perfidy

Blackhawk Helicopters seem to be getting the smack layed down on themselves pretty frequently. I recall an assault in the early days of the Iraq war where gunfire disabled a large percentage of the fleet.

Can our resident weapons experts explain the utility of this aircraft? It seems to be very vulnerable to ground fire. What is it good for? The only effective role I can see for it is insertion, at night. It seems too vulnerable during other times.

I would encourage the two Ministers who live in the greater Fairfax County, VA area to take a look at this.

t took more than 21 hours from the time polls closed Tuesday night for Fairfax County, the putative high-tech capital of the region, to get final election results from its new, computerized vote machines.

Widespread problems in the system, which the county paid $3.5 million to install, also opened the door to possible election challenges by party leaders and candidates.

School Board member Rita S. Thompson (R), who lost a close race to retain her at-large seat, said yesterday that the new computers might have taken votes from her. Voters in three precincts reported that when they attempted to vote for her, the machines initially displayed an "x" next to her name but then, after a few seconds, the "x" disappeared.

In response to Thompson's complaints, county officials tested one of the machines in question yesterday and discovered that it seemed to subtract a vote for Thompson in about "one out of a hundred tries," said Margaret K. Luca, secretary of the county Board of Elections.

"It's hard not to think that I have been robbed," said Thompson, whose 77,796 recorded votes left her 1,662 shy of reelection. She is considering her next step, and said she was wary of challenging the election results: "I'm not sure the county as a whole is up for that. I'm not sure I'm up for that."

Y'all have noted previously that there were some apparent aberrations in Fairfax County voting procedure in this last election, and this article suggests that the entire chain is flawed, from the operation of the kiosks to vote collection to vote counting. Now, if this were Nicaragua we'd say it's business as usual. But it ain't. This is scary.

Eugene Volokh has more on other irregularities around the country, with special attention to Diebold's repeated attempts to convince us that danger is safety and vulnerability is security.

I have a bad, bad feeling about this one. See this USA Today article; Craig Venter and his team have put together a virus based on the recipe, read from the genetic code...

Scary.

Of course, I just watched Terminator 3, with Skynet taking over the world, and all that...so maybe my subconscious is a little overly concerned.

Still.

People are wondering if these things can fix the carbon dioxide problem in the atmosphere? Dumb.

Soros and now Peter Lewis are funding the Dems for millions, now.

I don't see the difference between the GOP, which is funded by a small number of wealthy people, and this tactic by the Dems (being funded by a small number of wealthy people).

Pioneers and Rangers, anyone?

It all amounts to the same thing.

This campaign finance thing is so goddamn easy to fix. Just place a flat cap on the amount of money any one television station or broadcast network is allowed to accept, per reader/watcher in their audited audience (from advertising). Each party must be given the opportunity to spend the same amount, but the total amount spent by all parties must be below the cap.

This will shift many campaign finance dollars into print and other forms (leaflets, whatever). It is good to at least partially abandon television as a medium for conducting democracy; it is a failure.

It will de-emphasize the role of money overall. The good effects are too many to name.

Another huge problem solved! Bring it on.

Yeah, that economy sure is doing great. Personal bankruptcies have hit record highs, and Wal-Mart reports that although people are buying stuff, they are sticking to the cheapest items in a given product class and timing their purchases to coincide with payday, two signs that personal finances remain lean.

Or maybe it's not that rough. But what the hell do I know about money? My net worth is the equivalent of a Zagnut and a cup of coffee.

"[T]he battle is not over. The battle to acknowledge God is about to rage across the country."

Bring it on, blowpop.

It seems the proposed Constitution of Afghanistan it does not live up to expectations. Our expectations that is, as liberators who respect the liberty of women and the right of free political organization.

On Reason's weblog, Julian Sanchez links to this piece by someone who has actually read the proposed Constitution, and Tim Cavanaugh adds his thoughts.

And please excuse my Austin Powers reference. It's Friday.

[wik] Edited Nov 14, 2 PM.

Relating to my post earlier this week about how music just doesn't do it for me as much as it used to, here's an update.

1) Tonight Goodwife O and I are going to see the "Flula Flute Ensemble" at the Somerville Theatre outside Boston. Although I have never heard Fulani music before, tell me if this don't sound awesome:

Capturing the mystery and poetry of West Africa's nomadic Fulani people, the Fula flute, or tambin, in one of West Africa's most haunting, though less familiar, instruments, whose melodies are known to call travelers back to their families and move listeners to tears. The wooden Fula flute is played unusually by making sounds with the vocal cords at the same time. These voice/flute effects create subtle yet powerful multi-phonics (more than one note sounded simultaneously) with startlingly gorgeous results. While the music is deeply rooted in the manding melodies and rhythms of Guinea and Senegal, the effect of the flute with balafon (xylophone), kora (harp-lute) and double bass has an exhilarating modern effect.

I'm really excited. I love Malian and Senegalese music already, being a huge fan of Ali Farka Toure, Baaba Maal and others, and it's been a couple years since I saw any West African music live. I'm so excited.

2) The Word. This record came out in 2001 to little note, and it's an incredible shame. "The Word" are a one-off supergroup composed of groove-organ god John Medeski, Cody and Luther Dickinson (members of the North Mississippi All Stars and sons of legendary producer Jim Dickinson), gospel-slide-guitarist Robert Randolph (who set my hair on fire when I saw him play live), and others. Combining the Dickinson Brothers' swampy skronk with Medeski's chunky organ and Randolph's exuberant, Hendrixian slide guitar was a genius move, and the result is magic. It's making my day. Almost forgot I owned it. Imagine.

The song selection features modern arrangements of gospel classics like "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning," off-the-wall folk songs like the Kossoy Sisters' "I'll Fly Away" (a version of which you already know from "O Brother Where Art Thou," but I bet you don't have it in a seven-minute New-Orleans gospel-brunch jam, do you?), and new compositions by members of the group. Everything works, and everything kicks.

I cannot say this strongly enough: go buy it now, if you have the slightest interest in American roots music, gospel, funk, or jazz. Hell, go buy it if you have a pulse.

Tacitus characterizes the first few days of the US's stepped up anti-guerilla campaign in Iraq as "shadowboxing."

I'm reminded of the old adage, "never go in against a Sicilain when death is on the line!" That's gonna bite us in the butt if we're not careful.

Or was I thinking of another adage? Hell, I don't remember.

[wik] Wha? US tactics include a bombing campaign now, except instead of sowing Shock and Awe they're just blowing shit up at random. Because historically, bombing has worked so well against guerilla forces. Follow Tacitus' links.

Some say the Democrats in the Senate are ruining the country with their blocking of Bush appointees to the Federal Courts.
Some say they are doing good; keeping far-right troglodyte thinkers off the bench.
Some say that Newt Ging-er-itch started it way back when.
Some say that Daschle's the villain.

Lileks says, "[L]istening to the Senate debate, if that word applies, [I was] wondering: are they always this banal? This condescending? Are bloviating prevarications the rule rather than the exception? In short: is the world’s greatest deliberative body really filled with this many dim bulbs, card sharps and overstroked dolts who confuse a leaden pause with great rhetoric? If everyone in America had been tied to a chair and forced to watch the debate Clockwork-Orange style, we’d all realize that the Senate is just a holding tank for people whose self-regard and cretinous reasoning is matched only by their demonstrable contempt for the idiots they think will lap this crap up."

No matter what you may think of the first four conditions I list, number five really hits the mark. The Senate has always been a magesterial clownshow, no less now than at any point before. But the current hijinks combined with the fact that ideological rivals no longer even meet socially-- Republicans and Democrats can't even be drinking buddies-- means that the nation's political landscape is more unstable now than it has been since... oh.... 1876 or so.