Bureaucracy Part II

The Sunday NYTimes has an article about how Robert Mueller, director of the FBI, acknowledges the the FBI has to be reorganized to have any chance to fight terrorism effectively. Mueller took the position Sept. 4, just a week before the attacks, so he isn't likely to be implicated as part of the organizational problems he admits exist. Still, give him credit for being brave enough to confront the facts; it certainly isn't the way to win new friends in an organization you've just been designated to head.
It's not going to be easy. Given that counter terrorism puts communication and coordination at a premium, the idea that FBI agents can't send e-mail from their desktop computers is absurd.
Importantly, sacrificing all of our personal freedoms and privacy does not necessarily have to be part of the counter-terrorist solution. The facts seem to indicate that the FBI and CIA had enough information to detect trouble. Being able to monitor all of our personal activity without sufficient suspicion of criminal activity, as Ashcroft has allowed the FBI to do by easing domestic spy rules, smacks of desperation or even worse, an attempt to capitalize on a nervous public to seize undue powers of surveillance. William Safire of the NYTimes mused in an op-ed: J. Edgar Mueller.
A related problem is that most of the nation's best and brightest don't consider working for the government because of the bureaucracy involved. Some people I know do so anyway, with hopes of serving the public any way possible. Fewer than that actually put up with it for a lifetime.
Republicans and Democrats are standing up from the dinner table and throwing dinner rolls at each other, pointing fingers. Democrats are saying the White House knew more about 9/11 than they're letting on. Republicans are saying the Democrats are out of line and unpatriotic for undermining faith in the government with their accusations. Political crap. It's clear the government and lots of national agencies didn't work together optimally. Instead of trying to use this issue to win votes, they should do a post-mortem and figure out how to work together to fix the problem.

Magic Johnson + Michael Jordan =

Zinedine Zidane, widely considered the best soccer player in history. Magic called him Magic and Michael combined. Soccer has a lot of big-name stars. I don't play soccer or follow it much, but names like Beckham and Zidane and Figo ring bells.
Zidane has the build I wish I had. 6' 1", 172 pounds. Runs 9 miles in a typical soccer match. It's World Cup time. Between my junior and senior years at school I saw Brazil play Russia in World Cup at Stanford Stadium That was likely the craziest sports crowd I've ever been a part of. By the end of the game I was singing Brazilian chants and jumping up and down and passing people up and down the stands. I don't remember much of the match, though I do remember Brazil won.

Clackety clack clack

You know what I want? Someone to write a program that creates the sound of a typewriter as a type on my computer. Writing on a computer is just too quiet. If someone invents that, please let me know.