Iraq Polls

PollingReport.com has collated a variety of polls on Iraq. One of the things that's interesting is if you look at different polling bodies and the phrasing of similar questions.

PollingReport.com: Iraq.

Gen X Cynicism Fully Justified, IMO

The Promise and the Threat

The Joy of Capitalism

Confessions of a Terrorist

Not Surprised. At. All.

Confessions of a Terrorist. Author Gerald Posner claims an al-Qaeda leader made explosive allegations while under interrogation.

Saudi connections, anyone?

Singing out the Truth

Ten Propositions for The Democrats. Read 'em.

What Do Liberals Really Want. Read it, too.

One of the things the latter article touches on is the worthlessness of the terms 'conservative' and 'liberal' today.

Remember when conservatives supported sound fiscal policies and limited government? The current administration, which is theoretically "conservative," is plunging the country into unprecedented debt and operating the largest secret police force the nation has ever known. If that's conservative, then so was the Soviet Union.

The thing is, the current administration ISN'T politically "conservative". The current administration is Conservative Christian. And that is not necessarily the same thing as supporting sound fiscal policies and limited govenment.

And, while I was googling 'Conservative Christian' for a definitive definition, which I did not find, I stumbled over this article, A Conservative Christian Case for Civil Same-Sex Marriage, which I found to be quite interesting. It was published in 2000. To quote:

I suppose we can continue living in denial, stubbornly bailing water out of the rapidly sinking ship of "Christian America." Or we can get in touch with reality and realize that we need drastically to change our political course. The future of the Christian church in America lies with the preservation of civil liberties, not with the dogged pursuit of our Christian moral agenda to the annoyance of everyone else. Christians of all people ought to take interest in making the preservation of civil liberties in this country a top political priority, because as a group of religious people in a pluralistic society, we uphold moral standards and traditions that the rest of the country thinks are at best outdated and at worst harmful...

...The problem is, our political aim was not simply to protect the rights of Christians. It was to enact moral change in society that would affect everyone regardless of whether they agreed with our views. We have sought to push a moral agenda instead of lobbying for civil liberties as we should have. If we had focused on civil liberties, we would have made progress in securing the rights we wanted for ourselves, and made a valuable contribution to securing the rights of our fellow Americans in the process. We could have still taken on abortion and concentrated primarily on defending the rights of the unborn child...

...Therefore, since the church's primary concern with relation to the state ought to be the protection of our right to freely practice our religious beliefs, our political strategy ought to be twofold: 1) making sure we don't turn public opinion against us by being pushy, overbearing, and malicious; and 2) supporting the rights of other people also to exist peacefully in this land, because in doing so we secure the same for ourselves

Supporting other people's civil liberties doesn't say that we necessarily agree with their views of morality or religion. For instance, we don't agree with Buddhists and yet we don't hesitate to stand up for religious freedom. What it does say is that we are willing to get along with others and demonstrate the same respect for them that we wish for ourselves. This is not some radical new idea. It is simply practicing The Golden Rule: "However you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12).

Well worth reading.

Cookbook-y Goodness!

Janis's mom R just sent me The Reading Terminal Market Cookbook, and it looks *awesome*. She was in the Market, saw it, thought of me.

I started writing a thank-you note, flipped open the book, and didn't resurface until half an hour later. Obviously a good match.

The Reading Terminal Market (quoth the book) was founded in 1892 and it's still a stall market today. I loved it when we were in Philadelphia last Christmas (I loved everything when we were there last Christmas), and I'm a cooking nut, and I collect cookbooks, so this ranks right up there with The City Tavern Cookbook (said Tavern another Philadelphia landmark, and, can I coin a phrase? Gourmonument. Gourmand. Monument. You get the picture.) that Janis got me while we were there.

The cookbook is a tour of the market's history, its different types of stalls and the cuisines they serve, the people, as well as recipes.

I'm so thrilled and I can't wait to try some of these recipes!

Friday Five

I don't make a habit of Friday Five's but this is on a topic near and dear to my heart.

1. Are you going to school this year?
No. I did attend a 3-day training course for certain software in March of this year, though. I doubt that counts.

2. If yes, where are you going (high school, college, etc.)? If no, when did you graduate?
I graduated university in 1995. I did not go straight from high school to college, and the experience from being out in the world, so to speak, gave me a leg up later.

3. What are/were your favorite school subjects?
I was one of those extremely irritating children who was good at math AND english AND music. I'm sure everyone hated me for it at one time or another. My favorite subject was probably math/science. I know I always loved my science classes.

4. What are/were your least favorite school subjects?
At the time, I'd say, social science. Oh, no, duh -- Physical Education. Though, when I was doing gymnastics, and archery, even that was fun.

5. Have you ever had a favorite teacher? Why was he/she a favorite?
Plenty. I've had good teachers. One who, in fourth grade, pointed at a bunch of test scores and explained that they weren't supposed to show me this, and then told me what the numbers and graphs meant: "you can do anything". Those words have stayed with me all my life.

I like teachers who believe in what they're doing as part of their lives. My best history teacher was an Amnesty International activist. Another simply said "I hope you keep writing". Another recommended me as a chemistry tutor at a community college. Another loaned me One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovitch. One of my most important science teachers, in college, reminded us when we were talking about ballistics in my classical mechanics course that a scientist has to think about the implications -- political and ethical -- as well as technological, of what we might choose to do.

There are more. This music teacher, and then that one, my German teacher, my Japanese teachers, my physics teacher for whom I was the unofficial TA in high school, all the teachers in all the years who said, to all of us, "you can do this, c'mon, it'll be fun".

You get out what you put in, y'know? And I always put in a lot.

Cancer

Significant cancer susceptibility gene identified.

The new Bushabarat

Die Laughing

*snicker*

A very snide article on Iraq from the Moscow Times.

...the sahibs in Bush's Iraqi Raj are now doling out U.S. tax dollars to hire the murderers of the infamous Mukhabarat and other agents of the Baathist Gestapo -- perhaps hundreds of them. The logic, if that's the word, seems to be that these bloodstained "insiders" will lead their new imperial masters to other bloodstained "insiders" responsible for bombing the UN headquarters in Baghdad -- and killing another dozen American soldiers while Little George was playing with his putts during his month-long Texas siesta.

Naturally, the Iraqi people -- even the Bush-appointed leaders of the Potemkin "Governing Council" -- aren't exactly overjoyed at seeing Saddam's goons return, flush with American money and firepower. And they're certainly not reassured by the fact that the Bushists have also reopened Saddam's most notorious prison, the dread Abu Ghraib, and are now, Mukhabarat-like, filling it with Iraqis -- men, women and children as young as 11 -- seized from their homes or plucked off the street to be held incommunicado, indefinitely, without due process, just like the old days.

...The wary reporters and Raj officials displayed the usual hilarious delicacy in coming up with reality-fogging prose to protect the tender sensibilities of the American people, who must never be told what their betters are really getting up to.

This is why I love the 'net. Because Ashcroft/Bush/Rove/DeLay/Cheney/whomever can't keep me from reading this.

*long pause*

So far.

DC 9/11

Lights, Camera, Exploitation.

A made-for-TV movie on the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York.

The upcoming Showtime feature DC 9/11: Time of Crisis is a signal advance in the instant, ongoing fictionalization of American history...DC 9/11 also marks a new stage in the American cult of personality: the actual president as fictional protagonist.

Read it. Read it right now. And when you get to the line

"One of the original aspects of Soviet cinema is its daring in depicting contemporary historical personages, even living figures," André Bazin dryly observed in his 1950 essay, "The Myth of Stalin in the Soviet Cinema." It was one of the unique characteristics of Stalin-era Soviet movies that their infallible leader was regularly portrayed, by professional impersonators, as an all-wise demiurge in suitably grandiose historical dramas. So it is with DC 9/11, where documentary footage of the collapsing WTC is punctuated by the pronouncements of [actor Timothy] Bottoms's Bush.

I want you to stop and think on what it may say about US that the closest analogy for media on our 'fearless leader' is propaganda from the Soviet Union. Which is, one might note only in passing, a now-dead empire.

Religious Monument Go Bye-Bye!


Crew removes Ten Commandments monument from Alabama court rotunda

This is a tremendous victory for the rule of law and respect for religious diversity," the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said before the monument was rolled out of the rotunda. "Perhaps Roy Moore will soon leave the bench and move into the pulpit, which he seems better suited for."

Lynn's organization was among groups suing to remove Moore's monument, which he installed without telling the other eight Supreme Court justices.

I think it's highly relevant that Moore installed this monument without any supervision, or discussion with his fellow justices. I think he installed it in the middle of the night knowing full well that if he presented his fellows with a fiat accompli, none of them would do anything about it unless an outside party requested action. Ass.

There are a lot of legacy religious icons and images hanging about in our municipal buildings, and in general, I think people ignore them and get on with our supposedly-secular system. But that's not the same as bringing in something brand-spanking-new and plopping it down and saying "You will have my religion shoved up your nose every day, so there."

You know what? Christian icons make me nervous. Churches make me nervous. I always think I'll make some heathen-revealing faux pas and get stoned to death.

It's a faith I have never seen as inclusive, regardless of the monumental efforts at conversion. There's no respect for other's beliefs in any way, because Christ is the One True Path, without question.

Well, I question all the time. I'm not a Christian, I respect other beliefs (hey, they might be right) and I resent

a: the assumption that I am Christian (I'm a white American, after all, and with that Italian last name, I might even be Catholic);
b: the look of blank horror upon finding out I'm not.

So, in general I'm willing to cut some slack about iconography on buildings and crap like that, the legacy stuff, but no, I'm not willing to cut Roy Moore any slack. He knew exactly what he was doing, and that is skated the edge of inappropriate and he said to himself, consciously or otherwise, well, my religion is Right, therefore, I can and should do this.

It's friggin' insulting, is what it is, and I'm glad the momument got dragged away.

The Kingdom of Tonga

Tonga



The coolest (not to mention the only) kingdom in the Pacific, Tonga is a smattering of islands that knows not only does royalty hang in the back of the bus, it takes the whole bus over.

Covering 800 square miles when in a good mood, Tonga snagged the hippest spot in the Pacific -- 2/3rds of the way between Hawaii and New Zealand, or more accurately, smack dab between the best surfing here, and the best surfing anywhere.

Four times the size but one-fifth the people of Washington D.C., Tonga sells stuff to Japan and the U.S. and buys different stuff from New Zealand and Fiji. Out goes the squash, coconuts, and vanilla, in comes other food and machinery.

Tongans abroad send money home, actually more than tourism nets them -- but don't let that stop you! One and a half to two pa’anga to the US dollar means you can get twice the bang for your buck, and the Kingdom of Tonga encourages you to do so. There are 169 islands, but less than 40 of them sport people. Malo e lelei! Just remember to stay loose during cyclone season (October to April) and mind the volcano on Fonuafo'ou.

The Tongans are so cool theirs is the only South Pacific country never to have been colonized by a foreign power. Yeah, baby. Every day, they sport an in-your-face flag , (red with a bold red cross on a white rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner), flying proudly in the nation's capital of Nuku'alofa.

Taking a tip as a former UK protectorate, Tongans prop their feet up and enjoy an hereditary constitutional monarchy. Straight up, no ice. With an English-inspired legal system, including a Privy Council, Cabinet and Prime Minister to keep the king relaxed, a Legislative Assembly of ministers and nobles, and a monarch-appointed Supreme Court, in sunglasses and with a great tan, they vote at the age of 21 and then some. Not to mention arguing their politics in English and Tongan.

Other countries only wish they had the natural hipness Tonga displays, so they register cruise ships out of Tonga in an attempt to make up for it. From Austria to Lebanon to the U.S., don't be surprised to see those flags flying from ships at anchor in Neiafu, Nuku'alofa, or Pangai, or tripping merrily along at sea.

Lowest point -- when Menudo broke up -- oh, sorry. Sea level. Island nation. Hello?
Highest point -- when Menudo broke up -- ahem. Kao Island 1,033 m.

Tonga is the coolest land in the tropics! Mean annual temperature in Nuku'alofa is 23.7 C, with a mean humidity of 76%, and a positively cherry Internet country code of '.to'.

Facts: The CIA World Factbook
Hipster Slang: Sidra Vitale

Voting in Massachusetts

Just came over the VotingTech mailing list:

The Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project has released a new report, Voting in Massachusetts.

This report is a comprehensive study of current voting systems in Massachussetts and recommendations for improvement.

Ewwwww

Presidential Prayer Team

Yeah. Then look at the poll results on their home page.

C'mon! Sign it!

I got friends and family who need this. From QueerDay:

Gov. Gray Davis, currently the focus of a recall election, announced Saturday he would sign legislation giving domestic partners most of the same legal rights that married couples have. The bill has passed the state Assembly and is scheduled to be considered Monday by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The domestic partners bill would, among other things, allow domestic partners to file joint state income tax returns and give them the same tax exemptions enjoyed by married couples. It would also give them the same rights as married couples regarding the acquisition, transfer and sharing of property, health insurance and pension coverage and collection of government benefits, including public assistance. Wired News

More on e-Voting

Kudos to K for the tip! Many links from Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram:

The software running on touchscreen machines in an individual voting booth at a precinct:

E-Voting Flaws Risk Voting Fraud
Analysis of an Electronic Voting System (PDF)
Bald-Faced Lies About Black Box Voting Machines and The Truth About the Rob-Georgia File

The software on the server used to store and report votes from multiple precincts:

Bigger Than Watergate!
Inside a U.S. Election Vote Counting Program
Voting Machines Blasted by Scientists
How To Rig An Election (mostly material from earlier Scoop reports)

General or related to both applications:

System Integrity Flaw Discovered at Diebold Election Systems (distribution of patches and/or test code for either system)
** (404 - might just be me, Sid)
Proprietary Voting Computers: Threat or Menace?
Could the Next US Election Be Stolen?


I'm going to comment on something that seems small, but isn't:

For a mission-critical system (say, software that's going to run on the space shuttle, or, perhaps, an electronic voting system), the audit and quality control process for developing the software is as mission-critical as the software itself. If you can't prove that you validated X, or that you developed Y under specific controls in order to keep as many feature flaws[*] and outright bugs[**] out of the software as possible, then you cannot release that software for use with any confidence.

People's lives, or the life of a government, perhaps, are depending on this software. The development process must be very well documented and adhered to. If it's not, you can't trust the application.

So, when you read about the Rob-Georgia file over at Scoop, or one of Bev Harris's earlier articles (the System Integrity Flaw article) on the use of an FTP server to distribute software patches at the last minute before an election, you have to understand that if those patches haven't been rigorously tested (and the 'Rob' article indicates otherwise) the entire touchscreen application on the machine a patch has been installed on is suddenly suspect. Because you don't *know* what the software will do, because that version of the application has not been tested, validated, or certified by any kind of oversight group. Because it's a last-minute patch, and that's the definition of 'last minute'. A developer pounded out a fix, performed the barest minimum of testing (because that's all a developer can do), and released a revised .cpp or .h file for use. "Here!" they said, wiping sweat off their brow, "this should fix it!" -- that's how it happens. Honest to god.

Was a standard development methodology followed (requirements-design-develop-test-release)? Were design and code reviews used? Where is the documentation - the audit trail - that proves it?

[*] a mistake in the design itself -- "we thought we wanted it [the code] to send an email, but now we think it should print a report."
[**] a mistake in implementing some aspect of the design -- "the code prints the same report every time regardless of data."