memory of a dead loved one live on in some good works instead.