Motley Moose – Archive

Susan Boyle sang “Memory” yesterday.

Just over a month – and over a hundred million views on YouTube – later, Susan is still warming hearts and uplifting souls.  Is there marketing involved?  Does it matter?

Oh yeah, and Kim Jong Il (or his corpse, or his rivals – who can tell?) fired off a nuclear weapon.

Which one matters more to you?

Consider this an open thread.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.

Other than that, President Obama and Dick Cheney were in complete agreement in their speeches yesterday on torture and Guantanamo Bay.

OK, for everyone on the left looking for a reason to freak out – and everyone on the right looking for a reason to gloat – here’s a great one.

President Obama has just announced that some of the terrorism suspects in custody will in fact undergo military tribunals, similar to those held under the Bush administration.

Let the wailing begin.

The Democratic Party has found it’s effective voice, the Republican Party has lost it’s own.  There is joy and celebration among Democrats, there is angst und strum among Republicans.  For those who are truly non-partisan, however, there is at best transient satisfaction at this change in political climate.

While some among the Grand Old Party faithful call for more of the same (yes, we’re looking at you, Mr.s Cheney and Limbaugh) others like Republican Strategist Todd Harris and former Secretary of State Colin Powell are talking about the need for a new focus for their party.  I have some thoughts as to what a workable and respectable GOP would look like.

In the fall of 1977 the US Government sent two ships – Voyagers One and Two – into space, where they are eventually destined to reach the edge of our galaxy.  In the hope that someone, somewhere would intercept these craft a variety of messages were placed on board that would be capable of communicating the existence of an intelligent creature, living on a planet called earth.  Among these was included a short prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach, as performed by Glenn Gould.  Voyagers One and Two left our solar system, respectively, in 1987 and 1989.

Glenn Gould’s short life has me pondering how everything we are and do is a matter of voyaging, and how none of it really has anything to do with arriving.  We are Progressing in our politics and our lives.  Where to?  

That is not the point.

Consider this an open thread.

Valerie Jarrett – Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison – on Morning Joe this morning was asked about the incident that saw Airforce One (or more accurately: “the 747 that is called Airforce One when the President is on board”) flying low and slow over lower Manhattan with a fighter trailing it.  “The president was furious,” she said.  “You wouldn’t have wanted to be in the room.”

Yes, we would have.

Politico Announced today that Senator Arlen Specter has had enough of the GOP – as have many we all know including your intrepid diarist – and is throwing his towel in with the Democratic Party.

President Obama was informed of Sen. Arlen Specter’s decison to switch parties at 10:25 this morning while receiving his daily economic briefing in the Oval Office, according to a White House official.

Obama was handed a note by an aide that read: “Specter is announcing he is changing parties.”

Bill S.773 – the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 – is on the table in Washington.  The Electronic Freedom Foundation is concerned that “the bill would create a major shift of power away from users and companies to the federal government”.  

I have taken a pass through the bill myself and, while I agree with the EFF that there is at least a need for clarification and modification of a few points I think it is overall an issue that must be addressed.  The cyber risk to physical systems (transportation, power, manufacturing, and automated systems) and to the free flow of commerce and communications is very real.  From a governmental standpoint it has been largely left to its own devices to date, and that may not be the best choice.  

I suggest reading sections 14, 17 and 18 for all the non-geeks out there.

[UPDATE] Steven Bellovin has written a decent commentary on the bill.

Unless you have just now emerged from a coma you are aware of Susan Boyle.  For the past week Ms. Boyle has brought more tears and more joy than any single figure in recent history.  To put the scope of her impact on society in perspective, the YouTube clip of the “Yes We Can Song” that was incredibly popular during the election has garnered 17.5 million hits in more than one year, the videos of Susan’s song have gotten 30 million hits in less than one week (the first clip posted is now at 19 million views and went up 300,000 in the last hour).

The question is: “Why?”  The answer?

Hope.

All of the world’s banks have agreed to close their doors forever in response to the relentless logic of arguments put forth by peaceful mobs protesting the G-20 meetings in London, England today.

“It had never occurred to me that banks were evil until I saw a sign that read ‘Banks Are EVIL!!!!!!’ today.” said Nigel Olson, CEO of The Royal Bank of England.  “It was being carried by a nice young gentleman with a stylish goatee and Birkenstocks who was waving it through one of our broken windows and shrieking something along the lines, I believe, of how he was being oppressed.  I had been busy working on a plan to rob quadraplegic old ladies of their pension funds and I just stopped and thought; ‘Nigel, old man, this young lad may have a point.”

Mr. Olson stated that he would be happy to answer further questions but had decided to nip off and commit suicide for his sins.