Offense v Harm

I must admit to not having blogged as regularly as I suppose I should be. I could say I haven't had the time, but that would be bullshit because it has been my observation that people always find the time to do the things they really want to do. Telling someone you don't have time is simply to avoid saying it's not a priority for you. So anyway, I've been doing a lot of reading and listening to books and some really excellent political analysis podcasts out of WNYC, KQED and KCRW.

Several incidents over the past couple of years and my work as an EEO officer (part-time) dealing matters of offense and harassment, coupled with the "Piss Christ" painting and anti-Moslem cartoons, have made me realize it's time to redefine offense and harm.

Offense is self-inflicted and causes no harm. After all, we can chose not to be offended by a painting, a word, a picture, a gesture, a cartoon. We chose to be offended by something because of what we bring to the item, not because of anything intrinsic to the item itself. I find the Confederate Battle Flag offensive because of what it symbolizes to me even though the displayer may have an entirely different mindset as to what it means to them. No harm is caused by seeing that flag.

Choosing to be offended and demanding that retribution be inflicted on the offended is simply a manifestation of trying to gain power for a particular point of view. That's wrong. Let's, as a society, decide not to be offended, turn our heads or look away, and concentrate on doing away with harmful acts, wars, injuries, physically hurting others. We would be a better and more peaceful world.

Will Cheney be the next target of the Fitzgerald investigation?

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information (02/09/2006)

Apparently, Libby has revealed to investigators, that VP Cheney had authorized him to reveal classified information in order to defend administration policy.

Regarding the shooting accident: Perhaps one bright outcome will be that Supreme Court Justice Scalia might be less inclined to go hunting with Cheney permitting fewer opportunities for Cheney to attempt influencing court decisions.

Arrogance Leading to Ignorance

Foreign Affairs - Intelligence, Policy,and the War in Iraq - Paul R. Pillar

Paul Pillar was a senior Middle East analyst for the intelligence community. In this paper published in Foreign Affairs he argues that the Bush Administration ignored the expert analysis of the Middle East that was readily available to them and had made the decision to go to war long before 9/11 and irrespective of the WMD debate.

Pay More; Get Less

James Surowiecki considers the state of executive compensation in the most recent issue of The New Yorker. The SEC, dominated by Republicans, has issued new rules that require companies to tell us what they pay their C.E.O.s. This should have been a cause for celebration. Companies can still pay whatever they want, they just have to tell about it now. Shareholders are becoming concerned and it would appear with good reason. The immense pay packages are affecting the bottom line. Consider the following:

>A study done recently at Rutgers that examined company performance from 1992 to 2001, found that the more a C.E.O. was paid relative to his peers, "the more likely his company was to underperform in the stock market;

>some packages, especially those with "golden parachutes" which guarantee huge payoffs if their companies are acquiired, encourage executives to sell out;

>there is evidence that exeuctives whose pay is linked to stock performance are more likely to commit fraud to jack up the stock portfolios;

>between 1993 and 2003 "the top five executives at fifteen hundred companies in the U.S. were paid $350,000,000,000 [yes, you read that correctly, billion].

Feynman quote

"Not knowing is much more interesting than believing something that might be wrong."

The beauty of physics is that it is a journey not a destination.