Shut. Up.

Blogs don't have segues, so here goes:

(H/T to Val, via Fortune)

AT&T to cut the price of Apple’s new iPhone

When the 3G iPhone is introduced this summer, AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone sales partner with Apple, will cut the price by as much as $200, according to a person familiar with the strategy.

This has tongues wagging over at the NYT:

The $199 iPhone? Something’s Missing From the Picture

...But as reported, there are some bits of the story that don’t make sense. Fortune wrote that AT&T will offer the subsidy to people who buy the phones in its stores, but not to those who buy in Apple stores. I can’t imagine that Apple would want to sell iPhones for even a dime more in its stores than in another store. (Apple keeps exceedingly tight control over its pricing.)

And there is no underlying economic reason for AT&T to offer anyone an incentive to buy the iPhone in its stores. No matter where you buy your iPhone, the only way to use it legitimately is on the AT&T network, which requires a two-year contract. What’s more, Apple has a much greater incentive to get people into its stores — where it can try to sell them Macs — than does AT&T — which has little more to offer than the odd headset and case.

Strange, but then - unless the plan becomes cheaper and the contract term becomes shorter - I'm pretty sure this item will be moot for me.

But they're so sleek, so shiny... No!

I'll Fly Away

Mom's going to Scotland. Today.

She's been fretting about it - I've been cheering for her. Gramma had a bad fall recently and Mom's been grappling with guilt over leaving vs. bailing out of a trip she's been planning for ages.

She'd finally gotten through to Dad's sister and brother - gotten some good discussion of the situation and felt good enough to get on her plane.

Scotland. I'm green with envy. Got the boy all pumped up saying SCOOT-lund! in the best brogue the boy can manage. I'd planned on taking the boy through her itinerary on a map.

Jen's keeping me in the loop on Gramma, Mom's texting her status to me:

Apr 29, 05:24 pm
Headed 4 london. Mom

London. I'm tempted to ask her to buy me an Arsenal scarf. She's told us she can get text messages - but then she was told this by AT&T - so there's almost no chance that she can.

One unsettling aspect of her departure: In the event the worst happens and Gramma passes - Mom had asked me to book her a flight up from Atlanta on the same day she comes back to the US. I've booked flights for mom exactly twice before - both times because she was in the storm zone and had no way to do it herself.

Surfing possible flights plays on my imagination to the point that, having established that there are ample opportunities out of Atlanta - I quit and go for a walk around the office to shake it off.

It doesn't work.

Post storm, the airports were insane. On top of everything mom had been through - the airlines had decided to be - well, airlines. She was told her carry-on weighed too much, or was the wrong size, or needed inspection or something - so would she mind opening it and re-distributing her items among her other bags?

Mom has a pretty good look that says My manners are the only thing keeping you alive right now. I imagine she gave the guy this look and opened her bags.

On top of the clothes in her carry-on was Dad's folded flag.

Airline guy sees it and stops. He closes her bag and says "That's okay, m'am we'll take care of you. Don't worry about it." And he gets her through the line and never says another word.

Even now, all this time later - I'm still a mess just from writing that.

But I had help this time.

Jen called at 11:27 pm - and my family doesn't call, much less call in the wee hours.

Unless it's bad.

Gramma passed away at 11:00 pm. She'd been having trouble breathing. Too much fluid in her system, lots of things. Age.

I'm like I was with Grampa - I'm just hollow thinking about it. There's no there.

But Mom. Right now, she's on a plane, asleep headed for her big adventure - and she doesn't know. This I can picture, and its just too awful.

Mom's flown up for Gramma's episodes over and over. Talked with her all the time.

After this latest fall, Mom couldn't get through to her - nurses or Dad's siblings kept interposing themselves.

Mom's big adventure in Scotland - and on day one she'll learn that Gramma died five hours after she boarded her plane.

I miss Gramma - but I'm grieving for Mom.

Top 10 List

(Via CJR)

In an unsigned editorial, the [Los Angeles Times] today urges the three presidential candidates to “challenge reporters who dwell on gossipy or tangential subjects to ask instead about issues voters care about it.” Ten such questions follow.

Read the ten questions. Ask yourself how different the ABC debate (or any debate in this campaign) would have been with questions like that.

CJR spells it out in their windout:

...the fact that ABC News didn’t ask those kinds of questions wasn’t because it’s not possible to do so. It’s because the network chose not to.

Exactly.

Unforgivable...unfixable...unbelievable

Although I know this world will eventually top this, it's hard to imagine how:

This is quite possibly the most appalling crime I can imagine:

A 73-year-old Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children, police have said.

[snip]

A reinforced concrete door was built into the wall that separated the "dungeon" from the house and electronically locked - the code known only to the suspect, who provided his captives with food and necessities, police said.

Three of the children were kept in the cellar with their mother and had never seen daylight, police told a news conference.

Wha..? What-?

....

Gen. Odom on the Surge

We keep hearing over and over again about how the surge is working, how violence is down and how life in Iraq is getting better.

After all, the Sunnis are now on our side - that's has to be good, right?

(Frm Director of the NSA under President Regan) Gen. William Odom begs to differ:

(via Nieman Watchdog)

Their break with al Qaeda should give us little comfort. The Sunnis welcomed anyone who would help them kill Americans, including al Qaeda. The concern we hear the president and his aides express about a residual base left for al Qaeda if we withdraw is utter nonsense. The Sunnis will soon destroy al Qaeda if we leave Iraq.

[snip]
Let me emphasize that our new Sunni friends insist on being paid for their loyalty. I have heard, for example, a rough estimate that the cost in one area of about 100 square kilometers is $250,000 per day. And periodically they threaten to defect unless their fees are increased. You might want to find out the total costs for these deals forecasted for the next several years, because they are not small and they do not promise to end. Remember, we do not own these people. We merely rent them. And they can break the lease at any moment. At the same time, this deal protects them to some degree from the government’s troops and police, hardly a sign of political reconciliation.

Now let us consider the implications of the proliferating deals with the Sunni strongmen. They are far from unified among themselves. Some remain with al Qaeda. Many who break and join our forces are beholden to no one. Thus the decline in violence reflects a dispersion of power to dozens of local strong men who distrust the government and occasionally fight among themselves. Thus the basic military situation is far worse because of the proliferation of armed groups under local military chiefs who follow a proliferating number of political bosses.
This can hardly be called greater military stability, much less progress toward political consolidation...

When it comes to Iraq, this same administration that blocks medical coverage for underinsured children has always had one fall back solution: throw money at it.

• Iraq economy needs a boost? Carpet bomb them with cash. We'll worry about receipts later.
• Political cost of large troop deployments too high? Send in the high priced mercenaries. Never mind we pay them ten times what we'd pay our soldiers. Politically, it's free!

And now: Sunni extremists got you down? Write them a check! We can re-brand them as the Sons of Iraq - the shinier, happier gunman for a new Iraq!

If you pay them enough, and give them enough weapons, you can get them to bump their other enemies ahead of yours in their sh!tlist. Sooner or later, they'll get back to killing Americans, but by then it'll be some other administration's problem.

This is hardly news, but can we finally have an intelligent discussion of what is and isn't happening as a result of the surge?:

Rev. Hagee: Opportunist, Coward

I've tried to resist the urge to think about Rev. Hagee's comments on Hurricane Katrina.

After all, there's an endless supply of nut jobs who retroactively claim recent events validate their world view. This guy's just the flavor of the month.

But here's the recap:

(via Media Matters)

September 18, 2006 (twenty days after Katrina)

All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that.

The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing.

I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.

At this point - Hagee's pulling a Falwell: he sees a massive human tragedy, brandishes it like a bat, and swings at people no one will stand up for: homosexuals.

As these remarks have no visible cost to him - he does not equivocate: He believes that [Hurricane Katrina] was, in fact, the judgement of God against the city of New Orleans.

Fast forward to this year. Hagee now has a powerful political friend in John McCain, and Sen. McCain is starting to get questions about Hagee's big mouth.

The cost of his 'judgment of God' remark has gone up. He apparently doesn't want to reverse himself totally - but he wants to soften things a bit:

(via The Dennis Prager Show)

April 22, 2008

Hagee: What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God. In time, if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become, it may be in time be called a blessing. But at this time it is called a curse

Prager: Right but, wh- what you are saying, and, and I want to just make it clear – that there is a divine hand in, in these natural acts and you see the divine hand in the hurricane that hit, that hit New Orleans

Hagee: If God is almighty and God is all-powerful, God controls everything. If God does not control everything, he is not God. So the answer to that is, yes.

Prager: Right. The, the, ah, the only question - and this is not a challenge as much as my own theological question to that, if - this is really Dennis speaking, not, not, you know, not wh- some official… questioner – but if that’s the case, so that would hold true for the earthquake in ah– and the tsunami - the earthquake in southern California, the tsunami that hit the, that hit Indonesia…Is that - so, is there any natural disaster that is not the result of sin?

Hagee: Well, I’m not saying that it’s the result of sin. I’m saying it’s the result of God’s permissible will. Ah, you, you cannot say that everything on the earth that happens is sin. Ah, it was carried in a newspaper that there was going to be a massive homosexual rally there the following Monday, ah, but – and, and I believe that, uh, homosexual marriage is sin and I believe it’s an abomination because Moses said it was. But it is, it is wrong to say that every natural disaster is the result of sin. It is a result of God’s permissive will, but who – no man on earth knows the mind of God-

Prager: Right, but in the case, alright, but– Did NPR get – is this quote correct, though that in the case of New Orleans, you do feel it was sin?

Hagee: In the case of New Orleans, their plan to have that, uh homosexual rally was sin. But it never happened. The, the rally never happened.

Prager: No, no, I understand. Alright. Alright. Ah, no, I’m only trying to understand that in the case of New Orleans, you do feel that, that God’s hand was in it because of the sinful city.

Hagee: That it was a city that was planning a sinful conduct, yes.

Prager: Okay. So, that, that one is the only one, I think, frankly, it’s the only one they can get you on, because people don’t like to, to, ah, hear that sort of thing…

A less than artful delivery of his talking points: "no man knows the mind of God," gay marriage is an abomination, and the permissive will of God allowed Katrina to hit New Orleans. The city "was planning a sinful conduct," you see.

I'm sure that's a great comfort to the grandmothers who drowned in their attics.

Of course, this is not enough to silence the media hounds. Nor will it put a smile on Sen. McCain's campaign staff (after the week they've had).

'God Smote America' is right up there with 'God Damn America.'

The price of that sentiment just keeps getting higher.

And so - just today - Rev. Hagee is said to recant (via a statement issued through his public relations firm, no less) what he was so certain of, back when New Orleans was still underwater:

April 25, 2008

...ultimately neither I nor any other person can know the mind of God concerning Hurricane Katrina. I should not have suggested otherwise. No matter what the cause of the storm, my heart goes out to all who suffered in this terrible tragedy. There but for the grace of God go any one of us.

Gone are the thundering pronouncements of Hagee's moral compass. Hell, even Hagee didn't show up - he folded by proxy.

Forget his small mindedness, forget even his homophobia - Hagee deserves scorn for the same reason as Falwell: He showed his stripes when he thought he could get away with it - now he's slinking away and hoping we won't notice his footwork.

No matter what the cause of the storm...

...

Oh, I see you all right-

Dirtbag.

Where Am I?

(H/t to E, and to Zack Patton over on the 13th Floor)

Kudos to the keepers of the Atlas of Strange Maps, for bringing us cartographical oddities like:

the [map] that plots different regions of South Carolina based on the main condiment used in BBQ sauce -- tomatoes, ketchup, mustard or vinegar and pepper.
There are two fantastic maps based on music -- one showing each state in proportional size based on how often it gets mentioned in country music songs, and another mapping out the area codes mentioned in the rap song "Area Codes," by Ludacris.

And they even have my favorite map of all - the Minard Map. A map that is only strange by virtue of it being so brilliant.


I remember finding that map in a graphic design brochure and I cut it out and have saved it ever since. Way cool!

Homebody

Here's an idea whose time has come: Subscribing to home delivery of household products.

Amazon's Subscribe & Save service allows you to set up standing re-orders of items you buy on a regular basis (trash bags, detergent etc.)

I'm scoping out the price break to see if this is economical to boot, but if the price is close - there's a big opportunity to save time.

...And the Front Ranks Died

In the movie Sword of Gideon, there's a moment when the young Israeli spy tells his father that he is going to become an assassin for his country. The Munich Massacre has just happened, and this would-be killer is clearly hoping his dad will be proud of him.

Instead, his dad cuts him off at the knees, saying telling him his country may need him now - but that won't always be the case. "They ruined my life," he tells his son, "and as God is my witness they'll screw you, too."

Reading the sad tale of CIA operative Bob Lady - you almost wish his dad had tried to dissuade him as well (H/t digby):

Lady...was the CIA’s base chief in Milan, Italy, and nominally in charge of a February 2003 agency operation to snatch an al Qaeda suspect off the city’s streets.

[snip]

But the snatch turned into a public relations nightmare two years later when Italian authorities announced they had eyewitnesses and indisputable evidence tying the CIA to the crime.

So last week 26 Americans, most of them CIA employees, went on trial in Milan for kidnapping, albeit in absentia and to little notice here. They are fugitives from justice, with international warrants issued for their arrests.

[snip]

[Mr. Lady] and his wife loved Italy so much they bought a house in the foothills of the Alps and retired there in 2004.

Months later an urgent call came, warning Lady to get out of Dodge — don’t even pack.

The cops were on their way.

Tipped off, the Ladys successfully fled the country. But they left behind a bonanza of evidence in their dream home...

[snip]

...it’s hard to be too sympathetic for his plight.

Except for this: He was abandoned on the field.

The CIA has disowned him. It hasn’t provided him a lawyer, or helped him pay for one. Lady is on his own.

Answer the F-ing question!

(Via Emptywheel and Elsinora of the DailyKos)

Fmr. US Attorney General John Ashcroft gave a speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois yesterday - and established exactly why current government officials do not stand for public questioning.

Elsinora: ...This other document is a section from the judgment of the Tokyo War Tribunal. After WWII, the Tokyo Tribunal was basically the Nuremberg Trials for Japan. Many Japanese leaders were put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture. And among the tortures listed was the "water treatment," which we nowadays call waterboarding...

John Ashcroft: (interrupting) This is a speech, not a question. I don't mind, but it's not a question.

Elsinora: It will be, sir, just give me a moment. The judgment describes this water treatment, and I quote, "the victim was bound or otherwise secured in a prone position; and water was forced through his mouth and nostrils into his lungs and stomach." One man, Yukio Asano, was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor by the allies for waterboarding American troops to obtain information. Since Yukio Asano was trying to get information to help defend his country--exactly what you, Mr. Ashcroft, say is acceptible for Americans to do--do you believe that his sentence was unjust?

John Ashcroft: (angrily) Now, listen here. You're comparing apples and oranges, apples and oranges. We don't do anything like what you described.

It gets worse - read the whole thing, or just Emptywheel's tidy excerpt.

Parallax View

There's a face on Mars!

Wow, this face must have been built by intelligent life, so there must be aliens on Mars! I mean, I know this one photo isn't proof, but wouldn't it be cool if there were aliens on Mars? Lots of people think there are aliens on Mars!

Oh wait:


I guess there isn't a face on Mars...

...


Wow, Obama flipped off Sen. Clinton!


Wow! Does this mean that Obama is losing his temper? Some people say he's too hotheaded to be the President. Maybe the campaign is getting to him, maybe he can't take the pressure!

Oh wait:
I guess he didn't flip off Sen. Clinton.

...

Look! A box that used to contain the body of Christ...!

(H/t to CJR)

Lock Them Up

CJR finds another NYT article that grabs your attention:

Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’

The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but almost a quarter of its prisoners.

Now, the fact that we lock up lots of people isn't any big news - I can recall when our prison population surpassed that of China and Jon Stewart sarcastically exclaimed, "We're number 1!"

It's the first part of that sentence that kind of jumps out at you: We're 5% of the world, but we still have more prisoners than anyone else. Not only are we locking up more people than China (a country with four times our population) but we are locking up a lot more. Around 700,000 more than they do.

Why the hell is that?

Read on and find out.

Pirates!

Okay - here's a forced update to my world view: Piracy is alive and well.

(H/t to DangerRoom)

Pirates captured a luxury yacht last week off the Horn of Africa. They took 30 hostages and demanded a ransom.

The French government obliged with two million dollars, and the ship and crew were released.

Then, the French took their money back.

An hour after the pirates had accepted a $2m (£1m) ransom and released the yacht and its 30-strong crew, they were attacked on shore by French military helicopters.


[...]

Naval captain Christophe Prazuck, the spokesman for the French military chiefs of staff, said: "There were four helicopters involved. A sniper [in a Puma helicopter] shot out the motor of the pirates' four-wheel drive vehicle. A second helicoper [a Gazelle] then landed nearby, allowing the six pirates to be arrested under covering fire from two other [Gazelle] helicopters. We are absolutely sure that there were no collateral victims."

[...]

France intends to put the six men on trial for piracy in a French court. At least eight other pirates are believed to have escaped.

Yeah! Take that, you pirate-guys!

But wait! There's more! (Via DR and the Daily Dispatch)

SPAIN worked yesterday to try to win the release of a fishing boat hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia with 26 crew members aboard.

[...]

Spanish media reports said the pirates were demanding money and had fired a grenade launcher at the fishing boat before boarding it, but the Foreign Ministry would not confirm either detail.

Spain has sent one of its frigates after the pirates, and is spooling up diplomatic efforts to release the hostages.

And yesterday, a UAE vessel was seized by pirates before the Somali security forces stormed the vessel and took it back.

Weird.

I'm curious how piracy even works in an age with Satellite imagery and telecommunications. It's not like you've got anywhere to run to.

Separated at Birth

(by way of G-Spot)

Two photos, separated by decades - and little else.

Dukakis - 1988:

Bush - 2003:


'shame we couldn't have gotten this photo before the 2000 election - then these photographs might have one more thing in common...

What Cease Fire?

The Long War answers:

The Mahdi Army cease-fire is all but dead, as the Mahdi Army has openly resisted the Iraqi government's attempts to assert control in Sadrist strongholds in Baghdad, Basrah, and the South. Sadr admitted his political movement issued orders to attack both US and Iraqi troops and has called for Iraqi soldiers and police to desert their units.

It's hard to know where to be on this issue. On the one hand - US and Iraq have needed to take this guy out for a very long time. Earlier restraint has come back to haunt them as Sadr has spun his earlier confrontations with the army as victories.

In that mindset. They should flatten him. The idea that another armed power will hold territory within a country's border is just an anathema to a modern state. The state controls the administration of violence within its borders, period.

On the other hand, I don't know that another Fallujah (which is what it would take) is something that will help things at this point. You surround these urban centers and pummel the Mahdi army into dust - you are going to kill a lot of Iraqis.

Sadr is believed to be in Iran, so no matter how well the battle goes there's no chance you take him out. You can reduce his militia's fighting strength - but it's not clear that these losses would be hard to replace. If his self styled army was composes of highly trained fighters, it would take time to find replacements - but it sure appears that the bulk of these forces are just men with guns. Easy to lose, easy to replace.

To me, that's Iraq in a nutshell. Two bad choices. Which to take?

Gutshot

In usability, you are not supposed to have pride of ownership. You make something, you show it to the user and the user shows you what you really should have built.

In forward thinking companies, you are allowed to build what the user asks for – or at least a reasonable accommodation between the needs of the business and what the user asks for.

The overall principle is that usability will prevent the company from building the wrong thing.

For the past two years, I have been working to design something that is now out in the hands of end users. It has undergone limited, formative tests which identified a number of issues, but the actual build was never tested in any real environment.

Pity.

When rolled out to the user base, the hue and cry was loud enough to bring the deploy to a screeching halt. Improvements were shoved in and a number of enhancements were added – but there was an overall issue with screen design that will not be solved with out a complete unmaking of the current design.

Understandably, the clients are unhappy.

In the ideal word, the build would be tested in a full environment to diagnose user issues with the current design. In full blown usability, time would be taken to determine what is going wrong and where.

There is no time.

The determination was to be made by an email survey, and the early returns are in. The users have spoken: make it like the old system.

This is, of course impossible, for a number of technical and business reasons – but people want what they want.

The net result of all of this is that the existing design will be chucked in favor of a cobbled together replica of the current system's interface.

Being in usability, I should be happy that the users are getting what they've asked for. But it's hard to be happy when essentially, we've failed at our primary function:

We have built the wrong thing.

No Free Lunch

(H/T to TPM)

Okay - George Will spells out the Fed bailout spree in terms I wish more progressives would adopt:

The Fed has no mandate to be the dealmaker for Wall Street socialism.

And this gem:

If Congress cannot suppress its itch to "do something" while markets are correcting the prices of housing and money, Congress could pass a law saying: No company benefiting from a substantial federal subvention (which would now include Morgan) may pay any executive more than the highest pay of a federal civil servant ($124,010). That would dampen Wall Street's enthusiasm for measures that socialize losses while keeping profits private.

Hell, yeah. If the Fed has to save the economy, they should do it, but whatever entity gets saved should pay its pound of flesh. Heads should roll, investors should take a hit and then maybe lessons would be learned.

Maybe if Wall Street knows they can't run crying to the Fed so easy, they might rein in their riskier ventures and start being responsible.

Yes men

Shocked - and yet somehow, unsurprised:

Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
By DAVID BARSTOW

In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

We've seen government agencies paying for faux news content pushing pending legislation, and were long past expecting honest statements from cabinet members on any controversial policy - but somehow I'd have expected better from the DoD.

I mean, it's bad enough for the government to scour the earth for like-minded, independent partisans and ask them to defend government policies. It's quite another to round up a group of partisans, tell them what to say, and pretend their commentary is objective.

In political campaigns, they call this astroturfing (the creation of the appearance of grassroots support) - and while we've seen the DoD stoop that low before, this new revelation goes to show this isn't the result of over-eager underlings in the Pentagon - this is high level policy.

The goal was - as the NYT so aptly put it - was to create "a kind of media Trojan horse" which could deliver tainted goods without revealing their origin.

When you can't debate honestly in the public forum - it's the sure sign that your cause is a loser.

Late edit: there's also this bit, which nicely illustrates why the DoD's strategy worked so well for so long - the media is happy to be spoon fed:

...almost weekly the Pentagon continues to conduct briefings with selected military analysts. Many analysts said network officials were only dimly aware of these interactions. The networks, they said, have little grasp of how often they meet with senior officials, or what is discussed.
“I don’t think NBC was even aware we were participating,” said Rick Francona, a longtime military analyst for the network.
Some networks publish biographies on their Web sites that describe their analysts’ military backgrounds and, in some cases, give at least limited information about their business ties. But many analysts also said the networks asked few questions about their outside business interests, the nature of their work or the potential for that work to create conflicts of interest. “None of that ever happened,” said Mr. Allard, an NBC analyst until 2006.
“The worst conflict of interest was no interest.”

When the networks cannot be bothered to even ask their analysts "gosh, you keep getting this inside information - wherever does it come from?" then they just pave the way for anyone who tries to manipulate them.

Yet another failure for the fourth estate.

Later edit: The reaction of the networks was also telling:

CBS News declined to comment...
NBC News also declined to discuss its procedures...
ABC, said ... military consultants were not held to the same ethical rules as its full-time journalists...
A spokeswoman for Fox News said executives “refused to participate” in [the NYT] article.
CNN, [while requiring analysts to disclose outside income sources, does not provide] written, specific ethical guidelines...for avoiding real or apparent conflicts of interest.

Holy freaking crap...

Did you see BSG this week??

Aaaaaaaaaaagh!

Late Edit: Spoilers in the comments. You were warned.

The ever shifting measure of inflation

(H/T to CJR)

Here's an interesting little visual aid from the San Diego Union-Tribune:



So, don't like the rate of inflation? If you're in the executive branch, you just change how it's measured.

As Emptywheel would say, *Pixie dust!*

No feaking way...

(via Digby)

No one really disputes that Chad Hudgens was waterboarded outside a Provo office park last May 29, right before lunch, by his boss.

There is also general agreement that Hudgens volunteered for the “team-building exercise,” that he lay on his back with his head downhill, and that co-workers knelt on either side of him, pinning the young sales rep down while their supervisor poured water from a gallon jug over his nose and mouth.

And it’s widely acknowledged that the supervisor, Joshua Christopherson, then told the assembled sales team, whose numbers had been lagging: “You saw how hard Chad fought for air right there. I want you to go back inside and fight that hard to make sales.”

This guy worked for a sales firm called Prosper, Inc.

There's currently a lawsuit pending - and not a criminal complaint.

Another Daily Show beatdown

This is old news (last fall) but if you haven't seen Jon Stewart beat the stuffing out of Chris Matthews - you really should.

Wired, Part II

So to recap – I'd ordered DSL from AT&T, was told it would be setup in two days, and then rushed (with loads of help) to wire the house so I wouldn't be paying for broadband I couldn't use.

Having set everything up – I found that DSL didn't work because… AT&T never completed my order.

This would be the same order that I spent 50 minutes on the phone to set up.

I found this out at half past 10 on Sunday night. The tech support guy told me my order wasn't done.

I naturally asked when the hell it would be done.

In a normal world, the rep could tell me – but this was AT&T we're talking about.

"I don't have that information. You'll need to call Provisioning."

This is the first time I'd ever heard of that department. Can't you just transfer me?

"No, they're closed right now, they'll open at 8am tomorrow morning."

I foolishly appealed to his common sense: Can't you just send them a message telling them to send me an email with the ETA of my service?

"No, I'm sorry. You'll need to call them."

---

Okay, this is a pet peeve of mine when it comes to phone service. Why do I need to be part of the solution?

AT&T knows all the essential information.

• They know my order was supposed to be completed on Feb 27 - and wasn't
• They know approximately when my order will be filled.
• They know how to contact me.

Setting aside that they could have informed me my order was late before I had to find out the hard way – they have the means to get me a new delivery date without my help.

But no, I have to call in.

---

The next day, I do:

From my wireless bill:

MON 03/03/2008 8:53AM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

This call is one minute long. Why, because it consists of the following. Listen to phone menu, "check order status" is option 5.

I press 5.

After a brief pause, I hear the following:

We apologize for any inconvenience, but our office is experiencing unusually high call volumes and cannot answer your call at this time. Our lowest call volume is between the hours of 10-11am and 1-3pm, Central Standard Time Please hang up and try your call again.

[Click]

[Dial tone]

I'm like... Well, what do you think I'm like? They fricking hung up on me!

I try again:

MON 03/03/2008 8:54AM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

Same thing.

I'm stupid. I try again, and pick a different phone tree option to get a person:

MON 03/03/2008 8:55AM 866-776-8038 10 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

I wait on hold for ten minutes, get a person, explain what I need - and they say "I don't know when your order will be processed. I'll transfer you to Provisioning."

No! Don't-

We apologize for any inconvenience, but our office is...

[Click]

[Dial tone]

Some people would learn from this experience. Adjust their behavior.

Not me.

MON 03/03/2008 1:10PM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

MON 03/03/2008 1:10PM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

MON 03/03/2008 1:11PM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

MON 03/03/2008 1:12PM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

MON 03/03/2008 1:21PM 800-288-2020 1 min
(AT&T Residential Service)

MON 03/03/2008 1:22PM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

MON 03/03/2008 1:26PM 866-776-8038 1 min
(AT&T BroadBand Customer Care)

All of these calls - all end with the same recording and [Click] [Dial tone]. All of them occur in the recommended time frame for lower call volume.

---

MON 03/03/2008 1:35PM 800-288-2020 40 min AT&T Residential Service

This next call is me finally getting a hold of some operator. I'm driving back into work after some errand, and just rolled the dice. Since I'm in the car, naturally I get through.

I explain how utterly pissed off I am and ask them to see if there is a way to reach Provisioning without getting hung up on.

I get transferred to some heavy breather who acts like my call is inconveniencing him in some way.

"Well.....*inhale* It looks like they fouled up the *exhale* cancel orders at your old address."

My old address still has Internet? I spent almost an hour canceling that service!

"Oh, don't worry *inhale* you won't get a *exhale* bill. I'll just punch this in..."

I spent at least five minutes listening to this man breathe and type. I kept asking Are you there? Do you need me for anything?

"Just a few minutes, got to *wheeze* get this done."

Can you tell me my order status?

"You need to talk to Pr-"

They're not answering their phones.

I swear I can actually hear him smile over the phone. "Yeah, *gasp* they've been kinda *exhale* behind lately..."

Any chance you can get me through to them?

"I can try. "

I actually get put in the queue. On hold waiting for the elusive Provisioning department. I'd forgotten myself sitting in a parking lot by the mall so I start up the engine and head back. I've figured out that speakerphone mode is made for this kind of crap, so I don't care that it's been fifteen minutes. I just sort of zone out to the crappy hold music.

At some point, I realize my car is about to go down a hill that is a cellular dead spot.

Sh!t.

[Doo-Doo-Doot!]

[Call End]

[Dial tone]

Sh!t, Sh!t, Sh!t!

Back at the office, I'm seething, but there's nothing to do until -

I try again:

MON 03/03/2008 2:42PM 877-722-3755 14 min
(AT&T Internet Services Support Center)

The only thing I remember about this call is that it did not help.

---

Next, I tried to check my order status online. I will shorthand that experience to these three items:

• I have a username and password for my AT&T Yahoo DSL account.
• I have a username and password for my AT&T wireless account.
• These were set up at different times, and I couldn't remember either of them.

I spent an interminable amount of time retrieving my username, (guessing which email address I created them with) navigating through the Byzantine password reset forms ("Former SBC customers - click here") before ultimately realizing the essential fact I'd missed:

Neither of these accounts can help me.

I needed to go and create an account on att.com. A Residential AT&T account. Great.

*Deep breath*

What do I need to create an Residential AT&T account?

1) A phone number. Check.

2) An Online Registration Code. What the #$*@! is an Online Registration Code?

Luckily, there's a link "Request Online Registration Code"
A form appears with three required fields. First Name, Last Name and Billing ZIP Code.

Huzzah! I know these!

I type them in. A fourth required field appears:

Last 7 digits of your customer ID from page 1 of your AT&T residential phone bill:

I just set up service last week. I don't have a bill. I could view it online, but I'd have to create an account first!!!

I hit the back button and see a link that directs former customers of [my former phone company] to create an AT&T Account Manager account.

Deep. Breath.

What do I need to create an account with AT&T Account Manager?

It's a wizard:

Registration Step 1: Enter your main phone number and registration code.

I enter my phone number and click 'Request online registration code'

I get a page that [no sh!t] says:

Request Online Registration Code

Enter phone number

I just did that, but I do it again. The form then asks me to enter my phone number again. I do.

Verify that you are the Account holder

Option 1

Enter the three digit customer code which can be found on the top corner of your bill.

Meh.

Option 2
Last 4 digits of SSN

I enter my SSN digits, get prompted for my billing address ZIP Code and click continue.

The new screen says:

Delivery Method:

How would you like to receive your online registration code?

Phone call: [my phone number]
Your online registration code will be sent within approximately 10 minutes.

[Alert!]
By selecting this option you agree to receive a phone call for your online registration code within approximately 10 minutes. If this is not a convenient time, please select a different delivery method or wait to submit your request.

If you are using a dial-up connection, you will need to disconnect if it is the same number as your Primary Account.

US Mail: Sent to billing address on record
Please allow normal delivery time for U.S. Mail.

---
Let's take a step back at this point. Examine the idiocy of this interface.

I'm a new customer trying to find out when my Internet service will start. My Internet service hasn't started at my house. In other words, to access their website and set up an account - I have to leave my house.

Having left my house to set up an account - I am asked for billing numbers I do not yet have, but -not to worry - they'll call my house and to give me a registration number!

Leave your house to use our website, then go home to get the reg code, then leave your house again to use the code we just gave you.

Idiots!

(Or they could mail it - Hah! Double HAH!)

I ask them to send the code to my house and I hope my answering machine is working.

The day is shot. I've accomplished nothing.

I go home and try again.

03/03/2008 4:39PM 866-583-2494 39 min
(AT&T Account Specialist/Advanced DSL customer support)

For this call, I explain how impossible it has been to reach the one department that knows when my order will be done. The rep is like "Gosh, I dunno. Hold time for Provisioning has been about twenty minutes."

Is there anyone else in the company who can give my my order status?

"Nope."

I'll wait.

"Okay, I'll put you on hold and keep trying to get into the queue - once I get in, I'll transfer you over and it'll be about 20 minutes."

Wrong, it took thirty-five.

The other four minutes were me talking to a nice lady in Provisioning who took my info, apologized for the delay and told me my order was scheduled to be completed on Friday, March 7.

Mission accomplished. Yes, an ETA that's a week and a half late is pretty lousy - but at least I know when my Internet will arrive. All that time was not in vain. Something got done.

As I'm pulling into my driveway - it occurs to me that I didn't get a confirmation number, or the ID of the nice lady who told me this. I also didn't ask when on Friday I should expect the service. By noon? By midnight?

My feeling of accomplishment begins to erode. I begin to worry.

Of course, I needn't have bothered worrying. The nice lady was wrong - AT&T didn't install my Internet on Friday at all.

Part III

Proof that our President is just a perfumed frat-boy

(H/t to the Daily Show)

So, the head of the Holy See comes to America. Pope Benedict, a man who speaks eight languages, reads two ancient languages, and was the theological bulwark behind Pope John Paul I.

He appears at the White House and offers a speech about the responsibilities of free persons, how religion is an indispensable support of political prosperity.

He finishes, and our President walks up to him, shakes his hand and says:

Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech.

Damn, Dubyah. Why not high five him right there? Better yet, bump chests.

So proud, so very proud to be an American.

This is Broken

...or at least a pretty stupid incarnation of a timeout message:


It's from H&R Block's otherwise excellent tax preparation software. This little hiccup occurs after five minutes of doing nothing.

This makes the cardinal rule of UI: don't make me think.

Seriously, read the message - then close your eyes and picture your two button choices: 'OK' and 'Cancel' which do you press to stay logged in?

Yep. That's right: 'Cancel!'

After all, it helpfully tells you that you press that button to save your information 'without exit.'

Ugh.

The other, positive option is 'OK' which also saves your information and then exits.

Compare that message with this one:


Rocket scientist or dumb as a bag of hammers, this message gets through. You have two choices - the buttons and each button label tells you what will happen when you push it.

The real joke of H&R block's program is this message occurs when you are logged into their tech support chat app. You are asked to wait for the next available rep and the wait is (guess how long?) yep, five minutes.

What that means is this: right about the time you get a support rep in the chat session, this message pops up.

You think: Save my work? Wait- exit? Uh - 'Cancel!'

But don't worry - there is no right answer. No matter what you pick - your chat session closes.

So you fire up chat again and wait for the next rep - they should be along in about five minutes...

Political Commentary: Say it with herbicide

(H/t to E and the 13th floor)

Giant phallus etched below Idaho guv's mansion removed
- The Associated Press 04/11/08

BOISE, Idaho — A 60-foot phallus created by vandals on the grassy slopes beneath the governor's mansion has been fig-leafed over by work crews on their second try.

The area was recently replanted with grass seedlings and covered with straw. A previous attempt by landscapers to obliterate the image only enhanced it with a dark green outline, after which it was covered with a bright blue tarpaulin for several weeks.

"Humor is humor, and people can laugh and we move on," Rick Phillips, communications director for J.R. Simplot Co., told the Idaho Statesman.

Oh, we'll laugh - don't worry about that.

Wired

When you change addresses, you get a to-do list. Rather, you get a list of three to-do lists: Takedown, transport and setup.

It's safe to say that the first two lists are done by now. All our crap is here, all our old services at the old address(es) have ended, now we just have to get the new place set up. Yesterday, it occurred to me that I'd crossed off another item – finishing the wiring for the addition.

This made me happy until I realized it was the middle of April.

But, with the passage of time comes perspective – so I thought I'd recount some of the joy I experienced on the way to this particular milestone.

It begins with a phone call to a multinational corporation…

......

Shortly after moving in I called AT&T and asked them to transfer my service to my new address.

In a sane universe this would require me to do the following:

-Call them
-Establish my identity
-Tell them I'm moving to a new address
-Tell them when I will be at this new address
-Tell them I want all my services transferred to the new address.
-Hang up

But then - In a sane world, I wouldn't be telling you this.

What actually happened was this:

That's from my phone bill.

That'd be a fifty minute phone call to AT&T's Residential Service line 800-288-2020.

Even setting aside hold time - and my calling around 11am - that's just insane.

True, I wasn't helping things much – I was told there would be an installation charge and I pointed out their website allowed new customers to waive installation.

"That's through the website," said the service rep.

I tried the website, I told him, and it told me my [current AT&T] phone number wasn't an active number. If I'd have been able to get the website to work, I wouldn't have called.

The CSR agreed that they could waive my internet installation fee, but I'd still have to pay an installation fee for my phone service.

How does that make sense? I asked. I mean, I have cell phones, I really don't even need the land line – If I have to pay extra to install it, I'll skip it and stick with wireless.

The CSR did the only sensible thing: put me on hold and then came back agreeing to wave the phone installation.

Once the pricing bouts were over we went into data collection and entry: Answer a question, get put on hold for three minutes, answer another question. The worst part was when he would take me off hold so he could ask me to hold some more.

I mean, really – one of the biggest failings of customer service on the phone is the customer is kept waiting while the CSR does battle with the computer. If you're doing all this work and I'm just waiting – do I really need to do it on the phone?

Here's a crazy notion: how's about I tell you what I want, you collect all the information from me you need, and then I hang up? You can send me a confirmation by email later. I got better things to do than listen to you type.

Anyway, the call ends – 50 minutes later and I'm aggravated, but I have an installation date – two days from now! Whoo-hoo! We'll have email again!

All excited, I go home – and then remember that there are no phone outlets where we want to put our computer. The Luddites who built my house put one phone wire on each floor.

I say phone wire because the 2^nd floor line is hardwired to a [no sh!t] Western Electric rotary phone in the hallway, and the 1^st floor line comes out of the floor behind the kitchen sink and [again, no sh!t] comes out of the back of a working drawer.

If I want the internet in the family room, some wiring is in order.

---

Running wires, I can do, but I got in a discussion with NG and he points out that phone lines are for sissies. Real men use Ethernet, and besides – all kinds of cool things happen if I hook TiVo up to broadband.

Intrigued, I pick NG's brain about what this would involve. By the time he points out I could have a central DSL filter and wireless – I'm hooked. This is a good idea.

We will make the house better and buy things with impressive sounding names like "Cat-5" and "router."

OoooOoo. Feel the geek juices flow.

True, home networking is no big thing to most folks but then, think back to *your* first network – the one you built with your own hands…. Eh? Eh?

Anyway, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing and NG agrees to stop by to save me from my own idiocy. He'll bring the family and we'll make an evening out of it. Family socializes, we run wire, my son gets to goof off with NG's little guy. Win-win-win.

We get a phone line run over to the easy target – the TiVo, and then I realize I've bought Cat-3 (because I'm a total dork) so we decide to regroup and plot out the full job. Two Cat-5 wires, co-ax, and speaker wire. Four outlets, a coaxial splitter, a box for the Cat-5 connections in the basement, and a router.

We know what – now the question is, where?

I can get under the floor via a crawlspace, but I don’t know where I'll come up. NG's wife, MG, comes up with the idea of running the wire through the ducts, and it's like *zzt!* light bulb. I can find the ducts when I'm under the floor and drill up! Duh!

Popping off the grate reveals a patch of drywall that is just perfect for what we need. Huzzah! Now we've got the plan – but it's kinda late. NG agrees to swing by on Saturday and we'll get our geek on.

AT&T promised me internet by Wednesday (Feb 27^th), but I figure a few unused days of bandwidth isn't a big loss. We'll be surfing by Sunday.

Saturday.

NG has his own gear and we go to Home Depot to load up on all the crap we'll need. Grab and fling, grab and fling. Sure, we'll forget something – but we know we'll be back, right? When was the last time a job didn't require multiple trips to the hardware store?

Back at the ranch – we run the easy wires over to the TiVo and NG and I hit the crawlspace. We had radon, so the ground is covered with two layers of poly with the upper one caulked together into a single, airtight sheet.

This is cool, because we won't get too filthy doing this, but it means that any movement on the poly will pull on the glued seams. Just another thing to worry about.

Coincidentally, NG and I are both claustrophobic – what a good plan this was, both of us going into a crawlspace – yea!

Anyway, we scope out the territory and decide to drill. NG goes topside and sensibly points out that my cordless phones have an intercom feature. He gives me one, and now I can communicate with him without screaming through the floor.

At some point, I use the drill.

My cordless Makita drill.

Now, I got a Makita because I'd heard how great they are – but it became clear that my particular model was the one they made to cash in on the fact that people who don't know better will buy anything that says "Makita."

Me? I didn't know better. My drill has no power, one speed, and a battery that does not come out.

When the drill bit lodged in the wall for the fourth time and ratcheted away from chewing itself up, I realized something:

This is a shitty drill. Now, I know better.

Catharsis aside, we still need a hole in the floor. I grab a stack of the Home Depot gift cards mom gave us as housewarming gifts. NG and I pile into the car and head for Home Depot (what did I tell you?).

Soon, I'm ogling a DeWalt 7.8 amp beast of a drill.

Ook. Ook. Buy drill. I briefly consider getting an electrician's drill bit (four feet long, sets itself, has a brace, could be used to run wires between floors…. Mmmmmm) but then realize it costs almost as much as the drill.

Sanity returns, and I get a 18" spade bit.

Drill like this, I can drill from upstairs – I have the angle. I set up, brace and –

- I'm through the floor before I even have time to push.

Downer. I was kinda enjoying that drill.

Anyway, we run wire.

Fish. Fish. Grab, twist. NG hangs in for the whole thing – then comes back to do the rest of it on Sunday. He's determined. I'm trying to stay out of the way.

Eventually we get all the wires in all the right holes. Coaxial to each end of the room, speaker wire across the room, a single of Cat-5 from the TiVo to the basement and a double run of Cat-5 from the computer to the house's phone hub.

NG hooks the Cat-5 into the outlets (which, by the by – is easy for those who know, but a deep and abiding mystery for those who don't. MG was providing the wiring instructions over the phone. It's pretty impressive to see a married couple talk tech to each other. Quite the team. The family that geeks together…). The outlets done, NG does some real voodoo to tie the wire into the hub's bird's nest.

Pass/Fail time: we hook up a phone.

Dial tone! Huzzah!

The wires still need to be tacked up but we have a tone in both phone lines. I spool up the computer and pug in the modem.

No internet.

The DSL light isn't coming on. NG thinks to check the other lines for a filter, mentions disconnecting the hardwired rotary phone upstairs - but it's late and he's spent two days on this mess. He goes home – he's earned it.

I move the modem to the other phone jack and the DSL light still doesn’t light up. I disconnect the rotary and try it again. No dice.

Finally, (according to my cell bill) at 10:16 PM, I call AT&T Yahoo Internet support.

SUN 03/02/2008 10:16PM 877-722-3755

Nineteen minutes later, they tell me what's wrong:

AT&T hasn't set up my internet yet.

Part II

Star Wars Trailer leaked

It's out there (with Polish subtitles) but it's out there.

• Star Wars: Clone Wars Theatrical Trailer

Three movies of pure schlock, yet still I crave more.... Curse you, Mr. Lucas

Beating the hell out of Camille Paglia

Okay, I'll admit being way too late for this party - but I fell down a hole on the G-Spot blog and ended up reading a full blown beatdown of Camille Paglia.

It's by the late, great Molly Ivins - and after she's had her say, you almost feel like sending Ms. Paglia a belated sympathy card. Sorry about Molly kicking your ass like that.

A sample:

Why Paglia lays the blame for [yuppie fashion] at the feet of feminism is beyond me. Whatever our other aims may have been, no one in the feminist movement ever thought you are what you wear. The only coherent fashion statement I can recall from the entire movement was the suggestion that Mrs. Cleaver, Beaver's mom, would on the whole have been a happier woman had she not persisted in vacuuming while wearing high heels. This, I still believe.

[snip]

What we have here, fellow citizens, is a crassly egocentric, raving twit. The Norman Podhoretz of our gender. That this woman is actually taken seriously as a thinker in New York intellectual circles is a clear sign of decandence, decay, and hopeless pinheadedness. Has no one in the nation's intellectual capital the background and ability to see through a web of categorical assertions? One fashionable line of response to Paglia is to claim that even though she may be fundamentally off-base, she has ``flashes of brilliance.'' If so, I missed them in her oceans of swill.

I can recall thinking that Paglia had a point or two - but I'd qualify that by saying my exposure to her viewpoint was via a staccato of sound bites. Interesting enough to listen to for the duration of the quote - might even leave you with a favorable impression - but as soon as you dig deeper your eyes start to roll into your head.

I'd say she was nuts - but Ms. Ivins already did that and more. It's a pity that Ivins is gone while Paglia's still spouting off, but that's they way of things.

Officer and a gentleman

(H/t to G-spot)

It's a sixteen year old reference - but fer crying out loud.

Raw Story is reporting this classy quote from Sen. McCain:

In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain’s hair and said, “You’re getting a little thin up there.” McCain’s face reddened, and he responded, “At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.”

Nice. There's a word I'd have a hard time finding a suitable use for - and he uses on it his wife.