Firebrands at CNN

People in my profession are often accused of bending the truth. Of course, journalists would never do such a thing. And especially not people working for CNN, which is, as we all know, a respected news organisation without any bias whatsoever. They wouldn't, for example, take a photograph out of context to make things looking more dramatic.
So when eight U.S. Marines died today, and CNN didn't have any pictures, of the incident, what did CNN do?

That's right: they used a picture of soldiers burning garbage.
Presumably, a New York sanitation worker didn't look scary enough.

20:03

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My holiday season wishes for Osama Bin Laden

It's not that I generally like the idea of people getting killed. But let me say 'amen' to these fine insights by Tim Blair:

'Welcome back to the realm of the living, Osama! Now we get to kill you properly.'

(Since I am nursing a rather persistent cold, blogging is somewhat limited.)

19:47

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'Illegal' Dutch interference in American elections?

Dutch weekly Intermediair features a rather startling article about Americans voting in the Netherlands. Hidden away near the end of the piece is the following section:

'"We owe the Dutch for the willingness among Americans living in the Netherlands to vote in these elections." (...) A lawyer sent a list of American customers in Amsterdam. Other Dutch citizens used a website, www.tellanamericantovote.com, to inform American friends and colleagues. (...) The website was made for free by a Dutch company. Planning and production of all the printed items (election flyers, ed.) was taken care of by a Dutch advertising agency. Dutch citizens also helped out writing press releases. Amongst them was a member of the Jonge Democraten (the youth organization of the Dutch centrist party D66, ed.) and the personal assistant of a VVD Lower House member (the VVD is a free-market liberal party and considered right wing, ed.). This is something (Claire, ed.) Taylor shouldn't be saying, since foreigners are by law prohibited to help with American election campaigns.'

Claire Taylor describes herself as a Democrat in the Intermediair article.

It is of course a complete coincidence that the website the article mentions, Tellanamericantovote.com, is registered to an organization called Americans Against War, based in the Netherlands. The Dutch register of the Chamber of Commerce doesn't show a registered company at the address the WHOIS listing yields, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 86, suite b56, in Amsterdam. (However, the listed registrant email address for the site is hostmaster@mokum.org. Mokum.org is registered as being the property of C. Willis. The telephone number is that of Demon Internet in Amsterdam, a major ISP. There is indeed a Chris Willis working at this company. He's the general manager there. This doesn't mean much, since it's really easy to add false information to a .org domain registry record.)

The website itself doesn't seem all that neutral either. I guess you could interpret the big flashing statement that '537 votes put George W. Bush in the White House' as an incentive for Republicans as well as Democrats to do their civic duty. Nevertheless, the request at the bottom of the page to report any election problems to a Democrat legal team seems hardly bipartisan to me.

Because of copyright reasons, I can't provide a scan of the entire clipping. Please contact me through email if you do require assistance. Intermediair unfortunately doesn't include the article on its website.

Disclaimer: the translation is mine and therefore, Intermediair should probably not be held responsible for any inaccuracies that might have accidentally sneaked in.

16:53

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John 'Forrest' Kerry

The same guy who in the previous presidential election declared Bush jr. to be less smart than Gore now states that Bush has got more brains than Kerry. Money quote:

'Linda Gottfredson, an I.Q. expert at the University of Delaware, called it a creditable analysis said she was not surprised at the results or that so many people had assumed that Mr. Kerry was smarter. "People will often be misled into thinking someone is brighter if he says something complicated they can't understand," Professor Gottfredson said.'

The research was done by Steve Sailer, who compared standardised military intelligence tests. This in itself isn't definite proof, but it becomes a whole lot more likely that Sailer is correct when you consider that Kerry never released his SAT scores. (Bush did: he got a respectable 1206 points.) I wonder why.

As for possible journalism bias: the source of this article is the New York Times, which has endorsed Kerry for president.

Run, Kerry, run!

(Via INDC Journal.)

18:25

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The Guardian - no murderer can do without it

When I was in London last week to interview journalists about investigative reporting, several of them referred to the Guardian as 'the thinking man's newspaper'. Right. That's why this (ahem) 'quality broadsheet' prints job ads for political assassins:

Quite frankly, the man's either wired or mad. If it's the former, he should be flung out of office: tarred, feathered and kicked in the nuts. (...) He flashes us a dumb little smile, like a toddler proudly showing off its first bowel movement. (...) On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?

Funny how liberal journalists define a 'thinking man'.

1:37

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You are cordially invited (American election night)

To watch the results of the 2004 American presidential election at my house. Starting at 10 PM, we'll watch the news (hopefully, I'll be able to unscramble FOX and MSNBC again before then) and eat jellybeans. (At 9 AM on Wednesday, at the very latest, I'll kick everyone out since I have an appointment at 11 AM in Utrecht. You can watch any Supreme Court dealings from the comfort of your home, this time.)

Everyone is welcome, provided:

• You send me an email. I live in a small appartment and it couldn't possibly hold more than ten people comfortably, so it's handy to know how many are coming. Ignore this if you're a 6 foot tall blonde from Sweden. If you are, feel free to drop by at any time (Norway is fine too).
• You don't mind me cheering for Bush (yes, I think he's an awful president. I just think Kerry would be even worse).
• You bring some American food and/or drink to complement the high caloric finger food I'll be providing.

There'll be basic beer (I'll try to get some American microbrews) and a bit of fingerfood (the aforementioned jellybeans, as well as some hashbrowns for breakfast).

(BTW: I promised some of you an essay explaining why Battlestar Galactica 2004 is a great show. It really is, and I'll need a little more time to finish the essay about it. Personally, I think it's as groundbreaking as Star Trek - TOS was in the sixties - and now just as then, people are bound not to realize the greatness in front of them for another two decades.)

23:32

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Home alone

What happens if your cat has to spend the night on his own?

Well, first he wrecks the carpet.

Then he decides to go for a drink.
You'll be glad to know we moped the floor together (me on one side of the broom, the cat tied to the other one).

13:32

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Lax security at Heathrow airport

I've just returned from spending two days in London to do work for the Dutch-Flemish Society of Investigative Journalism. Yesterday night, I took a flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam. To say that the security measures took a long time, would be an understatement. I dropped an apple which grew into a tree before I was halfway through. Understandably (I think) I even volunteered to be x-rayed by some new body scanner device (turns out I wasn't carrying any expolosives) so I could save 15 minutes by being moved to the head of the queue to have my luggage irradiated as well.

Of course, the alarm went off.

The (very friendly, so there's no need to invoke Godwin's Law) security officer searched my entire bagage. It was interesting to see what he paid attention to. On his initial run he made careful studie of my disposable contacts. He also flipped through two books. Apparently, terrorists have now become so sophisticated they can make paperthin IED's, as well as explosive saline solutions.

He didn't find anything. So my luggage was screened again, this time item by item.

The red light went off on my first aid kit.

I am quite distrustful of the medical profession in general, and foreign doctors in particular. Hence, I carry an extensive supply of drugs, bandages and a plethora of other stuff, even if I travel abroad only for one or two days. There are many items in my first aid kit you won't find in any ordinary consumer version. This also means there are quite a few things that may look dangerous on a scanner, but aren't.

For example, there's a pair of plastic clamps that you would use in child delivery (I like to be prepared). You couldn't possibly do any harm with them (well, I suppose you could clamp it on an IV of a hospital patient, but those are far and few between on an airliner). It took me only a few seconds to convince the security officer I should be allowed to keep them. He let me.

The security officer then focused on some pinchers, as well as a small foldable pair of scissors, used to cut bandages. Both of them were confiscated. I could understand the scissors part (it was my own fault in being honest enough to bring them up), although how some blunt pinchers constitute a threat I still can't fathom.

This however, was not the most bizarre or worrying part of the story.

The security officer never even looked at the two stitching kits I carry, which were in plain sight during the search.

As I later realized, both of them contain extremely sharp surgical blades as well as rather large needles, and I boarded the flight without any problems.

9:55

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Well, that's all cleared up then

Not even Democrats like Poms meddling in their affairs, as the Guardian attempted. Warning: strong language.

(Due to a seriously overcrowded diary, blogging will be intermittent.)

19:12

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With friends like these

The Palestinian Authority endorses Kerry. I am so not going to make any snide remarks. Nope, not me.

11:49

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Depressed as fuck

Why is it that, whenever it rains in the Netherlands (which is often), supermarkets feel the need to play nothing but extremely depressive songs from the 80's?

11:48

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Chicago Tribune supports George W. Bush

It's no big surprise that the New York Times has endorsed John F. Kerry for president. What is rather odd though is that the Chicago Tribune, not exactly a right-wing rag, has endorsed George W. Bush.

17:07

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Dutch weekly De Roskam on gay discrimination

I empathize with all you poor slobs who can't read Dutch. You'll miss out on this excellent editorial by Han Pape, who happens to be one of my journalism mentors. (When I was 18 and had finished grammar school (VWO in Dutch), universities recommended against pursuing an MA in journalism since they figured their own degrees sucked. So I started working for Pape, who at the time was the editor-in-chief of the Almelo department of the Twentsche Courant.)

Han Pape is sort of a left-wing loonie (as opposed to me being a right-wing nutcake, anyway), but I couldn't agree more with this quote from De Roskam, a local opinion news weekly in the Dutch region of Twente.

Money quote:

'Er schijnt een blad te zijn verspreid met voorlichting over homoseksualiteit. Niks aan de hand. Een aantal scholen heeft de bladen retour afzender gestuurd. Nog niks aan de hand. Maar ja, het waren zwarte en reformatorische scholen. En dus was het discriminatie. Terwijl er nog steeds niks aan de hand was. Want natuurlijk sturen scholen materiaal terug dat ze niet bevalt. Zoals openbare scholen een zendingsfolder terug zouden hebben gestuurd en katholieke scholen een abortusbrochure. En de bond van geheelonthouders een kratje herfstbok. Maar in de media doemde het discriminatiespook op. Wat is dat toch in dit land dat als je iets afwijst je meteen discrimineert? (...) Er zijn een hoop lieden die vinden dat ik in zonde leef, maar ik vind het leven van velen hunner eeuwig zonde. Dat we met elkaar van mening kunnen en mogen verschillen, dat er overtuigingen naast elkaar bestaan, dat maakt het beschavingsniveau van een land uit.'

I don't feel like translating everything. However, the final sentence reads: 'The fact that our opinions can and may differ, the fact that it's possible for conflicting opinions to co-exist, is what defines the maturity of a civilization.'

In other words, you're not really being tolerant if you're only tolerant of other tolerant opinions. As I've mentioned, schools refusing a pro-gay magazine have been subjected to quite a lot of criticism.

It really is too bad if you can't read Dutch. You'll miss the part about Pape's possibly gay dog.

16:00

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Goodbye, Derrida (2)

Johann Hari explains what was wrong with Derrida. Hari quotes Dale Peck, who says: 'This is a tradition that has systematically divested itself of any ability to comment on anything other than its own inability to comment on anything.'

Which pretty much sums up my quarrel with deconstructivism: it is too extreme, too polarized, even though it claims to abhor 'conflict' in language, and therefore paralysing to rational thought and the progress of science.

(I am so concerned with this since I have been considering to start studying philosophy for a long time. Yet I've been unable to find a university where I can spend most of my time studying real philosophers, rather than the prose of nihilistic people. If there are any people that studied at the UvA, please mail me, as they have an accelerated program that really appeals to me, except the description of the course in culture philosophy, which looks like it was taken from Elsewhere.org.)

I like Hari's conclusion:

'Buried in Derrida's philosophy there are small nuggets of insight: that the structure of language determines our thought much more than we understood before Wittgenstein, and that grand narratives are inherently dangerous unless their exponents admit that they are partial and always doomed to be (at best) necessary fictions. Derrida could have drawn the sane conclusions from this at the start of his career: that we should show a greater degree of scepticism both toward language and narratives than before.'

In other words, and to quote another philosopher: 'Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.'

So in a sense, Derrida went too far in his Twelve Step Program.

12:26

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A man of maturity

Today I went to the university hospital to get my hepatitis and tetanus shots for the trip to Jordan or Iraq. The friendly nurse obviously immediately realized she was dealing with a mature individual. So she gave me a Band-Aid from her special supply.

Thanks, nurse.

16:15

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Americans, come and hunt the FFF!

The French Fries Fox which apparently scours the Dutch cities for left-over Gaullic potato products. And if you've got any bullets to spare, drive a few hundred miles south of Amsterdam, and let the French know how you feel about their lack of hospitality.

15:44

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Dutch courage

At this moment, there's some uproar at Dutch grammar schools. Some of them refused to distribute a free pro-gay magazine, paid for by the Dutch government, to their pupils. Now these schools find themselves in a situation in which they have to defend themselves against accusations of an anti-gay bias. There's even talk of an official government inquiry into gay intolerance.

Since I'm Dutch, and Dutch people always have an opinion about everything, I'd like to tell you what I think is really happening.

The Dutch government, not the grammar schools, are to blame for the current uproar on gay acceptation. Furthermore, the Dutch government have behaved with extreme cowardice. And finally, none of this has happened withoug being foreseen, or indeed planned.

Since most of you probably wouldn't have the patience to read through an elaborate history of the Netherlands, here's a summary (if you are an executive, please fill in that word yourself) of what's happened since 1848.
1. Dutch society has long been based on the principle of balancing out differences.
2. When differences couldn't be reconciled, the Dutch have traditionally adopted a policy of non-interference.
3. This caused some problems in the area of schools, as non-religious schools could get government financing, but non-secular ones could not. After a major political battle, the so-called 'School Strife', the Dutch constitution was ammended to provide for state financing for all schools, whether ideological or not.

As of late, this policy has caused the government some problems. Several Islamic families and foundations have rightly claimed that the constitution allows them to claim government funding for Islamic schools. This poses some problems similar to those at so-called 'black schools', which have a large percentage of immigrant and/or Islamic pupils. It's well known that these schools, as well as some orthodox Christian ones, have rather stern opinions on gays. Although Christians are slowly dying out in this country, Muslims are not. Doing something about it has always been a problem though. Muslims are being considered a threatened minority, just as much as gays. The Dutch press has been talking for more than a week about one police bust which wrongly targeted a Muslim family in Utrecht. Obviously, this is a mine field you do not want to get into if you're a government that's already under heavy criticism.

So how do you tell one minority to respect another?

You try to provoke the other party into action.

Some 420,000 copies of gay magazine Expreszo were sent out, apparently without warning, to nearly all grammar schools in the Netherlands.

The magazine was in itself benign. Well, relatively speaking. It contained crude language and gay couples kissing. These are not things that would shock many urban Dutchies. However, it is probably just enough to infuriate some Christian schools. I've attended several. They don't like people snogging one another, and the threshold for something to be considered profanity is much lower. (Yes, the pupils probably do curse as as well as participate in the odd snog, but that's not the point - official school policy is the issue here.) The magazine also didn't get a warm reception at many 'black schools', for very similar reasons. Orthodox Islam and Christian teachings have some similarities, which isn't all that weird since they both have their roots in Judaism.

So by having this gay magazine printed and distributed, the government really left certain schools no choice but to send it back or to dump it in the garbage bin.

Unless we are governed by extremely stupid people, it's implausible that no one anticipated this course of events.

The added advantage, of course, is that Christian schools are involved. They serve to deflect attention from similar opinions at 'black schools'. Criticizing Christians is considered a virtue in this country, since they were once one of the dominant factions in this country, and we tend not to like authority figures (although most of us really enjoy it when they fall from grace).

Now the government has an excellent excuse for dealing with gay intolerance, whilst at the same time being shielded from being biased against Islam (or anything else, for that matter). It's efficient and effective, but I'm not sure it's something to be proud of.

23:52

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Book a trip to Iraq! And enjoy:

• The flight from Kuwait to Baghdad, on a military plane 'with missile diverting technology'
• The trip from the airport to the Green Zone, with 'a convoy of at least three vehicles with armoured protection and two armed soldiers in each one'
• Our spacious accomodations, bunking in portacabins with 'bomb proof roofs'
• Mandatory bulletproof vests, provided courtesy of the British government!
• Insurance arrangements which cover a maximum of L 250,000 in damages. That's if you die. Losing a leg probably yields less.

In other words, Tudor's response to my email with questions about the safety situation in Iraq made for interesting reading.

The funny thing is, I can live with the hazards (that is, while I'm still alive, obviously). But being Dutch, the thing that worries me most, is the miserably low insurance payout. I'd like to get paid a few millions if I get disabled. The fact that it doesn't, genuinely worries me more than the risk of getting killed. Does that say something about our fair nation? That we don't mind being shot, as long as someone pays for a decent casket? In other words: ignore the risks, just not the possible consequences.

I had a good conversation as well today with the Dutch embassy in Baghdad. The gentleman on the other side told me he'd already been hit by a bullet once although he was rather vague on the details. The Dutch embassy however is not in the Green Zone. Instead, it's in-between the Green Zone (or formally: the International Zone) and Sadr City, the latter not exactly being the most friendly neighbourhood. He told me to send him an email or to call him on his cell if I were to go. He asked me to register myself with them should I go, and even said that someone of the Dutch embassy might want to meet up with me in the Green Zone. Funny. I've never felt more proud of this nation than when I heard that. It made me proud to hear the expression 'Dutch courage' being proved wrong.

I also talked to Gerard van der Zande of DSM. DSM is a Dutch company that produces Dyneema, a synthetic fibre used in body armor. I wrote an article on Dyneema a few years ago for Elsevier News Weekly (for all you Yanks and Poms: the largest news weekly in the Netherlands with a circulation of over 140,000). He recommended I should go, and also told me lots of stuff which eased my mind. Gerard is sort of a war veteran. He served with the Dutch army as a PR officer during the Balkan wars. He told me the front line is usually the safest place, as people there tend to be prepared for trouble, whereas they get sloppy in the supposedly safer areas. The Green Zone is pretty much the front line.

Then again, Arendo, the editor of Elsevier News Weekly, was far less enthusiastic. He promised to send me an explanation tomorrow. To make things even more interesting, Tudor (for those who haven't been paying attention: the guy who wants to hire me) has also indicated it's possible to move the whole thing to Amman. That's in Jordan, for those who are geographically challenged. There is even the possibility of doing a Kerry: saying 'yes' to Iraq now, and flipflop later, for example when the security situation in the Green Zone deteriorates. If that were to happen, we could still do a last-minute rescheduling to Jordan. For now, my biggest issue is with the insurance arrangements.

It's a hard call. The hardest one I ever made. Should I go or not?

0:05

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Dutch mental health has gone hopping mad

Some people are actually offering psychological treatment holidays on the Canary Island. Isn't that expensive? Well, yes. But if you're a Dutch citizen, you are never going to notice, since the people who conjured up the idea are trying to get Dutch Medicare (for our Dutch readers: AWBZ) to pay for it. Do you need to be really sick to participate? Well, no. Even a 'mild addiction' is enough. I sure hope my fondness for jellybeans qualifies me. And if not, I'm confident some ex-girlfriends are willing to step forward and testify on my (or is that against?) my behalf.

23:23

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Where I'd be staying in Iraq

That is, if I decide to go. These two articles from The Atlantic Monthly and Newsweek provide interesting reading. More and more I'm beginning to understand Tudor's statement that 'it is certainly interesting' over there. That sentiment is being compounded by Jeff Capehart, who in this article states: 'It's pretty nice — except for the rocket attacks.'

12:22

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Goodbye, Derrida

How I will miss gems of rhetorical cow dung wisdom like these:

'The telegram of this metonymy - a name, a number - points out the unqualifiable by recognizing that we do not recognize or even cognize that we do not yet know how to qualify, that we do not know what we are talking about.'

I couldn't agree more. Being proud of not knowing anything for certain, let alone what he was talking about, is pretty much the central theme of Derrida's philosophy.

Perhaps we could have a (de)constructive debate about what 'being dead' means. That is, if it turns out to mean anything at all.

(By the way, the earlier quote is from a dialogue in which Derrida reminisces about the date 'September 11'. Not the event. Just the date.)

Update 11/10/04 9.38: Rand Simberg has written a hilarious parody.

21:35

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My car is not just cool, it's subzero

The onboard thermometer indicated an inside temperature of minus 8 degrees Celsius. Which is rather amazing considering the outside temperature at the time was more like 14 degrees above zero. I think it's trying to tell me something. Perhaps it needs a decent wax job.

15:55

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Was I ever this young?

Damn, 29 already. Before you know it I'll whither and die.
Anyway, this is a picture I took Thursday night while delivering a lecture on the CBS memo scandal at Leiden University.
Those of you who attended the lecture may also be interested in my notes as well as the latest JibJab animation which contains a Dan Rather reference.
(The picture, by the way, was made with my SE P900, hence the grainy quality.)

15:48

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New JibJab movie

It's not as good as the first one, but still, the second election animation by the JibJab team is pretty funny. Plus, Berdien Stenberg does a cameo. (That joke was just for our Dutch readers. Sorry, Yanks.)

15:45

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Dutch bank seems to be number-challenged

(No, this isn't about the Kotsbank.)
I never really trusted banks in the first place, and even less so now. It turns out there's a bank in the Netherlands which can't even tell two different accounts apart.
Yes, I am one of those bastards who has multiple saving accounts, two of those with the same bank, the Holland Beleggingsgroep. One of them is for my retirement fund (I run my own company, no cushy state-sponsored pension arrangements for me), the other one contains personal financial reserves.
The not-so-funny thing though is that I transferred 1.500 euros to the one account, where it never arrived. Yet it turned up on the other one.
Since the employees of the Holland Beleggingsgroep can't even tell two totally different accounts with different client names and numbers apart, I wonder. What else do they fuck up?
Their website mentions their 'Dutch mentality' as an advantage, so an apology will probably not be forthcoming.

12:41

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Live-blogging the Bush-Kerry debate

3.05: Nice opening salvo by John Kerry. Obviously he immediately referred to the WMD report. Bush' rebuttal wasn't bad, but a bit of a slow start.

3.09: The initial big difference between the first and the second debate is that George W. Bush seems more composed. At least, a little. Sometimes, he speaks on the top of his voice. He doesn't sound too relaxed at all.

3.12: Bush rebuttal with the now infamous Global Test again. Good point to refer to the sanctions. Kerry steals his thunder by saying the sanctions obviously worked, since no WMD's were found. Unfortunately for Bush, he can't rebut by saying this still doesn't explain why Kerry also sanctioned the use of force.

3.14: Kerry quotes Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator who is infamous for criticizing Bush on nearly every occasion. I'm not sure that's wise. Also, he criticizes Bush for not allowing France and Germany to bid for Iraqi reconstruction contracts. He'll be lambasted for that for the next fortnight. Bush is again repeating the same thing he already said twice or thrice in the first debate. Also, he should take a lozenge to nurse that throat, and something to calm him down. He sounds like he's on amphetamines or something.

3.18: Finally, a good quote from Bush: 'The war on terror is not just Osama bin Laden.' But please, leave out the endless references to 'firm resolve'.

3.19: Now Bush is comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. This leaves him vulnerable to a Kerry quote amongst the lines of 'Mr. President, you are not Ronald Reagan.' Kerry was already a senator at that time.

3.21: Kerry doesn't go for the Reagan reference. Weakest rebuttal by Kerry so far, he repeats his previous points.

3.23: Now Bush is blaming his generals? What's he doing?

3.25: Kerry is stretching the truth by stating that North Korea wasn't a threat in 2000 - Clinton is probably more to blame for that situation than Bush. Kerry does deliver his point well though. Again Kerry plugs his 'get all the loose nuclear material in four years', a plan even Democratic pundits have labelled unrealistic.

3.26: Bush finally smiles. A good reply to Kerry's point from the first debate that Bush should engage in bilateral rather than multilateral talks with North Korea. Bush' best rebuttal so far.

3.28: 'We don't need mass armies anymore.' Er?! Kerry is going to have a ball with this Bush quote. Stop fiddling with that tie, too.

3.31: Kerry sure mentions 'middle class' a lot. Which sounds about the same as a soap salesman telling you his particular kind of detergent really does remove all stains.

3.32: Did I mention Bush really should calm down?

3.37: Kerry's flipflopping within five minutes. First he criticizes Bush for not spending enough money on homeland security, then he says it's not about the amount of money, but about how you spend it. Bush ignored the opportunity.

3.42: Why is Bush not pointing out that Kerry's position on importing drugs from Canada will cost American jobs, especially since Kerry made such a big deal about his resistance against outsourcing?

3.49: Bush: 'I'm spending so much since I'm spending less.' I almost believe it.

3.51: Kerry on the defensive, explaining his health care plan. He's afraid now?

3.53: Kerry does a Reagan: Read my lips, right into the camera, no new taxes!

3.56: Bush should have waited for the laughter to break before rebutting. Is he hasty on purpose, to convey some sense of urgency? Otherwise, he really should start paying attention to his advisers.

4.00: Bush also should have memorized the environmental bit a tad better. Especially since it isn't his strong suit. He's also stammering again, whereas the only thing Kerry messes up is his creepy smiling.

4.01: Thanks to Michiel for the plug.

4.04: Kerry defends Kyoto. I'm not sure that's a good move.

4.07: I'm also beginning to wonder if Kerry is perhaps appearing a bit too slick. His voice is in his favour; nonetheless, his demeanour and the incessant smiling makes me want to grab a black-and-white camera to shoot a remake of Frankenstein.

4.09: Kerry is dodging the whole 'taxing companies that outsource' issue. Bad. Humorous FU by Bush.

4.12: He's also walking like a duck with hemorrhoids.

4.14: And now he equates a religious sentiment with 'a feeling'? Not a good move. Kerry had the upper hand in the first 45 minutes, but is losing it fast now. Even though I actually agree with him on the issue of stem cells.

4.16: Bush' stammering on the issue of stem cells will actually help him. And Kerry now trying to blame Bush for fllipflopping will rebound with those voters who actually care about this issue.

4.19: Did anybody ever tell Bush that he is actually at his best when he speaks slowly, pauses for a few seconds every now and then, and goes with the flow rather than trying to regurgitate pre-written quotes?

4.22: Now Kerry is grovelling. This will not work. Especially not with women, whom he seems to be too desperate to please.

4:26: Bush gets a question in which he is asked to explain a few of his mistakes. That of course is a biased question; Kerry isn't being asked to explain why he is unfit for the job. Bush could have turned this one around though, which he fails to do. Weak ending for Bush.

There was more here, but it got lost due to user error. Overall, I think it is a slight win for Bush. Kerry started off well by being nuanced and well-composed. He overplayed his hand though and ended up looking very opportunistic. This made Bush look steadfast rather than dogmatic. Of course, the polls will show whether or not this assessment is correct.

(Read Hugh Hewitt as well. I'm not really sure he was watching the same debate though.)

3:11

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Lecture notes for Leiden University students are now online

I sort of got caught up in all the news about the Taba bomb attacks which left me plenty of time to do other stuff besides. So here are the lecture notes I promised earlier.

2:05

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Should I go to Iraq?

Regular visitors probably know I sometimes teach Arab and Israeli journalists through Brenda de Jager of Jemstone, an organization which does a lot of work in the Middle East. Now, Tudor Lomas of the same organization has emailed me to ask if I want to come to Baghdad to teach journalism and internet skills to Iraqis. There'll be no danger, he says, and he writes: 'You would only be in the Green Zone, with full-scale armed protection from the airport into and from the Green Zone.'
This would normally be good enough for me, except for these nasty news items which point out the Green Zone really isn't that safe right now.
Your thoughts, please. This is not a decision I take lightly, nor an opportunity to turn down easily.

1:21

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Lecture notes for Leiden University students

Yesterday night, I gave a lecture on the CBS memo hoax at Leiden University. The notes I used, will appear on this spot somewhere in the course of Friday. They need to be converted to PDF first and right now, I'm having way too much fun cuddling the cat.

Thank you for your understanding.

Update 2.03: I've uploaded the lecture notes in a later blog entry.

0:34

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A robin in the desert

No, it's not a bird. Not a plane, either. Just a car with three wheels a friend of mine is going to drive from Amsterdam to Dakar. Yep, I'm a bit sceptical too.

11:19

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Losers united

Everybody knows those moments when you wonder where your life is going, if it is going anywhere at all. If it ever happens to you again, just visit this page. It'll make you feel a whole lot better.

0:09

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Neighbours, beware!

I will have my first piano lesson on Wednesday. There's still time to move out and find a safe shelter for yourself and your loved ones.
Since I've also started taking singing and songwriting lessons, leaving may indeed be a very sensible thing to do.
Of course, I'm all for it if the neighbours decide to chip in so they can buy me a house in a remote location. Hint: I like beaches.

10:36

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