"Two-thirds of female Air Force Academy cadets in a new survey said they had been sexually harassed, and nearly one-in-five respondents said they had been the victim of a sexual assault"
"Two-thirds of female Air Force Academy cadets in a new survey said they had been sexually harassed, and nearly one-in-five respondents said they had been the victim of a sexual assault"
"Of those who reported incidents to authorities, nearly half said they experienced reprisal of some kind."
Meanwhile, "Rep. Joel Hefley, the Republican whose district includes the Air Force Academy, bristled at another round of media questions about the statistics."
And faith in the military as an institution is at an all time high ? We're not doing the military any favors by giving it a bye on criminal behavior. Accountability is something that should be instilled from the beginning in all buerocracies, especially those which deal w/ the use of deadly force.
Quotes taken from the Rocky Mountain News article on the subject.
| Sexual Harrassment |
Media Giant Claims Rocker's Self-Titled Album Liz Phair Dilutes "Fair and Balanced" Motto
Oh, if only...
| Fox News | Law |
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The Weidenhammer Wunderkammer: a wonderful diary about going back to the prairie.
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Aaron wrote in with another New York story:
So I'm walking to work up sixth avenue today, and there's a small crowd gathered around the intersection of sixth and Christopher street with a fire truck, ambulance, two police cars, and nearby NYPD waving the traffic past the site. I stopped to look, a little apprehensively since the scene was oddly quiet. What some minutes before had been a car was now burning metal crushed around street light pole. The front end was wrapped clear around the pole from the impact, and the front windshield was sprayed across the street in bloody chunks. Grey smoke drifted from what remained of the car.I had the opposite happen to me when I worked in East Harlem. I used to see camera crews up there frequently, shooting for "New York Undercover". I was walking down 110th Street and saw they were shooting another scene -- guy up against the wall, cops frisking him, a cop across the street with her gun drawn but hidden behind her leg. Then I realized -- where the hell are the cameras? That's when I decided I should perhaps move on. Quickly.
I was struck by how the angle of impact was completely wrong. Christopher street is one way, this car was heading the other direction and had hit the pole at an extreme speed. What the hell had happened? But then I also notice something equally unbelievable -- there were two very bloody bodies lying on the street, and the EMS people were standing arund them just chatting. Just like that, chatting like they were discussing Yankees box scores. Unbelievable. Nobody was lifting a finger to help the two people on the ground. I was thinking to myself, geez could people around here be any more callous?
I was getting more and more indignant about the situation. Then one of the bodies on the ground lifts himself up on an elbow, and one of the EMS medics pops a cigarette into his mouth and lights it for him. The bloody body takes a long drag and then thanks the medic. A guy with a film camera walks over and says "hey nice work guys" and the bodies stand up and dust themselves off. And I'm thinking then, don't they have a law around here about giving people heart attacks?
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One of my Harvard profs, Michael Watkins, has started up his own blog. He teaches negotiations, and has an informed perspective on international relations. A quick search shows at least nine posts here on Ish based on materials Prof. Watkins emailed to me, so I'm sure there will be good stuff there. Click on over.
(With apologies to Greg for the title.) Found in a recent Net Impact ezine: A Hong Kong fashion company has recalled its line of Nazi-themed clothing, which was promoted in stores thusly:
Continue reading "Bad Culture Watch" » | Fashion | Bad Culture |
I was interviewed yesterday by WVOX radio in Westchester for a piece on blogging. Unfortunately, I can't get 1460 AM here, and they don't stream, so I can't listen to the sound of my own voice -- something I usually love doing! Guess I'll just have to mutter to myself instead.
I've received several comments from our readers that the comments system just doesn't work all that well. YACCS has been pretty good (for free), but it has been increasingly unreliable. I think that I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and upgrade to Movable Type, which I've been meaning to do for a while anyway. Don't hold your breath on the change, though, as it might take a while.
Oh, and www.ishbadiddle.net now points here again. Thanks Alberto!
Finally, I know you've all been eagerly wondering: when will Mike update his Conspicuous Consumption bloglet? The answer: soon!
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Howard Dean rally in Bryant Park, Tuesday August 26, 8:30 p.m. (free!). Sign up for the rally via 1-866-DEAN-4-USA or www.deanforamerica.com/sleeplessnyc and be entered to win a personal Q&A session with Gov. Dean.
(!)
| Howard Dean |
Aaron writes:
Okay, now we all know that celebrity sightings here in manhattan are a dime a dozen and not generally worth getting excited about but this is an exception. I was thinking that the high point of my brush with fame on friday would have been holding the door open for Gwennie Paltrow at my local coffee shop, and since she was a little rude I considered letting the door slam on the (admittedly world-class) Paltrow-heinie.
But -- late that night I was hanging out with some friends at Chumley's, a former speak-easy in the west village, when this curly haired old english dude sat down next to me with two of his friends. I was kind of thinking the guy must be Sammy Hagar or something, because he had this artiste-rock-star aura. So I started chatting with him a bit, something along the lines of recommending the burgers or the shepherds pie, and we started talking about the struggles that artists go through or something along those lines. He went into a long discussion of how important it is to love your work, to really look forward to it at the beginning of the day and all that sort of thing. It was a little bit cliche but the guy was entertaining enough that I was pitching in too. To emphasize the point he toasted to our whole table "so here's to the best thing in the world --- to wake up bright and early and be given a chance to fuck everything up in an entirely new and different way."
So we swapped blackout stories, he and his friends got up, shook our hands, and said goodbye see ya round mates.
The waitress comes up to me totally breathlessly with "ohmygod how do you know Robert Plant?" Not being savvy or fast or sober enough to say "well if you're lucky darling one day I'll introduce you," I smoothly replied instead with a "huh?" (or maybe it was "wha..?") and looked around to see the guy leave and you know what she was right. Holy cats! I was drinkin' frosties with Robert Plant and didn't even know it!
Thank god I didn't say I thought he was Sammy Hagar.
| Robert Plant | New York City | Greenwich Village |
I was asked by a reporter for the New York Post to say "what's missing in your neighborhood?" With help from Debbie and Jay, here's my tossed-off answer:
What's missing in Park Slope? Not much. I tell people that I could comfortably live without leaving my block (7th between Garfield and Carroll) -- I've got pizza, video store, a bakery, a great independent bookstore (The Community Bookstore), Chinese, dry cleaners, pharmacy, 3 bodegas, 2 grocery stores, and a toy store for my sons. We've lived in Park Slope since '99, and I'd say one of the great things about the neighborhood is the independent stores, like the Park Slope Food Co-Op, or Palma Pharmacy where they know my name. There's a Starbucks, but there are still lines outside Connecticut Muffin across the street.
If I could rezone, I'd probably make a few changes: Fewer mobile phone stores, fewer tchotchke shops. (It seems that there are now enough stores selling scented candles so that every man, woman, and child can get a dozen.) Also, we could use a good deli (there's nowhere to get decent matzoh ball soup) and a prepared food shop (the Blue Apron is great but a but pricey for everyday eats.) And considering that the nabe has so many families that stroller gridlock is a serious issue, it's surprising that there aren't more child care options for kids under 2, or indoor playspaces for days when Prospect Park is too cold or wet. And we've needed a new butcher since the local butcher shop closed down a few years ago.
| New York City |
"At the White House's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no health risk from the debris-laden air after the World Trade Center collapse, according to an internal inquiry."
Can you feel the love?
| 9/11 | Environment | George W. Bush | EPA | WTC | Ground Zero |
World Beard and Moustache Championships, Carson City 2003
'Nuff Said
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Well, I've just written my letter to the editor, as part of Flood the Zone Friday, and sent it off to a dozen or so papers using W's Action Center. It's not the greatest thing I've ever written, and I highly doubt it would be published, but at least it got me to write a letter to the editor, something I haven't done in years:
Continue reading "Flooding the Zone" » | George W. Bush | Democracy | Distributed Culture |
Oh, these wacky memes. Here's what Liz MD-H wrote:
someone in blogger-dom came up with this wacky concept and i've got nothing new to write about so i decided to give it a whirl. here's a description of the game: "This post is part of a blogging game that seems to be going around. I'm not exactly sure how it started, but it works like this: A blogger answers five pointless questions posted by someone else. Then he/she seeks a volunteer to answer five new questions in their blog."So here are my answers to her questions: Continue reading "Five Pointless Questions" »
| Comics | Superman | Batman |
You'll notice that now, when creating a post, there's a field called "Title" at the top. Whatever you put in there will have the h4 formatting automatically applied. Neat!
Play the National Budget Simulation Game!
| Tax Policy |
I'm sure we've all noticed that there are alot of weddings being planned these days. I had lunch with one of the happy couples (the Smioedths) and tried to give them some suggestions for "Wedding Themes". Feel free to jump in ! And Owlamphys -- don't be shy -- these are for you too !
My best suggestion (according to them) was a "Shock and Awwwwwww" wedding. We're all shocked that they're getting married, and when we see it we'll all be appropriately mushy headed (hence the latter half of the phrase).
My runner up was a flash mob wedding -- we check our cellphones for a text message, converge on some space where the wedding occurs (maybe the Times Square ToysRUs) and then disperse. Yes, I know that flash mobs are yesterday's news, but we can call this retro-theming.
My worst suggestions were either a "Gone with the Wind" wedding or a "Blaxploitation" wedding (both of which are two sides of the same coin in my mind).
| Flash Mobs | Blaxploitation |
"The question every American wants answered: What makes religious militants want to kill us? Hardball with Chris Matthews, 7 p.m. ET "
If that's the question that every American wants answered, then no wonder we're clueless. And Chris Matthew's hyperbole aside, I think it is the question that every American wants answered, even if they don't want to hear the answers other than "religious militants" (read muslims) are evil people who are irrational and just want to destroy us b/c we're good and wonderful.
And no, I'm not trying to blame the victim here. I'm just pointing out that that's an idiotic question about which people wont actually be thinking at all.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
| Media Bias | Religion | Islam | Vorks |
Folks, Camaro Rock is finally done. Hit me up if you want a copy, and specify what kind: trip AT triptronix DOT net.
| Music |
Speaking of organizing and the web, the folks over at Not Geniuses have come up with something that's, frankly, genius. W has launched his campaign website, which includes a nifty Action Center that enables you to write letters to your local editors. You just enter your zip code and bam! you can mass email every paper around. (It also includes astroturf that you can paste in with the click of a button.) So NG's idea is to use the master's tool to dismantle the master's house. Every Friday will be "Flood the Zone Friday" and bloggers and blogreaders are encouraged to write letters to their editors using the W site, on a specific topic. "On Friday, the blog reminders will go up, and hopefully 10,000 liberals will tell every paper in the country about how Bush supported our troops by cutting their hazard pay (the topic that we've decided upon)." Are you all ready to play?
From the brief research I've done, (namely, one article) I'm not sure this is the best issue to start off with. If I'm not convinced by their "talking points," I'll do the project but on some other topic. Any suggestions?
| 2004 Election | George W. Bush | Democracy | Distributed Culture |
Leave aside for the moment the fact that we seem to be concocting a whole new generation of terrorists in Iraq, let's ask a simple question, like: why don't U.S. soldiers in Iraq have enough water?
"The trouble is that contractors fall over themselves to sign multi-million dollar deals in peacetime but, when the shooting starts, their employees frequently refuse to drive their trucks towards the action."
Look up the word "privateering" and you'll find this definition: "A ship privately owned and crewed but authorized by a government during wartime to attack and capture enemy vessels." Pirates, in other words. Unfortunately, it sounds like the ones Dick, Dub, and Donald hired aren't quite up to the task. (And yet, somehow I bet they get paid in full.)
Well, I'm sure the contractors will hear about it in the "comments" section of their post-war survey cards. "Was your war experience.... Poor Fair Good Superior?"
| War |
In all the articles I've read on Flash Mobs, they invariably trot out some polisci prof who bemoans the wasted political opportunity. "It's too bad they're not really organizing or protesting," says Prof. Z. "But maybe someday someone somewhere will use this technology for something I can write a paper on." The article then goes on to compare Flash Mobs to fads like stuffing goldfish in telephone booths.
Continue reading "My Take: Flash Mobs." » | Distributed Culture | PATRIOT Act | Civil Liberties | Memes | John Ashcroft | New York City | Blackout |
Surfing the Tsunami (Kaiko'o) and I/O Error Info to the blogrolling section of the sidebar. Thanks for the link!
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It's a really good collaborative filtering project for movies out of U. of MN.
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Ishbadiddle is always looking out for you, the blog-reading public, on important health and safety issues. We therefore bring you the following:
Continue reading "Public Service Announcement" » | Household | Blackout | Energy |
From the outside, this all sounds exciting. I just saw Gangs of New York last night, and without spoiling the plot, an event like this fits right in. I still remember the blackout of 1976 though.
So, what did you do during the great blackout ? And should we sell futures on when the power will come back up ?
| Blackout |
Films and television shows featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrity candidates in California's gubernatorial recall election will likely not be broadcast in the state for the next few months so that stations can avoid having to give rival candidates equal time.
The airing of "Total Recall" or another Schwarzenegger film, or a repeat of a "Diff'rent Strokes" episode with Gary Coleman on broadcast television in California would trigger the Federal Communications Commission's equal time provision, allowing other candidates to demand the same amount of time.
Cable channels are not covered by the FCC rule, which in the past kept reruns of "Death Valley Days" off the air while Ronald Reagan ran for president. A repeat of a "Saturday Night Live" episode featuring Don Novello, aka Father Guido Sarducci, on cable, for instance, would not trigger the provision.
From an AP article that I saw in the Sacramento Bee.
| Arnold Schwarzenegger | Gary Coleman |
Someone finally calls the G.O.P. hate machine on its brazen two-facery.
I think this kind of awareness needs to get echoed -- but loud -- in the coming year, although cantankerous truth-telling is probably a small and irrelevant part of a winning formula. I've been wondering if anyone here (since we're not shoveling a lot of time into analyzing the Sunni-Shi'ite imbroglio) has an opinion on how the (What's) Left should play the next 14 months.
Me, off the top of my head, I'd love to see a multi-pronged attack that had this shape:
1) Relentless, yet calm, repetition of various Wadminstration credibility lapses;
2) A simple economic message: "Who's making out like a bandit here? Not us.";
2a) Agumented with "basic math says most folks do better under Democratic presidents" which is true;
3) A moral argument for "hands off other people's private lives" under the "minding my own business" clause;
4) A coordinated primary breaking down Wadministration mythology (then we'll know who's best at it);
5) An international policy of making the U.S. safer through cooperation not intimidation (I know! Crazy!).
This kind of approach obviously wouldn't break up the hardcore right; nothing ever will unless they turn on themselves as their power eventually wanes. But a reasonable argument in common language that offers an alternative to big business backrooms and mounting death tolls might work around the edges. Who's growing disaffected as soldiers get picked off and people drop out of the workforce? How does someone's failing school system balance with the moral surety that is hostile to gay marriage? (I really think we need some leadership who can take the heat down on these areas of social abrasion... rather than, say, fomenting it for personal gain.)
I heard an interesting theory at dinner recently, that conservatives (neocons in particular) will always win because their organizations dedicated to cultural engineering are professional. These entities are well funded. It's a career path. They're very serious about using government to control social behavior (and/or punish what they deem misbehavior). Liberals, on the other hand, are amateurs. It's volunteers and college kids. There's (comparitively, anyway) no structure to get pulled into and supported by. They aren't passionate about controlling other people and relatively few people dedicate their lives to protecting basic equalities. Now, how did that happen?
| 2004 Election |
"Today We Face Another Watergate
Samuel Dash is professor of law and director of the Institute of Criminal Law and Procedure at Georgetown University Law Center. He served as chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee.
Thirty years ago the Senate of the United States prevented President Richard Nixon from destroying constitutional democracy in our country. Watergate was a wrenching turning point in our history and its lessons must be learned and re-learned.
Now our lives as a free people are also being threatened by an administration bent on grabbing unprecedented power, a timid Congress and an uninformed electorate. That is why the Watergate experience remains so relevant to our republic today....
It was a scary time in America when we almost lost our constitutional freedom and democracy. But fortunately our constitutional system of separation of powers worked. The Senate Watergate Committee, chaired by Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr. of North Carolina, a courageous public leader, successfully performed the checkand-balance oversight role of Congress. Its dramatic public hearings informed millions of Americans glued to their television sets of the criminal acts of the president and the constitutional crisis in the country....
This lesson of Watergate is particularly pertinent now. In responses to terrorists' attacks on our country that threaten our national security, President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have sought and obtained from an acquiescent Congress unprecedented powers that are inconsistent with the Bill of Rights' protections. It is not that these powers are necessary to fight terrorism. Prior to 9/11, Congress and the Supreme Court had already given competent federal law enforcement agencies all the power and authority they need to successfully keep our country secure.
The government overreaches when it employs its war against terror to attack the liberties of American citizens....
It is the time of the anonymous informer and the chilling threat, reminiscent of Watergate, that dissent is unpatriotic and giving aid to the enemy....
An alert Congress would check the administration's grab for greater power than the Constitution permits. It would hold hearings and inform the people of the dangers they faced. Unfortunately, Congress today is shirking its constitutional responsibilities. There are no Sam Ervins in the Senate now...."
| Watergate | War on Terror | PATRIOT Act | John Ashcroft | George W. Bush | Civil Liberties |
For the rest of the week, Salon is extending their Premium Subscription Charter Rates of $30 (without ads) and $18.50 (with). It really is one of the only places to get relatively clear-headed political reporting; contributors cover a spectrum of opinions, with the core lying in what you might call a "skeptical-liberal" niche. The other reporting, essays, special features, and ancillary content are also quite good, for the most part (and hey, they've got Lynda Barry each week).
Also, when you're a subscriber, you can get sweet benefits like a subscription to US News and World Report, Utne, Wired, and Mother Jones.* That's and, not "or." So, I got three magazine subscriptions to go along with my Salon sub, and there are more goodies you can get as well. (*MJ sub is six months bi-monthly; the others are a year.)
I highly recommend this as a valuable alternative news source. I caught just a little of the State of the Union, but I happened to see the now-infamous "16 words." At the time, I actually hollered at the TV set, "That's not even true!" Thanks to the reporting of Joe Conason and others on Salon, I knew where the B.S. meter was going into "critical." It was exasperating at the time, but I have been glad to see some attention paid to this issue and I appreciated knowing about it, like, when it happened. (Conason, in Salon and in the NY Observer, is one of the most vocal critics of the administration's flim-flam job and someone worth listening to; his daily journal at Salon is a must-read for me, along with TalkingPointsMemo.com and the Buzzflash.com headlines.)
Time and again, I say, "If Salon weren't talking about this, you'd never hear about it." It's a small investment in an important media outlet, and an important vote for alternative, independent news sources (which will be increasingly rare and crucial in coming years). Eighteen bucks doesn't get you very far in Manhattan, but it will get you a year of excellent commentary and reporting. Even when the prices go up, it will still be a small price to pay, but you can save a few bucks by joining this week.
This is a great time to join.
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Reporters Vallette and Kretzmann comment on the recent Bush Executive Order re: legal protection for Iraqi oil resources in Common Dreams via MotherJones.com:
"Anything that could go, and elsewhere has gone, awry with U.S. corporate oil operations will be immune to judgment: a massive tanker accident; an explosion at an oil refinery; the employment of slave labor to build a pipeline; murder of locals by corporate security; the release of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The President, with a stroke of the pen, signed away the rights of Saddam's victims, creditors and of the next true Iraqi government to be compensated through legal action. Bush's order unilaterally declares Iraqi oil to be the unassailable province of U.S. corporations."
| Energy | George W. Bush |
I received a job posting via a