Why Heraldblog?

A long time ago, in a place far away, I was a college student.

I had long hair, and wore faded jeans and carried a backpack. I drank lots of beer, listened to rock music on a phonograph, and slept through my classes. And I worked on the college newspaper.

The newspaper was my family. Way cooler than I imagined a fraternity to be, and more time consuming than my coursework, the Western Herald was my ticket to the world. Or at least the world as I knew it, which was Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jimmy Carter was President, and disco had not yet hit the music scene when I first walked into the Herald office in the basement of the student services building. I stayed two years, then had to graduate.

I met some great people, did a lot of honest work, and left with a skill: producing copy. I've been writing ever since, for newspapers, magazines and corporations, covering everything from murder trials to dealer finance incentives.

So now I have this idea to reconnect with some of those people from a long time ago, in a place far away, and start a web blog. We'll see how it goes.

Ken, March 21, 2004
22.3.04 00:18


Passion of the Wood

According to CNN, Dawn of the Dead, a movie about dead people coming back to life, dethroned Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, a movie about, well, you know, from its number one position at American's box offices over the weekend. I haven't seen either movie, although I do remember seeing the original Dawn of the Dead about 20 years ago, and it was bloody awful.





There are two types of bad movies. Movies that are bad on purpose (e.g.Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Surf Nazis Must Die), and bad movies whose creators were generally pleased







with themselves as they walked out of the initial screening. Ed Wood, the weirdo who wrote, directed, produced and catered Plan Nine from Outer Space, unwittingly created a masterpiece to my mind. Maybe it's Wood's own passion that I admire, a passion totally unfettered by talent, ability, or technical know-how. Some may call his passion just plain stubborness, and those people may be right. I don't know. But when a stubborn person has the strength of conviction, no matter how misguided, to assemble a cast and crew, put his finances on the line, and write some of the worst line to ever be spoken in a darkened theatre (Inspector Clay is dead! Murdered! And somebody's resonsible!), then that stubborn person has my attention.
22.3.04 14:44


Let the scrutiny begin

I love this quote:

"He has chosen at this critical time, in the middle of a presidential campaign, to inject himself into the political debate," spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "And he has every right to do so. But in so doing, his judgments -- his actions, or the lack thereof -- should also come under scrutiny."

Bush's mouthpiece is talking about Richard Clarke's allegations, recently published, that Bush was more focused on Iraq and missile defense when he took office that he was on al Qaeda. As Clinton's former counterterrorism coordinator, Clarke is certainly in a position to know. But Bartlett's easy assertion that Clark's comments need to be scrutinized cut both ways. Bush, too, is speaking during an election year, and what W has to say about the months leading up to 9/11 "should also come under scrutiny."



And thus the 9/11 commission was born. W is schedule to appear before the commission for one hour.



He spends more time on his treadmill, but hey, when you're leader of the free world, you do what you can.



Scrutny only works in an unfettered marketplace of ideas, where both sides of a political contest are equally free to speak up. That is to say, an environment where opponents of Bush's conduct during The War Against Terror aren't labeled as traitors or worse.



I hope W is taking Clarke's accusations more seriously than he is letting on. Clarke isn't Michael Moore, or Sean Penn, or some other professional gadfly. He worked for Reagan and Bush pére, for crying out loud.


What's most troubling about the Bush administration's glib denials, though, is that it has chosen at this critical time, in the middle of the Presidential campaign, to inject phony indignation and mock surprise in the political debate.



This administration's actions should come under scrutiny.
22.3.04 17:34


Spin cycle



The White House is going bonkers over Dick Clarke's book. And what's coming out of the administration ain't pretty. Cheney told el Rushbo the other day that Clarke was demoted to the cyberterrorism watch (he doesn't recall when), and no one was really listening to Clarke anyway because he was out of the loop. Problem with that explanation is, Clark was hired as terrorism coordinator by Condoleeze Rice, and only took the cyber job after 9/11, so Cheney admitted the administration wasn't listening to its terrorism go-to guy. Hey, that's what Clarke says!

Granted, we can cut Cheney a little slack since he was speaking on the Rush Limbaugh show, where the truth never gets in the way of a good rant. But still, is this the best Cheney can do? Other Bush insiders are breaking out the big guns (Oh no! Not the ad hominem attack!), and coming up equally empty. Josh Marshall is all over this one.


24.3.04 01:44


Plan B

Unless the Bushies can actually refute the substance of Clarke's attacks, then the best they can do is assassinate his character. And that's exactly what they are doing. Of course, they have plenty of help in the media (I though it was liberal? Hmmmm.), with rabid attacks dogs Ann Coulter and Robert Novak weighing in. Novak calls Clarke a rascist for going against Condoleeza Rice who is, reportedly, of African American descent. Coulter goes into full pit bull mode with this comment:


"(Clarke) describes Bush as a cowboy and Rumsfeld as his gunslinger -- but the black chick is a dummy. Maybe even as dumb as Clarence Thomas! Perhaps someday liberals could map out the relative intelligence of various black government officials for us."



Rice has offered to testify one more time, but not if she has to take an oath to tell the truth. And it has to be in private. And she gets to cross her fingers, and end each comment with "But seriously folks!"



Is Clarke telling the truth? I think it's more likely than not that Clinton's peeps tried to brief W's peeps on bin Laden back in January, 2001. B ut Bush's peeps shut them down, out of arrogance or whatever. Al qaeda and bin Laden stayed on W's back burner until the second Tuesday in September, 2001.



I'm not one to say Bush "let" 9/11 happen, but there is ample evidence the Bush team was warned that the FBI and CIA needed to share more information on terrorist activities in the states. And it appears Bush was more focused on Iraq than al Qaeda.



If this is all defensable, and I'm not saying it isn't, then the Bushies need to make a case for why their approach was appropriate. Attacking the messenger, Clarke, only make teh Bushies look weak, guilty, stupid and incredible inept.





26.3.04 23:51


Bad Vibrations








Who needs terrorists to disrupt American air traffic? The airlines are doing a fine job on their own. American Airlines recently cancelled a flight out of Ft. Myers, lForida, when a self-proclaimed "psychic" warned authorites that a bomb was on board flight number 1304. An airline spokesperson who had every right to be embarrased dug himself into a deeper hole by explaining "In these times, we can't ignore anything."


Well, actually, you can, and you can start by ignoring psychics. These quacks have been around for thousands of years, and still there is not one shred of evidence proving the existence of extrasensory perception. It should be pretty easy to prove, don't you think? Magician and fraud-buster James Randi has a standing offer of $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate "psychic powers." His money is safe.

Extrasensory perception violates a very basic physical law, which says that cause preceeds effect. Example: If you walk in the rain, you get wet. The effect, soggy clothes, comes after you decide to leave your umbrella at home. If you have knowledge of a bomb on board an airplane (effect), it follows a cause, such as putting the bomb on board yourself, for example. If American Airlines isn't ruling out psychic tips these days, then for consistency's sake, then its pilots should start packing Ouiji Boards instead of Glocks.

27.3.04 19:34


The Tipping Point


Qaddafi's Son Tells Al-Hayat: 'Libya Must Be A Democratic And Open Country'

28.3.04 03:32


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