What I'm reading right now (and what Anne can't wait to borrow):
It appears we're finally going to have an impartial, thorough investigation into the run-up to the Iraq war, conducted by an governmental organization with the power and motivation to do it right: the U.K. House of Commons.
That's what happens when you have a 36% approval rating.
I'm glad someone agrees with me. :)
From today's Chicago Tribune:
"The president could take the politics out of Iraq once and for all if he would simply go on television and say to the American people: 'Yes, we made mistakes. Yes, there are things that I would have done differently. But now that I'm here, I'm going to work with both Republicans and Democrats to find the most responsible way out,'" [Illinois U.S. Senator Barack] Obama said. "Imagine if he did that, how it would transform the politics of our country."
—Guest blogger Anne
First, Andy Borowitz has a hi-larious report today:
In a ploy designed to put House Democrats on the spot, Republicans in the House of Representatives today insisted upon a floor vote on a new resolution banning the drowning of kittens. While few in the House expected the kitten-drowning resolution to pass, the House GOP leadership hoped that by calling for the floor vote they might force Democrats into an embarrassing position that they would have to explain to their constituents back home during the Thanksgiving recess.
Second, more seriously, Paul Krugman (reg.req.) says it's time to leave Iraq:
The fact is that we're not going to stay in Iraq until we achieve victory, whatever that means in this context. At most, we'll stay until the American military can take no more.
Mr. Bush never asked the nation for the sacrifices - higher taxes, a bigger military and, possibly, a revived draft - that might have made a long-term commitment to Iraq possible. Instead, the war has been fought on borrowed money and borrowed time. And time is running out.
From Molly Ivins' column today:
One of our better political commentators, Tom Tomorrow, has boiled down our entire current political debate to one question: "Are they stupid, or are they lying?"
Dan Savage's Op-Ed today (reg.req.) asks a reasonable question:
If the Republicans can propose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, why can't the Democrats propose a right to privacy amendment? Making this implicit right explicit would forever end the debate about whether there is a right to privacy. And the debate over the bill would force Republicans who opposed it to explain why they don't think Americans deserve a right to privacy - which would alienate not only moderates, but also those libertarian, small-government conservatives who survive only in isolated pockets on the Eastern Seaboard and the American West.
Thanks to Angela Riccetti for this one.
The Code Project has today publicized details about Sony's DRM CreepyWare that lets Sony know what CDs you're listening to. It also hides in the bowels of your Windows operating system and can't be un-installed without downloading a buggy patch from Sony.
I'm all in favor of protecting copyrights. But this is creepy, and more offensive than the Mickey Mouse Protection Act of 1998.
Update: The L.A. Times has the story now.
Anne and I were shocked—shocked!—to learn on NPR's Morning Edition that the Food and Drug Administration ruled against allowing Plan B to be dispensed without a prescription, before the scientific panel had released its findings.
It was shocking because they actually had a scientific panel looking at the question.
Paul Krugman's column (reg.req.) in today's New York Times explains "adverse selection," and why it means that free markets don't work for health care.
I'm David Braverman, and this is my blog.
It's likely that the world already has too many blogs. I hesitated starting one
for many years, mostly because I didn't see the point. Who would want to read my
self-absorbed navel-gazing semi-literate drivel? I mean, other than my mom?
What's this about?
I'm interested in too many things to confine this to one topic, no matter how self-absorbed
it gets. So look forward to entries, at least one daily, on these topics:
- The weather. I've operated
a weather website for more than seven years. That site deals with raw data and
objective observations. The blog will add some interpretation, from travelogue to
actual meterology.
- Anne. For reasons that passeth understanding, she married me, and now she's
the most important part of my life. (She'd be first in the topics list except that
I wanted a clever acronym—which she supplied, by the way.)
- Software. I own a small software company in Evanston, Illinois, and I have some experience writing software. I see a lot of code, and since
I often get called in to projects in crisis, I see a lot of bad code. If you want
to learn something about software development, this blog might be useful to you.
- Politics. Ask almost anyone in the world to summarize my political beliefs,
and he'll probably say "moderate-left". Since I'm American, and this is
2005, that means I seem like a radical-pinko-leftie to my neighbors. I'll have more
to say about this as the blog progresses. At this writing a hair more than 1,164
days remain in the Dubya presidency, so I have plenty of time.
This is public writing, too, so I hope to maintain a standard of literacy (i.e.,
spelling, grammar, and diction) and fluidity of prose that makes you want to keep
reading.
I will not write much about my personal life. It's just not that interesting
unless you're already part of it. If you want salacious details, there are many
other blogs out there.
So why do this?
In the true spirit of blogging, I started this for a couple of totally self-absorbed
reasons:
- To pontificate on subjects about which I know little;
- To get into the habit of writing every day, which my father (an Emmy-nominated professional writer) says is a good thing;
and
- To provide some usable content for people interested in one or more of my topics.
Two things pushed me into starting this. First, I read Jakob Nielsen's article about blog usability, and second, my wife
Anne got into the
National Novel Writing Month spirit.
So, nu?
Keep reading, and
send me comments.