In the land before polls...

I wonder what things were like before polling cannibalized public discourse. How did voters decide who to vote for without knowing what the horde thought? How did journalists operate before they had the crutch of doing poll "analyses" whenever they didn't feel like doing real reporting? Does anyone remember those days?

Does anyone actually believe anything anymore?

Conservatives rooting against Chicago for the Olympics because it might be seen to benefit President Obama, Congressmen criticizing the president while abroad, Congressmen interrupting presidential speeches to call him a liar... all of these things would've been treasonous and unpatriotic five years ago and punishable by a one-way trip to Gitmo.

Similarly, presidential secrecy, the likely prospect of insane escalation in Afghanistan and defense of the worst aspects of the war against civil liberties... these would've provoked liberal fury against the White House five years ago but now we're told ad nauseum that we need to "be patient."

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that virtually no one actually believes anything any more (including smug liberals) and are so vapid that they're only interested in scoring cheap political points against the "other" side.

It's not a coincidence that most political links and rants tend to be more concerned with attacking the other side than defending its own side. Defending your own side requires that you actually care about DOING something. Attacking the other side is a lot more convenient, because it's easier to destroy than to build.

The saddest part is that if you are an American who actually believes in something and who won't give your side an unlimited blank check for things you'd crucify the other side for, then there's a good chance you are a closed-minded ideological fanatic who believe that anyone not your political clone is the spawn of Satan.

Didn't we used to be able to balance having principles with treating others like human beings?

The Ten Commandments of Blogging

By Dr Krish Kandiah, Churches in Mission Executive Director, Evangelical Alliance

Ten cyberspace commandments are to be posted online to give bloggers a moral edge in a virtual age.

Based loosely on the real Ten Commandments from the Old Testament, the revamped version for guidance in online communication emerged from an event reflecting on the ethics of today’s most popular form of public comment.

The commandments are intended to cause bloggers to consider the social impact of their blogging.

1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity.

2. You shall not make an idol of your blog.

3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.

4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog.

5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes.

6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings.

7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind.

8. You shall not steal another person’s content.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger.

10. You shall not covet your neighbour's blog ranking. Be content with your own content.

Non-shock of the year: National Grid gouges customers

The Post-Star has an article on how the crooks at National Grid are gouging customers. The global conglomerate that is the region's monopoly electricity deliverer is jacking up delivery charges to compensate for falling electric and natural gas prices.

National Grid regularly sends out informational literature to customers encourage them to cut costs by taking energy saving measures. That meant they were using less energy and providing less revenue to the utility. National Grid decided to jack up the delivery part of their bill to compensate. After spending time and money to take those energy saving measures, they see no benefit in their electric bill.

In other words, the utility is punishing customers for following their advice!

A Moreau resident's bill showed her family of four had used $177.68 worth of natural gas and electricity in the preceding month, but the "delivery charges" for those commodities totaled $303.97.

Delivery of her power cost 71 percent more than the actual power. For that markup, the bill should come in a gold plated envelope.

My own most recent bill was even worse: delivery charges were MORE THAN DOUBLE the cost of the actual electricity delivered! Imagine buying a $300 stove from Sears and having them charge $700 to deliver it.

Maybe National Grid has to gouge customers to pay for their worthless, incompetent customer service or for the power going out every time there's a decent rain or snow storm (which never happens in upstate New York).

I will post my own National Grid horror story here at a later time, after I compose the letter to the state Public Service Commission and Attorney General's office.

In the mid-1990s, some officials in the city of Glens Falls pushed for the creation of a municipal power company, like the one run by the similarly-sized town of Massena, NY. Not surprisingly, Niagara Mohawk (which was bought by National Grid) saw a threat to their lucrative business and waged a massively expensive and somewhat deceptive PR campaign against the proposal.

Despite the cost, the PR campaign was a good investment... for them at least. The public utility was voted down in a referendum and they were free to continue gouging customers... and municipalities too.

At least there's one person in NYS with the guts to make tough decisions

Not that he hasn't caused some of his own problems, but I feel a little bad for Gov. Paterson. He was wildly popular back when he was telling people what they wanted to hear. But when he started putting his talk into words, he found out that people are hypocrites. They want politicians to TALK about fiscal restraint but flip out when they actually try to PRACTICE fiscal restraint. A 'vital program' is one that helps you. 'Wasteful spending' is one that helps someone else.

Paterson is trying to address a huge budget deficit with an incompetent and crooked legislature. But all the media chattering class has been able to focus on is presidential body language, cheap shots at the governor's disability, incessant-polls-as-a-substitute-for-news and two stupid little soap operas (one surrounding the petty little melodrama of a Kennedy family member scorned and the other regarding the ambitions of a former Kennedy family member).

New Yorkers are facing skyrocketing property taxes and the media's more interested in diving the meaning of a presidential embrace.

I guess that's the difference between having the responsibility to govern and sitting in the peanut gallery.


Note: WAMC's Capitol Connection has a good half hour interview with the governor.

120+ massacred as Guinean insecurity forces attack protesters

This essay is part of an occasional feature on this blog that presents compelling stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, IsraelStine and the Trumped Up Enemy of the Month. A list of all pieces in this series can be found found here..

(Reprinted with permission from Friends of Guinea blog)

Initial optimism about the new regime [in Guinea] has faded dramatically ever since junta leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara reneged on a promise to not participate in presidential elections scheduled for January 31.

A new political party, the Rally for the Defense of the Republic, was formed to back the military leader's candidacy. After Dadis, who unilaterally declared himself president following the death of Gen. Lansana Conté, broke his pledge not to run for the chief executive, the African Union imposed sanctions on Guinea.

Anti-Dadis has been rising ever since the coup leader's electoral ambitions became clear. He was met by huge protests when he visited Labé, the country's second largest city. And when the opposition tried to organize a rally against the regime, the junta banned it.

When the demonstration proceeded anyway, the "security" forces fired live ammunition at the crowd, reportedly killing dozens of demonstrators.

"It's butchery! There are dozens of dead," a Conakry doctor told the French news agency AFP.

Some media outlets reporting the death total as high as 87.

Another Conakry doctor told the IRIN news agency that there were 'hundreds' of injuries from bullets and beatings.

The massacre occurred on the 51st anniversary of the referendum in which Guineans voted for independence from France.

Update: Al-Jazeera reports that opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dalien Diallo and several other politicians were thrown in jail. A source indicated to me that Diallo was also shot during the protests. New reports suggest the death toll now exceeds 120.

Weimar and Quebec

Does anyone know of any good books on either La Révolution tranquille (Quiet Revolution) in Quebec or on the Weimar Republic? Any on the Quiet Revolution can be either in French or English. I'm looking for something that's about Weimar in its own right and not so much about it being relegated into a subsection about the Nazis' rise to power.

Happy International Day of Peace

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

www.internationaldayofpeace.org