Tread lightly on the things of earth

• Mincing no words: We Shell not Exxon-erate Saddam … [Chris]
• International Herald Tribune: Bush abdicates America’s global leadership role [Politics in the Zeros via Chris]

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Ray Ozzie points out what he calls “the best camera that I’ve ever owned,” “strongly recommended”: the Casio Exilim EX-S1.

2002-08-29 update: Today I see Casio has announced a new version, the EX-S2 and an EX-M2 variant of it that plays MP3s. Can they make it a cell phone, too? :-)

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Jim McGee mentions what is for me reason enough to blog:

I find that creating knowledge is hard work. And, I’ve found that keeping a weblog is one absolutely essential tool for helping me catch ideas before they slip away and then working to develop them into something useful.

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In yesterday’s Washington Post, Bush aides say Iraq war needs no hill vote:

Lawyers for President Bush have concluded he can launch an attack on Iraq without new approval from Congress, in part because they say permission remains in force from the 1991 resolution giving Bush’s father authority to wage war in the Persian Gulf …

About this Les astutely asks,

When most of the world and much of your own country is against you as a leader, is it really wise or appropriate for you to seek legal loop holes to go pursue your agenda anyway?

And similarly, Rafe argues,

A true leader wouldn’t shy away from making a solid case to Congress (and to their fellow citizens) in favor of war, if such a war were truly justified. If you can’t convince Congress, which tends to defer to the executive branch on military issues anyway, that we need to go to war, then chances are we don’t really need to go to war.

Rogerborg assesses the situation this way:

The debate now is about whether any current or future President of the most powerful nation on earth has to answer to its legislature at any stage when declaring and prosecuting an extended war at his or her sole discretion. The White House says not, which effectively nullifies the War Powers Act of 1973 and places the President beyond all Congressional authority short of impeachment when he is wearing his Commander in Chief hat.

Earlier this week I watched NOW with Bill Moyers (great PBS television program) and realized Bush isn’t going to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (info here and weblogged here). I was so angry I was speechless. We are the world’s largest polluter; U.S. participation there needs to be front center. (Flabbergasted I am that Bush’s absence is applauded by these, umm, jackasses. Note that this applauding CEI Fred Smith is not Frederick W. of FedEx.)

Bush appears to believe he can do anything he wants, wreak as much destruction as he wants, accountable to no one. His attitude and behavior—and my fellow Christian friends’ support of him—makes me so sad I am speechless again.

My country’s president does not speak for me.

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John Robb observes that weblogs change the way he meets people. Instead of spending time in meetings introducing each other, exchanging cards, “sync’ing up,” John says that with webloggers,

1) We don’t have to exchange business cards. They know where I am located on the Internet. I know where they are located on the Internet … 2) By reading the weblog of the person I am about to meet with, I already know a lot about that person. Most importantly: I know how they think through reading their writings … 3) I can write up the results of the meeting on my weblog and share it with a wider audience …

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Simon alerts me to Unxutils. I consider Windows nearly unusable without Unix tools. While cygwin is an excellent way to add GNU tools to Windows, it is, as Simon notes, “usually a lot more than you need.”

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Roland comments on The 99 cent KM solution, saying,

Weblogs give people voices and for that reason alone they are worthwhile in a corporate setting!

Yes. Voicelessness is a prevailing problem. People with voices, OTOH, tend to be return a lot more value. Article author David Weinberger forecasts about introducing corporate weblogging:

An enormous outpouring of ideas and critical reactions will occur. Voices will emerge. The mid-level engineer in R&D may turn out to have caustically trenchant things to say about marketing. The woman in shipping may have her finger on the pulse when it comes to HR and morale issues. The graphics designer may be on a tear about why the company isn’t taking international competition seriously enough. Who knows? But that’s the point. Weblogs make audible the real, unmasked voice in the back of the corporate head.

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Dean mentions Andrea Harris’ (cleverly named) Spleenville World Domination Headquarters weblog. I like Andrea’s opinionated forthrightness :-) — and her simple, appealing page design, too.

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