Olbermann on Rumsfeld

Keith Olbermann on MSNBC delivered one hell of a blast at Donald Rumsfeld.

Crooks and Liars has the transcript and the video.

Olbermann closes with this quote from Edward R. Murrow:

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who fear to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.

And the man at the back said “Everyone attack!”

Coop over at Positive Ape Index points us to a nice collection of Glam Rock videos over on YouTube.

Although always appreciated by record nerds such as myself, it seems like the Glam Era gets short shrift in the consciousness of the general public. Everyone pays attention to the Hippie era that preceded Glam, and the Punk that followed, but that thin sliver of cool in between doesn’t get its due, except maybe as a point of origin for David Bowie.

Too bad, because this is the shit. Enjoy.

Way too much fun.

What the Terrorists Want

Bruce Schneier has an excellent post up on his blog about What the Terrorists Want.

I’d like everyone to take a deep breath and listen for a minute.

The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act.

And we’re doing exactly what the terrorists want.

Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat. And if we’re terrified, and we share that fear, we help. All of these actions intensify and repeat the terrorists’ actions, and increase the effects of their terror.

The surest defense against terrorism is to refuse to be terrorized. Our job is to recognize that terrorism is just one of the risks we face, and not a particularly common one at that. And our job is to fight those politicians who use fear as an excuse to take away our liberties and promote security theater that wastes money and doesn’t make us any safer.

Go read it. Now.