My Quiet Life

I actually wrote the previous history of ICANN/Verisign for two reasons: 1) I thought a comprehensive history would be useful and 2) I wanted to make an observation that is pointless without its context:
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As you may or may not have heard, Verisign is suing ICANN. If you want the short version, some less-comprehensive and more spite-fueled history can be found here. It's a long, torrid story, but I've tried to condense it here as best I could. If there are any corrections that need to be made, let me know -- I'm an engineer, not a historian:

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I don't know who Orson Scott Card is, but he wrote a funny essay:

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has not yet declared that "day" shall now be construed to include that which was formerly known as "night," but it might as well.

By declaring that homosexual couples are denied their constitutional rights by being forbidden to "marry," it is treading on the same ground.

Do you want to know whose constitutional rights are being violated? Everybody's. Because no constitution in the United States has ever granted the courts the right to make vast, sweeping changes in the law to reform society.

Ha ha.

I now conclude my facetious interpretation of his essay as humor so that I can call him a complete tard: This guy is a complete tard.

By way of chalkhills.org, I see that Andry Partridge (of XTC) wrote the theme song for the new Fox show Wonderfalls. I'm assuming it's the song that plays in the flash applet on that site.

The show appears to be about a souvenier shop worker who begins hearing voices from inanimate objects that help her fight crime. or something.

Well, at least it will have a good theme song.

Think you're my friend? Planning on stealing my identity?

Get your facts straight.

I've long professed that XTC is probably without a doubt my favorite band, but I've never really ventured to pick a favorite album. There are just too many. Skylarking puts me in a good mood like no other album. Nonsuch and Mummer have what I think is some of Andy Partridge's most brilliant lyrical work. Apple Venus (vol. 1) was a pleasant surprise, following Dave Gregory's departure from the band. But anyway. I'm ready to do it. I've decided to commit. My favorite XTC album is:
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Arriana Huffington delivers some bad advice to the eventual Democratic nominee:

If he's smart enough to use it, the Democratic nominee may have just been handed the perfect cudgel with which to pummel President Bush - and cripple Karl Rove's attempts to position his man as America's go-to guy on national security.

The weapon in question is a new report on the grave and gathering threat posed by global climate change - and the potentially cataclysmic consequences of the Bush administration's obstinately ignorant approach to global warming.

Bad idea. This report was not a prediction. It wasn't even a forecast. It was a "what if" scenario. Hardly the sort of thing that makes a good cudgel -- more like a wet noodle.

She goes on to describe Marshall as "a legendary DOD figure, nicknamed "Yoda" for his sagacity". Not exactly how I've heard him described.

Billmon wrote an excellent essay discussing this report, where he discusses Marshall's reputation:

Some, such as investigative journalist Ken Silverstein, have described Marshall as little more than a "pork-seeking" missile, constantly dreaming up new threats to justify new weapons systems or defense spending programs. Even his supporters tend to portray him as a "professional worry wort" fascinated by extreme, low-probability scenarios. And the climate change report is just that: a scenario, not a forecast.

He stops short, though, of dismissing any concern over climate change at all:

One could look at the scenario and see another exercise in made-to-order threat mongering. What better way to justify a high and rising defense budget than projecting a world of perpetual crisis, in which, to borrow the report's phrase, "warfare defines human life"?

On the other hand, one could also see the report as an example of how rapidly the climate issue is being mainstreamed by the weight of the scientific evidence -- to the point where even Pentagon bureaucrats and oil industry consultants are being forced to think the unthinkable.

I'd like to think it's the latter. Either way, though, the threat of catastrophic climate change appears to be real. To paraphrase Tom Friedman, some things are true even if the Pentagon believes them.

Read his essay for more, and also check out this article on the American Prospect about Marshall.

The Democrats have been blessed with a neverending torrent of hard numbers to wield against Republican claims of successful policy. There's really no need to be chasing after speculative doomsday scenarios.

Looks like I'm not the only one that had the reaction I mentioned to Nader's independent candidacy.

Eric Ringham in Minneapolis Star Tribune:

To hear Ralph Nader dismiss the Democratic field, as he did in announcing his presidential candidacy Sunday, you'd think he'd never heard of Dennis Kucinich.

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Nader's Web site says he's running in part because neither the Democrats nor the Republicans responded substantively to a 36-page letter he'd given them, a "request for views." (Now, honestly: Imagine that you are the campaign staffer assigned to craft a "substantive" reply to a 36-page letter from Ralph Nader. Boss, you don't have the budget for this.)

In fact, at least some of the issues on Nader's list -- universal health care, for example -- are at the core of Kucinich's platform. Nader is running, Nader says, because none of the Democrats are doing what Kucinich, one of the Democrats, is doing. Maybe you have to have an I.Q. like Nader's to get that one.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in testimony before the House Budget Committee on Feb. 25 stated, "The U.S. economy appears to have made the transition from a period of sub-par growth to one of more vigorous expansion," and that the time had come to rein in federal spending to avoid deficits that could hobble long-term growth.

Care to guess which federal programs are asked to "tighten their belts" first?

Ah, no need, he's already spelled it out:

U.S. Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan Wednesday urged Congress to consider a controversial solution to the country's huge budget deficit: cut Social Security benefits for future retirees, rather than raise taxes.

Greenspan told a Congressional budget committee that the U.S. budget deficit, which is projected at $521 billion US this year, will widen once the baby boomers start retiring in four years time.

"This dramatic demographic change is certain to place enormous demands on our nation's resources -- demands we will almost surely be unable to meet unless action is taken," Greenspan said.

"For a variety of reasons, that action is better taken as soon as possible."

Man, I didn't see that one coming!

James Ridgeway on Ralph Nader in the Village Voice:

If the DLC wonks, unimaginative leftists, and others devoted to the "Beat Bush" agenda can manage to stop gnashing their teeth over Ralph Nader's "betrayal" long enough to really think about it, they might just find that the consumer advocate's candidacy can help, rather than hurt, their cause.

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From both within and outside a presidential run, Nader has the ability to push issues into the limelight when they are ignored by other politicians. For example: Universal health care has been spearheaded by the Nader groups since Hillary Clinton made her famous flop. Likewise corporate crime?it was the Nader groups in Washington and their allies in California who were most responsible for exposing Enron. It wasn't anybody in the Democratic Party, that's for sure.

Ridgeway's entire argument is based on the flawed assumption that only a third-party candidate can nudge a more progressive agenda into the limelight. That's not the case. You can do it in a major party just as easily, without running the risk of stealing major-party electorate as a third-party choice.

Kucinich is doing it. Sharpton is doing it. Carolyn Moseley-Braun is doing it.

Nader could be, but he's not. In this election, I don't think it will matter one bit, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that Nader is running as an Independent because that's the only way he can push a progressive agenda. That's a load of crap.