How things change
In 1980, if someone came up to me and said "listen buddy, soon you're going to need to know how to operate this flat glowing box on your desk by sliding a plastic thing around" I would have thought he was a mad man. Back then I still thought of a mouse as just a rodent. I'm sure by 2020, I will need to learn things I can hardly guess today.

You've heard all this before. You're hip to this technology thing. You know the drill: Gadgets change; you adapt to the gadgets. you learn new buzzwords, talk the talk and keep going forward as humans have for millennia. But in doing so, are we reducing technology into a heap of glorified hand tools? I think not.

Technology never really just hands us tools, it gives us choices, our desires are ignited, our senses are assaulted by too much information and we are granted a passport to explore the world. But, we are also moving closer to George Orwell's nightmare: The truth ceaselessly modified, altered, edited or altogether obliterated. Here today, gone tomorrow with nothing but a bewildering ERROR 404 FILE NOT FOUND left in its place.

PHOTO GALLERY: Samba dancers turn on a fiery display of flesh and feathers in downtown Tokyo for the 22nd Asakusa Samba carnival.

Overview of Changes to Legal Rights

Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks

President Clinton Says Get bin Laden Before Pursuing Hussein

"Former President Bill Clinton urged the Bush administration Thursday to finish the job with Osama bin Laden before taking on Iraq. 'Saddam Hussein didn't kill 3,100 people on Sept. 11,' Clinton said. 'Osama bin Laden did, and as far as we know he's still alive.'...Clinton...said news reports citing American officials say the al-Qaida network remained a threat. 'I also believe we might do more good for American security in the short run at far less cost by beefing up our efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere to flesh out the entire network,' Clinton said. [more]

Lawyers: 5 Teens Innocent

DNA, confession key in 1989 jogger rape

I remember the case well. I was in my 20's then, the case created such a racially inflamed climate that it made headlines internationally. I believed everything that the news media spoon-fed me, didn't know any better.

Now this,

convicted rapist Matias Reyes unexpectedly confessed to the crime. He said he did it alone. Several months later, DNA tests showed that Reyes “proved beyond question” that he raped the jogger, according to a law enforcement official quoted in the New York Times.

Why am I not surprised? Is it because I've been desensitized by so many similar stories of DNA evidence proving the innocence of convicted criminals? I'm not sure ... but I will follow this case closely.

Much hinges on whether any connections can be found between the man that confessed and the convicted youths, and on the validity of the original evidence, including confessions that were the heart of the prosecution's case.

The first hearing on the case will be on Monday. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said it is reviewing the case.

Opinions Opinions

We live in a media intensive culture where we are inundated with differing opinions daily. It is often difficult to decide which opinion to agree with or which "expert" seems more credible.

This is where reading and thinking skills become critical in order to evaluate ideas and, in formulating one's own ideas. The ability to compare and contrast an author's credibility, facts, resources and augmentation style become important to you and I as readers.

Personally, I enjoy reading opposing viewpoints. Doing so gives me a good appreciation of the complexity of even seemingly simple issues, even when I disagree. This awareness is particularly important in a democratic society such as ours in which people enter public debate to determine the common good.

Thomas Jefferson said "Difference of opinions lead to inquiry and inquiry leads to truth" Jefferson argued that "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... It expects what never was and never will be." As individuals and as a nation, it is imperative that we consider the opinions of others and examine them with skill and discernment.

America's 40 richest people under 40

The Fortune list of the forty richest people under forty has lost a little weight over the years. The combined wealth of those who made the list has been chopped in half since 2000. Many techies are still at the top, I was surprised to see that the top 5 are worth over a billion each.

The Racial Lessons Of 9/11 by Carol Chehade

Black Electorate has this article

Profiled, feared, detained, assaulted, accused, interrogated, harassed, hated, and collectivized. Since 9-11, Arab Americans have been recipients of what it feels like to be temporarily Black. Although it is wrong to treat Arab Americans like criminals, we shouldn't be surprised when we are treated in ways African Americans have been treated for centuries. Still, many in my Arab American community are surprised when we are treated un-White. We figured that if we played by the racial rules of this country, we would be bypassed in receiving some of the bigotry that Blacks routinely receive. [More]

What will I be doing on Patriot Day? Most likely staying home glued to the TV set.

Attack on Iraq will open the gates of hell, Arabs warn

Arab News has this article.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa rounded off a foreign ministers meeting in Cairo with a warning that a US strike against Iraq would “open the gates of hell” in a region already “angry and frustrated” at Israel’s actions against the Palestinians during their nearly two-year conflict.

“We will continue to work to avoid a military confrontation ... because we believe that it will open the gates of hell in the Middle East,” Moussa told a news conference after the two-day meeting ended with a statement rejecting “any threat of attack” against Iraq.

THEY WERE THERE:
"Editor & Publisher" has first-person interviews with journalists who were in close proximity to the World Trade Center attacks last year. A powerful testimony to the horrors of that day.

No longer a Dream Team
After ten years of undeafeted play in international competition the USA Men's Basketball team lost for the first time Wed. night. They lost to Argentina in the World Championships 87-80. It was the first loss for a U.S. team in 59 games since the Americans began sending NBA players to international tournaments in 1992.

Should this be added to one of the greatest upsets of all time or does anyone really cares anymore.

Greece has banned all online games
The Greek government has banned all electronic games across the country, including those that run on home computers, on Game Boy-style portable consoles, and on mobile phones. Thousands of tourists in Greece are unknowingly facing heavy fines or long terms in prison for owning mobile phones or portable video games. (via News.com)

Here is Proof that reality is stranger and crazier than fiction. (CNN reports)

The Native people of America

The 1940's and 1950's Hollywood image of savages who mercilessly scalped innocent white settlers, has been replaced by a more true image as seen in recent films such as "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Little Big Man". To give a greater understanding of their culture, the Native People have successfully introduced educational schemes to publicise their true way of life. The mistruths of the past have slowly been replaced with what was actually true.

Very informative peek into the history of Native Americans.

The Troubling New Face Of America

Jimmy Carter speaks out against Bush's America.

The prestige of professions

Seems that In America today, most professions have lost a good deal of their social prestige. Doctors, once put on a high moral plane now are in business to make a buck, they no longer make house calls, are increasingly specialized and most make decisions based on profit rather than health.

Lawyers, once thought honorable, trained for leadership now are thought of as a dreary necessity to negotiate an intricate web of laws that they themselves have created to add to their profits.

The clergy also, seem to have lost its standing in American life, that is just too obvious to even require mention. As recently as 50 years ago clergy of all faith were figures of prominence.

What happened to the days when engineers, inventors, men with mechanical skills, business men with their pragmatic spirits were doing work building this great country. Competence was then the trademark. Even the ones considered great by today's standards have not really done a great job of exciting the American imagination.

For a brief time, professions that dealt with idealism were much admired, for example: Investigative journalists of the type who helped bring down the Nixon administration. Marine biology was big for a time with it's promise of saving the whales and talking with the dolphins or any thing having to do with saving the environment. Today, these do-gooding jobs are no longer front and center.

The emphasis for the new millennium is on a different order of worker. The agent, the broker, the trader, the marketer, the investment banker, the all-purpose executive, the entrepreneur, the IT professional, the consultant, the man or woman who does not provide the service but help bring it to market and usually making a profit along the way.

The main focus is on service, information and entertainment. Such people may not always be well liked or admired, but they are thought to be the insiders, the folks at the controls, the cogs in the wheel, the smart money.

Teacher reprimanded after correctly using the word "niggardly"
Fourth-grade teacher Stephanie Bell used the word "niggardly " -- it means stingy or miserly -- during a discussion about literary characters. A parent later protested, saying it was offensive the word sounds like the racial slur. The principal sided with the parent and reprimanded Bell for using poor judgment and lacking sensitivity to the school's diverse population. (Wilmington Star) Via [Obscure Store]

I've read that the origin of the word is probably from the ancient Norwegian word "hnoggr" or the old English word "hneaw" . Related is also the german word "genau". It's origin has absolutely nothing to do with the word "nigger". But I suppose that a gay person may also be offended if, in planning a bonfire for some civic event, a straight person suggested "pilling a few faggots on the fire" to get it going? ( Faggot means small wooden stick and, of course, gay person)

The Ten Biggest Problems Facing African-Americans Today
By Lee McGrath

Frontpage magazine has this article

A top ten list, ranked in order of despair caused. Sort of one-sided I think, but food for thought and a good read nonetheless.

Native New Yorkers (The Original Kind)

James Estrin/The New York Times

The city with the largest American Indian population, according to the 2000 Census, is not Phoenix. Not Los Angeles. It is New York City.

The news is a surprise even to some Indians living in the city. "You're kidding, right?" said Rosemary Richmond, the director of the American Indian Community House in Manhattan.

The census counted 41,289 American Indians and Alaska natives living in the city in 2000. [Link]

It was not to be

Andrew Cuomo yesterday moved to salvage his political career in New York by dropping out of the race for governor and throwing his support behind State Comptroller H. Carl McCall . Smart move. His campaign was disaster from the start. He's only 44, better days are ahead of him, plus, his support of the democratic party will not be forgotten.

ALBANY -- Andrew Cuomo returned to the center of New York politics a year and a half ago a gilded candidate, full of hype and hope, an idealistic achiever who had wrestled a federal bureaucracy into shape and was going to rattle the status quo and agitate for change.

The son of the former governor had cachet: a star of the Clinton cabinet and married to a Kennedy, he boasted of money and muscle to oust popular Republican George Pataki. [Link]

The latest craze in body modification

A little botox for frown lines? A nip and tuck around the eyes?
How about some surgically inserted padding for that flat posterior?

The latest weapon in the plastic surgeon's arsenal against our perceived imperfections is the butt implant. That's right - a little extra gluteus maximus for those who think their tuchis is a bit on the minimus side.

I wonder if J-lo is one of their consultants.

Terror hunt may end privacy at the library

The Miami Herald has this story by Daniel De Vise

"It is called the USA Patriot Act , and the very name implies duty -- duty, in this case, to tell FBI agents what certain people are reading and writing at the local library.

Federal investigators want to strip away the cloak of anonymity that helped Sept. 11 suspects communicate on public library computers without detection. A provision buried within the 342-page Patriot Act, which took effect in October, allows agents to demand records from librarians and booksellers with unprecedented ease.

Many in the library community fear an intrusion by Big Brother into the sacrosanct privacy rights of library patrons. The Patriot Act trumps laws in 48 states, including Florida, that specifically protect library records as confidential.

Under the Patriot Act, the FBI can make its case in a special ''spy court'' -- a secret, closed proceeding -- and needs only to convince a judge that the patron in question may be linked to a known terrorist or terror plot. Once contacted by agents, a librarian can't tell anyone about the records request.

''Our rights have been taken away. We're being forced to go against our professional ethics,'' said Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's office for intellectual freedom. ``But the only way to overcome this is to act illegally. It's awful.''

While it's unfortunate, this not entirely unexpected considering what our society has to contend with post 9/11. But as I stated in yesterday's Technology and Privacy post, what serves can also destroy without increased public awareness and appropriate public policies.

Happy Labor Day

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and
importance and should be undertaken with painstaking
excellence."
Martin Luther King Jr.


Labor Day, has been an official holiday in the United States and Canada since 1894.

Peter J. McGuire, one of the founders of the American Federation of Labor, is considered to be the "Father of Labor Day." At a meeting of the New York Central Labor Union, he proposed that a day be set aside for an annual picnic and demonstration of worker
solidarity.

That first Labor Day was celebrated in New York on September 5, 1882. It was an idea whose time had come Before very long, there was a major social movement to make Labor Day a regular occurrence. Legislators in both the United States and Canada felt the heat. It became a national holiday soon thereafter.

Technology and privacy

In the foreword to David Burham’s book The Rise of the Computer State Walter Cronkite wrote:

"… Our privacy is being invaded, and more and more of the experiences which should be solely our own are finding their way into electronic files that the curious can scrutinize at the punch of a button"

I agree that the amount of personal information collected is increasing. New technologies have the potential to reveal the unseen, unknown, forgotten or withheld. And, may also raise a variety of troubling issues including injustice, intrusion, denial of due process, absence of informed consent, deception, manipulation, errors, harassment, misuse of property and lessened autonomy.

One response to privacy concerns often expressed by some industry spokespersons and many citizens is simply, "So what? Why worry?" These technologies fill deeply felt needs believing also that we are an open society and visibility in government brings accountability. The United States Supreme court has said in its famous Katz decision that privacy was only protected when it could be reasonably expected

Others argue that given the free market, you can also buy technologies to protect yourself from privacy invasion. The only people who worry about privacy are those who have something to hide. Sure those are valid points but I also think that while functioning in a dynamic society we need to have the ability to control information about ourselves. this confidentiality is vital to trust, dignity and self respect.

This is not to say that unlimited privacy is good. Surely too much privacy can shield irresponsible behavior -- protecting child and spouse abusers, unsafe drivers etc. But without appropriate limitations it can trigger backlash. The private subversion of public life carries dangers as well as the public intrusion into private life.

Technology's unique power is also its tragic flaw. What serves can also destroy, without increased public awareness and appropriate public policies.

Reality Check

VH1 Turns Booing for Hillary Clinton into Cheering
"Senator Clinton was booed when she walked on stage last October at a rock concert in Madison Square Garden to benefit 9/11 victims. It was shown live by VH1 but, as ABC's John Stossel illustrated in a July 20/20 special on media distortions, when the Viacom-owned cable channel replayed it sound technicians replaced the booing with cheering and applause. And that version is the permanent record VH1 put onto its DVD of the event."

MTV VMAs:

Some funny analysis of the MTV video music awards by bloggers Que Sera Sera, and Jim Treacher