Want to hear something really scary?

When W. talks, I get nervous. Can the President get a do-over?

He meant to say we can win the war on terror. Honest. It's all part of our "catastrophic victory" campaign.

So, here's what was scaring me this morning after watching Shrub blather to Matt Lauer. Iraq is getting pitched like this by the GOP talking heads for the R.N.C. this week:

"So what if there was no WMDs? The world is a better place with Saddam in jail. "

And if that was the total context, I'd have to agree. In jail, or out? Better he be in.

However, if the question was asked in context, like so:

Are we in a better place with Saddam in jail, even though

1) we had to declare war on a nation that was not a threat to us at the time, was not engaged in aggression towards us, and was not at war with our allies?

2) we moved to a policy of pre-emptive attack against those we unilaterally designate as enemies?

and 3) we have waged unprovoked war upon a sovereign nation (admittedly, one led by a bad guy), creating an impression that no one in the muslim world will soon forget about the lengths to which we will go to "ensure our safety"?

Well, then, maybe not, if we had to go get him like that.

And after I voiced this opinion (having not had an unexpressed opinion since I was about 4 years old), Spouse of Malcontent said this:

"I think the scary part is that much of the world is probably looking to see if we will kick out this guy in November. Because that is what American democracy means to much of the world: that we can remove an aggressive, militaristic, power-hungry ruler without riots and civil war.

If he goes, the world can see that we don't support his actions and that our democracy is working. If he wins the election--what does that say about our support for his policies? And if he 'wins' like last time...what does that say about our democracy?"

Yep, good call by SoM. That's much more scary.

R.N.C. front door.

Knock, knock.

"Who is it?"

"It's democracy, and we're coming in."

Who feels safer? Raise your hands.

Those not raising your hands, please put your names on the list entitled "I hate the President's new Civil Liberties Board. "

We will be collecting your names for future surveillance re-education future benign uses. Trust us.

It's the day-to-day.

So, as the R.N.C. gets under way in N.Y.C., they are already starting to pump the message that Bush stood firm, with resolve, and didn't shrink from his post-9/11 duties.

No offense, but, big whoop.

As any middle-class suburban kid can tell you, when it comes to the big challenges, even dysfunctional families respond. Your parents may be downright worthless most days, but if you need a kidney? They'll step up. When there is a major threat, you have to respond--you have no other option.

It is the day-to-day stuff that really tells you what people are made of. Not the overwhelming catastrophic challenges, but the regular, everyday, grind-it-out work. The day-to-day stuff: the economy, health care, child care--well, that's where it takes true leadership and resolve to make a difference.

So, let's hear the R.N.C. folks talk about that: How's W. been doing on the day-to-day?

Shameless Promotional Plug.

OK, my distant relative is the drummer for the rock and roll superstars Jimmy and the Teasers. She is awesome. So, go to the website, check out the delicious MP3s they are serving up, then become fans for life.

A cup of joe.

A great story in the Washington Post this weekend about Winter, the guy who is trying to have a cup of coffee at every Starbucks in the world.

Can you say dedicated? Determined? A little obsessive-compulsive?

Seriously, this fellow carries it to great extremes--he even centers his work around his coffee quest.

Joining the Blogosphere......

The Malcontent is glad to add to his blogroll the freshly-minted eponymous blog by frequent commentor AnonymousCoworker.

Welcome to the circus, ACW. Be mindful of the elephant poop.

I love the smell of protest in the morning.

The smell...you know, all of Manhattan...it smells like freedom.

The Republican National Convention may have met their match. Meet Natalie Jeremijenko and the Bureau of Inverse Technology. Oh yeah, and these guys.

On Sunday, the circus begins. The Malcontent will be remote viewing via Indymedia.

Crazy kids!

John O'Ferrell's biting comments on Sir Mark Thatcher's little problem in The Guardian.

I mean, what's a parent to do?

We here at The Malcontent School of Discipline and Home Schooling School already know what the sadistic parents might suggest. (Thanks, we got that one.)

(And remember, home schooling: it's not just for religous fanatics anymore...but it helps. Just ask these guys.)

Fight the liars.

Tired of having to do all the leg work to respond to your dimwitted friends who are still parroting the vicious slanders of The Lying Right-Wing Nutjobs Against Truth the pro-Bush Swift Boat Veterans political attack dogs?

Fortunately, now you don't have to.

Thanks to Jerry for alerting The Malcontent to this useful site. The detailed information supporting Kerry is very helpful in combatting the overwrought campaign of ignorance (as are the concomitant links to the sources).

Sing it, Alan!

Greenspan invokes the Grey Wave!

Well, that'll give them something to talk about during the Republican Convention.

"Hey, remember the social safety net?"

"What?"

"Me neither. Screw the poor."

"Oh, Biff. You're just as witty as you were back in prep school. Now let's go trick the heartland working poor into thinking we give a crap about them."

Baby steps.

In today's New York Times:

FARMINGTON, N.M., Aug. 26 - President Bush said on Thursday that he did not believe Senator John Kerry lied about his war record, but he declined to condemn the television commercial paid for by a veterans group alleging that Mr. Kerry came by his war medals dishonestly.

Well, it was half-assed, but at least he said it.

Internet Sainthood looks imminent.

I mean, does Craig rock or what? Prepare for canonization--remember canonization requires two miracles, though I think Father Guido Sarducci said one of them can be a card trick.

Jibjab fought the law...

...and the law lost. Somewhere, Woody is looking down and smiling.

Memo to Blair: Knock it off.

Not Tony Blair, "Blair" from "Facts of Life," who advocates punishing her kids by causing them pain with hot sauce.

Hope you saved up some of those "Facts of Life" paychecks--psychotherapy for kids don't come cheap.

Back in Blue!

The people have spoken.

So that's what you call it!

Spouse of The Malcontent is a sports fan, and has been regularly watching the Olympics, including gymnastics. S.o.T.M. wondered aloud about the new equipment for the vault, which we had been referring to as "the mushroom-looking thing" around La Casa de Malcontent.

The Malcontent is pleased to have found an answer from Slate's Explainer. Say goodbye to the horse and hello to the tongue.

Finally.

It's a good start, Mr. President.

The Malcontent, Chameleon.

We go black-on-white with a new template today. If you like white-on-blue better, please alert The Malcontent's Office of Blog Management and Design.

Shame.

Abu Ghraib shapes up to be a wide-spread and systematic violation of human rights. While The Malcontent generally expects the worst, sometimes you just don't want your expectations met.

Piling on the Lying Veterans Against Kerry.

OK, The Malcontent is not one to pile on for the easy shots, but in this case...

The inaccurately-named "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth" really sink to a new low in political campaigning. In case you have been living in a cave with Osama, this is a group of political operatives, led by right-wing slander monkey John O'Neill, who are impugning John Kerry's character and record of military service. This is an ugly level of character-assassination to which no honorable person would sink, and these men should be ashamed.

The New York Times takes them apart today piece-by-piece here, and Slate does the same with their ad here. Perhaps the most telling indictment of these men who have sunk so low is Republican Senator and former Vietnam POW John McCain's August 5th call repudiating the ad and asking the president to do the same. The president, apparently not a man particularly concerned with being honorable, has yet to do so.

A solution without a problem.

Jerry Falwell is reportedly launching a christian law school this fall that will "be as far to the right as Harvard is to the left."

Well, this fills a real need in the glorious Commonwealth of Virginia--there just aren't enough right-wing christian lawyers there to meet the demand. Or maybe Jerry thought we needed another bottom-tier law school founded by a televangelist.

(Now that we have mentioned the other right-wing christian law school in Virginia, isn't it odd that Regent's bar exam pass rate--ranked 169 out of 177--is one of the lowest in the country? Clearly, prayer doesn't work when it comes to the law.)

Blogrolled.

The Malcontent learns new technology slowly--the site now boasts a blogroll hosted by blogrolling.com, so that you might read other, better, more interesting blogs.

Hacking the Elephant.

WIRED reports that hackers will be attempting to attack Bush/Cheney websites during the GOP's Convention in NYC.

What's at stake? Fundraising capacity, for one.

So what do you think, readers? Assuming such attacks come off, is this civil disobedience or interference with someone's first amendment rights?

Email or comment, if you have an opinion!

I'm scared of bees.

OK, there is a horror movie in here somewhere....

Data Quality and Science Politics.

A excellent series by Rick Weiss of the Washington Post shows us a good reason to watch the watchdogs--part of the Fine Print.

Weiss gets to the core of the matter:

Environmental and consumer groups say the Data Quality Act fits into a larger Bush administration agenda. In the past six months, more than 4,000 scientists, including dozens of Nobel laureates and 11 winners of the National Medal of Science, have signed statements accusing the administration of politicizing science.

What?!? Politicizing science? The Bush administration? What makes you think that? Oh, right: this, probably. And this. And this.

Civilization is doomed.

Um....Vogue for dogs. Yep, it's all downhill after this.

Eu amo Brasil!

OK, as someone who is fascinated by social computing, The Malcontent is a member of both friendster and orkut. Orkut, as several of my friends observed, has a massive number of members from Brazil. We don't know why, but it is true. (According to a Reuters article, 23.5 percent of the users are from the United States, while 41.2 percent are Brazilians.)

I thought this was cool (I mean, what's not to like about Brazilians?), but apparently a bunch of english speakers are unhappy with having to look at some posts and profiles in portuguese. One can only imagine how hard it must be for these poor english speakers...

Taking home the gold medal in "We Are Ignorant Jackasses from the Planet Closeminded" are the members at Orkut who formed "a group to discuss the influx of Brazilians on Orkut." Apparently, they feel there is "Way too much community clutter, countless postings in portuguese."

Pathetic is the word you're looking for, folks. I know it may amaze some of my fellow Orkutians, but the whole world doesn't have to speak english. And if you feel left out--well, learn another language, you lazy english-speaking bastards.

Whose back is this monkey on?

Well, despite The Malcontent's suspicion that blogging is an addictive behavior primarily rewarding to the blogger, it is heartening to know that some readers have made reading this blog part of their regular routine.

Having heard from them, and feeling guilt over my likely irregularity over the next few days, I send you towards a treasure mine of excellent reading about very, very cool "tools."

Always interesting, I find a browse through the cool tool list Kevin Kelly has assembled always inspires some new projects or ideas. I hope this will make up for my failure to provide more substantial blogging until next week.

I'd blog, but it's too much work.

For those Gen X readers who, like The Malcontent, are still slack--a wee confection from Tom Hodgkinson in The Guardian.

Spawn of Malcontent

And so the vast media empire begins........

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied.

The Department of Justice has filed a response seeking to prevent the prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay access to counsel, despite the recent Supreme Court ruling.

As a former prosecutor, let me say this: If they are guilty, counsel can't save them (unless perhaps, if you have horribly violated their civil or human rights). So, why deny them counsel?

And judges? DO YOUR JOBS. Quiet acquiescence to this sort of behavior on the part of the executive branch is pathetic.

Phillip Carter breaks it down in Slate, for the non-lawyers in the crowd.

I don't want to live in Winston Smith's America.

Need to boil your blood?

Check out the interview between Norman Mailer and his son in New York Metro.

As usual, Mailer père isn't holding back:

Bush has one of the emptiest faces in America. He looks to have no more depth than spit on a rock. It could be that the most incisive personal crime committed by George Bush is that he probably never said to himself, “I don’t deserve to be president.” You just can’t trust a man who’s never been embarrassed by himself.

I'd shoot for dual citizenship.

As noted below, I live in the People's Republic of Maryland in my beloved and very Blue city of Baltimore, but if New Yorkers decide to set up their own nation....

Charm City, Hon.

In response to an inquiring email from an intrepid reader, while The Malcontent works in the D.C. swamp, Malcontent HQ is broadcasting from a secure location in Baltimore, Maryland. The Greatest City in America--Charm City, baby. You know, The City That Reads.

Latte and Lactation? Of course.

The Washington Post covers Starbucks Coffee's ridiculous policy forbidding breast-feeding in their stores, as well as Lorig Charkoudian's brilliant response campaign. Charkoudian is well known and loved in the Baltimore area as founder of Baltimore's excellent Community Mediation Program.

I suspect Starbucks has lost this battle nationally--they just don't know it yet. (Starbucks doesn't have a leg to stand on in Maryland, as a matter of law, which they acknowledge in the article.) Starbucks should drop this policy.

The fact that some customers share their discomfort with the human form and are intolerant of the sight of a woman nurturing a child is irrelevant--I mean, I find corporate chain coffeeshops offensive, but Starbucks ain't offering to close up shop.

The Malcontent prepares to go dark.

The Malcontent is on the way to Atlanta, where there will likely be no internet access through Sunday. Plan to return on Monday, so hope you'll re-join us then.

"Wall to wall" secure wi-fi?

Now if they could just develop a wallpaper to keep you from having to listen to your neighbor's stereo......

One for the skeptics.

David Sirota and Christy Harvey chip away the Bush whitewash. A nice well-sourced summary about the systematic misleading of the American public by the White House about Iraq.

Caution: may cause persons who value honesty and integrity to have a stroke.

Sexy Alabamans Fight the Power.

Despite a setback in federal court, the pursuit of happiness continues inside south Huntsville's Naughty and Spice.

Now that's reporting--"pursuit of happiness," indeed.

I see you.

Original thinker David Brin has a very thought-provoking piece on the pervasive surveillance society in today's Salon. (The title, "We Will Watch the Watchers" riffs off an oft-used quote from Juvenal's Satires--"sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes.")

Brin, who I suspect by nature is a contrarian, offers a Middle Way between the wolf-crying privacy advocates and the apologists for the Corporate State:

While a flood of new discoveries may seem daunting, they should not undermine the core values of a calm and knowledgeable citizenry. Quite the opposite: While privacy may have to be redefined, the new technologies of surveillance should and will be the primary countervailing force against tyranny.

Brin's reasonable argument is still provocative and passionate--so go on, take your brain out for a spin. You'll have fun--and Big Brother will be watching.

The physics of pig.

A special note for those personal friends of The Malcontent who are tolerant of my obsession with La Caja China. I bring to you....the science!

Good luck with that.

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and general wingnut Roy Moore is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to be reinstated to his previous post on the court. Moore, you may recall, refused to obey a federal court order to remove his 5,280 pound "10 commandments" propaganda monument propaganda from the Alabama state courthouse. His direct refusal (an act of contempt) is a violation of the law he had sworn to uphold, and as a result, he was removed from office by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.

That's right. The chief justice of a court refused to acknowledge a valid court order, thus violating the law and acting in contempt. On the other hand, it is Alabama, the folks who brought you one of the stupidest laws in existence.

Had enough?

About to blow your cork? Trapped in your cube? Then, turn your volume up and enjoy a One Minute Vacation, courtesy of the fine folks at Quiet American.

I love these recordings. They have made me think about sound in a whole new way. March 3, 2003 and December 29, 2003 are among my favorites. Good headphones help.

Um..it's still rape.

Is anyone else disturbed by the tone of the media coverage about Mary Kay Letourneau's release?

As you may recall, Letourneau was a then-34-year-old teacher who had sex with her then-13-year-old student, ultimately producing two daughters, who are now 5 and 7.

Amid speculation about whether she will "re-unite" with her victim, to "resume their relationship" and other such babble, I am struck by the disconnect between the nature of the crime (clearly statutory rape) and the public and media response.

As Tracy Johnson so stunningly understates it in her Seattle Post-Intelligencer article today:

It was a crime that sparked widespread debate about a possible double standard for a sex offender who some said wouldn't have garnered any sympathy if she were a man and the victim were an adolescent girl.

A possible double standard? I think had Letourneau been a man, someone would have tried to kill him, prior to or during imprisonment. Not to mention the idea of "resuming a relationship" would spark a riot.

What do you think, readers? Why the difference in treatment? Is it gender alone? The fact that they have children together?

Email or comments appreciated, as I'm perplexed.

The Economy of Happiness, redux.

A brief follow-up to The Economy of Happiness., once again brought to our attention by the good people at Arts and Letters Daily. Robert Samuelson, in the Wilson Quarterly, wonders about the role of consumerism and what might cause a decline.

A rose by any other name....

In a great Washington Post article, Roxanne Roberts alerts us to the latest theory by philosopher Alain de Botton.

de Botton has posited a cause for the rude, narcissistic, greedy, hierarchy-obsessed, pigeonholing behavior of many of the denziens inside the Beltway. It is Status Anxiety, "an anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser."

Oh, it's "Status Anxiety"? I just thought they were a-holes.

Welcome to Fortress America.

"We're not going to let threats or this kind of information turn us into Fortress America."
--Tom Ridge, Sunday, August 1, 2004.

Sure, of course not. Why would anyone think we would?

Blogwise.

The Malcontent was just listed on Blogwise, another fine blog search engine (much like Blogarama). The folks at these search engines are mostly volunteer and do a great job, so it is a pleasure to be listed. In keeping with our publicity whorish tendencies, we have added a Blogwise button to the site.