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Blog: Void Where Prohibited
Description: Dispatches from the extreme communicator
Created by terris on Thu 10 of Jul, 2003 [01:20 UTC] Last modified Wed 02 of Jul, 2008 [18:09 UTC] (416 posts | 74434 visits | Activity=2.00) The Obvious
There are two Big Things currently happening in the world. The biggest things in all of human history (is there any other type of history? where are the aliens when we need them?).
In one corner we have the crazy Christian fundamentalists who have zero education, are anti-science, and would rather be dead than alive. Which is fine except for the fact that one of them is the President of the country that wastes the most money on weaponry. In the other corner there are the slightly less crazy technologists who are combining cyberspace neverland with nanobots. The combination of these two technologies will change (indeed, have already changed) everything, creating a technological singularity. The question is which group will destroy humanity first. I think people will survive because they are clever, but 99% of the population will be wiped out. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. Most folks don't notice the obvious. Focus on Iraq, focus on the price of gas which is still cheap by comparison to the rest of the world (except for Venezuela and Kuwait). Focus on Obama's skin half-color. Just don't look at the obvious: the obvious theft of our future.
Bush's Legacy: Good for America
Although Bush will be villified for his misadventures, the recklessness of Cheney/Bush accelerated the progressive agenda in the first decade of the 21st century to a degree that is unthinkable under mainstream Democratic leadership. Tangible long-term accomplishments of the Bush administration include:
Under Bush, it was the Republicans' turn to subject the nation to neoconservatism, this time more brash, more extreme, and - most importantly - without the "liberal" label. After 9/11, the neocons unwittingly set a trap for hawkish Republicans and moderate Democrats. 2008 marks the conclusion of the conservative revolution started by the bankrollers of Richard Nixon for whom Hillary campaigned - see http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn11142007.html . Today, the Republican party looks like it was hit by a roadside bomb. With neoconservatives scrambling for the shadows, the Clintons reluctantly relinquished their death grip on the Democratic party. Although I pity those who continue to suffer and even die under Cheney's presidency, I can not ignore the fact that the majority approved of Bush's performance for quite a long time (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6038436.stm ). But a few of us never did - even when derided as Michael Moore's band of traitors. Happily, Americans don't stay fooled for ever. As for the unstoppable neoprogressive movement in America, we are compelled to join Exxon-Mobile and Blackwater executives in thanking Mr. Cheney and his pet chimp. Go fuck yourselves - you're good at it!
Reply to Obama's victory spam
Senator Obama,
Congratulations on selling your soul. Yes, you did. I hope it works out for you. Allow me to explain. It would be fantastic if your future administration sent the ringleaders of racist, predatory subprime lenders to prison. There seems to be a slight problem. The law firms on your list of contributors — the ones who penned the prospectuses that manipulated the securities investors — well, it seems they employ registered lobbyists. Didn't you say, Sir, that you haven't taken a dime from K Street lobbyists? Why lie? Perhaps you plan to let the guilty go scot-free while shining Hope in America's eyes, bloodshot from $4.25 / gallon gas. These are the same people who pumped and dumped tech securities. The same guys who Bush naturally passed over. After all, there was that Huge Distraction on 9/11 that provided effective cover for yacht-owning, brat-bankrolling scumbags - er, I mean Kerry, Bush, Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Giuliani "supporters." Winning is a bitch. We all understand why you took their money. It would be nice if you told us straight. We're adults here. We know that the campaign system is corrupt and rigged. Maybe you can pay penance by raising the taxes of oil companies and their board members. Yes, you can put the hands that feed you behind bars. You must. But let's face it: you won't. Bush's nickname for Enron's mastermind - and master RNC fundraiser - was "Kenny Boy." Undoubtedly your powerful new masters call you Boy too.
PS, And please, please! Close the goddamn Enron loophole. http://www.stopoilspeculators.com/
More death, crime, profits. Speak out.
Dear Senators Boxer and Feinstein,
I am disgusted by the items in the proposed budget that will waste additional billions of our tax dollars on the Iraq and Afghanistan Crimes. No, they are not wars. They are criminal acts committed by the most criminal, corrupt, and incompetent administration, Congress, and corporations in US history. Sincerely, terris.com
Good USA Military Service Men and Women: Tainted forever by torture
This is what happened to an innocent man who was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. His killers decided he was innocent on the third of his 5-day Condi Rice-approved sadistic torture-laden "interrogation." But, like our retarded president, they didn't let inconvenient evidence get in the way of a satisfyingly senseless beating.
The perpetrators of this crime - and so many others - are not men. They have become monsters in our name. Why are our tax dollars recruiting for the Taliban? Historical note: The German people thought they were better off being Nazis, until it was too late. Excerpts from "A Conversation With Alex Gibney," ACLU newsletter, April 2008. They beat him to death, in effect. What was happening was he was being hung; he was being shackled to the ceiling of an isolation cell. That was a method, an essentially tacitly approved method at Bagram, of sleep deprivation. That's how they would do it. So you couldn't really go to sleep because as soon as you nodded off, the handcuffs would gnaw at your wrists. But he hung like that for some time, and then quickly it got out of hand. These soldiers had learned a control method called a perennial strike where they would knee him in the thigh. They kneed him over and over and over again until his legs, as the coroner said, were "pulpified." Ultimately he died from a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot which moved into his lungs. He was mercilessly beaten. Here is this young kid, who is hooded, he had asthma, and he was desperately calling out for his mother and his father, to no avail.
Vista and VMWare: Could not reset '__vmware_user__' password. Aborting
Symptom: You can not connect to your server using VMWare console. In the Application Windows event log you seen the message:
Vista and VMWare: Could not reset '__vmware_user__' password. Aborting Run this from the command line: control userpasswords2 Add the group __vmware__ and the user __vmware_user__ as described here: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/ws32_troubleshooting.pdf I only needed to add the group, user, and assign the user to the group. I did not need to mess with the local security policy. Run 'services' and start all of the services that start with VMWare. Then connect using VMWare console.
Endless war does end: when everyone is broke and broken
http://jtaplin.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/ground-truth-in-iraq/
Reply 1 “That makes no sense to me, why get louder about the problems when there are less of them?” Because you are being lulled to sleep and need a good whack in the head if you think any future administration is going to get out of this quagmire without Americans in the streets, mad as hell about gas prices - without the taxes. Reply 2 “Ok now that we’ve settled this, can’t we all just agree this Iraqi war thing looks like it is getting better?” Hi Morgan, There are many parents, spouses, and children of service men and women who have waited too long for their loved ones to come home. This war is supported by politicians who are far removed from death, maiming, and any sort of danger. They pretend to be patriots and are afraid of being painted by their rivals as weak. War-profiteering corporations - including those in China, the US, and other countries - are motivated to cheer on endless war no matter what happens to our service people and our social services. Whatever you might say about winning this or that battle, our troops do not have a war to win, and they will never come home until the draft is on, at which time the sh*t will hit the fan just like it did in the 60s. Meanwhile ExxonMobil’s bonus program is paying rather nicely. Love, Terris
MuleCon 2008 Takeaway
I was fortunate to attend MuleCon 2008 during the past two days. Here's what I took away from the conference.
The rich are hurting a little, but are doing fine, thank you
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/l27573982-wealth-survey/
Wealth held by rich investors with assets over $1 million is set to grow 50 percent in the next five years to $75 trillion, according to a report published on Thursday. The study by management consultancy Oliver Wyman found that the annual growth rate of wealth held by high net worth individuals is expected to slow to nine percent in the next five years as tougher market environment bites. The rich are spending money as fast as they can - and yet they are gaining 9% a year. They can't spend their money fast enough. Yet they get their taxes reduced. This year Larry Ellison had $3 million (which is nothing to him) refunded from his property taxes: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/26/MNUAVQUK2.DTL
Gaia preparing to wipe out Republicans by 2040
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/mar/01/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange
Of course, everyone's going to die, except for Guatemalans, Nigerians, blacks in the US South .. those who are already accustomed to hot weather, violence, poor health, and having nothing.
It's a bird! It's a crane! It's Osamabama's Pastorrama!
A New York City employee making $48,000 fails to inspect a crane but lies that he had. Later that month, on a Saturday, it collapses, killing seven, injuring more, and creating an apocalyptic 9/11-resembling mess. He's arrested for corruption. Nevermind the fact that the crane had already been inspected, and not even Superman could have predicted the fall.
A group of lending billionaire CEOs, under the cover of Attorneys General (Gonzales and whomever-he-is-now), conspire to thumb their noses at anti-predatory lending laws, not to mention common decency. The economy collapses, affecting everyone globally. The Feds hand the evildoers a bottomless box of blank checks. The Governor of New York, the financial center of the modern era, has not-so-nice things to say about Countrywide's business practices. The FBI, by complete coincidence, "discovers" that, like every other ape on the planet, he pays for sex. A lot. The problem being that it's not his wife. Countrywide catches fire and BofA picks it up for pennies on the dollar. While Grannies lose their pensions, the Governor resigns. It's just another day for the "Over there! It's a terrorist!" Bush administration. Can the Democrats do better? Doubtful.
I agree with Obama's pastor, but that's not the whole story
Last December, someone who attends Obama's church told me that this would happen. It would depend, she said, on the likelihood of Obama winning the nomination.
So folks, this information about Obama's pastor was fed to the media by the Clinton camp. After all, the media doesn't do any research on its own any more. If anyone knows how to divide the country, it's the Clintons and the DNC powers that be. I hope Obama wins the nomination to spite the likes of Pelosi/Reid/Feinstein/Carville. That will be a great day for America. It's high time that entitled white politicians, Dem and Repug - corrupt, reckless, and heartless - get their comeuppance.
Heartless
Caltrain station, heading to the 5:33 train. It's 5:33. I walk past the woman who is usually there selling Street Sheets. "I'll be back," I say. "OK," she replies in a friendly voice.
Alas, the train leaves without me on it. I return to the woman and hand her $1. "You came back!" She said to me. I expected that. What I didn't expect was.. "There are tears in my eyes. Nobody ever comes back. This has been a hard day." Still being cheap, I hand her another dollar. Tomorrow I will give her $5. She has no front teeth and her face looks like a dried apple. Woman in the San Francisco Bay with dark brown skin and an ironic bright smile. Every day must be hard for you, I thought to myself. We both knew that if the train hadn't left, she wouldn't have seen me again. "You'd get me tomorrow," she said. It was kind and generous of her to assume that I was a person of my word. That's the best way to live one's life, believing that everyone is essentially good. It's their circumstances that make people unpleasant. This is why I smile no matter where I am or what is happening. I try to anyway. As this month's Street Sheet attests, the affluent neighborhoods of San Francisco do not wish to be bothered by the truth of our cutthroat economic system. If you see a poor person, call 9-11 immediately. Heartless. This isn't the best blog entry I've ever written. I'm tired. I thought I had lost something important and valuable a few days ago but it had merely misplaced itself. It consumed waking and sleeping hours. I lost what I feared losing the most and yet I turned out fine. During this trial I told myself, "Nothing can take what is inside me." It helped. When I play golf, I look at the ball and I see you smiling. And I do all right. Even if I chunk the shot, I can still see you, you are here, and everything is still all right. When Kate rolls on the floor instead of sleeping in her bed, I tell myself, you are with me, and you will always be. It is all right. There is no point to yelling. There is no point to correcting. There is no point to even hoping for correction. I give you my need to control, to want. And in so doing, I gain control and I receive what I ask for. I already have everything. I realize that you probably think only white male assholes play golf. You're right. Good night. I love you.
It's too Goddamn Late for an Anti-War Vigil
MoveOn.org has a fabulous idea. They sent an email asking me to "host" a vigil in Burlingame, CA to protest the war.
It's so cute. A "vigil." I'll be sure to stock up on Coke and candles. Here's my reply: How bout we burn Pelosi and Clinton in effigy at this vigil? They could have ended this war. They could have impeached the Executive and his handler, sending a strong message to Rove and rest of the neocons that This is Our Country! But no. Women Democrats just can't get it done. An anti-war vigil will accomplish nothing. Bush's approval rating is already under 20%. How much lower can it go and who the hell cares? Obviously it doesn't mean anything. The wars will never end. Bush will continue to pick a fight with Iran. But an anti-Pelosi/Feinstein/Clinton vigil? Now you're talking! If the DNC's female leadership won't fight the power, it would be nice if they stepped aside.
Obama's Christian mumbo jumbo
Here's an excerpt from a speech given by Barack Obama on January 20, 2008, in a Christian church.
Obviously, Obama will be a better president than the disasters we've had in recent memory. But his God Talk is very disturbing. Obama, Clinton, and McCain at least claim to believe that there's a loving yet vengeful paternal God who will burn the planet to a crisp in our lifetimes (as FDR did when he removed Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the planet), whenever the Jews do whatever it is that they're supposed to do. Yes, Jesus worshippers, the Rapture will happen when the sun becomes a red giant, 7.6 billion years from now. Humans will have died out long before then. Once you swallow whole the lies of various religions, it's apparently tempting to believe other whoppers such as: fighting terrorists in their own countries makes us safer. The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through. But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram's horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
True American History Issue #1: United Fruit
Read about United Fruit and its ties to US Districts Attorney, the CIA, and murder committed by the good old US of A. If you understand the past, you can understand Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan pretty darn well.
Here's a movie that demonstrates Americans' foreign policy ignorance and eagerness to swallow bullshit: And then watch the undistorted real story:
Wake up, America
You all pay way too much attention to the Executive. Who especially gives a crap what the candidates' Husbands/Wives have to say? It's Congress that's in power in this country - they write the laws. If they wanted to impeach the chimp they would have - you saw what they did to Clemens and his wife. You can vote for the Prez all you want, but you can't vote for 98 Senators, and if you're in DC, you can't vote for any of the bastards.
OLPC wasted my time, money
I got caught in the hype about the one laptop per child (OLPC) / XO. Seemed like a good thing - buy two, one goes to Africa, one goes to my child.
However, at least in the US, a brand new OLPC is only a couple of weeks away from the bottom of the recycling bin. The OLPC is extremely slow. It's slower than most of today's new cell phones. Using an XO reminds me of Windows 3 on a 25 MHz 386. The screen's low resolution makes text difficult to read. Worse, the mousepad intermittently moves the cursor to a random corner. On an XO this means something special so it's extremely annoying. After some searching, this appears to be a software bug that has yet to be fixed. The battery life is great; however, there isn't a sleep or hibernate mode which means that it either needs to be powered on all the time, or you like waiting for the reboot sequence (reminder: it takes a very long time to launch apps). TKIP wifi security is not supported - in fact it causes the XO to hang. I read a bit about the acrobatics required to get WEP security to work, so I gave in and turned off security on my router completely. I now block using mac address. What of the revolutionary interface we've heard so much about? Go to the word processor. Figure out how to save ("keep"). Exit. Try to reopen a document. You silly silly XO user! You don't do such things on an XO. Go to the journal. Click on an entry. Click on Resume. Click on Write. Wasn't that simple? Using applications is best described as "blocky." Click. Wait. Something happens. Click. Wait. Don't try to paste an image into the word processor or you'll run out of mem.. wait a minute, I can't figure out how to do that anyway. Add a favorite in the web browser. Reboot. Figure out how to find favorites. Never mind, they don't save anyway. Browser search is a common activity. Bring up the browser "Activity". The first page is Google - that's good. Go somewhere else on the web. The only way to search seems to either go back or type in google.com. There's no way kids can figure this thing out. Flash games are immersive. Using the XO is like a pointless (and painful) easter egg hunt. Poor African kids - all they get is the white man's crappy hand me downs. The XO is a chipmaker's dream - a consumer device for dumping their 5 year old components. The XO will be usable after the UI evolves over the next three years, has at least 4 GB of flash disk instead of 1, has a processor that is at least 10 times the current speed, doubles its RAM, and doubles its screen resolution at its current dimensions. Which begs the question: Why? For one: the durable lunchbox Fisher Price-style case is great for children. OLPC got that right. Nobody else has. And of course, nerds like me like being able to SSH. Your best bet? Buy the cheapest MacBook you can find for your kid.
Obama's free pass
It would be interesting if Obama was running as a black President. For example, putting slavery behind us with reparations. If our "elected" criminals can spend trillions for unnecessary wars they can sure as hell pay reparations to all the living descendants of slaves and 'Native Americans.'
A black candidate, such as Kucinich, would talk about the social safety net, the industrial incarceration system's targeting of black youth, and the virtual elimination of college grants for poor blacks. Of course, these are not just black issues, and Kucinich is not technically a black man. In fact, we are all African. America is not facing a black versus white confrontation. Instead it's engulfed in a class war carried out by massive media conglomerates with surgical precision. Contrary to the mass media, Obama is running as a white president, not substantially different from Hillary or McCain, except as a superficial inspiration to blacks, the message being that you should worship white power if you want to get ahead in America - or else you'd better get your black ass into sports or entertainment. There is seething hatred for Hillary so McCain seems to be the winner here (as Hillary said a few days ago - extremely difficult to beat). Unless, that is, the Republicans can come up with something better than an old white military man... Which it's too late for.
This story is old, but it goes on
Yesterday, I saw her as I was walking up the stairs. A ghost, a memory.
A white hair on my yoga mat this morning - clearly hers. In the kitchen, the coffee scoop and mugs with the hearts bought not as Valentine kitsch but to honor and remind. Finally, on the train this morning I recounted all the little hearts that I have loved as a father and a protector. Perhaps it's a fixed number now. The tears come, the tears go. Then I realized that my cat of 17 years, Jamocha, died a year ago. Take care. Take it easy. And breathe.
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