A Battle Staged

Looks like the Tom DeLay school of acceleration into brick walls is continuing. Picking a favorite from the neo-con list of judicial candidates and then talking the "up-or-down vote" from Frist's mouth dares the Democrats and moderate Republicans to fight.

A win for moderates and Democrats will decisively break the backs of the Evangelical right in favor of voices of harmony. The fanatics on their side will redouble their efforts to edge into power at all levels of government, and I predict civil servants will become involved.

Seating someone like Judge Alito with his views on gays, abortion and personal freedoms will serve up a grim choice for those left of far right: cooperate or fight a battle for Moscow, one scorched earthern field of policy at a time.

A Horned Dilemma

The Supremes

With the Miers nomination dead, the pressure has been increase for a DeLay-style showdown on the Senate floor regarding Supreme Court nominees. I am not sure whether the conservatives trying to steer Bush's choice understand that getting a clear, conservative choice is not a win for their side. It will galvanize, as almost none of Bush's missteps have to this point, the slumbering giant that is mainstream Republicanism.

Fanatacism has no place on the bench. I know, that's what the neo-cons say, but, with the political demographics as they are, I think both sides have a point. I believe America needs a most moderate judge, one who will balance the needs of the many against the needs of the few, and the needs of two opposing, and balanced sides, against the risk of a House Divided.

Another Victim of his Own Arrogance?

Libby's arrest and continued investigations regarding Rove's involvment in the 'outing' of Valerie Plame adds another level of distraction to the insular and aloof Bush/Cheney cabal. It is unbelievably frustrating to hear Bush talk ardently of his role model, Ronald Reagan, while at the same time ignoring the one great thing that Reagan did: when in doubt, seek the counsel of wise professionals. Time and again this Presidency alternately resembles a plutocracy or a theocracy, despite even its own desire to find the best person for the job.

Watching the Economic Vote

The French Herald Tribune managed to push in Bernanke's Jewish roots, but the most notable local event was the huge jump in the Dow at Bush's announcement of a replacement for Fed Chief Greenspan.

This is an odd occurance. Consider this: stock analysts and watchers make a career of second-guessing world events and corporate earnings, and, of late, unless a company makes a stunner of a move, the street has typically already moved the stock up or down into what they believe is its rightful place. It's when analysts go into disbelief that stock prices go wild.

Which they did yesterday. Which leads me to make the following conclusion: the market watchers did not believe that Bush would make a good choice for the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Ergo, the street does not have confidence in Bush's decision-making abilities.

Taken on its own, this logical train of thought could be seen as thin. But after the Miers nomination, the battles for judgeships and their subsequent recess appointments, and the incredible job our Commander in Chief is doing overseas, this is yet another thread binding the phrase 'abject failuretude' to the good old Yankee boy.

Now to await the week's indictments of suspects, or the latest cover-up. And I think the real republicans are starting to get nervous...

The Battle for the Digital Domain

Google was sued by five top publishers today as it prepares to scan copyrighted works for inclusion in its indices. Google says this is squarely within the 'fair use' exclusion of copyright — allowing limited quotation — while the publishers see this as a violation of their ownership of the content.

The fact that Amazon has books bearing entire chapters, and the concomitant sales they generate, has all to do with both Google's desire for the content, and the publishers' desire to keep Google from getting referral revenue.

Content is the next killer app. The coming years will focus on digital rights and the milieu in which they are used. Microsoft is buying up art collections. Google is snagging public domain literature. Apple, as I pointed out below, is creating products around content, then turning around to create more sales for both Apple and the content owners.

Podcasting

Attended an Apple podcasting seminar today. Software, products and services are moving so fast, the scramble is more to see which company or technology, or what philosophy, gets to lead than it is to provide products and services for the current market. Software that was cutting edge literally last week has been overshadowed by the next and next technologies that take the XML and linked metadata to the next level.

Like the original, non-commercial Internet of yore, integrating this technology into something that can be used for cash by the masses seems, to me, to be the next step. That would steal the thunder from the RealPlay industry, take personal publishing to the next level, and let subscriptions to paper magazines move to the next level of publication and revenue generation.

Interesting note: Apple is heavily toting that the TV episode content that they have managed to license is a first: until now, networks only licensed entire DVDs that were carefully packaged. Well, duh! The quality of what's being launched is, as was put by a podcasting leader: "pretty good quality if you play it on your computer and sit back a bit." Mark the words: Apple may make a mint on the video iPod, but the networks and cable channels will make a macro fortune on these micro-sales of single episodes to the new small screen.

Idiots with Internet Access

Here's a scam beaut from one of my e-mail accounts:

Dear Friend, I am Mr. Alex Smith a personal accountant to one Dr. Jonathan Mann, who died with his family in Swissair accident in 1998. The CNN webpage below will tells you more about my client; http://www.cnn.com/health/9809/03/dr.mann.profile [blogger note: Notice that the reference link is correct!] My purpose of contacting you is to ask for your aid in partnership to repatriate the sum of us$30 million that belongs to my client in a domiciliary bank account here in United Kingdom. As soon as i heard from you, i will give you the details/ operational method on how to repatriate the said THIRTY MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS into your bank account for our mutual benefit. While replying, include your phone number and fax for voice communications. I really need this money for my wife kidney transplanting operation which involved huge amount of monet. Please help me to to get the money out from Braclys [sic[ bank. Truly yours, Alex Smith.

Then, from another account, another variation on the same idiocy:

From: Tom Benson Monrovia, Liberia Email: tom50ben@hotmail.com Dear Beloved, This letter might come to you as a surprise since we have not had any previous correspondence nor met. This is as a result of the helpless situation I found myself into. I got your contact during my surf search on the web for a reliable, capable and trustworthy person that can assist me in this darkest moment of my life. I am a native of Liberia. I lost my father, mother and two sisters with our family assets/house during the recent war raging in Liberia. I am alive writing you now from Nigeria where other lucky victims and I who escaped alive from the rebel attack are like refugees. No house, no good food, no good job. I am just getting assistance from well meaning individuals and a couple of Nigerians who came back from Liberia too. Before my father's sudden death, he deposited a consignment labeled as GOLD & DIAMOND but concealed in it is the sum of US$27,000,000.00 (Twenty Seven Million US Dollars) in cash with a Private Security Company in Monrovia but the consignment was later moved to their affiliate office Overseas, for safety of the consignment (funds), via diplomatic means. He intended to use the funds for Politics. While my father was alive he explained to me that he had such fund and had to keep it in a security company abroad due to the unstable polity in Liberia and considering that he is a politician, he would not want the Government to seize the money if deposited into the banks in Liberia. Now that he is late and am the only surviving son, I am writing you to assist me receive this consignment in your country, invest it in a profitable business and help relocate me to join you immediately. As a result of insecurity of life and property here, I do not want to stay in Africa any longer. You have my permission /authority to have/collect 30% of the funds on receiving it, for your timely assistance. Please indicate your readiness to assist me immediately so that all the information about this fund will be passed to you immediately. Send to me immediately the following information: 1. Your full legal names including contact address 2. Your mobile telephone and fax numbers for easy communication 3. Date of birth, sex and marital status for documentation purposes. As soon as I receive your reply mail I shall forward your information to the Security/Finance firm overseas to contact you for the delivery of the consignment to you as my proxy. Thereafter you shall help me relocate to your country, as I am sick and tired of the unrest in Africa. I shall send you the Power of Attorney to present to the Finance/security Firm as we proceed, as demanded by them. With the help of sympathizer I was able to secure a phone, which is very important for me at this stage to enable, me transact this important business for which I am contacting you. Please help me and reply me immediately you receive this mail via my email: Email: tom50ben@hotmail.com Your friend in need, Tom Benson Email: tom50ben@hotmail.com

These all started out as classic 'Nigerian Scams,' which are continuations of a scam that was practiced, town by town, in the Midwest in the 1850s! Now these are carried out anywhere in the World outside the US, anywhere where they'll have time to run after pocketing even one or two ill-gotten gains from idiots with more Internet access than common sense. And these scams are easy to guard against. Nigeria, a country entirely corrupt with oil, diamonds and other riches purely ravaged from this poor country, is home to, and the parent of, the '419 Nigerian scam,' named after the part of the Nigerian Penal Code that appies to such frauds.

I have ranted in the past as to how unbelievably unintelligent some of the staff in my local school district are. I shudder to think of them getting this e-mail. This scam, in its innumerable variations, is costing US taxpayers mllions of dollars in moments!

A brief word to the wise: if you don't know who it is, delete the e-mail. If the deal sounds too good to be true, delete the e-mail. If it sounds even vaguely illegal, delete the e-mail! (Get the trend?) Don't wait until you're paid into this idiocy before reporting them!

I know. You think that if you're reading this, you'll not fall for something stupid like this. But read the blogs, see who's blogging and what they're saying. Caveat Emptor, dudes and dudettes!

Brushing the Crumbs from the Table

Our city closed its last Hurricane Katrina shelter this week, evacuees that were chased from one shelter to another by the storm's sibling sister Rita.

"They were handing out hotel vouchers like candy," my source at the shelter said. "Just go, here's a voucher and taxi money, and there's the line of taxis. See ya!"

It's a scene being repeated over and over and over in places that have become safe havens for refugees.

Okay, that quote went through two layers of paraphrase, but it begs the question of what next. Six months in a hotel doesn't rebuild a life. And those left in the shelters were either so totally impoverished that rebuilding their lives requires more than a fluffed pillow for a few months (not that I think they went to those kinds of hotels), or already impaired in their ability to deal with their lives. I met many of them at our city's shelter when thousands were living there for over two weeks.
The difficulty with dealing with lots of people, real people with real problems, makes for weird politics and negative energy spreading weeks after the initial, phyisical impact.
There are some signs of life from the Real New Orleans: communities, or at least streets, that are looking to rebuild. But the carpetbaggers, megacorps, scammers and other forms of sleaze have already tentatively settled on the ruins of this beautiful city, and it will take quite the battle to ensure that the rebuilt city is open to its former residents, and doesn't create another generation of dust bowl refugees spread throughout the United States.