July 31, 2003
Prefab
: Michael Graves, the architect who made Target classy, is advertising pavilions -- prefab gazebos and buildings that remind me of the old house kits sold by Sears. Price: $25K plus installion (read: $40k). how to k300i simlock
Another jailed Internet journalist
: I got email today from the Committee to Protect Journalists: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based press freedom advocacy group is writing to request your signature on a petition we will present to Tunisian President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali, asking for the release of imprisoned Tunisian Internet journalist, Zouhair Yahyaoui.
Yahyaoui, 35, has been in jail since June 4, 2002 after authorities arrested him at the Internet cafe where he worked. The website he ran under a pseudonym, Tunezine.com (similar to a blog) carried material critical of the regime and of the Tunisian president, and on June 20, 2002, he was sentenced to 28 months in jail after being found guilty of publishing false information and using stolen communication lines to post his site. An appeals court later reduced the sentence to exactly two years. Yahyaoui's only transgression was that he dared challenge the government, something few journalists do in a police state like Tunisia which has imprisoned, assaulted and harassed critical journalists since Ben Ali came to power in 1987.
As part of CPJ's campaign, we are hoping to gain the support of his fellow Internet journalists here in the United States, (who luckily, will not suffer the same fate as Zouhair Yahyaoui for being critical of the government.) See press releases on the case here and here. how to k300i simlock
Sigh
: Don't you just hate it when your allies do something stupid, offensive, and generally indefensible? Israel's parliament passed a measure Thursday that would force Palestinians who marry Israelis to live separate lives or move out of Israel. The government said the law was necessary to prevent terror attacks, but critics called it racist. how to k300i simlock
The mullah or Rome
: Says blogger Amr Malik: The pope came out (here is wordplay for ya) against homo-sexual marriages. I don't really think much of the institution of "marriage" to begin with, but the latest announcement by the Pope seems to me the throwing down of the gauntlet....
How is this different from the Taliban? The difference is that of degrees, not of philosophical background....
Why is everyone so calm when its Cathalocism and not Islam? Damned good question. how to k300i simlock
Innocent until tried by headline
: A top TV presenter in Britain whose reputation and career were destroyed by an accusation of rape has just been cleared of the charges.
And this has led to a debate over whether those accused of rape -- and not just their accusers -- should have their identities withheld.
There's a fallacy in the logic here that leads to something we don't believe in here (well, excepting that nasty little business of suspected terrorists being arrested in secret): The law and its enforcement must be transparent to protect the accused and so the accused can face his accuser and so his justice is meted out under public scrutiny.
In the case of rape, it's not transparent because the accuser's name is withheld and that leads down this slippery slope.
Rape is no longer seen as the shame of the victim. It is a crime like any other and needs to be treated like any other. This case and Kobe Bryant's lead us there.how to k300i simlock
Hear here
: Christopher Lydon is doing an amazing job creating a soundtrack for the blogosphere, interviewing many of its leading lights [I just erased the post with all the direct links, so, to hell with it, go to the page and scroll]: Glenn Reynolds today, David Weinberger, David Sifry, Dave Winer, Doc Searls, Ed Cone, Eugene Volokh. I was just writing that post about how good it is when I saw the Winer put up the story behind it here. how to k300i simlock
Fickle finger of blame
: I'm glad I'm no longer the only one saying this: There was nothing wrong with the British government releasing the name of David Kelly. The BBC had an obligation not to reveal its source but to the government, it's fair game. Yet after the guy offed himself, gushy brains tried to make this the government's fault. It's not their fault for releasing the name. It's not their fault that he killed himself. In the Scotsman: PETER Hain raised fresh questions yesterday about the extent of the government’s role in the death of Dr David Kelly, claiming it would have been "absurd" for the name of the weapons expert to have been kept from the media....
In a startling intervention, Mr Hain, the Leader of the House and the Welsh Secretary, said that if Dr Kelly’s identity had not been revealed, then the government would have stood accused of a "cover-up".
"With the media pack in full cry, the very idea that David Kelly’s name could have been kept a secret is absurd," he told a seminar at the Institute for Public Policy Research.
"If it hadn’t emerged, doubtless the media would have spun it into a cover-up story, with endless speculation on the Today programme as to why." Exactly.
how to k300i simlock
Complain, complain, complain
: The "public editor" of the New York Times has to be the worst job in journalism. how to k300i simlock
July 30, 2003
Money makes the world go 'round
: View from Iran -- the weblog by the Iranian/American couple in Iran -- writes about money and the Islamic revolution. Money is destroying the people of Cuba. Money is destroying the people of Korea. Money is the issue in Iran: Since the revolution, I have heard, money has become more important. “Most family arguments are about money,” a friend tells me. Everyday we meet taxi drivers who were pilots, mechanics, and doctors. They cannot earn enough money at any of these jobs to support their families. “Driving a taxi pays a lot better,” we hear over and over again.
So, since the revolution, the mullahs and their families have gotten rich, while others have become poor. One woman we met who served in both the Shah’s army and the Islamic Republic’s army showed us copies of her paychecks from before and after the revolution. Before, she made a decent salary. After, it dropped to $75 a month. “Meanwhile,” she said, “the sons of the mullahs became millionaires.”
Many Iranians I meet think that the reason the regime will eventually fall apart is because they have stolen all there is to steal. “It’s amazing that with all of the money they have stolen that there is still money to build new roads and public services,” one friend says. Her brother replies, “Just think how much money there was that they still could spend some on public services.”
how to k300i simlock
Coulter, gagged
: I have the TV on behind me. Ann Coulter is on FoxNews. I don't know what makes me think this but, I swear, she sounds constipated.
: Maybe that's why she has never put a post on her weblog, which was announced with much fanfare back on June 23.
: Meanwhile, Geraldo Rivera hasn't updated his weblog since April 24. how to k300i simlock
 What a way to go
: This is the saddest New York scene I've seen in a long time: On a light pole at 23rd and 6th, some good soul has taped up bouquets of carnations with this sign:
In Loving Memory of
Betty Kapetanakas
Who Was Struck Down
On This Corner By A Garbage Truck
On July 29, 2002 Ms. Kapetanakas was a community leader.
I always said the most ignominious was I could imagine to die would be to be struck down by a speeding New York Post truck. This is worse. how to k300i simlock
  Signs of stupidity
: I'm walking through Manhattan the other day and suddenly realize that the WALK/DON'T WALK signs have all changed, practically overnight.
Who the hell made this numb-nutty decision?
We're struggling to come out of a recession. We're struggling to defend ourselves against terrorism. We're struggling to pay for a few wars. We're struggling to get people employed. We're struggling with ever-increasing taxes. We're struggling with ever-decreasing services.
And some nitwit decided we had to change WALK/DON'T WALK to HAND/WALKMAN.
Why? Because we're all illiterate (well, the way the schools are going...)? Because we want to be nice to foreigners (as if they couldn't figure out what the red letters DON'T WALK coinciding with a red traffic light meant?).
It's idiotic but worse, it reflects an utterly irresponsible stewardship of our money.
People will make fun of me saying this one more time but it's relevant in this discussion: I'm a liberal. Thus I don't object to spending tax money for good ends of a civilized society, such as education and protection and, yes, safety nets for the poorest among us.
But I do object to spending money on stupidity.
And this is far from a Republican/Democratic thing. This is a power thing. People in power spend the money because it's there and because they can. They don't act as if the money is their own. They don't say, do we really need to spend that? And they don't say, do we really need to spend that right now while suffering budget hell.
  No, they put up stupid signs for the stupid.
Now this is not entirely New York's fault -- nor will it be limited to crosswalks here. The AAA reports:
The days of the old-fashioned WALK message are numbered. In the world of traffic signals, symbols are in, words are out. Symbolic pedestrian signals have long been the staple in Europe, and can be found in many parts of this country. New York City has announced that it is joining the crowd for the same reason that new federal guidelines will soon call for symbolic signals: They're just plain easier to see and comprehend. Plus, people don't like to spell anymore. So look for a brightly lit pedestrian figure to tell you when to walk, and a red hand to tell you when to stay put. And one other thing that bugs me about this: Schoolmarmish government. I hate the government treating us like a bunch of idiots. how to k300i simlock
 : But even more idiotic is this sign that has spread across New Jersey faster than the West Nile Virus:
Keep New Jersey Moving. (signed) Our Governor.
What the F does that mean? Go faster? Rear-end the guy in front of you? Get out of town? Eat fiber?
The pinhead who decided to spend tax dollars to buy and install those signs should be strung up from any of the signs he installed. Actually, I'm sure it's a committee of pinheads. I can't imagine the meeting at which this was decided. Wasn't there just one sane soul in the room who (a) asked what the F that sign was supposed to mean (b) asked why the F the state should spend money on it, and (c) reminded everyone else in the room that the economy is still in the crapper (see rant above)?how to k300i simlock
: I'm on a rant-roll here. I've started shouting about similar issues on my hometown blog.
My city fathers and mothers (Republican, every one) just put up a new and expensive sign at the pool for no reason; we all know where the pool is.
They built a road to and from nowhere.
They want to raise parking fees.
They plan to spend a lot of money to create a town TV channel.
STOP! Spend money on my kids' education, great. Spend it on plowing the snow, fine. But don't waste it on this stupidity.how to k300i simlock
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July 29, 2003
More Iranian weblogs
: Hooman links to more Iranian blogs auf Englisch. how to k300i simlock
 Good-night, Bob
: Howard Stern told his Bob Hope story this morning: He had just arrived at NBC radio when he was told to interview Mr. Hope because Mr. Hope did not want to get up early enough for Imus to interview him. Mr. Hope had a great deal of clout at NBC. Don't mess this up, Howard was told.
Howard was doing a character that day: Out of the Closet Stern. He did the entire interview with a high-pitched lisp.
After the show, the engineer came to Howard and said that Hope's manager was on the phone and he was irate about "that lady" who had interviewed Mr. Hope. Put him through to me, Howard said. No, said the engineer, we'll get in trouble. Do it, Howard insisted.
The manager asked for the station's general manager. Howard said he was the general manager.
Hope's manager started to complain and Howard-as-GM interrupted and said he knew exactly what the problem was and that "that lady" had already been fired. Well, good, said Hope's manager.
Years later, Howard interviewed Mr. Hope again. They loved each other. And Hope loved the story of the lady he got fired.how to k300i simlock
The sun never sets...
: So England won the first international karaoke contest. England? Not Japan? No, the competition displeased Japanese karoake purists. And all of this is just an excuse to send you to one of my proudest creations, KaraokeCam.how to k300i simlock
Politics v. sex
: Lest we all get cocky, those of us living in the high-altitude, low-oxygen environs of this here Blogosphere, lest we think we're the biggest thing in blogs, lest we think we're changing the world, we should first note that according to the NITLE blog census this LiveJournal creation is the most-linked-to blog in English. An excerpt: SCREW YOU ALL, EX-BOYFRIENDS!! you all regret it within a week or two anyways...or as soon as i find someone new...regardless of if you know i have found someone new.
SCREW YOU ALL!!!
arg....
i a feeling better about the breaking up than i was two days ago...the sprks boy took care of me the first two nights, and last night i was just tired and did laundy before the trip. one night here, and then i head home for a week at the beach with my kim kim.
i have nothing majorly inspirational to say right now...nothing that will make the world seem like a better place, but every time i actually have a chance to update my beloved little lj, i like to add something. Yes, that's what life is about: boyfriends, laundry (sic), and the beach with kim kim -- not the BBC and the second amendment and Howard Dean and Paul Krugman and RSS. how to k300i simlock
Cut-and-paste-and-cut-and-paste
: Dan Gillmor found this little ap for a Mac that I want for my PC -- namely, the ability to copy multiple items into memory ("clipboards," the parlance) on one window and then move to another window and paset multiple items from memory. It is the blogger's dream: copy the url here then one quote and then another and then the author's impossible-to-remember name and then go over to your blog and paste each into a post. I want that. I used to be able to do that on my old steam-powered, coal-fired newspaper editorial systems. Surely, there's some way to do it on an all-powerful PC?
: Silly me: A commenter has me read down the page and find a Windows version.
What I meant to say was: Why the hell isn't this built into the browser or the operating system (now that they're the same)? That is, I should be able to simply hit control and c and then a number or any letter of the keyboard and save something at that address.
In the meantime, I'll try this ap.
: UPDATE: Damn, this changed my life!
All you do is (1) download and install the aforelinked ap, (2) when you cut or paste, just hit a number from 1 to 99 before you let up on the control key, (3) pay these people $20 out of eternal gratitude.
To hell with sliced bread.how to k300i simlock
500 to 1 on a dirty bomb
: Forget a futures market in terrorism, which caused such a hubub today. What they should do is allow Vegas gambling on terrorism.
Bets, anyone:
: Chance a dirty bomb will be used in the world: 500 to 1
: Chance a dirty bomb will be used in the U.S.: 1000 to 1
: Chance a biological weapon will be used in the world: 5000 to 1
: Chance of an Palestinian human bomb in next week: evenhow to k300i simlock
: David Weinberger has more.how to k300i simlock
Liberal suicide
: More on the hijacking of liberalism and its values (not to mention its pragmatic politics), first from today's New York Times: The moderate Democratic group that helped elect Bill Clinton to the White House in 1992 warned today that Democrats were headed for defeat if they presented themselves as an angry "far left" party fighting tax cuts and opposing the war in Iraq....
"It is our belief that the Democratic Party has an important choice to make: Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?" said Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, chairman of the organization. "The administration is being run by the far right. The Democratic Party is in danger of being taken over by the far left."
When a reporter asked a panel of council leaders whether Democratic woes were a result of Republican attacks or Democratic mistakes, Senator Bayh responded with a curt two-word answer that silenced the room.
"Assisted suicide," he said. And Andrew Sullivan quotes (Marxist, prowar) blogger Norman Geras on the left's failure to to support the human rights of the Iraqis just so they can hope to nya-nya the Republican administration: But what these critics of the war thereby wished for was a spectacular triumph for the regime in Baghdad, since that is what a withdrawal would have been. So much for solidarity with the victims of oppression, for commitment to democratic values and basic human rights....
That is caring more to have been right than for a decent outcome for the people of this long unfortunate country. How horribly true: In the PC era, it is better to be right than to be moral.
If you want to natter at Bush's butt, how much better it would be to natter not about the war but about doing a better job at building an economy and democracy in Iraq.
Geras delivers deeper thrusts of the knife regarding the left's reaction to September 11: The response on the part of much of it was excuse and apologia.
At best you might get some lip service paid to the events of September 11 having been, well, you know, unfortunate - the preliminary 'yes' before the soon-to-follow 'but' (or, as Christopher Hitchens has called it, 'throat-clearing'). And then you'd get all the stuff about root causes, deep grievances, the role of US foreign policy in creating these; and a subtext, or indeed text, whose meaning was America's comeuppance. This was not a discourse worthy of a democratically-committed or principled left, and the would-be defence of it by its proponents, that they were merely trying to explain and not to excuse what happened, was itself a pathetic excuse....
Why this miserable response? In a nutshell, it was a displacement of the left's most fundamental values by a misguided strategic choice, namely, opposition to the US, come what may. What's most pathetic is that one hears this even from the American left.
But this isn't the left. This is a crackpot cult that calls itself the left and the real crime is that liberals let them.
That is why I won't yet give up on the liberal label. how to k300i simlock
July 28, 2003
In her new condo
: ElizabethSpiers.comhow to k300i simlock
We are all Jewish
: Douglas Rushkoff writes: I got an email this weekend from Daniel Pearl's parents, who are publishing a book called "I am Jewish," after the Wall Street Journal reporter's last words before being executed in Pakistan.
The idea is to get a bunch of writers and thinkers to reflect on this phrase, and what it means to be Jewish. They're hoping that a diverse set of responses will allow some underlying commonality - and pride - to shine through.
It's hard to know exactly how to respond. The effort, like the Daniel Pearl Foundation, is a way of transforming a heinous moment into the catalyst for positive thought, unity, and pride. But it's hard for me to use the 'rebound effect' in this way. The "I am Jewish" that Pearl was forced to recite had nothing to do with being Jewish - except in that this word and supposed bloodline was something hated by the people who killed him. Of course, there are no Jews in Pakistan, so the hatred had to do with something else. Some idea about Israel or zionism. Most likely an imported form of anti-Semitism.
But how does one approach these words, "I am Jewish," when they come in this context? How do they become a source of pride? Is tying this senseless murder to some sort of Jewish pride like turning the destruction of the Shoah (holocaust) into a righteous sacrifice?
Why should a collection of this sort by the parents of a murdered person cause me concern? Have I grown paranoid, or is there something amiss in this transition from bloodshed to inspiring reflection? Rushkoff's concerns are well-taken and though still unformed, well-said.
I see the challenge differently -- in no small measure because I am not Jewish. I tried to write about this in a sermon I gave last month, aimed at the audience of a small Congregational church.
I have always wondered why Christian churches reject the rituals and thus heritage of our Jewish ancestry (and though I've never heard the reason why, of course, I fear one reason: anti-Semitism).
There is every good reason for us -- Christians and Muslims -- to celebrate Passover, for example, and to read Kaddish when we mourn (which I did in the sermon I gave on the first anniversary of 9.11). We should do these things because sharing these rituals will remind us of our common religious heritage; it will remind us that we are all children of God, descended of Abraham; it will build a bridge from worship to worship and people to people.
We are all Jewish.
I don't mean this in a post-9.11-We-are-all-Americans way; it's not just about solidarity.
No, I mean this in a more fundamental, connected, intimate way; it's harder to kill your own.
We are all Jewish.
how to k300i simlock
I am a proud centro-sensible-prowar-unpc-lib
: Both Roger L. Simon and Michael J. Totten (damn, I feel so classless, even naked not using a middle initial) answer my challenge -- well, actually, my bit of sniveling beggging -- that they not abandon the liberal label and instead retake and reform it.
Totten says in the comments: I've been tempted to just start calling myself a centrist, but then you have to go and write stuff like this, so I just don't know.
The whole labelling this is ridiculous, but I don't want "liberal" to become synonomous with pacifism just yet. Or ever, for that matter. But at some point, and I don't know where that point is, my differences with the peacenik crowd may just become too much for me.
And there's nothing wrong with just being an independent centrist. And Simon objects more to being called sensible than being called liberal: "I’m a rebel, dammit! Didn’t you read my clippings back in 1973? (Anyway, I was a rebel then.)" Yeah, I know how you feel, Roger. It's just part of growing up or old. I didn't become Republican (as my father prayerfully predicted). But I did become sensible. And the beard turned gray. And hair started growing in strange places. And knees rattle. But anyway...
Roger makes two bigger points, if I summarize them faithfully (go read and judge for yourself): First, he says the word "liberal" is a stalking horse for the Democratic party and the Democratic party isn't necessarily worth the effort --- and neither is the Republican: It is time, especially for us in the blogosphere, to criticize the system in its entirety and see if there is a possible replacement....
What I want is system consistent with the age of high-speed information that we are now in. Do I know what that is? No. But I do know that our knowledge moves at warp speed, that we can be informed on most issues within minutes (something that once took us weeks or months—and then we could never check it as we can now) and this has tremendous ramifications (and positive potential) for democracy. Among other things, it could make the failure of McCain-Feingold and the continued Inside-the-Beltway influence peddling irrelevant—or at least substantially weaken its power—without the involvement of the legislature or the courts. Whole new arrangements could occur because money (or substantial money) is not involved. This has been a theme that Roger has been whistling for sometime now and I think I'm starting to get it: Information empowers and that power is now in our hands. We, the people, have new tools -- the Internet and weblogs -- to spread information and opinion and influence. We should use them. That's downright visionary.
So I agree with Michael that I, too, am essentially a centrist -- but a centrist who still holds onto some ideals of liberalism (ideals that have, sadly, been rejected by liberals of late -- ideals that would lead us to defend the human rights of the Iraqi people, for example).
And I agree with Roger that these new tools gives us the power that a few printing presses and sharp knives gave to French revolutionaries once upon a time. We need to take this advise to heart and see whether we are yet taking full advantage of the power we have. I think we are not (more on that later).
Yet I still worry in a whiny way that by trying to stand apart from the parties and process we are abdicating the power and influence we sensible liberals should have; we are ceding the party and the process to the fringe. And that leaves us out of power; we become todays' equivalent of a John Anderson voter, a Ross Perot voter, or a Ralph Nader voter, or a Florida voter; we don't count.
Is liberalism lost? I hope not -- not yet, or at least not without a fight. how to k300i simlock
The Palestinian solution
: Michael J. Totten has a breathtaking column in Tech Central Station arguing that we must be careful, very careful not to reward terrorism: It is time to ask ourselves honestly: Is it possible to support a Palestinian state without encouraging terrorists elsewhere?
There are many stateless Muslims; the Chechens in Russia, the Kurds in the Middle East, the Uighurs in Eastern China, and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Opinion leaders tsk-tsk the Russians, but no one holds demonstrations for the liberation of Chechnya. The Kurds are good people and they deserve their own state, but nearly everyone agrees it would only make trouble. Few even know the Uighurs exist. Meanwhile, as the Palestinians continue the jihad, the number of their supporters isn't declining. It's rising. The lesson for extremists is clear: the squeaky wheel gets greased.
Lest the Arab-Israeli conflict grind on indefinitely, Palestinians eventually need their own state. But we need to find a way to get them that state while discouraging bad actors elsewhere....
The trouble with the road map isn't that Palestinians won't cooperate. The problem is there's no punishment if they don't....
Before the intifada was launched in 2000, a Palestinian state was not a guaranteed outcome but an option to be negotiated. George W. Bush is the first American president to use the words "Palestinian" and "state" in the same sentence. Bill Clinton never went so far. Bush didn't do this because the Palestinians are suddenly more deserving of a homeland. He did so because they violently demanded it.
It's an object lesson for would-be terrorists elsewhere. Terror precipitates a crisis, generates public sympathy, and produces results on a much faster schedule.... Totten offers a different and decisive road map: "First, defeat terrorism. Second, nurture democracy. Third, negotiate a settlement." Worth the read. how to k300i simlock
Tehran's left bank
: Hooman has an interesting post saying that Iran is the France of the Middle East (and he knows you'll read into that what you please). He lists the says and here's the one that amused me: 8- Both countries make "artistic" movies that only the other one can make a head or tail of. That may explain why Iranian movies are so successful in the Cannes film festival. how to k300i simlock
Objectivity schmobjectivity
: Robert L. Bartley, editor emeritus of the Wall Street Journal, writes today that objectivity in journalism is dead. But he writes about it from the wrong perspective, that of the journalists and their institutions, saying that objectivity is hard to maintain.
I look at it from the audience's perspective instead. I've been saying in this space for sometime the success of both FoxNews and weblogs indicate that the audience expects opinion -- and straightforward honesty about that opinion.how to k300i simlock
: Hylton Jolliffe of Corante also sends us to this article, Rethinking Objectivity.
: See also Bradford Pilcher. how to k300i simlock
July 27, 2003
Sex and the city
: The ladies are all getting older and more miserable. Welcome to your midlife crises, ladies.how to k300i simlock
What it's about
: Where's my elephant, a weblog by an expat Iranian and soon-to-be Harvard law student, writes to remind us about the victims of Iran's Islamic republic: this morning, as i looked at my usual sites, i came across this article (in persian), commemorating the anniversary of the mass executions which took place in iranian prisons in 1988, a time when the iranian regime decided to empty the prisons of all their political opponents.
i looked through the partially-compiled list (in english) of all of all of those executed and i recognized quite a few names....
i saw the name of a distant relative who had been arrested on no real charges and kept in prison idefinitely. one random day, his father was called by the prison authorities and told: "come here and pick up your son. he's now free." the father went to the prison excitedly only to be greeted with his son's corpse.
i saw the names of family friends who had been executed. husband and pregnant wife.
and finally, with real dread, i saw my uncle's name. he was arrested in 1980, at the age of 20. his "crime" was selling political newspapers and attending some protests....
they called my grandmother's house one day from the prison. they asked my grandmother if she was the mother of the prisoner. then they coldly told her to come and pick up my uncle's clothes and his watch.
to this day we don't know how he was killed or where his body is buried.
sometimes people tell me that it is time to move on. to forgive. to focus on reform.
and i can't help but laugh at the absurdity of that notion.
will the so-called 'reformists', many of whom were directly complicit in these murders and others who deny they occurred, answer to my grandmother when she asks about what was done to her son?
how can she forgive?
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America
: Blue Bird Escape -- the teen who just a week ago returned to America from a visit to her native Iran -- gains more perspective and writes: American life
Saturday mornings people go to the mall and spend their morning and part of their afternoon shopping.
The road is clear. Not too many cars. Not too much traffic. It is a joy to drive.
At home music can play loudly.
At the movies people quiet down when the film starts.
People are not allowed to smoke in public places.
Choosing a comfortable outfit is not a problem.
Writing is not a crime.
Speaking is not wrong.
Dreaming is allowed.
Success exists.
Freedom is a word.
Love is a reality. how to k300i simlock
Swan song
: Brian Linse got a preview of Warren Zevon's album and he loves it.how to k300i simlock
Clueless
: Gawd, Larry Lessig drives me nuts. He's so obsessively one-note about intellectual property. And he's so wrong.
He sends his blog readers to a New York Times story by Jake Tapper and then he can't help adding this: (BTW: this is a NY Times piece, which means you need to be registered to read it and eventually you’ll have to pay to read it. There’s something rotten in that.) And just what is rotten about that, huh? The New York Times paid money -- a good deal of money -- to have Tapper write that story and more money to edit it and more money to publish it. The New York Times bought and owns rights to that story and has the full privilege to charge for it; you have no right to get it for free. The fact that the Times is giving it to you for free -- for the mere price of registration -- is a gift and you look at that horse in the mouth.
But what's good for the goose is good for the gander, professor: Your knowledge should be mine. If you paid for it, tough; if you got scholarships, then that's all the more reason you should share it. You should teach for free. Your books should be free. You should come and give lectures and charge nothing. If you practice law, you should do it for free because, hey, we all own the law and the knowledge about it, eh? Anything else would be, well, rotten, wouldn't it? how to k300i simlock
Defending a nation
: It's amazing that anyone should feel the need to defend a nation's "basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism, and to defend its borders from hostile enemies."
But Alan Dershowitz wrote a book to defend these rights of Israel and a sneak preview of the beginning of the book is in the new edition of Jewsweek.com.how to k300i simlock
Watchyoucallinme?
: Roger L. Simon is bristling at being called a liberal (because he's trying to erase such definitions from the dictionary). Actually, I wish he'd wear the label with pride and help redefine what it means along with other sensiblelibs (such as yours truly, of course). Without the sensible ilk of Simon and Michael J. Totten calling ourselves liberal, then all we'll find in the dictionary under the word is this. how to k300i simlock
Cover-ups never end
: So Nixon flunkie Jeb Stuart Magruder says -- finally -- that Richard Nixon ordered the Watergate break-in.
Why didn't he say it before? "Nobody ever asked me . . . about that."
Once a slimy operative, always a slimy operative.how to k300i simlock
: I met Magruder after he got out of jail. He was attending Princeton Theological Seminary and working as a student minister in Princeton's Presbyterian church, where my sister was associate pastor. She had a party one night and invited me and there I met Magruder. We chatted about this and that. And then he asked what I did for a living.
I write for People magazine, I told him.
It was as if he had just learned that I had anthrax, bad breath, body odor, and a loaded pistol. I've never seen anyone back away from me so fast and with such fear in his eyes.how to k300i simlock
: I've often quoted a story Magruder told in Princeton about the moral relativism of working in the Nixon White House. I tell this story whenever someone I'm working with admits that something's not right but justifies it by saying that at least they saved the situation from being even worse.
Magruder said that working at the White House he'd spend all day shooting down crazy scheme after crazy scheme from the likes of Howard Hunt. He'd get home at night, put up his feet, and pat himself on the back: "I killed nine crazy Hunt schemes today."
The only problem was, the tenth crazy Hunt scheme was Watergate.how to k300i simlock
Do as I say, not as I do
: A man responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat now renounces his act and says it's wrong to kill the rest of us: ...a prison inmate has stirred the Islamic world by citing the Quran and the Sunna (the sayings and doings of the prophet Mohammed) to argue that "killing Jews, Christians and Americans is wrong."
Egypt, an important player in several Middle Eastern and African peace processes, is considering releasing from prison Karam Zohdi, 50, a key figure in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat....
Zohdi says that killing Anwar Sadat and the policeman who died defending him was a "grave sin." how to k300i simlock
July 26, 2003
Blogathon
: Haven't had time to post today; been busy with chores. But I did send a post to Michele for Blogathaon.how to k300i simlock
July 25, 2003
Release the 28 pages!
: Well, it sounds as if even the Saudis agree that we should release the 28 pages of the 9/11 report about them: Saudi Arabia has angrily rejected US allegations that the kingdom may have had a hand in the September 11 terror attacks.
The Saudi Ambassador to the United States called the claims, contained in a long-awaited Congressional report on the attacks, "blatantly false".
Prince Bandar bin Sultan suggested in a statement released after the report was made public yesterday that sections of the document dealing with possible Saudi involvement had been blacked out because they could not be substantiated.
The White House has refused to declassify 28 pages of the report - a decision that drew sharp rebukes from numerous members of Congress, who called on the White House to allow the information to be made public.
The Ambassador said: "In a 900-page report, 28 blanked-out pages are being used by some to malign our country and our people.
"Rumours, innuendos and untruths have become, when it comes to the kingdom, the order of the day."...
"Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages." So let's forget the rumors, innuendos, and untruths and release the 28 pages!
And by the way, Mr. Saudi, if you haven't seen the 28 pages, how do you know they're not true?
how to k300i simlock
Bruuuuuuuce Blooooooog
: We've started another blog: the Bruce Blog in honor of the Boss' tour.
Vini Lopez, former Bruce band member who sat in the other night, even emailed our blog with his first-person account.
As I said in my ill-fated story about weblogs, I'm very proud of the creativity coming from all quarters of my company regarding blogs. Cleveland.com will have a blog by a Cleveland Indians player starting any second. As I've mentioned often, my colleague Joe Territo is turning his blog into a forum for email interviews of National Interest.We blog Bourbon Street. And, of course, there's Beach Blog.how to k300i simlock
More fun with editors
: James Taranto pointed to this bit of creative editing (it should be called creative writing) from Reuters. The reporter Deanna Wrenn's original lead: In this small county seat with just 995 residents, the girl everyone calls Jessi is a true heroine — even if reports vary about Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her ordeal in Iraq. Reuters' "edited" lead: Jessica Lynch, the wounded Army private whose ordeal in Iraq was hyped into a media fiction of U.S. heroism, was set for an emotional homecoming on Tuesday in a rural West Virginia community bristling with flags, yellow ribbons and TV news trucks. : Meanwhile, a little more reaction to my tale of ham-handed, agenda-injecting, sleep-inducing, writer-enraging editing from Nieman Reports. JD Lasica, who gave my name to Nieman and probably regrets it, says that I say "the only good editor is no editor." Actually, being an editor, that's not what I hold. A good editor helps the writer say what the writer wants to say better; a good editor acts in place of the reader to ask the questions a reader would ask; a good editor also knows what to shut the f up.
And Sheila Lennon of the Projo also defends editors but acknowledges that they should ask questions first, rewrite later. She says she's rewriting herself now in anticipation of the edit. That's a mistake, Sheila. You write for a large audience every day. Trust your own judgment. Use your own voice. That's what a good editor should want.
My biggest gripe with the questionable editor in question is not so much that she butchered the prose (though, of course, I will gripe about that) but that she inserted her own views and own agenda under my name (just as someone at Reuters did to poor Ms. Wrenn); that is the lowest sin. It not only affects my credibility, then, but also the credibility of the publication or organization. That's why I killed the story: I did not want to imagine what else would be published in Nieman Reports and did not want to be associated with it. how to k300i simlock
 : My favorite story of editor ego: When I worked at People magazine, a "top editor" who shall remain nameless, edited into a story that Abe (Barney Miller, Fish) Vigoda was dead. Now Time Inc. publications have an elaborate system of editing and fixing what editors do. The reporter reports and sends in reams of material. A writer in New York, one step removed from the story, writes it. A senior editor edits it and probably rewrites it. Then a top editor edits it and often rewrites it. Then the managing editor edits it and even occasionally rewrites it. Then even the corporate editors upstairs edit it and demand rewrites. Then, at the end, the poor and poorly paid researcher tries to bring it all back to the facts. That's what the researcher tried to do in this case, insisting in every version that Abe was alive. The top editor re-inserted the words "the late" in front of poor Abe's name.
Abe was shocked to read of his death.
He took out an ad in Variety showing himself in a coffin, reading People.
And this has become a bit of cultural lore.
You can even go to a website to make sure that Abe is alive.how to k300i simlock
RIP
: Britain reacted the pictures of the dead Saddam sons differently. The Mirror plastered the corpses onto the front page (and evil the Mirror admitted that they were evil). Yesterday, for awhile, the Guardian had them on the home page.
Here in the U.S., CNN and my own sites put them behind a linked that warned of the graphic nature: see them if you wish.
But leave it to The Sun to have the last laugh. Their headline: "Rest in pieces"
: Update: Now the U.S. says it will allow reporters to videotape the bodies just to absolutely completely utterly fully once and for all without a shred of doubt in this universe or the next convince skeptical Iraqis that the SOBs are dead.
Next, the bodies will be shipped to Madame Tussaud's so they can become a New York tourist attraction.
: Update: And there's this from the Telegraph: The brothers' bodies will be kept at the morgue until a member of their family comes to claim them. Saddam calling. how to k300i simlock
Men's room
: Pedram finds this gem of a comment from an Iranian reader on the Farsi section of the BBC's web site: "Our country is free and democratic and people enjoy complete social freedoms. The internet is a scientific phenomena and if used properly, it is a noble element. This regime is not against science. Mr. Khamenei himself owns several sites. The important factor is how it is used. In my opinion, if chat rooms are divided into separate men and ladies rooms it will be better and could prevent spread of moral corruption." how to k300i simlock
July 24, 2003
Import
: Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, gave a wise keynote at the media confab (below), which I won't do the disservice of summarizing in a paragraph post.
He also acknowledged discussion about starting an American Guardian.
He said they were inspired by the two million Americans a month who read The Guardian online. He said it's still just a dream and they're not even sure whether it would be daily, weekly, or monthly. how to k300i simlock
The other war
: Forgot to mention earlier that Tom Rogers, former head of Primedia, told me that he was asked by Mayor Bloomberg to mediate the fight between the Yankees' YES network and Cablevision. Now that's a war.
(I side with Cablevision on this one. They don't want to give it to everybody and charge everybody. I don't watch baseball and so I don't want to pay a penny for the channel.)how to k300i simlock
Alterman agonistes
: So I ran into Eric Alterman at the New York Mag/Guardian media/war confab (overblogged, below).
I thought it was a friendly how-do-you-do during the coffee break: Good to see you, Eric.
Eric thought otherwise and took out after me. He said he almost responded to my "attack" on him (here and here) regarding his stance on attacks on Jews in France.
To recap: He said that the attacks were coming from Muslim immigrants angered by the occupation of Palestine. I said that by seeing a motive other than hate he is ascribing a justification to anti-Semitism and that is a moral mistake.
We went back and forth for a few minutes. He said he was trying to learn and understand the reasons behind these acts. I said he was giving a hate crime credit for rationality it does not deserve. He made some metaphor about learning the behavior of mosquitoes so he can avoid them. I tried to make a joke that he just saw me as a pest now. He was not to be amused, not to be trifled with.
A TV crew was getting ready to interview him and had its camera turned pointed in our direction. Alterman pushed the microphone away and snapped, "I'm not talking to you."
He turned to me and said, "Your attack is unfair." Then je walked away.
I want to emphasize that we had a perfectly friendly conversation later. That's not my point.
What's interesting here is what happens when bloggers meet after having a disagreement onine. So we had a public disagreement. Happens. But that apparently festered in private. Well, I say the better thing to do is to continue the discussion in public until you work it out (unlikely) or tire out. I wish Eric had responded, in public and in kind; that's oddly easier to deal with than a private spat.
You talk to my blog, you talk to me. Talk to me, talk to my blog.how to k300i simlock
Media last
: Just a few last notes from the media confab. how to k300i simlock
: Adrian Van Klaveren, head of newsgathering for the BBC, says regarding the Kelly affair, "The BBC is confident that our position will be vindicated." Surprise, surprise. He has the sputtering demeanor of an embattled Washington aide.how to k300i simlock
: There a dust-up over a BBC film about the rescue of Jessica Lynch. The BBC reporter, John Kampfner, says he stands by the report. Members of the audience take him to task.how to k300i simlock
: The BBC is acting like the cocky powerful clique in its last days in power but unaware that the click is ticking.how to k300i simlock
: Sidney Blumenthal insists that many members of the Bush White House, partidularly Chaney, are secretly rooting for Tony Blair to be kicked out. how to k300i simlock
: Eric Alterman asks an irksome question at the end: "We can all agree that truth is very important. But the American people don't care about truth. They care more about results." A lady in the audience gashs about shouts: "Not true." Amen, lady. If your own audience doesn't care about the truth, why write for them, Eric. That's essentially insulting to the entire damned nation. And it's wrong.how to k300i simlock
Media more
: More bits from the media and war confab:how to k300i simlock
: Discussion of embed fashion: The BBC's Gavin Hewitt said that apart from wearing the chemical suit, when ordered, he made sure to wear civvies.
"The truth is, some of the embeds really enjoyed the dressing up," said ABC's John Donovan.
Blogger Eric Alterman calls out from the audience: "So did the president."how to k300i simlock
: Michael Wolff tries, as usual, to see the sinister intent of the military in providing khakis.
ABC's LeRoy Sievers: "John was a White House correspondent. He dressed like the president: Dark suit, white shirt. Nobody said, 'John is trying to act like the President.'"how to k300i simlock
: Jonathan Foreman of the NY Post says the Iraqis did not need embedded reporters because the BBC's Andrew Gilligan (who said the Americans were not in Baghad when they were) "was doing the job for them."how to k300i simlock
: Wolff tries to say that embedded reporters weren't experienced at war. The reporters jumped down his throat. LeRoy Sievers of ABC said the reporters had more experience in war than the soldiers.how to k300i simlock
: Foreman complains that reporters were getting excited and calling one shot a "heavy bombardment." Sievers says "that happens every day on many stoies."how to k300i simlock
: Rick Leventhal of FoxNews: "I would never go unilateral (that is, not embedded) in a war. You guys are nuts."
how to k300i simlock
: James Meek of the Guardian says the problem with the embed program was that no one was embedded with the Iraqis and thus, we did not know where our bullets and bombs landed. He makes an analogy to a boxing match and portrays the Iraqis as a little guy being beaten by a big guy. how to k300i simlock
Meek says that when he arrived over the border in Safra, he found people who were happy to see the Americans; he saw looting; he saw no administrative structure. He was not embedded. John Donovan of ABC was not embedded and he had a different perspective, saying the Iraqis are uniformly pissed off. He says his producers were asking for him to find pictures of people cheering. So which story was the right story? how to k300i simlock
Donovan says it was crazy dangerous, more than he knoew.how to k300i simlock
He says the Iraqis wouldn't believe us that we were neutral. "And, in fact, we weren't neutral." how to k300i simlock
Well, Mr. Donovan, then were you doing your job?how to k300i simlock
: Gavin Hewitt of the BBC says being embedded let him get more stories than he could have otherwise: He could show the sand storms that delayed the invasion; he showed images of dead Iraqis on the road into Baghdad. He said he self-censored images of gruesome injury. "I wondered whether we hadn't shown enough of the reality of the war."how to k300i simlock
: Wolff tries to say that embedded reporters weren't experienced at war. The reporters jumped down his throat. LeRoy Sievers of ABC said the reporters had more experience in war than the soldiers.how to k300i simlock
: Foreman complains that reporters were getting excited and calling one shot a "heavy bombardment." Sievers says "that happens every day on many stoies."how to k300i simlock
: Wolff tries to get it all ways. He complains that the reporters are uninformed. They say they're informed -- in part by attending bootcamps set up by the military and then Wolff complains that the military was setting up coverage. how to k300i simlock
: The Guardian's Meek said when he got back, "I felt as if he had missed the war because I had not seen it on TV."how to k300i simlock
: Sievers says in Vietnam, we all knew soldiers in the drafted army. Now, there is more "separation" from soldiers and part of the story was to close that gap.how to k300i simlock
: Donovan says media doesn't show how awful war is. Again, Mr. Donovan, and why not? "The principle isn't we're trying to be pro-American," he says. "It fits more oddly into standards and practices. We don't show naked breasts and we don't show this (corpses) because we think you can't take it." Sievers add: "If we don't, then war is too easy."how to k300i simlock
: You leave an hour with these people realizing that they are a smart bunch who care and work hard to get the story to you.how to k300i simlock
It's all our fault
: Kaveh points us to a provocative Usenet post on Iranians blaming America written by an Iranian expat in America answering an Iranian complaining about us: Let me ask you something. . .have you bothered looking into the collective soul of Iranians as a people?
Is it the United States who is responsible for Tehran's 8 million
drivers who can't seem to extend common courtesy to each other respect
right of way driving in between lanes, or stop at a red lights?...
Is it the United States fault that Iranian women who are beaten by
their husbands and ask for a divorce have to leave their child with
the bastard who was beating them?! And speaking of that do you know
how many Iranian men are abusive to their wives?
Were those Americans who were riding motor cycles in the streets last
month beating students with chains?...
People like you don't want to address what is wrong with us Iranians
as a nation. You want to say it's all America's fault or it's all the
Arabs fault. . .I have news for you: Iranians have been screwing other
Iranians longer than any other nation has screwed Iran. Five Hundred
years after there were no more Arabs ruling Iran, Iranians were
screwing their fellow countrymen over.
In the last 100 years Iranians screwed Iranians.
I know. . .I know. . .your going to say that the Mossadegh Coup was
all America's fault. . .well let me tell you, America sent a single
American (Kermit Roosevelt. . .grandson of the former president) to
Iran with a bag filled with 1 million dollars to start that Coup, but
the people who accepted the money, and ran in the streets and beat
Mossadegh's people were Iranian not Americans. If you came to
downtown New York with a truck full of money (a billion), and asked
people to betray America, you would get your ass beat by the first
poor Puerto Rican from the Bronx, but a million dollars was enough for
Iranians to sell their own country down the drain.
Who is the monster?. . .the American who showed up with a million or
the Iranians who accepted the money and changed sides at the drop of a
hat?!
Iranians are the biggest roadblock to the welfare of fellow Iranians
in Iran. Not Arabs, not Americans not Aliens from Mars!... how to k300i simlock
Media at war
: A few notes from the start of the NY Mag/Guardian media/war confab:how to k300i simlock
: Gossip first: I introduce James Truman of Conde Nast to Nick Denton of Gawker.
"We stalk you," Nick says.
"Well, stop," James said.
A moment of British irony.how to k300i simlock
: The session starts with an agenda-dripping intro from a provost of the New School: "I have never been more concern and indeed angry about where the republic is headed today." That set the course.how to k300i simlock
: Michael Wolff, the media columnist from New York, keeps trying to put the media right in the middle of the war, to make the media the story. That is, after all, the meat of a media critic.
"Was the war staged for our benefit?" he asks. "To what extend is war a staged event, a media event?"
That could be cosmic question: Is war the message?
But that's not where he headed. He was counting column-inches.how to k300i simlock
: Paul Steiger, ME of the Wall Street Journal, was impressively level-headed and smart about all this.
"Sometimes we think over-much that it's about us," he said. "There is a tendance to overplay our role."how to k300i simlock
: Much discussion of the Palestine Hotel shelling with an undercurrant -- never said aloud -- that journalists were targeted.
David Chater, a correspondent for SkyNews, gave this balance. He said that day, he saw the fiercest firefight he'd ever seen. "It's extaordinary," he said, "that they showed such restraint... I think it's understandable that this happened."
Much discussion also of the bombing of the Al-Jazeera offices that day, which Chater said was a bigger story.
Al-Jazeera D.C. correspondent Hafez Al-Mirazi said he did believe that the offices were targeted -- not for killing but to get them off the air. He said it's not just chance that they were hit. "Some people in our office are saying we should start buying lottery tickets if the odds are that much in our favor."how to k300i simlock
: Reuters Middle East editor Barry Moody argues: "If there hand't been journalists in Baghdad the possibility of civilian casualties would have been much higher."
What a load. He's saying that if there were not media witnesses, the U.S. would have gone on a killing spree. Crap.how to k300i simlock
: Chris Albritton, who raised money to go to Iraq for his blog, Back to Iraq, was there.how to k300i simlock
: Tom Rogers, former head of Primedia, owner of New York, came to the conference. He was ousted in a big change of strategy by KKR (that is: they want to sell off much of the empire). He showed loyalty to his former employees to come.how to k300i simlock
Bleu
: I don't speak French worth a damn, but I can tell from this lead in le Monde under the headline "New York City Blues" that there'll be fun in this story (over to you, multilinqualists): "Crise financière et crise de confiance, New York n'a toujours pas surmonté le 11 septembre 2001. La ville a le blues."
: Treacher forwards a link to an imperfect Google translation of the story.
: And let's commission a story called Paris Blues. The world knows that your leader is a twit. The richest economy on earth has stopped buying your wine (damn, I like Australian wine). Our tourists have stopped coming to spend our money there. Your stupid tower is on fire. You are playing host to anti-semitic attacks.... Yeah, Paris is is whistling a happy tune itself.how to k300i simlock
Quagmire this
: Andrew Sullivan has a nice bit of rebuttal from Wolfowitz re progress in Iraq.how to k300i simlock
Editors
: Continuing on my snit fit about the editing job I got from Nieman Reports...
: Dave Winer says we don't need no stinking editors.
: Dan Gillmor says we are our own editors.
: Tim Porter says bad editors are everywhere.
: Ed Cone says we can all stand a good edit.
: Cyberwriter says "recht hat er."
: Mike says in the comments: "Oh fine, now you've burned your bridges and you've lost out on the audience of 500 who read the Nieman Report and will have to fall back on the 10,000 who read your blog. Smart move, Mr. Blogger-guy."how to k300i simlock
: An important note: Only once before in my (long) career have I seen an editor try to insert her or her own agenda into a piece I have written. The prior case (a story I have told here before): The editor in chief of Time Inc. tried to turn my positive review of a miniseries about Alger Hiss into a negative review so he could defend his mentor, Whitaker Chambers. I put my career on the line over that and threatened to resign; my editor put her career on the line backing me; we won. The top guy admitted that he had gone too far.
That's important to note because American journalism is not filled with editors rewriting and perverting the writing of reporters (as, I think, some assume happens habitually under the reign of powerful editors like Howell Raines). If that happened, the writers would revolt (their principles and egos are that strong). how to k300i simlock
: David Galbraith fantatizes: I have this fantastic image of a drab, librarian-type cowering behind a stack of old books, dust flying, as a 6' 4" Jarvis in a don't give a damn suit slams his original manuscript on the top of the pile. Weblogs allow you to do that - but without getting dust on your jacket. : Did somebody at the wall street journal edit den beste? He wrote fewer than 200,000 words! how to k300i simlock
: Canadians are Smug says: All I can think is, what an excellent time to be a young journalist. The ground is shifting beneath the feet of journalism, and such earthquakes are an excellent time to move forward while the old guard nonchalantly reports "Ground seen shaking". All the ridiculous gargoyles adorning journalism's ivory tower are going to fall off. how to k300i simlock
Springer's wisdom
: Blogging colleague Joe Territo -- who's cleverly turned his blog into a forum for email interviews with the notable -- has Jerry Springer today, talking about youth and violence: A. I think blaming the entertainment industry for violence among our youth is absurd. If violent movies and television shows were the problem, you'd expect to find the same level of violence in Canada that you do in America, since Canadians mostly watch the same shows and movies that we do. In fact, of course, Canada has a violence rate many times smaller than ours. And the truth is that the vast majority of kids in this country are perfectly capable of distinguishing between make-believe violence and real life. Sure, there may be a few souls who are motivated to violence by what they see on TV or in the movies, just as there is a small percentage of adults who can't drink liquor responsibly and become alcoholics. But when we tried banning alcohol, Prohibition wasn't exactly a ringing success. how to k300i simlock
Confab
: I'll be at the NY Mag/Guardian media confab today, blogging when possible. how to k300i simlock
July 23, 2003
Why that hate us? Because they're incredibly stupid
: A poll in Germany reports: Almost one in three Germans below the age of 30 believes the U.S. government may have sponsored the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, according to a poll published on Wednesday
And about 20 percent of Germans in all age groups hold this view, a survey of 1,000 people conducted for the weekly Die Zeit said. Heiko Hebig (who finds this via the Agonist via Die Zeit) wonders what I'll say about this. What can a sane person say: They're nuts. Is the fault of German media that they're so ill-informed? Is it the fault of German politicians that anti-American bigotry has reached such depths of idiocy? Is it the fault of German education that a third of the next generation is just so stupid? how to k300i simlock
Shocking stupidity
: Mayor Bloomberg admitted that various machers have not been going through the metal detector at City Hall and that's how the shooter got in with a gun. Shocking. Stupid. Dangerous. Incredible. Bloomberg makes a big deal that now he and other officials will all go through. After 9/11 and all the security worries in New York, they should have been setting this example ages ago. When Dan White went into San Francisco's City Hall to murder George Moscone and Harvey Milk, he had to sneak in through a basement window. how to k300i simlock
New York attack
: A gunman opened fire in New York's City Hall today, apparently shooting two councilmen, killing one.... UPDATE: Both victims are now dead....UPDATE: Now they say the second dead person was the assailant. Why the hell did it take them so long to get the news straight? New York feared an assassin was out on the streets when he was dead.how to k300i simlock
: I was a columnist in San Francisco when Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered by Supervisor Dan White.
George and Harvey were both friends.
It was a terrible time for the city. More than 900 had died in Jonestown. Now City Hall ran with blood. And soon, thousands and thousands would die of AIDS. Then let's not forget the lies and busted dreams of the bubble.
I don't think San Francisco ever fully recovered from its tragedies. I haven't been there in too long but I never hear people talk about it -- as everyone used to -- with sighs about its beauty, charm, innocence, and magic. I hear people complain how crowded it is and how it mismanages the homeless problem and how its politics are a carnival sideshow.
Damn, I used to love that city.
Now New York is just trying to rebuild after 3,000 were murdered at the World Trade Center. And now City Hall runs with blood.
But New York cannot suffer San Francisco's fate. It can't take on the face of a loser. This is a tougher town. And unlike San Francisco, it's not a luxury but a necessity for America and the world. how to k300i simlock
Twit
: Howard Stern was ranting quite rightly about star twit Kate Hudson's sound bite saying that she was just in France and she understands why people hate us because we're loud and ask for ketchup.
Yes, that's why the terrorists attacked us: Ketchup.
Howard says he demands an apology. Damn straight. how to k300i simlock
: Now I have her quote: "I've been listening to some Americans. Of course they hate us. Of course they can't stand us. We're the most annoying, boisterous creatures in the world."
And the French?how to k300i simlock
July 22, 2003
A world without editors
: Nick Denton and I were taking on IM sometime back about why we liked blogging so much and with typical Nick understatement, he popped this simple reason onto my screen:
"No editors."
Amen, blogging brother, amen.how to k300i simlock
I just had an unnerving encounter with an editor -- print, of course. I was debating whether to blog it and whether to be coy about the publication. But, what the hell, it's a publication about journalism that was asking for a piece about blogging and so they should expect a journalist to blog it.
Nieman Reports, a thumbsucking quarterly out of Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, asked me and many others to write pieces for an issue about weblogging. Be happy to, I said, without a moment's hesitation. For the good of journalism. For the good of blogging. Anything.
So I wrote the piece. You can see it here. To most of you, there'll be nothing new in it. But I wasn't writing for a blogging audience. I was writing for the audience of 10 journalism machers who actually read these wet-thumb periodicals and many of them apparently don't yet know what blogs are. So I tried to tell them about my happy experience with blogs -- my own blog, Iranian blogs, and my company's blogs.how to k300i simlock
The edit I got back was a ham-handed butchery that also betrays plenty of print prejudices about this, our new medium. For example:how to k300i simlock
: I said that weblogs have the "potential to unlock a treasure of audience content."
: She said, "a treasure of audience interactivity."
: And that's essentially insulting to weblogs; it devalues them. This isn't just another way to chat, damnit. This is content as much as any newspaper's or magazine's content.how to k300i simlock
: I said: "Weblogs are conversation."
: She said, "Weblogs are a tool for creating conversation."
: There's a difference. Again, this isn't just another community tool. It's a content tool. Besides, her sentence was wordier. First rule of editing: Take words out, don't add them in.how to k300i simlock
: I said: "Weblogs can also change the world."
: She said: "Weblogs ... can also expand the way we think about and experience events around the world."
: Well, that's poorly stated and wimpy and wordy and it's not what I said. I meant what I said. This isn't about viewing the world. It's about changing the world. Again, the apparent aim is to defang weblogs.how to k300i simlock
: I said: "Weblogs are revolutionary."
: She said: "In Iran and other nations where people are repressed, we are learning that Weblogs can be tools of revolution."
: Once again, wordy and obtuse and diluted. Weblogs are revolutionary much closer to home -- in America ... and in newsrooms.how to k300i simlock
: I said: "Webloggers are also being given credit for at least keeping up the pressure that helped bring down Majority Leader Trent Lott (thanks mainly to Josh Micah Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo.com). Bloggers are influencers."
: She said: "Webloggers -- in this case, Josh Micah Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo.com, in particular – received credit for keeping up the pressure that eventually led to mainstream media coverage and, in turn, political pressure, which resulted in Majority Leader Trent Lott’s resignation."
: No, I was giving Josh starring credit in this drama; she reduced him to a bit player. Still devaluing.how to k300i simlock
: I said, "Now I don’t intend to engage in a debate about whether webloggers will replace reporters; that’s at least as tedious as a J-school seminar on objectivity."
: She took out the J-school line.
: Thus my joke turned into a haughty declaration and I turned into an asshole. Second rule of editing: Never make your writers look like assholes -- unless you pay handsomely for the privilege. And, by the way, we wouldn't want to joke about J-school, would we?how to k300i simlock
: I said: "So now a print columnist can create video commentary; she can be the Web’s Andy Rooney (or, I hope, aim higher)."
: She took out the parenthetical gag.
: Good God, that's the worst sin of all: making me look like a fan of Andy Rooney's! The shame, the shame!how to k300i simlock
The editor said she wanted fewer plugs for my company and I fully understand that; I was simply trying to use my personal experience to give practical advice for how to integrate weblogs into a big media operation. how to k300i simlock
She also wanted me to address the issue of weblog news coming from often anonymous, sometimes unreliable sources and that's also a fair question. My answer is that the audience -- especially after the last cablecast war -- is becoming accustomed to judging news, even news from the big boys, with a grain of salt. They now know that the first news out of the box is unconfirmed; they know to wait until time has passed and confirmation and reporting have come in. They know that they need to look at what CNN says live through a filter just as they look at what webloggers say through a filter. It's all about trusting the intelligence of the audience. how to k300i simlock
Now, you can write this all off to the bad editing and a bull-headed writer. But there's something more here: an indication that journalism the institution doesn't get and isn't yet willing to get weblogs as a revolution. I feared that this publication would try to devalue and belittle weblogs. I didn't want to be part of that. how to k300i simlock
So when I got the "edit" back, I responded by simply asking to kill the piece. I would have left it at that: time wasted. But then I got this most irksome email: "I knew that when we set out to do this project there might be a culture clash between the more staid journalism world (which I guess we tend to represent) and blogosphere, and I think you and I might have stumbled into that clash." how to k300i simlock
Whoa right there! I am a journalism executive, a writer and an editor, J-school trained, even; check the about me. My DNA is filled with pulp paper and slick ink and TV dots; I'm a damned journalism gray-beard (albeit prematurely gray, of course). I have unique experience living in both worlds, old and new. Yet here she was treating me like some blogosphere crackpot. Culture clash? I was insulted at the notion.how to k300i simlock
But maybe there is a culture clash, more than I knew or would admit. Journalism still needs to escape its closed, think-tank think and get out there and use the tools the audience is using. They need to read what the audience is writing. They need to listen. That's what is so damned exciting about weblogs. Weblogs give you the chance to hear your audience and what they really care about -- if only you are ready to listen. how to k300i simlock
Aw, to hell with it. I decided to just put the piece up here, for you are the audience I care about, not the handful of insular souls who'll read a self-referential, self-reverential faux scholarly periodical about weblogs -- when it would be so much better if they just read weblogs instead. how to k300i simlock
And if I'm wrong, you'll tell me. For you are my editor.how to k300i simlock
Experience democracy
: Pedram has a wonderful post today urging his fellow expat Iranians to experience Western democracy, wherever they are, so they can take that experience back to a free Iran. It is hopeful yet responsible and realistic talk from Iran's next generation of leaders. how to k300i simlock
He's everywhere
: Tom Watson, Britain's blogging MP, responded to an online interview with my blogging colleague, Joe Territo. Today's topic: democracy in Iran: It's not an issue of national interest - this is about global freedom and global interest. Democratic empowerment of Middle Eastern youth is invaluable to building a better future in the region. Joe also has Jerry Springer signed up for regular interviews, coming soon. how to k300i simlock
The sweetest hero
: Jessica Lynch was just great on her homecoming to the peaceful Palestine. The poor woman looked more frightened facing cameras than she must have looked facing the enemy. But she did a good job and she was real and honest, right down to her little but visible "WHEW" after it was all over.how to k300i simlock
Damn, I was going to enjoy that trial
FoxNews says there's a 90-95 percent chance that we killed Saddam's sons in Mosul today. how to k300i simlock
It's a boomer thing, you wouldn't understand
: Roger L. Simon insightfully sees more in l'affaire BBC/Blair (and NYTimes/Blair before it): It's a generational thing, about authority and jealousy. It's one of those rare blog posts you can't summarize in a snippet, so go read. how to k300i simlock
Gilligan's blog
: David Steven performs a great bit of digging and analysis through Andrew Gilligan's contributions to the BBC's group war blog. Point 8, Gilligan never apologises. One of the beauties of blogging is the ability to use later posts to comment on, reshape or even correct earlier ones. 'That's what
I thought was happening then, but this is what I now know…' That sort of thing.
Gilligan doesn't go in for any of that. He never tells us what went wrong with the airport story. We don't hear why he thinks Iraqi support for Saddam, 'stronger than we thought' on April 1st has evaporated a week later.
In fact, not one single recapitulation, reversal or reanalysis in 6000 words.
Instead, when a prediction or report is wrong, Gilligan moves seamlessly on to the next one. how to k300i simlock
July 21, 2003
Fate
: Here how the Guardian's leader (translation for us Americans: editorial) begins: It is exactly 10 years to the week since the deputy White House counsel, Vince Foster, put the barrel of a Colt revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He left behind a crumpled suicide note intended as an epitaph on the culture he had experienced during his short six months in Washington: "Here ruining people is considered sport."
Anyone reading the newspapers over the past few days might well conclude that London does not lag far behind Washington in its playful appetite for destroying people. I don't mean to sound hard but I will: People who commit suicide -- by definition -- are not destroyed; they destroy themselves.
David Kelly killed himself. Vince Foster killed himself. (Note to tin-hatters: Spare me your reheated Clintonian conspiracy theories on this; I'm tired and grumpy and will bark and bite and thwap you on the nose with a rolled-up Times.)
Sadly, for reasons only they will know, neither man could not stand the pressure of politics: Foster in the middle of the White House, Kelly in the middle of the hottest story du jour. It is a tragedy that neither knew that soon enough and managed to get away or grow a tougher skin. If you can't stand the heat of politics, then for God's sake, man, stay away from the stove!
But politics is tough and for good reason: If you want to sway the ship of state, there will be people who disagree with you. They will say so. They will fight you. They will want you to lose so they can win. That's politics and it always will be. That's democracy. Even if you could strip away all the childishness and sniping and gossiping and petty fighting and greedy power-grabbing that will still be true: Politics is tough because it matters.
I find the chest-thumping and sodden sympathy over Kelly to be frequently disingenuous. He is being used in death more than in life. If he had not killed himself, he would be a trivia question in no time.
Kelly is not the issue.
The issue is: Who lied when no one should lie, especially not government, especially not the press? how to k300i simlock
TV kills
: Literally.how to k300i simlock
Ayatollah Fidel
: Ayatollah Khamenei showed off a missile that can hit Israel. Get a load of the picture; he looks like Castro surrounded by his drab-green minions.
Iran's supreme leader on Sunday inaugurated a new ballistic missile that brings Israel within range of the Islamic republic, hailing the event as a key moment in the defence of the Palestinian cause.
"Today our people and our armed forces are ready to defend their goals anywhere," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a ceremony for the elite Revolutionary Guards carried on state television.
"This divine force has answered all threats, and we are witnessing today that this divine force is now doing the same for the Lebanese and the Palestinian people," he added in the ceremony to bring the Shahab-3 missile into service. Divine force? A missile? Some man of God, this guy is.
how to k300i simlock
I'm getting Gilmore a button that reads, "I'm a Jerk"
: I'm tired of the Gilmore saga but I can't resist the discussion in the comments at MemeFirst (which I'll take out of context): Matthew: As a well-known lawyer, I'd venture that sort of speech might not be protected, for the same kinds of reasons you can't yell fire in a crowded theater....
I wonder if there's a first-amendment satire defense for his badge?
You know, arguing that it's aaaaaahrt.how to k300i simlock
Felix: I think airplane captains have the right to throw anybody they want off their plane (well, assuming it's on the ground, anyway) for any reason: I'd be astonished to hear that Gilmore has any kind of constitutional right to free speech at 30,000 feet. If I don't like what you're saying in my house I can kick you out; captains similarly....how to k300i simlock
Charles: Dunno about in the 'States, but certainly in the UK you can impersonate a (very) suspected terrorist, crash a party, kiss the second in line to the throne, and still not go to jail. Though he do get chucked out of the party, which may be more to the point. : And go enjoy Richard Bennett's comments on the button affair here. how to k300i simlock
Privatization
: There's a discussion starting in the comments, below, regarding privatization of the BBC. I'm in favor of it for a few reasons -- most obvious is that government control of media in any form is a conflict. But I also believe that the open market is a good thing for media -- and, no, not because I'm a free-market freak. I earnestly believe that it's a good thing for editorial quality because it ties editors to their market -- aka, their audience. If the audience doesn't want to buy what you produce, you fail. I've long held that circulation directors of newspapers and magazines should report to editors and that editors should be both accountable for and responsible for circulation.how to k300i simlock
Is Howell Raines moving to the BBC?
: The BBC scandal is sure starting to smell like the New York Times scandal. Now the staff is revolting: Senior BBC executives seemed isolated from their own staff last night when the corporation implicitly accused David Kelly of failing to be entirely open when he appeared before MPs last week.
Andrew Gilligan, the journalist at the centre of the row, said he did not misquote Dr Kelly in his original report. Executives believe privately that the scientist, who committed suicide on Thursday, held reservations about Downing Street's involvement in the notorious September dossier which he did not air to the foreign affairs select committee.
But journalists, editors and presenters contacted by the Guardian yesterday questioned - on condition of anonymity - the credibility of this stance. They expressed doubt about the positions of Gilligan and Richard Sambrook, the director of news, who has given unswerving support to the reporter since he learned that Dr Kelly was his source. A few even talk darkly of revolt. Support for Gilligan, outside the increasingly fraught confines of the Today programme where he is defence and diplomatic correspondent, is slipping away.
"It's one thing if the top brass choose to go to the wall for Gilligan. It's quite another if they expect us to do it too," one insider said. how to k300i simlock
More blood on their hands
: The Guardian reports that the BBC could have prevented the outing of Kelly as its source but refused: BBC bosses blocked a compromise which might have prevented the suicide of David Kelly, the weapons expert confirmed by the corporation yesterday as its source for the story of the "sexed-up' dossier.
The Guardian can reveal that the BBC chairman, Gavyn Davies, and the director general, Greg Dyke, were made an offer in the days before Dr Kelly was identified, but turned it down because they were determined to give no ground in their battle with Alastair Campbell, director of communications at No 10. So, once again, blame the Beeb, not Blair.
And, by the way, it was the BBC that was morally bound not to reveal its source, Kelly. The government had no such obligation; he wasn't their source and, in fact, he was violating rules talking to the press. That's the risk you take. And the release of his name by the government is an issue only because he committed suicide; that is something they could not be expected to have predicted. Kelly was a grown-up; he chose to talk to Gilligan. how to k300i simlock
Self-fulfilling punchlines
: Proving his very own point that liberals are no fun, Frank Rich writes a story about liberals that is itself no fun. how to k300i simlock
July 20, 2003
Excuse me, I'm trying to listen to the transmission in my teeth
: Further evidence that Larry Lessig is part of the tinfoil hat privacy nuts club: He takes the Gilmore airplane story seriously.
: I like Dan Gillmor, but I end up disagreeing with him about some things, like his paranoia about an airline taking pictures of passengers. I think it's a good idea. Even Slashdotters agree with me.
: This privacy paranoia thing has gone too far. Way too far. how to k300i simlock
And now for the left side of the scale
: Via Brian Linse, I see that Danny Goldberg -- president of Artemis Records, macher at the ACLU and Tikkun, and more -- has a weblog and I like it already because it's unpredictable and pop-culturally wise: It seems impossible to have a conversation about progressive or Democratic political hopes without someone lamenting the corrosive influence of Fox News. This seems like a cop-out to me.... Fox News is far more complicated and entertaining than simplistic put-downs would indicate. Part of the job for progressives at this time is to learn how to use some of the same cultural tools in service of a different philosophy. how to k300i simlock
The blood is on the BBC's hands
: So now the BBC has admitted that dead weapons inspector David Kelly was the source for its story accusing the Blair government of "sexing up" Iraq intelligence.
Kelly admitted having unauthorized contact with BBC foreign editor Andrew Gilligan. Kelly denied having been the source for the sexing up story, saying he could not see how what he said became the story the BBC produced. That means either that (1) Kelly lied and he was the source or (2) the BBC lied and stretched this story itself beyond what Kelly said. But Kelly killed himself, so we won't know from him what happened.
We must know from the BBC what happened. The BBC must launch a Blair-like (that is, Jayson-Blair-like) investigation of Gilligan and his reporting. The BBC's credibility demands it. The credibilty of the profession demands it.
My fellow journalists should demand it as well. Intead of standing in a press gang and asking Tony Blair about blood on his hands, those reporters should turn to their BBC colleagues and ask about the blood on their hands. A source of theirs killed himself over this story. Why?
The truth is coming out and that truth is:
The Blair government did not sex up this story.
The BBC and Andrew Gilligan are the ones who sexed up this story.how to k300i simlock
: See also a commentary by Blair-ally Peter Mandelson in the Guardian: Yet, even now, if you challenge BBC executives on this, they insist in their defence that you do not have smoke without fire, even though the smoke was created by their own correspondent. In their view, if you put a 'spin doctor' anywhere near a factual report, you are entitled to assume that the contents will be dodgy, regardless of who testifies to the contrary.
That is simply not good enough. It has led the director-general and the chairman of the governors to stake their reputations on a story that has turned out to be untrue, punted by a journalist who many inside the corporation regard as controversial, whatever they say about him in public.
The fact is that the journalist in question, Andrew Gilligan, persuaded his managers that his one source was a senior intelligence official and few now believe this to be true. Dr Kelly was a scientist, not a spook, and when he told MPs, in his gratuitously bruising encounter with them, that he was not the BBC's source he should have been properly understood to mean that he was not the source for what Gilligan said about Campbell. Gilligan should have been big enough to admit that he did not have another source for his central claim and that he had stretched what he had been told to suit his own prejudices. Amen. how to k300i simlock
Mandelson backs up a few thousand feet to make a broader and very right point about media's relationship to the world they cover today: The BBC is not a publicly funded lobby group, and someone in the BBC's management chain should have stepped in earlier and quietly to end the editorialising over Iraq.
As for the public, they are entitled to expect better from both sides. The viciousness that characterises the relationship between the media and politicians is turning people off politics and corroding our democracy. Everything in Britain is conducted in an overly adversarial way, from our courts to our Parliament, our industrial relations and our select committees. It is good theatre, but does it produce good outcomes? In this case, patently not. Amen again. how to k300i simlock
: But now see the Guardian's own news columns attacking -- or at least belittling -- Mandelson's piece, calling it "astonishing" and using loaded words aplenty: "outburst" and "onslaught," making it look like a hissyfit instead of a serious comment on a serious matter for our very business. Instead, says the Guardian, this was "a smokescreen to protect a Prime Minister now facing the most dangerous time of his six years in Downing Street." It's a dangerous time only because media are calling it a dangerous time. Yes, it's a dangerous time. It's dangerous time for us in the media.how to k300i simlock
: Finally, the tables are turning on the BBC. MP Gerald Kaufman, chairman of the culture, media and sport committee: "The way the BBC have conducted themselves throughout raises the need for consideration of the governance of the BBC and the way the BBC deals with news.
"We wait for the inquiry in terms of what happened leading up to Dr Kelly's death, but I believe that we do not wait to consider the whole way in which the BBC runs its affairs, runs its journalism and is governed.
"I think there are much, much wider questions which have been highlighted by this tragic episode."...
Dr Kelly's local MP, Robert Jackson: "If they (the BBC) had made this statement while Dr Kelly was alive, I believe he would still be alive and I think the chairman of the BBC board of governors should resign over this matter."...
MP Eric Illsley, a Labour member of the foreign affairs committee: "I think the BBC has got to look at itself long and hard now after Andrew Gilligan's latest evidence to the foreign affairs committee last Thursday." At last. how to k300i simlock
: MediaGuardian, at least, starts to acknowledge what's really happening: The effect of the statement was to immediately shift focus from Tony Blair and onto the BBC with several politicians lining up to call for resignations at the top of the corporation.
Within an hour of the statement, a series of politicians casts further doubt on the report by defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan and questioned whether he had hyped up the conversation with the Iraqi weapons inspector.
Dr Kelly's local MP, Tory Robert Jackson, said BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies should go and director general Greg Dyke should "consider his position" while Gerald Kaufman warned that the latest development raised "serious questions" about the future of the BBC as a licence-funded organisation.
Both believe that the confirmation that Dr Kelly was their source clears Alastair Campbell.
"This raises extremely serious questions about the way the BBC is run; its credibility and its future as a public sector, publicly funded organisation," said Mr Kaufman. : It is insane, journalistically, that the BBC is owned by the government and run by a license fee. There isn't a greater conflict of interest. The BBC should be privatized and should compete squarely with the other networks. how to k300i simlock
: Harry Hatchet sees a Labor plot to get rid of Blair, led by panicky MPs who fear losing their seats to Tories.
Short-sighted, to say the least.
They'll end up serving the government to the other side (see: Ralph Nader voters).
They're basing their coup on Iraqi intelligence -- and it looks as if their complaint is far more with the BBC and Andrew Gilligan.
And they offer nothing of substance in the alternative: Iraq is the issue around which the anti-Blair alliance has coalesced but on what basis? Are they presenting an alternative vision of Britain's role in the world? No. Are they offering us a new foreign policy or another way of dealing with dictators and terrorists? They don't tell us. : And the drum beats on. Now the FT concedes that the BBC is under an NYTimesean cloud and has to clear its name (or better yet, fix itself): The BBC will this week embark on the largest damage limitation exercise, arguably, of its 76-year history.
A team of top executives and in-house lawyers will begin assembling documents, transcripts and tapes relating to the intelligence dossiers on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the corporation's reliance on David Kelly, the government scientist found dead last week, as its main source for those stories.
Ostensibly, the team is preparing evidence for the judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Mr Kelly's death. In reality, their work could determine the future regulation, editorial controls and structure of the publicly-funded broadcaster.
"Everybody is completely reeling from this," according to one insider. "We are putting together a team to look at each stage of what happened."
The stakes could not be higher. Uh-huh. how to k300i simlock
: Amy Langfield finds this gem from the transcript of the grilling of David Kelly: Mr Anderson: What lessons have you learned from this episode?
Dr Kelly: Never to talk to a journalist again, I think. The worst among us create a chill that ices the rest of us. how to k300i simlock
: The tide is starting to turn... and make the Beeb go glub-glub-glub. Says The Times of London: THE BBC was fighting to save its credibility last night after finally disclosing that David Kelly, the weapons expert who committed suicide last week, was the main source of its claims that Downing Street had “sexed up” its dossier on Iraqi weapons.
The corporation was plunged into the biggest crisis in its postwar history as it faced angry charges that it had caused the death of Dr Kelly through not admitting earlier what informed opinion in Westminster and Whitehall had long suspected.
There were calls from MPs for “heads to roll” at the BBC although ministers observed Tony Blair’s appeal for restraint in the aftermath of Dr Kelly’s death. : Head, in sand... The political editor of the BBC, Andrew Marr, says on the BBC: At the moment most of the people making angry accusations against the BBC are, if I may say so, enemies of the BBC and have been for some time. Wrong, Andy boy, wrong. The people making angry accusations are just angry. how to k300i simlock
: I predict that before you know it, we'll see Jayson Blair and Andrew Gilligan weblogging... because they'll have nothing else to do.
how to k300i simlock
July 19, 2003
A crisis for Blair -- or for the BBC?
: The Guardian headline paints the suicide of UN weapons inspector David Kelly as a crisis for Tony Blair's government.
Looks more like a crisis for the BBC to me.
Was Kelly the source for Andrew Gilligan's BBC's "sexing up" story?
Did Kelly lie?
Did the BBC lie?
For that matter, what dirt exists surrounding not only the BBC but also the U.N.?
Conspiracy theorists were all ready to point to Blair on this -- until it clearly turned out to be suicide.
So I don't see how Kelly's death points to Blair.
It points to the BBC.
What was so awful in this that would make the man commit suicide except that he would be revealed as a player in this drama -- a player in the BBC's web?
how to k300i simlock
Blogs, blogs, everywhere (and not a one to read)
: I've started two new blogs -- not in earnest (probably) but mainly to test out the two newest blogging platforms, AOL and Movable Type's TypePad.
: My AOL blog is here. In it, I'll post occasional observations about the two tools. Typepad doesn't want us all to critique it for a few days and I'll respect that. But as I say on the AOL blog, AOL is clearly much easier than TypePad.
: My TypePad blog is an experiment in hyperlocal blogging: a blog about my town, Bernards Township: thus, the BernardsBlog. I'll add small observations on suburban life and larger complaints about the city fathers and mothers at will and whim. how to k300i simlock
Just impeach everybody
: At Alternet (of cousre), Robert Scheer calls for impeachment because of Niger. I was ready to say that this was certainly stretching it -- but then, what could have been stretching things more than impeaching a president because he unzipped?how to k300i simlock
Jerk
: John Gilmore, co-founder of EFF, says he was ejected from a plane for wearing a button that said, "Suspected terrorist." This nutjob thinks it's an invasion of privacy to demand ID before flying. Fine, fella: Walk. [via Adam Curry]how to k300i simlock
Do you Yahoo, sonny?
: Matt notes the charming anachronism that is Yahoo's directory. how to k300i simlock
Mysterious Baghdad bug
: Arabia.com says that U.S. soldiers have come down with a mysterious disease that's not responding to treatment. how to k300i simlock
What the...?
: I go clicking through my list of Iranian weblogs and find this from Webgard: Soon though, this community will have to break off in two: the camp that that doesn't give a f*** about Jeff Jarvis and the camp that does. Each following their own underlying principles and language. And these changes will definitly take its toll... but whatchyagonnado? (My asterisks. My kid reads this weblog, folks.)
I didn't even know that I had a camp. Don't think I want one. how to k300i simlock
It looks bigger than the last Internet World in NY
: Pictures of an Internet fair in Iran. how to k300i simlock
What the Iraqis say
: Channel 4 News took a survey of Iraqi opinions with many fascinating results: Right now, would you prefer to see the US (and Britain) stay in Iraq or pull out?
Should stay for a few years 31
Should stay for about a year 25
Should stay for a while, but leave inside 12 months 20
Should leave Iraq IMMEDIATELY 13
No opinion/not stated 11 So don't buy reports that say they all want us out now.
On the other hand, they want power now: How soon should Iraqis be handed political power? (Even if the American forces remain in Iraq).
Straight away 40
Within three months 11
Within six months 11
Within one year 11
More than one year from now 9
Iraqis should not be handed political power 7
Don t know/not stated 10 Note that a majority do not say immediately. They know as well as we do that a structure has to be set up so local authority can succeed.
What kind of government do they want? Now what you've been hearing from many sources in the news: What kind of political/governmental system would you like to see in Iraq?
British/American style democracy. With various political parties competing openly for power 36
Islamic rule, but tempered to modern ideals of justice and punishment 26
A single presidential ruler, but not Saddam 7
Islamic rule in strict accord with the Koran (with Mullahs in charge) 6
A single party state, with open elections for political post 6
Return of Saddam Hussein 5
Other 6
Don t know/not stated 12 So they don't want Iran. And wouldn't you love to see that poll taken in Iran?
On their quality of life today vs. a year ago, not surprisingly at all -- in a nation that has just come through a war, duh -- more say life is worse: 47 percent say worse, in varying degrees; 32 percent say better in varying degrees; and 22 percent say it's neither better nor worse or have no opinion. That's hardly surprising. They just came through a war. Uh, duh.
But now look at their expectations for the future now that Saddam is gone. They were asked, "How do you expect your life to be in 5 (FIVE) YEARS time? (Compared to the way it was BEFORE the American/British actions)." A majorityi 52 percent said better in varying degrees; only 11 percent said worse; 7 percent said unchanged; and 31 percent said they didn't know.
There's much more. The Channel 4 story (also in the Spectator) leads with the bad; no surprise. [via Astigma] how to k300i simlock
: Update: Read the poll and then read this to see how Kofi Annan does not and should not speak for the Iraqi people: Annan calls for quick handover of power to Iraqis
UNITED NATIONS - In his first major report on postwar Iraq, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iraqis did not want democracy imposed on them by outsiders and rated lawlessness as their primary concern.
how to k300i simlock
Alterman still doesn't get it
: Alterman keeps coming back to the argument about attacks against Jews in France (see my earlier post about rationalizing hate here). Now, about this “blame” issue. Did I blame anyone, outside (obviously) of the people who committed the crimes? Nope again, as I explained yesterday. I spoke to what I understand to be the sources of Muslim anger. Is it anti-Semitic to point out that the followers of Osama bin Laden are not so crazy about the Israeli occupation, and maybe that has something to do with why they hate the U.S. so much? By this logic it is, and so everyone willing to recognize that the Arab-Israeli conflict has anything to do with our problem with Islamic terrorism is also “blaming the victim” — and by Sullskowitz’s definition, an anti-Semite. Sorry, Prime Minister Blair. Sorry, Secretary Powell. Eric, you still don't get it. So let's try this again, looking through the other end of the periscope:
It's not about you blaming the victims. It's about you justifying the perpetrators.
If you attack someone because of who they are (which is exactly what has been happening in France), it is bigotry and there is no good cause, no rational reason for it. How else can you paint the thought bubble that appears en Francais over the attackers' heads and says, "Hey, mon freres, let's go out and attack some Jews today." You need to bother waiting to hear any more -- as in, "let's go out and attack some Jews today because..." No "because" could possibly matter. And if you make it matter, you justify the attack and the attackers. You rationalize the hate and the evil behind it. how to k300i simlock
: See also Pejman on Alterman v. Sullivan.how to k300i simlock
July 18, 2003
Tough Norwegian babes
: Two (related?) bits of news from Nettavisen, Norway's web-only newspaper: While it used to be mainly men both running sex shops and shopping in sex shops in Norway, women are taking over this scene these days....how to k300i simlock
Norwegian women have passed their Danish neighbours and smoke more than any other European women. Next we'll hear that Norwegian women wear more leather.
how to k300i simlock
Hey, lawyers...
: Not only does our blogosphere need a bloggers' guide to the law, it also appears that some bloggers need a little pro bono defense. [via Bene Diction]how to k300i simlock
AOLogs
: Tony Pierce gets his dander up re AOL blogs: :anyone who has seen an sophomore year computer science student's homework assignment has seen what i am seeing with the aol journal: copycat bullshit created to see if it could be re-created.
aol is not providing their members with anything they cant get just as easilly anywhere else. they are not providing their users with anything that they have asked for.
and once again they are creating something that isnt even half as good as what they are trying to copy. Read it for the entertainment value alone; that's always a good reason to read Tony. how to k300i simlock
What freedom makes you
: Blue Bird Escape -- the wonderful weblog I quote often by an Iranian-American teen who just ended a visit to her homeland -- never ceases to amaze me with its sweet insight. Today: In Iran they say they will go to heaven because they are already in hell.
I also wonder who I would have been if I never lived in Iran. Would I have known what freedom is? Would I have cared about the world? how to k300i simlock
Distance makes the heart grow fonder
: Right now in the U.S., we are singing a chorus of Tony Blair's praises. Meanwhile, in Britain, sharks in his own party are circling, hoping to kill him.
Of course, with Bill Clinton, it was just the opposite. Just as people here were trying to run him out of office, over there, they admired him.
Either we're ignorant of the real Blair and they were ignorant of the real Clinton or it's something else: Distance let's statesman be statesman. Distance lets them rise above the petty sniping of politics. Distance -- like time -- puts them in a truer perspective.
Britain is wrong about Blair. We're right. how to k300i simlock
Hear here
: The Wall Street Journal's editorial page has a nice piece today about Iranian bloggers and their mullah butt-biting. That Westerners know about [arrested Iranian blogger Sina] Motallebi is largely the result of another blogging phenomenon: Iranians who run English-language blogs outside of Iran. Pedram Moallemian, born in Iran but now living in California, runs a blog (www.eyeranian.net) and started an online petition to protest Mr. Motallebi's arrest. Hossein Derakhshan, who runs a Iran-focused blog (www.hoder.com) in Canada, helped bring the story to the attention of well-known blogs like InstaPundit and Buzz Machine, which means a lot of Americans now know the story. Mr. Derakhshan has also provided Iranians back home with the technical information to set up blogs.
The Internet won't bring down Iran's dictators. But the blogging phenomenon shows that human freedom and expression will not be denied, and that technology will only continue to make the job of dictators that much harder. [via reader Mary Campbell] how to k300i simlock
July 17, 2003
Either bloggers don't masturbate ... or blogging already is masturbation
: I can't believe how few of you bloggers have linked to, commented on, or joked about the news that masturbation can prevent cancer.how to k300i simlock
Private whine
: I may get crap for this, but I'm bothered by the stories about U.S. soldiers in Iraq whining because they aren't coming home yet.
On the one hand, I want to say that I understand the work is hard and the environment awful and the separation from family unbearable, but this is their job; this is what they volunteered for (and they all volunteered). And in Vietnam, soldiers went for a year at a time; in WWII, they went until they won.
On the next hand, I doubt that the whining is as widespread as we are being led to believe by stories such as the ones linked above. I wonder whether this is an attempt by some reporters to sculpt a story about a quagmire. They're Vietnaming Iraq again. The truth is that we all knew bloody well that this was not going to be over in weeks; we knew that we were going to have to stay there until we get things in order; we knew what we were in for; the soldiers especially new.
The fact that this is hard duty should only make us more grateful for the good work and hard sacrifice they are giving us. I still think they're good soldiers, not a bunch of whiners.how to k300i simlock
My AOL blog
: AOL seems to have sneaked out its blog beta. I just created my own AOL blog here. Simple as can be. how to k300i simlock
Rationalizing hate
: Eric Alterman makes what is becoming the moral mistake of the age: trying to rationalize hate crimes.
How often have we heard after 9.11 that we should understand the hate that drove those mass murderers. Crap. There is no explaining what they did, no justifying it, no reason for it, no rationalization for it, save hate.
Now he brings the same logic to anti-Semitic attacks in France: I got a ton of mail yesterday, some of it abusive, complaining about my comments on attacks against French Jews. Roughly half of the e-mails accused me of “blaming the victims” because I stated that the attacks, undertaken virtually exclusively by young immigrant Arabs, were inspired by the Israeli occupation of Palestine and could be ameliorated by ending that occupation. Well, I didn’t “blame” anyone. I merely explained what I understand to be the sources of Arab anger. Why should we give a Goddamn about the alleged reason why someone carries out a hate crime? We should not. It's a hate crime. Period. The occupation on the West Bank did not cause this attack. Hate caused it. Evil caused it. Period.
Let's review this simple lesson in moral logic: Just substitue the words Jews for the victims and Nazis for the perpetrators in these cases: Do you give a damn about the cause of Nazi anger? Of course not. Is there any justification for what the Nazis did? For God's sake, no!
The same goes for the renewed attacks on Jews in France. The same goes for the attack on us on 9.11. For God's sake! how to k300i simlock
: See also Michael J. Totten. And Sean Lafreniere.how to k300i simlock
Cool Jews
: JewsWeek has its list of cool Jewish things (unfortunately without links). Josh Marshall is No. 6. Jonah Goldberg is No. 22. And coming in at No. 45, I'm proud to say... Christians: No, really. Christians are the Jews' new best friends. They back us on Israel, mostly, but they've been kind enough to stop blaming us for killing their head honcho a while back and, for the most part, relations have been quite cozy. They still probably want to convert us, and that's kind of a sore point, but what's something like that between new friends? how to k300i simlock
Extreme censorship
: Hoder reports: French paper, Liberation, has reported that Saeed Mortazavi, notorious and hated young judge, has persnoally caused the death of Zahra Kazemi, Iraniaan-Canadian reporter, by beating her. He is the person responsible for shutting down of hundreds of newspapers and magazines and sending hundreds of journalists and activists to prison. He was recently appointed to a higher position as the prosecutor general of revolutionary courts in Tehran. how to k300i simlock
War-mongering Americans' left-over bomb explodes
: Left-over from WWII, that is. [via PapaScott]how to k300i simlock
Million Moms march again
: The Million Mom March and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence put a full-page ad in the NY Times today, which I'll quote below.
The only problem with putting a full-page ad in the New York Times is that only people who get the New York Times see it.
Enter the Web.
The MMMarchers also put the text of the ad on their new site: www.mmm2004.com. It says: THE U.S. SENATE IS ON THE VERGE OF VOTING TO LET RECKLESS GUN DEALERS GET AWAY WITH MURDER
Quietly sneaking through the United States Senate is an outrageous bill which
will slam the courthouse door shut on countless victims of gun crimes.
It will deny the families of the DC sniper victims their day in court and any
hope of justice for their loss.
Believe it or not this bill, the National Rifle Association’s top priority,
actually immunizes negligent gun dealers and gun makers against lawsuits.
It is a “Stay Out of Court Free” pass, exempting the gun industry from legal
rules that bind every other industry in America.
Fifty-four Senators have lent their good names to this bad bill. They must
know better.
They must know there are gun dealers who have repeatedly sold guns to
people who kill. And this bill will give them immunity.
They must know that the dealer who “lost” the assault rifle used in all
the DC sniper shootings also sold guns tied to at least 52 other gun crimes
including homicides and kidnappings. And this bill will give him immunity.
They must know that only a tiny percentage of negligent dealers are ever
prosecuted or even fined.
They must know that gun makers continue to sell guns to dealers who have
been indicted for criminal conduct.
Over the next several weeks we’re going to make sure those 54 Senators
do know these facts.
And if we can’t persuade them to erase their names from this bill, we’ll
make sure they hear from the families of the DC sniper victims, who should be
more persuasive.
Good gun dealers don’t need immunity. Bad gun dealers don’t deserve it.
Help us stop this bill. And they send readers to their web site to contact the senators.
Various bloggers will also be sent the text of the ad. You can blame me, in part. I know the folks who are working on this campaign and they are working very hard to make sure they take full advantage of what the web offers grassroots issue and political campaigns. Thus, the new website. Thus, MeetUp meets. Thus the notes to webloggers, who are influencers. I suggested they send it to people who may agree with the letter and those who will likely disagree ( Glenn Reynolds said that thanks to my creation of continuous Jersey beach pictures, he'd forgive me that) because what matters is getting the issues into public debate and bloggers are good at that.
So debate away. how to k300i simlock
The morning after
: Pedram distantly echoes Alireza -- but in a much nicer way -- in a lengthy post about July 9 and Western and weblog support for Iranian democracy. He concludes: In short, we DO want your help, your solidarity, your sympathy. But if you want to lend a hand, let us be the ones deciding what help we may want or need. Talk to us, as a community and as individuals, find out about our aspirations and our objectives. Then assist us in our endeavor, if you see fit. Under our banner, carrying our message. It's almost as if both gentlemen are suffering morning-after regret, finding themselves waking up in bed with Americans and feeling just a bit claustrophobic about it. But I don't think that's it.
They do not want to see direct American intervention -- that is, invasion or the installation of an externally chosen regime. We should be the first to concede that they have good cause for such concern, given American history in Iran. And they are a bit more concerned considering the war in Iraq and the fact that bloggers who supported that war are, in general, the ones most loudly supporting Iranian democracy.
I just want to say that they shouldn't assume that the support of individuals in America and on blogs comes carrying that exact baggage.
I say the last thing we should do is install another shah! I say that I don't want to see us militarily intervening in Iran.
But I do say that the mullahs need to go. I do say that Iranians deserve freedom in their politics and speech and even dress. I do support the efforts to gain that freedom there. Just because I'm an American, that doesn't mean I'm ready to call in the CIA and/or the Marines.
All it means is that I respect the rights of the Iranian people and I hope that someday soon, their leaders will, too. how to k300i simlock
Masturbation 'may prevent cancer'
: Well, finally: a reason: WHO cares if you go blind? An Australian study has found that frequent masturbation may protect men against prostate cancer in later life.
A team led by Professor Graham Giles, head of cancer epidemiology at the Cancer Council Victoria, questioned more than 2000 men about their past sexual habits as part of a wider prostate cancer study.
The men, half of whom had prostate cancer, were aged between 40 and 69 and recruited from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth between 1994-98.
The study indicated that men who ejaculated more than five times a week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer.
"What we found was men who ejaculated most in their twenties, thirties and forties had about a third less prostate cancer risk than men in the lowest category of ejaculation," Professor Giles told AAP.
"The men who were the high performers in terms of ejaculating had a third less prostate cancer risk than men who were in the lowest category of ejaculation." [via Kaveh] how to k300i simlock
: UPDATE (An update about maturbation? Sure. Late-breaking wisecrack):
See Pedram's comment.how to k300i simlock
: And so from now on when Mom unexpectedly knocks on the bathroom door and demands, "Junior, what are you doing in there? Why have you been in the bathroom so long? Are you OK?"
Junior should reply: "I'm fine, Ma. Just preventing cancer."how to k300i simlock
: New euphamism (to add to the usual list, stroking the oar, choking the monkey, usw):
: Beating the C.how to k300i simlock
: Jim Treacher regrets.how to k300i simlock
July 16, 2003
 A frisson
: The best moment at The Week's latest opinionfest at Grand Central:
Sidney Blumenthal, former Clinton aide, is on the stage and Dick Morris, turncoat Clinton aide, is on the phone.
Morris: "Hello, Sidney! We haven't spoken in years!"
Blumenthal (growling contempt as he rolls his eyes 360): "Hello, Dick."
Moderator Harry Evans: "This was a frisson!"
Morris couldn't let a good punchline win the day. He kept nattering on the phone. Evans gave one of The Week minions an unsubtle "cut" sign across his throat.
Bye, Dick.how to k300i simlock
: As I walked into Grand Central and Michael Jordan's Steakhouse for the event, I saw a confused but familiar face moving back and forth between two doors (which is defensible; it's a confusing entrance). "You want to go there," I told Gary Hart, who looked slightly startled, as if I were some Gawker stawker. "Oh," he said, "you're going to the same place." Yes, I said. You're on the stage. We walk in and Hart is greeted by a greeter doing her job. The next greeter points me in the same direction: "The green room is there," she says. Oh, I say, I'm not with him. I'm not one of his people. Sadly, he has no people. how to k300i simlock
: The event asked (but, of course, did not answer): Is Bush unbeatable? Blumenthal was joined by Gary Hart, GOP pollster and strategist Ed Rollins, and FoxNews gabber Monica Crowley. The room was filled with many wrinkles from the ilk of Ed Koch and David Dinkins.how to k300i simlock
: Rollins acknowledged "blowing smoke up Gary Hart's tail" as he said that Hart was the only candidate who scared him when he ran. The day damned near turned into a Hart lovefest.
When asked by Tina Brown whether Hillary Clinton could win against Bush, Rollins said that if Bush is beatable in six months, Clinton could win the nomination against all other Democrats in the field now.
There was suprisingly little nattering about Bush and WMD, indicating this will be a short-lived issue.
There was much nattering about whether Bush has yet taken homeland security seriously -- and then, in turn, about whether the Democrats will be barking up at the wrong cat if they try making that their issue.
There is the beginning of much nattering about the Bush deficit, and a good thing.
In a discussion about the success and influence of conservative talk radio and TV Blumenthal said it's noteworthy that in the last year, Americans have exploded traffic to The Guardian and the BBC because of a left-media vacuum here.
That's the end of my notes.how to k300i simlock
: I enjoyed watching Nick Denton engineer the meeting of heat queens Tina Brown and Elizabeth Spiers. Yes, Tina does read Gawker. how to k300i simlock
Ka-ching
: Even Andrew Sullivan is worried about the Bush deficit. As well we all should be. how to k300i simlock
Side by side
: Pedram takes a very simplistic view of left and right when he continues to insist that I must be a right-wing nut if I supported the ouster of murderous tyrant Saddam Hussein. Says Pedram: Jeff Jarvis did not like it when I suggested that his views on Iraq puts him in-line with the extreme right. Life is tough. You make your bed, you lay in it. He chose to take those positions and he shall live with that. One of his commenters responds: So supporting the ouster of a mass-murdering fascist who launched two unprovoked wars, gassed tens of thousands of people, and executed hundreds of thousands more now makes a person a right-wing extremist?
You know, there was a time when the left castigated the right for supporting characters half as brutal as Saddam (Pinochet, Suharto, Pahlavi, etc.). Yet America is now also criticized by the left when it decides that it's better not to support such a character. And the French, who sucked up to Saddam in much the same way that America once sucked up to Pinochet and Pahlavi, doing multi-billion dollar oil deals and selling him a nuclear reactor, are praised for being "principled." Orwell must be laughing in his grave. First, supporting the war is not necessarily a right-wing stance. I disagreed from the first with Bush's case for war. To me, it was a humanitarian issue; the more we knew about Saddam Hussein, the more wrong we were to allow him to stay in power. It wasn't a matter of weapons of mass destruction. It was a matter of mass graves. It was right to get rid of him; it would have been wrong to allow him to continue his tyranny; that is a humanist -- a leftist -- position.
And one issue does not a rightist or leftist make.
If I'm for gun control and for the war, which am I?
If I'm for freedom of choice and the war, which am I?
If I'm for national health care and the war, which am I?
If I'm against the tax cut and the huge Bush deficit, what am I?
No, Pedram, my friend, the world isn't as simple as that. Would that it were, but it's not. how to k300i simlock
A blogger's prayer
: Let us pray: O, Lord, please make Pat Robertson shut up.
You know all his dangerous, hateful, bigoted idiocies.
His latest is to get his poor followers to pray to You to get three U.S. Supreme Court justices to retire. (And only You know what is truly in his dark heart, Lord: He wants them to die.)
Pat Robertson sullies Your name whenever he opens his mouth. He utters idiocies, such as his latest (for he does not understand that trying to involve the state in religion only endangers the freedom to worship You; he does not understand that when religion mixes with governance, the end result is the tyranny of an ayatollah). He utters hateful bile about your children: your gay children, you Muslim children, your liberal children.
He's a dope, Lord.
So please find a way to muzzle him, Lord. Show him a burning bush and the errors of his ways. Make him become a contemplative monk. Make him become an insurance salesman. Anything. Just please, stop him from speaking in Your name. Shut him up.
Thank you, Lord.
Amen. how to k300i simlock
July 15, 2003
Leading by example
: At Iranian.com, Pedram of Eyeranian fame explains why he blogs and why other Iranians should and then tells them how: My blog and others like it are a way for people to connect to people, direct and almost one-on-one, often a very personal level. This is why you need to start a blog and to do it in English. how to k300i simlock
Calling Howard Stern
: A little day-brightener from PennLive.com: EASTON -- In the case of Robert M. Peters Sr., size does matter.
The 47-year-old locksmith from Bangor is accused of exposing himself to a client on June 12, 2002, while making a house call in Bethlehem. Peters' trial began Monday.
The victim testified that she and Peters were sipping tea after he finished installing a deadbolt lock when she saw Peters' semi-erect penis sticking three inches past the bottom of his shorts.
That's impossible, according to defense attorney Gary Asteak.
"She's mistaken," Asteak said. "He's not that big."
According to Asteak, physician Eric Schoeppner examined Peters and found his penis is only 1 inches long when flaccid and four inches erect.
Just to make sure the measurement wasn't a mistake, the doctor administered Viagra to Peters and measured again. The penis was still four inches long, Asteak said.
Asteak said he will show the jury photographs to prove his point. Before the trial, he told Northampton County Judge Edward G. Smith he plans to ask Peters to drop his pants and pose for the jury wearing jockey shorts.
"Was she exaggerating?" Asteak asked. "She said it was pretty big. I'll show you photographs of something pretty small." how to k300i simlock
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the democracy
: Alireza takes me to task for my taking him to task for his taking Michael J. Totten to task (because of this) and now I'll take him to task just for the symmetry of it.
Alireza says that I am "romanticizing" Iranian-American relations in weblogs.
Well, of course I am. For the alternative is to stick with the old, bigoted, hateful stereotypes. Sadly, that's what Alireza does when he says, "Well, I think that America is an imperial terror master with a trigger-happy cowboy as President, and that before we start running around exporting freedom, we should put 'Support Democracy in the U.S.' banners on our blogs, because there is no democracy here, there’s only rich people ruling over drones." Were I to answer those stereotypes with stereotypes, I would make references to unshaven religious fanatic fascists screaming about the death of my nation and ignoring all rules of civilized nations as they kidnap our diplomats. But I won't. And were I to take that route, I'd also ask Alireza why he's tolerating a graduate education at Harvard and not moving to, say, the Sorbonne. But I'm not. Finally, if I wanted to engage in a flame fit, I'd reply to his insult -- to me and many others -- that "your efforts at supporting democracy in Iran might be seen by an Iranian as condescending, insulting, and pretentious." But I'll just let that lie there. Instead, yes, I'm choosing to be a "romantic" -- that is, I'm choosing to extend a hopeful hand and to try to build a bridge over old animosities rather than wallowing in them.
All this back and forth is actually fine; it's dialogue; it's democracy. Disagreement is good, so long as it's civilized and productive, so long as it doesn't descend into stereotypes and namecalling and such shallow foolishness. That's precisely why weblogs are a tool of democracy: Because they are interactive, they do foster discussion.
But Alireza can't take it. After he loads and fires his snipe gun, he says he won't say anything more and he even shuts off the weblog where he has said all this. Too bad.how to k300i simlock
July 14, 2003
Parting is such sorrow
: Chris Muir, webloggers' favorite cartoonist, has to take a month off for medical leave. He wants everyone to know he will be back. how to k300i simlock
Brown-noser for President
: Howard Dean posts on Larry Lessig's blog and sucks up to the professor: The Internet might soon be the last place where open dialogue occurs. One of the most dangerous things that has happened in the past few years is the deregulation of media ownership rules that began in 1996. how to k300i simlock
The public and the press
: Pew releases its latest survey on the public's attitudes toward the press. Among the findings (all quotes): : Seven-in-ten Americans see it as a good thing when news organizations take a "strong pro-American point of view." However, when asked specifically if it is better for coverage of the war on terrorism to be neutral or pro-American, fully 64% favor neutral coverage. And these views are largely unrelated. Even most of those who see a pro-American point of view as a good thing favor neutral war coverage (62%).
: The growing audience for the Fox News Channel, nearly half of whom identify themselves as conservatives, has more consistently negative views of media, especially regarding its patriotism. Nearly two-thirds of Fox News viewers (65%) believe some news outlets are becoming too critical of America, compared with fewer than half of CNN and network news viewers (48%, 45% respectively).
: The survey finds a greater percentage of the public saying they most often turn to Fox News Channel for national and international news compared with 18 months ago. More than one-in-five Americans (22%) say they get most of their news from Fox News. This is up from the 16% recorded in January 2002 and only somewhat behind the 27% citing CNN in the current survey.
The Fox News audience is decidedly more Republican, and more politically conservative, than the audiences for network news and CNN, as well as the public as a whole. Four-in-ten Fox News viewers (41%) identify themselves as Republicans compared with 32% of network news viewers, 29% of the CNN audience, and 30% of Americans overall.
: More than six-in-ten (62%) say the news organizations they are familiar with have been fair to the president compared with 24% who say they have been unfair.
: ...younger people are much more positive about hosts of news shows expressing strong political opinions than are older Americans. Nearly six-in-ten of those under age 30 (58%) see this as a good thing. Just a third of people age 65 and older view this as a positive trend.
: ...there is no evidence that awareness of the Times' difficulties has had any impact on the public's already cynical views about media accuracy and responsiveness. Much more here. how to k300i simlock
AOL blogs, redux
: Mena, who knows weblogs like nobody knows weblogs, visits AOL and gets the preview of their weblogs: The fact of the matter is that fundamentally, they hit the core weblogging elements on the mark. What they are doing -- whether called journals or weblogs -- is in fact weblogging. The elements are there, the output is familiar and the user behavior resembles all that us "real webloggers" would recognize. This isn't just some message board with a blogging label slapped on -- the AOL Journals team is taking the time and effort to get this right and that's highly commendable. Within a company the size of AOL, this is an amazing feat.
While this sort of praise could be read as a "they didn't crap up their product like we expected and that's good," I'm sincere in saying that they have a good product on their hands. As a weblog tool maker, am I threatened by AOL Journals? I don't think so. We're marketing our tools to entirely different audiences and our users require the level of functionality and customization that would be overkill 1000 times over for AOL. Having tens of millions of AOL users exposed to weblogging can only be a good thing for Six Apart and since we knew that a weblog offering from AOL was coming, we have gotten used to the idea that we'll be sharing the space with a number of the world's largest companies. She ends with spot-on wisdom for the big company: My advice to AOL: Keep on embracing what already exists in the weblogging space but be sure to integrate the key features that make AOL distinct. For AOL, it's all about community and simplicity. how to k300i simlock
Freedom
: Demonstrations of freedom are often trivial.
I spent a month in Berlin before the Wall fell and I went over to the other side often. Every time I returned, I remember a Coca-Cola sign as a sign of choice and freedom -- and no, not because it's an American icon but simply because the GDR cola was so utterly disgusting and worse when it was warm (which it always was). Freedom sometimes means being able to pick from Coke and Pepsi. Or freedom means taking your shirt off.
This from Blue Bird, the teen girl who just left her native Iran and is now in Europe: Yesterday we went to a park nearby. The parks in Europe are way different than the parks in Iran. In Iran the people have to sit or walk. In Europe they can lie on the grass; women in bikinies, men shirtless. They can ride boats on the lake without being afraid of falling into the water. They can kiss under the trees and no one will ever care. They can sleep under the sun and ...
This is freedom. Freedom is a word full of meanings. In some places freedom is closing the doors to music but letting humans breath. In others freedom is having a life with no remarks, no forces that tell you what to do, how to dress, or what not to write. I come from a country without freedom. That's why I know what freedom actually is. how to k300i simlock
Today
: I'm at an all-day conference today; connectivity improbable; posting light.how to k300i simlock
July 13, 2003
Scoop
: Well, I'm delighted to have scooped the Washington Post -- by more than a week -- on AOL's blogs.
The wise reporter should be reading blogs (or at least Blogdex).how to k300i simlock
July 12, 2003
And the losers are II...
: Aftenposten reports: Norway's official association for losers is marking its 10th anniversary next month. More people than ever before have registered to attend the group's annual meeting at an off-season ski resort.
Last year, just 31 persons attended the annual meeting of the National Association for Rights for Losers (Landsforeningen Rettferd for Taperne) This year 96 people have already signed up, and even Norway's justice minister will be among the guests.
It's unclear whether Norway now has more losers or whether more people simply are showing interest in the group. Or they like soccer. how to k300i simlock
And the losers are...
: Ladies and gentlemen... the first Homeless World Cup. The official report: Austria is champion of the first Homeless Worldcup! The slightly surprising semifinal games brought a 2:1 victory of England against Netherlands, and a repitition of the first meeting between Brazil and Austria in the qualifyings.... I hate to sound like Scrooge the Copyeditor but... Wouldn't it be better to get a job? Or an education? [via Verflixt] how to k300i simlock
The masters of publicity
: So Howard Dean is supposed to be guest-blogging on Lawrence Lessig's weblog. Two masters of publicity meet. I'm positively shrugging in anticipation. how to k300i simlock
Testing, 1,2,3
: The amazing Technorati now has a weblogs.com-like ping set up so you'll be scraped as soon as you post. I'm testing it now...how to k300i simlock
Justice
: An insightful Kaus post on the deschmucking of America: Twilight of the Pricks: Have you noticed that a number of powerful public figures with reputations for being ... well, schmucks, have gotten their comeuppance lately? Howell Raines, Andrew Cuomo, Gray Davis. I don't know Trent Lott, but you might be able to add him to the list. Is this a trend? [You have three examples, it's a trend--ed] ... Why is this happening? It's certainly not just the Internet--the Internet seems to have had little to do with the Cuomo and Davis dramas. My guess is it has something to do with a) the freer flow of information out from inner circles of celebrity and power to the general population (which the Internet helps) so that when a Big Schmuck yells at somebody on the phone or in his office, citizens in Peoria are likely to know this gossip the next week; and b) the increased willingness of reporters to rebelliously act on this sort of information, the way reporters are even now making sure that Cuomo's the loser in his marital split. ... Deeper issues! 1) Will this fundamentally change the Darwinian equation for success in Hollywood, New York, and D.C., to something closer to (or even nicer than) the game-theoretical 'tit-for-tat' posture, which says you need to be nice to people until they're nasty to you? 2) Who's next? ... Harvey? ... Who else? Martha? (I happen to like her, but many would put her in this list.) Lizzie G.? Steve Case? Who else is next? Michael Eisner... please? how to k300i simlock
The devil made him do it
: The Scotsman says that Tony Blair is getting heat from his own partymen to turn down the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor we can bestow (having given up that whole Lords and Sirs and Knights thing in a war with somebody once). Tony Blair was last night under intense pressure from the Labour benches to turn down a prestigious Congressional Gold Medal from George Bush, the United States president, as the political fall-out from the Iraq conflict continued to bedevil the Prime Minister.
One back-bench Labour MP said accepting the honour would be like "taking an award from Satan" as speculation mounted at Westminster that Mr Blair would have to refuse the medal. Well, first, let's get this straight: It's the Congressional Gold Medal. That means it is bestowed by Congress. Would the honorable gentleman like to answer the question: Are they all Satan, too?
But let's also look at who has received this award (after George Washington and others who fought in that war against someone sometime).
Congress has given its Gold Award to Winston Churchill, Simon Wiesenthal, Walt Disney, the Wright brothers, Charles Lindburgh, Thomas Edison, Irving Berlin, Jonas Salk, Robert Frost, Bob Hope, Marian Anderson, Elie Wiesel, Anatoly and Avital Shcharansky, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa.
Satan, indeed. how to k300i simlock
how to k300i simlock
A little military humor
: One military blogger -- PontifexExMachina -- to another -- Lt.Smash: LT Smash is trying to figure out where to go once he leaves the Middle East.
Well, I hear Liberia is nice this time of year. how to k300i simlock
Thanks but no thanks
: I missed Alireza's open letter (in response to Michael J. Totten's open letter) regarding American support for an Iranian democracy movement.
He essentially says: thanks, Americans, but no thanks.
There's much I disagree with in the letter. This is a medium for links and responses even to that with which you disagree.
He says regarding September 11th: When the Twin Towers came down on September 11th 2001, I did not light candles for the victims of that monstrous attack, precisely because of my memory of every crime the U.S. had committed against my country - and I assure you that I was not alone ... Which is to imply that America and its 3,000 innocent victims somehow deserved this fate because of things America had done. I fear he thinks there was even some justice in the act.
That is not only offensive, it is illogical. If you think the attack as "monstrous," then you should mourn the victims.
I have considerable antipathy for the mullahs of Iran who kidnapped our diplomats and who called for the death of our nation and people. But that does not stop me from mourning the victims of the mullahs; that does not stop me from supporting Iranians who are struggling for democracy. It is possible to hold a regime and its actions in disdain while supporting its subjects.
He goes on: Like many, I was hoping that September 11th would be a wakeup call for the U.S. to see the hatred that its injustices had created in the hearts of people all around the world. Unfortunately though, that hope did not last long, and it soon became obvious that America was going to continue to bury its head in the sand and blame those “Islamic fascists” for all the hatred against the Great and Free Homeland. Once again, both offensive and illogical: We're supposed to see the murder of 3,000 innocents as a wake-up call? That would imbue what these terrorist slime did with sane motive; that would give them the cloak of justice. That would be so very wrong.
You bet I blame "Islamic fascists" for what happened on September 11th and no shortage of other sick acts in the world because that is justified.
He takes us to task, properly, for our role in the deposing of one Iranian government and the installation of the shah. I'm American but I do not support those actions (and I live in a country, by the way, where I am free to say so). It is precisely because of that history that I have said that America should avoid direct involvement in Iran again and should, instead, find ways to show support for the movement there. I take responsibility for my nation's actions and I understand Iranians keeping us at arm's length. I do not believe that Alireza takes appropropriate and similiar responsibility for the mullah's actions and words against America and neither does he appreciate how difficult it is for Americans to overcome that and support Iran's progressive movement nonetheless.
You see, Alireza, we must get past the obvious and the hateful if we are to make any progress. Just because you do not like what America has done does not mean that you cannot mourn our innocent victims of an evil act and does not mean that you cannot accep the support at least of individual Americans, such as the bloggers you read. Just because I do not like what Iran has done to my country does not mean I cannot sincerely offer that support.
If based on history, I write you off forever and you write me off forever, we will never get anywhere, will we?
Please don't spurn the hand that is offered. how to k300i simlock
One man's news is another man's bias
: I'm a bit late to the party but I just discovered the Biased BBC weblog [via Mojtaba].how to k300i simlock
News
: In a column lamenting that Iran's regime did not fall on July 9 (did anyone realistically expect it to?) and the lack of coverage of the events of the day in Western media, David Warren adds this: Much better, and timelier, information was available from the leading U.S. news Web logs, to where people who actually need to know the news are increasingly turning. Well, the information on weblogs would have been more complete if the mullahs had not blocked weblog tools in Iran. how to k300i simlock
Reforming the reformer
: I'm waiting for Iranian bloggers to explain the latest news from Tehran: President Mohammad Khatami said in a speech he would resign if people wish it amid growing public dissatisfaction over his failure to meet promises of democratic reform, a newspaper reported Saturday.
It was the first time Khatami has publicly offered to resign. Iran's formerly popular president has come under increasing pressure in recent months to stand firm against unelected hardline clerics and fulfill election promises of freedoms and democratic change in Iran....
Khatami made the comments in a speech in Karaj, west of the capital Tehran, on Thursday. State-run television and radio censored the part that discussed a possible resignation.
Khatami's hopes for a compromise with hard-liners have been thwarted in recent weeks after the Guardian Council, which vets all parliamentary legislation, rejected two key reform bills presented by the president.
Those bills would have given Khatami greater power to stop constitutional violations by his hardline opponents and bar the Guardian Council from arbitrarily disqualifying candidates in legislative and presidential elections. NRO's Joel Mowbray gives further background: To listen to the diplomats at Foggy Bottom, Iran is a country divided between the religious "hardliners" and the moderate "reformers." State's No. 2 official actually called Iran a "democracy" in an interview with the Los Angeles Times this February. Give the ruling mullahs credit for this much - they managed to dupe the U.S. State Department.
The Iranian mullahs pulled off an impressive marketing job by holding two consecutive elections in which a "reformer" won the presidency and then allowing the "reformers" to win a majority of parliament in the 2000 election. Beneath the surface, though, the story is much different. The Council of Guardians, a panel of 12 mullahs that controls most of Iran, vetted all candidates for president and Parliament. Even if the "reformers" who control the Parliament are actual reformers, they have little power to change anything. The Council of Guardians can veto any bill it chooses.
But the greatest - and most dangerous - myth that the mullahs have managed to perpetuate is that President Mohammad Khatami is a "reformer." What most don't realize is that he spent a decade as Iran's chief censor, from 1982 to 1992, where he censored more than 600 publications. He was one of 238 people who placed their hats in the ring - and 234 were declared ineligible by the Council of Guardians. In other words, Khatami was only of four candidates deemed acceptable by the mullahs. how to k300i simlock
July 11, 2003
Mickey Maus
: Blogging favorite Roger L. Simon writes for my favorite 'zine, Jewsweek, about making Jewish movies in Hollywood and he tells this great anecdote about writing the adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Holocaust black comedy Enemies, A Love Story for director Paul Mazursky: When Paul and I turned the script into Disney Studios (they had optioned the book for Mazursky to direct and had paid me to write), Michael Eisner said, "Fellas, this is a very good screenplay, but..." turning to Paul, "...couldn't you update it like you did Down and Out in Beverly Hills?"
"But Michael," said Paul. "The Holocaust took place at a very specific time ... during World War II."
"Well, how about another Holocaust. How about the Afghani Holocaust."
how to k300i simlock
Weblog interviews
: My blogging colleague Joe Territo has managed to swing quite a collection of weblog interviews:
: Blogging British MP Tom Watson on WMD and more.
: Ethanol advocate Trevor Guthmiller.
: NJ state pol Michael Patrick Carroll on who's to blame for states' fiscal fiascos.
: Campus Republican Charles Mitchell on Social Security and more.
: Jerry Springer on his Senate run.
Now that I'm finally back on broadband, I got to read it all. An impressive run of original reporting on a blog! how to k300i simlock
Italy is to Germany as France is to the U.S.
: German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder canceled a family vacation to Italy after (1) Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi likened a German member of the EU Parliament to a Nazi concentration-camp guard and, says FAZ (2) "Italy's junior minister for tourism, Stefano Stefani, refused to apologize for describing Germans as loud 'supernationalist blondes' who 'invade Italy's beaches' every summer and make life miserable for the locals."
Italians are screaming that this will hurt their tourism business.
Yup, just as French cracks hurt France's tourism business.
What goes around doesn't get on a plane and come around.how to k300i simlock
Journalism as democracy
: Howard Rheingold writes in OJR about the power of online -- weblogs, moblogs, et al -- in re journalism and democracy, making the point I was trying to make about the interest in the Iran story on weblogs vs. the coverage of it in media: Journalism, if it is to deserve the name, is not about the quality of the camera, but about the journalist's intuition, integrity, courage, inquisitiveness, analytic and expressive capabilities, and above all, the trust the journalist has earned among readers.
Good journalists discern compelling stories in events, cultivate and mobilize networks of sources, double check and triple check facts, develop reputations that can only be won by getting the story right week after week, year after year....
Now, by subscribing and linking to online sources we trust, the consumers of blog content are becoming a kind of collective editorial system. The more attentively we sift and analyze and share our discoveries online, the more the writers of blogs (and whatever blogs evolve into) can grow a social intelligence....
For all its entertainment and social networking value, the most important promise of blogging is that it could help revivify the moribund public sphere that is as essential to democracy as voting. The petitions, letters to the editor, pamphleteering that preceded the American and French revolutions were essential enabling institutions for the experiments in self-government that followed.... Thus, the collective brain of the blogosphere edits the news (and fact-checks it) and brings not only stories but also causes of interest to the surface (see Iran). [via Cyberwriter] how to k300i simlock
The church of blog
: Der Spiegel [via Astrid Paprotta] makes a religious analogy for operating systems. According to Spiegel:
: Windows is Catholic (because it has priests -- sysadmins -- and a Vatican -- namely, Redmond).
: Linux is the Evangelical Free Church.
: Apple Mac is a cult.how to k300i simlock
I'd adapt that to the American religious scene and propose that:
: Windows is Presbyterian (because it's WASPy).
: Apple is Unitarian (because it's the PC PC).
: Linux is agnostic (because it doesn't believe in anything but itself).
And I'd add this:
: Bloggers are Jewish (because we like to argue).
how to k300i simlock
Losing something in the translation
: Google now has a German news product: news.google.de. If they were going to be culturally and linguistically sensitive, they should have created it under the address nachrichten.google.de, no?how to k300i simlock
'Their face is the only open space'
: Blue Bird Escape continues her journey back to the U.S. from Iran, stopping in Europe, where she observes: When we went out I expected to see women in scarves with covered bodies. I was used to see them that way in Iran. Instead I saw women in tank tops and short skirts. Why do these women have these rights and the women in Iran don't? What makes them different? No one tells them how to dress. They don't need to wear makeup because they can make themselves pretty with their different clothing styles. The women in Iran have required themselves to fix their faces with makeup in the best way possible. Their face is the only open space where beauty is not hidden. The only place where their secrets, their story, and their dreams are somewhat found. : A wise magazine editor would commission young Miss Blue Bird to expand her diaries and turn them into a story (if not a book). how to k300i simlock
Blocked
: Hoder has many good posts on Iran today: Optimistically speaking, I guess the recent blocking of all blogging tools in Iran (+ my own poor weblog!) in the days of July 9th, has been a matter of security. Almost any kind of communication with outside world were cut off: cell-phones, long-distance calling cards, VoIP phone lines, satelite TVs, Internet access, and finally weblogs. It is very likely that the reformist government has arranged all of it for the fear of riots in the city and a more than possible savage reaction to them by hardliner vigilante and revolutionary guards. Because hardliners are not practically capabale of doing all this.
So I'm hopeful that the input/output channels will be opened again by saturday and people can access blogosphere again. But anyways, please spread the word. It's very important....how to k300i simlock
Israel should be the best friend for Iran in mid-east region with all those anti-persian Arab countries....how to k300i simlock
One of the common mistakes about Iranian people is that they are anti-western. This is totally wrong. Iranians are maybe the closest people in the region to western values such as rationality, tolerance and individuality.... Read the rest of each post. how to k300i simlock
My case of digital constipation is over
: Back at home. Back on high-speed. Off of dial-up. I forgot the pain. How the hell did the Internet become a big thing, a world-changing thing, a bubble-inducing thing when most people were on dial-up?how to k300i simlock
July 10, 2003
Whereabouts
: Blogging light for about 18 hours as I do other things. See you soon. how to k300i simlock
News judgment
: Harry disagrees with my point about the news judgment of news organizations vs. the blogosphere relating to Iraq. It's a fair disagreement. But since he's quibbling with my argument, I'll quibble with his example: Harry pulls the numbers game to compare two stories: Three Iranians are arrested vs. 400-500 Bangladeshi's lost in a ferry accident. First, I'll argue, that's bogus because one is a movement that can affect the stability of the world; the other is a tragic accident but just that: an accident. But even that's beside the point. As Harry says, any individual blogger does not pretend to present a full and balanced news report; a blogger blogs what he or she feels like blogging. But I'm not comparing one blogger to the news business; I'm comparing bloggers in aggregate as a collective brain against the collective judgement of the news business. That's what I find fascinating with this one story as an example: Blogdex shows high interest in the Iran story; news sites show low interest. You could argue that one of them is wrong.
It would be interesting for an academic out there to chart the top stories on, say, Blogdex vs. the top stories on Google News (which, though automated, tracks professional news organs). I say you'd then be tracking the interests of the audience (with bloggers as an imperfect proxy that is improving as the universe grows) vs. the interests of the pros. how to k300i simlock
July 09, 2003
July 10: Why July 9 matters
: It doesn't matter whether 10 people or 10,000 people came out to demonstrate for freedom and democracy in Iran. Fear and hard experience kept many off the streets; the student leaders called off their demonstrations and, even so, were kidnapped by the mullahs' thugs. There is reason for fear. Still, the numbers don't matter. The impact is the same.
July 9 matters.
It matters because the people of Iran know that they have a cause, the cause of freedom.
The mullahs of Iran know that their people are revolting; they know their days must be numbered.
The politicians of America know there is a cause to support. I hope the politicians of other countries know this, too.
And, not insignificantly, the bloggers of Iran and the bloggers of the rest of the world have made connections. We've gotten to know each other and respect each other. We've learned the fuller story of Iran's struggle for freedom and of Iran's rich and real life. Iranian people have learned of Americans' support for their cause (so what if this is not the cause of the left or of students on the streets; it is the cause of the blogosphere). And Americans have learned of Iranians' respect for them.
And Iranian bloggers have seen that they can use this new medium to tell their stories and find support and make connections.
July 9 is just the beginning of the story. July 9 matters.how to k300i simlock
Connections
: See Joe Katzman's post on Pejman's blog. It's about using weblogs to build bridges. how to k300i simlock
: See also Hooman on connections.how to k300i simlock
On the streets of New York
: Asparagirl's report from the NY Iranian demo: Nearly all--95%, I'd say--of the people there were quite obviously Iranian exiles. And where, I wondered, were all the other non-Iranian American protestors, shouting in support of nascent democratic movement against a brutal theocratic tyranny? Where were the protests from ANSWER and Amnesty International and other human rights groups? The ones who paraded and yelled so vigorously about a certain country just next door to Iran, saying something about human rights and oppression? Whose solipsistic, self-congratulatory, often logically mangled signs and banners I can still see in my head, even had I not documented them?
Needless to say, they didn't come. And I hate to say it, but I doubt they ever will. No rock stars or country stars or actors will speak out for the Iranians. There is no glamour for them here. : And here is Ken Wheaton's report. how to k300i simlock
On the streets of Tehran
: The latest, from Reuters: Hundreds of Iranian hardline Islamic vigilantes, police and pro-democracy youths fought sporadic street battles near Tehran University on Wednesday, the anniversary of violent 1999 student unrest.
A witness said police fired tear gas at groups of youths near the campus and also fought hand-to-hand with plainclothes Islamic militiamen to prevent them from engaging in further battles with the pro-democracy youths.
"The atmosphere is very tense, the smell of tear gas is thick in the air. Police have clashed with youths, the youths have fought with Basijis (militiamen) and I saw police fighting Basijis trying to get closer to the university," the witness said....
Hundreds of riot police reinforcements later poured in to take control of the area, dispersing crowds and chasing youths into side streets and beating them with batons.
Police appeared to have a firmer grip on security than during last month's unrest, when at times they stood by and watched as vigilantes beat protesters with chains, cables and clubs and roared around on motorcycles attacking protesters at will.
But cars still clogged the downtown area into the night with drivers beeping horns when Basij or police were not looking. : The news is little more than a brief in the Guardian.
how to k300i simlock
Goodbye, Tehran
: Blue Bird Escape, the teen blogger visiting her homeland, Iran, is leaving today: I wish Iranians lots and lots of luck and hope they will get their freedom back. I've tried so hard not to be sad, but it's hard. Harder than I thought. how to k300i simlock
News judgment
: The blogosphere's news judgment is evident on Blogdex and it's not the news judgment you'll see on major news sites. On Blogdex right now, the top two stories are about Iran. Elsewhere (on the BBC or on Google News, for example), you won't find Iran on the front page.
Blogdex reflects the news judgment of the audience. It reflects the news the audience cares about. The two should not disagree. But they do.how to k300i simlock
Blog resurrection
: Diana of Letter from Gotham is back at a new address. how to k300i simlock
The view from Iran
: The wonderful travel/weblog View from Iran by the Iranian/American couple traveling there has wonderful insights and moments from the momentous day there [TE the wife wrote this; K is her Iranian husband]: There is a big demonstration planned for tonight. “The government has at least 1000 guys undercover for the demonstration,” K’s friend tells him. (Does that mean we should subtract 1000 from the turnout)
K wants to go, but no one will let him. “It will take about 5 minutes to arrest you. You look too foreign now. Once they arrest you, you will be in prison for about a month.” K is disappointed, but he is not stupid.
We can hear helicopters outside....how to k300i simlock
Our sources tell us that the mullahs are sending their money out of the country. Hmmm…
“The time for breaking out the champagne is coming,” a friend tells us....how to k300i simlock
“The mullahs are going, but they won’t go out without a fight. Their mobs will be attacking places that they think are western,” C tells us. “Coffee houses, pizza places, pool halls – those places will all be targets.”...how to k300i simlock
I have a dream. I dream about a day when police stop harassing women and men about their dress and marital status and start harassing drivers about driving in the wrong lane and on the sidewalk and through a red light.how to k300i simlock
“I have worked with some engineers,” a friend tells us. “We created a plan for easing the traffic in Tehran. We could implement it in less than a year, and it would relieve the traffic. The problem is that right now, traffic is the last thing on people’s minds.”...how to k300i simlock
In the middle of this fairly innocuous conversation, [the taxi driver] announced that the mullahs were bad. “They are bad. Dirty. They have 5 wives.”
Will I ever meet someone who likes the mullahs? Note especially that line about the rich mullahs sending their money out of the country. That is always the last gasp of a dictatorship -- whether Papa Doc in Haiti or Saddam Hussein in Iraq or Marcos in the Phillipines: The money leaves first. how to k300i simlock
Michael Ledeen on July 9
: NRO columnist Michael Ledeen -- a bit of a lightning rod on Iran who has reached out to many of the Iranian bloggers lately to make his position and support clear -- writes on July 9 and the struggle for democracy in Iran: For those who believe that revolution is a test of will, and that a regime willing to use any amount of terror required to retain power will probably survive, these are at once ominous and encouraging signs. Ominous, because this regime does not appear ready to go quietly; encouraging, because the mullahs are not facing a handful of revolutionaries, but a mass movement.
I have long argued that the United States could provide the decisive support that would guarantee success of the democratic revolution. All Iranians, from the top ayatollahs to the student organizers, believe that America is capable of guaranteeing the outcome of the conflict, and they are all trying to decipher the American strategy. Whenever President Bush speaks warmly of the demonstrators, they are enormously encouraged; whenever some other official — typically from the State Department — speaks words subject to many interpretations (or, worse still, proclaims the current regime "a democracy," as Deputy Secretary of State Armitage did in February), it sends a chill through the hearts of the freedom fighters. Despite the endless barrage of anti-American rhetoric from the mullahs, they still maneuver to be able to demonstrate American acceptance of their power, knowing that any hint of American legitimization of the regime will weaken their opponents.
In Iran, where treachery has long been the national sport and superstition the bedrock of political analysis, the people are casting runes and reading entrails, searching for certainty about the American strategy. Once they know it, they will act accordingly. If they see clearly, once and for all, that the United States is serious about regime change in Tehran, the ranks of the opposition will swell beyond counting.... That's what scares some of the Iranian bloggers: Ledeen wants American action to bring democracy to Iran; many of the Iranians believe they can do it with support but not action. There's where they disagree. But they all agree that the time has come for democracy and freedom in Iran. Ledeen adds: "...the doom of the mullahs will not come from the barrel of a gun. It will come from millions of Iranians in the public spaces of the major cities, demanding an end to their misery."
Today is a beginning. how to k300i simlock
Brother's keeper
: Khatami's own brother is giving him well-deserved crap. Says AFP at IranMania: Iran's embattled reformist President Mohammad Khatami was under renewed pressure Wednesday, this time with his brother urging him to step in to prevent the alleged abuse of political prisoners.
In an open letter to the president, Mohammad Reza Khatami -- who heads Iran's main reformist grouping -- complained that some of those detained during recent unrest had been picked up by shadowy institutions and been subjected to torture....
"Unfortunately, in recent years there have been many cases of people being kept in solitary confinement ... and their families subjected to pressure and threats," he wrote, referring to "students, journalists, political activists and writers"....
He alleged some detainees had been forced to make confessions that implicated reformist figures.
"There have been cases of such confessions that were obtained from students jailed during recent unrest being published in media close to the judiciary," said the letter, a copy of which was faxed to AFP....
"These acts are incompatible with any moral, humane and legal principles," he wrote, blaming "parallel services" -- or shadowy intelligence operatives acting outside the usual security service structure.
how to k300i simlock
Who'll play him in the movie?
: Nick Denton reports (via an emailed press release) that Salam Pax has a book deal: The book will be called SALAM PAX: The Internet Diaries of Life Inside Baghdad -- though the Grove website has the title as My Name is Salam Pax, which sounds better, even if it is a cliche. No word yet on the advance but, given the competition for Salam's book, it must be well into the six figures. Which would make Salam one of the richest men in Iraq -- if one excludes the local warlords and mullahs, that is. And they said no one would ever make money out of blogging. One other observation. The publishing industry, supposedly hidebound, has been quick to pick up on weblog talent. The writers on both Gawker and Gizmodo have had feelers from agents and publishers; many other bloggers too. The publishing industry treats weblogs, quite sensibly, as just another talent pool. And that makes the conservatism of American newspapers all the more remarkable. They are embarrassingly slow to recognize talent. In any functioning newspaper market, the old columnists would be sent out to pasture, and a blogger like Ken Layne would have a picture byline by now. And amen to Nick's moral to the story. how to k300i simlock
July 9: street battles
: Update: Hoder is blogging the events in Iran on his English-language weblog.how to k300i simlock
: AFP says at IranMania: Journalists also received written instructions not to cover any illegal gatherings -- even though there was no immediate sign of any....
In a bid to ease tensions, the conservative judiciary has released a number of detained students, but at the same time made it clear that any further unrest -- branded as the work of arch-enemy the United States -- will not be tolerated.
Some of the students detained in the 1999 unrest -- in which at least one student was killed and hundreds were injured or arrested -- are still in jail. : Sky News reports:
Police have faught running battles in Iran's capital between hardline Islamic vigilantes and pro-democracy youths.
The three-sided running street fights took place near the capital's Tehran University.
A witness said police had fired tear gas at groups of youths near the campus and also fought fist fights with plainclothes Islamic militiamen to prevent them from engaging in further running battles.
: Tehran Online, a blog, reports hearing explosions. how to k300i simlock
Meanwhile, in China
: Democracy simmers in Hong Kong. Could it spread to China? how to k300i simlock
July 9
: Student leaders call off demonstrations, fearing violence -- and then they are kidnapped by the mullahs' militia thugs. Reuters reports: Armed Iranian Islamic vigilantes have seized three student leaders as they left a news conference where they announced they had cancelled protests to mark the anniversary of 1999 university unrest, witnesses say.
Authorities have banned off-campus rallies, closed campus dormitories, postponed summer exams and vowed to deal strictly with any unrest after arresting 4,000 people during 10 nights of sometimes violent protests across the country in June.
"After the news conference when some of our friends wanted to leave, armed plainclothes men in three cars attacked the students and kidnapped three members of the Office to Consolidate Unity," Matin Meshkini, a student leader, told Reuters.
Other witnesses said some 15 people armed with handguns and with the trademark beards, walkie-talkies and untucked shirts of Islamic vigilantes pushed aside uniformed police who tried to intervene as they bundled the three into waiting cars.
"We cannot call it arrest, it was a kidnapping," Meshkini said.
Remaining student leaders locked themselves in the Office to Consolidate Unity, Iran's main student organisation, fearing for their safety. They left hours later after Tehran's police chief guaranteed they would not be harmed or arrested.
"We believe remaining here would give them a pretext for a worse confrontation with student activists," Meshkini said.
Students said they cancelled protests in front of the Tehran United Nations headquarters and a campus sit-in, fearing a backlash from security forces and after an appeal for calm from five reformist parliamentarians close to the student movement.
The plainclothes militiamen are fiercely loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure, and are beyond the control of the elected government of moderate President Mohammad Khatami and the official police hierarchy.
One student leader said eight members of the Office to Consolidate Unity had been seized by unidentified assailants before Wednesday and their whereabouts were still unknown. : There is surprisingly -- shockingly -- little coverage of the events. how to k300i simlock
: The BBC's version: Despite their compliance, three more student leaders were detained immediately after giving a news conference on Wednesday morning to explain why they had called off their visit to the UN headquarters.
Reza Ameri-Nassab, Arash Hashemi and Ali Moqtaderi were intercepted by plain-clothes gunmen as they left the building, and taken away with pistols at their heads. One of them is believed to have had his nose broken as he was being detained.
"If I am arrested today, I don't guarantee that I won't come out with confessions against myself after they've held me for a while, because of the pressures they put people under," Ameri-Nassab told journalists only minutes before he was seized.
Student arrests have sparked demonstrations
The legality of such snatches, carried out on the orders of the Tehran public prosecutor Judge Saeed Mortazavi, has been challenged by student leaders and reformist officials and has become one of the main student grievances. : Michael J. Totten has an open letter to the people of Iran. how to k300i simlock
: Cox & Forkum has a good roundup. I'm on dial-up and keep getting cut off. So start there.how to k300i simlock
: This is what we've heard from Washington: As Iran prepares to mark Wednesday's fourth anniversary of bloody student riots, US lawmakers said Washington should do more to support students agitating for the regime's reform or ouster.
"America must make it clear that we see the difference between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people, and we support the people," said Senator Sam Brownback, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has held several hearings on the political and social situation in Iran. how to k300i simlock
July 08, 2003
July 9
: The heartfelt post by Iranian girl on the eve of July 0:
I don’t know what exactly I wanna say, I just feel worried, & get confused when I see all the ones I know saying easily:” don't worry, nothing will happen & it's just a temporary excitement…” & I can't understand if it's really what they believe or not . Yes, people are really pessimistic about a soon change of regime; they are tired & hopeless & for sure scared. And I just don't know if they can throw away their fear & tiredness or not. how to k300i simlock
People have seen enough violence from this regime & for sure they don't like to lose their children & teenagers in a street battle & let them fight for what is their right. I just wish they could open their eyes & see clearly what is happening to their children & just compare that with death...how to k300i simlock
Tomorrow is July 9...the day that Iranians will show what they really want, & will prove that they're not a kind of people who leave alone the students & the young guys who are spending they life in prisons, just because they wanted freedom for all Iranians. I really hope that they do it well & I myself will try my best to do whatever I can as a young girl, we must also encourage each other; that's very important…
Anyway, I know that all people in the world support us spiritually, & pray for all fighters of freedom. I wish that they also show their support by whatever they can do; I'm sure that bloggers & writers from other countries will not forget us.
Oh, I feel that I'm making a will!!! You know, I can not ignore this feeling of anxiety...Ok, let's see what is waiting for Iranians in their destiny. : Phelps has pictures of an Iranian democracy demonstration in Dallas today.... Hoder had details of a similar gathering in Toronto.... Here's the report of a small demo in Atlanta.... Asparagirl has the details on the New York demo.... how to k300i simlock
: Reuters on July 9 in Tehran: Iranian students on Tuesday vowed to commemorate a violent 1999 attack on a university dormitory on Wednesday in defiance of an official ban.
Nervous that the July 9 anniversary may reignite protests against clerical rule which rocked Tehran and other cities for 10 nights in June, officials have banned off-campus rallies, closed some university dormitories and postponed summer exams....
"We haven't obtained any permission for gatherings but there will be some sit-in protests at the universities and some people are going to gather outside the U.N. building," in Tehran, one student leader told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Many ordinary Iranians have also pledged to mark the events of July 9, 1999 when hardline Islamic vigilantes fiercely loyal to Iran's conservative clerics attacked students in a Tehran University dormitory, killing one person and sparking five days of mass protests.
"I'm closing my business and I will go out to show my support for the students," said a hairdresser in Tehran who asked not to be identified....
"There may be a couple of sporadic protests in the country tomorrow but I don't think it will become a major thing," said one reformist parliamentarian, who also declined to be named.
"Some ordinary people may come out onto the streets but it will not be tolerated," he said.
Tehran residents have complained that U.S.-based Iranian satellite channels, which played a key role in encouraging people to join last month's protests, are no longer available, their signals apparently jammed. : Baku Today reports: Islamic militia have been carrying out mass raids on satellite dish owners in Tehran...
The key goal of this campaign is to confiscate satellite dishes ahead of the anniversary of the July 9, 1999 student uprising. : Anyone else think that it's a bit quisling of Mohammed elBaradei, the head of the UN's nuke watchdogs, to chose July 9 as the day to visit Iran? Isn't he just playing into the hands of the mullahs, who want anything in the news instead of democracy demonstrations? Couldn't the UN have waited a day? Shouldn't the UN be the first to support democracy? how to k300i simlock
: Pooya Dayanim, president of the Iranian Jewish Public Affairs Committee, at National Review Online: omorrow is Judgment Day for the terrorist mullahs that run the Islamic regime in Iran....
Judgment Day is approaching for those who started the chant: "Death to America" and everything America stands for. Judgment Day is approaching for the Islamic Republic of Iran. It may not be tomorrow, but soon this evil regime will join the other evil regimes in the dustbin of history. Judgment Day will come. how to k300i simlock
Protest
: As tomorrow's scheduled protests in Iran approach, the Iranian Press Service reports: As Iranians, led by students, organise themselves to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the first massive crackdown on student’s movement for democracy and freedom both in Iran and in the world, a number of students from Tehran and provincial universities have gone on hunger strike to demand the release of classmates arrested during recent anti-regime protests. how to k300i simlock
Wise beyond her years
: Blue Bird Escape, the weblog by the teenage Iranian girl revisiting her homeland, says today as the visit is about to come to an end: People forget what a life without freedom is and how it feels to be watched and told what to do or how to dress. Where words of complaint can lead to death. how to k300i simlock
Democracy
: TE, the American half of the Iranian-American blogging couple, reminds her readers that democracy takes work: Democracy is a lot of work and a lot of compromise and it does not take care of you. You take care of it. If you don’t take care of it, somebody else will.
If you want government to take care of you, then come to Iran. This government will tell you how to dress (men and women), what religion to believe in, and what to think. (Not that Iranians are listening…) Government that cares for you turns you into a child. Later in the post, she reports a convesation about Iran's reputed nuclear capability and quotes a judge in Tehran who says wisely: “You know what makes a country secure? A good economy and happy people. Nuclear weapons and a strong army do not make a country safe.” The same judge says, “Americans have no better friend in the Middle East than the Iranians.”
I look forward to every post in this travel/weblog. Read the rest here. how to k300i simlock
Gaining something in the translation
: A headline on Hoder's Persian weblog today says: "Weblogs by Iranians in English are much more effective than reports by mainstream media." And Pedram at Eyranian expands on the notion: I had a chance to talk to Hoder today and most of our conversation circled around the need for more Iranians to start English blogs. We both agreed how imporatnt this is, particularly as events in Iran develope and media spotlight is focused there again.
Why do we let others try to translate and express how we feel? If more of us, even those with limited command of English, tried to use this tool and relate their points of view to the rest of the world, we wouldn't have others claiming that we want foreign intrusion into our country or we love the monarchy or we ...
Anyone interested in starting one, contact me. I will help as much as I can. Promise. They are both right. Weblogs are letting Iranians reach media influencers they'd never be able to reach otherwise and they are letting them tell their story more fully and personally than a quote in a news story would ever allow. how to k300i simlock
July 07, 2003
Can't we all get along ... or failing that, just shut up?
: I think I speak for many (read: most) bloggers when I say that we don't really give a shit about the RSS v. Echo wars.
Most mortals -- and now that weblogs are widespread, remember that most bloggers are now mortals, not warrior geeks -- still don't fully understand what RSS is or what it does, least of all what it stands for (either version). That doesn't mean we won't use it or its variants and depend on them; that doesn't mean that XML and RSS and Echo are not revolutionary and better than sex. But that's not the point.
If the leaders of the blogging world keep on fighting about this, it will hurt everyone -- not just because there will be confusion about standards and compliance and how and where to get the data and functionality you need but also because it will continue to doom "blogging" to the world of greasy-haired geekdom, not mass-market significance.
So I don't give a damn who's right and who's wrong. I don't give a damn who started it. I don't give a damn who's screwing whom.
I have just one message for all of you:
SHUT UP ALREADY!
This fight is getting to be embarrassing and certainly unproductive and probably destructive. It's tiresome and childish and wearying.
So find a way to get along.
Or some big company will just come in and do it for you.how to k300i simlock
July 9 jitters
: The Guardian reports that the mullahs are nervously trying to stop the July 9 democracy demonstrations in Iran: The Iranian government is taking action to pre-empt possible unrest tonight on the eve of the anniversary of a crackdown on student protests by banning rallies and jamming satellite broadcasts from exiles in the US.
The interior ministry said it had refused all requests for rallies this week, when university students had hoped to commemorate the violent suppression of protests on July 9 1999.
Caught off guard by a wave of chaotic demonstrations three weeks ago, the authorities are taking no chances and trying to discourage young people from taking to the streets to denounce the theocracy.
The state prosecutor, who blamed the previous round of protests on "hooligans" and meddling foreign powers, said 4,000 people had been detained in recent weeks. Most student leaders have been detained without trial or formal indictment, reformist MPs say.
The authorities have closed some university halls of residence, postponed exams until the autumn, and renewed their efforts to seize satellite dishes and jam broadcasts by exiles in Los Angeles. You can shut off the satellites but you can't silence the people. how to k300i simlock
The local angle: Baghdad
: The third edition of the Baghdad Bulletin is out. The first two issues were tinged with an edge of anti-Americanism. The third issue is too busy reporting news to bother with that. Among the stories:
: Property prices are already soaring.
: A museum to Saddam's war crimes has opened in one of his former prisons.
: Computer shops are making a booming business in pirated software.
: Universities are eager to reopen.how to k300i simlock
Learning about Iran
: Hoder (below) starts a campaign to help us learn and understand more about Iran and Hooman suggests a first step, recommending the book Neither East Nor West.how to k300i simlock
Two edges to this sword
: I've been delighted to make contact with Iranian bloggers lately, supporting the cause of Iranian democracy, meeting new people with new perspectives, making new connections; that's all good.
But I should acknowledge when a post on one of those blogs is disturbing. Steppenwolf, an Iranian blogger, writes a post out of the movie The Pianist that makes me uncomfortable -- and some of the comments regarding his post make me even more uncomfortable. There is the bad smell of anti-semitism about it (asking why the Jews can't just get over the Holocaust and then asking whether they doth protest too much); in the comments, there is also a misplaced effort to equate the Holocaust with Palestinian displacement. I debated whether to link to the post here but I decided to because I have linked to Steppenwolf frequently regarding the struggle in Iran. The context matters -- both about the person and about the cultural, racial, religious struggles in that part of the world.
Steppenwolf: The Holocaust is not something you just get over. The murder of six million people just because of who they are is not something you get over. The struggle of the Palestinian people is, of course, a terrible burden. But it is not Iran's burden. And it is not a matter of genocide. And if you can't understand that, you can't understand Israel's motives of cultural self-preservation and you can't understand what is necessary to bring peace to your region. Blowing that off with a flippant remark only reduces your own credibility and stature. how to k300i simlock
: And while I'm at it, since I linked to many Iranian webloggers, I got some email a few weeks back telling me about a new one calling himself Plate. I didn't like the weblog then and now I really don't like it. Won't waste the bits saying why; won't link to him, either. He's not on my list of good Iranian webloggers. how to k300i simlock
Two words
: Dial-up sucks.how to k300i simlock
Iran updates
: I'm busy being out in the sunshine so go to Winds of Change for the latest links on Iran.how to k300i simlock
July 06, 2003
View from Iran
: View from Iran, the weblog by an Iranian husband and an American wife visiting Iran that I've mentioned before, has a few new installments with fascinating snips of life there; go read. how to k300i simlock
Iranian solidarity
: Oxblog has a roundup of demonstrations in solidarity with the movement for Iranian democracy on July 9. See also Rome, below.how to k300i simlock
Yet more on AOL blogs
: Clay Shirky has posted his reaction to the AOL blogging demo.
Clay focuses on the community-vs-publishing models of blogging as if that were still an open question at AOL. From what I saw, there's no question mark there; AOL is starting with the community (LiveJournal) model. That may be a smart start, considering AOL's roots, but if that's where they stop, that will be a big mistake.how to k300i simlock
: Not surprisingly, my Technorati link cosmos exploded with lots of new links to Buzzmachine because of the AOL report. Surprisingly, the traffic itself did not take a corresponding jump. A single Instapundit link garner more. Not sure what the reason is: Perhaps Doc Searls is right: We're just getting tired of blogging about blogging.
how to k300i simlock
Supporting democracy through knowledge
: Hoder is trying to find better ways to support democracy in Iran: I've been thinking recently about how could outside world give support to democracy in Iran, the best way. Blogger folks such as Jeff Jarvis, Pejman Yousefizadeh, Joe Katzman, Andrew Sullivan, etc. have increased efforts to make at least English speaking blogosphere care more about Iranian students who've been struggling for change for a long time, and I really appreciate their attemtion and support. But I believe we all can do much more than putting up an icon, saying that we support democracy in Iran. In fact, we first should know about what kind of place Iran is and how it differs from Iraq and other mid-east countries.
So I'd like to suggest a new approach to supporting democracy in Iran: "If you really want to support us, try to know more about us." He's right. The single most important effect of making links with Iranian blogs has been that I've learned a lot more about Iranian politics, history, and culture; that makes the struggle there about people rather than just headlines; that gives the stories context and sense. The more Iranian bloggers explain in English, the more we will understand. how to k300i simlock
July 05, 2003
What hath Amazon (not to mention Walmart) wrought?
: Deadmalls.com.how to k300i simlock
AOL blogs, and we blog
: Many blogger comments and links re AOL's plans to blog. See my Technorati cosmos. how to k300i simlock
: And I forgot to mention one other benefit of bloggers coming out via AOL (and MSN and ISPs aplenty): More bloggers means more traffic to the bloggers who blog now, since bloggers tend to read blogs. The value of a network increases as its audience increases. The power of the network increases, too.how to k300i simlock
All blog and no play makes Jeff exactly what he is...
: Spending the week playing with the kids. Blogging lightly.how to k300i simlock
Solidarity with Iranian democracy
: Harry Hatchet reports there'll be a demonstration in Rome on July 9 in solidarity with planned demonstrations in Iran. He might be there, blogging.how to k300i simlock
July 04, 2003
AOL blogs!
: Yes, AOL will blog.
Yesterday, I was one of a privileged council of blogging elders -- Meg Hourihan, Nick Denton, Anil Dash, Clay Shirky -- invited to see AOL's new blogging tools, which will be released later this year. how to k300i simlock
They've done a good job. how to k300i simlock
The demo was going to be off-the-record, but because the opinion grinders in the room didn't turn the team into mincemeat -- reaction started with "this doesn't suck" (noted as high praise indeed), and quickly elevated to "they have a clue," and ended with "good job" -- and because one of the AOL team blogged it already -- the blogag was lifted (and, boy it feels good to get that AOL squishy ball out of my mouth).how to k300i simlock
: The most impressive feature: You'll be able to blog from IM (which includes AOL from your phone). That elicited many oohs from the room.how to k300i simlock
: The smartest feature: They are starting right off publishing every weblog in RSS/XML. That shows that they are paying attention to the world outside fortress AOL. That and the fact that they are eager for Technorati et al to spider their blogs. That and the fact that they invited us outsiders in to give them a critique. They know that to be successful, AOL's blogs need to be part of the larger blog world.how to k300i simlock
: Now before we go any farther, allow me a moment to dare to lecture the blogging community: For us to be successful, we also need AOL's blogs to be part of our world.
I don't want to hear us get snotty and snippy about AOL's entry into the blogosphere. I've already heard whispers that "AOL will ruin blogging." But those who think that are not dissing AOL; they are dissing AOL's millions of members. And that is a mistake.
If we are eager for Iraqis and Iranians to blog, we certainly should be eager for AOLers to blog. The more the better.
There's no need for concern that this will crowd and clutter the blogging world. You'll never see Aunt Esther's cat blog if no one you know ever links to it. That is precisely what makes weblogs a quality- and interest-driven medium. As Clay Shirky and I told them yesterday: It isn't content until it's linked.
And you can be sure that there will be blogs of interest that we will see only because AOL made these tools available to its huge audience. That is good.how to k300i simlock
: AOL has an interesting internal challenge positioning this next to its homepage tool and even its member profiles (which some people use as a quasiblog).
They've decided to call the product AOL Journals and thus, position it as a community tool (read: LiveJournal) more than a publishing tool (read: Movable Type). The word "blog" is only part of the subtitle.
That's wise. Community is what built the AOL empire. how to k300i simlock
: But AOL -- and every other online business -- also has a strategic challenge to make sure that they stay ahead of where weblogs are headed. There will be no end of uses for these things.
Weblogging tools are nothing but publishing tools: history's fastest, easiest, cheapest publishing tools with history's greatest distribution network.
Today, they are used in one or more of four ways:
> Community: LiveJournal et al let people communicate; my space talks to your space.
> Content: Weblogs like this one, Instapundit, Gawker, Lost Remote, IWantMedia, etc. are just nanopublishing ventures.
> Marketing: Consultants, venture capitalists, law firms, and others use them to show how smart they are. If I had a restaurant, I'd use weblog tools to put up my daily specials.
> Personal space: Very soon, weblogs will be used to organize your stuff and your life. AOL webloggers will certainly use them to publish photos for family and the world to see. I see a family weblog as a way to communicate and stay in sync.
Weblogs will get more and better tools -- publishing tools (for video, audio, photos, etc.) and also data tools (such as the amazing Technorati, which facilitates the conversations that weblogs really are).
In short: Soon, everyone will have a weblog because everyone will use weblogging tools of one sort or another to store or share their stuff -- whether that stuff is opinions or pictures or school assignments or shopping lists or church calendars (my son just rebuilt our church website around a weblog).
There's a much, much bigger strategy here. What AOL showed was only the first of many phases that should follow. The same is true for Movable Type and Blogger and About.com (which just converted itself to MT) and any wise ISP, not to mention content companies, commerce companies, and software companies.how to k300i simlock
: The real point: Ultimately, your content is more valuable than professional content.
Anil and I got excited lecturing these AOL-Time-Warner megolith folks that what they should do is give their bloggers back doors into the otherwise fenced-off content of People et al -- as the New York Times is doing with bloggers, allowing them to link directly even to archived stories. That might sound like heresy, treating the expensive People gossip as a commodity. But the truth is -- repeat: the truth is -- that by creating such a back door, AOL would cleverly be turning its audience into its marketing force: AOL bloggers would be the privileged ones who can show you People content (thus selling AOL subs) and if their readers want to see more, they have to buy the magazine (thus selling magazine subs). Now that is synergy.
You see, the magnet that creates that marketing power is the people's content. I've learned well in my online career that the audience's content is valuable and the audience is your best marketer if you allow the audience to be the star.
Starting weblogs allows the audience to create content and to market and to create value.
That's why it's a big deal that AOL is blogging. They've taken a good first step. But it's just a first step.how to k300i simlock
Millionaire mullahs
: Forbes reports that Iran's mullahs got rich at the nation's expense: The 1979 revolution expropriated the assets of foreign investors and the nation's wealthiest families; oil had long been nationalized, but the mullahs seized virtually everything else of value--banks, hotels, car and chemical companies, makers of drugs and consumer goods. What distinguishes Iran is that many of these assets were given to Islamic charitable foundations, controlled by the clerics. According to businessmen and former foundation executives, the charities now serve as slush funds for the mullahs and their supporters....
The gossip on the street, going well beyond the observable facts, has the Rafsanjanis stashing billions of dollars in bank accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg; controlling huge swaths of waterfront in Iran's free economic zones on the Persian Gulf; and owning whole vacation resorts on the idyllic beaches of Dubai, Goa and Thailand. how to k300i simlock
Total recall
: Mickey Kaus explains why a Gray Davis recall is the best chance for Guvuhnuh Ahnold.how to k300i simlock
Finally, a good use for tax dollars
: Nettavisen: "So far, 39 Norwegians have received money from the state in order to improve their sex lives."how to k300i simlock
Blog beltway
: D.C. blogs, by map. [via Bloghaus]how to k300i simlock
Read this blog. There will be a quiz. It counts toward your grade
: KMK posted this in the comments below and I enjoyed it so I copied it here: I have a friend who teaches at a College. She invited me to go to school with her yesterday. As the first class piled in I watched them all take seats. The class started and one guy raised his hand and asked who I was. My friend said I was the person responsible for her blog reading. Weird I thought. To my amazement they lean forward and started asking me questions. How long have you been reading....What was your first blog.....etc. As I looked at them I started noticing their tee shirts. I looked back at my friend and she told me it was tee shirt day. An assignment. They stood up one by one to show their shirts and the class voted on the best ones. The artist of the class had a WWII plane spraying bullets to form BuzzMachine. He won. Another had a shirt that said "My Blog Dad went to the Cayman Islands and all I got was an [sic] enjoy the blogs linked over on the left." Another was Talk Left written down the left side of his shirt. One girl had "blogsphere - glorified chatrooms - you decide." They threw things at her and booed. After the first class I found out they had a standing monthly assignment, 5 new blogs with their opinion of each. WOW! I had a great time. KMK: Ask your friend whether any of the students graded this blog (and ask where I can buy a Buzzmachine T-shirt!). how to k300i simlock
The power of a brand
: Wanna feel small? Note that even while he has been gone for a week and has added not a bit to his blog, Glenn Reynolds' traffic still hovers around 40,000 page views a day. how to k300i simlock
July 03, 2003
Bozo driver of the day
: The New York Post reports: An Upper East Side mortgage broker in his BMW cut off a woman driving on Long Island, chased her into a parking lot, spat at her and blocked her car until she paid him $100 to go away, police said. how to k300i simlock
Why you have to love the New York Post
: How can anyone resist a lead like this: "I lost my head."
That was the unfortunate choice of words by a Queens man, allegedly telling cops how he decapitated his unfaithful wife. how to k300i simlock
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
: Here is my single reason for believing that technology will never work and thus, the economy and society as we know it will fall apart. There is no hope. Here's why: A frigging genius can't get his computer to work. how to k300i simlock
Shhhhh: Don't tell God
: Holy Weblog is back. Hallelujah.how to k300i simlock
Watch your mouth
: Jack Balkin, a real smart lawyer, explains the recent libel decison regarding email lists and blogs. It does not mean you can't be sued for libel. What the 9th Circuit held (and what the 4th Circuit also held before them) is that section 230 of the 1996 Telecom Act protects people who run websites from being sued for republishing the libels of another person. Section 230 states that " no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."
This does not mean that bloggers are immune from libels they themselves write. It means that they are immune from (for example) libels published in their comments section (if they have one) because these comments are written by other people and the blogger is merely providing a space for them to be published. Congress wanted to treat operators of chatrooms and other interactive computer services differently from letters to the editor columns in a local newspaper.
So if bloggers defame somebody, they can still be sued for what they say, just not for what someone else who publishes on the blogger's site says. The Ninth Circuit extends this immunity to people who run e-mail lists and republish the e-mails they receive to the list, even if they edit the e-mails a bit or do not republish every e-mail they receive. That is different from the rules that apply to print journalism. A newspaper is responsible for defamation in letters to the editor or op-ed columns that are published in the newspaper. : All you blogging attorneys and law professors our there... It would be a tremendous contribution to your community to put up on the web a guide to libel, defamation, copyright, and other legal highlights for bloggers. I've worked for newspapers and magazines all my career and have always had the benefit of staff counsel to educate us and to answer our questions. Bloggers could use the wise counsel of you lawyers. Please. how to k300i simlock
Separation of church and state
: Pejman Yousefzadeh does a fine job of explaining the role of nationalism versus Islam as the organizing priciple of the shahs vs. the mullahs in his Tech Central Station column. how to k300i simlock
The mullahs' enemies list
: They admit to blocking opposition (and porn) sites. how to k300i simlock
Not all quiet on the eastern front
: Looking at the news here, with no reports of further student demonstrations, you'd think things have quieted down in Iran. Not so, says Iran-va-Jahan: The Student protests in Iran are entering their third week and it seems the situation is still far from being under control. Over the past two weeks, more than 8,000 students have been arrested during demonstrations against the regime and religious clerics. At an emergency meeting of the High Council of National Security which took place this week, President Khatami condemned proclamations of senior religious clerics to execute the student leaders, according to the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat.
Participants at the meeting said Khatami gave a direct warning to the Judiciary Authority and an indirect warning to spiritual leader Ayatollah ‘Ali Khamanai, stressing that he will not hesitate to give in his resignation “straight to the people”if the threat to the lives of the student leaders is not removed. Tomorrow, America celebrates the freedom achieved by those willing to risk their lives. Today, we watch that happening in Iran. how to k300i simlock
A tear
: Blue Bird Escape, the Iranian girl revisiting her homeland, is about to leave and return to America: I was tired of being an Iranian-American girl. I wanted to be where I would only be Iranian. Unfortunately many Iranian-Americans don’t feel the way I do. They want to reject the fact that they are Iranians. I will never reject it simply because I am very proud to be Iranian. Just because Iran has many faults doesn’t bring shame to one’s name. Therefore I will always be an Iranian first.
I hope I will find the strength not to shed a tear. If I do shed a tear, I hope rain will wash it away for me. Two things occur: First, it must be hard to be an expat, especially when it was not a matter of choice. Second, note the pride and patriotism you hear in her writing and in so many of the Iranian expats' weblogs. That's what will bring freedom and democracy to this country: that spirit and love for the land. how to k300i simlock
July 02, 2003
Big and small talk here
: There's a fascinating dialogue going on in a couple of weblogs among Michael Ledeen (see bio and comments below) and Iranian webloggers -- notably Pedram Moallemian and Whooman. First see the post and comments on Pedram's Eyeranian. Then see the dialogue continue at Whoman's site.
Whoman sums up the importance of all this with this comment: We live in an extraordinary age when a prominent person like you and an ordinary guy like me can exchange ideas in the cyber space. Amen. It's extraordinary that Iranian civilians are getting the world's ear via weblogs. And it's extraordinary that a columnist/policymaker of Ledeen's stature is engaging both Iranians and webloggers. There's more history and subtlety here than I fully understand, so I'm sitting back and watching -- and loving -- this show. This, my friends, is the power of this new medium.
how to k300i simlock
The blogs that ate Cleveland
: Howard Sherman -- a good guy who used to be in charge of content at About.com -- reports that About just switched all its "guide" content to weblogs powered by Movable Type. Says Howard: This development is significant for a few reasons:
*It's probably the single largest addition of content to the blogosphere to date.
*All of these sites are advertiser supported so it should help give credence to blogs as a viable business model.
*The sites are using Moveable Type software which is a vote of confidence in Moveable Type's technology.
*Another large media company -- in this case Primedia which owns About.com -- has adopted blogs as a publishing and communications tool. They also have XML feeds. Here's an example. how to k300i simlock
Don't speak too soon
: The company line from Iran: Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Tuesday described the United States as a 'dinosaur with a bird's brain' and said that the failure of recent unrest in Iran, encouraged by Washington, was yet another disgrace for America, IRNA reported. We'll check back with you on July 10, Akbar. how to k300i simlock
Taking responsibility
: Astigma, an Iranian weblogger, hits a note I've been starting to hit myself: the need for Iraqis to take responsibility for their own rebuilding. Once in their recent history, people of Iraq should take control of the only thing remained in their hands: Help to make the environment friendly for coalition, even if they think of them as “invaders”. This way at least they would have fewer blackouts. Otherwise, there will be another intifada in Iraq for couple of years leaving nothing called “infrastructure” to complain about. how to k300i simlock
July 01, 2003
Anti-semitism and Britan
: Benyamin Cohen at Jewsweek has an excellent story bringing us up-to-date on the Oxford anti-semitism scandal (professor turns down student just because he's Israeli; professor hangs onto his job by the threads of his KKK hood). The speed of the Internet exposed the crime for the world to see: ...the viral nature of the Internet proved all too troublesome. By Sunday, the e-mail had been forwarded to thousands of individuals and was posted on several Jewish and pro-Israel Weblogs. Officials at Oxford tried to clean up the mess by issuing a press release and an official apology... The story also tracks the BBC vs. Israel saga.
The new issue of Jewsweek isn't up until Thursday but you get a sneak preview of the piece here. how to k300i simlock
How convenient
: The mullahs are shutting down Tehran University's campus from July 7-14, which just so conveniently carries it over the crucial date of July 9 and its planned demonstrations.how to k300i simlock
So women lie about sex
: A new study finds: In this study, the researchers asked men and women about their sexual attitudes and behaviors under several different testing conditions – including one in which the participants believed they were connected to a lie detector machine.
Women’s answers were closer to men’s in some areas of sexual behavior when they thought lies could be detected. Men’s answers didn’t change as much as did women’s under different testing conditions.
“Before the study, we thought men would generally overreport their sexual behavior and women would underreport it under certain testing conditions,” Fisher said. “However, we found that women were more likely than men to have different answers depending on conditions when they were surveyed.”
And they have more sex than they admit. [via Die Zeit]
how to k300i simlock
And God told me to smite the Democrats and I smote them
: Haaretz says it obtained selected minutes from the negotiations for a cease-fire among Palestinian PM Abbas the other Palestinian groups. It's interesting reading throughout but then here's the blockbuster paragraph: According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them." If Bush really thinks that God is speaking to him and giving him military orders.... well, arrggh. Let's hope this gained something in the translation. [via Harry Hatchet] how to k300i simlock
The Memorial rush
: Greg Allen has a wonderful and true post about finishing his World Trade Center memorial proposal. Looking at the picture in the Times of proposal stacked upon proposal in a Manhattan warehouse was both exhausting and exhilerating: so much competition, yet so much care from some many people.
It was one matter to come up with the concept. I knew my own goals for a memorial -- a memorial someone else would be designing -- months ago. Then I knew how I would design it.
But it was another matter to figure out how to put that down on a 30-by-40 board. As Greg put it in an empathetic email to me: You go into "when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail" mode. He fell back on Powerpoint. I fell back on Word and I bought myself a pica pull (something we used to use on hot type, my children) and an Xacto knife (something we used to use on cold type, my children) and way too many artist's supplies I didn't know how to use. I wrote my essay and printed it out on clear sheets that I rolled onto the board. I used Word to create little colored boxes with explanatory text. I took pictures and turned them into collages. I stuck my tongue out and drew a few clumsy drawings. I wrote headlines; that's what I know how to do.
And I sent it off, worrying (as did Greg) about the packing (I hope that kid at the UPS store knew what he was doing!).
I said this about it in my sermon: I decided to submit one myself – not because I think for a moment that mine will be selected but simply because I felt I had to, partly out of selfish introspection as a step in a process of healing, and partly as a mitzvah, a deed that simply should be done....
A filmmaker in New York named Greg Allen at first pooh-poohed the idea of this competition on his weblog but then he, too, decided that he had to make a proposal. And, in turn, he brought together a half-dozen more people and we sat in a New York restaurant one night comparing questions and concerns. And right there, I found fulfillment for the effort that went into this, for I found six people who put care and concern and love into this project, six people who worked hard at remembering.
I saw that I wasn’t alone singing my one note. Oh, I’m far from alone. More than 13,000 people from 50 states and 90 nations registered to submit proposed memorials – 13,000 for this memorial versus 1,400 for the Vietnam memorial. Take those six good souls I met that night and multiply their good efforts now by thousands.... And Greg wrote this about the end of our process of submission and now the beginning of the process of judgment: This stated objective for Stage I is not to choose The Memorial, but to choose "approximately five finalists" , who will develop their concepts in Stage II. If a design has enough substance, i.e., if it's promising, clearly thought through, and successfully fulfills the Mission & Principles, jurors will want to see it developed further. But the Final Five is just one possible goal. You could also set out to be one of the 100 concepts that'll probably be exhibited, or the 2-300 that'll get published in some book. Or you could hit a sacrifice fly, submitting a concept that tries to impact the juror's thinking/discussion. Imagine how 1,000 proposals to recognize firefighters separately might ripple through the selection process. The rules forbid us from sharing our ideas publicly, so as to preserve the anonymity and fairness of the judging. And that makes sense. But I can't wait to see the proposals. I can't wait to see all the care and work and love and emotion and genius that will come from them. how to k300i simlock
Michael Ledeen post
: Michael Ledeen of the National Review and the American Enterprise Institute posted a comment in response to the Bruce Laingen quotes below regarding the democratic movement -- and revolution -- in Iran. And so I'll bring it out here on the front page, in full, because he's prominent and his post is well-stated: First, wasn't Bruce Laingen one of those who failed to foresee the revolution of 1979? If so, why should we assume that his gifts of prophecy have improved in the past 24 years?
Second, it is getting tiresome to be accused of something I do not believe and have never said. I am wholeheartedly in favor of peaceful change in Iran. But changing the polity from dictatorship to democracy is revolutionary, isn't it? I mean, by definition? Many peaceful democratic revolutions have succeeded in recent times, beginning with Spain after Franco's death, continuing with most of Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and parts of Africa. It may well happen in Iran. I hope so. I wrote a whole book about this process--"Freedom Betrayed"--and lamented that American presidents had abandoned many democratic movements after the end of the Cold War.
The word "revolution" does not have "bloody" or "violent" automatically attached to it.
Third, I entirely agree that our freedom to defend ourselves against a terror network--with Tehran at its center--cannot be limited by the pleasure of the Iranian diaspora. Did you see the latest poll, conducted by the mullahs themselves, in which 45% of the people said they wanted regime change even if it required foreign invasion?
Now nobody in Washington at least to my knowledge is talking about invasion or any other kind of military action, but that 45% number suggests that large numbers of the people inside feel differently about American support for regime change than some of the political philosophers sitting outside.
The prisoners in the Nazi camps wanted the Allies to bomb the camps. The slaves in the Gulag wanted NATO to bomb the Gulag. Please keep these things in mind--and do not tell me I am advocating bombing or military action. I am not. I am trying to help you think it through.
I find it disgusting that the world is silent when thousands of demonstrators, along with journalists, are rounded up and thrown in jail. It would be encouraging to see some of the bloggers take up this cause, and unleash a torrent of emails and letters on the mullahs demanding the release of the political prisoners, and the enforcement of civil liberties.
And freedom for the Iranian people. : UPDATES: Ledeen certainly is a lightening rod; there's a comment complaining about what he has to say, with verve. how to k300i simlock
: His new column is up: The mullahs were more impressed. The government itself now admits to having arrested 4,000 demonstrators, of whom some 800 were students. The student movement says the numbers were even higher, and the actual number could well be upwards of 6-7,000. Many were killed....
Regimes do not react this way to a rag-tag bunch. This is the reaction of a regime that fears its days may be numbered. Look at its own numbers: less than a quarter of those arrested were students. The rest came from other walks of life. In other words, the demonstrations were not restricted to a single sector of Iranian society, but were, for the first time, a truly national protest, both sociologically and geographically....
July 9 is coming soon. Nothing would encourage the Iranian people more than a clear declaration that the United States is with them, and against their oppressors.
how to k300i simlock
More Instaphotoshop
: Links here and here.how to k300i simlock
What he say
: Pick your translators carefully. Sharon and Abbas just finished giving opening statements before their meetings. The Arabic-to-English translator for Abbas has an annoying voice. And the Hebrew-to-English translator for Sharon woke me up when he said, "Mr. Prime Minister, shush..." Turned out, Sharon wasn't trying to shut up the Palestinian. The translator was stuttering and finally finished his word.how to k300i simlock
Weblogs as flacks
: Adam Curry attacks the media and says that whenever he's interviewed, he insists on recording the discussion and posting it on his own weblog. This, he suggests, is a good PR tactic for anybody... if you're articulate.how to k300i simlock
: Anil uses his weblog to clarify what he meant in an interview. how to k300i simlock
: So maybe the thing to do is to insist that a reporter print your URL. Or just change your name to your URL. how to k300i simlock
The next headlines
: In The Atlantic, RAND thinkers think about ten stories that aren't getting enough attention [via die Zeit]:
1. The Wall (between Israel and Palestine)
2. Shrinking Russia (getting older and smaller)
3. The Hindu-Muslim divide
4. AIDS and African Armies
5. The Tehran-New Delhi Axis
6. Anti-satellite attacks (there goes DirecTV)
7. Defense-Industry goliaths.
8. The (aircraft) carrier shortage
9. The Indus water fight
10. Urban warfare (which was supposed to be the trend in Iraq)how to k300i simlock
A little terrorism humor
: Pedram passes on a little terrorism humor at Eyeranian: An old Egyptian man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, Abdul, who used to help him, was being held by the FBI for aiding and abetting terrorists. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament. how to k300i simlock
Dear Abdul,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.
Your Dad, Mohammad. how to k300i simlock
A few days later he received a letter from his son. how to k300i simlock
Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, don't dig up that garden, that's where I buried the biological weapons.
Love, Abdul. how to k300i simlock
At 4 a.m. the next morning, F.B.I. agents and local police showed up and dug up the entire area without finding any weapons. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son. how to k300i simlock
Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love, Abdul. how to k300i simlock
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JEFF JARVIS is former TV critic for TV Guide and People, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the NY Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner. He was until recently president & creative director of Advance.net, the online arm of Advance Publications. Now he is working with The New York Times Company at About.com on content development and strategy and consulting for Advance, Fairchild, and the City University of New York's new Graduate School of Journalism, where he lead the creation of the curriculum for the new media program. He says he is at work on a book.
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It's mine, I tell you, mine! All mine! You can't have it because it's mine! You can read it (please); you can quote it (thanks); but I still own it because it's mine! I own it and you don't. Nya-nya-nya. So there.
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