Kool Aid Underground

Wiscon Emergency!!

Wed, 14 May 2008 22:58:22 GMT

Is anybody looking to save money at Wis con? Has the interest rate on your ARM gone up, and you suddenly can't afford the Governors club? Do you already have a hotel reservation on the Governors club level, but want a normal room instead?

I'm here to help. I have one normal, con rate concourse room (double beds) and I'm looking to upgrade to a governors club room. (king is fine).

Anyone? My desire for the un-ending font of white Russians begs you... please... swap with me!

Polar Bears get fucked by Bush administration

Wed, 14 May 2008 22:24:55 GMT

After a federal judge ruled that the the adminstration was illegally dragging its feet in not making a decicioin, the department of the interior says

"This has been a difficult decision, but in light of the scientific record and the restraints of the inflexible law that guides me, I believe it was the only decision I could make."

He want to to assure industry that the threatened designation will not actually change anything... Drilling and mining will still go on in Polar Bear Habitats, and this designation can not be used as a tool to force limits on green house gas emissions, even though that is preciously what is endangering the Polar Bears.

Read all about it here.

So, to recap -- A judge ruled the Administration was illegally withholding classification, and giving away mining and drilling rights while doing so. Adminstration is forced to classify bear as threatened, but it admits up front that it won't actually do anything... in fact it took special pains to introduce rules that apply specifically to the polar bear so that nothing needs to be done.

Once again, the administration is shuffling the chairs on the deck of the titanic, claiming "Nothing to see here."

Fucking vampire polar bears need to eat Dick Cheney and G. W. Bush in their sleep. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne should be forced to feed his own intestines to baby polar bears for his chicken shit statements and refusal to actually follow the law.

The Republican Party -- The New Whigs?

Wed, 14 May 2008 03:22:58 GMT

Democrat Travis Childers defeated Republican Glen Davis in Mississippi's First Congressional District.

This is a huge defeat for the Republican party, and boads well for a Regan-84/Nixon-72 style landslide in November, with senate and house seats to be picked up on the coattails of the democratic presidential ticket.

But remember... If the democrats do win big in November, It is up to us to keep their feet to the fire... to demand all the damage of the last 8 years be undone, and to demand that we move for with real progressive reforms. The road is long, and it doesn't end in November.

Testing the waters...

Tue, 13 May 2008 20:27:23 GMT

Would everyone who is going to be at Wiscon come to and bring me a cookie for me "Male Feminist" panel? I *THINK* it would be funny. Perhaps some might find it in poor taste. I'm willing to listen to both sides on this one. Cookie, or no cookie?

hunter on the 72 presidential election

Mon, 12 May 2008 20:26:28 GMT

"How many more of these god damn elections are we going to have to write off as lame duck but 'regrettably necessary' holding actions?"

I think obama is a realization of hunters hopes for 1972. He's only 36 years and two wars too late.

Every political junkie should run out and re?read fear and loathing on the campaign trail right now, in order to get a better understanding of this current primary/prez election cycle.

Clinton Paradoy

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:32:12 GMT

Every once in a while, (every 2 years or so) SNL has a funny bit. Here's one:

breakfast

Sun, 11 May 2008 18:42:01 GMT

Grabbing a quick bite to eat before I go into work. Testing my new lj mobile client.
2 things.
Iron Man was fun, if a bit slow. It suffered from origin story syndrome, but had snppy dialog.

The documentary about Hunter S Thompson (gonzo)was simply awsome. Grear archival footage... Interviews with many peeps including many unexpected folks. Just tge right amount of social context. Defijately the highlight of the sf int. Film fest. See it if you can!

Don't fuck with the republican machine, or you are out!

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:25:32 GMT

Details

They aren't terrorists if they kill people for us...

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:06:52 GMT

...the man being honored by 500 fellow Cuban Americans at a sold-out gala was Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA operative wanted in Venezuela on terrorism charges and under a deportation order for illegally entering the United States three years ago [...]

Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, condemned the celebration of Posada as a mockery of justice and evidence of a Bush administration double standard in fighting terrorism.

"This is outrageous, particularly because he kept talking about violence," Alvarez said of Posada. "He said that the whole thing now is 'to sharpen our machetes' " for a confrontation with leftist regimes in Latin America.

The U.S. government has never given Venezuela a formal answer to its 3-year-old request for extradition of Posada, despite a treaty providing for such cooperation that has been in effect since 1922, the ambassador said.

Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan citizen, is alleged to have masterminded the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 on which all 73 on board were killed, including a youth fencing team returning from a tournament in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. He is also suspected of plotting a series of hotel bombings in Havana in the late 1990s, one of which killed an Italian tourist.

I consider myself fairly politically literate and savvy...

Thu, 08 May 2008 04:49:24 GMT

But I don't even know what this means. It just confuses the fuck out of me:

Burma, and how to help

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:11:03 GMT

Dear friends,

Burma has been devastated by a cyclone—and by the military junta's failure to help its people cope. Help raise relief funds for distribution by Burma's monks:

CLICK TO DONATE!

In the wake of a massive cyclone, tens of thousands of Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless.

But what's happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster—it's also a catastrophe of bad leadership.

Burma's brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn't know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.

Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma's government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grass roots network of monasteries—the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges—they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort—housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.

Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement—but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta's response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime's pockets.

The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference.

Click here to donate:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

With hope,

Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team

PS: Here are some links to more information:

For more information about Avaaz's work to support the Burmese people, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/

For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles:

New York Times: "A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar's Remote Areas." 7 May 2008.

BBC: "Will Burma's leaders let aid in?" 6 May 2008.

India's Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008.

BBC: "Disaster tests Burma's junta." 5 May 2008

Times Online: "Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000." 6 May 2008.

_________

ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Freddie and Fannie to need federal bail out in 2010

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:27:18 GMT

A report released earlier this month by Mr. Lockhart, the regulator, noted that although Freddie and Fannie had a combined $19.9 billion of “unrealized losses” on mortgage-related investments, neither company had reduced its earnings to reflect those declines. That is because they judged the losses to be temporary — in essence wagering that the mortgage market would recover before those assets were sold. Such a wager is permitted by the rules but difficult for outsiders to analyze.

They are cooking the books to hide their mortgage losses, and postponing the inevitable. They have been refusing to raise the capitol they need in order to fend of their bankruptcy(ie, fall below the 3% core capitol requirement... that is, if you as a bank owe depositors and bond purchases $100, federal law requires you to have at least $3 on hand..). Come 2010, when Freddie and Fannie must realize the above unrealized losses, they will have less then the three bucks to the hundred, and will be bailed out by us.

Instead of raising capitol, and trying to prevent this failure, the folks running the show and Freddie and Fannie are doing what any sane person would do when they know the fix is in... they're getting a piece for themselves. Why try and stay afloat, when you know your going to be bailed out? Just rig the books long enough to ensure that you can get out with your shirt and golden parachute, and leave the tax payers holding the bag.

I'm sooo fucking angry words don't begin to describe it. This shit makes the S&L scandal/crisis/bailout look like lunch money. We're being fucking robbed blind by the financial industry, and nobody in the government is saying or doing anything to prevent it. THIS is Republican fiscal responsibility... let the tax payers pay for rich gamblers losses. FUCK THEM. If you can 't face the results of your actions, you get regulations. If you can't be an adult, you have to be treated like a child. And the last 20 years of republican deregulation (I'm ground zero in the republican test market of Energy deregulation, and I'm still paying for that debacle, thank you.) have demonstrated anything, its that deregulation means funneling public money into the hands of wealthy corporate citizens when the house of cards inevitably tumbles.

How many more times does the American public need to be raped and left on the side of the road before you realize that the nicely dressed republican politician who looks so handsome might not actually have your best interests at heart?

Voter suppression in Indiana

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:41:48 GMT

You may or may not have heard about the recent decision that validated Indiana's regressive voter suppression law that requires a picture ID to vote.

While there has been zero cases of in-person voter fraud in Indian, in its entire history, the Supreme court ruled that the law could stand, because it might possibly prevent some kind of fraud in the future, and there was no significant burden to getting a state picture ID.

voter fraud is imaginary, but the burdans indiana citizens face in gettign a picture ID is real. Here's just one real world story about people not able to vote because of the new law.

About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.

Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.

The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.
"One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.

They weren't given provisional ballots because it would be impossible to get them to a motor vehicle branch and back in the 10-day time frame allotted by the law, Sister McGuire said. "You have to remember that some of these ladies don't walk well. They're in wheelchairs or on walkers or electric carts."

Ed Harris on torture

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:34:49 GMT

It is easy to dismiss all of this as the unfortunate product of war. But this is not about war, it is about us. How complacent have we become? What does it take? Each day that we allow these crimes to go unanswered erodes the very ideals that this country stands for.

I knew I liked Krugman for a reason

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:10:10 GMT

Paul Krugman on Science Fiction and economics...

My WisCon Panel Schedule

Wed, 07 May 2008 03:20:08 GMT

I will be at the following panels. When not at these panels, I will be A) at the bar... b) at the Governors club, or c) at John con. There is an outside chance that I could be at d) INFERNO (Madison's only goth/industrial club) on Saturday night. I will NOT be in the dealers room.

See you there.

***************
Title: Magical Realism: Threat or Menace?
"There are great stories being written under the heading of Magical Realism lately. Is it a legitimate subgenre of fantasy, or something else entirely? Does Magical Realism actually exist as a distinct entity, or is it simply a way for academics to study a few select authors that they view as worthy, while keeping the rest of the fantasy genre outside the ivory tower? "
Saturday, 1:00-2:15 P.M.
Capitol A

M: Delia Sherman
Catherynne M. Valente
Theodora Goss
Jeremy Lassen

*****
Title: Male Feminists: You Don't Get A Cookie
"Allies are an important part of any movement and there is always a level of satisfaction when someone takes a step down from their role as oppressor and attempts to throw off the benefits of male privilege. However, do we somehow give the voices of male feminists a greater weight than women with the same opinion? Do we allow male feminists a pass where we would never allow the same behavior/sayings in other men? Some male allies never choose to examine the way male privilege impacts their lives and their social interactions. From arguing their right to enter women-only spaces to talking over female colleagues and taking up much more than their fair share in conversations. This is of course not true of all male allies but it does seem to be present in a significant number. How can we deal with their presence? Are there ways to spot and deal with these allies in a way that educates and doesn't alienate? Most of all how much cachet do you deserve for deciding that women shoul!
d be treated as human beings?"
Saturday, 9:00-10:15 P.M.
Senate A

M: Betsy Lundsten
Woodrow Hill
Gregory Frost
Jeremy Lassen
Bradford Lyau

*****
Title: "Publishing, Profit, Agendas, and Ideals: The Eclipse One Cover Debate"
"Last year when Night Shade Books released the cover for their anthology, Eclipse One, a debate broke out over the names represented on the front. Namely, in an anthology that had 50/50 male and female authors, only male names appeared on the cover. The ensuing argument centered around two main points -- the publishers felt that, of the authors in the anthology, the names they'd put on the cover were likely to attract the attention of more casual buyers. And because they were in the business of making money, they could not afford to put an 'agenda' ahead of anything else. Readers felt that, because no women were given a slot on the cover, the publishers were reinforcing patriarchal assumptions about who sells books, and who doesn't. Some expressed the opinion that the lack of women on the cover was actually likely to deter them from buying the book. In this panel, which will be a debate, let's explore both sides in depth. Does indulging agendas and ideals hinder profit? Or !
can adhering to an ideal lead to different and/or better ways of creating more profit? "
Sunday, 2:30-3:45 P.M.
Wisconsin

M: K Tempest Bradford
Micole Sudberg
Eileen Gunn
Jeremy Lassen

*****
Title: The Brave New World of Twenty-First Century Publishing
"Thanks to twenty-first century technology, the publishing industry is in a position to open up to bold new voices. Ebooks and print-on-demand technology allow small presses to publish books with much less financial risk than before. Writers who previously had been shut out have the opportunity to see their work get published. But does this mean more quality books? Or does it mean even taller mountains of garbage? And what about sales and marketing? The Internet has tremendous potential as a tool for guerilla marketing, but how can that potential be harnessed? "
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 P.M.
Conference 4

M: Jeremy Lassen
fred schepartz
Stephen Eley
Paula Guran
Rachel Swirsky

You know what the Pundits are talking about?

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:37:59 GMT

They AREN"T talking about McCain. They aren't talking about the latest 527-swfit boat attacks on Obama. They ARE talking about democratic party candidates. Sure they aren't talking about meaningful policy issues, but they never do that anyway. They talk about haircuts and earth tones and love canel. But right now, they ARE focused on the very presidential looking Obama, and his come from behind epic 8 month long battle which he is winning. And aside from a few sound bites, they are pretty much ignoring McCain.

Some people feel the extended primary, and Clinton's refusal to conceal defeat is a bad thing. I'm going to look at the silver lining for a moment. The extended primary has meant that every state has experienced massive Democratic party voter registration. It's gotten more people involved, and this level of turn out and involvement will have a very real and positive effect come November.

On the less measurable, but equally real side of things, Obama gets to have a "play fight" with an opponent who can nit pick at Obama all day long... use republican talking points, but use them ineffectively, so that the obama campaign is already immune to these challenges when the republican 527's come out to play. I mean really. How much traction is the Rev. Wright issue going to get in October? It's been played out already. Hillary co-opting the Gas Tax thing lets a democrat define it, and Obama defeat it on his terms.

Now, I'm not suggesting that the extended Clinton campaign is part of an extension of Dean's 50 state policy. And I'm not suggesting that the Democratic nominees are playing at horse race and attacking each other as a way to game the media. I don't think there is that level of co-ordination or political savvy in the democratic party.

But maybe there is. Maybe it is all part of some master plan. Maybe the word has been passed to the super delegates to not commit until all the primaries are over. Maybe Pelosi and Dean's calls for super delegates to make their picks are just play acting. Maybe the media has bought this ultimate campaign tactic hook line and sinker. Maybe Hilliary Clintion IS in fact taking one for the team. Maybe she is making knowingly making a caricature out of herself, and sacrificing her image among Obama supporters, in order to pull one over on the media. Maybe...

The surest way to confirm that this was in fact one big campaign tactic will be to see Hillary placed on the Obama ticket. If they run together, that is a slam dunk confirmation. But even if they don't, that doesn't mean that they didn't. And wouldn't that be the ultimate "I'm a uniter" move... After a long, protracted bitter battle, Obama the peace maker reaches out to his rival and puts her on the ticket. That would get almost as much media traction as the extended primary battle itself.

Let me dream of a better world. One where the Democratic Party leadership is competent, and not in a perpetual circular firing squad.

:)

Michael Gordon is at it again

Tue, 06 May 2008 08:44:37 GMT

Bad reporting. Bad reporter. Bad article that violates the NYTimes own standards on anonymous sources. Bad editors. This is why I have such a hate on for "the Media" and "journalists." It's 2003 all over again, but now its Iran who's got the aluminum-tube-yellowcake-ties-to-al-queda-911-wmd-terrorist-gulfoftonkin-whatever.

Bad Journalism 101: Mindless parrot anonymous "administration officials" without any outside corroboration, nor any other evidence, or contradictory views. NY times print article then becomes a talking point for the cable news networks...

Now we just have to wait for the administration to point to "numerous news articles" confirming the governments claims about Iran. Clearly the Times has either a) learned nothing or b) is perfectly happy to be a propaganda organ for government war mongers if it means flashy headlines. Yellow journalism is alive and well at the NY Times.

RIP Mildred Loving

Tue, 06 May 2008 08:15:51 GMT

RIP Mildred Loving.

The Supreme Court ruling in Loving vs Virginia (1967) struck down all laws baning racially mixed marriages.

Thanks for your courage, and willingness to fight for Love. You helped make my marriage possible.

Last year, on the 40th anniversary of the decision, she issued a statement in which she supported same-sex Marriages. This, oddly enough, was not mentioned in her AP Obituary.
Here's part of that 40th anniversary statement.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that
I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to
have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the
"wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no
matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to
marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over
others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court
case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so
many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the
freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Think about it...

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:47:35 GMT

Every time Fed Chairman Bernanke bails out wallstreet by lowering interest rates, he devalues the dollar. The weaker the dollar, the higher the price of Oil, and gasoline for your car. Funny McCain and Clinton don't want to help us out this summer by pressuring Bernanke to stop bailing out his wall street budies, as a way to lower the cost of gasoline.

OPEC's current chairman, Algeria's Minister of Energy and Mining Shakib Khalil, said "the dollar is now the barometer of oil prices," and anticipated that oil prices would jump from their current level of about $120 per barrel to almost $200. In his statement to the press he explained that oil prices move in an opposite direction to the dollar and hence a direct relationship exists between the two. Khelil claimed that with the dollar losing one percent of its value, oil prices rise by $4 a barrel and vice versa.

Obama's campagin could REALLY make hay with this issue, but he probably doesn't want to take on the Wall Street/financial industry lobby. But it could certainly be a winner on the campaing trail, as Wall street isn't ever going to back obama over McCain anyway.

Meth adds gone awry...

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:39:28 GMT

John Berkey -- a Remembrance

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:24:08 GMT

One of the many pleasures I take from my duties at Night Shade is working with the artists who do our covers. I've worked with first time illustrators and industry masters who's work I've been seeing and admiring for years. I'm not an artists, and I've never been to art school, but I've been forced to play at being at art director -- Necessity is the mother of all bitches... More often then not, being the art director is an absolute joy. Sometimes, given my limited budgets, It can be quite embarrassing. I once received a response to a cover query that was positively vitriolic. It made clear to me in no uncertain terms that low offers like mine were part of the problem in the industry. That I was at once insulting him, and destroying the industry with low ball offers that make it impossible for working illustrators to make a living. I was part of the problem, and I should be ashamed of myself!!!

I thanked this artist for his quick response (He responded to my email query in less then 12 hours) and went about my day. Because what can I say? I know that while his response may have been bit overblown, there was a core truth to it... that artists are terribly underpaid. I didn't disagree, but in this one case, and in too many others cases, there isn't a lot I can do about it. I don't have a German conglomerate backing me... I don't have a cash-cow-title from a mega-author that pays for the rest of the year's production schedule. What I do publish often has very tight margins, and I have real limitations as to what I can offer. I'm not trying to be cheap. I'm just trying to stay in business. But my tight margins are not a working illustrators problem. They need to make a living, and I don’t begrudge them when they can’t work for what I can pay.

A similar embarrassing moment happened when I approached John Berkey to do the cover for the Hammer's Slammers omnibus series. John didn't really do email, but I was able to get him on the phone, and I pitched him the project. John had a very sweet high pitched voice, with a slight crack in it. And he didn't have a Minnesota accent per say, but as I grew up in Minnesota, the lilt and cadence of his voice seemed very familiar, and reassuring. He asked a couple questions about what I wanted, and when I told him what I could pay, he said to me in the kindest voice possible "Well, it should be more then that, shouldn't it?" This response... the complete opposite of the above vitriolic response, was far more painful then the angry email. I've let down and insulted this very nice, grandfatherly figure who's work is some of the most influential in the field.

I instantly agreed with him. I stammered out something to the effect of: "It IS to low, Mr. Berkey, and I do apologize for that. But this project is a relatively niche item (A hardcover omnibus of a series that is still in print in mass market paperback) and I just don't have any more room in my budget. It's the best I can do for this title." He considered this briefly, and agreed to work on the project. He didn't lord it over me, or rub my nose in it by telling me how much of a favor he was doing for me. He just did it. He was doing me a favor by agreeing to work on the Slammers projects, but he was a perfect gentleman about it. He turned in a cover on a very short deadline, and perfectly matched the visual models that I had provided. Working with him on the second Slammers cover was an even more rewarding experience, as we had a better time frame, and the nature of the first piece gave me the idea for the look and fell of the series -- I knew exactly what I wanted, and John turned in a beautiful rendering of a scene from the book.

I got to work with John again, when we reprinted Glen Cook's Passage at Arms. The original cover was a John Berkey painting, and I felt it would still work, with a new design, and John agreed to let us re-use it. Given the uniqueness of John's work, I felt that his style was a great way to "brand" the Glen Cook science fiction novels we were publishing. There was an unpublished Berkey piece in Spectrum that just screamed "Space Opera" and John agreed to let us use it for Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps.

He also give me a selection of other pieces to choose from for The Years' Best Fantasy Vol. 2. During his time, I started asking John about the Slammers Volume Three cover, and he very gamely agreed to another tight deadly. But as this deadline approached, I called his home and learned that he had suffered a fall and wouldn't be able to finish the work. I assured his wife that this was no problem, and wished him a speedy recovery. His wife told me that the last few paintings he did caused him a great deal of physical pain to do, and that he just wouldn't be up to doing any more, no matter how things went. John's inability to continue painting, either commercially, or for his own pleasure was awful to contemplate, and the flurry of materials that John sent me in the preceding year took on a whole new layer of meaning.

I was sad about this turn of events, but felt very lucky to have had a chance to work with one of the most influential SF artists of all times. The fact that he was warm and friendly, and a wonderfully sweet man was an added bonus. Though I shouldn't have been surprised by his death last week, the news did catch me off guard, and filled me with a great melancholy. The genre has lost one of its truly wonderful and unique imaginations. Though he lived a relatively long life, I can hear the words he spoke to me when we he first agreed to work on a Night Shade cover: "It should be more, shouldn't it?" It absolutely should, John. It should. Death is always too soon.

It is my great blessing that I was able to work with him, and it is my duty to bear witness, and remember him. The cover of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two features a previously unpublished work by John. Though the book is already printed and bound, and you won't find it anywhere in the book, I'd like to dedicate the volume to John and his work. He was truly a giant who walked the earth - A giant who's work casts a long shadow over the science fiction genre, and a giant-hearted man who will be missed.

A tale of two fonts...

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:31:14 GMT

Edit:
Got it. Thanks

Head Military Prosecutor admits under oath what we already knew

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:22:15 GMT

Of COURSE the tribunals were political! If Bush can corrupt the DOJ, and homeland security, these kangaroo military tribunals are just another example of the cynical audacity of the ugliest presidential administration in US history.

The Defense Department's former chief prosecutor for terrorism cases appeared Monday at the controversial U.S. detention facility here to argue on behalf of a terrorism suspect that the military justice system has been corrupted by politics and inappropriate influence from senior Pentagon officials.

Sitting just feet from the courtroom table where he had once planned to make cases against military detainees, Air Force Col. Morris Davis instead took the witness stand to declare under oath that he felt undue pressure to hurry cases along so that the Bush administration could claim before political elections that the system was working.

Shout out to WaPo staff writer Josh White for covering this story well. Mr. White has been doing some very good reporting, including the Yoo memo, amongst others. Check out his work.

Private ratings companies part of the problem?

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:59:52 GMT

Why was bad dept repackaged as a low risk, AAA-rated investment?

The creators of new securities pay the agencies to get their "paper" rated. But if they don't get the Aaa "investment-grade" rating that they desire from one agency, they might just take their business to another. The structural imperative of the market forced the ratings agencies to give everyone a gold star.

So here's a very specific regulatory suggestion. In-source the ratings game. Make evaluating the creditworthiness of new securities the responsibility of the Fed, or the SEC. The private sector proved itself manifestly incapable of guarding its own henhouse in the case of collateralized debt obligations tied to subprime mortgages. Why should we think they'll do any better when the next round of "innovation" comes down the pike? And who knows? Maybe it will even be cheaper for the government to nationalize the credit ratings game than to bail out investment banks before they blow up.