The Nerd's Eye View

In for a penny, in for a pound. If I'm going to talk politics, then let's be thorough. The Sudanese government the other day, accepted "help" from the UN for the Darfur peacekeeping force deployed by the African Union. This despite previous rejections of a UN force. It seems that there will now be a hybrid AU-UN force where the UN will "not be in command". The cynicism of this move is both amazing and aggravating. The Sudan government, emboldened by a US mired in Iraq and newfound oil wealth, is basically allowing the creation and insertion of an anemic force in Darfur. The end result will be the perfect excuse for the continuing bloodshed, which will of course necessitate a response from the government, since the external force will be unable to deal with it. It is yet another example of the failure of the theory international intervention, and is hastening the end of the UN as a viable mechanism for solving issues, either international or intranational.

UPDATE 11/18/06 5:08pm PST
As anticipated government forces and armed militias are currently attacking a town in northern Darfur. It's a crying shame...

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday, 38 years after the fact, George W Bush finally arrived in Vietnam. I can only imagine that his first thoughts as his feet touched the tarmac were, "Better watch out for Charlie in the trees, they're wily devils, heh heh heh." Yes it's an interesting turn of events that has brought this former Texas Air National Guardsman cum draft dodger to the place he spent a lot of time and effort avoiding.

Of course, this is a long way from the Vietnam he was avoiding. The country's economic rise in the recent past his mirrors the early stages of the economic miracles in it's near neighbors. Just last week, Intel Corporation committed to invest $1 billion in the country to build a new facility (and of course get a private army, bribe a bunch of officials, and all the other stuff that multinationals do), which is quite a step forward for the country.

One can only imagine what the thoughts of the Vietnamese leadership were when they saw him. I mean there can't be that much mutual respect, which sets up the most delicate of diplomatic pas de deux.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think I'm coming down with a cold, probably due to riding home in the rain on Monday. Who know that getting drenched down to your skivvies would cause such trouble? At any rate, due to that, I didn't bike to work this morning, and obviously didn't have the bike this evening either. So I walked home from the train station, passing by the California Academy of Sciences. I was accompanied by Idaho Gold, my coworker, who was going to the CAS for a night of booze and dinosaurs. Due to my infirmity, I couldn't take part, but I did wish him luck.

More odd sights, like a fully loaded stage, with guitars lined up, amps stacked and lighting hung. It was being pulled out of a pay parking lot by a team of guys, with a cop on a motorcycle discussing it with them. Hey there, San Francisco.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boy, you'd think that after the drubbing the Repulican's took in the recent elections that they'd be a little more careful. It just goes to show how far out of touch these folks are with reality. Actually that's not entirely true, what really shows how out of touch with reality is the contents of a report on immigration reform that was released by the Missouri state senate.

The report asserts that the illegal immigration problem has a lot to do with the availability of jobs - jobs which would otherwise have been employing one of the "44 million Americans" who had been aborted in utero since the legalization of abortion. That's right, if it weren't for all those abortions, there wouldn't even be a bunch of low-paying jobs for illegal immigrants to move into! What a revelation! Apparently the only thing keeping those positions open is the lack of a homegrown workforce.

Ignore for a second that the US birthrate has kept the population of the country growing (congratulations baby number 3,000,001! You get a free toaster!). Ignore, also, that the jobs being filled by illegals tend to be of the low-paying, long hours, no benefits variety that Americans tend not to like. You know, a Wal-Mart job. But apparently Americans don't like those types of jobs since liberal welfare policies have made sure that the Americans that escaped the abortion fad that swept the nation like the mullet are far too lazy. After all it's so much easier to just live "high on the hog" with government assistance than to get a job.

Boy I sure do envy those welfare moms! I mean imagine the rock star lifestyle that government assistance lends them! So much more than having a job could do! Well, perhaps much more than a job at the current depressed minimum wage.

The report was apparently so embarassing that the Democrats on the committee refused to even put their names on it. It goes without saying that the Republicans all put their individual John Hancock's on there. The same Republicans that resist the moves to increase the minimum wage. The same Republicans that assume that aborted fetuses will no doubt grow to back fill all the menial jobs in the country. The same Republicans who smilingly clap Wal-Mart on the back, as they abuse the workers they do actually have. But it'd be soooo much easier to just outlaw abortion, and wait the 16-18 years necessary for the resulting children to be raised, poorly or well, deprived or provided for, and - possibly! - take those plum positions doing lawn work, cleaning office buildings, and harvesting produce. Which is pretty much consistent with the overall approach that the Republican party has taken towards most of the problems that are facing the country.

It certainly has made me glad that I am not in politics. Where else is causality ignored so strenuously and logic just tossed aside so lightly?

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I never set out to write a political blog, but I am addicted to schadenfraude and so it is with great glee that I listened to the President's speech yesterday. He had the hangdog look about him, as I'm sure he did when Barbara told him he wasn't her favorite mistake. For most people this would have evoked some sort of sympathy but whatever quarks of sympathy I could muster were banished once he opened his mouth. In his heavy-handed attempt at levity, Bush state that as his "first bipartisan act since the election" (... of 2000, I couldn't help but adding) he would be putting Nancy Pelosi in touch with Republican interior designers to help her "pick out drapes for her new office".

I don't think there's any need to mention this to most of you, but Mr President, you are aware that we are no longer living in the 1950's. You may as well be referring to your new Speaker of the House of Representatives as "little lady" or "darlin'" and smacking her tushie as she leaves your office. I'm not even sure I should have mentioned that, lest I give him some ideas (Lord knows, he needs someone to feed them to him - but I'll get to that in a second).

He peppered his speech with expressions like needing "to find common ground in the next two years" and mentioning frequently that we had to "conduct ourselves in an ethical manner". As if that's how business had been done for the last six years, and he was just making sure the Democrats didn't get to feel their oats too much. After all the Republican party, while in control of both houses of Congress, was nothing less than a model of gentlemanly behavior - in much the same way that the denizens of a frat house are on homecoming night. With such beacons of ethical behavior as Tom Delay, it's good to know that there is a good example for the Democrats to follow. It's amazing that he could say any of that with a straight face, and immensely gratifying to see his tail between his legs.

But back to the guys who give him all his ideas. Seems that Karl Rove was a little over-confident. His hubris was on display to all and sundry during an interview with NPR recently. He snidely responded to his interviewer that he read more polls than they did, and he was confident that the Republicans would win, since "you use your math, and I use THE math". Where's your math now Karl?

While Karl crys in his "math", the other lobe of Bush's brain, contemplates a future devoid of sending young men and women to certain death. It must be tough, but hey you'll hang in there and know that you did your level best to ignore realities on the ground and go full steam ahead regardless of reports from the field. Bye bye Rummy, it's been real - hope you like your next post: our man in Baghdad!

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Alex sent this to me last night and I must say it's really beautiful. What is it about this that makes it so poignant? Nothing happens but the rapid movement and the soft, slow music. It reminds me of the scenes in LA Story. Worth a look...

link courtesy of Alex

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I should have known something was up while I was at work. Election Tuesday and I had been swamped all morning with meetings - quadruple booked at some points! As the day approached its end I realized that I hadn't had an opportunity to make a last check of the various candidates and ballot propositions. And a meeting had been called from 4-5p by Boy Professor…

I sat in the meeting, watching the minutes, mentally preparing for my hard ride to the train station. Five o'clock came and went, and I sat there nervously. At 5:15p I knew I had to leave the meeting or risk missing my train, which would put me in a tough position for getting to the polling site on time. I hastily excused myself and rushed to my desk, threw everything in my bag and ran to change and get my bike. Following Fat'n'Happy, my biking partner, I rode hard, my quads aching with the effort. Lights and traffic were not helpful, and we rounded the corner for the last straightaway for the station with no train in sight. Ahead of me, Fat'n'Happy slackened his pace, and so did I. As we approached, we saw the train at the platform, the platform empty, and the conductor standing in an open doorway. Then we saw the train pulling away as we rolled onto the platform. The next train, which would bring us to SF at 7p, with enough time to rush to the polling place, was missing - presumably behind schedule, and Fat'n'Happy informed me he wasn't registered to vote in the state of California.

It was then that it all fell into place: Boy Professor had called a meeting for the end of the day that went late despite his assertion that he needed to leave by 5:10; Fat'n'Happy had let up in the final stretch, even though he'd been pushing hard since we'd left work; now the train was delayed, perhaps indefinitely. This was a Republican plot to block black people from voting, in fact to block one black person from voting, me!

"How much is Rove paying you!" I spat at my colleague, to which he replied that this one was a freebie. Just then the train arrived, and I hopped on, determined to go out there and vote. At every stop the train would go silent, as if it had shut down, and then in Mountain View, the lights went out, and we sat in the sinister glow of the emergency lights. Those fiends! What lengths would they go to, to keep one black man from voting? Another 8 minutes and we were on the way again. From here on out this my own personal freedom ride, and I was hell bent on exercising my right to elect my representatives.

As the electoral Orient Express rolled into the final stop, I rushed to retrieve my bike and pedaled home as fast as I could. Stuffing my voter registration card in my back pocket I rode to the polling place and was one of the last people to vote there that day. As I marked off my selections I narrowed my eyes and sneered. Take that Karl Rove! We would meet again and next time the day would be mine… again.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Folks, every time I think my blog is a worthless and narcissistic endeavor that serves only to stoke my vanity, something happens to mitigate all that other stuff. In this case it was my old college roommate, John, commenting and re-establishing contact. Welcome back, John! Good to hear from you, and expect an email.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For all my recent complaints about living in SF and the blase' attitude I've been copping, there are some advantages to living here. Take yesterday for instance. We walked down to the ballpark where there was a ski jump competition - which is sort of ridiculous in its own way, but apparently they had a performance by the Jurassic 5. I'm not a huge fan or anything, but I do love hip-hop and I am definitely a fan of $10 tickets for hip-hop. The only better thing would be free hip-hop of course. I wasn't expecting much, but I was quite surprised! The show was great, the acoustics were the best I've ever seen at a live hip-hop show at a large venue, and the band stuck around for a long time! Definitely the best ten bucks I've spent on music in a long time.

Afterwards we just wandered around to various pubs and restaurants in the city, and finally walked home. Not bad, and not expensive. Living here isn't so bad afer all...

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)