The Powerpoint President

If there's one thing that drives me nuts, it's excessive sloganeering. We corporate types see it in the workplace all the time, encouraging us to "Think Customers First!"and similar Orwellian exhortations. W. Edwards Deming, who pioneered many modern management techniques, included the elimination of slogans as one of his "Fourteen Points" to improve management because they're basically PR and don't do anything of value.

I'm sorry Mr. Deming, but slogans are alive and well, especially with the President. It's very fitting because slogans typically bespeak vacuity in lieu of actual ideas. Let's look at some examples:

Below, Ben Stein's doofus-head is interfering with an important message:



Below is his first big War Slogan:



Followed by his second big War Slogan:



And ironically to his current big War Slogan:



And finally, the perpetually deer-in-headlights Laura gets in on the act:



I wonder if anyone in the administration has a background in business consulting? Judging by approval ratings, the failure of all these initiatives, and a credibility gap the size of Hell's Gate, the Powerpoints are not convincing the general public of anything (nor is the accompanying rhetoric for that matter). So my deficit reduction idea is to eliminate the CMS (Chicks Makin' Slides) department at the White House and cancel the account with FastSigns.

Otter blogging

No turkeys this Thanksgiving. When we visited the aquarium in Monterey, the wife wanted to sneak one out in her handbag. Check out the sea otter cam.

No Shit Headline of the Week

Vatican: Sexually Active Gays Unwelcome

...in the Priesthood.

Centralizing Textbooks

Commenting on this post, Bruce said:

I happen to think we need more government in some areas. e.g. A National Policy on Education. I want the best people in our country to come up with one Math book and one Science book.

Bruce, you are a communist. Really, though, "how to teach math and science" is not fixed. Teaching is a science, too, where there is constant innovation. The best way to embrace this innovation is to allow competition in the market. Let inventors invent. We must allow people to take chances with new and progressive teaching styles. By centralizing textbooks, you bury it in the bureaucracy of the Department of Education where it will reek of mediocrity forever.

And science is constantly evolving. Some textbook makers will be quicker to adopt new theories than others. Being a Texan, my community will likely never be as progressive as I would like to see it with respect to science. However, let those progressive communities choose progressive books. Let ethnic communities use books that are targeted to better teaching their children. Give them the freedom to choose.

May I recycle that coffee for you sir?

Saturday morning I received a wake up call to have breakfast. As I don’t normally have breakfast out I quickly declined. Later, I realized that Rip Van Steve wasn’t going to wake up until much much later in the weekend. I decided to go and experience breakfast. BIG MISTAKE!! I was still slightly under the influence of the Sapphire Lounge so I may not have been making the best decisions for myself. I headed to Old South Pancake House, a place I have previously gone only at the end of my evening in high school. Not at the beginning of my day. Upon arriving, my dining companions informed me that there was a good chance catching Hepatitis C. This is not the way you want to start out breakfast. Apparently they had been served coffee in a ‘gently used’ coffee mug. I don’t mean it wasn’t brand new I mean that some one quite recently had been drinking coffee out of it and some of it was still in the cup. Ewwww! I could go on about what we ate but really. .at this point it just doesn’t matter. It is safe to assume I will not make this mistake twice. I should have known. It did break one of my dining rules. No bar. The time being before noon I didn’t think I should have stick with this rule. I was wrong. There are other rules but this one should have ruled our Old South quickly.

Admin Note

I've removed the requirement for a commenter to be a register user. Hopefully, this will allow for a more lively discussion of topics.

Now that we've gotten our feet under us, I recommend distributing the blog to a larger readership. Please feel free to forward the address to anyone you like...

Bloggers Roundtable

We had a rountable of all existing blog posters this weekend. Unfortunately, after mulitple pints at the Shamrock, buffalo tartare, ostrich, veal, and other delicacies at Bella, we all got shitfaced and ended up listening to Six Feet High and Rising at the Saffire lounge. Not much blog discussion occurred. I smoked about forty cigars and slept most of Saturday and Sunday (but I've bounced back for some late-Sunday Chivas and a couple of Fuente Rothschilds).

Based on some limited feedback, I have made a few changes to the site.

A Third Way

Commenting on one of my posts from last week, Lee wrote:

So are you suggesting that Dems are just as unprincipled as GOPers when it comes to their constituencies? They seek nothing more than re-election, and vote with what their polls indicate is popular sentiment? As a Bush initited reformed Republican, that scares the hell outta me. If you guys are wrong, where do I turn? And don't suggest a third party. I'd like to be on a team with a chance to win...

I've always claimed that there's a form of Libertarianism that combines the best from both parties. From the Dems, I want to keep the belief in privacy and social freedoms. From the Reps, I'd like to keep fiscal discipline and minimal government. I don't see why these can't coexist. Less government is going to give me more freedom. This is the party that I want to support, but it seems a far cry right now. The Reps have been co-opted by the Religious Right and the Dems have been co-opted by the pseudo-socialist left. To me, these are the least compelling parts of each party.

Andrew Sullivan, a gay fiscal conservative who used to be a reliable Republican, and an eminently talented social critic had this interesting post the other day which echoed the need for a "third way".

Rethinking Energy

Now that there seems to be some momentum behind fiscal sanity in Washington, I would propose that we revisit the Energy bill passed earlier this year that contained millions of dollars in giveaways to the oil companies.

There have been discussions on holding back the prescription drug benefit for a year or so to save money. If we can revisit this effort, why not the energy bill? Now that the windfall profits from all the major oil companies have been publicized and investigated by Congress, it seems obvious that they really don't need a bunch of government handouts. Let's repeal these craven giveaways to the President's cronies and put it towards reducing our dependence on foreign oil, deficit reduction or Katrina rebuilding. I would especially be behind new research on renewable energy sources or hybrids.

Panda blogging

So I was remiss in my new Friday tradition of Friday animal blogging. Who could forget the timeless efforts of the last two weeks including cat blogging and lemur blogging? This time we bring you panda blogging with a live cam of the newborn cub in Washington D.C.

Demonic or unprincipled

E.J. Dionne is correct in saying that there's something missing from the debate about the runup to war. This occurred during the 2002 midterm elections. The GOP strategy was to paint the Dems as unpatriotic and baldly use 9/11 as the hammer with which to drive it home. So, many of the Dems caved in and voted for the war because, in light of the public context, they felt it would have been politically disastrous to do otherwise.

So while the Reps behaved more crassly than imaginable,

In New Mexico, Republican Steve Pearce ran an advertisement against Democrat John Arthur Smith declaring: "While Smith 'reflects' on the situation, the possibility of a mushroom cloud hovering over a U.S. city still remains."


many Dems, admittedly bullied, revealed themselves to be wholly unprincipled and desperate to maintain their loose grip on power. Remember, before the midterms, the Dems were the majority in the Senate with Daschle as leader thanks to Jeffords defection from the GOP.

Friday lemur blogging

Major developments in the world of lemurs...

The lemur's long legs are the only physical attribute it shares with Cleese, Thalmann told New Scientist magazine. "Woolly lemurs can't really walk - but they do enjoy silly jumps," he said

Political Compass

Here's a fun parlor game...see where you land on the political compass. This is better than some of the others out there. It also includes measurements of current political leaders and reading lists for each quadrant.

I came in as pretty much an economic centrist and heavy social libertarian.

Economic Left/Right: -2.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.74

Share your results in the comments section....unless you're skeered.

Pat's Pissed

My favorite dunderheaded protectionist Catholic-extremist Pat Buchanan is not happy with Bush. To wit:

Under Bush II, social spending has exploded to levels LBJ might envy, foreign aid has been doubled, pork-at-every-meal has become the GOP diet of choice, surpluses have vanished, and the deficit is soaring back toward 5% of GDP. Bill Clinton is starting to look like Barry Goldwater. (bold mine)

As predicted...

The French far-right has gone off the reservation. Money quote:

"Le Pen said people with immigrant backgrounds who commit crimes should be stripped of their French nationality and sent 'back to their country of origin.'"

And more scarily,

"We are receiving thousands of new members, tens of thousands of e- mails. All of our offices are submerged, we don't know how to respond because we don't have the staff to reply to the wave of people who, 95 percent of them, salute and approve our positions,"

Although I'm sticking with the gist of my previous post regarding the violent nature of Islam, I endeavored to educate myself a little more about the French situation. It appears that in France we have a permanent underclass mixed in with some racism and a heavy dose of no-growth Socialist governance. There's a nasty miasma over that country. My solution: get those folks off the government teat and get them jobs. How to do that? Reduce the crushing tax burden. And give the rioters a lesson in civil disobediance. For further reading on the nature of the unrest in France, Jim Hoagland had some interesting commentary in the Post today.

The Islam Problem

Islam in general needs to take responsibility for their right wing. If they don't, their religion will become synonymous with violence even to left-leaners like me. This shit in France is preposterous...as well as jeopardizing my vacation plans for next year. I'm sure the reactionaries over there are already calling for mass deportations. Look at the major flashpoints in the world:

1. The World. Bin Ladenists have proven they have global reach to blow people up just about anywhere, from Bali to Tanzania to London and New York.
2. Iraq.
3. Israel/Palestine
4. Afghanistan
5. Kashmir
6. Chechnya
7. Sudan
8. Political assasinations in Lebanon by Syria.
9. Iranian support for terrorist groups inside Israel/Palestine.

It's pretty clear what all these have in common. And America neither has the means, the mandate, or the intelligence to straighten this out. I frankly don't see much leadership among moderate, peaceful Muslims denouncing the extreme actions of the fringe. Are they scared?

I'm no fan of the Iraq war or the American boneheads behind it and I realize that American actions have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths of innocent Iraqis. Conversely, how can tactics like arbitrary beheadings build popular support for the "insurgent" movement among rank-and-file Iraqis. What Iraqi mother in her right mind would align herself with barbarity?

So now we have a lunatic minority and a mute majority. Absent stong leadership, it won't be long before those of us that still want to believe that Islam is a religion of peace will declare we have a billion pariahs.

Calvin and Hobbes...

Calvin and Hobbes, along with Bloom County, were my favorite comic strips during my adolescence/early adulthood. Slate writer Chris Sullentrop pays tribute to Calvin in a brief article and a slide show accessible at the bottom of the article.

Also out is the Complete Calvin and Hobbes collection.

Quote for today....

Extracted from an ariticle on Rock Snobbery. He starts out wistfully, "it's because genuine pleasure—that enemy of both snobs and satire alike—will always take precedence over the need to condescend." Then debunks, "But the reality, alas, is otherwise...Because let's face it, only one thing is more incorrigible than my snobbery, people, and that's your indefensibly crappy taste in music."

Lola - The Three Hour Meal

Lola www.lola4dinner.com –This restaurant is housed in a house that has been transformed into a charming restaurant. I immediately noticed the shaded patio that reminded me of the courtyard at Palmers in San Marcos, TX www.palmerstexas.com minus the big orange cat. This made me wish were there in the spring not the beginnings of fall. As you make your way through the residential style single door opening you are hit with fantastic smells and the sounds of chatting people. Dinner comes in the form of two options; the full menu or the tasting room. We opted for the tasting room. You have your choice of 10 or 14 taste size portions. These are broken up in to 4 courses. A pleasant option is that Chef David Uygur (for a bit more cash) has paired these courses with wines. Giving you to opportunity to try the wine alone and then with food. That is something that I equally enjoy and fail at doing at home. My companions agreed that over all we enjoyed everything. One of us wished for a “bucket” of the sweet potato soup with curry. I would have not complained if I was served a dozen Island Creek oysters with cucumbers. Others loved the seared rabbit rillett with faro, root vegetable and a mustard jus. I would have wished for a full bar. I prefer a savory rather than a sweet something after a meal. Scotch usually fists that description. There isn’t much of a bar, 3 or 4 stools, as the owner decided that cocktails were not needed. This isn’t a place you hang out waiting for friends. It is however a place to have a wonderful meal.

How we went to war...

From Arianna:

Sunday Sept. 8, 2002 was a red letter day in the White House Iraq Group’s efforts to market the war. That was the day the administration’s war salesmen scored one of their biggest propaganda coups.That morning, the New York Times ran a front page story co-written by Judy Miller about how Saddam was trying to get a hold of aluminum tubes to be used in building nuclear weapons. Perfectly timed to coincide with this planted (and bogus) info, the administration blanketed the Sunday shows with its big guns -- who all used the New York Times’ credibility to bolster their case against Saddam and scare the American people. Dick Cheney did Meet the Press, citing the Times story as evidence that Saddam was “actively and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons”. Condi Rice went on Wolf Blitzer and warned that the "smoking gun” in Iraq could turn out to be “a mushroom cloud”. Colin Powell on Fox News Sunday, Don Rumsfeld on Face the Nation, and Richard Meyers on This Week all made similar points, raising the specter of a nuked up Saddam. A month later, the House and Senate hastily authorized the administration to go to war.

Shameful. The New York Times becomes the governments house organ.

Cat Blogging

I'm not opposed to some occasional cat blogging. A lioness at the Fort Worth Zoo just had kittens.

More ranting against the government...

So of all the dumb shit they say, the thing that pisses me off the most is....

...we have brought to justice...three-quarters of the more senior al Qaeda leadership and associates.

Thanks to Bush spokesman Scott McLellan for reiterating that nonsense today. They are obviously trying to show that they are great stewards of the National Defense. However, the logic is so risible that it makes me shiver with anger. I just want to ask Bush, "So by that logic, as soon as we've killed or captured the remaining 25% the war is over and we can all rest easy again, right?" Of course not. Stupid. Takes us for a bunch of boobs. But they still say it all the time.

I've killed 3/4 of the fire ants in my front yard. Just tryin to find the other 1/4 and then I'll be sittin' pretty.

And on the same topic...

I'm sick of Bush referring to everyone who's not on our side in Iraq as a terrorist. This is another disingenous way of conflating Iraq with 9/11. I grant you there is plenty of terrorism in Iraq and I'm happy to call a spade a spade. But someone that pops out in the street with a rocket launcher and fires it at a tank is not a terrorist...they're the enemy. Someone who bombs a police station is not terrorist. People that kidnap members of the press and behead them...well, that's a terrorist. There's civilian casualties in any war and our beloved military has been on the business end of it plenty...see Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, or My Lai to name a few. Roadside bombs are the tactic our enemy has found successful in fighting their enemy.

Update: Bush spokesman Scott McLellan conflated again today in his press conference about violence in Iraq, "there's great progress being made, but there are those who continue to carry out violent attacks against innocent civilians." So the enemy in Iraq are just plain terrorists and the only people they target are civilians (non-military targets). That's just hogwash but it's same conflation with 9/11 that got them elected. If his statements are true, I guess the 2022 American military casualties and countless Iraqi Army/Police casualties were accidentally in the way because the enemy only aims at civilians.

Judicial Activism

How is it that Bush gets away with this constraint refrain that he wants judges who won't "legislate from the bench"? I think it's another case of picking and choosing. If it's a liberal judge, it's legislating from the bench...but when conservative judges make new laws, it's OK. The right-leaning judiciary has largely given Bush the right to detain people indefinitely and to torture them. Nothing could be more contrary to the settled law of the land. And we know that Roberts, Miers, and Alito support that position. How is that not making law? If the court overturns Roe, isn't that making new law? Wasn't the court right to make new law with Brown v. Board of Education?

He just goes around squawking the same ol' bullshit and gets away with it. "Fight 'em over there so we don't fight 'em here." Right, ask London. "They hate us for our freedom." Love that chestnut.