PROJECT: Lucidity (Backup)

This blog is only a backup site.

2008-12-31T11:02:00.000-08:00

This is the backup site for PROJECT: Lucidity. Whenever the main PROJECT: Lucidity site (www.projectlucidity.com) is down, this is where I will update. You will also be able to find links to the most recent posts at PROJECT: Lucidity.

Also, you can find my works on TPM Cafe Blogs.

Cheers,
Eric.

Fred Thompson - Have a Yabba Dabba Do Time

2008-01-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

Fred Thompson - Have a Yabba Dabba Do Time

PROJECT: Lucidity - Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Carla Bruni, Simple Questions, and Political Celebritization

2008-01-22T11:57:00.000-08:00

Carla Bruni, Simple Questions, and Political Celebritization

PROJECT: Lucidity - Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Kenya Opposition Continuing to Put Pressure on Kibaki

2008-01-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

Kenya Opposition Continuing to Put Pressure on Kibaki

PROJECT: Lucidity - Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Barack Obama Continues to be Compared to Conservatives

2008-01-18T11:59:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama Continues to be Compared to Conservatives

PROJECT: Lucidity - Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Mourning for Bobby Fischer (March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008)

2008-01-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

Mourning for Bobby Fischer (March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008)

PROJECT: Lucidity - Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Let's Divert the Impeachment Energy, Shall We?

2008-01-17T12:20:00.000-08:00

Let's Divert the Impeachment Energy, Shall We?

PROJECT: Lucidity - Thursday, 17 January 2008

Republican Congressman Indicted on Al-Qaeda Fundraising

2008-01-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

Republican Congressman Indicted on Al-Qaeda Fundraising

PROJECT: Lucidity - Wednesday, 16 January 2008

Technorati Test Post

2008-01-16T11:40:00.001-08:00

Technorati Profile

Worst Pro-Life State According to Pro-Lifers: Oregon

2008-01-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

Worst Pro-Life State According to Pro-Lifers: Oregon

PROJECT: Lucidity - Tuesday, 15 January 2008

Stranded Mt Hood Climbers Returning Home

2008-01-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

Stranded Mt Hood Climbers Returning Home

PROJECT: Lucidity - Tuesday, 15 January 2008

Oregon's Latest Export - Death With Dignity Act

2008-01-10T22:34:00.000-08:00

Oregon's Latest Export - Death With Dignity Act

PROJECT: Lucidity - Friday, 11 January 2008

Where Have All The Repubs Gone?

2007-08-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

People retire all the time; it’s just the natural progression of career and life. However, when a pattern emerges, flags are raised and questions are asked. Over the past week I’ve noticed the following:

Karl Rove is leaving the White House
Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is retiring
Charles "Chip" Pickering, Jr. (R-MS) is expected to retire
Deborah Pryce (R-OH) will not seek re-election
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) is UN-retiring

Wait a minute, so are we seeing a pattern of "Cut and run" Republicans? They're too scared of some Democrat beating them in the next election that they're running away? They don’t see the Republican Party regaining the majority in the House and Senate, so they take their ball and go home? They don’t want to be associated with George Bush’s war in Iraq? It’s better to cut your political losses now than be exposed during the media circus that is the General Election in 2008?

Seems to me, these Republicans are acting in the same cowardly manner that they claim against Democrats. And these are the people who say we need to stay the course in Iraq.

So it's OK to retreat, cut-and-run, or whatever other euphemism is used when someone's pride and pocketbook are on the line. But, it's defeatist, cowardly, and unpatriotic if we want to bring our soldiers home, protect American lives, and save what’s left of our treasury.

EDIT: Now, it appears that Tony Snow will be leaving the White House, too.

I Haven't Been Suspended Since I Was Seventeen

2007-08-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

I checked PROJECT: Lucidity last night before I went to bed. After patiently waiting the prerequisite 4-5 hours for Tech Support to "fix" whatever problem was on the server, I anticipated the site to pop up just fine.

Wrong. Still 403 Error, and no access.

Ok, I though, maybe it's just taking them longer to fix the server than I (and their estimators) thought. No one would log into PROJECT: Lucidity during the middle of the night, so I decided to wait until this morning.

Got up this morning and checked the site. Still down. Arg. Now I'm getting ticked off.

First thing I did when I got to work (after checking for any urgent/immediate work-related issues) was to give iPowerWeb a call. Screw the web chat, I want to speak with someone who will tell me what's going on.

After being on hold for 25 minutes, I finally connected with Mark. Looks like there wasn't a technical problem with the server, after all. Nooo... looks as though someone has hijacked the site, and has hundreds of connections going out simultaneously. It's basically crashed the server, so they had to suspend my account.

Of course, no one told me the other TWO times I contacted iPowerWeb. Nor did they call, nor did they e-mail.

Bastards.

Hopefully I still have the back-end access through Vdeck. If I do, then I'm backing everything up (I'll need to find some way of backing up the database), and probably start shopping for another server host. Sure, transferring won't solve the problem of who might have hijacked my site, but the fact that iPowerWeb just suspended an account without notifying the paying customer is just foolish. I mean, what if this was a revenue-generating site?

Anyway, I sent off my terse e-mail to their Abuse Team to see if they can resolve the problem. In the meantime, I'll post what I normally would at P:L over at TPMCafe (username is "Eric Stepp").

Downtime Riles Me Up

2007-08-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

This is getting to be a wee bit frustrating.

PROJECT: Lucidity is kind of down right now, at least for most of the day. I keep getting a 403 Error when trying to access the front end, and the CMS administration login. However, I can access the server back-end through the Vdeck (kind of like Cpanel).

I suppose I could try to figure out how to post through the database, but that's just too much work. Plus, no one would be able to log in anyway.

Just got off the live chat with tech support, and after being "on hold" for 20 minutes, they say... Yup. There's a problem with the server. Please be patient while the techs fix it.

"How long, do you figure?" I asked. "It's been down pretty much all day."

Check back in 4-5 hours.

Bwah? I could probably build a new server in that amount of time. Then again, that's probably what they're doing.

The Roving Goodbye

2007-08-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

As everyone in the United States is probably aware, Karl Rove resigned today as President Bush's political adviser. I won't get into the damage he's caused our country, the different ways he usurped the Constitution, his stonewalling and contempt of Congress, or even his bad hair.

Rather, I'll let John Edwards do the speaking for me. Here's his complete, in full, official response:

"Goodbye, good riddance."
Nicely put Mr. Edwards.

The Switch

2007-08-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Seven years ago I took my first plunge out of an airplane. Skydive Oregon took me up to 15,000 feet, strapped me onto an instructor, then threw me out the door. My instructor – who, incidentally looks an awful lot like Val Kilmer – counted down as the wind roared through my ears (literally). Three. Two. One. And then I’m freefalling. Instructor-Kilmer suggested, while we were on the ground, that as soon as we leave the plane that I should look up. Which I did. And it was the trippiest thing I’ve ever seen. Zoom – there goes the plane flying by right above my head and getting smaller as I plummet.

The exact moment my body went from potential energy sitting at the door of the plane, to the moment my body became kinetic energy as it started to freefall, is something I call The Switch.

That moment also changed my way of thinking forever.

The Switch can be pretty much utilized for any change of thinking. When nothing is the same again, when one cannot go back to a previous life, when you learn something and what you thought you knew before can never be reconciled. That’s the switch. Leaving home; buying your first house; a child being born; a friend dying; learning that you’re adopted.

I think one of the best examples of the switch is this quote from Garden State:

Andrew: You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone.

Sam: I still feel at home in my house.

Andrew: You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something.

Can there be a switch in societal / group thinking? I believe so.

Change in a society happens incrementally, to be sure; however, there comes a point when the previous mindset simply doesn’t make sense from a value perspective. Although there are still a few holdouts, socially we abhor slavery. We believe the weekend should be for rest and relaxation, not for additional work. We believe marriage should be about love, and not arranged or a bride simply “taken.” We believe the earth is round; that illness comes from viruses or bacteria, and not from evil spirits; that there are more than four elements.

All of these are societal changes in thinking, yet they all started with one person switching his or her mindset.This is the part of history that I find fascinating; learning the stories behind the stories and facts. Who were the people who first got fed up with the status quo and started questioning? Who were the people who first started making change?

Someone must have finally had a “switch” moment, and said, ‘I’m done with slavery. It’s abhorrent, and I can no longer sit quietly and let it happen.’ Someone must have been the first to organize abolitionists, someone must have been the first to send Letters to the Editor and publicly expressed their disdain for slavery. Someone.

Someone must have finally said, ‘I’m done with arranged marriages. I love this other person, and I believe marriage should be based on love.’ Someone must have stood his or her ground, to be the first to proclaim love as their driving force. Someone must have risked alienating his or her family, or risked physical punishment, or risked his or her life in order to prove that love is more important than dowry or power. Someone.

Here’s the deal:

Every change in history, every change in thinking, every change in the human condition started with one person.

One person.

One person experienced The Switch, and was willing to roll with it, to vocalize it, to move on it. And that one person can – and has – changed the world.

Have you experienced The Switch? If so, what do you plan on doing with it? For what change will you be the advocate?

Thought Game on Clinton (Bill, that is...)

2007-08-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that I'm not a Hillary Clinton supporter. Nor am I an Obama, Edwards, Dodd, Biden, et al, supporter. Meaning, I haven't made up my mind yet.

Hillary Clinton certainly seems to be leading in the national polls, with pretty good poll results state-wise.

What if Hillary wins the presidency - which could very well be a possibility? Ok, fine. Some people say business as usual, some people say there will be major changes. One thing that doesn't change is that the President has to appoint his or her cabinet members. One key post (and the one I personally follow the most) is Secretary of State.

There was talk during the Kerry campaign that President Bill Clinton would be tapped as Kerry's Secretary of State. I read one report that it would have been a somewhat cynical move on Kerry's part, simply because it would have dowsed any future campaigning by Hillary. I've also seen dozens - if not hundreds - of online posts expressing their support of a Secretary of State Bill Clinton. It would seem to be a very short list, though, of possible Secretary of States if Hillary won in 2008.

But, what I haven't been able to find is how an appointment like that would affect the Presidential Order of Succession. According to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the Secretary of State is fourth in line for the presidency.

However, according to the 22nd Amendment (Section 1):

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

So, of course, Bill Clinton cannot run for President again in an election. Yet, there are no provisions for succession if he was appointed a Cabinet position. Would he be able to succeed? Would he have to resign if the situation presented itself? Or, would he not even be allowed to be appointed as Secretary of State in the first place?

Hello Shame!

2007-08-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

I remember reading, quite a few years ago, about a judge in California who made a teen, convicted of shoplifting candy bars, wear a poster-board saying something along the lines of “I’m a thief, because I stole from XXXX store. Do not trust me.” This punishment was in lieu of jail time, probation, or fines. At the time, I thought the approach was pretty novel and ingenious to play on a teen’s pride. Nowadays, more judges shame those convicted of misdemeanors rather than hand out harsher penalties.

AP ran an interesting story (picked up by CNN.com) along the same veins. Police in Bangkok, Thailand risk shame and ridicule from their fellow officers as punishment for various infractions:

Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot pink armbands featuring "Hello Kitty," the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday.
Hello Kitty is not something "macho police officers want covering their biceps," a Thai police chief says.

Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late -- among other misdemeanors -- will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won't wear the armband in public.

The striking armband features Hello Kitty sitting atop two hearts.

When I first read this piece, I thought: Wow, if only we could make shame a more universal rule of punishment.

It seems like the traditional forms of punishment in our society does not work. I don’t need to cite prison recidivist statistics to prove our current court system seriously lacks. And, it’s not only in the blue-collar Midwest or gritty urban coasts that see this lack of criminal deterrence. Especially ambivalent to criminal behavior deterrence are the white-collar criminals, as well as government / public officials. If punishment hit harder home emotionally than a few years of prison time, a few million in fines, and the possibility of a Presidential pardon; then we might not see the likes of Jeff Skilling, Duke Cunningham, or I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

Instead, make them wear their badge of shame.

"Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel
guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how
minor," said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

"(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It's not something macho
police officers want covering their biceps," Pongpat said.

We let these white-collar criminals off too easily, in my opinion. Sure, they’re paraded around during the media circus of who can announce the guilty verdict first. But, after that? Rarely do we see follow-ups in the media on how Jeff Skilling is doing in prison. Or how Duke Cunningham is working with the FBI to nab more grafters. Or how “Scooter” Libby was actually convicted of a criminal offence.

Instead, give them the Hello Kitty armband. To paraphrase Pongpat: Hello Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something power-hungry world leaders want covering their biceps.

Heck, let’s broaden the spectrum of who gets these armbands of shame. President’s approval rating hits below 35%? Give him an armband. The Attorney General obfuscates during a Congressional committee hearing? Give him an armband. A major presidential candidate flip-flops? Give him an armband.

Maybe the Hello Kitty armband could replace the disingenuous ribbon lapel pins sported by our business leaders, politicians, and government officials.

2005-08-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

This is really just a place-holder. Since most Blogger sites require people to be logged into Blogger to post comments, I felt compelled to create this profile.

PROJECT: Lucidity is located at http://www.projectlucidity.com.

Cheers,
E.