Viraj's Weblog

This morning on Democracy Now I heard this:

... On Friday, the veteran journalist Helen Thomas asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the Obama administration’s dealings with Blackwater.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: “I asked for an update, which I have not yet gotten, on where we are in different contracts. I would—as it relates to CIA’s use of contracting, I would point you specifically to them for responses on that.”

Helen Thomas: “I don’t think they would tell us.”

Gibbs: “They may tell you, Helen. If you use that sweet voice on the phone, you never know what you could get.”

Thomas: “I want them to stop killing people.”

Gibbs: “You should let them know.”

Thomas: “You should, too.”

I should point out there was various giggling after the 'sweet voice' comment. Now substitute Helen Thomas with a much younger woman, some news starlet from CNN. How do you think Gibbs' words would be taken? He probably would be accused of sexual harassment. Or how about a male journalist?

But of course to a much older lady, these words can't be taken seriously. And neither can Helen's. It's grossly apparent that they treat her like a teddy bear in the room, something to show that the 'liberals' are allowed in, but really they are just cute and cuddly bears. She is the old grandma that is always in the room. Sure she may say some uncomfortable remarks, but awwww, isn't she cute? Next question?

Here is an interesting Frontline/World about e-waste. Think twice when throwing out that old computer!

Here is a great speech by Bill Moyers at a media reform conference. His words are very inspiring.

Amy Goodman, one of the few journalists out there doing real news coverage, was arrested at the RNC. This is on the heels of the police's pre-emptive raids of peaceful protesters in their homes. It's really a sad day when Americans are arrested for discussing non-violent civil disobedience. Are we living in communist China? It's absolutely idiotic to try to curtail dissidents in a supposedly free society. Without such people disagreeing, nothing ever changes, and it is the freedom to protest that makes this a great country. I'm reminded more and more of 1984, where one day you won't even be able to think subversive thoughts without getting your door knocked down.

Why do we accept these attacks on civil liberties? It's almost as if people don't really care about this until it happens to them. I sometimes feel us Americans are like the frog in the water which is slowly rising temperature. Take everything away at once, and we notice. But slowly erode away our freedoms, or slowly raise our cost of living until we can't live, and we go to our grave without ever noticing.

An interesting article about banning spectators from the Olympics cycling event.

Relatives of Australian racing champion, Matthew Lloyd, managed to work their way through the heavily guarded finishing line by bribing a security official. But his mother Barbara Lloyd was told to leave the area, because she was cheering too much, The Herald reported.

After a relative was denied watching the race, they allowed her to watch TV:

She didn't have a ticket, normally you don't need a ticket to watch the road race,'' he said. "She flew over here from Australia to watch it and watched it on TV."

Come on, isn't a major part of a race having fans cheer you on?

The six hour race, in some of the most picturesque countryside, finished at the Great Wall but with not a spectator in sight.

I found this fascinating documentary called The Trap which explains alot of political theory. The most interesting thing conveyed (to me at least), and also talked about in many other science circles, is the concept that human beings are simply machines for DNA replication. That is, DNA is code, and this code manufactures machines to replicate itself. Imagine a program that could manifest proteins to essentially spread itself. These proteins could get more and more complex, eventually making the structure of a human being.

I'm reminded of the Simpsons evolution intro (I especially like the scene where the 2 humans cross paths, one evolving, and one devolving back to the lower creature). The evolution of species is the evolution of DNA. First starting out as one amino acid, then getting larger, multi-celled, sprouting legs, arms, etc. It's almost like DNA is the primitive spinal cord, and in it is the history of life on earth. A book continually being written, branching and creating countless editions, languages, mutations.

The Trap describes the idea of wanting to spread your politics around the world, and the example is US and democracy. There is almost something primitive and visceral in this, as if it harks back to nature's need to spread genes. Our wanting to spread political ideologies is just one manifestation of this. Getting people to conform and resisting revolutionaries is like fighting off anything that prevents you from spreading your genes.