Category: Rant

I consider myself a good driver, but I do tend to drive fast (i.e. 10–20 miles over the speed limit), and I have an unhealthy contempt for bad traffic-flow control (i.e. no-turn-on-red signs at 1 in the morning; traffic lights that are set with a fixed timing and no sensors… at 1 in the morning). So in the past three years, I have gotten two tickets. The first was for speeding (80 in a 55 zone. Ouch. Too fast even for me). The second, just this past February, was for “Failing to Heed Traffic Control Device,” or somesuch, by which was meant I turned right-on-red at 1 in the morning on an empty stretch of road that just happened to have a no-turn-on-red sign.
I could get into this more. There is nothing that animates me more than a discussion of stupid traffic laws. But I have a bigger fish to fry.
**Traveler’s Auto Insurance**.
Traveler’s is dropping my fiancée and myself because of these two tickets. Our insurance agent told us that Traveler’s was canceling our policy, which was an unfortunate wording, because by New York State law, Traveler’s cannot cancel the policy, not for these two tickets, anyway. But what they can do is not pick up the policy when we go to renew it, which is what they’re doing. What bothers me is that on January 1, 2008, the first ticket, speeding, will go off my record. And between the two of us, we don’t have any other marks on our licenses. Traveler’s told the insurance agent that it was specifically the speeding ticket that prompted them not to renew our policy, but that ticket is basically four-years old. Older, in fact, than our policy with Traveler’s. I went into the policy with that ticket.
Bah! I say. Whatever!
Traveler’s wasn’t cheap. The deductible was large. They would never allow us to get a year-long policy, only six-months. The only reason we went with them was because we had another insurance policy with them for something unrelated, and they gave us a break on that second policy. When the time comes, I think, we won’t be picking up that policy with Traveler’s. It seems they yielded when they should have come to a complete stop.

Recently, we got a product notice in the kitchen telling us that the brand of tofu we order was being replaced by another. Both brands were organic, but the new brand was superior by way of packaging, apparently. The new brand, Woodstock Farms, highlighted their colorful packaging in the notice, and emphasized how there was no difference in the manufacturing or the quality of the product. Except, of course, there was. The new brands were an ounce less than the originals.
When I found out about the change, I asked the kitchen manager, Tara, if the new packages were smaller. I had noticed previously at supermarkets that Nasoya, a popular brand, had just changed their packaging to look more gourmet, more classy, and took the opportunity to sell less of their product for a little more money. They went from $1.89 for 15 oz. to $2.19 for 14 oz. at my local supermarket. I stopped buying Nasoya, and learned that Trader Joe’s has a private label 15 oz. for $1.19.
Anyway, at the kitchen, Tara said that nothing on the flyer indicated that the new packaging contained less. We had to look at the tiny images of the packages on the notice to see that the new ones, indeed, had less than the original.
This has been going on for years, of course. Products like coffee and ice cream, which traditionally had been sold by the pound and half gallon, respectively, had been nudged down years ago, when the products prices shot up. Coffee is now 13 to 14 oz, and ice cream is 1.5 to 1.75 quarts. It’s fine that the manufacturers do this so they can keep the price down, but it often strikes me as tricky. I’m happy that they’re mandated to put the actual amount we’re getting in these things, but I wish consumers were more aware of this.
In the past month I noticed a couple of other products shrinking in order to keep the price level the same:
* Barilla tomato sauce. Was 26 oz. Changed the packaging to look more gourmet. Now 24 oz. Price $2.99. 8% less product or 8% cost increase, depending on your outlook.
* Marcal 6 pack 1000-sheet toilet paper. Packaging changed to reflect 100% recycled paper. Price $3.99. This one was sneaky. Even though each roll is still 1000 sheet, the old package was 750 sq ft, and the new is 675 sq ft. 10% less product.
I’ve noticed this trend in juices, too. If the package is cardboard, we’re still getting a full half gallon, but when these same products are in plastic containers, we’re getting around 54 to 56 oz. That’s 13 to 16% less product.
Being a savvy consumer is difficult and time-consuming, and I’m sure manufacturers and retailers are expecting that we don’t notice these changes, but as I come across them, I’m going to post them. These things shouldn’t be hidden behind fancy packaging.

Over at [TMP][1], Josh Marshall asks this question:
>November 2004 to November 2006 represented a remarkable turnabout for President Bush and the Republican party. Was there one key event responsible more than any other for the reversal of fortune: Katrina, Iraq, Social Security, Abramoff? What was the tipping point? We’re [discussing this now at TPMCafe][2].
And I think that as far as American public opinion goes, it was Katrina. Really, there’s no question about that to me. Suddenly, overnight, there were working men and women talking about the idiots in Washington. The idiots were always there of course, but Katrina ended the playtime fantasy that Bush was our daddy/savior.
The press didn’t begin to turn around until the Foley scandal. Suddenly, overnight, the pretty people on our televisions started hinting at a Democratic take over of Congress. This was amazingly crass. Foley was embarrassing, sure, but did real people actually care about it? I don’t believe so. The press did, however, because they are part of Washington, and they hate things that embarrass the Washington establishment. I will offer the *Hunt for Clinton’s Penis* as Exhibit #1,634, proving that the press doesn’t care about America. Rather, it attempts to destroy those that scandalize the elite of Washington D.C.
There were those in the press that saw Katrina for what it was, which was a complete fuck-up from the top to the bottom of our nation’s emergency services. (To be fair, the Coast Guard did exactly what it should, with [the resources it had][3].) But the press didn’t move aggressively enough to highlight the deficiencies within the government that would lead to such mismanagement. Part of that, I believe, is that journalists and reporters themselves feel so detached from crises. They’re there to report on them, not interfere. So during Katrina, many of these reporters catalogued days of agony and suffering, and didn’t do anything themselves to help with it.
That’s not a criticism of journalists. They report the story, not make it. The guys like Anderson Cooper, who did get involved, became part of the story, and lost some credibility in the process. But the disconnect between the suffering and the camera has to be hard on the psyche. I think many news companies began to soften their reporters stance on the Katrina rescue efforts, because those news companies realized that some of us may have begun to wonder why they don’t just send in the helicopters that shuffle their stars to and from the disaster sites. Why don’t they get involved?
So, again, the press drops the ball, because it makes them feel uncomfortable. They are part of the establishment in Washington, along with politicians and lobbyists. Katrina was embarrassing to everyone. But Foley was just embarrassing to congressional Republicans, and the press had no problem making an example out of that idiot.
Which only leaves Iraq; the elephant in the room, if you’ll pardon the pun. Why didn’t that affect Bush and the Republicans all along? Now, of course, it’s amazingly easy to criticize Bush for his ineptness regarding Iraq, but, to those people who think that Iraq has only recently become a mess, you’re delusional. Iraq was a mess the moment we invaded. Sure, statues fell and missions were accomplished, but that was all bullshit, and anyone, seriously anyone, with any bit of intelligence knew it. Iraq isn’t Bush’s fault. It’s all our faults. We let this happen.; we’re all complicit. And, so, now that Bush is so weak and ineffectual that he can’t hold a significant majority in the midterm elections, people might say that the reason they voted Democratic is Iraq, but, American Joe, you had your chance to hold that to him in 2004, and you didn’t. Iraq wasn’t a tipping point. Iraq is a nightmare that we’re not half-way through.
But, if Iraq really is the reason that you suddenly can’t stand Republican rule, congratulations. You’ve become an adult again. You should check up on what they tried (and will try again) to do to Social Security. It’s not going bankrupt. Learn the name of Abramoff and be amazed at his long arms through the reach of our government, even though absolutely none of us elected him. I might also suggest taking a look at recent events pertaining to China, North Korea, Iran, and Lebanon to get a nice clear picture of how our crack team of officials, who handled Iraq so wonderfully, also get to play with other nations.
And don’t forget to hold the Democrats responsible for the horrible bankruptcy bill that they helped pass while a minority. They’re going to do idiotic things, too. Don’t suddenly wake up and realize it years after the fact. Hold them responsible *before* they pass their stupid laws and bills that benefit no one, but play nicely on the evening news.
[1]: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011701.php
[2]: http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/dec/26/event_of_the_two_year_cycle
[3]: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0505/050505kp1.htm

On my usual Monday night delivery route, I passed a lit sign in front of a church somewhere out towards the north fork of Long Island. It said, “GOOD WITHOUT GOD IS JUST O,” and for a little bit, I didn’t catch what it was trying to convey. Good is just O? I thought. O? As in *oh no*? As is the *big O*? Good is an orgasm without God? What? I didn’t get it.
But that’s because I’m a typesetter at heart. *O* is not *0*. I never say “oh” in phone numbers when I mean *zero*. *O* is a letter, and *0* is a digit. Any typeface that is not trying to mimic a typewriter is going to have two different [glyphs][1] two represent two different characters. Anyone who finds it acceptable to replace a zero with the letter *O* should also have no problem replacing the number *1* with a lower-case *l*.
“GOLD WITHOUT GOD IS JUST L” doesn’t make any sense. Let’s put that in proper case (all caps is a crime against typography and clarity anyway). “Gold without God is just l,” is still obviously idiotic. But on a typewriter that could mean “… just one.” It sounds more poetic, but has no meaning, which, all cleverness aside, is what I think of the original as well.
Good without God isn’t *nothing*. Good without God is still good. Why do you need an absolute reference point to do good? Why does one need a specific brand of bearded cloud-father (Methodist, I think) to determine good or evil? Ethics exists without the assistance of religion to classify right from wrong.
And, anyway, it was a poor pun, and it depended on the invention of typewriters and cheap signage to make it work.
[1]: http://www.answers.com/topic/glyph#Technology

Spam kills small websites. Especially, small sites that have a modicum of user feedback. Because the volume of user feedback on my site was small, and I’ve had a web presence for years, my site was (and is) particularly attractive to spammers.

They inundated my forum, so I closed it down. They spammed the comment area on my blog, so I have to approve any comments. But I still get so many spammed comments that the real ones sometimes get deleted along with the spam. Since I’ve started my site, I always allowed any email that is sent to my domain to reach my mailbox. Because it costs nothing for a spammer to send emails, even to bogus addresses, I would get hundreds of spam emails to addresses like *grreks@macphoenix.com* or *qpxb@macphoenix.com*. Still, the filters in my email reader were good enough to reduce the amount of spam in my inbox to the dozens per day, which I could easily delete.

Recently, however, some enterprising spammer decided to put *macphoenix.com* as the reply-to in his latest spew. He forged the headers, illegal in America but hardly uncommon, to make it look as though these emails were being sent from my domain. Again, they were all random “users,” like my good friends *hertz@macphoenix.com* and *jfres@macphoenix.com*. When a good portion of the spam was returned, because the addresses were false, or the domain had anti-spam measures put in place, it would end up in my inbox. Last Saturday, I had 2000 emails. I had to sort through them, for the needle in the haystack, and deleted the rest. On Monday I had 3000.

I had to stop accepting every email to my domain. For five years, I’ve accepted anything, in case someone misspells my name, which happens constantly. On the fly, I’ve been able to sign up for mailings on dubious sites, because I could always route the made up name into a spam filter. It made tracking those that sold my email address easy, since I know that *bmgjunk@macphoenix.com* was the name I gave to BMG. But no more. Now, I’d have to sign into my sites control panel, make up a new email address, new password, then tell my email reader to check that account. Eventually, I’d have dozens of accounts, for the sole purpose of making sure my increasing worthless name doesn’t get shared with spamming lists, when my whole domain has been poisoned.

Because of the volume of spam that seeming has been sent by me, my IP has been blocked by certain hosts, so I can no longer grab the RSS feeds for the [weather][1] or the [Word of the Day][2]. So spam has crippled my site, my email, and my productivity. And I’m just a small, unregarded nobody out on the unfashionable end of the western arm of the Internets.

[1]: http://www.rss.noaa.gov/
[2]: http://wordsmith.org/awad/today.html

With the Bush Administration, I am reminded of a cartoon of an anthropomorphized animal, dancing around in a tutu, on a stage that is in tatters from the stage lights and curtain weights that have fallen from above, each leaving a splintered crater in its wake. The cartoon character is blissfully unaware of each hurtling object, and manages to dance away from the spot just before the next sandbag would have made him into a pancake. There is some [Carl Starling][1] music playing, no doubt, and the feet of the character’s leotards are comically ill-fitting.
And while it is my very nature to laugh inappropriately, to guffaw loudly at the blackest comedy, I can only smirk inwardly at the dancing idiot in this cartoon, because he’s ruining a perfectly fine country. Let’s call him [Commander Codpiece][3].
Each falling object is labeled with some crisis that the Bushies couldn’t handle: The Economy. The Chinese spy plane. 9/11. The failure to capture Osama. North Korean nukes. The lies and hyperbole leading up the Iraq war. The Iraq war. Katrina. The Abramoff money-laundering lobbyist scandal. The NSA spying without warrants. Iran.
Everyone is aware of these things, but there are too many people who are just [entertained by the silly dancing][2]. Some people assume because he’s on stage, he must be respected. I just see an idiot dancing to funny music. Some assume Commander Codpiece shows skill by avoiding the falling debris. Whereas I see a very lucky cartoon character who has a [sympathetic director][4]. And I’ll be very happy when the little pig comes out, stuttering, “That’s all folks!”
**Update:** Oh, Medicaid. They couldn’t handle that one, either. And Energy and Environmental initiatives. And Harriet Myers. And pretzels.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Stalling “Or Raymond Scott music, depending on your level of geekitude.”
[2]: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_01_22_atrios_archive.html#113805609193310561
[3]: http://www.theworriedshrimp.com/DeficitDubya32.html
[4]: http://www.danzigercartoons.com/cmp/2005/danziger2462.html

On the teaser for WCBS local 11 o’clock news, Jim Rosenfield says, “Jews around the world are praying for Ariel Sharon.”
Without trying to notice the irony of a man named Rosenfield saying this, I had to wonder if Vladimir Putin were gravely ill, if the news would tell me that “Russian Orthodox Catholics around the world are praying,” for him. Or when Queen Elizabeth’s health fades, “Episcopals (or Anglicans, take your pick) around the world…,” etc.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I’ve seen dozens of photos of Orthodox Jews praying at the [Wailing Wall][1], all apparently doing so because Sharon is in the hospital, but I can’t help but question when that stock footage was taken, and how often those same men are at the Wall, no matter who is sick. Should he die, the government of Israel will survive. Arial Sharon is an elected leader. He is not a religious leader.
It worries me that the stupid media can’t understand the difference anymore.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wall

In 1992, I voted for Bill Clinton. Shortly after that, I was disappointed by almost everything that he did. At the time, I confused *Democratic* for *Liberal*, and Bill was such a good centrist. He moved the entire Democratic Party towards the muddled center. I switched parties, and voted down the Liberal line every election until they took my party away. (New York State no longer has a Liberal Party on the ballot.) So, I voted for Nader in 1996–and for “Grandpa” Al Lewis for Governor–and erroneously did the same in 2000. Well, I didn’t vote for Grandpa again, since he wasn’t on the ballot.
Anyway, what Bill did to really annoy me was throw his weight behind an FBI initiative called the “Clipper chip.” This was supposed to allow the FBI to eavesdrop on any cell phone communication with minimal hassle. We were assured that they would only do so after receiving a court order. The reason for this chip was to make it easy to break the encryption on cell phone transmissions, because even if the Feds could easily get the court order, it didn’t mean that they could understand what they were listening to.
But this was a bad idea on several levels. The first was the method of the “key,” by which the Fed would be able to tap the phone. The key was a long series of bits that would open up the phone’s encryption, but the government wasn’t about to tell anyone how long (it turned out to be 80-bits), which is important, because shorter bit-lengths are easier to crack. In other words, no one knew how secure a phone conversation would be, because some high-school kid could have broken into your Clipper chip. Or perhaps a business rival. Or a foreign agent.
Another problem, which proved to be the death knell for the ol’ Clipper chip, was that it would be required by law on every phone sold in *America* (or made by American companies), where the law was applicable. Of course, criminals and nefarious types could just get their phone in some other country, where the cell phones wouldn’t be hobbled by the chip, thus defeating the very “purpose” of the chip.
It was bad policy, and was abandoned in 1996, but the damage, in my mind at least, to the Clinton legacy was forever soldiered onto the circuit board of history. Or something. Bill Clinton was [bad for personal privacy][1]. And you know what? Privacy wonks called him on it.
Clinton dismantled Welfare. And Welfare advocates called him on it.
Clinton supported NAFTA (a policy signed into law under Bush Sr). And labor unions called him on it.
*Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell*? Astoundingly bad policy. No Liberal would ever support that.
Michael Moore called Bill Clinton the greatest Republican president we’ve ever had. And Moore was right.
So, it confuses me that so-called Conservatives have such a tough time calling Bush Jr on his cavalier disregard for Conservative principles. He’s as conservative as Clinton was liberal. What’s more, where one could make a good case that Clinton tacked to the right (to his success, I admit), economically and socially, Bush, rather than tacking towards the left or the right, is actually sinking the sailboat all together. Bush is totally off the charts on principles, ethics, and morals. But so few Republicans, Conservatives, or, damn them, Democrats dare to speak up. It’s inconceivable!
But maybe I’m not using that word right.
Then we have Drudge. The man who tried to take down the Clinton Administration, does his best to prop up the decaying hulk of the Dubya Junta, by, of course, [blaming Clinton][2]. Doesn’t hurt to keep your eyes shut that tightly? Can you breathe with your head buried so deeply? Wake up! Wake up! There is more danger to our nation wrapped in our flag than the pathetic plans of men who dream of martyrdom.
[1]: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/Terrorism/960424_aclu_terror_bill.announce
[2]: http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/20/drudge-fact-check/

In this time of the brutal War on Christmas, it takes a strong leader to remind us what is really important, which is the continual War on Reason. No matter how far into ignorance and blindness we must go, King George will lead us there, appointed by God, anointed by Jesus, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
King George. We are so lucky to have him. Any lesser man would be troubled by [breaking the law][1] [over][2] and [over][3] and [over][4] again. But unto the King, no laws need stand, for he is Law, and he is Justice, and he is merciful to his subjects, even when they [disagree with him][4a]. And King George knows he must break the law to protect us, because otherwise we might vote for the opposition party, and they do not have the balls to do what is right in the face of imminent danger, oh yes one-day-in-the-nebulous-future-imminent danger.
King George. Appointed by God’s Heavenly Agents on Earth. Anointed by [the press][5]. Filled with Holy Spirit as only a dry drunk can be. Why were we the lucky ones? What if King George had been born unto the [heathen oil-drillers][6]? What if King George had had but one successful business venture instead of [several failed ones][7] before entering politics? What if King George had [concentrated][8] his whole life to ethics, sociology, history, politics, or economics? Would he still be our King?
Thankfully, these need no answer, because he his our [King][9]. And may God have mercy on us all.
[1]: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1422504
[2]: http://villagevoice.com/news/0551,hentoff,71124,6.html
[3]: http://www.counterpunch.org/leopold12172005.html
[4]: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051011/a_snake_oil_president.php
[4a]: http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/12/index.html#008676
[5]: http://mediamatters.org/items/200512190005
[6]: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3308.htm
[7]: http://alaric3rh.home.sprynet.com/science/bceo.html
[8]: http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/bushisms/index.html#think
[9]: http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2005/12/prince-whose-character-is-thus-marked.html

Jack Cafferty used to be a newscaster on the local NBC affiliate out here in New York, and he was a likable enough guy. He, briefly, went to work for the more local WPIX which would soon become the WB11, and Cafferty was out. It was plain to see he didn’t like it there at the WB, and presented the news pretty gruffly. I hadn’t seen him for a while, and then he shows up on CNN a couple of years ago, and I think to myself, huh, I wonder if that is going to be a good match. He was still pretty gruff, and they put him on the morning show, which I was positive was not a good idea, but he stayed there until CNN started that stupid Situation Room.
Anyway, that’s all just meandering memories. The point is Jack Cafferty, a pretty professional and long time New York newscaster, has that olde tyme gravitas, a kind of no-nonsense approach to news–nothing flashy. “This is the news and that’s how you’ll like it,” sort of thing. He’s been a reliable marker for what level of shenanigans the press is willing to put up with, before they call out “bullshit.”
[He said this, yesterday][1]:
>…I’m 62, I remember the riots in Watts, I remember the earthquake in San Francisco, I remember a lot of things–I have never, ever seen anything as badly bungled and poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans. Where the hell is the water for these people? Why can’t sandwiches be dropped to those people in that Superdome down there? This is Thursday! This is Thursday! This storm happened five days ago. It’s a disgrace, and don’t think the world isn’t watching. This is the government the taxpayers are paying for and it’s fallen right flat on its face, in the way its handled this thing.
He’s not the only member of the elite press corps [declairing shenanigans][2] on the team sitting in the White House. Some of us believe that a government’s responsibility is to its people, but Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu believes the first business of government is patting itself on the back for a job well done. Anderson Cooper, also of CNN, [doesn’t buy it][3]. It seems he gets upset when he sees Americans lying dead in city streets being eaten by rats.
Ted Koppel, of Nightline, can’t understand why thousands of people starving and dehydrating at the New Orleans Convention Center are still without food and water, and Michael Brown of FEMA tells an incredulous Koppel that the federal government just learned that people were at the convention center that day–[FIVE DAYS after the hurricane][4]. Koppel, too, calls bullshit. And the point is made: The press is getting antsy.
A part of me wonders why this tragedy, of all things, is making the pressmen stand up and shake their fists at this pathetic disgrace of an administration and the [miserable failure][5] that is our president. And I think it is the shock to these men and women who have reported overseas and watched death and war and famine strike in dozens of places on Earth, but never, ever for a moment thought that the United States could ever get that bad. A single act of nature displaced half a million people, crippled our energy infrastructure, and created a breakdown of law and order that threatens to spread into three states. And while the hurricane could not have been prevented, it was a knowable danger, and for four days our federal government sat blithely on the sidelines while thousands of American lives were destroyed. As quick as the destruction was on September 11, 2001, this one unfolded over days, and it will not end for months. And when the enormity of it hit the airwaves, our [president][8] played guitar in California, our [vice-president][7] was keeping silent somewhere in the wilderness of Wyoming, and our [secretary of state][9] was vacationing in New York city, buying thousand dollar shoes and playing tennis with pretty people. Who are these people, and where is their compassion?
I think, maybe, that’s what’s getting the press all flustered, because they are there with their cameras and reporters, and they cannot believe the enormity of it, and they know that much of the destruction could have, and should have, [been prevented][6].
[1]: http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2005_08_28.html#002420 “Via This Modern World”
[2]: http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/SouthParkElementary/seasontwo.html#213 “South Park ep 213: Cow Days”
[3]: http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/01/cooper-to-landrieu-americans-want-answers/ “Via AmericaBlog”
[4]: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/ted-koppel-rips-rips-rips-michael.html “Via AmericaBlog”
[5]: http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/
[6]: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/pl_nm/weather_katrina_funding_dc “Via AmericaBlog.org”
[7]: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/omigod-dick-cheney-has-been-on.html “Via AmericaBlog.org”
[8]: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/31/1442/53877 “Via DailyKos”
[9]: http://www.gawker.com/news/condoleezza-rice/breaking-condi-rice-spends-salary-on-shoes-123467.php “Via AmericaBlog”