Beardy Guy Musings

Ever heard of Executive Order 13303? Issued by Bush on May 22, 2003 the intent of this largely unreported order is the granting of legal immunity to the oil companies which are operating in Iraq. Of course I’m not surprised that it’s gone unreported. This is not the sort of information that Bush wants the official government press, er, I mean the corporate media, to discuss. You’ll have to go elsewhere for the information. An excerpt from the article:

Under this Order, an oil company complicit in human rights violations, or one that causes environmental damage, would be immune from lawsuits. The language of the Executive Order is so broad that it might as well have been written by lawyers for Halliburton, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.

Is this how a president should support the people he sends to war? Thanks to Nurse Ratched’s Notebook for the link.

So I thought it would be great fun to add a section about projects I’m currently working on. Yes, that’s exactly what you want to read about isn’t it? I assure you, I develop only the most exciting websites and databases. Really. This morning’s project: Simply Shutters and Blinds. It’s a family business in St. Louis, Missouri started recently by my brother-in-law and my sister. I’m happy for them and hope the business succeeds. It’s the perfect thing for them to do. He’s great at what he does and now has more time at home with the family since the business is based out of their home.

The site, like all the others I design is CSS-based, standards compliant, and loads super fast even on a dial-up connection. 

Originally posted by New Kojak at the Maccentral Forums.

You are independently wealthy and wish to pay a lower tax rate than the people you hire to cut your grass and serve you lunch.

You absolutely despise overtime pay and the labor unions that demand it.

You think public universities are great, but not nearly white enough and with far too many women’s athletics programs.

You hate most of the world and really wish that was reflected in foreign policy.

After a history of tax evasion, skirting trade restrictions, and over-billing governments, you think Haliburton probably deserves only the juiciest of no-bid reconstruction contracts for the countries the US is sure to bomb the hell out of.

When Paul Wolfowitz talks about fighting preemptive wars against three or more countries at once, you can’t help but wipe the saliva off your chin with your sleeve and feel your nipples harden with excitement.

Children in poor schools are easily fooled into thinking they won’t be “left behind,” and you want to know if Bush has any more hilariously evil and sadistic jokes to pull on the nation’s impoverished.

You seriously believe George W. Bush when he says that God himself put him in charge of spreading freedom throughout the oil rich Caspian Sea basin with depleted uranium ammunitions and cluster bombs.

You think that asthma, bronchitis, acidic mercury-laden rain, radioactive waste, wars in the middle east, and global terrorism are simply fine substitutes for research into a sustainable energy future.

When faced with the choice of a bloated government, or cuts in social services, you think, “gee, can’t we have both?"

You’re thinking of starting a giant suicide cult and the credible fear of nuclear armageddon really helps with recruitment. Nuclear non-proliferation treaties do not.

You’re tremendously homophobic and want an administration that makes your fears a priority.

Listening to George W. Bush’s speeches makes you feel like a sophisticated and intelligent individual.

You’re sexually attracted to Ann Coulter and would do everything she says for just one night of savage passion with her finely tailored, Skeletor-like body, vapid of compassion, logic, and reasonable thought.

You think the Iraq War is best justified after hundreds of American deaths and thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths and that Bush is going to need until at least 2006 to find any weapons in Iraq.

Kenneth Lay really deserves to keep someone else’s parent’s retirement savings.

You really think Ralph Nader still doesn’t quite get it.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Politics

Oh yes. Batman: Dead End. If you are a Batman fan and you have broadband go check it out. There is a full screen version at 160MB and a small version at 48MB. It’s a very well done, 8 minute short film. In my opinion it is far closer to the way Batman is meant to be portrayed. Hollywood’s Gotham City was sterile and synthetic compared to Dead End which feels dark, gritty, and realistic. There’s no comical Joker here, but a very creepy lunatic. Yeah… I’d love to see this guy make a feature length film with the exact feel of this short.

Technorati Tags: Batman Dead End

But while the prince was taking the raid calmly, elsewhere in Mansur it provoked a reaction that was anything but. “We consider the Americans now as war criminals,” said Mahmoud al-Baghdadi, a 32-year-old baker. “They claim to be fighting terrorism, but they cannot defend freedom by killing disabled people."

It’s not getting better.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, War

Art. 75.

2. The following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever, whether committed by civilian or by military agents: (a) violence to the life, health, or physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular: (i) murder; (ii) torture of all kinds, whether physical or mental; (iii) corporal punishment; and (iv) mutilation;

(b) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, enforced prostitution and any form or indecent assault; (c) the taking of hostages; (d) collective punishments; and (e) threats to commit any of the foregoing acts.


The US is now violating this Article of the Geneva Conventions. US troops are taking hostages.

Atrios points this out and adds more details.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Geneva Conventions, War, War Crimes

Okay, I did not take any photos but my good friend Mat sure did. Nearly one week later and the clean up is in full swing. There are still many, many homes without electricity. What a crazy week it’s been. Mama Nature sure has a way of shaking things up when you least expect it. It’s not been easy but in the end, I love this kind of nature induced freak-out.

Technorati Tags: Memphis

Few updates for the time being. Memphis had a crazy storm Tuesday morning. Winds reported at 80 mph and massive destruction. 325,000 homes without electricity… mine included. It’s nearly impossible to get net access there right now. I’ve taken the opportunity to visit my family in St.Louis. I’m going to post from here as much as I’m able. Word in Memphis is that many folks will be without power for over a week. Yuck.

So, sorry about the sparse updates. One quick note for the geeks in the house. I’m currently online, a slow dial-up connection which my brother is sharing from his iBook. The beauty of Mac OSX is the ease of use. He dialed up, clicked share internet connection in preferences, then created a network which I joined instantly. Soooooo easy.

One last thought… impeach Bush and try him for war crimes.

Technorati Tags: Memphis

USA Today: Microsoft acknowledges a critical flaw in nearly all Windows software allows hackers to seize control of your computer over the Net, steal your data, delete your files, and eavesdrop on your email.

Heh. Now this is, er, funny. The spooky aliens of the U.S. “Department of Homeland Security have awarded a five-year, $90-million contract to Microsoft to supply all its most important desktop and server software for about 140,000 computers inside the new federal agency."

Kinda not too funny that one department of the government is awarding a $90-million dollar contract to a criminal which has been found guilty of abusing monopoly power. So much for any kind of punishment. I wonder if they get cupcakes too? “Our” government hard at work.

You gotta wonder, why not Unix, Linux, or Mac OSX? All of these are, by default, more secure. Is Windows secure? Well, Zeldman says it well: “Windows can be hacked by a squirrel monkey, thus is wide open to attack."

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Windows, Homeland Security

Zeldman interview 

Okay, for the Apple geeks and the web geeks, there’s a good interview with Zeldman at AppleMatters. For those that don’t know, Zeldman has been working to make the internet more useful by building the movement for web standards. He’s the creative director for A List Apart which is an excellent resource for website developers. He also publishes an excellent blog.

07/21/2003 
Laptop and cell phone battery care 101 

For anyone using a laptop, cell phone or any other device that uses lithium-based batteries, do yourself a favor and check out this tutorial for lithium battery care. It’s a quick read and if you follow the recommendations you could stretch the lifespan of these batteries.

George Bush would like us to forget certain inconvenient truths:

The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn’t let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region. I firmly believe the decisions we made will make America more secure and the world more peaceful.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Iraq

The situation in Iraq is apparently worsening day by day. Two more soldiers died today. One yesterday and the day before that too. It seems that it’s becoming a daily happening.

Are they serious? U.S. Plans To Enlist Iraqis in Operations: Civil Force Is Intended To Quell Resistance. Do they really think this is a good idea?

CAMP AS SALIYAH, Qatar, July 19 – U.S. military commanders plan to train and arm thousands of Iraqis to conduct military missions alongside U.S. and British troops in an effort to restore security and quell resistance by forces loyal to ousted president Saddam Hussein, the new head of U.S. military forces in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East said today.

The Iraqi army was falling apart

In the final days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, this country’s armed forces collapsed from within, with soldiers deserting in droves and commanders of even the most elite units refusing to push their last fighters toward inevitable slaughter by a technologically superior U.S. force, former Iraqi military leaders said.

Was Iraq a current and immediate threat to the US? What evidence did the Bush and Company have? Did they have any real evidence at all? Where are the WMD? Recent developments indicate that they did not have new information which would justify anything close to pre-emptive war.

It seems to me that the primary threat to US safety is the US itself. It’s president lied to wage a pre-emptive war. It’s congress, republicans and democrats, went along for the ride and offered no dissent during the conflict. Millions of people in the US and around the planet protested what amounted to a war of aggression. It’s bizarre that the “leader of the free world” so completely ignored the voices of so many millions of people who did not want war. It is increasingly clear that the US is in no way a government by the people for the people. It’s political culture and governmental structures have made it easy for Bush to do what he has. The US is the rogue nation which needs to be stopped in it’s tracks by the world community. Is this not obvious?

The US and Britain committed a crime in waging this war. What will the consequences be? I’d say fly Bush, Blair, and their cabinets into Iraq and deposit them into the streets. Let the Iraqi people deal out whatever justice they feel necessary.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, War

Geeky gadget review ahead. In December 2002 I switched from Sprint to T-Mobile and when I did I got the Motorolla 332 because it was one of their less expensive offerings but not the bottom of the line. Little did I know that while the phone functioned well in most repsects it is basically treated as a throw away. It has a “known issue”: the battery is not replaceable and does not last long so the whole phone needs to be replaced. I got a replacement phone in March and in the past week this second phone started to show the signs of battery failure. Stupid. According to this article by Jay Wrolstad:

Mobile phones typically are used for just 18 months before being replaced. That means that by 2005, about 130 million handsets – with a collective weight of some 65,000 tons – will be discarded annually in the United States alone.

Some of the toxic chemicals that will enter the waste stream: arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc.

Rather than replace this one I paid for a new one. I convinced the folks at T-Mobile to give me a similar deal on a new phone that they would to a new customer and bought the Sony Ericsson t68i. It’s a highly rated phone and I’m hoping it will last for at least a year, hopefully far more. I’ve only had the phone for 3 days but thought I’d write about it’s bluetooth goodness and how it functions in relation to a bluetooth enabled Powerbook. For a geek this is pretty neat stuff I tell ya and it’s also a nifty distraction from my life’s current difficulties ;-).

Bluetooth is a relatively new wireless technology which has been embraced by Apple in it’s OS X operating system as well as new hardware such as the 12" Powerbook. Essentially it is a way for devices such as mobile phones to talk to other devices such as computers. It has a limited range of 10-20 feet and and the transfer of data is fairly slow (700 kbps) but it does work. The first step is pairing the computer and phone together. This was a bit confusing for me but it’s not too bad. After the pairing I opened iSync. The t68i icon showed up in the iSync window and I clicked the “Sync Now” button. One minute later all of my address book entries and iCal events were stored in the t68i. Sweet. As long as bluetooth is turned on the devices will see each other and syncing is as easy as pushing a button.

The next neat t68i/Powerbook/bluetooth trick also involves the OS X address book. I opened the address book and clicked the bluetooth button in the upper left corner. When a call comes in to the phone a window pops up on the computer and tells me i’ve got a call and who’s calling. From this dialog I can answer the phone, send the call to voicemail, or reply to it with an SMS text message (which will only work with someone who has an SMS enabled phone). Neat. I can also click on any contact in my address book and dial them from the computer or send them a SMS text message.

It’s also fairly easy to send files from the computer to the phone via Bluetooth File Exchange which is a free program included with the latest version of OS X. What kind of files? New ringtones such as the theme to Indiana Jones, new background images for the phone’s display (currently a picture of my cute dog Talula), sceensavers, and themes. Basically you can alter the sounds and appearance of the phone… fairly trivial but kinda fun. You can also add pictures of people in your address book so that when they call you see their image and their name.

I have not tried this yet but it is also possible to use the phone as a modem so I can, in theory, check my email while I’m driving down the highway. “You see officer, I didn’t realize I was driving the wrong way because I was reading my email…”

Finally, on the Mac you can use the shareware program Salling Clicker or freeware program Romeo to turn the t68i into a remote control for various programs such as iTunes, Quicktime Player, or DVD player… How cool is that?

The reception on the phone is pretty good in my area. It’s definitely as good or better than the Motorolla 332. With a 3-5 bar signal it sounds as good as a landline. The battery is supposed to last 10+ days while on standby or 7+ hours of talk time. A vast improvement over the 332. I haven’t had it long enough to verify this though from what I’ve read in online reviews those estimates are accurate.

Conclusion: so far so good.

Red, white and worried
Post-war euphoria gives way to new realities as Fourth of July finds America troubled and confused

Since George W. Bush congratulated troops on their job well done in his infamous photo op aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier on May 1, American soldiers are facing an average of 13 ambushes and attacks per day. Seventy have died, 27 from enemy fire.

The long Independence Day weekend opened here with television images of jubilant Iraqis jumping on the roof of a burned-out U.S. Humvee and a threatening audiotape from Saddam Hussein. That wasn’t supposed to be happening.

The Taliban is regrouping in Afghanistan. No one here talks much about Afghanistan any more, but the job is not finished.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, War

Spent the past few days away from the keyboard. There’s so much going on in the community of which I’m a part and in my personal zonality (i just made that word up) that I thought it better to keep my thoughts on the downlow. I think at the moment I’m feeling emotionally detatched or disconnected. Some would say that’s bad, I don’t think it is. I kinda feel like I’m watching a movie. I see turmoil, emotion, missed communication, miscommunication, disrespect… everyone seems to have a role in one mess or another. I was talking to a friend yesterday and we concluded that we need a big heart circle with everyone in our community present… maybe 25 people. Personally I think folks should be naked at this heart circle. People put up too many barriers, myself included.

We freak out about relationships. Sometimes we try to own or control. I’m starting to think that the traditional model of a “romantic relationship” (or whatever you want to call it) is a failure. Actually I’ve thought about that off and on for eight years. I’m not sure that model is the best way of going about intimacy. I guess I’m not sure what I think of the idea or emotion called love. Hollywood would have us believe in soulmates but I don’t think that is real. The modern family unit, the nuclear family, is a recent fabrication with particular purposes. It works for some people but I do not accept it as the ultimate goal or model for relationships. I think this is especially true for folks who do not intend to have children.

I wonder if we ought not develop a different mentality regarding romantic or intimate relationships. Why not have something more open with more people. I’m not talking about sex, but emotional and certain kinds of physical intimacy. Perhaps pairings which are more transient and less serious. If we love and are more intimate with more people at the same time might this not be better? If our various needs are being met by a greater pool of people, might that not be more interesting and more stable? In a way that’s what our community already does (and others also) but we have weirdness with the different kinds of intimacy.

I’ll leave it at that. I think it’s possible and would be a good thing. I’m sure there are various social and psycological barriers that will need to be worked through but in the end… well, who knows?

Technorati Tags: Community

“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

– From Bush’s 2003 State of the Union Address

“It is unfortunate that this one sentence, these 16 words, remained in the State of the Union, but this in no way has any effect on the president’s larger case about Iraqi efforts to reconstitute the nuclear program, and most importantly in the bigger picture of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” –Condoleezza Rice
“The president of the United States did not go to war because of a question of whether or not Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Africa.” – national security adviser Condoleezza Rice

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Impeach Bush, War, WMD

Imagine Homer Simpson saying… “Oooohhhh, fishes”. That’s right folks, it’s aquarium update time. I’m not sure any of you have ever checked the geek on webcam link in my side bar but if you have you’ve seen the aquarium in the corner of my room. I just recently relocated that aquarium from another room and have built a new, super powered hood with 75 watts of compact fluorecent goodness streaming down. That means I can now add flourite gravel and new plants! The last time I added plants they didn’t do so well because I didn’t have the flourite and I didn’t have enough light. The aquarium is 29 gallons and the previous light set-up only had 55 watts which falls short of the recommended 2-3 watts per gallon rule for a planted tank. With 75 watts I’m now at 2.5 watts of light so the plants should flourish. I’ll be picking up the gravel in the next couple of days and will get some plants at the same place or order them via the internet. I’ll post a photo or two after I’ve made some progress, probably this weekend.

For those dying to know here’s a current estimate of what’s in the tank. Plants: Java moss, Brazillian Pennywort, and two unknowns. I think the unknowns might be Pygmy Chain Sword or something similar. Fish: 3 Gourami, Bala Shark, Red-Tailed Shark, 2 Tetra, Leopard Cory, and a Common Pleco. The pleco is getting very big, probably 2-3 times bigger than when I got it.

Steve Gilliard has yet again nailed it on the head: Time to admit the obvious: there are no WMD

Ok, let’s go through this simply:

No units have found any stores of shells, rockets or any production facilities that could be used to convert them into chemical weapons. Despite months of scouring Iraq during and after the war, despite special operators running around Iraq, not one chemical shell has been found. Not one chemical rocket has been found.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Iraq, WMD, War

You won’t see this reporting in a U.S. newspaper 

Red, white and worried Post-war euphoria gives way to new realities as Fourth of July finds America troubled and confused

Since George W. Bush congratulated troops on their job well done in his infamous photo op aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier on May 1, American soldiers are facing an average of 13 ambushes and attacks per day. Seventy have died, 27 from enemy fire. 

The long Independence Day weekend opened here with television images of jubilant Iraqis jumping on the roof of a burned-out U.S. Humvee and a threatening audiotape from Saddam Hussein. That wasn’t supposed to be happening. 

The Taliban is regrouping in Afghanistan. No one here talks much about Afghanistan any more, but the job is not finished.

07/07/2003 
Troops 

U.S. troops vandalized and looted the Iraqi airport and now we get to pay for it. Not only was it a needless waste of millions of dollars, but it’s probably not the only example of U.S. troops behaving disrespectfully. Of course disrespecting an airport and it’s contents is just the icing on the cake of U.S. aggression.

“I don’t want to detract from all the great work that’s going into getting the airport running again,” says Lieut. John Welsh, the Army civil-affairs officer charged with bringing the airport back into operation. “But you’ve got to ask, If this could have been avoided, did we shoot ourselves in the foot here?”

What was then called Saddam International Airport fell to soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division on April 3. For the next two weeks, airport workers say, soldiers sleeping in the airport’s main terminal helped themselves to items in the duty-free shop, including alcohol, cassettes, perfume, cigarettes and expensive watches. Welsh, who arrived in Iraq in late April, was so alarmed by the thievery that he rounded up a group of Iraqi airport employees to help him clean out the shop and its storage area.