POLIS

Memo to the hand-wringing execs at CBS and all the tittering masses from other news outlets: shut the fuck up. You do not get to whine about a crisis of journalistic integrity until you own up to the collossal, across-the-board failure to properly inform this country's citizenry during the march to invade Iraq. That's a real crisis, one we've all been living with for almost two years now and will endure the consequences of for some time to come.

Bill Maher makes the case, for our national healing:

Plus, Vietnam doesn't have any weapons of mass destruction, any links to 9/11, or any ties to Al Qaeda—they're practically asking for it!

It was likely a large bird that got sucked into the engine, tearing it apart and sending fuel spraying into the air. Apparently and not surprisingly, mid-air collisions with birds are quite common. Makes me wonder: can't they outfit the front of a jet engine with a wire mesh, enough to deflect a bird or other airborne debris from entering the engine, but thin enough not to disrupt the air flow? I imagine there are probably interesting things that happen to air when it's blowing in at around 600 miles an hour, where something seemingly inocuous like wire mesh could, say, cause small ripples that are amplified at high speeds, but it seems as if that could be designed away, changing the shape of the mesh or the spacing between wires, something to that effect.

It's amazing how this story has escalated, really touched a nerve. I first heard of it over at Boing Boing earlier this week, then it circulated at work (we probably have more than an average number of bike commuters), and now the front graphic story of nytimes.com.

Paging David Cross:

"There was murmuring on various Web sites, and so I decided to go home and pick up a pen and see it if works," said Benjamin Running, a graphic designer who lives in downtown Brooklyn. "Sure enough, within 30 seconds I had broken into my $90 lock. I was in awe. My jaw literally dropped to the floor. It was so easy." [My emphasis.]

Oh, shit, dude. Wow—so, what did you do about your disembodied jaw?

A little change of pace here—at right, I've added a link button for the Firefox web browser. The result of an open source software development community organized by the Mozilla Foundation, Firefox is a superior modern browser that's quickly replacing Internet Explorer on desktops all over.

To most people, their web browser is the Internet, so the idea of switching to another browser is borderline nonsensical. But the reason I'm pimping it out is simply, if you want to your computer to be secure when you browse the Internet, you shouldn't use Internet Explorer. It's not just an intellectual exercise; there are vulnerabilities in the code of Internet Explorer that, if exploited, could let some shady character out there literally take control of your computer. This is to say nothing of all the annoying worms, viruses, and spywares that Internet Explorer let pass because of its poor quality design. And that's not just me saying it; this is from a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Mozilla people will rightly tell you that Firefox stands on its own not just as an Internet Explorer alternative: it's faster and better at rendering HTML. Unfortunately, there are a handful of sites that, for various reasons, only work correctly with Internet Explorer: I keep a copy around solely for my car sharing reservation service (disclosure: I work at the company which runs that car sharing business), a deficiency they are actively working to resolve. I've heard reports that some banking sites won't work with anything other than Internet Explorer. But for practically 99.9% of the WWW, you will have a faster, better-looking, and safer browsing experience with Firefox. And of course it's free! (As in "beer" and "speech.")

One of my day trades is web development, which explains my nerdy excitement over a piece of software. But I think this is one of those cases where the entire Internet-using community benefits; by taking an easy step to protect your own computer, everyone's electronic security is increased.

Weird. There was just that report on NPR—I believe it was during All Things Considered—about how American has turned things around after a trip to bankruptcy court, mostly by having the employees make suggestions to improve the specific ways they work. And one of the changes that was highlighted was how the engine mechanics said they could be more efficient if they could have the engines mounted vertically instead of horizontally like they are on the plane. The change was implemented, it made the engines easier and quicker to service, and it's saving American millions of dollars. Of course, I have no way of knowing if these two stories are connected, but it's a coincedence worth mentioning.

UPDATE: Nope: a bird got sucked into the engine.

Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker notices bloggers and goes out of her way to pat them on their collective back, now that something has happened that suits her politics:

But the piece de resistance has occurred over the past several days, as bloggers questioned the authenticity of documents CBS News presented allegedly proving that President Bush received preferential treatment in the National Guard.

But, they didn't debunk the documents authenticity in any conclusive way. It wasn't until someone with first-hand knowledge came forward that the forgeries were revealed for what they are. The right-wing bloggers just threw a bunch of stuff out there and hoped some of it would stick. Questions they raised, like whether it was possible to produce proportional type in that year, were ultimately dismissed. They were simply astride the issue, a minor piece of the larger conservative bullhorn that shouts down any attempt to discredit Bush.

Why isn't Jon Stewart writing speeches for Kerry? (Thanks, Crumb Crisp Coating.)

If you've not made the superlative Electoral Vote Predictor a part of your daily browsing, what's the matter with you? If you haven't visited it recently, there's lots of new features to explore, including today's new addition, the cartogram, showing the U.S. map with states sized in proportion to the number of electoral votes they have.

From Burt Constable in the Daily Herald:

Flanked by two turtles, a frog, a toad, a salamander and a snake, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday launched those candidates' campaigns for the offices of Illinois state amphibian and state reptile, confusing those of us who were left to wonder what the heck Alan Keyes has been running for.

I've been away from Polis for a while. I'm going to ease back into it. What better way than with a news round-up of our favorite local political contest?

• Obama uses rather strong language in rebuking the UN on Darfur and making a call for intervention on the part of our European allies. A cynic might say that's easy to do now that you have the cover of your Secretary of State, but he has been talking about it on the campaign trail.
• Laura Washington writes in the Sun-Times about how Obama's state Senate seat will be filled "if" he wins in November, and uses words like "garrulous" and "obstreperous" to describe the committeepersons in charge of the process. Lots of jockeying for position here, as one might expect for a job that has catapulted Harold Washington, Carol Moseley-Braun, and Obama to prominence. The outstanding question is, will Obama try to leave legacy (and have a friendly face back home) by influencing the choice of his successor?
• Hip-hop raconteur and Chicagoan Common name-drops Obama in the Top 20 remix to Jadakiss' "Why?" and takes us to 2012: "Why is Bush acting like he trying to get Osama?/Why don't we impeach him and elect Obama?"
• A Young Republican down in Urbana/Champaign delivers the understatement of the minute, reflecting on Alan Keyes after a picnic rally: "I think he's having trouble getting that message out because he's getting hung up on one-liners." Well, actually, I think everyone else is getting hung up on them. And the two-liners (he blamed 9/11 on abortion: "I think that's a way of Providence telling us, 'I love you all; I'd like to give you a chance. Wake up! Would you please wake up?'"), and the two-hundred-liners, for that matter.
• The Associated Press discovers Alan Keyes. Welcome to the party, fellas!
• The AP discovers Barack Obama's legislative record. Actually, a handy list, but culled from the spartan General Assembly web site and therefore without any context. Some of the votes, of course, speak for themselves, such as "Successfully sponsored requirement that law enforcement videotape interrogations of suspects in some serious crimes. (SB15, 2003)"
• And finally, J. Grant Swank, Jr. of MichNews.com puts to bed the issue we've all furrowed our brows over in a vain attempt to understand: ALAN KEYES IS RIGHT: JESUS WOULD NOT VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA. Thanks, J.! P.S. I have it on good authority that the Big Guy is all-in Libertarian this year.

Bill Clinton needs heart bypass surgery. He's already had an angioplasty, and his doctors determined the bypass was necessary. I'm hoping he went to see them in time and is in good hands.

But big fuck yous go to Fox News and Republican Congressman Vito Fossella of New York. This is how Fox ends their report:

"Who knows? It could be the result of a successful Republican convention, said Rep. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., of Clinton's chest pains. "In all seriousness, though, I am sure the entire nation wishes the president well."

"Seriously—we hope he dies."

Everyone knows how viscerally the right despised and still despises Bill. And I'm sure most people have at some point in their lives wished that a president of the opposing party would meet an untimely end; it's a natural manifestation of partisan frustation. And that's all it is, just a focal point for disenfranchisement, certainly nothing to be said "out loud," and, you would expect, never something to come out of the mouth of an elected official, it would be beyond the pale.

Fossella's remarks—and the fact that Fox decided to give this jackass the last word on the matter—are vile and should be loudly denounced by the leadership. This ugly, chickenshit behavior, though, will likely be silently rewarded (Fossella played "good soldier" a few years back by leading the opposition to Clinton's grant of clemency to members of the FALN terrorist group), and is increasingly all we can expect from the party these days.

UPDATE: From the wires:

"He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said at a campaign rally.

Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.

President Bush. Class act.

UPDATE AGAIN: AP got it wrong. No booing from the Wisconsin crowd.

Interestingly enough, Fox has massively rewritten their piece linked to above; no Fossella quote. Into the memory hole.

What the hell … ? Did Zell Miller really just tell Chris Matthews he wishes he could challenge Chris to a duel? Yeah, he did. Kevin's readers recap the incident nicely in the comments to this post.

I imagine that they have a giant, colored lever in their bus that they pull whenever the mood hits them.

In any case, McSweeney's puts it all into context.

I'm sort of idly watching C-SPAN's late nite rerun of RNC highlights, and here's Sec. of Education Ron Paige babbling on, proclaiming the success of Bush's programs. As he says something about "students are learning, teachers and principals are beaming with pride," the producers switch to a chubby little boy in his seat, head down and tuned out, blissfully pushing buttons on a Game Boy. Of course, no one in their right mind would expect an eight-year-old to sit in rapt attention to hour after hour of droning adults, but the juxtaposition was a riot.