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Albany, NY -- Jason Brzoska, Good Samaritan
I just went to Price Chopper in Slingerlands to do a bit of grocery shopping (one of those trips where three items turns into $80, and you still forget to buy two of those items). On my way out of the store, I was about to unload my groceries from my cart to my car, when a woman asked me for help. She was driving her daughter's car, and had just dropped her daughter off at work. She had found that the whole exhaust system was coming loose from the bottom of the car and was dragging on the ground. She needed help getting the muffler and exhaust pipes off of the car, but they were held firmly in place by a thick rubber strap. I crawled underneath the car to try to free the pipe, but could not. I don't keep tools in my car (typical Jewish boy), so I asked her to go into the store and get the sharpest blade she could find. She came back a few minutes later with a boxcutter, and within a couple of minutes I had the exhaust pipe freed and she was on her way. Only thing is, I have no idea if I've done something bad -- can the car actually function without said pipes, or is it dangerous? I wish I had time to take a course in auto maintenance -- for one thing, I should know if replacing an intake gasket (like I had done yesterday) should really cost $700 or if the dealership is ripping me off. But, I'm going to go on as clueless as ever on the topic, I guess. Well, I did something good for someone today. I've been watching too much My Name Is Earl -- I feel like I should be crossing a to-do item off my karmic list.
Albany, NY -- The Ol' College Try Fails for Family Guy
We all know how much I like TV (a LOT). I watched for seven straight hours last night as I worked my way through the last few episodes of Nowhere Man (by the way, the last episode really didn't do the series justice -- the unexpected cancellation of the show forced the writers to create a classic deus ex machina). I've never been a big fan of Family Guy -- it moves too fast and is too dependent on one-liners and outside-the-plot gags. However, I decided to give it another shot -- I picked up all of the first four seasons on DVD and finally began watching them this morning. Three episodes later, I'm already shelving the show. I just can't sit through it anymore. I actually find it really boring. Despite everything positive nearly everyone has said about the show, it doesn't do anything for me. On a similar note, I've decided to become a little more discerning with my TV viewing, so I've done some unscheduling on my DVR. Gone are the aforementioned Family Guy, plus its slighly better timeslot roommate, American Dad, as well as My Name Is Earl. That leaves very little on my regular DVR schedule after May's doomsday cancellations (That 70s Show, Arrested Development, West Wing, and Malcolm in the Middle) -- aside from my daily standbys (Daily Show, Colbert Report, Around the Horn, PTI), all that're left are Scrubs, Simpsons (purely for nostalgic value), South Park, Boston Legal (hanging by a thread), Desperate Housewives, and The Office. How am I going to pass the time? Anyway, I just ordered the first four seasons of 24 on DVD from Amazon -- I've never seen the show, but if it's anywhere near as good as it sounds, I'll be glued to it for a couple of weeks...
Binghamton, NY -- Pipes' Take
Daniel Pipes often gets criticized for taking too much of a Right-Winged Pro-Western take on the happenings of the Middle East, but in his latest piece, he really hit the nail on the head:The historical record shows that democratic countries almost never make war on each other, and tend to be prosperous. Therefore, elections appear to be what the doctor ordered for the maladies of the Middle East.
But that combination has failed this troubled region. The first functional election in the Palestinian Authority has thrown up Hamas. In December, 2005, the Egyptian electorate came out strongly for the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic party, and not for liberal elements. In Iraq, the post-Saddam electorate voted in a pro-Iranian Islamist as prime minister. In Lebanon, the voters celebrated the withdrawal of Syrian troops by voting Hezbollah into the government. Likewise, radical Islamic elements have prospered in elections in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
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It's not Islam or some cultural factor that accounts for this difference; rather, it is the fact that ideological enemies in the Middle East have not yet been defeated. Democratization took place in Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union after their populations had endured the totalitarian crucible. By 1945 and 1991, they recognized what disasters fascism and communism had brought them, and were primed to try a different path.
That's not the case in the Middle East, where a totalitarian temptation remains powerfully in place. Muslims across the region – with the singular and important exception of Iran – are drawn to the Islamist program with its slogan that "Islam is the solution." That was the case from Iran in 1979 to Algeria in 1992 to Turkey in 2002 to the Palestinian Authority this week.
Binghamton, NY -- Wow...
Guess those exit polls were wrong: An exit poll released Wednesday night had indicated that Fatah won 58 seats in the elections, followed closely by Hamas with 53 seats. Oops! The actual results released on Thursday evening by the Palestinian Central Election Commission showed Hamas won 76 seats in 132-seat parliament, with the Fatah garnering only 43 seats. The thirteen remaining seats went to several smaller parties and independents.There's democracy at work for you. Just because democracy brought about peace and prosperity in Eastern Europe doesn't mean it's going to do the same in the Middle East. Tom Friedman, I hope you're paying attention. So what does the world think about this?First off, President Bush gave his usual insightful tidbit, "I don't see how you can be a partner in peace if you advocate the destruction of a country as part of your platform," Bush said. "We're interested in peace." Maybe he missed the memo that said that Hamas is a terrorist organization. I don't think they ever claimed to be a partner for peace. CNN also reported that "former President Jimmy Carter, who headed the mission to monitor the Palestinian election, concurred with Bush, saying that the U.S. should not negotiate with Hamas unless it 'accepts the two-state solution and acknowledges the fact that Israel is a nation deserving of recognition'." And we've also got the same-old from the European side of the Quartet: a call for Hamas to disarm, renounce violence, and legitimately join the government. Yet again, I just don't understand what the EU is thinking. The Palestinians have spoken. They showed the world what they wanted, and that was Hamas. As much as I am against having Hamas in power, I don't see how the world can continue to act the same way towards them. The Palestinians voted for Hamas for a reason -- clearly they are fed up with the current leadership and the direction of the peace process. This draws a striking resemblence to the Likud Revolution of 2000 when Sharon marched back into government and took over a third of the Israeli Knesset. Israelis were fed up with the direction of the peace process, i.e. the seemingly endless Israeli concessions in exchange for a growing number of terror attacks. Sharon was able to transcend the gap between security and peace. Maybe Hamas will transcend the gap between terror and peace... Nah, who am I kidding, the only things that are going to happen now are: 1. Likud is going to climb in the polls and probably win about 25 seats (taking 10 from Kadima). 2. Kadima is going to drop down to about 30 seats and will have a tough time forming a stable coalition. 3. If the peace process stalls for more than 14 months, Israel will have early elections yet again 20 months from now and Likud will take over. 4. In addition, if the peace process does stall, Olmert will simply call the security fence the final border and unilaterally give the Palestinians a state (in Gaza and roughly 90% of the West Bank). 5. The world will quickly "forget" that Hamas is a terrorist organization and try to force Israel to work out details with Hamas regarding final borders. 6. Abbas will probably resign his post as President of the Palestinian Authority and try to strike a deal with Israel simply as head of the PLO in which he agrees to whatever Israel offers. Of course with no real Palestinian Authority backing, no real resolution to the conflict will take place, and we will have a situation very similar to that of Lebanon in the early 1980s. Israel and the pro-Western government of Lebanon signed a peace treaty that was essentially meaningless since that government was quickly replaced by Syrian pseudo-rule in the form of Hezbullah and a puppet government. I really hope that my outlook is pessimistic, but I can't help feeling that it's what will happen.
Hudson, NY -- My Name is George Bush. At Least, It Used To Be.
I've been watching the DVDs of the fantastic short-lived UPN series, Nowhere Man, which is about a photojournalist named Tom Veil who has his life erased, perhaps by the American government (I haven't gotten to the end yet), after he takes a photo of a scene they didn't want him to see. So, at the moment, the news from Joshua Micah Marshall that the White House may be working double-time to scrub all evidence of the relationship between Bush and Jack Abramoff is pretty darned engrossing to me. For some reason, I can't cut and paste any of the article (Talking Points Memo must be copy-protected), but check out the article for yourself. These events are real. I know they are... they have to be...Speaking of nowhere men, where's Ari been? Big news in Israel/Palestine today, but I'll leave that to him.
Rensselaer, NY -- I Am Like, So Connected!
I'm sitting in the train station waiting to go to New York, and my train's running about an hour late. I decided to activate Verizon's Broadband Access through my Blackberry -- it works, and it's fast -- about half as fast as a cable connection and several times faster than normal dialup. I'll never be without the Web again! Not like I was wanting or anything, but the more connected, the better, right? Right? Uh...
Binghamton, NY -- Olmert outlines the future
Sorry about my lack of posts recently. School just started up again and I'm being flooded with petitions as usual. I'm also trying to learn how to use STATA 9, which is my top priority right now. With that said: Yesterday, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delivered his first major speech outlining his policy for peace. As I have stated before, Olmert was one of Sharon's major proponents for the Gaza pullout, and yesterday called the pullout a "turning point for the state of Israel." Olmert continues to stress that he would like to work with the Palestinian leadership to coordinate the withdrawal from the bulk of the West Bank as well as the establishment of final borders. There have been unconfirmed rumors, on the Haaretz.com message board, of talks between the two sides regarding population exchanges -- turning over an Israeli Arab town in exchange for a settlement. I really disagree with a move like this unless the Arabs of that town vote to go ahead with this manuever. Something tells me they would be against it. In other news, Hamas appears to be mounting an unsurpassable lead in pre-election polls in Gaza. Fatah campaigners say they'd be "happy to win 40 percent" in Gaza. Meanwhile the reverse is true in the West Bank. We might be looking at a three state solution in a few months...
Albany, NY -- New Blog: Generation Debt
Anya Kamenetz, a young writer whom I think I mentioned a few months ago, is releasing her first book: She has written for The New York Times, the Washington Post, New York Magazine, Salon, Slate, The Nation, and the Village Voice. In 2004, the Voice nominated her for a Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for her work on the series “Generation Debt: The New Economics of Being Young.” In January 2005, the series became a biweekly column. Reporting assignments have taken her to the Palestinian territories, post-Katrina Louisiana, and the streets of New York City, during protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention, where she barely evaded capture by plastic netting. Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young (Riverhead Books, 2006) is her first book.The books discusses how young people and the nation as a whole are being forced to take on more debt. I haven't read it yet, but I have read some of her Village Voice columns, which you can find here. Anya's also started a blog with the same name as the book. A taste: Bush's election, says the official, was the beginning of a war of attrition in the Office of Federal Student Aid, and by extension, the Direct Loan program. "The people Bush brought in told us we were no longer allowed to give speeches, talk to colleges, publish any brochures or reports, make any hires," he says. "The annual Direct Loan conference was canceled. Our communications person wasn't allowed to talk to the press without a [Bush] appointee in the room. You almost had to ask permission to go to the bathroom, and you never, ever got it."Boy, am I happy I went to school for free...
Albany, NY -- I Have Seen the Future of Shaving...
...yes, it was good. Smooth shave, no nicks! Maybe the next one will have eight blades?
Albany, NY -- Living on the "Edge"
I've been meaning to try Gillette's new five blade razor, Fusion, for a while now, and today's my chance -- got a free sample in the mail. I'll tell you how it is. Ah, my life is exciting...
Albany, NY -- More on Andrea Bronfman's Passing
More from JTA: Andrea Bronfman kept the book-lined study in her Jerusalem home exactly as it had been when the house belonged to her parents years before.
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A chorus of Jewish leaders throughout the United States and Israel expressed shock and sadness at news of Bronfman’s untimely passing, lamenting the hole they said her death would leave in the Jewish and philanthropic communities worldwide.
Born in London to a Scottish father and a mother from New York, Bronfman and her husband — the billionaire businessman and philanthropist Charles Bronfman — maintained residences in New York, Florida and Jerusalem. They spent about three months of each year in Israel and in 2002 were awarded honorary Jerusalem citizenship.
In an interview in Ha’aretz last summer, Bronfman, known widely by her nickname, Andy, said: “I feel like the Wandering Jew.”
Avraham Infeld, president of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, first met Bronfman when she was a young woman in England and he was an emissary there for the Jewish Agency for Israel.
“She in every way was a symbol of life,” he said.
Twenty years ago, the Bronfmans founded the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Inc. The foundation has supported numerous programs and initiatives aimed at strengthening Jewish life, in addition to programs not related to the Jewish community — from projects at the Hebrew University and the Israel Museum to the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada and Historica, and the Foundation for Excellence in the Arts.And from the Jerusalem Post: The family's many charitable endeavors reflected Andrea's ceaseless spirit, determination and generosity and served as a timeless model for the Jewish people everywhere, the UJC said. She leaves a bold legacy for her family and for the Jewish people.
"We are all stunned and deeply saddened by Andrea's passing," said UJC Chair Robert Goldberg. "The Jewish world has lost one of its best friends, a woman who exemplified Judaism's highest values and whose vision led our community into the future for generations to come."
Albany, NY -- Molly Ivins on Hillary
So, my recent upswing in work hours has kept me from keeping up with Jonathan Tasini's campaign, but I decided today to try to reconnect. I sent an e-mail to a couple of people who are running chapters for the campaign, and we'll see what happens. On the topic, Dallas Morning News columnist Molly Ivins has given her take on Tasini's opponent Hillary Clinton's sure run for President in 2008: I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president.
Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.
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If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said...
What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.
The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?I agree. Jonathan's for a single-payer health care system, and against the war. Isn't the fact that he's on the side of the majority of the American people worth a look?
Albany, NY -- One Shoe Drops on RIM -- Blackberry to be Smushed?
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by RIM, which may bring Blackberry service one step closer to being shut down (thanks, Lisa): RIM sought to play down the significance of the court’s rejction. “RIM has consistently acknowledged that Supreme Court review is granted in only a small percentage of cases and we were not banking on Supreme Court review,” said Mark Guibert, RIM’s vice president for corporate marketing. “RIM’s legal arguments for the District Court remain strong and our software workaround designs remain a solid contingency.”
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The legal fight began in 2001, when NTP sued RIM for infringement. The next year, a jury in Richmond decided that RIM had infringed on patents held by NTP, awarding the company 5.7 percent of U.S. BlackBerry sales. Spencer later increased that rate to 8.55 percent. At last count, the tally of damages and fees had exceeded $200 million and it continues to grow.
In a court filing last week, NTP said it was willing to resolve the matter if RIM were to pay it the original 5.7 percent royalty fee, Anderson said.
Last year, attempts to resolve the case fell apart when Spencer disapproved a settlement in which RIM would have paid $450 million to NTP.This news comes on the heels of me finally getting my new Blackberry 7130 working... which is awesome, by the way. The screen is large and vivid, the body is sleek, and the new SureType function works much better than I expected.
Albany, NY -- Andrea Bronfman Dies
From JTA: Jewish philanthropist Andrea Bronfman died Monday in New York City after she was hit by a car. Bronfman was the wife of Charles Bronfman and the co-chair of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies.
The Bronfmans have been major supporters of numerous programs and initiatives aimed at strengthening Jewish life, including birthright israel. The Bronfmans have five children.She and her husband have been a force for good in the Jewish world, and she'll be missed.
Albany, NY -- Kobe Scored What?
Wow... the Lakers/Raptors game just ended a minute ago and Kobe Bryant dropped 81... EIGHTY-ONE FRIGGIN' POINTS!!!
Albany, NY -- Frank Rich on Truthiness
As I watch the massacre go down in Seattle, I figured I'd share Frank Rich's latest with you. Seems the Times is picking up on our main man, Stephen Colbert: What matters most now is whether a story can be sold as truth, preferably on television. The mock Comedy Central pundit Stephen Colbert's slinging of the word "truthiness" caught on instantaneously last year precisely because we live in the age of truthiness.
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This isn't just a slippery slope. It's a toboggan into chaos, or at least war. As everyone knows now - except for the 22 percent, according to a recent Harris poll, who still believe that Saddam helped plan 9/11 - it's the truthiness of all those imminent mushroom clouds that sold the invasion of Iraq. What's remarkable is how much fictionalization plays a role in almost every national debate. Even after a big humbug is exposed as blatantly as Professor Marvel in "The Wizard of Oz" - FEMA's heck of a job in New Orleans, for instance - we remain ready and eager to be duped by the next tall tale. It's as if the country is living in a permanent state of suspension of disbelief.
Democrats who go berserk at their every political defeat still don't understand this. They fault the public for not listening to their facts and arguments, as though facts and arguments would make a difference, even if the Democrats were coherent. It's the power of the story that always counts first, and the selling of it that comes second. Accuracy is optional. The Frey-like genius of the right is its ability to dissemble with a straight face while simultaneously mustering the slick media machinery and expertise to push the goods. It not only has the White House propaganda operation at its disposal, but also an intricate network of P.R. outfits and fake-news outlets that are far more effective than their often hapless liberal counterparts.(Sigh)... OK, time for West Wing.
Albany, NY -- NOOOOOOOOOO Redux
More bad TV news... NBC is pulling the plug on The West Wing at the end of this season: The new president on "The West Wing" will be a real short-timer: NBC announced Sunday it was pulling the plug on the Emmy-winning political drama after seven seasons in May.
NBC, struggling to regain its footing after the worst season in its history, also outlined several midseason schedule changes — including the moves of popular dramas "Law & Order" and "Las Vegas."
"The West Wing" announcement wasn't much of a surprise. Although this season's story line with a presidential campaign involving a Democrat played by Jimmy Smits and Republican portrayed by Alan Alda has been strong critically, ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights.
The decision to cancel it was made before actor John Spencer, who played former presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack Dec. 16, said Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president.I really thought it'd make it. I am pretty devastated. I'm losing most of my favorite TV shows this season. Of course, this means that Arnold Vinick, the Republican candidate, will be the next President of the United States. Just dreadful.
Albany, NY -- Words of Wisdom from Alan Shore
... of Boston Legal fame -- "All it takes for evil to succeed is for the good to say, "It's a business!"
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