You've got to be kidding me

While many of us are shaken to the core by the VT shootings, plenty of media corps are lining up to take advantage. My vote for most sensationalist bleat so far goes to Inside Edition:

INSIDE EDITION has obtained court documents showing Cho had several run-ins with the law. He was pulled over twice for speeding, the latest offense taking place April 7th, just 9 days before the massacre.

He was charged with speeding, driving 44 mph in a 25 mph zone, and was scheduled to appear in court on May 23rd.

Come on, now. We are all desperate to know why. The media lie when they promise us easy answers.

RIP to all the fallen, and comfort to their survivors.

"We" are Muslim, Too

Dear Editor
It was a shame to open the DNR and read a letter suggesting that "We are at war with Islam." What could that "we" have meant? Certainly it could not refer to Americans. A war with Islam would threaten millions of Americans who profess the Islamic faith, and destroy the religious freedom that has been claimed as an American core value since the nation's founding.
The letter-writer suggests that we remember 9/11, and it is good if we do. Muslims died that day who were not hijackers. Muslim Americans died at work in the twin towers, whether waiting tables or managing large-scale financial transactions. Muslims were among the innocent passengers on the planes that were turned into bombs. There were also Muslims in the ranks of the emergency responders who died trying to rescue people, and who are rightly remembered as the heroes of that grim day.
Recently a farm in this area was damaged by fire. Members of Harrisonburg's Islamic community were at the front of the line to offer whatever help they could. The spirit of cooperation and mutual aid among people of different faiths went far beyond "tolerance." It was an example of a kind of "we" to be proud of and to cultivate: we in America help each other in a crisis. I hope this sense of community among neighbors can't be injured by a few hateful words in a newspaper.
Sincerely,
Ben Chappell
Harrisonburg

Obama: Inexperienced just the way we want

Well, this log has been in hibernation for a good while, but I'm finally inspired to post again. Not because I'm in danger of writing letters to the local editor again (keep.... hands.... off...... keyboard) but because for the first time I can remember I am actually excited about the way-too-early launch of a presidential campaign. And I just have to weigh in:

Barack Obama's announcement was of course no surprise, but it still gives me a bit of spring in my step. I have no (ok few) illusions about him being anything like a perfect candidate (that is, anything close to being as far left as the right has him pegged), but there's definitely a sense that in this case, a little compromise on the part of conscientious voters (like me) would go a long way. Whereas I am quite certain that if I compromised enough to vote for Clinton, I would just get bitter about it all over again-- shades of 1992.

One thing that ought to be squashed immediately (or as soon as the lame-o madrasa story is dealt with) is the complaint that Obama has no experience. Beg pardon? What was that? It reminds me of when people were sniffing about Jessie the Body getting elected governor of Minnesota. When people said things about his being unqualified, I had a prof at Texas at the time who was like, "and our governor is exactly how qualified?" Yes, it was that governor. Now
"president."

What exactly is the experience advantage that people like Bush have over people like Obama? Experience with secret societies and blue-blood family circles in Maine and Connecticut? Listen, Obama's experiences-- having an international family, living in Indonesia as a child, working as a community activist, living in urban neighborhoods most people in the political class won't even drive through-- are way better preparation for the presidency than anything any Bush has ever done (OK, except maybe Jenna, who worked at a great school with my cousin Claire. But other than that).

Course maybe the experience card is one that Hillary will play more than um... Rudolph or whomever the GOP throws up. Granted, Hillary has hill skills. I have no qualms about her ability to work those corridors and make deals. So make her VP. Make her Chief of Staff, or anything, really. The thing is, I don't trust her priorities. She's a conservative poll-watcher, no doubt about it, and represents the same elitism that has been ammunition for Democratic self-in-the-foot-shooting since the rise of the DLC. I know Obama went to Columbia, ok, but he also went to Occidental College, as well as that public school in Indonesia, etc. etc. He knows there's a world out there off the golf course, and it's not just noblesse oblige that motivates him politically. On our marathon post-Christmas drive this year we listened to his memoir, and it sold me. Of all the candidates so far, he's the one we want setting the agenda in the white house. For the insider Washington stuff, he can get help.

As for the not-being-black enough thing? Come on, now. Nobody in this country who has ever looked at him has ever been confused. So he's not Harold Washington, but he applied to work for him once. Enough said.

So I'm starting to figure out this schematic for the Dem primary race, and basically everybody is selling themselves as one thing, but probably will turn out to be something else. Somebody should do the graphics on this:

Hillary Clinton wants to be Clinton, but she's probably actually Kerry.
Barack Obama wants to be Kennedy, but he's probably actually Clinton.
J0hn Edwards... anyone?

No time to update, but...

wtf?

click.

There is no free ipod

Note to self. There is no free ipod. I know that. I'm educated. I am not a sucker. But I have to confess, I did, just a little bit, out of curiousity, for research purposes, click on one of those links. Actually, it was a free ibook. Can you blame me? Plus, Marike needs a new computer! I was only looking for a way to surprise her! The free ipod came later, in a pop-up window.

Ok, so I wanted to know how it worked. I found out-- you get a page full of little radio buttons and they say just look at a couple of these valuable offers and you're get your free gift! Should have been suspicious red flag no. 1: they are talking about "free gift" and not the ibook. Hm. But they SAID free ibook earlier, so it must be in there somewhere. I clicked on. I started setting rules for myself: ok, if it's free, then I won't buy anything. I won't give out any credit card numbers. I won't apply for any credit cards. The game became all about find the most innocuous "offers" that I can complete and get the ibook. How could I have known that in a matter of days I would have plunged my family into telemarketing hell and I would be a glass-eyed zombie, authorizing credit checks to strangers?

Turns out the most innoucuous offers seemed to be refinancing companies. I thought what the heck, I'll let them give me a quote. Maybe we can fold our home equity loan into our mortgage and make debt management a little less complicated. Before long, though, I was getting the same pages over and over again, and these little entreaties about "just click on TWO MORE offers and get your free gift." I figured out that the free stuff is like a special award for having a superhuman capacity for patience and not getting annoyed. Kind of like those "rebates" at office supply stores.

Well, whatever that capacity is, I don't have it. I gave up and figured we could start a new pennies jar for the ibook (though progress is not exactly speedy in the espresso machine penny jar. Still, slow and steady wins the race). I had very carefully given out only a useless email address, so I figured this little adventure was over. Far from it.

We got on the no-call list right when it was announced a few years ago, so it's been plenty annoying those few times we've gotten calls about student loan consolidation or the ones with the heavily South-Asian-accented "Hello, this is Sarah... Franklin." We had no idea how post-telemarketing we actually were, though. Now, after my little internet safari, the refinance people are positively swarming. The thing is, they know exactly how to appeal to the same gene or personality defect as the free ibook ad-- I listened, and provided information! What am I, an idiot? Thoughts like "Well, maybe a cash-out isn't such a bad idea... We probably have more equity than we realize... We DESERVE to have more equity than we do..."

The first guy to come back with an actual quote offered me a rate a couple of points higher than our current one. I took to telling people right out "No, we're no longer interested, because it looks like a refinance just won't be worth it." For inexplicable reasons, certain callers got through to me, though, and I let them do the numbers.

So, this morning, I got a quote from a guy at Continental Lending. It sounded pretty good: the rate was fixed and lower than our current mortgage. Our monthly payments would be like $200 less, and the only out-of-pocket expense was a $350 appraisal. I was on the verge of being sold. But it was strange that the overall loan amount seemed higher than what we needed. I asked him to break it down. He said, very clearly, but verrrry quickly, something like "The rest of that is 11,000 in closing costs and fees."

Squeeze me? 11,000 American dollars? How many ibooks is that? This is for a refinance, not a new home purchase, mind you. I somehow managed to change personalities and become the no-nonsense, show-me, midwestern, used-car-buying version of myself. He asked me if we could get the paperwork moving. I said I had to think about whether it was worth 11,000 to get a lower monthly payment. He said, "Just focus on the fact that right now, you are paying $200 less a month, with a lower rate." What is this, hypnosis? I was focusing on the 11 Gs he thought he could slip onto my bill.

After we hung up cordially, I did a more appropriate kind of surfing around and basically decided that this was a scam, according to sites like the mortgage professor. I pulled out the calculator and figured out that I could pay off the closing costs with my $200 savings in about 50 years. So that would not exactly be a free ipod. Still, I was willing to just let it go until the next call.

The next caller let me know that I apparently clicked some other debt consolidation link. I mumbled that I had been considering a refinance, but had decided not to. He says "Well, we also have a refi department, do you want me to transfer you?" I said no, I had just mentioned that I decided not to do it. Like he didn't hear me: "But refinancing is something we do. Shall I put you through to them?" No, dude. I explained again. His response: "Ok, have fun jeopardizing your home." Click.

What? Are you kidding me? I was ready to *69 him and say "LOOK, buddy, you don't hang up on me! I hang up on you!" I restrained myself because I am at work, and plus there's probably some thing about how if you call them they can call you back for all time. But that is why I decided to post the story here. I mean, go ahead and try to scam me out of $11,000, but don't be RUDE about it!

OK, so repeat after me. There is no free ipod. There is no free ibook.

But if you get one, let me know how you did it.

Let's get this onto google:

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I love it

A genre is born:
stop.

cool:

http://www.graffitigames2006.com/

I realized recently that my reader (or are there 2 of you by now?) must have wondered from time to time where the cult has gone-- this log tends to read more like "policrit." Not that we need to re-crayon in the line between politics and culture more heavily, but... I guess the thing that most quickly motivates me to write a letter to the editor (dubious activity which this log is designed to divert energy from... less embarrassing) is our dear administration, so policrit it has been.

Still, I am all about culture, man! So here, let me direct you to the latest formalization of graffiti anarchy: the Melbourne games. This is a step better than the graffiti video game, imho. But curiously, I only learned about it from a somewhat reactionary site and my host-mate, that was complaining about the graffiti games and their stated aim to create a "total tolerance zone."

So it appears that, still lacking a satisfying public sphere in which to find all the flashes of danger I need, the best way to discover cool stuff is to look for right-leaning rants and follow their finger-pointing links.

Oh, or just find out about what's hilarious and cool from Marike (here's the latest thing she surfed on to and told me I had to see. I did. You do, too).