The Data Port

Sat, 17 Dec 2005 12:34:07 GMT

Season’s Greetings

Apparently it gets harder and harder, as the Season develops, to maintain a spirit of high moral dudgeon and political outrage. I notice, over in the StarNet forums, that a kind of cheerful drifting off topic is taking place.

I am off for Boston tomorrow…can hardly wait for freezing cold and melting slush that slops over shoe tops. From Boston to New York for a short round of museum hopping, back to Boston for Christmas with family and then home to Tucson.

And during all that time I plan to avoid thinking about politics. I may drop a note or two into the blog from New York because I’m lugging my laptop with me, something I’ve never done before. It’s an old laptop, bulky and heavy, and will surely be a nuisance. But what the hell, it’s a new trick for an old dog.

And just a reminder: All posting to this version of The Data Port will soon be history. The Data Port continues at its Blogger home.

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 19:15:17 GMT

Thanks for Visiting

This Data Port site is slowly winding down.
Please visit today’s post at the Blogger site. link

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:28:36 GMT

A Long Goodbye

I was checking my cloud status here at Radio Userland and was surprised to note that I had been a-blogging here since January 14^th 2003. God, how time flies when you’re having fun. My subscription, license, what have you, expires at the end of January and I’m going to let it go.

The Data Port will continue over at Blogger: http://thedataport.blogspot.com

I’ve dropped out for weeks at a time…sometimes with nothing to say, sometimes because of family crises, sometimes because I was angry and annoyed with the state of American politics, and sometimes because I don’t carry my laptop with me on my motorcycle vacations.

I was never really successful in e-mailing to the blog, and posting pictures was a good deal like teaching a pig to dance. It seems fairly rare for folks to keep up with their blogging. Thankfully, Rayne soldiers on but Blunt Object (whose writing I really liked) has not been seen for year. Le Pretre Noir, The Raven, and the Preacher’s Wife are now simply disorganized electron clouds.

Strange Snow is still with us, and Emphasis Added. Hooray.

What started out as Ojo Caliente (much to the confusion of folks in that New Mexican town) became The Data Port. I hope my many friend and occasional reader will continue to drop in from time to time.

The Data Port: http://thedataport.blogspot.com

See ya…I hope.

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 19:29:58 GMT

Another Precinct Heard From
….Patty Weiss enters Arizona CD 8 race

So far, here’s what we know of this Tucson ex-anchor’s political views: "I have always thought that I would like to serve in Congress," Weiss said. "I am a fan of democracy."

Well, so say we all Patty.

There seems to be a certain fascination with Weiss’ name recognition and what that promises, but in a primary race I don’t think it promises very much. The active Democrats who have worked campaigns, walked neighborhoods, and performed all the political scut work know her as a TV personality, but not as a fellow worker.

Of course that was inevitable. She couldn’t even pretend to be an even-handed journalist and a political activist. It’s sure to affect her fundraising and she is already behind hand in this. It may be a sad reflection on the state of American electoral politics but two million bucks trumps being known as an anchor.

Some folks at the national level are reported to be saying that for Democrats this is a two-million-buck campaign. Does anyone think the Republicans will pony up any less? Ho Ho Ho…it makes to laugh.

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 04:02:21 GMT

As Long As You’re Up... Get Me A Grant

A friend from the StarNet forums posted an interesting question: Need a job? Want a billion? Well, who doesn’t? Who wouldn’t? And our very own government wants to provide you (us) with both the job and the bucks.

Before we continue I suggest you follow this link and when you’ve read and digested it return here.

(Pause)

Ah, there you are, back again. So here’s what we have. Our nation’s wise leadership has sucked us into a war and they have no clear cut idea about how to get us out of it. But wait.. maybe the thing to do is to…"implement a social and economic stabilization program impacting ten Strategic Cities, identified by the United States Government as critical to the defeat of the Insurgency in Iraq."

For this they will pay upwards of one billion, 200 million bucks.

Now of course for that amount of money the government would want to be sure that the program provider they chose had a program that had some chance of working. But if the Bush wizards don’t have the foggiest idea of what to do, what would work in the first place…if they are helplessly calling for outside assistance…how in the world will they be able to choose an effective program?

By what criteria will the clueless get a clue? I could use the money, I think I'll apply.

Sat, 26 Nov 2005 16:57:40 GMT

A story in this morning’s Arizona Daily Star raises the question of possible disenfranchisement of Arizona voters who depend on their driver’s licenses to establish citizenship when they appear at the polls to vote. The problem is in Arizona’s Proposition 200.

“Under Proposition 200, anyone registering to vote must provide proof of citizenship. The most popular form is usually an Arizona driver's license issued after Oct. 1, 1996, when the state began demanding evidence of legal U.S. residency to get a license.”—Arizona Daily Star

Now I have two problems with this story. First, mere legal residency is not a sufficient condition for voting. (I guess obviously…Green Card holders are legal residents but not voters). Did the law require proof of legal residency, or of citizenship?

I checked my license…which is dated 06/15/05. Can I use this to “prove” eligibility to vote? Hardly. My first license was granted in 1973. I was not asked about citizenship then; I have never been asked about my citizenship since.

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 19:47:53 GMT

November 23, 2005 @ 12:34 PM

Distraction

I have been the victim lately of what Anthony Powell once called "A Dance to The Music of Time"…the kaleidoscopic shifting of relations between people and projects over time. It seems to me that I have been whirled around my life’s ballroom in ways I have not entirely controlled. It’s been very distracting. It’s slowed down my writing.

One of the distractions has been the re-birth of forum participation.The Arizona Daily Star has revived its on line public forums, whirling me back to the first great days of the StarNet forums under Bob Cauthorn.

At the moment there are only 200 folks registered, where registration is required for full participation. Of those two hundred only a large handful are actually engaged, but those who are posting regularly are having some interesting exchanges. I must say that the whole scene seems much more active than the blogosphere…and in some ways more fun.

We’ve had one troll, who ducked in and out of the forums with a couple of name changes, but most folks did not rise to the bait. I imagine he’ll be back, when it gets lonesome under his bridge.

At any rate I’ve been spending more time attending to the forums than to the blog. What goes on is probably of more interest to Tucsonans than to others…but take a look. Register even…it’s free. Link