News Outta My Control / 02.03.2003

George W. Bush lives at the intersection of faith and inexperience. This is not a reassuring address, especially in a time of trouble. Joe KleinTime Magazine The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has let stand their June 2002 decision to ban the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in American schools. While initial attention was focused on “One Nation Under God,” it has been subdued in the Court’s latest ruling. This, however, will not end the debate between a religious and a secular definition of America. Attorney General John Ashcroft has vowed to take this decision to the Supreme Court. Even the California...

News Outta My Control / 22.02.2003

Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history. But our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. The conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing. President Bush Washington, D.C. September 14, 2001 I think [it's important] to ask where the long-term American future lies, whether we really think...

News Outta My Control / 15.02.2003

Which is scarier: the fact that a man was gunned down in broad daylight at a gas station in Washington, DC and no one did anything to help him or that, in another part of the city we were scared sh*itless into buying more duct tape and plastic than we know what to do with? First we are told to prepare for the worst: build a "safe" room in your house. Have an escape plan and phone contacts outside the city. Carry a three-day supply of important meds with you. Everyone begins to look suspicious and catastrophe is imminent. Our survival...

Commuting with Nature, News Outta My Control / 12.02.2003

Which is scarier: Osama bin Laden's recent tape or Michael Jackson's? Each, in its own way, is a reflection on our society and speaks volumes about our values. Osama thinks he can change the world by killing infidels (innocent or otherwise). Michael thinks he can change the world by offering young children his bed (100% innocent). We are responsible for both of them. Each sees simplistic solutions to the world's woes. But they're not the only ones who do. Our government's reaction to terrorism: batten down the hatches (that's good), cozy closer to repressive regimes if they allow us a better...

News Outta My Control / 05.02.2003

I was a good boy. The kind of boy every parent would love. I did everything I was told as a child and even believed everything my parents told me. As I look back now, fear was just as much a part of the equation as anything else—fear of what my father might do if I questioned him. Consequently, my rebellion came later than most, in my early 20s. I can remember a few times I inhabited the other side of the tracks when I was young. But for the most part, I was just a good kid, thinking and doing...

News Outta My Control / 01.01.2003

"Make no mistakes about it, Lake Superior State University issued its 28th annual extreme List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness, which the world needs now, more than ever." People are encouraged to nominate their favorite overused words or phrases throughout the year. LSSU has been issuing this list since 1976. Its Public Relations Director W.T. (Bill) Rabe began the effort as a publicity device for the little-known college near the tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Media interest immediately followed. Personal favorites from this year's list: Undisclosed, Secret Location: "Redundant stacking of adjectives often used to...

Artistic Tendencies, Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Idiosyncratic Celebrations, News Outta My Control / 23.11.2002

I have always been interested in the social aspects of technology: that is, how new ideas brought on by technological development seep into the everyday lives of regular folk. In the last few months I've been contacted with greater frequency by subjects of my writing or from those who have been alerted to my stories in the process of a doing a web search. Googling is becoming a natural process. And the interactions I'm having because of it add to my sense of the enlarging net community. In September I began my 9/11 story with a quote by Jenna Jacobs, wife...

News Outta My Control / 05.11.2002

During yesterday's Kojo Nnamdi Show on DC's public radio station, WAMU, the show was interrupted with a news flash that five people had been shot in Montgomery County. Listeners were understandably upset. Was this becoming a disastrous pattern? Well, no, actually, it turned out to be a War of the Worlds mistake. Kojo, who recently hosted NPR's syndicated Public Interest show, called in sick at the last minute and technicians had to quickly find a past show to air. Without thinking they grabbed the October 3rd tape. That was the day the sniper first struck in the DC burbs. Kojo was...

Idiosyncratic Celebrations, News Outta My Control / 30.10.2002

I don't think we'll ever be ready for John Allen Muhammad or John Lee Malvo Halloween costumes. But if you're still undecided about who you would like to be tomorrow night, there is still a overabundance of very scary public figures who just may fit the bill. But please, be careful not to frighten your kids (or your significant other) too much. Scaring the begeezus out of your stockbroker is ok (via Forbes). ...

News Outta My Control / 27.10.2002

She's dead. You killed her. Hail to Dorothy. The Wicked Witch is dead. Chorus: Hail to Dorothy. The Wicked Witch is dead. The Wizard of Oz It wasn't exactly like that. In J.R.R. Tolkien's third book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Return of the King Sam awakens from what he thinks has been merely a long bad dream to discover that Gandalf has returned from Death and that he, himself, thought he was dead. "What's happened to the world?" Sam asks. Gandalf replies "A great evil has departed from the world" and laughs. And Sam bursts into tears, because he had not heard...