licentious radio

Thursday, February 7, 2002
[2:09:13 PM]

"Axis of Evil?" [satirewire.com] Angered by Snubbing, Libya, China, Syria Form Axis of Just as Evil. (Thanks, Anne.)

[11:23:02 AM]

Democracy and Tunney. I'll admit that I appreciate opportunities for direct participation in democratic processes. I liked sending in my email about the proposed Microsoft ~~sell-out~~ settlement.

The thing is accountability, of course. There's very little of it, but it's nice if there's a public record of people saying obvious things. Then, if the decision goes to the people with the cash, you at least know where things stand, and there's no fudging it.

Seems to me, judges need an alternative to accept/reject. I'm not a pro wrestling kind of guy, but "slap-down" seems appropriate. The MS proposed settlement in the civil case should have received a slap-down. Something like that everybody proposing it spends a week in solitary confinement. The MS/DOJ proposal doesn't even have the positive aspects of providing a little help to schools. They should probably all get two weeks. Or maybe still just one week, but in a real jail, not the country-club.

[11:13:28 AM]
Democracy and weblogs. Obviously, one of the things about weblogs and web publishing is that many more of the people get to express themselves without being filtered by government and mass media. There will be people who can say things, and start a groundswell. Ideas will spread, and some will break through into the mass media.

I suppose eventually mass media journalists will scout the web, the way big-time fashion designers scout the streets, and politicians scout the polls. Find a trend and go stand in front of it.

[11:05:00 AM]
Democracy, Iraq, and April Glaspie. No, you don't usually find the words "democracy" and "Iraq" in the same sentence. [That would be like "Bush" and "smart".] But democracies let information float around, and one of the most interesting questions is about April Glaspie and Iraq. She was ambassador to Iraq the day Iraq invaded Kuwait. She disappeared from public view that day, like Jimmy Hoffa's body.

Apparently, she told Saddam it wouldn't go funnin' the U. S. if he was to invade Kuwait. Isn't that the most amazing thing! So, was that like a mistake? Did Little George's daddy *want* Saddam to invade Kuwait? [What motive could he have had for that?] Why don't we all know the answers to these questions?

Then we get into more trivial questions; gossipy, really. Considering Saddam's attitude toward women, why'd Bush put a woman in that post? Most exotic ambassadorships are sold for campaign contributions. [France is way expensive. I think about 20% of Americans could afford Senagal, but there's not much demand for Senegal.] Surely Bush didn't sell Iraq? You're not supposed to sell the strategic ones. But if he did, how much did Glaspie pay? Whatever happened to ol' April Glaspie, anyway? Is she in some cush-job as a reward, or in the Repub-equivalent of Siberia [maybe working the shredders for Enron] because it was a screw-up?

Enquiring minds want to know!