Archive for September, 2004
Debate #1
Kerry was much more clear and articulate than usual, and he didn’t mess up. Bush sounded a little nervous at times, and his sticking so closely to his talking points made him seem a little forced. I personally don’t think the debates could possible hurt Bush, since his supporters seem impervious to even the grimmest […]
Asian Squat
Do you know how to do the Asian Squat?
Extraordinary Rendition
A law to legalize torture of suspected terrorists was slipped into the bill implementing the 9/11 Commission Report. Jeanne has the details.
November
Why do we hold elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November?
Why early November? For much of our history America was a predominantly agrarian society. Law makers therefore took into account that November was perhaps the most convenient month for farmers and rural workers to be able to travel to the polls. […]
Politeness Button
Reading this NY Times article about how parents and students have thwarted attempts by schools to ban cell phones reminded me of an incident in the library the other day. In the study where I work most people put their cell phones on vibrate, or at least some barely audible chirp that only goes off […]
Picture Language
An amazing post at BoingBoing.net:
a “visual language survival guide” used by coalition soldiers. It’s a sort of show-and-tell folding map intended for both soldiers and private contractors working in Iraq — with lots of little pictures you can point to in front of an Iraqi person to say things like “is the improvised explosive device […]
Upriver
I just don’t seem to be able to get out of Vietnam…
A friend has co-produced a movie on the story Kerry has been trying hard to avoid telling - the true bravery he showed in speaking out against the Vietnam war. Directed by George Butler, who made Pumping Iron,
Going Upriver: The Long War of John […]
Translation
This doesn’t surprise me:
“The Justice Department’s translation mess has become a chronic problem that has obvious implications for our national security.”
But I am surprised that they didn’t have backups for the Al Qaeda recordings that were “systematically erased” by accident…
How incompetent is the F.B.I.?
Sell Out
As much as I love Billmon’s web site, I wasn’t going to comment on his silly op-ed about how the good-old-days of blogging are behind us. Of course they aren’t. If anything there seem to be more new and exciting new blogs starting up every day then ever before. Sure, the media will co-opt a […]
Kerry’s medals
I’ve written several times about how I wish the Kerry campaign would leave the Vietnam stuff behind and move on, so I’m a little embarrassed to be writing a post on the issue of Kerry’s Vietnam medals; however, I have good reason. For one thing, this new web site, devoted to debunking the book Unfit […]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
