Buda Rabblerouser -- Part 3

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Location: Buda, Texas, United States

Technologist, entrepreneur, writer, idealist, activist. A lot of things in our country and world are screwed up right now (government corruption is a prime example), and we can either just watch things get worse or tackle the problems head-on. We need to choose the latter path.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

I'm So Proud...

That's the sentiment of Australian Beccy Cole, in her new song, "Poster Girl" as in "Poster Girl on the Wrong Side of the World" that you can see from BlackFive.net.

I have to admit that I tear up everytime I see this video. Becky makes a wonderful case for supporting the Aussie troups in Iraq no matter what you think about the war. In my opinion, those are two completely separable issues -- you can be incredibly proud of our troups over there while believing that this was one of the most ill-conceived wars we've ever been in. At least that's my take.

A lot of the comments on this blog are trashing the Dixie Chicks for their take on the Iraq war. That's very unfortunate. The Chicks are blasting the Administration's phoney baloney story that got us into that war, not our troups. I really wish that more people could realize that support for the troups and support for the rationale that got us into that war are two completely different and separable matters. You can be strongly in support of (and proud of) the troups while blasting the war effort.

Update (10/30) -- The comments about Beccy's song run the gamut, but there's a lot of really stupid bashing of "liberals" (BTW I consider myself a "progressive") and references that the song is, in some way, "pro war." That perspective is pure b.s. J. Jacobs' posting on Oct 27/4:43 pm says what I believe more concisely than I can say it:

Why do people assume that anyone against the war is a liberal or unsupportive of our troops? I support the troops through care pkgs, notes, Operation Homefront, attending funerals, and wearing yellow ribbons but I also oppose this war.

Supporting the troops and rejecting the government's war policy are separate issues. People who think for themselves instead of parroting propaganda can tell the difference.


I'm also personally very proud of my own efforts to expose the traffic.com scandal. I'm perhaps the only one who could do it, with 15 years of experience and personal knowledge of many of the key players in it. Most people would have given up by now, but I won't give up. Because scandals like this one need to be exposed and then to go away, and by getting the details of this one out there perhaps others will come to light. (At least that's my hope.)

FYI -- the Project on Government Oversight has begun an investigation, and last Friday issued an FOIA request to the FHWA in an effort to publicly expose the details of traffic.com's contracts. It will be very interesting to see how the FHWA reacts to that request.

The producer for one of the most recognizable nightly news anchors has spent weeks chasing down the leads I gave him and, in fact, knows more about some aspects of this scandal than I do at this point. I suspect that you'll hear about the report he's putting together in a few weeks. Editors for two top newspapers (including the Washington Post's James Grimaldi) are also digging into this story. I'm finding out that it just takes a long time to get all the ducks in line for a story like this one.

In the past three weeks I've also talked to a number of senior people within the FBI, and expect that their own investigation will be stepping up in the coming weeks.

This is a big scandal, what I called the "poster child of federal corruption" on the Yahoo Finance discussion board, and I can't wait until the details of it are exposed for all to see.

Jerry

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Who Inspires Me?

A lot of people's writings inspire me, particularly poets and songwriters (who really are the poets of the modern world). I once knew a young lady who was such a wonderful poet that she even inspired me to come up with an idea that led to an invention that led to a patent application and could well lead to a very successful new enterprise. Ah, the power of inspiration.

In reading a recent Molly Ivins opinion piece (Molly's from Austin, by the way), I came across an old lady by the name of "Granny-D" who takes inspiration to the next level. I really like her writings and sayings because she simply nails things. I guess that when you get to be 96 years old (although admittedly she isn't 100 years old, which is some people's definition of the threshold of old) you figure "to hell with the consequences -- let the truth fly." It's a similar thought to what my friend, a jazz and blues singer who often inspires me, says her daddy used to tell her: "Tell it like it is, not like it taint!"

Granny D's remarks in Wisconsin during Democracy Week are truly inspirational to me, and I hope that they are likewise to my faithful readers.

One of my faithful readers, however, may take issue to Granny's ideas and attitudes. She likes to quote Epictetus, a Greek philosopher who was very thoughtful and undoubtedly profound, but definitely not a boat rocker. Epictetus cautions people not to take on "things which are beyond the power of our will." Granny D, even through 96 years of wins and losses, ups and downs, is undeterred, and says "there are no impossible causes." I guess that she thinks that there is nothing beyond the power of her will!

Can both sentiments be true, or are they contradictory? I'll have to comtemplate that question over a glass of red wine this evening as I catch a really good jazz band at one of my favorite local restaurants.

Jerry