(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Thu, 20 Feb 2003 08:06:19 GMT)

Along with perhaps 30 million others, Emma and I took part in a peace rally on Saturday. We were delayed finishing up our signs, so we failed to meet up with our friends before the Seattle rally, although we did run into another friend as the march set off.

There were an estimated 20,000 people at the Seattle rally, according to the Seattle P-I. I would have thought more. It took eighty minutes from the first marchers setting out to the last of the marchers getting a few blocks away from the Seattle Center.

The night before the rally, I found a number of …continue.

(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Fri, 14 Feb 2003 18:47:36 GMT)

As part of the wave of peace rallies moving across the world today and tomorrow, there will be a Seattle Rally. Gather at the Seattle Center’s In­ter­na­tion­al Fountain at 11:30am, rally at noon, march at 1pm to the Federal Building and the INS Detention Center.

Emma and I will be meeting several others at the Japanese Temple Bell near the Pacific Northwest Ballet at 11:30am

(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Fri, 14 Feb 2003 22:46:43 GMT)

Hans Blix presented his latest report to the UN this morning. No surprises. Saddam is not being par­tic­u­lar­ly co­op­er­a­tive, there are some "proscribed" missiles, but they’ve found no evidence that Iraq is hiding prohibited weapons. All the players held fast to their positions.

Colin Powell hammered home the point that if Saddam had nothing to hide, the Iraqi scientists would be lining up to be in­ter­viewed by UN inspectors. True, but that’s still not a case for going to war.

In today’s New York Times, a new poll shows most want war delay. 59% of Americans favor giving the …continue.

(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Fri, 14 Feb 2003 19:15:16 GMT)

I’ve been meaning to rant about this for a while now, but haven’t found the time yet.

Last Friday, the Center for Public Integrity announced that it had obtained a secret draft of Patriot Act II. Previously, it had been kept in almost complete secrecy, only being shown to Dennis Hastert and Dick Cheney.

The Domestic Security En­hance­ment Act of 2003 (full text) is outrageous. Secret arrests, eaves­drop­ping without court orders, delaying no­ti­fi­ca­tion to targets of in­ves­ti­ga­tions for up to three months, secret subpoenas, crippling the Freedom of In­for­ma­tion Act, deporting American citizens, huge new powers for the FBI, and more.

Obviously, we need to fight …continue.

(Originally posted to Cool Stuff at EraBlog on Sun, 09 Feb 2003 08:02:27 GMT)

Emma bought herself a TiVo Digital Video Recorder a few weeks ago. I had heard it said that TiVo changes the way you watch TV. It’s true. Emma is fond of Home and Garden Television (HGTV), which has a lot of shows about re­dec­o­rat­ing and re­mod­el­ling. They’re padded un­mer­ci­ful­ly, constantly recapping what they showed you before the most recent break. She can work through an ostensible 30-minute show in under 10 minutes by skipping from highlight to highlight.

Our TiVo also has a DirecTV satellite receiver built in, giving us access to far more stations than we had on cable, …continue.

(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Sun, 09 Feb 2003 08:30:52 GMT)

Earlier today, I posted some reactions to Powell’s visit to the UN, including my own. Since then, I’ve come across some in­ter­est­ing links.

Powell’s Evidence Looking Shaky describes several serious short­com­ings: the aluminum tubes, "the fine paper that the United Kingdom dis­trib­uted" (pla­gia­rized), and a supposed al-Qaida camp in Northern Iraq.

The LA Times has Iraq Opens Suspicious Sites to Eyes of Media.

In a lighter note, Neal Pollack makes fun of live coverage of the Powell address.

I fear that Bush has painted himself into a corner. He can’t afford to back down now without losing face. That means we’ll go …continue.

(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Sun, 09 Feb 2003 01:08:16 GMT)

Colin Powell went to the UN and made a case that Saddam has not disarmed and that he continues to act in defiance of the UN. Not too surprising, since that’s what Blix has said. If Saddam had nothing to hide, he would have cooperated with the UNMOVIC inspectors.

What Powell did not show is why Saddam’s defiance warrants going to war.

Some doubt the veracity of Powell’s case, citing the ease of forging evidence. This is the same ad­min­is­tra­tion that gave us the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic In­for­ma­tion aka the dis­in­for­ma­tion unit. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. …continue.

(Originally posted to Humor at EraBlog on Sat, 08 Feb 2003 01:54:46 GMT)

I have received hundreds of copies of the Nigerian scam spam in the last couple of years. Nigerian criminals, typically claiming to be relatives of rich-but-deceased African potentates, ask for "help" in getting assets out of Africa. You are asked to pony up some money to defray expenses, in return for a cut of the proceeds.

Someone has put together a Bush-Iraq parody of these letters. George Walker Bush, son of the former President of the USA, seeks your help in acquiring oil funds that are trapped in Iraq…

—– Forwarded message from Steve Schear <schear@attbi.com> —–

From: Steve Schear <schear@attbi.com> Subject: …continue.

(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Fri, 07 Feb 2003 07:13:08 GMT)

Tomorrow [Wed Feb 5th, 2003], Colin Powell goes to the UN to make his case against Iraq. Reportedly, he has "no smoking gun".

To my mind, the Bush Ad­min­is­tra­tion has not yet made a compelling case for going to war.

Yes, Saddam Hussein is a murderous tyrant. Yes, he has not come clean with the UN and appears to be in "material breach" of Resolution 1441. Yes, he almost certainly has chemical and biological weapons, though probably not nuclear weapons.

But, to my mind, this is not a case for war. Con­tain­ment has worked for the last twelve years. Why should it …continue.

(Originally posted to Cool Stuff at EraBlog on Fri, 07 Feb 2003 01:25:48 GMT)

Strange and beautiful: Pencil Carvings. Pencils carved into double spirals, chains, rings, and honeycombs.