Virus

Ok. Fine. I'll admit that I happened to look upon a website that I shouldn't have. But talk about unintended consequences. My crappy Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop (circa 1998) is now infected with a virus of the "hijacker" variant. Each time I reboot and open up MS Internet Explorer my previous home page (BBC News) has been replaced by some awful smut page that is chock-filled with viruses, ready to self-execute their malignant code. No doubt about it: I fu*ked up. So, now is the hard part (and the real reason for my post, public atonement notwithstanding) — fixing the problem.

This particular bug is a real nasty one, much to my dismay. I have followed much of the advice of the online virus gurus: scanned with my MacAfee Anti Virus, downloaded and scanned Ad-aware and Spybot S&D, searched for files with the root .ja, .hta, and deleted all my .tmp files. I was then coaxed into looking at my PC's registry. But what the hell do I know about that? Still I can't get rid of that 'lil prick. I have already spent a week of countless hours trying to debug. One of the advice sites informs me that there could be upwards of 50 files with the evil code embedded in it! This is such a time suck that I am seriously considering throwing my lap top out off my 13-story balcony.

I feel like the guilty 15 year old that got caught with his pecker in his hand. They all tell you, don't look at porn online, you'll get infected. N'ah! What do they know, I thought. Well, it happened to me. With some lessons in life, you have to pay for them again and again. I will tell you though (since I'm the obsessive, persistent type) when I get the source code for this virus, I'm gonna figure out some way to seek revenge on the websites and the genius fu*k who wrote it, anyway I can.

Meanwhile, I have to go back to the salt mines and fix my damn PC. Next time I'm getting a Mac.

Best laid plans . . .

Well, we were supposed to explore East Williamsburg (i.e. Bushwick) this weekend, since Ms. E and I have about 8 weeks to find an new joint-abode, however that was not to be. We went to see the Brooklyn Cyclones instead. Ah but fear not, armed with Craig's List, a cellphone, a few weeks, and some ingenuity, I feel confident in our quest.

By the way, don't you just love how real estate brokers try to make a neighborhood sound cool by creating a new nom-de-hood for the area? For example, "East Williamsburg" is really Bushwick, but since no one would want to actually live in Bushwick, the genius brokers spread the hip Williamsburg name like a dollop of mayo eastward. And voila we have a new trendy area. I've seen it done with NoLita, TriBeCa, and others.

In other news: Iraqi Sovereignty was returned today, ahead of the scheduled June 30th transfer date. I am curious as to whether this event will precipitate more violence or the acts of terror will slowly subside. The U.S. still retains nominal control through the employment of some 130,000 troops remaining on station. Sadly, they will remain a target for young turk terrorists hoping to earn their stripes by killing Americans. Time will tell, but I'm not holding my breath.

If it looks like sh*t, smells like sh*t, it probably is sh*t.

An article in today's NY Times, The Intelligence: Iraqis, Seeking Foes of Saudis, Contacted bin Laden, File Says seems a little suspect.

To sum it up, apparently, there is this "document" that was "apparently" drafted by Sadaam's Iraqi Intelligence Service that describes the organization's contacts with the burgeoning al Qaeda (before it became a global terrorist network) in Sudan around 1992�. The funny thing is, this report was obtained, after the fall of Saddam, by the Iraqi National Congress — Achmed Chalabi's illustrious Iraqi-exile organization that was the darling child of the neocons who engineered the current invasion and occupation. Quoting the article "some of the intelligence provided by the group is now wholly discredited, although officials have called some of the documents it helped to obtain useful." Was this report one of them? Did this report fool our intelligence folks? The article continues: "The task force concluded that the document 'appeared authentic,' and that it 'corroborates and expands on previous reporting' about contacts between Iraqi intelligence and Mr. bin Laden in Sudan, according to the task force's analysis."

Despite the findings of the 9/11 Commission that there were no significant ties between Iraq and al Qaeda with respect to the terrorist attacks in the U.S., the Administration has been on a campaign to maintain that there were. Perhaps this report is part of their campaign. Without sounding conspiratorial, I truly wonder about the placement of this report in the hands of the media, especially considering the source. Criminal Lawyers when attempting to enter something into evidence must establish a "chain of custody" to verify the authenticity of an object or document. Any break in that chain creates the inference that the object or document has been tampered with and thus creates doubt. Bottom line is someone in the now discredited INC could have given his administration cronies something with meat to chew on to help create the case justifying the war. You fill in the blanks.

And what if this report is real? [and it's not!] Well, so what? The time frame of these contacts is the early 1990s. According to the article they were fomented via the Sudanese government (no friend of ours) and resulted in at least one verified meeting in 1995. No other document has been uncovered, that I am aware of, which establishes that further meetings, collaboration, funding, or action between Iraq and al Qaeda occurred.

Mark my words, including this report, as the November elections near, there will slowly emerge more "documentation" from dubious sources attempting to establish ties between Iraq and 9/11. Heck, even Dick Cheney foretold this when he declared that he probably saw more intelligence on this than the Commission did. I for one can't wait. At the end of the day, it's all bullsh*t!

Arab News

Part of my morning ritual once I settle into the office is to read the news. Following Chomsky's advice I don't merely rely on 1 source of news but several sources and then make up my mind. For fun, I also read editorials, OP-EDs, and of course blogs. Scanning the globe, I came across this article from Arab News entitled The Question Should Be: Why We Hate Them? Arab News is an English-language daily published on-line and in hard copy in Saudi Arabia. I do not know if the publisher is connected to the al Saud family or is a quasi-governmental institution. All I do know is that I can read articles written or prepared by people living in the Middle East who are not screened by the western media corporations. In all likelihood, however, these articles are biased in their own way. Nevertheless, while I do not completely agree in toto with the author of the above mentioned article, he raises some interesting points about the cultural differences between the west and the (middle) east. Moreover he nicely highlights some of the knee-jerk bigotry displayed (in quote form) by many in government and in the media with respect to Islam after 9/11.

Make no mistake, what the 9/11 hijackers did was an audacious act of cold-hearted malice — the making of a political statement through the murder and destruction of thousands of innocent people. Yet, I maintain that in order to contend with such stirring indifference and disregard for life, we as western people need to understand the predicate sources of the searing hatred of those who would be inspired to action. We need to understand the politics, history, religion (mainstream and fringe), and governments of the developing world and our own heritage as well. As Bob Marley sang in Judge Not: "Before you point your finger, be sure your hands are clean."

Idiocy

Do you want to have a peek into the lunacy and sheer incompetence of George W. Bush's Pentagon Officials? This morning the NY Times reported that Wolfowitz Testifies Pentagon Misjudged the Strength of Iraqi Insurgency. Specifically:

Mr. Wolfowitz said Pentagon planners had not counted on the ability of a guerrilla-style resistance to form, operate and grow after the capture of Saddam Hussein and the arrest or killing of his top advisers.

If you want to say what might have been underestimated, I think there was probably too great a willingness to believe that once we got the 55 people on the blacklist, the rest of those killers would stop fighting,' Mr. Wolfowitz said.

How stupid could they really be? Did they truly think that a defeated Iraq would act the exact same way the Japanese did in late 1945? This is the Middle East we are talking about. Over 500 years of pent up humiliation by the West is inspiring thousands of unemployed, disenfranchised, religiously educated young men to attack anything (and anyone) associated with U.S. "imperial" power. The idea that this ill-advised foray was going to be a cakewalk should never have even been a consideration. This is particularly biting for me since it appears my younger brother, who is in the Marines, will be getting deployed to Iraq sometime at the end of this summer. It's not as if Rummy son or Wolfie's daughter is in harms way.

ADDENDUM: In a book review by the NY Times Douglas Jehl writes of a new book by a C.I.A. Officer who says U.S. is losing fight against terror. Bottom line, as my loyal reader(s) know, this is the crux of my personal opposition to the war in Iraq at present.

In the book, the author denounced the American invasion of Iraq as "an avaricious, premeditated unprovoked war against a foe who posed no immediate threat," and said it would fuel the anti-American sentiments on which Mr. bin Laden and his followers draw. "There is nothing that bin Laden could have hoped for more than the American invasion and occupation of Iraq," he writes.

Apartment Quest: Long Island City

So last Saturday my girlfriend and I decided to explore Long Island City and see what the neighborhood is like. Over the course of our online apartment search, we had been seeing many advertisements for lofts and apartments in LIC. First off, it was a royal pain in the ass to get out there because of subway re-routing due to construction. By the time me made our 3d transfer to the G line, we made our way to Long Island City/Court Square Station. In the middle of nowhere. Steel wool was blowing across the street like tumbleweed. Locals with gold-capped teeth in El Camino's were slowing down to eyeball us while we ate our Good Humor Ice Cream snacks. Anyway, we walked for miles through industrial wasteland and housing projects never quite finding the cool and hip (and safe) neighborhoods we were led to believe existed. My feeling is that we just were misinformed about where the nicest parts to live are. To be fair, many areas we saw would be a sketchy walk home at night. I liked the grit though. In the final analysis, Ms. E is "done" with LIC, however I'm still going to give it one more shot. This time I'll do research. Next weekend: Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Summer Reading

As we've officially begun summer, TBP editorial board (bored?) decided that today's post will be dedicated to our (my) reading list for the season.

In a few days, I will be obtaining a copy of Bill Clinton's autobiography My Life. Even though it is almost 1,000 pages, it will be my first book on the list. I have been purposely avoiding any reviews of the book as well as his "60 Minutes" appearance since they'll disclose the best parts.

Next, I am planning to read Professor Cass Sunstein's short book entitled Why Societies Need Dissent.

After reading this primer, I thought it would be great to read about two of history's greatest dissenters. For this I turn to a biography by Richard Marius: Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death. Finally I'll conclude my study with: An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth by M.K. Gandhi.

I figure this reading list should carry me all the way to autumn, at the very least.

Pork for Pigs

This news really pissed me off: House Rejects Anti-Terror Cash for Cities. Terrorists are not going to blow up Cheyenne, Wyoming or Bangor, Maine or Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They are going to hit New York City (again), San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Miami, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Norfolk — large urban centers or medium sized cities with significant military infrastructure. At most, the rural vulnerabilities that exist are remote nuclear or other power-generation sites, hydro-electric dams, etc. The over-represented rural states in Congress chronically pull tax revenue from the wealthier urban centers and pump it into their own one-horse towns and small cities to curry favor with the local folk. Meanwhile, America's largest cities(the same places that the denizens of suburbia and exurbia visit in ever increasing numbers) are becoming ill funded, per capita, with regard to emergency preparedness. Even more astounding is that more often then not, the post-9/11 counter-terrorism funds requested and delivered by Congress to the rural states are being misappropriated by the local agencies to pay for salary increases and nonessential equipment purchases. This 'lil tid-bit I learned from an article by Charles Peters several months ago in the Washington Monthly. Below is an update on this farce:

"As of April 2004, about 85% of the preparedness grants distributed from the 2003 budget had not been utilized," Christopher Cox, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, told reporter John McCaslin of The Washington Times. Some of the money that has been spent has gone for ridiculous purposes--like buying a small Maryland fire department a $350,000 custom-made fireboat or purchasing a new office security system for prosecutors in Prince George's County, Md.--that we pointed out in "Tilting" in January. The committee also found that the money is not being distributed with due regard to the relative risk faced by the recipient states and communities, and that the federal guidelines on how the money is to be spent are inadequate.

"The formula for distributing homeland security money gives a disproportionate amount to less populated places," reports Time's Amanda Ripley. New York has received $24.77 per person while Wyoming got $61.27, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. At least we have the comfort of knowing that Dick Cheney can feel safe when he goes home.

The news is no better at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was incorporated into the Homeland Security empire. The Post's Al Kamen has come up with a survey of FEMA employees. Asked if FEMA is better since the merger, one respondent said yes, 16 said there had been no change, and 67 said "poorer." Asked if they would move to another agency if they could, 18 said they would stay put, 14 weren't sure, and 51 said yes. This is the same agency that under Clinton appointee James Lee Witt was one of the government's success stories in the 90s. What about the Bush administration leadership? Two recipients said "excellent," eight said "good," 28 said "fair," and 33 said "poor."

Look at the fact that the key Congressional leaders are from rural areas: Tom Delay (suburban Texas), Denny Hastert (rural Illinois), and Bill Frist (Tennessee). Even the Senate Democrat Minority Leader, Tom Daschle is from South Dakota. Not much help there. This problem actually transcends party lines but is reinforced through policy dictates from the White House to support the rural South and West. (Lest we forget that W is a faux rural citizen of Texas, despite being born and raised in wealthy a Connecticut suburb).

Politics is supposed to end at the nation's shores, but when it comes to homeland security (and its ample funding) politics begins at the city limits. Perhaps it'll take another domestic terrorist attack to rectify these fiscal inequities. But having studied the ways of Congress, I doubt it.

The Most Unpleasant Season

I was planning on describing my commute yesterday, as it was one of the worst ones ever, and I needed to vent a little. However, I have decided to begin the chronicle of a task, which as a life long New Yorker many can relate to. That task is searching for a new HQ. It seems like I move every year and each time the experience (and cost) gets worse and worse. Let me just state my bias out front: I absolutely detest real estate brokers/agents. I consider them the lowest down-right filth on Earth. Their lecherous quest "for the sale" leads them to showing you some dank filth pit that's not fit for a rat to live in all so that you can then turn around and hand them a check for $2500 (or 10% of annual rent). They pretend to want to help you find a home but if you're too discriminating they'll ignore you. What they want is for you to be desperate to move out of you old digs so that you have no choice but to take their crap that they dish out. They add nothing of value to the process. Nothing. So as it is searching and moving season, I figured you all might like to read about my sufferings. A good dose of schadenfreude.

Here's the plot: My girlfriend and I are planning on moving in together sometime in August. We're looking for 1BR/2BR in Brooklyn (the Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, DUMBO (yeah right!), & MetroTech) or in Long Island City, Queens. Let the quest and the pain commence!

The Little Professor

Here's an interesting if not bizarre story in the NY Times. The article reports on a guy who has been serving time for commandeering NYC subway trains. He suffers from "a social disorder similar to autism, known as Asperger's syndrome."

The disorder is also called "the little professor syndrome." Its sufferers often become obsessed with specific topics, talking endlessly about them with stunning expertise; they have problems socializing, make inappropriate comments and avoid eye contact. Obsession with trains and train trivia is common among sufferers of Asperger's.

Just when I thought there was nothing new to learn about today, the 'lil professor comes along!

Montauk Point

When I was a child my family vacation each summer consisted of loading up my brothers into my parent's Chevy Blazer and heading out to the end of Long Island — to Montauk Point. Usually, my Dad would hope that there would be motel vacancies out there since he never made reservations ahead of time. My guess was that since my Dad was a Chef, he could never be sure when the manager at the country club, where he worked, would give him time off. But I suspect that my Dad just liked the disorder of trying to find a random place to stay for a few days. Consequently, we stayed in quite a few dumps. The most infamous being the motel my brothers and I dubbed "Wave Crust" since it's business name of "Wave Crest" didn't fit the squalid accommodations. Despite the room treachery, we always had a good time out there.

This past weekend, I took my girlfriend to the vacationland of my childhood. Unlike my father, I booked a reservation ahead of time. We stayed at the Atlantic Terrace. We dubbed the place the "Atlantic Terrorist." It seems that Montauk is not "Hamptons lite" but a blue-collar cousin, which is fine by me but at $105 a night, I want a little comfort. Anyway our closet-sized room with cinder block walls afforded us a nice institutional look when we passed out from our 3 hours drive from Brooklyn. To appreciate that the ramshackle experiences of my childhood vacations were still alive and well I'll list some of the calamities/indignities of our little respite:

Small damp motel room

Shit rings in the toilet

No bath towels

Screaming, clomping kids up stairs

Blaring T.V. next door at 6:30 a.m.

Thundering banging water pipes of the shower upstairs

Shards o' glass in my fajitas from Dan's Cafe

Rude manager implying that I put the shards o' glass in the fajitas

Idiot fellow tourists pretending to know more than the lighthouse tour guide

Hot tub out of order

Soda Machines out of order

Bratty kids interfering in our mini-golf competition

Inhuman odors

To be sure, we had a great time. All I can say is, thank the Lord for Beer and Hard Lemonade. It's nice to see though that Montauk has indeed retained its charm and class from when I was a kid.

Ray Charles

This is an outstanding obituary by one of my favorite columnist/author Stanley Crouch on the passing of an American musical icon.

Mini Vay-Kay

I went to Yankee Stadium today to watch the boys wreck havoc on the Colorado Rockies (10 to 4). Playing hookie has a kid was fun, but no where near as fun as when you're an adult and are supposed to be at work. In any case, I'm going away this weekend to Montauk Point. See you on Monday.

Shameless

Every once in a while I check out George W. Bush's re-election website to see what's going on with the Bush/Cheney campaign. Talk about shameless cloaking. Bush/Cheney are trying to ride President Reagan's legacy (by way of his demise) towards renewed interest in their campaign and, more the likely, a post-mortem rise in their polling numbers. What a crock! Clearly, they will go to every end to win in November. Sadly, very little of the Gipper can be applied to W.'s persona and "work."

Secular Humanism

One of the things that I love is learning something new, something that before that moment of discovery, I never even heard of it. This morning while reading Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, I came across a term for a group that I never heard of before: secular humanists. Marshall's article mentioned, among other things, various voting blocs of the Democrat Party and this was one of the groups. Now his point wasn't to discuss secular humanists per se but I was struck with the inevitable: who the hell are they? Well thanks to the internet, Google to be precise, I was able to find the answer to my query. Secular Humanism

is a way of thinking and living that aims to bring out the best in people so that all people can have the best in life. Secular humanists reject supernatural and authoritarian beliefs. They affirm that we must take responsibility for our own lives and the communities and world in which we live. Secular humanism emphasizes reason and scientific inquiry, individual freedom and responsibility, human values and compassion, and the need for tolerance and cooperation.

This definition was obtained from the website for the Council for Secular Humanism. Who knew. Just when you think you know every voting bloc and population subgroup, another one spontaneously appears. Well, at least appears to my knowledge.

Esquire

Yesterday, I was sworn in as an "attorney and counselor-at-law" in lower Manhattan. For those not involved in the legal field, this milestone represents the culmination of a long and bureaucratic process comprised of exams, applications, fees, interviews and paperwork. Ever since I was a little kid (well, at least 14) I wanted to become an attorney. I don't feel any different today, in fact my career is only just beginning. Frankly, very little of what you learn in law school prepares you for the practice of law. In any event, I look forward to celebrating this weekend with a few libations.

"If you touch my sister again, I'll kill ya!"

Rheingold Beer is returning to Brooklyn. Well, actually, it has been served for quite some time in recent history, but I think, it was being brewed upstate NY. The gist of the news is that from here on out, Rheingold will be brewed in Fort Greene. Along with Brooklyn Brewery, the brewer of Brooklyn Lager, Brooklyn (i.e. NYC) will have two homegrown beers. I wish this was a photoblog 'cause I'd post a picture of a nice frothy stein! Anyway, this leads me to the title quote of the post. In Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, there's one of my favorite scenes where Sonny Corleone beats his brother-in-law Carlo to a bloody pulp because Carlo is constantly abusing Sonny's sister Connie. In the background of this classic scene is an old time Rheingold truck. Welcome home Rheingold!

The Cost of Things

This morning I heard that the cost of milk was rising. Along with the rising cost of oil (this morning I spied my local gas station's price for a gallon of unleaded is now $2.29) I know I am getting screwed. A recent article in Crain's noted that New Yorkers are shouldering a greater share of the rise in prices compared to that of our fellow citizens. When I hear this, and recall that NY is a "donor state" (a state that gives more to the federal fisc than is returned in terms of benefits) my blood begins to boil. It's not as if my salary is also rising. This is an age-old complaint: how come I have to pay more for goods and services that are only getting worse in terms of quality? Why do New Yorker's continually get spanked in their wallets while the tooth-less wonders from the South and West don't pay their fair share? How can anyone continue to live in, as my roommate calls Manhattan, "the Kingdom"? Well, lower the drawbridge, I might have to leave this place before I get sent to debtor's prison.