Author: lux

Downright Orwellian

I find myself using the term ‘Orwellian’ more and more lately when it comes to the Bush administration. The latest spluttering over the 9/11 Commission is another good example of this. And over at the Whiskey Bar, Billmon has a great rundown of it. Here’s one of the high points:

The panel has become “a tool for partisan politics,” Rep. Eric I. Cantor (Va.), a member of the House Republican leadership, charged in an interview last week. “With the latest commission finding coming out that there were allegedly no ties between Hussein and al Qaeda, I think they are totally off their mission, and I think that’s indicative of the political partisanship.”

The RNC talking points on this must have gone out earlier last week, because Porter Goss, the intelligence committee chairman in our Chamber of People’s Deputies, and Dennis Miller, the anti-intelligence chairman of late night television, have both been yammering about that same basic theme. But Cantor’s quote is such a gem of non-logic, I’d like to look at it again more closely.

The 9/11 commission, Cantor argues, is partisan. Why? Because it went “off mission” by questioning the alleged relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

Now since the 9/11 commission was specifically instructed by Congress to “make a full and complete accounting of the circumstances surrounding the [9/11] attacks,” and to “investigate relevant facts and circumstances … including intelligence agencies … diplomacy … the flow of assets to terrorist organizations … and other areas of the public and private sectors determined relevant by the commission,” it’s fairly ridiculous to argue the commission exceeded its mandate by reviewing the evidence regarding Bin Ladin’s alleged contacts with Iraq. What Cantor is really arguing is that the commission went “off mission” by arriving at conclusions that were extremely embarrassing to the administration, and possibly damaging to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Emphasis added. And let us remember that the 9/11 Commission was created with an even split of Democrats and Republicans and is chaired by a Republican former governor picked by the White House. Not exactly a raving bunch of left-leaning wing nuts. But they came up with a conclusion that Bush/Cheney doesn’t like, so they ipso facto must be partisan, and on the wrong side too.

Ignorant Luddities Strike Again

Or at least they’re trying to. Senator Orrin Hatch has introduced a bill to the Senate which is worded in such a way that it would not only make Kazaa illegal, but also TiVo, the CD burner in your computer, and even VCRs and cassette recorders illegal.

News.com reports that:

The proposal, called the Induce Act, says “whoever intentionally induces any violation” of copyright law would be legally liable for those violations, a prohibition that would effectively ban file-swapping networks like Kazaa and Morpheus. In the draft bill seen by CNET News.com, inducement is defined as “aids, abets, induces, counsels, or procures” and can be punished with civil fines and, in some circumstances, lengthy prison terms.

“Induce” stands for “Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation,” making this yet another example of cloaking wildly restrictive legislation in the mantle of “save the children!”. Because of course, it’s all about keeping kids away from porn. Never mind that adults would have to throw away every recording device in their homes to make it work.

The good news? Even if this lame excuse for a bill were to actually pass both houses and be signed into law, I doubt it would stand, because the Supreme Court said in 1984 that VCRs are legal devices. But still, it’s annoying to have to fight the same battles over and over again.

Tinfoil Hat Time?

Generally speaking I am highly skeptical of conspiracy theories unless there’s some serious paper trail to back them up. But the one thing that the latest Al Qaeda beheading shows is that there may in fact be some truth to the rumors that the Nick Berg beheading is a little … well … suspicious.

Now, I must admit I did not actually watch the Berg video, but I did see some of the still photos. I wasn’t planning on viewing the Paul Johnson photos but Drudge put them directly on his site instead of linking to them. And it struck me right off … that is a lot of blood. Blood that is definitely missing from the Berg footage.

Something’s not right here. It could be as simple as Berg’s captors didn’t have the nerve to behead a living man and killed him first. Or it could be much more complex. I don’t know and I doubt the truth will come out any time in the near future.

This site has a pretty comprehensive list of the issues related to Nick Berg’s death.

Are all Republicans Teflon?

Sometimes it feels like the Teflon coating so famously ascribed to Ronald Reagan sticks itself to every Republican administration. Per Atrios today:

I’m starting to wonder when the Bush administration will start receiving the label, “scandal plagued,” as the Clinton administration does and did, even though most of those scandals were just made up scandals and not real ones.

How many CIA agents have to have their covers blown?

Maybe it’s just that the Congress is also Republican led, hence no pesky panels of inquiry, special prosecutors, or impeachment articles.

They Call It Generation Debt

It’s been years since I regularly read the Village Voice, but there’s a recent article that makes a point I’ve been saying for some time now. In looking at the last few years of my career, I’ve had to say, “I guessed wrong when I chose a career doing technology marketing. I thought the sector wouldn’t fall as hard as it did, or even if it did fall, I had enough connections and a good enough resume to keep employed.” I guessed wrong and paid the price. And now the Voice is looking at this same issue:

Choosing a career path is a high-stakes gamble on where the jobs are likely to be two or four years down the road. Guess wrong and you could end up at a dead-end retail or fast-food job, slowly climbing out of a deep, dank hole of debt. Guess right, and you’ll enter a job market that offers less security than ever.

I’m older than the people the author highlights as examples, but he has profiled my life too, down to the choices I made when my career crumbled and I needed to take a job – any job – to keep it together. I try hard not to wallow in self-pity over what happened. I certainly don’t think the world owes me a career. But it’s damn hard to build a life when the career choices you make go so swiftly from right to wrong.

Here’s a look at the future:

May marked the nation’s third straight month of job growth, but the long-range view is mixed. For the best handicapping, you want the job market equivalent of a Las Vegas line-maker, the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C. Every couple of years officials there release the mother of all occupational outlooks, the 10-year employment projections. The most recent one, published in February, projected 21.3 million net new jobs through 2012. Construction jobs should keep growing (expect to see a million more by 2012). The strongest service-sector bets are in education, health care, and state and local government. The single best choice may be to join the ranks of registered nurses (623,000 new jobs).

But here’s the depressing news: Of the top 10 occupations with the rosiest projections, seven are by and large poorly paid McJobs: retail (596,000 new jobs by 2012), customer service (460,000), food preparation (454,000), cashiers (454,000), janitors (414,000), waiters and waitresses (367,000), and nursing aides (343,000). And the BLS admits its numbers don’t distinguish between full-time jobs with benefits and part-time or temp work. In other words, there will be plenty of jobs, but far fewer careers.

I have been giving a lot of thought recently to going back to school and finally getting a Master’s degree. According to this, I should be looking at nursing school if I want some career stability and even then, who knows what will happen 5 years from now.

My Depression-era grandparents would probably tell me that work is not meant to be something you like, so go to nursing school. But I have no interest whatsoever in doing it. Perhaps I’m like one of the out of work buggy whip makers who were unable to let go of the career they used to have – except that technology and marketing are neither of them going away. Hence my thought that what I really need is an MBA. Of course, getting one would mean even more debt and more time off the job market. A scary thought given our financial situation. But is staying still even an option anymore?

Tip of the hat to Whoviating for the link.