A few more thoughts about Syria

• The criticism from Obama by some major foreign policy voices is either a sign that the administration has lost credibility with that establishment group or  part of some sort of meta-play by the Obama Admin.
• It's important to remember that many of Obama's staffers have deep connections from the Clinton era as a part of "official Washington" - and that this process is being driven partly by those social connections as much as the facts on the ground.
• The opposition from movement conservatives is predictable and knee-jerk. Nothing in their arguments convinces me that this is anything more than opportunism.
• Likewise, Putin's motivations are to maintain a friendly regime and the access to the Mediterranean, full stop. His interest in civilians is politically beneficial; therefore its the position he takes.
• Kerry is well connected globally thanks to his time in the senate foreign relations committee. His bellicose actions are deliberate, though the lack of coordination is genuine.
• Obama's end game is continued American credibility and a continued taboo against chemical weapons. Putin's endgame is Russian power. Given the priorities, Russia may well come out visibly on top, looking good.
• That's a worthwhile tradeoff.

A Follow-Up on Syria

At this point, you really shouldn't trust anything that anyone says about the Syria process. The conversations happening behind closed doors are markedly different than the public rhetoric, and I suspect that some of the heat the Obama Administration is getting is desired. The true history of this time will come out with Obama's papers - in the meantime, we can only guess.

On Syria

There is no clear option on Syria - we don't know if one or any option will work. I do believe the international taboo against chemical weapons is worth some spending to maintain it, but also that war is a Pandora's box. Let's hope the Russia play works.

Said Andrew Sullivan:

The money quote for me, apart from the deeply moving passage about poison gas use at the end, was his description of a letter from a service-member who told him, “We should not be the world’s policeman.” President Obama said, quite simply: “I agree.” And those on the far right who are accusing him of ceding the Middle East to Russia are half-right and yet completely wrong. What this remarkable breakthrough has brought about is a possible end to the dynamic in which America is both blamed for all the evils in the world and then also blamed for not stopping all of them. We desperately need to rebuild international cooperation to relieve us of that impossible burden in a cycle that can only hurt us and the West again and again.

I can't even imagine the workfload, but a reminder that even the most creative have tropes.

On Names

When someone speaks your name, it has the power to turn you toward them – to turn your head, or your attention, or your steps, or sometimes your life.  Just the sound itself has that power – even before you consider what the sound means, before you start to remember all the stories and take account of all the synapses of relationship that are submerged in the meaning of such a simple thing as a single name.

The discovery of the true meanings of our names takes most of us a lifetime.  By the time most of us are adults, it’s as though a name has walked through the deep woods in all the ripest seasons, picking up meanings and memories that cling to it like burrs and milkweed fluff and the smells of life.  And when you speak such a pungent name as that, it not only turns the head of the person who bears it; it conjures something of the truth of the person you name.

  - A very reverend man that serves at my college

Privacy

I have an unpleasant suspicion that some of the CAPCHA's I've been seeing on the web are used to help with address recognition in photos. That feels a little creepy, but then again automatic programs probably don't need much help.

Baseball doesn't get better than this

I wish I could

Last night

Last night, I drove down to the waterfront and passed by a much of families walking their kids around at 10:30 PM. It seemed like a real community gathering, with so many people and especially kids around that the late hour felt more like 7:00 PM. Then I realized that all of them were speaking in Russian.

Which is really something, I think, that we have random parks where communities congregate to walk and chat and be together, speaking in native tongues in foreign lands. I wonder if Americans ever do the same in other countries. Or have to.

Malkin Award Nominee from The Dish

Malkin Award Nominee - The Dish: “I see those six ladies in the jury putting themselves on that rainy night, in that housing complex that has just been burglarized by three or four different groups of black youngsters from the adjacent community. So it’s a dark night, a 6-foot-2-inch hoodie-wearing stranger is in the immediate housing complex. How would the ladies of that jury have reacted? I submit that if they were armed, they would have shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did. This is self-defense,” – Geraldo Rivera, Fox News.

That’s a staggering statement, effectively giving white people the right to kill anyone above 6′ 2″ in a hoodie. I haven’t been able to watch the cable coverage of this, but readers tell me that Fox is race-baiting in hysterical, reckless fashion. If Rivera’s understanding of “self-defense” is correct, then it’s open, hunting season on African-American men.

What makes the Zimmerman acquittal "bad justice" for many is in the quote above - that we should feel empowered to confront someone on the street with lethal force, because of "fear."

First World Problems

Sometimes living in Madison has been tough - with my frequent absences due to travel, it's sometimes hard to fill up the time when I'm in town, espeically weekdays  (not to mention the exhaustion that sometimes leaves me without energy to do Another Thing). This summer, though, has been different, and yesterday I had to choose between two wonderful events.

Maybe this sounds silly, but it really stressed me out that things didn't sync up well and I had to juke one group. And that - that stress - is a wonderful problem to have; I was able to note down a song AND won both games I joined later that night (though with some guilt for all the lying I did for one of the victories). I like my friends. :)

Goodbye, Google Reader

"From your 145 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 4,712 items, clicked 190 items, starred 0 items, and emailed 1 items. Since August 27, 2009 you have read a total of 161,244 items."

I started using Reader as a college junior. It permanently changed my information consumption and use by making it possible for me to store up and consume data whenever I had time. I use it to find posts to make myself, on this blog and on my own RSS feed of interesting article. Here are the replacements I've considered:

• The Old Reader - it works, but slow updates and the interface isn't pretty
• Curata - no way to show unread
• Feed.ly - ok, but only works on my modern laptop and I can't figure out how to click throuhg efficiently.
• Digg Reader - no way to show unread
• AOL Reader - no access yet
• Newsblur - I like this one the most, and am currently paying $2/month for it. For something that I spend hours on, its well worth my time.

Ultimately, I'll keep trying out The Old Reader and Newsblur. I think the winner will be one of these. For now, I'll miss Google Reader's analytics, seen below. Do note that these are based on my computer's local time, so things read on the west coast at midnght show here as 2 AM. :)