Miscellany
* Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has proposed a bill that would make a tiered internet illegal. That is to say, companies which own the routers and pipes can't charge additional fees to prioritize packets. It amounts to a protection racket, where both the customer and the content provider would have to "pay up" or else their data would be delivered a dial-up speeds (despite already paying broadband rates). Personally, I think that such a scheme is probably already illegal under RICO, but I'm not a lawyer. The New York Times missed their opportunity to use the phrase "Fears for Tiers" in the headline, but we shouldn't hold that against them.
* Over at Intel Dump, Kris Alexander espouses using America's number one weapon -- the US Dollar -- to win the war on terrorism. He calls his policy Shop and Awe. But some guy like my Iranian friend who believes that he is getting a fair shake out of the New World Order is less likely to end up needing a JDAM parked on his head by some guy like me. For instance, we are spending millions trying to eliminate opium in Afghanistan without providing enough of an alternative. Pistachios used to be one of Afghanistan’s main crops, so why doesn’t the president have a bowl of "freedom nuts" on his desk to promote Afghani agriculture? Hell, it worked for jellybeans.
* The Philadelphia Philharmonic has hired their first female tubist; she is now the only -- and possibly first -- female tubist in a major full-time American orchestra. You should check out this article, and don't miss the option to hear her play a section from Aram Khatchaturian's Violin Concerto. She plays the ridiculously complicated violin part... on a tuba. Her high notes are clear and have great tone; her tongue and breath control are amazing. Here's to a day when the phrase "first female" will be obsolete.
* President Bush is going to have a hard time explaining this story, especially if you watch the video. You can actually hear people brief him about the levees, about how bad Katrina was going to be. He says that we are "fully prepared". It's tough to watch when you know that over a thousand people died. I can't attribute it to malice, but the alternative makes me queasy.