Ah-Nold Relents on Sped-Up Remapping

this is too bad, this was my favorite of Arnold's reforms.
It makes sense to take the legislature out of drawing its own boundaries.
Gov. Relents on Sped-Up Remapping: "For months, he has insisted that California needs to immediately change its method of electing politicians, calling for independent judges — rather than legislators — to draw district boundaries. In February, he and his aides said there would be no compromise on the issue."

Susie Bright's Journal : Andrea Dworkin Has Died

Susie Bright's Journal : Andrea Dworkin Has Died

The funny thing that happened on the way to the X-Rated Sex Palace was that some of us came to different conclusions than Ms. Dworkin. We saw the sexism of the porn business... but we also saw some intriguing possibilities and amazing maverick spirit. We said, “What if we made something that reflected our politics and values, but was just as sexually bold?”

Me in a magazine, talking of philanthropy

FNC | Feature: "'It is important for me to understand how the process works and my role in it. Then I am able to communicate to applicants where they are in the process and why certain documents are needed. When the process is transparent, I can assure them that they are not just jumping through hoops,' explains Bracken."

tierney: The Smart Money

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: The Smart Money: "But if you watched the Intrade market throughout the campaign, you saw the traders serenely betting on a Bush victory. Most remarkably, the weekend before the election, the traders correctly called the winner in every one of the 50 states."

Peerflix

IPac - Blog: " Peerflix

Think of it as a tangent off the development line of NetFlix, only with a communal, lending-library flavor.

Here's how it works (from the FAQ): List the DVDs you own and no longer want, add the DVDs you'd like to see, and get ready to trade on!

As soon as you send a DVD out, an item on your wish list gets mailed to you. And, it only costs you 99 cents, plus a stamp. (You get charged $4.95 for five pre-paid trades in the amount of $0.99 each). Peerflix admin operates as the central librarian, coordinating the movement o DVDs between members."

Back home in Hillcrest

I landed in SD this afternoon. It was my first arrival here without someone picking me up at the airport. Through a hike and cab adventure, I made it to the old hood and found a wifi connection. I've been working on collecting addresses for the wedding. I am sooo tired, having stayed up late to finish one of the Eastwood Sergio Leonoe spaghetti westerns, i forget which.
the weather is great, the people are way too socal friendly for my road-weary Chi town demeanor.

Chicago Story of the Week

Saul Bellow couldn't have written it better.
(reg. required for link)

Chicago Tribune | `I bet they're smiling': Marco Morales, who mastered the art of Chicago bribery before fleeing to Mexico, doesn't think City Hall is shedding any tears over the U.S.' failure to bring him back to testify about corruption

"'In my heart, I will always be a Chicago guy,' he said. 'I miss it so damn much, it's pitiful. But I'm here. So I have to go with the flow.'"

Going into business for himself, Morales called in favors and schmoozed city officials at places like the Old Neighborhood Italian American Club, the Crazy Sicilian Lounge and Bertucci's Corner. In 1995, Morales earned more than $930,000, records show.

"It was, hey, what the hell?" Morales said. "You get to kind of smell the power and get a little greedy. From being nothing, you're having somebody up there [in City Hall]. You say, `Hey, you're somebody now.'

"I never really thought about it ... Everybody was doing the same thing."

Born in Mexico, Morales moved to Chicago with his family when he was 11. Shy and speaking little English, he had trouble learning to read and dropped out in the 7th grade.

Adventures in Ethical Consumerism: Darwin's Nightmare

Adventures in Ethical Consumerism: Darwin's Nightmare

The makers of Darwin’s Nightmare are not shy. They bravely ask three very important questions: Why are there Africans starving in the immediate vicinity of Lake Victoria? What is happening to the lake’s ecosystem now that the Nile perch has come to dominate? And what cargo is being unloaded from the supposedly empty planes when they arrive?

Now you can actually see the faces of some of the people who are delivering weapons into Africa. Now you can hear what those people have to say.

This is one powerful film. It goes straight to the heart of what is happening in Africa today.

Darwin's Nightmare

The New York Times > Movies > The Feel-Good Feel-Bad Movie: "TRUE to its name, 'Darwin's Nightmare,' a new documentary directed by Hubert Sauper, presents a vivid tableau of ecological, social and medical horror. On the shores of Lake Victoria in the African nation of Tanzania, Mr. Sauper discovers a landscape of violence, disease and desperation. H.I.V. infection rages through the encampments where fishermen, who have migrated from famine-stricken inland areas, spend their free time with prostitutes, who also serve the sometimes brutal whims of Western businessmen and cargo plane pilots at the local bars. Street children burn discarded scraps of Styrofoam packing material so they can inhale the fumes, and fight with one another over meager portions of donated food. The Nile perch that flourishes in the lake is processed in ultramodern factories, from which frozen fillets are flown to Europe in cargo planes by the ton, while the rotting heads and carcasses, processed in open-air pits, feed the local population."

I saw this last night at Facets. A great counter-point to Tom Friedman's much-hyped The World is Flat story and book.

The New York Times > New York Region > Two Girls Held as U.S. Fears Suicide Bomb

more goofy witch hunts
The New York Times > New York Region > Two Girls Held as U.S. Fears Suicide Bomb: "'There are doubts about these claims, and no evidence has been found that such a plot was in the works,' said the government official in Washington, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case involves a pending legal matter. A senior law enforcement official in New York voiced the same doubts."

Sesame Street: 25 Favorite Memories - Progressive Boink

Sesame Street: 25 Of My Favorite Memories - Progressive Boink: "#21"

Artist to tow iceberg from Arctic to Belfast

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Artist to tow iceberg from Arctic to Belfast: "'A huge big mountain of ice seems to be the most eloquent way of describing where we are. There is a certain type of madness in Northern Ireland society, a denial of what has happened to us. Maybe it's time to come out of denial and confront what has sunk us.'

Duffy, whose father was one of the few Roman Catholics allowed to work in the shipyard, sees the iceberg as a living sculpture which the city will watch melt away. 'The iceberg is a figure of fear and I hope its melting will have a cathartic effect. Ice is the alchemic opposite of the fire of hatred and sectarianism, mistrust and dislike, that has burned here.'"

and the new 007 is....

who is daniel craig?

Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | Live and let die: "Like Dr Who, he is an icon simultaneously unchanging and eminently replaceable. Should his acting incarnation grow too bored (Sean Connery), too old (Roger Moore), too crap (George Lazenby) or even too greedy (Pierce Brosnan, allegedly), then no matter. There is always another square-jawed suave-looking performer ready to step in and fill his tux."

Old TV show of the week

"The Bill Dana Show" (1963):
"The Bill Dana Show" (1963)

"Jose is a well-meaning emigrant who due to mistaken identity ends up as a bell-hop at a posh hotel. His best friend, Eddie is well played by Gary Crosby in what may be his best performance. Don Adams is a pre-Maxwell Smart, even using trademark dialogue such as, 'Would you believe...?'"

TechWeb: Online gaming Sites May Have Inside Track On Next Pope

TechWeb | News | Online gaming Sites May Have Inside Track On Next Pope: "The frontrunner at most polls is Italy's Dionigi Tettamanzi, who is anywhere from a 9 to 2 to an 11 to 4 odds-on favorite to win when the College of Cardinals meets "

Backstreets.com: Springsteen News

Backstreets.com: Springsteen News: "Springsteen's tour in support of Devils & Dust is now officially slated to swing through the United States and Europe for two months this spring. The tour will be entirely solo, and Springsteen will perform in theaters and in arenas scaled down to theater format. Opening the tour on April 25 in Detroit, Springsteen will play for a month in the U.S. and a month in Europe; a press release says to 'expect an announcement of additional U.S. tour dates later this year.' No on-sale information available yet."

Stay Free! Daily: Google campaign for the Starbucks Delocator

Stay Free! Daily: Google campaign for the Starbucks Delocator

$14 Billion of Iraq Reconstruction Fund Invested on Wall Street

From Interesting People:

$14 Billion of Iraq Reconstruction Fund Invested on Wall Street
Posted on Sunday, April 03 @ 11:30:44 PDT by joeb

Of the $18.4 billion that Congess appropriated 16 months ago for postwar reconstruction in Iraq, only $3.6 billion has been spent to date. There has been much head-scratching over this uncharacteristic failure of the Pentagon to spend money promptly.

A recently unearthed portion of a Defense Department memo sheds some light on the issue, suggesting that more than $14 billion earmarked for reconstruction was actually invested on Wall Street. The memo's author and date are unknown. This portion of the apparently classified document -- marked "page 3" -- was mistakenly sent to Mid-America Seed Savers, a nonprofit organization in Lawrence, Kansas whose members had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Army's alleged distribution of genetically engineered wheat seed to farmers in Iraq. The memo fragment is reproduced here in full:

[page heading] Reconstruction fund enhancement - p. 3

[...] that among these, the scenario with greatest potential was investment in a medium-risk portfolio of U.S.-based securities. To accomplish this without incurring excessive and unwarranted scrutiny, the Secretary issued a classified order creating the Office of Special Brokerage Services (OSBS), to which management of the reconstruction funds was assigned. The OSBS, quietly through third parties, purchased approximately $5 billion in stock in February, 2004. Another $9.2 billion was invested the following month. As of December 31, 2004, the fund had shown a net growth of approximately -1.7%.

The negative growth observed to date should not be cause for gloom. This is a long-term investment of behalf of the Iraqi people. According to OSBS projections, the fund's assets will achieve a value of $38.9 billion by a decade from now, assuming vigorous growth in the US economy.

It is important to compare that figure with the almost-certain undesirable outcome of spending the money directly on infrastructure enhancement. The past two years' experience shows that new public works run a significant risk of damage or even instantaneous 100% depreciation due to hostile and friendly combat activities. And, as the CJCS [Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers] has noted, insurgencies typically last 7 to 12 years. If invested on the ground in Iraq today, the reconstruction funds might well be worth precisely zero to the Iraqi people a decade from now.

Prudent investment, on the other hand, can help Iraq rebuild while becoming an ownership society. The OSBS has assigned portions of the fund's assets to individual citizens, based on voting rolls from the January election. Although he or she is not yet aware of it, each and every Iraqi voter now owns a Personal Reconstruction Account (PRA) that will continue to grow in value, safely, until violence in Iraq subsides and normal economic activity can resume. At that point, Iraqi citizens will be able to draw on their PRAs as needed, putting that money to work in their economy and stimulating private-sector solutions to the problem of reconstruction.

PRAs will provide Iraqis with what they desire most: freedom of choice. Under this plan, money will go directly into the pockets of the Iraqi people, for whose benefit Congress intended it. Furthermore, the use of voting records to allocate PRAs will ensure that impetus for rebuilding the country will come from those who have demonstrated a commitment to the democratic process -- not from Muslim extremists or Baathist dead-enders.

The question of whether to inform American or Iraqi citizens of OSBS activities and plans is a difficult one. Taking into consideration current political realities, it is probably best not [. . . end of page]

(Pentagon officials have offered no comment on the memo.)

Stan Cox is a plant breeder and writer in Salina, Kansas. He can be reached at: t.stan@cox.net

http://www.intl-news.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1397

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/

Upcoming.org: Home

Upcoming.org: Home: "Upcoming.org is a collaborative event calendar, completely driven by people like you. Enter in the events you're attending, comment on events entered by others, and syndicate event listings to your own weblog.

As Upcoming.org learns more about the events you enjoy, it will suggest new events you never would have heard about."

2004 broadband penetration

Yahoo 360 invitations

If you are interested, I got an invite yesterday. So far, I don't buy it. but then, I didn't think ESPN 2 would play out, either.

Current TV

Current TV
this is the long-awaited, by media dorks at least, Al Gore TV station for youth-- formerly indytv. Its aim is media made by and for young folks. After looking at 3 of the films, I am not all that impressed.

washingtonpost.com: Tax Abuse Rampant in Nonprofits, IRS Says

washingtonpost.com: Tax Abuse Rampant in Nonprofits, IRS Says: "Charities and other nonprofits exempted from taxes because they serve a public purpose have become a hotbed of tax evasion and abuse, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service.

'We can see that tax abuse is increasingly present in the sector,' and unless the government takes effective steps to curb it, such organizations risk 'the loss of the faith and support that the public has always given to this sector,' Internal Revenue Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee detailing abuses his agency has found."

Pulitzers Announced

L.A. Times Wins Pulitzer for Public Service (washingtonpost.com)

The LA Times piece on Drew/King Medical Center was pretty great.
The great Tribune Co./Times does not provide a link to the story. (that is for Part 4.) Lets hope it does not inspire more layoffs.

Eric Rice :: Grand Theft Auto: Lego City

Eric Rice :: Grand Theft Auto: Lego City

this is tight, even if you dont play GTA

Why Blockbuster Sucks

I've been feeling bad for using Blockbuster instead of Netflix.
Here's my latest reason to switch, at the top of my Reccomended list I find:

Yanni: Live at the Acropolis(1994) DVD Rated: NR Release Date: 02/22/2000
Before a sold-out crowd on September 24, 1993, new age musical artist Yanni, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performed the first of three historic concerts at the Acropolis in... More
Starring: Yanni, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, More

Marc Cooper on the Dems

by request, Marc Cooper in March's Atlantic Monthly, on the decrepit state of the Democratic Party.

Powell's Books - Review-a-Day - Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (A Progressive Guide to Action) by George Lakoff, reviewed by The Atlantic Monthly:

"Lakoff, revealingly, provides nary a word on reshaping the Democratic Party itself, blunting the influence of corporate cash, eliminating the stranglehold on the party and its candidates by discredited but omni-powerful consultants, reversing its estrangement from the white working class, finding some decent candidates, or just about anything else that might require actual strategic thinking, organizing, and politicking. Never mind. What liberals most need to do, Lakoff says, is 'be the change you want.'"

NWA quiz

the Phat Phree - Features

The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk
Originally uploaded by outofcontxt.

thanks to chicago photo bloggers