Friday, October 18, 2002

Yesterday was a no-post day because I exercised some discipline. One of my client projects involves writing a detailed technical/marketing proposal. It's on an aggressive schedule, so I needed to make some real headway. The writing's not terribly creative, you have to grind it out, but along the way I realized: I'm getting paid a nice sum to sit and write. This is something I always dreamed about, and here it is. So if this site doesn't get updated as often for the next week, there's a good reason. 7:51:14 AM

This article from Yahoo highlights a personal dilemma of mine. The article has the CIA telling us that al Qaeda is a bigger threat than ever. It's more grist for the GeorgeW war mill. My dilemma is that I don't trust anything the government says any more. My dilemma is that I don't trust the "evidence" or the reasoning behind the current push to war. On one hand we have 9-11-01: an overt act of war, for which someone and perhaps some country should pay. I'm for it; find the ringleaders and introduce them to the next life. On the other hand, we have my entire life's experience with Federal Government and its limitless ability to corrupt people. I lived through Nixon and Watergate (a Republican you couldn't trust). I suffered through Clinton (a Democrat you couldn't trust). I currently suffer with the likes of Feinstein and Boxer "representing" my interests as a Californian. My entire adult life, the government has apologized every year for the lies and crimes committed 20 years previous. My dilemma is that I suspect in 20 years, we'll hear the apology for the lies and bungling associated with Gov's handling of the current situation. So is al Qaeda still a big threat, and are we justified in moving to a broader-scope war? Very likely, we'll never know for sure. That's a dilemma. 7:33:16 AM

In Secrets and Lies, Schneier uses a quote from Yogi Berra that I just love: "In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." I think that accounts for the lameness of most analysts. It helps to have done something once upon a time. 7:17:51 AM

© Copyright 2002 Jeff Nichols.