I'm about 66% of the way through Neal Stephenson's new book, "The Confusion", and I'm so incredibly enthralled that I considered calling in sick so that I could finish it (don't worry, I'm at work on a break right now). I always have high hopes for any of his books, but Neal really tops himself on this one. The first books of his I read was "Snow Crash," an important entry into the cyberpunk genre and also a compendium of great names like Hiro Protagonist. Then I read "Cryptonomicon" and was amazed. Absolutely fantastic. Though it could easily be described as historical fiction, the feel of the book is definitely sci-fi. "Quicksilver", the first book in the the trilogy that continues with "The Confusion" and will finish in 6 months with "System of the World," was disapponting, but I decided to read the second one out of loyalty. I'm glad I did. Although these books make an even stronger case to be branded as historical fiction, I like to think of them as a new genre of science-fiction. Instead of looking forward to the future, as most sci-fi does, Stephenson seems to be looking forward to the past, and he does it damn well. As soon as I'm finished with it, I plan to get a couple of books on pre-British Empire India, as the portion of the book that deals with India has left me both fascinated and mystified. Any time I read a fictional work and then want to read a non-fiction book to find out more, I know the author did a great job.

Property rights are under attack in Florida. There's a nice overview of the issue on Neal's Nuze (boortz.com). They're trying to pass a bill that allows developers to skip trying to buy property from the owners to build Wal-Marts and such, and instead go straight to the local government and ask them for it. If the local politicians care more about added tax revenue than actually protecting their constituents, and politicians have shown this to be the case time and time again, then the property is bought at whatever the government feels is a fair price with no input from the citizen-owner. You can bet the government's "fair price" is far below market value. One of Neal's listeners wrote an email to his representative in which he said he was against the bill and if the guy wanted his vote again, he better vote against the bill. The politician wrote back saying he doesn't respond to threats. I always thought withholding your vote from a politician you disagree with was a cornerstone of democracy, but this guy seems to think that votes are his birthright, and it's a threat to not vote for him. I thought politicians were supposed to represent their constituents, but in Florida they seem to represent big business and care not at all about the citizens.

This issue is growing, and such controversies are showing up all over the country. Soon it will come to a head and end up in the Supreme Court. Though I support big business and the free market, I am totally against business interests in this case. In fact it's anti-free market, because the property owners not only don't have the choice to sell, they don't even get a market price. I can only hope the highest court in the land remembers that this country was created "For the people, by the people," and not for business against the people.

When those contractors were killed and mutilated in Falujah last week, much of the left wing, and even "moderate" members of Congress started talking cut-and-run. Why? Porbably because they felt the unwashed masses would be so scared of the four deaths that they would want to cut-and-run, and they figured they could get some political points for it. The problem with this attitude is that this is America. When someone kills someone you love, you don't say to yourse;f, "Golly, that sucks, maybe if I just ignore the murderer, he'll go away." When someone wrongs the typical American, they want payback. When four Americans are murdered and mutilated, we want to find the people that did it and make them pay. Obviously not all Americans feel this way, but considering Bush's polling numbers have gone up since the murders, obviously the majority of America feels this way. The Democratic Party bills itself as the party of the people, but refuse to acknowledge what the people really want.

The European Union Constitution is running in to a bit of trouble. The document itself would create a very leftist group of states, though I can't say that I know any details. The funny thing is that the British, widely known to be a wild and crazy group, actually have the nerve to put approval of the Constitution to a national vote. The nerve! Chirac, President of France, is upset about this. Why the hell should the people have any choice? Ironically calls for a referendum on the issue within his own country are becoming much louder than before. The ostensible capital of the EU, Brussels, would prefer that everyone just approves the thing so they can go ahead with socializing the continent. Several of the smaller countries are having referendums, and that's not really a problem. If they reject the constitution then either they just won't be let in to the EU, or they ahve to vote again and again until they come to an answer that Brussels likes. Britain and France, however, are rich and leaving them out of the EU would hamstring the whole idea right away. You also can't force them vote again and again, because as that goes on the rest of the countries will take the cue and reject it, and suddenly you have a European Union with three or four countries in it. That, of course, is useless. What I find to be the funniest part of the whole affair is the presumption by various Europeans leaders that the people want a leftist-socialist EU. Almost every time a vote has been put to the issue in any country, it has been rejected, yet the leaders continue to say that this is what the people want. What people, I ask? I think they have the same sort of thing going on in Europe that we have here in the US. John Kerry has this idea of what the man on the street wants, and that is Bush out of office. But when someone actually asks a man on the street, over 50% disagree with Mr. Kerry. How's that phrase go, "If wishes were horses?"

http://slate.msn.com/id/2099203/

Very interesting article on the Columbine killers, basically saying that one of them might have turned out to be a normal person, but the other killer was born a psychpath in the strict psychological sense of the word, and would probably have ended up dead or in jail even if the Columbine massacre had never happened.

So Michael Moore, dishonest documentarian, is making comparisons between the Iraqi insurgents and the Minutemen of American Revolutionary history. This is, of course, ridiculous for a number of reasons. First off, many of the Iraqi insurgents are not Iraqi. Second, the Minutemen represented the majority of the people living in the colonies and were fighting against an imperial power. The Americans in Iraq are not an imperial power, and if the place would just be peaceful for a month or two straight, they'd get the hell out. Add to that the fact that the insurgents that are Iraqi are, for the most part, Sunni, and thus represent a minority in the area. The Shi'ites, overall, are favorable to the Americans and glad to have Saddam out of power. They are, understandably, getting anxious for the occupation to end, but are hopeful for a happy ending and will give props to the U.S.

Gosh, I hope I didn't get Sunni and Shi'ite mixed up. It's not quite the same as understanding the difference between a reform Jew and an orthodox one.

I'm not sure how we got in to this conversation at lunch today, but it got pretty heated, and I thought I would post some here, as I'm still in disagreement with the other people about it. The conversation was about perverts who solicit sex online with children. I was saying how if some sicko solicits sex (not for money) from someone he thinks is a child, but it turns out it was an undercover FBI agent, that shouldn't be illegal, because the sicko never actually solicited sex from someone underage, and there no proof they could possibly bring in to show that the sicko did so. The others, of course, argued that the sicko should go to jail because he thought the person was a child even though they weren't. The backed this up with the example of an undercover cop posing as a prostitute, but this is obviously a fallicious comparison, because soliciting sex for money is illegal no matter the age of the person. On the other hand, if the Secret Service suspects you are going to try to kill the President, they could set up a dummy that you then shoot and get you for attempted murder. I'm pretty sure they can anyway, despite the fact that you never actually attempted to murder anyone. I'm curious enough to follow up, and will write my favorite legal blog, the Volokh Conspiracy to ask for clarification (www.volokh.com).

From a Diana West column:
"Victor Davis Hanson, author of several books about war's affect on civilization, says it best in the current issue of City Journal. I paraphrase: Thanks to George W. Bush, the Taliban are gone. So is Saddam Hussein. Yasser Arafat is isolated, restricted to the wretched confines of his Ramallah compound. American troops no longer stake their lives guarding the terror kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Europeans finally feel a righteous American heat over their cold accountings of anti-Semitism and their largesse to Islamic terror organizations.

Thanks also to Bush, Islamofascist "charities" have been shuttered in this country. Al Qaeda is in splinters around the world, desperately seeking a new state-haven. In one of the great diplomatic coups of our time, Pakistan has been turned, as Hanson put it, from "a de facto foe to a scrutinized neutral." Just this week, India's prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, publicly credited the U.S.-led war in Iraq with pushing nuclear rivals India and Pakistan to set about resolving their dispute over Kashmir. Bush has further pressured Libya, Iran and Pakistan to come clean on nuclear cheating; and where the Middle East once feared Iraq's military, the president has had reason lately to lament its ineffectualness. Then there's always the fact that he has "so far avoided another September 11 -- and promises that he is not nearly done yet."

Of course, as the left is quick to point out, none of this matters because Bush is a moron who cannot pronounce nuclear correctly, and thus must be shunned.

Don't forget that every single economic indicator shows that the economy is beginning to kick ass again. But none of that matters either, because Bush can't pronounce the word nuclear.

Nielson has come under fire for their new electronic TV boxes. Unlike the viewing diaries they used to send out and trust the recipients to fill out accurately, these new boxes are always correct. What have they found in the first period they ahve used the boxes for ratings? Shows featuring minority casts have much lower rating than previously thought. This, of course, makes Nielson racist. It couldn't possibly be that most of these shows suck, or perhaps that fewer minorities watch TV now. Nope, the only plausible explanation is that Nielson is racist.

With Nielson's experience in the industry I find it hard to believe that anyone could fault their statistical analysis. Occam's Razor leads me to the only possible conclusion. Nielson is correct, and and shows with minority casts are not doing well. I don't really think that minorities are watching less TV, nor do I think they all suddenly decided that watching "whitebread" shows is the way to go. I really do think that most minority-driven shows on TV now suck. On the other hand, 10 years ago we had Family Matters, and I find it hard to believe that minority shows now could possibly be of lesser quality than Urkel and friends. Perhaps the statistical anomoly that causes the ratings to drop when more accurate measures are used was in effect as far back as Family Matters?

I just read an article on wired.com about iPods and how they are bringing the idea of shiffling music to the fore. By shuffling I mean setting up a group of an indeterminate number of songs, and having them played in a random order. One college professor interviewed in the article talks about how this sort of thing appeals to the MTV generation because they have short attention spans and are likely "brain damaged." This condescending statement makes him into a horse's ass. Let me give you one explanation, a theory that also explains some of the decline in retail music sales and the rise of single-song downloading. Back in the day, say the early 60's, most pop albums were released with one or two good songs and 10 or so tracks that were basically filler. The Beatles were the first band to popularize the obvious idea of trying to make an entire album for people to enjoy. That idea stuck around for a while, but I dare you to go to Media Play and listen to some recent pop singles, find one you like, and then buy the album that single came from. Listen to the whole thing and I can just about guarantee you'll like no more than three other tracks. The rest will be ok at best, but not something you'd want popping up after listening to a great track like "Hey Ya" on your iPod. If bands would create 12 tracks of good music then people might listen to the entire thing. And they might buy it. Most people realize that buying a CD is a waste of money when you can download (for only $0.99/track, legally) just the couple of songs that aren't crap. The music industry is always looking outside to explain their problems. Most well-run companies, when they discover problems, look to solve it internally before blaming outside forces. The music industry refuses to take any responsibility for themselves. Next time you hear someone whining about illegal downloading, tell them to try my test, and then they'll understand.

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/guillermo/

A letter I wrote in response to the article linked above:

I've read and seen a lot about Mr. Hung since his appearance on American Idol and subsequent 15 minutes of fame. When watching him sing, I thought not of an Asian guy singing, but simply a guy singing. Several friends of mine, all from the deep south, are Idol fans as well, and after seeing your article I asked them if they felt Mr. Hung was being made famous simply because he's Asian. Hung's Asian-ness made so little impact that one guy said, "I thought he was white." The fact is, Mr. Emil, the only place in which I have seen mention of Mr. Hung's race is in your article. You are the only one who seems to care what his race is, and that makes you the racist, not the people who enjoy Mr. Hung's singing for what it is, the genuine and heartfelt entertaining of a man who has no talent. God it's not, but fun it definitely is. Too bad racists like you always have to bring race into issues where it previously was non-factor. Give it up and think of people as people, not simply as members of a group.

Seriously, Mr. Emil, why is it that so many commentators like yourself fail to see the hypocrisy and double standards in your race relation opinions? I may not be a supporter of the Republican Party, but unlike the Democrats, the GOP at least deals with people as individuals.

By the way, sir, I'm Jewish and born and raised in the south. I imagine now you will immediately peg me down as an ignorant hillbilly, because how else would a nice Jewish boy not be a liberal? As it turns out, I graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in history, 2 years of calculus, plenty of science, a tendency to kick butt at Jeopardy, and a bunch of friends that to you would represent most all races, religions and creeds. To me they represent friends and good people, the only subgroups that matter.

Andy Rooney, a curmudgeon, waste of time, and overall left-wing blowhard, did his bit on 60 Minutes this week, and this time he was absolutely despicable. He made the case that our soldiers serving in Iraq are not hero, but people who couldn't get any other jobs. While Andy Rooney is obviously not a politician with great influence in his party, his views seem to be reflected by the Democratic leadership in the scorn they show for the common working man, the soldier, the taxi driver, and anyone else who is not an "intellectual elite." The very same people they purport to want to help by stealing money from the rich and giving handouts are also the people they scorn as stpuid and meaningless. One day the layman will wake up and realize he wants leaders that respect him and his, and he will throw off the shackles of welfare and semi-socialization and live in peace and prosperity with his next door neighbor without feeling envy or acting as if he deserves everything his neighbor has merely for existing.

Today I witnessed a confluence of events that brought to mind the reasons for Bush's tax cuts. I was in the smoking room at the Fed (yes, I still smoke sometimes, and today I simply had to have a smoke) listening to two guys chatting about cars. One said that he had been looking for some sort of intake pipe for his Jeep and after doing some research he realized that the equivalent part for Honda Civics has the same curve, but is just a few inches longer, and $100 cheaper. He bought the Honda part, cut it down to Jeep size, and it fit in perfectly. The other guy suggested he buy and cut down a few mroe and sell them on EBay for $50 more than he paid, but still $50 than the actual Jeep part. The first man's eyes brightened, and he said, "I'll use my tax refund to buy the first set. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to turn it into some good income."

While there may not be exact numbers to prove Bush's point, anecdotes like this are a lot more prevelant than stories about, "How Bush's tax cuts ruined my life."

Something very obvious that everyone seems to be missing regarding Richard Clarke, Condi Rice, the Bush and Clinton administrations, and 9/11. If Richard Clarke was the chief anti-terrorism officer in both administrations, doesn't that make 9/11 his failure? It was his job to stop that sort of thing, yet it happened anyway, so why isn't he getting flack?

I read some people today responding to Condi Rice's testimony, and acting like it's a big deal that she said the U.S. was not on war footing before 9/11. So before 9/11 we should ahve been preparing for a war no one saw coming, but after 9/11 we should have been peacefully negotiating and using diplomacy to solve our problems. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Don't you just love the Europeans? Several of the old school powers over there, France included, spent much of the last year and a half deriding the United States for Iraq and the war against terrorism. They said that acting preemptively was immoral and blah blah blah. Now that terrorism has hot Europe, they continue to heap scorn upon the US for preemptive action on the one hand, and on the other:

"The French had kept a group of Moroccan-born militants under surveillance for some time, but had no specific cause to arrest them when the police struck in dawn raids on Monday, seizing 13 men with suspected links to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group.

A senior French official admitted as much on Tuesday, saying "There was no evidence they were preparing an imminent attack in France." The crucial factor was that they had traveled to Afghanistan, where they learned to use weapons and make explosives.

"When they come back, they have certain ideas and certainly a technical capacity for action," the French official said.

The new French counterterrorism motto, he said, is "Every time we discover a cell, we eliminate it as a pre-emptive measure." "

Funny how what's good for France is the height of evil and an act against world peace when the United States does the same.

The conspiracy to destroy the bars of Buckhead and elsewhere in the city limits in favor of the city of Atlanta's pet project, Underground Atlanta, continues. First they conveniently found a "loophole" that allows Underground to serve drinks much later than bars anywhere else in the city, a loophole that anyone can see smacks of curruption and favortism. After all, who runs Underground? The city. Now MARTA has been convinced to move one of their Braves shuttles so that fans, who have already paid $1.75 to ride, are now also paying that $1.75 to be forced to walk a few blocks through Underground. What ever happened to convenience and customer service? Making people pay money to walk makes only one group happy, whomever is making money off of Underground. Everyone else, including the millions of residents in the metro area, be damned.

Here at the Fed they have a special combination which creates havoc and waste for all. It all begins with the disposable toilet seat covers. You pull one out and carefully place it exactly how you want it. You turn and begin your descent, but wait, what's that? Oh, it's the automatic flusher sensing movement and flushing. There goes the seat cover you worked so hard on. Try again. Maybe this time you can pull down your pants fast enough to sit before it flushes.

While I'm on toilet talk, who the hell invented those retarded small toilets? Most men will know what I'm tlaking about. The toilets where the bowls are nearly round instead of ovular. You sit down, but there's nowhere for your equipment to go. It's very uncomfortable and unsanitary, and if a man was involved in designing them, he ought to lose his jewels as punishment.

Ever used one of those sinks, which seem to be especially prevelent in Waffle House bathrooms, though I have encountered such in many residences as well, where the faucet is set so close to the back of the sink that in order to adequately rinse soap off your hands, you bascially have to rub them all over the back wall of the sink, negating any cleaning effect by getting your hands dirty again? There's so much empty room in those sinks that having a longer faucet could not be too much of a burden for manufacturers.

Today I moved. I'm now working on the 2nd floor of the Fed building. No more elevators. But my cubicle is smaller, and I no longer have a little wardrobe with a coat hanger. Things seem to be more anal on this floor; I'm only supposed to tack stuff to one particular cubicle wall, the one that is behind me, which seriously stifles the usefullness of having certain things posted on my walls.

I also found out that my cousin is engaged (to be married). Congratulations to Laura and Adam!

Quoted from http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/04/0404/040104.html
"We stopped pretending we would ratify Kyoto. We only spent $15 billion on AIDS in Africa. We did not take dictation from Paris. If we had done these things, it would minimize the world’s anger.

Is the world angry at Russia, which spends nothing on AIDS and rebuffed Kyoto? Is the world angry at China, which got a pass on Kyoto and spends nothing on AIDS for other countries?

Is the world angry at North Korea for killings its people? Angry at Iran for smothering that vibrant nation with corrupt and thuggish mullocracy? Angry at Syria for occupying Lebanon? Angry at Saudi Arabia for its denial of women’s rights? Angry at Russia for corrupt elections? Is the world angry at China for threatening Taiwan, or angry at France for joining the Chinese in joint military exercises that threatened the island on the eve of an election? Is the world angry at Zimbabwe for stealing land and starving people? Is the world angry at Pakistan for selling nuclear secrets? Is the world angry at Libya for having an NBC program?

Is the world angry at the thugs of Fallujah?

Is the world angry at anyone besides America and Israel?"