Odius Pundit of the Day

I felt sick after read reading this Jonah Goldberg's awful drivel about how unfair Scooter Libby's conviction is and how the Wilsons have benefited from the scandal. Mia Culpa has a good point that the LA Times is just much a "wanker" for publishing this crap.

Goldberg clearly thinks the federal laws that make it crime to lie to the FBI and Grand Juries are unfair. He really should be true to his convictions and call for repeal those laws so everybody gets to the tell the FBI whatever lie is conveinent for them. Or perhaps what he really wants is a blanket exception to the law for members of Republican administrations. Of course, Goldberg thought purjury was a serious offense during the Clinton administration. But in Goldberg's twisted mind, there are different laws for Democrats and Republicans.

On free speech (a response to Roundhead)

I was surprised to see that a fellow Salon.com reads came over to my blog and posted a response to my comments on Salon in response to Amanda Marcotte article Why I had to quit the John Edwards campaign. In my comments, I took exception to claim that other reader's offense to Marcotte's comments about the Holy Spirit were justification for the threats of violence she received.

I had been laboring under the delusion that the crowd that reads Salon were uniformly smart enough to get their facts straight. The key fact in this incidient is that Marcotte was NOT fired by the Edwards campaign. She quit the campaign both because she felt she was becoming a distraction to the Edwards campaign AND the threats made against her. Those who thought she got what she deserved uniformly overlooked the fact that Marcotte quite the campaign and were either implictly or explictly condoning the actions of the right wing virtual lynch mob.

Now we come to Roundhead's comments:

With regard to their free speech rights, they haven’t been violated. One of them is free to publish in Salon, and I wonder if that’s a liberty granted to her opponents?

The threats of the violence directed at Marcotte were certainly intended to discourage her from expressing herself. I'm glad these abominal actions did not discourage Marcotte from publishing in Salon. Her opponents are free to publish to anywhere that will have them and I most strongly condemn anyone who would threaten them. It is unfortunate they are enough to cause Marcotte to leave the Edward's campaign.

Roundhound goes on to ask me:

But since you are so enraged by about what you call “religious bigots”, I’m sure you were at the forefront of the campaign to ensure that certain cartoonists in Denmark to have the freedom to, as you put it, offend anyone they wish to?

I fully support the right of the Danish publication to publish those cartoons. In a society with freedom of expression, there is guarantee that someone will say something that offends you. Cheney constantly offends me with both with deceipt and his underhanded slanders against Democrats. People who claim I'm going the hell for not believing in the right God(s) really offend me. Even worse, are the intolerant bigots like Jerry Falwell and Pat Roberson who claimed 9/11 was God's retribution for America's tolerlance of gays. I happily accept that having to tolerate this odious speech is the price I pay for freedom of expression. Those who think certain types of speech offensive to them merits a special response either by the government or by lynch mobs, virtual or otherwise, are unpatriotic because they are undermining the ideals of this country.

Goodbye TurboTax

After using TurboTax for 10 years, I've had enough. This year's version is terrible. I tried to start my taxes this morning and had nothing but trouble:

• The automatic updates failed. Had to download the manual updater. Reviews on Amazon indicate this a common problem.
  
• When I tried to import some information from a brokerage, I got a "not available right now, try again later" message. I tried again and it worked. I think I mistyped my password the first time. The error messages should tell you the real problem.
  

• The basis calculation for mutual fund sales is completely broken. I had to enter it 3 different ways to get Turbo Tax to recognize the basis is not zero. The "Assist Me" option seemed like the easy one but it does not let you enter the data in the form you get it from brokerage. It insists on a date for each purchase lot which is a nightmare with reinvestments then it wants the average cost basis per share. My statement has average cost for the entire sale. It's easy to convert but I shouldn't have to when I plunked down $75 bucks for the program.

  Even after conversion, the actual tax form still showed 0 for the basis. I noticed this problem since TurboTax's mistake was causing the tax bill indicator to be way to large. It's disturbing that if the amount in question had been smaller, I might not have noticed and paid too much tax. So I tried enter it myself and if you tell TurboTax the shares were purchased on "multiple dates" and enter the information for costs, it still marks the basis as zero. I finally got it take the basis if said one date purchase datawhich would mean I was submitting bogus tax information. What's even more infuriating is that entering "various" for the dates doesn't work even though my understanding is that the IRS is fine with grouping multiple purchases into one sale if you respect the long term / short term boundary.
  

After all this I've lost confidence in TurboTax and am switching to TaxCut. The last think is I need is audit because I used piece of tax software that is very buggy. The good news is that TaxCut is much cheaper and I don't have spend half hour trying figure out which the zillion different additions I need like I do with TurboTax. I very glad TaxCut released a Mac version this year.

Carter Center Resignations

I admire President Carter's courage stand in his new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid and am sadly not surprised that he has been unfairly attack for it.

The reason I'm not surprised about the attacks on Carter is that he has violated that the unwritten rule in America that that the state of Israel and it's government (whether a left or right government) is always rights and whatever hardships the Palestians suffer are their own fault. The brazeness of the hypocracy made clear in the CNN report about the resignations at the Carter center me caught suprise though:

The letter to Carter accused him of abandoning his "historic role of broker in favor of becoming an advocate for one side." Carter's book confused "opinion with fact, subjectivity with objectivity and force for change with partisan advocacy," the letter said.

Those resigning perhaps aren't comfortable taking sides? Only if it is the wrong side. The very next paragraph:

"Israelis, through deed and public comment, have consistently spoken of a desire to live in peace and make territorial compromise to achieve this status. The Palestinian side has consistently resorted to acts of terror as a national expression and elected parties endorsing the use of terror, the rejection of territorial compromise and of Israel's right to exist. Palestinian leaders have had chances since 1947 to have their own state, including during your own presidency when they snubbed your efforts."

The only conclusion from the resignation letter is that Carter is only partisan because he's the wrong side and those nasty Palestians clearly deserve their lot.

Carter could have avoid this fight and looked the other way when he saw injustice. He must have known the critcism he'd endure. I admire him for taking this stand.

I won't be waiting for the iPhone

An iPhone without 3rd party apps will never be compelling to be, especially with the high price tag. Apple (or any other software producer) will never be able to satisfy all my needs exactly. I have numerous 3rd apps on my Palm and an iPhone for me would have to replace the palm to be worthwhile.

Not to mention that paying $500, for EDGE only phone and being stuck in the celluar data slow lane for 2 years does not look appealing either.

iPhone reaction

My first reaction to the iPhone is that $499 + 2 year contract seems awfully expensive. Figuring the contract provides a $200-$300 discount on the phone only (not that it's available), this is $750 cell phone. It's more expensive than a Mac mini.

I would love to see Apple's internal marketing positioning statements and market share projections. How many people are there who would pay $500 + 2 year contract for a cell phone? Although Steve mocked the Blackberry, it's entreneched with the business customers who buy $500 cell phones. The iPhone is not going to be able to match the Blackberry on access to enterprise email.

Perhaps like most phones, the discounts will appear after the first 6 months. I also wonder about the wisdom about hyping a product not available for 6 months.

I'm also curious to see how the virtual buttons work out. I tend hate them as I can't seem to accurately press any button that doesn't have tactile feedback.

Auld Lang Syne

Although Auld Lang Syne is practically synonymous with New Year's Eve, I wonder how many people have really listened to the lyrics of the song. The World Burns Club has a nice history and translation of the song (from Burns' Scottish). It's beautifully and poetic piece of work and although well know, quite under appreciated.

My favorite recording of the song is Johnny Cunningham and Susan McKeown's version on A Winter Talisman. Most versions are two upbeat for my taste. This one really captures the melancholy nature of the song.

Johnny Cunningham died in 2003. I reget never having seen him perform live.

Bad Santa vs It's a Wonderful Life

I watched Bad Santa for the first time on Christmas Eve. I had originally thought it would be too cyncical a movie for Christmas Eve but I had Tivo'ed the Comedy Central showing and when I started watching it, found the film oddly compelling.

It struck me that Bad Santa has certain similarities to It's a Wonderful Life. In both films, the main characters are on the verge of suicide and only do not carry out their plans due to interference of unexpected other characters. I detest It's a Wonderful Life. I've never seen the whole movie because I can not get passed the lunacy of Clarence, an incompetent angel, being sent to save anyone. It drives me crazy as incompetent angels make no theological sense since existence of Clarence as bumbling moron suggests either that a supposedly omnipotent detity can not get good help or that the omnipotent deity wants to ineffectually interfere with humanity. Neither alternative. makes any sense Additionally, It's a Wonderful Life has a saccharine sweet quality that makes me ill.

I ended up liking Bad Santa and it's a much better film than It's a Wonderful Life. I saw a bit in The Week that A Christmas Story is now the favorite Christmas movie of Generation X and it's my favorite as well. Ralphie's adventures are just as funny every Christmas. I can only hope that It's a Wonderful Life fades away in the oblivion it so richly deserves or at least Ralphie shoots Clarence's eye out.

Aluminum Finish on Powerbooks/MacBook Pro

I've come to the conclusion that aluminum exterior of the Powerbooks and MacBook Pro's scratches too easily. I accidently placed my Macbook Pro upside down one of those plastic airport security bins and I got several ugly scratches on the top of it. Sure, I should have placed it in the proper orientation so it sat on its rubber feet. My only excuse is that it was late, I was tired, and airport security annoying demands all laptops are removed from their bags.

My next purchase will likely be a Macbook. The Pro is from work and it's really too big for airplanes. My personal laptop is still a 12' Powerbook which I've managed to keep in pretty good shape except for some scratches on the underside. Though having to baby a laptop is kinda of annoying. It really seems like Mac laptops ought to be tougher. Guess I'll find out whether the plastic ones are better when I spring for Macbook,.

Lessons on the hazards of occupation from Sparta

Back in junior high, I remember being taught about Ancient Greece and the Sparta and the Athens and how the Spartans were a cold, militaristic people and the Athenians were cultured and democratic. Turns out my education left something out, how Sparta became militaristic, which has great relevance the fiasco in Iraq. I'm listening to The Teaching Company's excellent course on Ancient Greek Civilization and found that Sparta became a rigid and militaristic people as result of their occupation Messenia.

Prior to this occupation, the Spartans were a more typical Hellenistic Greek society with art and culture. But Sparta's subguation of the Messenian people, which they called helots, forced their society to change. Professor Jeremy McInerney writes in the class notes:

fear of the helots encouraged the
Spartans to develop a close-knit social order directed
mainly toward maintaining the status quo. All Spartan
institutions were devoted to keeping the helots in
subjection.

The Spartan society became an unpleasant place. Occupation has severe negative effects on the occupier. Something both America should consider as figure out what to do about Iraq.

All the Teaching Company courses, I've bought are excellent. I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys learning or wants to fill in gaps in their education.

Disneyland, the mirror of America

I made my annual trip to Disneyland at the end of the October, about 2 weeks before the election. Going every year, I've come to find that if you want to see what's going on in America, Disneyland is the place to do it. This year the guests had a different mood than in year's past. The park was very crowded for a fall weekend and I got the sense that people were coming not so much to have fun but to escape.

While it may sound corny for an adult to say, one of the reasons I keep going to back to Disneyland is that place has a certain magic and normally the guests, from the kids to the adults get caught up in it. This year the guests were draining the magic rather than adding to it. They were their to escape something. I think it was the reality that the country is caught up in a un-winnable war where our actions have made the people our leaders claimed to be helping worse off.

After so many elections where the Democrats looked promising but failed to pull it out in the end, I refused to get optimistic about this one. My assessment of the mood at Disneyland should have given me some confidence. The public really is unhappy with where the country is headed.

moron writing for the Washington Post

Big surprise, the iPod does not work at high altitude. Hard drives are not designed to work at 20,000 feet. Apparently the moron the Washington Post got to write this article, Neal Mueller, does not recognize that the equipment necessary for moutaineering is differrent from what is useful is normal life. This article is all too typical of the today's mainstream media as it shows no critical thiniking ability on the part of editors. Do their readers care if iPods are bad for climbing Everest? I seriously doubt it.

Information on Congressional Candidates

[For Google's Benefit] If you want to join in.

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert

Libertarian Democrats

I liked Kos' essay on " The Case for the Libertarian Democrat" over at Cato. The responses are interesting as well. To me, there are major components of the libertarian philosophy: personal freedom and economic freedom. I understand that many libertarians would not separate the two but I do.

Personal freedom is freedom of speech, civil liberties and the general notion that government should not interfer in my life. Bush's elmination of habeas corpus rights an anathema to personal freedom. If one person can lock you up indefinately without any judicial oversight, the rest of your rights are meaningless. Free speech won't do you a lot of good in Gitmo. Neither will the libertarian's cherished right to bear arms.

Gun control is area where many of the comments to Kos' essay say the Democrats are restricting personal freedom. I would argue that both Republicans and Democrats are for weapons limitations. Neither will let private citizens own nuclear weapons or F16s. Its matter of where the limits are set. Anyone who falls in the very tiny minority who thinks they should be own F16, shouldn't vote for candidates for either party. I'd argue assult weapons fall on the same side of the line as nukes and F16s. I understand libertarians don't agree but I have little respect for the notion that an assult weapon is going to allow an citizen to defend themselves from a tyrannical government with nuclear weapons and F16s.

There's fair case that no Democratic candidates belives in the extensive notion of economic freedom (from taxes, regulation, etc) that the true libertarian ideal espoues. I think it is also fair says the Republicans don't either and when they say do, they are lying. Just looking at the amount the pork, like the Medicare drug bill, that the Republicans have handed out special interests shows they don't beleive in markets. I believe in the markets when they work. They work for a lot of things. However, they have notiable short comings in some areas like health care. Markets by themselves also don't handle a lot of safety issues well.

Republican approach to tax cuts is bogus. The Bush tax cuts are just defering taxes since there were no spending cuts. Republicans really don't take less of your money than Democratics, they have just shifted to the future the time when your money will be taken.

At the end of day, personal freedom is alot more important to me than tax rates. Low taxes don't do you any good when the government is holding you indefinately without charge. I would hope libertarians will recognize the huge threat the Bush's adminstrations eviceration of the Constitution is and realize they can no longer trust the Republican party.

Time for the civilized countires of world to stand up

With the Senate passage of the Military Commissions Bill which strips habeas corpus rights from non-citizens US, it's clear to me that legal system of the US does not meet the legal standards of the civilized world. The Bush administration's quarrel is not even with the constitution but with the Magna Carta. Glen Greenwald's posts and tristero's posts on the subject do a far better of job describing how ominous Bush's evisceration of the Constitution is.

However, there's another angle beyond Democrats taking over Congress to dealing with these abuses of power. Foreign government should stop cooperating with the US in terms of extradition of any activity that may lead suspects being detained since being detained by the US now means no access to the courts, trial by secret and coerced evidence and torture. Just as Canada would not have sent Maher Arar to Syria to be torured, they should no longer cooperate with the US intelligence or law enforcement since the Bush administration will not follow international law or the Geneva conventions and tortures suspects themselves or renders them for torture. Same goes for the Europeans. I would hope these countries not only stand on principle and stop their cooperation with US law enforcement but publicly announce they are doing so.

The arrogance of journalists

I should stop being surprised that the arrogance of American journalists which knows no bounds. I've gotten used to this absurdity with political journalism. David Brooks bizarre hit piece, "The Liberal Inquisition", on bloggers supporting Lamont in the NYT this week no longer surprises. Brooks inhabits of world sophmoric pundrity so he can't surpise me any longer.

Foturne's article, "The New Rules" where a business journalist proceeds to rewrite Jack Welch's playbook is nothing short of astonishing. Welch's playbook brought GE amazing success during his tenture. What qualifies a writer for Fortune to so much as add a comma to Welch's rules I don't know.

The article then proceeds to try to pin corporate frauds on Welch's concept of shareholder value which is absurd. Emphasizing creating real value is not the same as cheaters and frauds who's only method to post good numbers is to cook the books.

Hard Drive Surgery Successful

My new hard drive came today and I successfully replaced the dead one in my 12" Powerbook. Probably the most difficult computer repair I've ever done. I've built many PCs from scratch but there weren't many tiny little screws to worry about. I would have been lost without this really helpful guide from ifixit.com

After this expirence, I can say I'm glad on not a surgeon. This disassembling a laptop was hard enough for me.

Collector, another word for Jackass

I really hate the word "collector". If people who collect rare works of art are collectors. People who collect random junk expensive or not should be called jackasses.

MacBook Pro Whine

While my personal 12" Powerbook is dead, waiting for a new disk to arrive, I'm fortunate be able to use my work MacBook Pro. I've had the MacBook for about 2 weeks. While there's a lot to like about the machine, the whining noise that's been widely doucmented is really irratating. For me, it goes away when I load the cpu so for me it's definately from the processor frequency reduction.

Hoepfully Apple will do something about this soon. At a minimum, a config should be added to "Power Settings" in "System Preferences" When I'm plugged in, I'd like to disable the feature. Saving power is good but not at the cost of my sanity.

Personally, I think this problem is siginifacnt enough that buyers should hold off on discretionary purchases until Apple gets it resolved.

S.M.A.R.T. Status: Drive Failing

In the process of copying all the data off my drive, thank you Carbon Copy Cloner, my S.M.A.R.T status went to failing. This was near of the end of the almost 24hrs it took for me to copy 65GB off the drive and I feel fortunate to have saved all my files. I shut the machine off once the copy completed so I don't know if the drive still works or not. The moral of the story may be that once your S.M.A.R.T status goes to failing, you probably really have very little time left to save your data.

A new Samsung 120GB laptop harddrive is on its way from NewEgg so I know I how I'll be spending my Saturday. From reading instructions about how to replace the drive, I'm sure I'll have a rant about how Apple should think about making their products more easily servicable. I thought about upgrading to a Superdrive while I was in there but you basically have to dissemble the enitre machine to do that so a Superdrive will have to wait till my next machine purchase.