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Michael Kinsley's reasons for voting for Obama

I had the good fortune to work with Michael Kinsley back at Microsoft when he was just getting Slate off the ground.  I still enjoy reading Slate now, and Michael's writing always strikes me as well-reasoned and thought-provoking.

In Slate, Michael Kinsley recently outlined his reasons for voting for Obama in the upcoming presidential election. 

1. I believe in voting the party, not the man or woman. Democrats generally reflect my views better than Republicans.
2. It's important not to ratify failure, and the current Republican administration is a failure.
3. Historically, as I demonstrated in Slate a few weeks ago, Democratic presidents have a better economic record, EVEN BY REPUBLICAN STANDARDS (lower government spending; higher GDP, ignoring distribution questions, etc.). Republican irresponsibility about tax cuts without spending cuts has bankrupted this country. Twice. 
4. Republicans have a consistent record of hideous demagoguery in presidential campaigns. (Dems are not blameless, but Republicans are far, far worse.) The story of this election is how McCain made a Faustian bargain and lost.
5. McCain is no dummy, but Obama is smarter. Although you're not supposed to say so, I think having a very smart president is, on balance and allowing for exceptions like Nixon, a good thing.
6. Obama is African-American. I wouldn't vote on race if there were a good reason not to, but all else being equal, having a black president will be a good thing for this country.
7. Electing Obama will give us a big PR boost in the world—just when we desperately need one.
8. Social issues (abortion, gay rights, civil liberties, etc.).
9. Oh yes, Sarah Palin. Give me a break. Not only is she patently not qualified to be president, but her alleged charm totally escapes me. She seems like an unpleasant, cynical, scheming, nasty, vindictive person. McCain is likable and admirable. I feel sorry for him. Palin will be a pleasure to vote against.

A confession: When I read the details of Obama's agenda, I disagree with about 80 percent of it. (Capital gains tax break for small businesses, etc.) I don't care.

Reasons 2, 7, and 9 especially ring a bell for me.  I would also add that the current Republican administration has shown a complete disdain for The Constitution, and I hope that an Obama administration would work to restore some of the rights that have been eviscerated under President Bush.

Bruce's Twitterlog

• 20:37 Went to Hari Raya celebration at Gigi and Deion's, and then went to the Shultzy's Oktoberfest party. Now, we're tired and back home. #
• 21:02 Annoyed with Comcast. 1-800-COMCAST, which is supposed to be available 24/7 can only add Showtime during regular business hours (not 24/7). #

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Upgrading Protector Suite QL for Firefox 3.0

Back in June, I got my new Sony Vaio VGN-TZ250N from Karen for my birthday.  One of its cool features is an integrated fingerprint reader to save me from having to type passwords.  It's pretty neat, and I enjoyed its ability to remember passwords for the secure websites I commonly visit.

That was fine, but along came Firefox 3.0, and I upgraded.  Sadly, I found that there was no Protector QL extension for Firefox 3.0, and my fingerprint reader was reduced to simply logging me on to my laptop.  True, I could have shifted to Internet Explorer, but that wasn't going to happen.

So, today, I decided to see if anything was available now to let me go back to accessing websites with by rubbing my computer and awaking the password genie.  UPEK's website has its #1 FAQ covering Firefox 3.0, so I was optimistic, but it took me a while to understand what it was trying to tell me.

Firefox 3 final release is supported by Protector Suite QL 5.6.2, 5.8.2 and 5.8.0.4024 (custom build for Toshiba). If you do not have right version please ask your notebook vendor for updated software for your notebook. Each notebook vendor has a custom version of Protector Suite QL and as per business agreements we cannot distribute it.

It sounded to me like I needed to go to Sony Vaio support to get an upgraded version of Protector Suite QL. After a useless chat with a tech support rep, I realized they had no new version for me.  That was frustrating until I realized what UPEK was telling me was that as long as I had one of those three versions (I was running 5.62), I was all set with the current version of my software.

But, I did need some new Password Bank updates for 5.62...

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS for PS QL 5.6.2 (works on 32bit operation systems only):

Download updated PasswordBank libraries from the link below:
http://files.upek.com/GetPackage.asp?Key=1I7BG1MXZ1I17FKAOU1EVFGF233B4121

Please note that these libraries are intended for PS QL 5.6.2 only - it will not work with any other version! It also does not work on 64bit operating systems!!!

To install updated libraries for PasswordBank, close the psqltray.exe process using Microsoft ProcessExplorer (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and copy contents of the ZIP file to the Protector Suite QL installation directory (usually C:\Program Files\Protector Suite QL\ or C:\Program Files\Fingerint Reader Suite\). You need to overwrite two files:

1. pwdbank.dll in PS QL's root directory (C:\Program Files\Protector Suite QL\pwdbank.dll)
   
2. pbgk1_9.dll in "browser" sub directory (C:\Program Files\Protector Suite QL\browser\pbgk1_9.dll)

Once files are replaced, please reboot your computer! After reboot, please check, that Firefox support is enabled in PS QL (right-click on PS QL tray icon -> Control Center -> Settings -> User Settings -> PasswordBank).

OK, that looked easy enough.  I downloaded the files, installed them, and restarted my machine.  As instructed, I checked the Protector Suite Control Center and rechecked the Firefox support box.  But, sadly, when I fired up Firefox, nothing happened.  I didn't have a Protector Suite extension installed.  DOH!  And there was none listed under the 5.62 support section.  And none when I searched Google...

But there is a Firefox extension under the 5.82 Firefox 3 Support Installation instructions.

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS for PS QL 5.8.2 (works on 32bit and 64bit operating systems):

Download extension for Firefox 3 final release from the link below:
http://files.upek.com/GetPackage.asp?Key=W271FQ1F6092PUD33U41U2OV1GQBPHUO

To install PasswordBank extension for Firefox 3 simply drag'n'drop the XPI file on the Firefox window and confirm the installation. Alternatively, you can install the extension if you run Firefox -> go to File -> Open -> pbff3.0.xpi...

Please note that this extension will work only with PS QL 5.8.2 and 5.8.0.4024 (custom build for Toshiba)!!!

That last line seemed pretty ominous, but I decided to give it a try anyway and install it.  It worked like a charm.  Firefox 3.0 fingerprint support is BACK!  :)

Omnivore's 100

Very Good Taste has a brief blogosphere survey about what people have eaten or would try to eat given the opportunity.  I figured I would take a shot.  Following the survey rules, things in bold I have eaten and things crossed out I wouldn't try given the chance.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (it might have been alligator, but I've had its several times, so a croc must have slipped in somewhere)
6. Black pudding (I might not try it, but I never thought I would eat Century Egg either)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine  (wanted to try it in Montreal, but kept eating Schwartz's smoked meat) 
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (we accidentally ordered Andouillette in Paris, thinking it was Andouille, and boy did it stink!).
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (can you run over a lobster?)
76. Baijiu (we drank this at my house at Chinese New Year a couple of years back -- it would make a dandy paint thinner) 
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

What about you?

Obama's lame response on his FISA inaction.

I sent an e-mail to the Obama campaign expressing my disappointment in Senator Obama's politically expedient disappearance in the face of the recently passed FISA Amendments Act. Apparently, enough people have complained that he now has a canned, inadequate response.

Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, has abused that authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders.

That is why last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past.

After months of negotiation, the House passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance - making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future.

It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I voted in the Senate three times to remove this provision so that we could seek full accountability for past offenses. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act.

It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives - and the liberty - of the American people.

I am completely unsatisfied with this inaccurate and cowardly response. To say that this bad bill is better than an even worse bill isn't justification for supporting it. And if Senator Obama's the great leader and uniter that he claims to be, why couldn't he take a leadership role in creating a much better "compromise" than the one he signed off on.

What Senator Obama had was a chance to clearly distinguish himself as an independent thinker and a man of conviction who would represent a sharp contrast with the past eight years of the Bush Administration. Instead, we're left with another politician who seems willing to sell out our Constitutional rights under the banner of the Politics of Fear. The American people deserve better, but seem unlikely to get it.

I hate mattress buying!

It almost makes me want to start the first honest mattress retailer. There has to be someone other than me who finds the process of mattress buying to be especially painful. It's amazing to me that a simple product could have such a complex sales process.

Here in Seattle, we visited four different mattress dealers (and we could have seen many more, but I'm not sure that I would survive that). Sleep Country USA advertises incessantly on TV, has a lot of stores, and specializes in selling mattresses (and the accompaniments).

My local Sleep Country is staffed by a presentable, polite young man who reminds me of Kenneth on 30 Rock, but with Hillary Clinton's ambition and Donald Trump's salesmanship. Yes, I was very afraid. No, it was not reasonable. He was actually quite patient as I tried many, many mattresses. Karen wouldn't lie on them for fear of catching bedbugs, cooties, ebola, or some other malady. Most were nice. I didn't like the Tempurpedic beds though. "Kenneth" advised me to lie on one for about a minute and then try to get up. That experience is like being trapped in a shallow grave. Neither Karen or I liked it, so the Tempurpedic was out. Neither of us liked the Sleep Comfort air thing either. No futons -- we don't really find them very restful in Japanese hotels when they have them. And I lived with a waterbed from the time I was 15 to 30 or so, and that was enough of that.

Which left me with regular old mattresses. Every store has the same brands, but the actual model names have been changed to "protect the innocent" and confuse the consumer. What's a Bramblewood at one place is a Birchglade at another, though those could be different mattresses -- it's impossible to tell. If you listen to the sales people, they'll lecture you on coil gauge, number of coils, and layers of various fibers, while showing you mattress cutaway models that don't really help you make a decision. They all come with warranties, but it seems like it's almost impossible to collect on one (it's like trying to collect on a warranty on a car battery or set of tires). Almost everything that could go wrong is excluded from coverage. And if you sweat or lie down too much or turn over too often, or flip your mattress too much/not often enough, that kills your warranty too. So, my conclusion is that this is a damn expensive disposable product. You sleep on it until you find yourself or your spouse rolling downhill involuntarily and then have them take it away for scrap.

But it's not just a mattress. There's the box spring, which doesn't appear spring at all and looks like a rectangular wooden box with the thinnest cheapest fabric stretched around the top and bottom. They now have low-profile ones since American mattresses keep growing in depth so that jumping into bed requires some pole vaulting experience. We probably should have opted for low-profile boxsprings, but I didn't remember that when I was placing my order. And I'm sure they're extra since everything is.

And then there's the frame. Let me take a moment out to talk about our trip to Ikea. We looked at their beds. They have one that matches our cheap utilitarian dressers and it's cheap and utilitarian too. But I think it's too small. Ikea itself says US King mattresses are 76 x 80. But this bed lists its dimensions as 76 x 79.5. I knew that was a recipe for disaster when I tried to match that up with my Simmons Beautyrest, so I abandoned that plan. Yes, I did look at the Ikea mattresses. Most of them are very cheap. They're also uncomforably stiff or uncomfortably saggy. They do have one fancy one for $1200+. It also seems uncomfortable. Perhaps if you're a narcoleptic, an Ikea mattress would work, but not for me.

So, we need a metal frame for our bed (no, I'm not going to a furniture store and buy a real furniture bed). I won't even shell out for pillow shams (maybe it's the word "sham" that gets me). So I just want a frame. Of course, there's the free one that comes with the bed and sucks according to the salesperson and another one that's infinitely better and costs more. OK, OK. I'm not a light person, so I'll buy the one that definitely won't collapse under me instead of the one that almost certainly won't collapse under me.

Then, they start trying to sell me other stuff. Undercoating, rust-proofing... wait that's car salesman. No, it was some sort of mattress sealant to keep my sweat from dripping through the sheets, staining my mattress, and invalidating the warranty that I'll never be able to collect on anyway. I passed on that one (one small victory for me).

Sleep County, Sears, and Macy's all had nice beds. Some were expensive. Some were really expensive. Some were crazily expensive. We opted for the basic expensive model. There was one cheaper model at Sears, but it was the Sears-o-pedic, and that brand name made me laugh uncontrollably -- it would have been better if they'd named it the ACME Sears-o-pedic, so I could think I was buying a bed that Wile E. Coyote would have approved of. And even the cheapest Sears model wasn't that cheap. And I've had my Sears experiences, so I went with Sleep Country.

Why not Macy's? They were friendly, but they actually retag the basic Simmons Beautyrest Classic line as "Vanderbilt" or some such nonsense. The net result, is I felt worse buying a less expensive mattress there than I did at Sleep Country.

Theoretically, our mattress arrives tomorrow. Light a candle for me.

I missed my opportunity, I should have been a lacrosse goalie.

I was at home this morning watching the semifinals of the NCAA Lacrosse tournament. Syracuse was playing Virginia, and the game was tied 11-11 as time was running down. These teams are at the pinnacle of their sport, and the game was hard-fought. Both teams had chances to score the go-ahead goal, but neither succeeded in regulation.

The commentators attributed this to the excellent play of the goalies. But replays showed that the shots of the waning minutes either bounced off the post/crossbar of the goal or hit the goalies squarely in their bodies. The goalies had sticks, but they had no impact on these final saves. In one instance, the commentators praised the goalie for a great stop, and the replay showed the ball hitting him just above the groin area.

Lacrosse goals are reasonably small, so it appears that a particularly wide goalie (think Jared in his pre-Subway days) could be an All-America Lacrosse goalie sheerly by virtue of his ability to stand in front of the net. Homer Simpson would be so proud.

BAPE Los Angeles

I went to the new BAPE (Bathing Ape) store in Los Angeles on Melrose. It's quite a swanky place. In recognition of the fact that trendy party monsters don't get up early, the store doesn't open until noon. Yep, noon. We watched several people try to talk them into opening up a few minutes early, but the staff wasn't budging. In fact, they opened up a few minutes after noon for good measure.

The good news, unlike the BAPE stores in Japan, this one has clothing in large sizes for Americans of buffalo-like girth. I bought two XXL t-shirts with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Milo, and they fit well; perhaps, if anything, they're too big. In contrast, about two weeks before, I tried on a XXL BAPE Hawaiian shirt in Aoyama and nearly had to be extricated with the jaws of life as XXL means a chest size of about 40" in Tokyo.

The BAPE staff in LA is friendly, but seems very paranoid. I know their stuff is popular and expensive, but it has nearly as many armed guards as Harry Winston or Cartier. And for what essentially a store dealing in t-shirts, sweatshirts, and sneakers. The security presence made me nervous for fear of accidentally being shot by a security guard or being caught in some sort of sneaker-motivated hostage situation.

The selection was good and the prices were comparable with Tokyo. All in all, if you're not prone to panic attacks and you like goofy shoes and shirts, check it out when you're in town.