short notes:
will brady's ruminations
will brady's ruminations
2004-05-22
THE STENCH OF POLITICS || HUMAN RIGHTS || PRISON ISSUES || MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES || IRAQ QUAGMIRE
John Dean predicts Dubya will lose | I dunno | But Mr. Dean hass been up close and personal with another prez [Richard Nixon] who self destructed while office | Maybe he knows something | But another problem is, how many of those rigged ~oh, I'm sorry~ computerized voting machines with software glitches, are akready out there in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Palm Springs FLA? | Gives some cautious hope nevertheless |
prisons and dehumanization | People should really not be surprised that working and living in a confined institutional setting can result in abusive, dehumaninzing treatment of the inmates | This is neither new nor rocket science | And research has been done on the subject,
as far back as in 1971 | Then, some academics at Stanford University, with assistance ans suppor from the Palo Alto, California police department conducted an experiment on how people respond to being imprisoned as well as being the captors in a prison setting | The link leads to a slide show about the experiment, and to discussion as to why the researchers had to shut the experiment down in less than two weeks | Worth the review |
defying common sense | With the last topic in mind, a woman (not certain which one actually, but the reasonable guesses are few) where I work downloaded the following from a unit computer | It somehow was left sitting where an inmate could read it | http://www.zetetics.com/xxx/chap2.htm | One of the inmates thought she was coming on to him when he'd found it on a chair next to his | [sarcastic] hell, I can't imagine why he'd think that! | Just because people can send you naked pictures doesn't mean they'd ever be interested in sex with you right? | Shouldn't we be looking at this as just innocently sharing the wealth of knowledge? |
Anyway, it's part of a larger -um- manifesto on the subject of a woman's right to pornography | It warrants review... that is if you'd rather read than look at dirty pictures... which you'll have to do here since I don't post such stuff | And if it isn't for the read, then it's important to know about cuz you may want to have an arguement handy next time that scripture thumper is at the front door telling you that all women hate porn and we ought to, therefore, engage in censorship | No we don't | Here's the URL to the whole site: http://www.zetetics.com/xxx/ | All that said, it baffles me how people working in locked facilities don't make a common sense connect with cause and effect of actions |
In fairness, the action was not nearly as stupid as that of the guy who brought in a video of Texas Chainsaw Massacre to show to a ward full of mental patients |
Mr Power find's out that Rummy thinks it's the pictures that are the problem with Iraqi prison abuse | Another blogger, a well spoken Brit who doesn't take himself too seriously, speaks to serious issues | Here's his findings about the esteemed (or infamous, you choose) USA Secretary of Offense, Donald Rumsfield |
John Dean predicts Dubya will lose | I dunno | But Mr. Dean hass been up close and personal with another prez [Richard Nixon] who self destructed while office | Maybe he knows something | But another problem is, how many of those rigged ~oh, I'm sorry~ computerized voting machines with software glitches, are akready out there in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Palm Springs FLA? | Gives some cautious hope nevertheless |
prisons and dehumanization | People should really not be surprised that working and living in a confined institutional setting can result in abusive, dehumaninzing treatment of the inmates | This is neither new nor rocket science | And research has been done on the subject,
as far back as in 1971 | Then, some academics at Stanford University, with assistance ans suppor from the Palo Alto, California police department conducted an experiment on how people respond to being imprisoned as well as being the captors in a prison setting | The link leads to a slide show about the experiment, and to discussion as to why the researchers had to shut the experiment down in less than two weeks | Worth the review |
defying common sense | With the last topic in mind, a woman (not certain which one actually, but the reasonable guesses are few) where I work downloaded the following from a unit computer | It somehow was left sitting where an inmate could read it | http://www.zetetics.com/xxx/chap2.htm | One of the inmates thought she was coming on to him when he'd found it on a chair next to his | [sarcastic] hell, I can't imagine why he'd think that! | Just because people can send you naked pictures doesn't mean they'd ever be interested in sex with you right? | Shouldn't we be looking at this as just innocently sharing the wealth of knowledge? |
Anyway, it's part of a larger -um- manifesto on the subject of a woman's right to pornography | It warrants review... that is if you'd rather read than look at dirty pictures... which you'll have to do here since I don't post such stuff | And if it isn't for the read, then it's important to know about cuz you may want to have an arguement handy next time that scripture thumper is at the front door telling you that all women hate porn and we ought to, therefore, engage in censorship | No we don't | Here's the URL to the whole site: http://www.zetetics.com/xxx/ | All that said, it baffles me how people working in locked facilities don't make a common sense connect with cause and effect of actions |
In fairness, the action was not nearly as stupid as that of the guy who brought in a video of Texas Chainsaw Massacre to show to a ward full of mental patients |
Mr Power find's out that Rummy thinks it's the pictures that are the problem with Iraqi prison abuse | Another blogger, a well spoken Brit who doesn't take himself too seriously, speaks to serious issues | Here's his findings about the esteemed (or infamous, you choose) USA Secretary of Offense, Donald Rumsfield |
- Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the flood of pictures was now beyond the US authorities' control.
"There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist," said Rumsfeld. "If these are released to the public, obviously it is going to make matters worse... I looked at them last night and they are hard to believe."
He was indignant at the publication of such images: "We're functioning with peacetime constraints, with legal requirements, in a wartime situation in the Information Age, where people are running around with digital cameras and taking these unbelievable photographs and then passing them off, against the law(my emphasis), to the media, to our surprise."
However, he admitted that he had not realised the seriousness of the allegations until the pictures were leaked to the media.(!!)
Meanwhile in the UK more cant from that dope Hoon, who everyone thought would be long gone by now, but who clings on amongst his even more disreputable colleagues.
Hoons' minister said in Parliament yesterday that the publication of the photos had affected the morale and safety of troops and there had been several incidents of violence aimed at troops in Basra. So, let me see, the responsibility for attacks on British soldiers in Iraq rests with.... the Daily Mirror!
Here are two governments which use and manipulate the media to their own ends, who spin and obfuscate, who plant stories and leak stories, and they are coming undone because ordinary people are using digital technology and the internet to get their messages across, and boy! does it hurt. GOOD!
2004-05-17
Hannah Arendt on Aldolf Eichmann | from The Banality of Evil:
Arendt considers Eichmann "terribly and terrifyingly normal" (p. 276). Eichmann in Jerusalem leaves us wondering not only if justice was achieved in Eichmann's case, but also whether the lessons Arendt believes the trial has taught will make a difference in the future | ¶ 03:03 0 comments
Eichmann told the court that he saw himself as a friend of the Jews, helping them leave a culture for which they were unsuited and move on to better lives elsewhere. He considered himself an ally of Zionists, whom he thought shared his "idealism." Arendt believes him—at least, she believes that this was how he saw himself. "Despite all the efforts of the prosecution," Arendt writes, "everybody could see that this man was not a ‘monster,' but it was difficult indeed not to suspect that he was a clown" (p. 54). The transcript of Eichmann's examination by Israeli police while awaiting trial prompts her to observe that "the horrible can be not only ludicrous but outright funny" (p. 48). She dwells on his shallow intellect, his clichéd speech (which she interprets as a means of consoling himself), his infinite capacity for self-deception, and his profound detachment from reality.
Arendt considers Eichmann "terribly and terrifyingly normal" (p. 276). Eichmann in Jerusalem leaves us wondering not only if justice was achieved in Eichmann's case, but also whether the lessons Arendt believes the trial has taught will make a difference in the future | ¶ 03:03 0 comments
2004-05-16
Laid-Off Workers Could Lose Job Training | An APWire article by Patrick Congdon, picked up by FindLaw notes that a little known change in federal Department of Labor rules cuts off funding for job retraining services to laid off workers in smaller businesses |
Noting that this is yet another "mixed message" from the White House gang of robber barons, it effectively means that opportunities for improving personal hirability for skilled jobs will become even more scarce | The article noted that the Bush Adminstration budget also cut the total allocation to these programs both for this year and next | Quoth one DOL wag [Mason Bishop, deputy assistant secretary for employment and training], "We have finite resources, so we need to be more efficient and effective in how we administer these monies people get the training they need," |
The article noted that "Labor Department officials said the change is meant to make the confusing rules governing the grants simpler and more consistent"
I suppose there's always a new WalMart opening up somewhere for the poor saps to get hired with | Another public policy fiasco, lost in the hubbub about the war in Iraq |
For another perspective, check out the Workforce Alliance website; a group who believes what's important are to Help more workers get the skills they need to advance, and to Help more local businesses get the skilled workers they need to compete |
¶ 23:19 0 comments
Smarty Jones | Two cheers, get ready for the third, for the "working class horse" who looks to be well on the way to winning the Triple Crown |
¶ 17:54 0 comments
IRAQ QUAGMIRE
Iraq | two troublsome news items: a weapons lab at Kirma and Abu Ghraib |
1- in response to the folks who ask why hasn't Richard Berg's execution by Abu Musab Zarqawi gotten more press? Mark Klieman's blog asks it in another way, namely "Why did Bush Spare Zarqawi?"
2- From Yahoo News: Rumsfield Okay'd the Prisoner Program |
¶ 02:27 0 comments
Iraq | two troublsome news items: a weapons lab at Kirma and Abu Ghraib |
1- in response to the folks who ask why hasn't Richard Berg's execution by Abu Musab Zarqawi gotten more press? Mark Klieman's blog asks it in another way, namely "Why did Bush Spare Zarqawi?"
2- From Yahoo News: Rumsfield Okay'd the Prisoner Program |
¶ 02:27 0 comments
