Month: June 2008

for what it’s worth, this is still wrong

McCain War Record No Longer Off Limits To Some Liberals A small number of left-wing activists are beginning to question John McCain’s service during the Vietnam war, charging him with, among other things, war crimes and helping North Vietnamese propaganda efforts.

…do I wonder if McCain feels he could have defended Kerry, a fellow Navy officer who served in the same conflict, a little more strenuously?

McCain War Record No Longer Off Limits To Some Liberals

A small number of left-wing activists are beginning to question John McCain’s service during the Vietnam war, charging him with, among other things, war crimes and helping North Vietnamese propaganda efforts. The attacks are notable for their similarity to the “Swift Boat” attacks against John Kerry in 2004. (Politico)

Unless someone committed verifiable war crimes while in uniform or in active service, I think their service records should be left out of this. It was wrong when it was done to Kerry and it’s wrong now.

But . . . . do I wonder if McCain feels he could have defended Kerry, a fellow Navy officer who served in the same conflict, a little more strenuously? Yes, I do.

[addendum] I remember reading the T. Boone Pickens had offered $1 million to anyone who could disprove the claims against Kerry: turns out he welched on the deal. Navy records made his boys out to be liars, so now he claims to have nothing to do with them. I wonder if the guys who dragged the Swift Boat crews through the political muck are welcome at the reunions?

quote of the day

[T] he primary purpose of public schools in America has always been to help produce citizens who have the knowledge and the skills and the values to sustain our republic as a nation, our democratic form of government.

[T]he primary purpose of public schools in America has always been to help produce citizens who have the knowledge and the skills and the values to sustain our republic as a nation, our democratic form of government.

Sandra Day O’Connor

comedy gold

One individual who emailed seemed to think that we could have the effect of draining away conservative votes, or “splintering” the religious right vote. Reverend Dobson said that he would not vote for McCain or Obama, and would go to the polls and vote, but not vote for president.

StayTheCourse.159104852_std.jpg

Hello world!
So many emails were coming in that we decided to start a blog on the site. One individual who emailed seemed to think that we could have the effect of draining away conservative votes, or “splintering” the religious right vote. Reverend Dobson said that he would not vote for McCain or Obama, and would go to the polls and vote, but not vote for president. Here are some reasons why he should write in Bush:
1. To clearly show that he doesn’t approve of either Obama or McCain.
2. To trust in God and the US Supreme Court that if Bush gets the popular vote, term limits will be set assunder.
3. To give Bush one more chance, now that he’s just getting the hang of it.[emphasis mine]

[From writeinbush.com Blog » Blog Archive » Hello world!]

If there is a god, please let this get around to his base . . . .

never let the facts get in the way of policy

The New York Times reports today that White House officials simply refused to open an email from the EPA last year because they knew it contained a policy recommendation they didn’t like — part of the Administration’s on-going battle with scientists at the EPA over global warming issues. The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.

So this is what it comes down to? Maybe they should print out a copy and hire a process server to deliver it.

The Bush Administration’s newest tactic for policymaking is to ignore emails.

The New York Times reports today that White House officials simply refused to open an email from the EPA last year because they knew it contained a policy recommendation they didn’t like — part of the Administration’s on-going battle with scientists at the EPA over global warming issues.

The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.


Instead of officially acknowledging the email and responding to it in a normal bureaucratic manner, the White House instead launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to pressure the EPA to drop the recommendation’s essential conclusions.

Both documents, as prepared by the E.P.A., “showed that the Clean Air Act can work for certain sectors of the economy, to reduce greenhouse gases,” one of the senior E.P.A. officials said. “That’s not what the administration wants to show. They want to show that the Clean Air Act can’t work.”

[From TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Today’s Must Read]

Is it 2009 yet?

water still wet, fire still hot

Having recent re-read the four volume trilogy of the H 2 G 2 doesn’t help 😉 Picture 8.jpg After all, weren’t the last buggy whips the best ever made? Or, more close to home, isn’t photographic film right now the best ever made?

This headline, appearing in my gmail screen, just begged the snark. Having recent re-read the four volume trilogy of the H2G2 doesn’t help 😉

Picture 8.jpg

After all, weren’t the last buggy whips the best ever made? Or, more close to home, isn’t photographic film right now the best ever made?

annals of poorly executed upgrades

I had tried 2.2 before and given up on it (is there a compelling reason to completely reject the syntax of an established configuration and at the same time not provide some kind of migration tool?)…. Turns out that 2.0’s threading is not all that good, where 2.2’s is, but the bear was getting all the right modules and php all hooked in again.

for some benighted reason, I decided to upgrade httpd from Apache 2.0.63 to 2.2.8. I had tried 2.2 before and given up on it as I couldn’t map my old configuration onto the new version/style (is there a compelling reason to completely reject the syntax of an established configuration and at the same time not provide some kind of migration tool?). I was either more lucky or more stubborn this time. I’d love to share how I got it to work, but I can’t recall all the steps and missteps involved.

The catalyst was realizing how slow the server with one user accessing the squirrelmail webmail instance: I knew there were different service models (prefork, threaded, etc.) and decided to try them. Turns out that 2.0’s threading is not all that good, where 2.2’s is, but the bear was getting all the right modules and php all hooked in again. There is a lot of stuff in Apache 1.x and 2.0.x that just works, even if is somehow inelegant. I can sort of see the reason to break out the config directives into files rather that sections of the same file that get muddled. But a parser that could take an existing (ie, working) config file and a. make it work in a 2.2 environment and b. do the sectioning would be a great thing.

At the end of the day, the performance issues I was annoyed by seem to be resolved.

Continue reading “annals of poorly executed upgrades”

where does the time go?

Congress has a lot to do: Appropriations, Tax Reform, Health Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform, Housing, Environmental Protection, Energy Sufficiency, Mass Transportation.

…The whole thing — Barbara Jordan’s statement on the impeachment process — is worth reading, but I was struck by that list of political concerns, that legislative agenda.

Congress has a lot to do: Appropriations, Tax Reform, Health Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform, Housing, Environmental Protection, Energy Sufficiency, Mass Transportation.

[From Sisyphus Shrugged – not nearly enough ]

The whole thing — Barbara Jordan’s statement on the impeachment process — is worth reading, but I was struck by that list of political concerns, that legislative agenda. That was on the table in 1974, and without exception, it could be on today’s agenda as well.

So what has gotten done in those 34 years?