Surreality Check

A Savage Writer's Journal

December 2003
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Last Month (November)

03 December 2003
An Odd Turn of Mind

The various local crises have left little time of late for this journal, but it should be improving in the near future. At least until the kids are home for winter break. All day. (I was a much better parent before I had children.)

In any event, we're coming up on the end of the year. That leads my distinctly odd mind to ruminate (no, I'm not becoming a cow; I eat them) on what was going on twelve years ago—when I became pretty certain that George II would be a one-term ruler. At that time, I was the Command Historian for the Air Force District of Washington, while trying to decide on which law school I would attend. One particular project that I was involved in concerned the exhumation of Native American remains when Bolling AFB (next door to Anacostia NAS in southeast DC) had been built in the 1920s. Without going into much detail, my job was to research the issue and send a report to a pretty senior staffer at the White House, because this staffer had been personally contacted with requests for the answers. I did my work; I sent my report off; and I got it back one week later. Unopened. The return cover letter (signed by the actual individual who had set the task) indicated that it would not be appropriate to discuss the matter so close to the coming election.

My conclusion was that, since the same answers would have been available through a Freedom of Information Act request (one additional duty I had was Command FOIA Officer), the staffer had asked a question without thinking about whether he wanted an answer of any kind. With that kind of senior staff, I expected the reelection campaign to self-destruct. And it did; George II lost the election as much as Wild Willy won it.

In any event, I am no longer on the inside. I wouldn't want to be inside the Beltway in this administration, let alone under the current circumstances, even as a militantly nonpartisan military officer. (I am still not registered as a member of any political party.) But similar signs are there. I am certainly hoping for a one-term reign for George III—but that is because I believe him to be a bad ruler under the influence (and perhaps even control) of a bad faction at court. As a corollary, I am hoping for a decent successor. I am not at the moment encouraged.

The major reason that this should matter to authors is simple: antitrust. It is virtually certain that there will be at least one, and probably two, major publishing consolidations attempted in the next thirty months or so. To say that the Bush administration has been less than vigorous in scrutinizing mergers for antitrust violations is an understatement roughly equivalent to noting that there has been some resistance to removing Saddam Hussein from power. However, because it doesn't so obviously involve people dying, nobody notices.

On another issue, I also hope to get back to more-regular reviewing. I've made that promise before without fulfilling it; maybe I do have a future in politics…

05 December 2003
<vbeg>

A matter that I have been following with some interest generated a motion from the Bankruptcy Trustee on 02 December. I have finally obtained a copy. Without further comment, but with a <vbeg>, here are a few extracts:

4. The scheduled "assets" of the debtor corporation consists mainly of manuscripts, computer disks, books, illustrations and other related items of numerous authors who submitted their works to debtor for publication….

6. Trustee is of the opinion that the books, disks, manuscripts, titles, illustrations, art work and related items are not property of the bankruptcy estate as defined in 11 U.S.C. § 541 but rather are the property of the various authors who submitted these items to the debtor corporation and whose works have become "entangled" in the ensuing civil and criminal proceedings.

In re Press-TIGE Publishing, Inc., No. 02–14014 (N.D.N.Y.), Chapter Trustee's Motion to Dispose of Certain Property Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 725, and to Abandon Property Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 554(a) and Close Administration of This Estate (Dec. 2, 2003).

I repeat: <vbeg>

What this means is that, assuming that the hearing goes forward as scheduled on 18 December 2003 (at 0900 before the Hon. Robert E. Littlefield, Jr. in Albany, NY), authors victimized by Press-TIGE Publishing (see Writer Beware) will at least get their rights back, and possibly physical property if it can be located. Some of that physical property is not in the Trustee's possession, but the FBI's. For now. <vbeg>

10 December 2003
Except for Alice

I'm not here to talk about littering. I'm here to talk about the draft. It has probably escaped the notice of most people; but George III's minions have quietly begun preparations to reactivate local draft boards in this country. The irony that George III evaded the draft (and simultaneously evaded his actual service requirements, but that's another and very technical issue) seems lost on them.

The more-important question, though, is simple: Do we need it? As a former commanding officer myself, I really did not want draftees with loaded weapons hanging around. Since "draft" has gone out of common vocabulary, so has another term: "frag." Historically, drafted military forces have fared poorly against volunteer forces, and have been successful only against other leveés en masse. Look no further than Vietnam… because the NVA was not a draftee force, being mostly volunteers.

As warfare gets more complex, both technologically and politicomilitarily, relying upon the "least common denominator" even as "cannon fodder" gets less and less effective. In medieval times, and even into the Napoleonic era, one could turn out cannon fodder in four weeks or less. Not so now; it ordinarily takes at least six months to make cannon fodder, and nine months to make soldiers who have a more-than-trivial chance of surviving the first 24 hours on the battlefield. And then there are all the support troops that are necessary to modern warfare.

I suppose we could bomb ourselves back into the Stone Age if we want to get away from training requirements. Otherwise, though, we need to remember that training programs imply trainees who want to learn something. That's not likely if we return to the draft. Besides, the world doesn't really need more Wilfred Owens; it needs more George Orwells.

15 December 2003
The Prisoner

For some reason, the previous entry did not get posted; I think I've got things fixed this time.

So Sâd·duhm is now in custody. Greaaaat. Now we have to decide what to do with him. I'm afraid that just bringing him to Guantanamo isn't going to be any more satisfactory than it has been with the Afghani prisoners.

The knee-jerk reaction in the media—and among too many pundits—has been that the Iraqi government (however it is constituted) must try him. Followed by a first-class hanging (or prison sentence). There are several problems with this approach that may be instructive for authors considering how societies get built. First, and most obviously, any new Iraqi government will (quite rightly, in all probability) be viewed as a US puppet for some time. Second, years of totalitarian rule have eliminated Iraqi citizens who understand the concept of a "fair trial" from their own personal experience, if there ever were any (as the British protectorate wasn't exactly a home of the brave and land of the free). Third, the rest of the region—not excluding Israel for this kind of trial—is really not much better.

We're better off letting the World Court do it. Nobody can then complain that the rules have been stacked one way or another. I realize that this isn't going to happen—George III doesn't want to do anything to raise the prestige and credibility of the World Court, because then the US might have to pay attention to it—but it's the best solution to a difficult problem.

◊        ◊        ◊

Eventually, once I work my way through the 300 pages of it, I'll have some comments here on how the campaign finance reform decision the Supreme Court issued last week impacts authors. It does; thus far, it's not obvious; but, to paraphrase Galileo, "it does."

19 December 2003
Year-End Rush

It has been a busy, busy week on the legal front—several important copyright and civil rights decisions have come down, ranging from the campaign finance bill decision on Monday to the DMCA subpoena decision today. On top of that, there's flulike ickiness (despite having had our shots). Then there's the rubber chicken banquet last night; I've seldom had baked chicken that greasy and rubbery, yet flavorless. (At least not since I started doing my own cooking in self-defense many, many years ago.)

Otherwise, not much that I can talk about. Much of my time has been devoted to preparing an ethics complaint, and that requires some pretty painstaking writing. The goal is scrupulous accuracy; and, as it's mandatory reporting (I "know" information—documents and other stuff—that "seriously questions an attorney's fitness to practice law"). Fortunately, this is one of those local things that won't have any impact on me; I don't practice in the courts or areas of law at issue. It was dropped in my lap when another local attorney came to me for advice precisely because I have no connections in the local courts.

Then there's the other year-end stuff. Like winter break for the kids (which means no break for the parents). Like finding time to see The Return of the King without sharing the theater with too many snot-nosed groupies.

25 December 2003
Grinchy Claus[e]

In the spirit of the season, I generously give (through the magic of virtual gifts and the Internet) the following gifts this year, with the theme "be careful what you ask for…"

Looks like the "spirit of the season" is, as usual, about 86 proof. And no, it's not from monster eggnog made with lighter fluid.

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