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I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
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An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Thursday, August 21, 2003
Tips for Terrifying Tussle in Texas
I have never in my life given money to a political cause. But the Texas redistricting battle is a shameless power play by would-be-Mr.-Speaker Tom DeLay, and it is one of those rare situations where every dollar really does count. DeLay was counting on the vast majority of us outside Texas not noticing -- and thanks to that more visually appealing Republican power play, the one in California, he has largely been proved right. Eleven Senators are in voluntary exile, facing arrest if they return to Texas, because it is the only way they can stop DeLay drawing himself up a political map of Texas so crooked you could shoot arrows with it. A redistricting that would give him an extra five or ten seats in Congress, potentially locking in the GOP majority until my generation starts cashing its paltry Social Security checks.
It's so funny to see Democrats, who nationally are without a collective spine, pulling off this kind of principled stand. But that they have chosen to do. And now they have, I want them to take it all the way. Part of me almost hopes they do get arrested. When was the last time you saw anyone of such prominence face the threat of jail time on a matter of conscience alone? Names float up to us from the past: Nelson Mandela. Mohammed Ali. MLK. Ghandi. Going behind bars for what you believe has a tendency to make the muse of history remember your name.
Still, I wouldn't want that to happen without exhausting every other option. The clock is ticking on the extraordinary special session Republicans called with the sole purpose of slicing the state like a snake. Every day the exiled stay in their crappy motel rooms is another day democracy breaths a sigh of relief. They need anything you can give. Pay their room charge for a night. Send them those little sachets of toothpaste and shampoo. Hell, forward them an e-mail joke or two. When your state is under siege, you need all the laughs you can get. I know the feeling.
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