Where in the hell did this Terri Schiavo thing come from? There’s not a conservative, Constitution-loving, separation-of-powers guy alive in the world that could have wanted that bill on the floor. That was pure, blatant pandering to [Focus on the Family President] James Dobson. That's all that was. It was silly, stupid, and irresponsible. Nobody serious about the Constitution would do that. But the question was will this energize our Christian conservative base for the next election...
...Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies. I pray devoutly every day, but being a Christian is no excuse for being stupid. There's a high demagoguery coefficient to issues like prayer in schools. Demagoguery doesn’t work unless it's dumb, shallow as water on a plate. These issues are easy for the intellectually lazy and can appeal to a large demographic. These issues become bigger than life, largely because they're easy. There ain't no thinking.
-- Conservative Former Congressman Dick Armey
Friday, September 15, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Friday, September 01, 2006
Please Crawl Back Under The Rock You Came From
Paul Hackett - Iraq war vet, former Ohio Democratic House candidate, and all-around fool - was at it again recently. Check out this exchange with former Iraq-based Pentagon spokesman Dan Senor. He refers to Senor as "Herr Senor" and "the Unterfuhrer".
That's an especially nice choice of words considering Senor is Jewish and his mother is a Holacaust survivor. What a dumbass.
That's an especially nice choice of words considering Senor is Jewish and his mother is a Holacaust survivor. What a dumbass.
The Hezbollah "Victory"
From Charles Krauthammer:
Most important, Hezbollah's political gains within Lebanon during the war have proved illusory. As the dust settles, the Lebanese are furious at Hezbollah for provoking a war that brought them nothing but devastation — and then crowing about victory amid the ruins.
The Western media were once again taken in by the mystique of the "Arab street." The mob came out to cheer Hezbollah for raining rockets on Israel — surprise! — and the Arab governments that had initially criticized Hezbollah went conveniently silent. Now that the mob has gone home, Hezbollah is under renewed attack — in newspapers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt, as well as by many Lebanese, including influential Shiite academics and clan leaders. The Arabs know where their interests lie. And they do not lie with a Shiite militia that fights for Iran.
Most important, Hezbollah's political gains within Lebanon during the war have proved illusory. As the dust settles, the Lebanese are furious at Hezbollah for provoking a war that brought them nothing but devastation — and then crowing about victory amid the ruins.
The Western media were once again taken in by the mystique of the "Arab street." The mob came out to cheer Hezbollah for raining rockets on Israel — surprise! — and the Arab governments that had initially criticized Hezbollah went conveniently silent. Now that the mob has gone home, Hezbollah is under renewed attack — in newspapers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt, as well as by many Lebanese, including influential Shiite academics and clan leaders. The Arabs know where their interests lie. And they do not lie with a Shiite militia that fights for Iran.
The Next Bill Cosby
Juan Williams of NPR and Fox News and syndicated column fame:
For anyone who wants to get out of poverty, the prescription is clear.
Finish high school, at least. Wait until your 20’s before marrying, and wait until you’re married before having children. Once you’re in the work force, stay in: take any job, because building on the experience will prepare you for a better job. Any American who follows that prescription will be at almost no risk of falling into extreme poverty. Statistics show it.
For anyone who wants to get out of poverty, the prescription is clear.
Finish high school, at least. Wait until your 20’s before marrying, and wait until you’re married before having children. Once you’re in the work force, stay in: take any job, because building on the experience will prepare you for a better job. Any American who follows that prescription will be at almost no risk of falling into extreme poverty. Statistics show it.
Plame-Gate Ends With A Wimper
From the WaPo's editorial this morning:
It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue.
It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Quote of the Day
"I got some good news earlier today before the show. Thanks to Alex Rodriguez, I am no longer the most overpaid disappointment in New York City." -- David Letterman
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Quote of the Day
Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, on a time when he, as a Republican, saw the religious right as an ally for libertarian causes:
"The Republicans didn't want to run your life, because Jesus should. That was really part of their thing: less government, more Jesus," Parker says. "Not it's like, how about more government and Jesus."
"The Republicans didn't want to run your life, because Jesus should. That was really part of their thing: less government, more Jesus," Parker says. "Not it's like, how about more government and Jesus."
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
I've Been Saying This For Years
From, of all places, Forbes magazine. I had to copy this in its entirety because it's so right on.
Don't Marry Career Women
Michael Noer
08.22.06, 6:00 AM ET
Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.
Why? Because if many social scientists are to be believed, you run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage. While everyone knows that marriage can be stressful, recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it. A recent study in Social Forces, a research journal, found that women--even those with a "feminist" outlook--are happier when their husband is the primary breadwinner.
Not a happy conclusion, especially given that many men, particularly successful men, are attracted to women with similar goals and aspirations. And why not? After all, your typical career girl is well-educated, ambitious, informed and engaged. All seemingly good things, right? Sure…at least until you get married. Then, to put it bluntly, the more successful she is the more likely she is to grow dissatisfied with you. Sound familiar?
Many factors contribute to a stable marriage, including the marital status of your spouse's parents (folks with divorced parents are significantly more likely to get divorced themselves), age at first marriage, race, religious beliefs and socio-economic status. And, of course, many working women are indeed happily and fruitfully married--it's just that they are less likely to be so than non-working women. And that, statistically speaking, is the rub.
To be clear, we're not talking about a high-school dropout minding a cash register. For our purposes, a "career girl" has a university-level (or higher) education, works more than 35 hours a week outside the home and makes more than $30,000 a year.
If a host of studies are to be believed, marrying these women is asking for trouble. If they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2003). They will be unhappy if they make more money than you do (Social Forces, 2006). You will be unhappy if they make more money than you do (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2001). You will be more likely to fall ill (American Journal of Sociology). Even your house will be dirtier (Institute for Social Research).
Why? Well, despite the fact that the link between work, women and divorce rates is complex and controversial, much of the reasoning is based on a lot of economic theory and a bit of common sense. In classic economics, a marriage is, at least in part, an exercise in labor specialization. Traditionally men have tended to do "market" or paid work outside the home and women have tended to do "non-market" or household work, including raising children. All of the work must get done by somebody, and this pairing, regardless of who is in the home and who is outside the home, accomplishes that goal. Nobel laureate Gary S. Becker argued that when the labor specialization in a marriage decreases--if, for example, both spouses have careers--the overall value of the marriage is lower for both partners because less of the total needed work is getting done, making life harder for both partners and divorce more likely. And, indeed, empirical studies have concluded just that.
In 2004, John H. Johnson examined data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and concluded that gender has a significant influence on the relationship between work hours and increases in the probability of divorce. Women's work hours consistently increase divorce, whereas increases in men's work hours often have no statistical effect. "I also find that the incidence in divorce is far higher in couples where both spouses are working than in couples where only one spouse is employed," Johnson says. A few other studies, which have focused on employment (as opposed to working hours) have concluded that working outside the home actually increases marital stability, at least when the marriage is a happy one. But even in these studies, wives' employment does correlate positively to divorce rates, when the marriage is of "low marital quality."
The other reason a career can hurt a marriage will be obvious to anyone who has seen their mate run off with a co-worker: When your spouse works outside the home, chances increase they'll meet someone they like more than you. "The work environment provides a host of potential partners," researcher Adrian J. Blow reported in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, "and individuals frequently find themselves spending a great deal of time with these individuals."
There's more: According to a wide-ranging review of the published literature, highly educated people are more likely to have had extra-marital sex (those with graduate degrees are 1.75 more likely to have cheated than those with high school diplomas.) Additionally, individuals who earn more than $30,000 a year are more likely to cheat.
And if the cheating leads to divorce, you're really in trouble. Divorce has been positively correlated with higher rates of alcoholism, clinical depression and suicide. Other studies have associated divorce with increased rates of cancer, stroke, and sexually-transmitted disease. Plus divorce is financially devastating. According to one recent study on "Marriage and Divorce's Impact on Wealth," published in The Journal of Sociology, divorced people see their overall net worth drop an average of 77%.
So why not just stay single? Because, academically speaking, a solid marriage has a host of benefits beyond just individual "happiness." There are broader social and health implications as well. According to a 2004 paper entitled "What Do Social Scientists Know About the Benefits of Marriage?" marriage is positively associated with "better outcomes for children under most circumstances," higher earnings for adult men, and "being married and being in a satisfying marriage are positively associated with health and negatively associated with mortality." In other words, a good marriage is associated with a higher income, a longer, healthier life and better-adjusted kids.
A word of caution, though: As with any social scientific study, it's important not to confuse correlation with causation. In other words, just because married folks are healthier than single people, it doesn't mean that marriage is causing the health gains. It could just be that healthier people are more likely to be married.
Don't Marry Career Women
Michael Noer
08.22.06, 6:00 AM ET
Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.
Why? Because if many social scientists are to be believed, you run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage. While everyone knows that marriage can be stressful, recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it. A recent study in Social Forces, a research journal, found that women--even those with a "feminist" outlook--are happier when their husband is the primary breadwinner.
Not a happy conclusion, especially given that many men, particularly successful men, are attracted to women with similar goals and aspirations. And why not? After all, your typical career girl is well-educated, ambitious, informed and engaged. All seemingly good things, right? Sure…at least until you get married. Then, to put it bluntly, the more successful she is the more likely she is to grow dissatisfied with you. Sound familiar?
Many factors contribute to a stable marriage, including the marital status of your spouse's parents (folks with divorced parents are significantly more likely to get divorced themselves), age at first marriage, race, religious beliefs and socio-economic status. And, of course, many working women are indeed happily and fruitfully married--it's just that they are less likely to be so than non-working women. And that, statistically speaking, is the rub.
To be clear, we're not talking about a high-school dropout minding a cash register. For our purposes, a "career girl" has a university-level (or higher) education, works more than 35 hours a week outside the home and makes more than $30,000 a year.
If a host of studies are to be believed, marrying these women is asking for trouble. If they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2003). They will be unhappy if they make more money than you do (Social Forces, 2006). You will be unhappy if they make more money than you do (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2001). You will be more likely to fall ill (American Journal of Sociology). Even your house will be dirtier (Institute for Social Research).
Why? Well, despite the fact that the link between work, women and divorce rates is complex and controversial, much of the reasoning is based on a lot of economic theory and a bit of common sense. In classic economics, a marriage is, at least in part, an exercise in labor specialization. Traditionally men have tended to do "market" or paid work outside the home and women have tended to do "non-market" or household work, including raising children. All of the work must get done by somebody, and this pairing, regardless of who is in the home and who is outside the home, accomplishes that goal. Nobel laureate Gary S. Becker argued that when the labor specialization in a marriage decreases--if, for example, both spouses have careers--the overall value of the marriage is lower for both partners because less of the total needed work is getting done, making life harder for both partners and divorce more likely. And, indeed, empirical studies have concluded just that.
In 2004, John H. Johnson examined data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and concluded that gender has a significant influence on the relationship between work hours and increases in the probability of divorce. Women's work hours consistently increase divorce, whereas increases in men's work hours often have no statistical effect. "I also find that the incidence in divorce is far higher in couples where both spouses are working than in couples where only one spouse is employed," Johnson says. A few other studies, which have focused on employment (as opposed to working hours) have concluded that working outside the home actually increases marital stability, at least when the marriage is a happy one. But even in these studies, wives' employment does correlate positively to divorce rates, when the marriage is of "low marital quality."
The other reason a career can hurt a marriage will be obvious to anyone who has seen their mate run off with a co-worker: When your spouse works outside the home, chances increase they'll meet someone they like more than you. "The work environment provides a host of potential partners," researcher Adrian J. Blow reported in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, "and individuals frequently find themselves spending a great deal of time with these individuals."
There's more: According to a wide-ranging review of the published literature, highly educated people are more likely to have had extra-marital sex (those with graduate degrees are 1.75 more likely to have cheated than those with high school diplomas.) Additionally, individuals who earn more than $30,000 a year are more likely to cheat.
And if the cheating leads to divorce, you're really in trouble. Divorce has been positively correlated with higher rates of alcoholism, clinical depression and suicide. Other studies have associated divorce with increased rates of cancer, stroke, and sexually-transmitted disease. Plus divorce is financially devastating. According to one recent study on "Marriage and Divorce's Impact on Wealth," published in The Journal of Sociology, divorced people see their overall net worth drop an average of 77%.
So why not just stay single? Because, academically speaking, a solid marriage has a host of benefits beyond just individual "happiness." There are broader social and health implications as well. According to a 2004 paper entitled "What Do Social Scientists Know About the Benefits of Marriage?" marriage is positively associated with "better outcomes for children under most circumstances," higher earnings for adult men, and "being married and being in a satisfying marriage are positively associated with health and negatively associated with mortality." In other words, a good marriage is associated with a higher income, a longer, healthier life and better-adjusted kids.
A word of caution, though: As with any social scientific study, it's important not to confuse correlation with causation. In other words, just because married folks are healthier than single people, it doesn't mean that marriage is causing the health gains. It could just be that healthier people are more likely to be married.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Finally!!
It's taken nearly 5 full years, but somebody (the Brits) has finally gained some common (or un-common) sense.
THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.
The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.
The system would be much more sophisticated than simply picking out young men of Asian appearance. But it would cause outrage in the Muslim community because its members would be far more likely to be selected for extra checks.
THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.
The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.
The system would be much more sophisticated than simply picking out young men of Asian appearance. But it would cause outrage in the Muslim community because its members would be far more likely to be selected for extra checks.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Now That Was Easy
Graham Alison, the former Dean of The Kennedy School for Recovering Politicians at Harvard, offers a simple prescription for victory in the Global War on Terror:
“We must delegitimize terrorism -- making it as internationally unacceptable as slavery or piracy.”
Huh?
“We must delegitimize terrorism -- making it as internationally unacceptable as slavery or piracy.”
Huh?
What's the Excuse Now?
Poverty and disillusioned youth, right?
Wrong: Twenty-four terrorist suspects being held last night over an alleged plot to blow up as many as 10 transatlantic jets include middle-class, well-educated young men born in Britain. At least one of them converted to Islam only recently.
Has to be anger over Iraq, right?
Wrong: In the decade after we left Saddam Hussein in power rather than deposing him, representatives of the umma responded by bombing the World Trade Center (1993), Khobar (1996), the embassies (1998), the U.S.S. Cole (2000); unsuccessfully plotting to blow up much of Manhattan (1993), a bunch of airliners (1994-95), L.A. Int'l Airport (2000) and the U.S.S. The Sullivans (2000); and finally killing almost 3000 of us in suicide hijackings that destroyed the WTC and damaged the Pentagon. But it was the Iraq war of 2003 that radicalized them?
Hmmm, then what? It couldn't possibly be, say, the Koran's Sura 9:5: "Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolators wherever ye find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush."
Wrong: Twenty-four terrorist suspects being held last night over an alleged plot to blow up as many as 10 transatlantic jets include middle-class, well-educated young men born in Britain. At least one of them converted to Islam only recently.
Has to be anger over Iraq, right?
Wrong: In the decade after we left Saddam Hussein in power rather than deposing him, representatives of the umma responded by bombing the World Trade Center (1993), Khobar (1996), the embassies (1998), the U.S.S. Cole (2000); unsuccessfully plotting to blow up much of Manhattan (1993), a bunch of airliners (1994-95), L.A. Int'l Airport (2000) and the U.S.S. The Sullivans (2000); and finally killing almost 3000 of us in suicide hijackings that destroyed the WTC and damaged the Pentagon. But it was the Iraq war of 2003 that radicalized them?
Hmmm, then what? It couldn't possibly be, say, the Koran's Sura 9:5: "Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolators wherever ye find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush."
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Shocking!!
Three of the alleged ringleaders of the foiled airplane bomb plot have been identified by Western intelligence agencies involved in unraveling the plot:
--Rashid Rauf
--Mohammed al-Ghandra
--Ahmed al Khan
Rashid, Mohammed and Ahmed? Hmmm. To stay safe, we better crack down and start screening old ladies and high school teenagers a little bit harder.
--Rashid Rauf
--Mohammed al-Ghandra
--Ahmed al Khan
Rashid, Mohammed and Ahmed? Hmmm. To stay safe, we better crack down and start screening old ladies and high school teenagers a little bit harder.
The New Normal
From Dean Barnett:
As you all know by now, a terrorist plot in England was foiled in the last 24 hours. The plan was to blow up something like a half dozen passenger planes, perhaps over American cities. The British authorities characterized the plot as an effort to commit “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.”
What a poignant choice of words that is. One of the most important conclusions of the 9/11 forensics was that 9/11 was partly caused by our lack of imagination. We used to go to the airport and the airline personnel verified that we had packed our own luggage and that we had never let it out of our possession. The notion that terrorists would execute a suicide mission had never penetrated our collective consciousness.
We apparently didn’t care to imagine what incredible damage such an attack would cause.
HERE’S WHAT I’VE LEARNED from personal experience. As Soxblog readers know, I’m a 39 year old man with Cystic Fibrosis. For those of you not familiar with CF, 39 is pretty old for someone with the disease. I’m doing quite well now, but I’ve had some extremely rough patches and some very dark days in the not too distant past.
When you go through such times, the first instinct is to resist imagining the unimaginable. Our human instinct is to recoil from the worst; if there’s something that makes recoiling easy, it becomes all the more likely that you’ll choose to not face your unpleasant reality.
If you have a serious disease, you eventually wind up going one of two routes: One is that you confront your problems, deal with them in a hard-headed way and make peace with the hand you’ve been dealt. I call this dealing with your New Normal; the old normal was better, but the New Normal becomes your reality. It may be less than optimal, it may be downright dreadful, but it’s your new reality and you find a way to deal with it.
The other choice is to deny the situation. There are tons of ways to rationalize such a decision without using the pejorative term “denial.” You can defiantly say that you won’t let your condition rule your life. If you do, people will applaud your toughness. These are often the same people who always tell you how healthy you look, even when you look and feel like death warmed over.
So you live your life without accepting or dealing with your New Normal. And you reap terrible consequences.
AS FREE SOCIETIES, the Western democracies have a choice of whether or not face up to the existential challenge they face from Radical Islam. The lure of seeking an easy way out is almost irresistible. The siren song of sitting down and reasoning with the Hezbollahs and Ahmadenijads of the world is powerful. If we could just do something to convince ourselves that all is well and that there’s nothing to fear, life sure would be easier.
Just as is the case with an illness, there are a lot of people willing to tell us that are fears are overblown. If you want to believe that George W. Bush and the Patriot Act are the greatest threats to our way of life, you won’t have much trouble finding a professor on a nearby college campus to buttress your theory. If you want to think that there was nothing really going on in London to warrant any concern and all the news this morning is just Karl Rove’s response to Joe Lieberman’s defeat, you’ll easily locate a prominent blogger to offer his concurrence.
But it’s past time we face the facts and realize that this our New Normal. It’s worse than the old normal, the one that we had before 9/11 when we felt completely safe even though we weren’t.
It’s time we stop having a sphere of things that are “unimaginable.” Let’s imagine airliners exploding over our cities. Let’s imagine a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv. Let’s imagine a mushroom cloud over New York.
Let’s imagine how such things might happen. And then let’s resolve to stop them.
As you all know by now, a terrorist plot in England was foiled in the last 24 hours. The plan was to blow up something like a half dozen passenger planes, perhaps over American cities. The British authorities characterized the plot as an effort to commit “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.”
What a poignant choice of words that is. One of the most important conclusions of the 9/11 forensics was that 9/11 was partly caused by our lack of imagination. We used to go to the airport and the airline personnel verified that we had packed our own luggage and that we had never let it out of our possession. The notion that terrorists would execute a suicide mission had never penetrated our collective consciousness.
We apparently didn’t care to imagine what incredible damage such an attack would cause.
HERE’S WHAT I’VE LEARNED from personal experience. As Soxblog readers know, I’m a 39 year old man with Cystic Fibrosis. For those of you not familiar with CF, 39 is pretty old for someone with the disease. I’m doing quite well now, but I’ve had some extremely rough patches and some very dark days in the not too distant past.
When you go through such times, the first instinct is to resist imagining the unimaginable. Our human instinct is to recoil from the worst; if there’s something that makes recoiling easy, it becomes all the more likely that you’ll choose to not face your unpleasant reality.
If you have a serious disease, you eventually wind up going one of two routes: One is that you confront your problems, deal with them in a hard-headed way and make peace with the hand you’ve been dealt. I call this dealing with your New Normal; the old normal was better, but the New Normal becomes your reality. It may be less than optimal, it may be downright dreadful, but it’s your new reality and you find a way to deal with it.
The other choice is to deny the situation. There are tons of ways to rationalize such a decision without using the pejorative term “denial.” You can defiantly say that you won’t let your condition rule your life. If you do, people will applaud your toughness. These are often the same people who always tell you how healthy you look, even when you look and feel like death warmed over.
So you live your life without accepting or dealing with your New Normal. And you reap terrible consequences.
AS FREE SOCIETIES, the Western democracies have a choice of whether or not face up to the existential challenge they face from Radical Islam. The lure of seeking an easy way out is almost irresistible. The siren song of sitting down and reasoning with the Hezbollahs and Ahmadenijads of the world is powerful. If we could just do something to convince ourselves that all is well and that there’s nothing to fear, life sure would be easier.
Just as is the case with an illness, there are a lot of people willing to tell us that are fears are overblown. If you want to believe that George W. Bush and the Patriot Act are the greatest threats to our way of life, you won’t have much trouble finding a professor on a nearby college campus to buttress your theory. If you want to think that there was nothing really going on in London to warrant any concern and all the news this morning is just Karl Rove’s response to Joe Lieberman’s defeat, you’ll easily locate a prominent blogger to offer his concurrence.
But it’s past time we face the facts and realize that this our New Normal. It’s worse than the old normal, the one that we had before 9/11 when we felt completely safe even though we weren’t.
It’s time we stop having a sphere of things that are “unimaginable.” Let’s imagine airliners exploding over our cities. Let’s imagine a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv. Let’s imagine a mushroom cloud over New York.
Let’s imagine how such things might happen. And then let’s resolve to stop them.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
This Seems About Right
Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006:
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.[...]
Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.[...]
Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Quote of the Day
"I have seen much war in my life and I detest it profoundly. But there are worse things than war, and they all come with defeat." -- Ernest Hemingway
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
That Music You Hear is The Twilight Zone Theme Song
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.
The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.
"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration. Researchers will conduct years of painstaking analysis before putting the book on public display.
"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out," Wallace said. "First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."
He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.
"The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it," Wallace said.
Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished, blown away."
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.
"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration. Researchers will conduct years of painstaking analysis before putting the book on public display.
"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out," Wallace said. "First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."
He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.
"The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it," Wallace said.
Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished, blown away."
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
I Still Love CNN
A great CNN headline:
- A Hezbollah rocket attack on Nazareth, revered as birthplace of Jesus, kills two people, Israeli army says
Uh, last I checked, Jesus was not born in Nazareth. But just a minor detail.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
I Did Not Know This
WASHINGTON (AP) - Roads and bridges built by U.S. taxpayers are starting to be sold off, and so far foreign-owned companies are doing the buying.
On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.8 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years.Few people know that the tolls from the U.S. side of the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, go to a subsidiary of an Australian company - which also owns a bridge in Alabama.
Some experts welcome the trend. Robert Poole, transportation director for the conservative think tank Reason Foundation, said private investors can raise more money than politicians to build new roads because these kind of owners are willing to raise tolls. "They depoliticize the tolling decision,'' Poole said. Besides, he said, foreign companies have purchased infrastructure in Europe for years; only now are U.S. companies beginning to get into the business of buying roads and bridges.
On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.8 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years.Few people know that the tolls from the U.S. side of the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, go to a subsidiary of an Australian company - which also owns a bridge in Alabama.
Some experts welcome the trend. Robert Poole, transportation director for the conservative think tank Reason Foundation, said private investors can raise more money than politicians to build new roads because these kind of owners are willing to raise tolls. "They depoliticize the tolling decision,'' Poole said. Besides, he said, foreign companies have purchased infrastructure in Europe for years; only now are U.S. companies beginning to get into the business of buying roads and bridges.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
War In Israel
Has anyone noticed that there's been zero outrage over Israel's incursions into Gaza and Lebanon? What's up? Could it be everyone's tired of Iran's attitude and wants them knocked down a few pegs? Or, could it be that Israel's neighbors (Saudis, Egypt, etc.) have given them the green light to take out the neighborhood's undesireables?
Yes Folks, They've Finally Arrived...Soccer Helmets
There's a Massachusetts law working its way through the state legislature that doesn't just mandate the use of helmets, it actually originally sought to outlaw heading the ball from youth leagues to colleges and universities. We are quickly becoming a nation of metrosexuals.
Quote (or Poem) of the Day
Vice is a creature of such frightful mien,
That to be loathed, needs but to be seen.
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
-- Alexandar Pope
That to be loathed, needs but to be seen.
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
-- Alexandar Pope
Somebody Likes the Reds
From FOX Sports:
6. How, um, wild will the NL Wild-Card chase get?This one's a mess. Right now, seven teams...or almost half the league...are within three games of the Wild-Card lead in the NL. That's a crowded fray to say the least. The Dodgers, Reds, Rockies, Giants, Brewers, Astros and Diamondbacks all have shots at the final NL playoff berth, so you can bet it'll be a frenzied stretch drive in the senior circuit.
Our take: We'll put our money on the potent bats and decidedly easier schedule of the Reds. Cincinnati will also get Paul Wilson, Brandon Claussen and Grant Balfour back in the second half, so they'll have pitching options.
6. How, um, wild will the NL Wild-Card chase get?This one's a mess. Right now, seven teams...or almost half the league...are within three games of the Wild-Card lead in the NL. That's a crowded fray to say the least. The Dodgers, Reds, Rockies, Giants, Brewers, Astros and Diamondbacks all have shots at the final NL playoff berth, so you can bet it'll be a frenzied stretch drive in the senior circuit.
Our take: We'll put our money on the potent bats and decidedly easier schedule of the Reds. Cincinnati will also get Paul Wilson, Brandon Claussen and Grant Balfour back in the second half, so they'll have pitching options.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
"Her Concern Is For the Children"
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Supermodel Christie Brinkley and her fourth husband, Peter Cooke, have separated, her publicist said Tuesday.
"Yes, it's true. The couple has separated," publicist Elliot Mintz said in a statement.
Cooke and Brinkley married in 1996 and have a daughter.
Brinkley, 52, was previously married to Frenchman Jean-Francois Allaux, singer Billy Joel and developer Richard Taubman.
She and Joel have a daughter, and she and Taubman have a son.
"Her immediate concern is for her children, and she's hoping during this obviously difficult time that people will be kind enough to respect her privacy," Mintz said.
"Yes, it's true. The couple has separated," publicist Elliot Mintz said in a statement.
Cooke and Brinkley married in 1996 and have a daughter.
Brinkley, 52, was previously married to Frenchman Jean-Francois Allaux, singer Billy Joel and developer Richard Taubman.
She and Joel have a daughter, and she and Taubman have a son.
"Her immediate concern is for her children, and she's hoping during this obviously difficult time that people will be kind enough to respect her privacy," Mintz said.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
The Brights vs. The Dims
Christianity Today interviews Robert P. George, McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison program in American ideals and institutions at Princeton University.
Before we can talk about becoming a counterculture, we have to understand the culture. What's your reading of our culture right now?
I've argued in my book The Clash of Orthodoxies that the contemporary moment is marked by profound cultural division. We have a clash of two worldviews. On the one side are those who maintain traditional Judeo-Christian principles, such as the principle of the sanctity of human life, the principle that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, the principle that sex is integral to marriage but that sex ought not to be engaged in outside of marriage, and so forth.
On the other side of the cultural divide are people who have abandoned those principles in favor of some alternative ideology. Often it celebrates personal autonomy and freedom from traditional moral constraints, mixed with certain utilitarian elements. Sometimes it manifests itself in radical forms of feminism or quasi-pantheistic forms of environmentalism.
This division runs between elite and popular opinion. If I may borrow a concept from William F. Buckley Jr., consider what the results would be if we were to ask 800 members of the Princeton faculty about their views on abortion or homosexuality or other issues of that sort, and then make the same inquiry of the first 800 people in the Trenton, New Jersey, phone book.
Interestingly, the Princeton faculty and people of Trenton are probably going to vote largely alike—for Democratic candidates—albeit for different reasons. But when it comes to morally charged political issues, you're going to get answers from the 800 people consulted in the Trenton phone book that would be similar to those answers that would be given by 800 people from north-central West Virginia (where I grew up) or from Kansas or New Mexico. Their answers would be very different from those that would be given by the Princeton faculty or the editorial boards of The New York Times or The Washington Post. That's what I call a clash of orthodoxies.
Why do you call it that?
It's a clash of two faiths. The folks on the elite side of the divide often try to depict this as a clash between religious believers—people who, they suppose, do not honor reason as having a role in moral decision making—and "reasonable people," that is, people like themselves who allegedly act purely on the basis of reason and do not rely on or appeal to faith. But I think the reality is that in the elite sector of the culture, people hold the views they do as a matter of faith every bit as much, perhaps even more, than do people in the broader culture.
For example?
The belief that autonomy is such a high value that it trumps the sanctity of human life. For example, secularist elites widely believe that we ought to create human embryos by cloning or other means to be destroyed in biomedical research. Implicit in that belief is the proposition that the human embryo is either not a human being or not a human being with value. Now, the belief that the human embryo is something other than a human being in the earliest stages of his or her development flies in the face of reason. It can only be defended by appeal to some sort of faith that allegedly justifies ignoring the established facts of science. Of course, there are people who acknowledge that human embryos are human beings, but maintain that not all human beings are "persons." Human beings at early developmental stages—embryos, fetuses, and even infants—are not yet persons and can, therefore, rightly be killed to benefit others.
When these arguments are advanced by people like Princeton University philosopher Peter Singer, they lead to such radical conclusions as the endorsement of infanticide on a massive scale to produce transplantable organs. Singer is logically consistent. He is true to his faith. But most liberals are not willing to go there and haven't seen (or refuse to face up to) the implications of their view.
In most cases, support for the destruction of human life by abortion or for embryonic research is not carefully researched. Such views are held as a matter of faith. They're the convictions of "our kind of people," the convictions of people who consider themselves to be sophisticated and bright.
Daniel Dennett, a philosopher, even has a name for people who share the secularist orthodoxy. He calls them, and he includes himself in this, the Brights. And the implication of that is the others are the Dumbs or the Stupids.
The Dims.
That's a better word, the Dims.
Before we can talk about becoming a counterculture, we have to understand the culture. What's your reading of our culture right now?
I've argued in my book The Clash of Orthodoxies that the contemporary moment is marked by profound cultural division. We have a clash of two worldviews. On the one side are those who maintain traditional Judeo-Christian principles, such as the principle of the sanctity of human life, the principle that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, the principle that sex is integral to marriage but that sex ought not to be engaged in outside of marriage, and so forth.
On the other side of the cultural divide are people who have abandoned those principles in favor of some alternative ideology. Often it celebrates personal autonomy and freedom from traditional moral constraints, mixed with certain utilitarian elements. Sometimes it manifests itself in radical forms of feminism or quasi-pantheistic forms of environmentalism.
This division runs between elite and popular opinion. If I may borrow a concept from William F. Buckley Jr., consider what the results would be if we were to ask 800 members of the Princeton faculty about their views on abortion or homosexuality or other issues of that sort, and then make the same inquiry of the first 800 people in the Trenton, New Jersey, phone book.
Interestingly, the Princeton faculty and people of Trenton are probably going to vote largely alike—for Democratic candidates—albeit for different reasons. But when it comes to morally charged political issues, you're going to get answers from the 800 people consulted in the Trenton phone book that would be similar to those answers that would be given by 800 people from north-central West Virginia (where I grew up) or from Kansas or New Mexico. Their answers would be very different from those that would be given by the Princeton faculty or the editorial boards of The New York Times or The Washington Post. That's what I call a clash of orthodoxies.
Why do you call it that?
It's a clash of two faiths. The folks on the elite side of the divide often try to depict this as a clash between religious believers—people who, they suppose, do not honor reason as having a role in moral decision making—and "reasonable people," that is, people like themselves who allegedly act purely on the basis of reason and do not rely on or appeal to faith. But I think the reality is that in the elite sector of the culture, people hold the views they do as a matter of faith every bit as much, perhaps even more, than do people in the broader culture.
For example?
The belief that autonomy is such a high value that it trumps the sanctity of human life. For example, secularist elites widely believe that we ought to create human embryos by cloning or other means to be destroyed in biomedical research. Implicit in that belief is the proposition that the human embryo is either not a human being or not a human being with value. Now, the belief that the human embryo is something other than a human being in the earliest stages of his or her development flies in the face of reason. It can only be defended by appeal to some sort of faith that allegedly justifies ignoring the established facts of science. Of course, there are people who acknowledge that human embryos are human beings, but maintain that not all human beings are "persons." Human beings at early developmental stages—embryos, fetuses, and even infants—are not yet persons and can, therefore, rightly be killed to benefit others.
When these arguments are advanced by people like Princeton University philosopher Peter Singer, they lead to such radical conclusions as the endorsement of infanticide on a massive scale to produce transplantable organs. Singer is logically consistent. He is true to his faith. But most liberals are not willing to go there and haven't seen (or refuse to face up to) the implications of their view.
In most cases, support for the destruction of human life by abortion or for embryonic research is not carefully researched. Such views are held as a matter of faith. They're the convictions of "our kind of people," the convictions of people who consider themselves to be sophisticated and bright.
Daniel Dennett, a philosopher, even has a name for people who share the secularist orthodoxy. He calls them, and he includes himself in this, the Brights. And the implication of that is the others are the Dumbs or the Stupids.
The Dims.
That's a better word, the Dims.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Friday, June 30, 2006
Finally!!!
Today the Reds designated for assignment LHP Chris Hammond and recalled from Louisville LHP Brian Shackelford. Hammond went 1-1, 6.91 in 29 relief apps for the Reds.
David Weathers is next.
David Weathers is next.
The Hip Hop Culture is Just Plain Stupid
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lil' Kim says she'll be celebrating Independence Day early this year.
The rapper, who was sentenced in September to a year and a day in prison for lying about a shootout outside a hip-hop radio station, is being released Monday, the day before July Fourth.
...The case stemmed from a gun battle that erupted outside WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97, when Lil' Kim's entourage crossed paths with a rival rap group, Capone-N-Noreaga, whose song "Bang, Bang" contains an insult to her from rival Foxy Brown. One man was hurt in the shootout that followed.
The rapper, who was sentenced in September to a year and a day in prison for lying about a shootout outside a hip-hop radio station, is being released Monday, the day before July Fourth.
...The case stemmed from a gun battle that erupted outside WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97, when Lil' Kim's entourage crossed paths with a rival rap group, Capone-N-Noreaga, whose song "Bang, Bang" contains an insult to her from rival Foxy Brown. One man was hurt in the shootout that followed.
The Frozen Generation
Interesting article in Mother Jones about the roughly 400,000 human embryos that are sitting in a frozen limbo around the country. Here's a few paragraphs about how adults ineract with the...dare I say...babies:
...the impact of the embryo is also taking place on a more subtle and personal level. The glut’s very existence illuminates how the newest reproductive technologies are complicating questions about life; issues that many people thought they had resolved are being revived and reconsidered, in a different emotional context. As with ultrasound technology—which permits parents to visualize a fetus in utero—ivf allows many patients to form an emotional attachment to a form of human life that is very early, it’s true, but still life, and still human. People bond with photos of three-day-old, eight-cell embryos. They ardently wish for them to grow into children. The experience can be transforming: “I was like, ‘I created these things, I feel a sense of responsibility for them,’” is how one ivf patient put it. Describing herself as staunchly pro-choice, this patient found that she could not rest until she located a person—actually, two people—willing to bring her excess embryos to term. The presence of embryos for whom (for which?) they feel a certain undefined moral responsibility presents tens of thousands of Americans with a dilemma for which nothing—nothing—has prepared them.
...For virtually all patients, [one doctor] found, the disposition decision was torturous, the end result unpredictable. “Nothing feels right,” he reported patients telling him. “They literally don’t know what the right, the good, the moral thing is.” In the fluid process of making a decision—any decision—some try to talk themselves into a clinical detachment. “Little lives, that’s how I thought about them,” said one woman. “But you have to switch gears and think, ‘They’re not lives, they’re cells. They’re science.’ That’s kind of what I had to switch to.” Others were not able to make that switch, thinking of their embryos as almost sentient. “My husband talked about donating them to research, but there is some concern that this would not be a peaceful way to go,” said one woman. Another said, “You start saying to yourself, ‘Every one of these is potentially a life.’”
...the impact of the embryo is also taking place on a more subtle and personal level. The glut’s very existence illuminates how the newest reproductive technologies are complicating questions about life; issues that many people thought they had resolved are being revived and reconsidered, in a different emotional context. As with ultrasound technology—which permits parents to visualize a fetus in utero—ivf allows many patients to form an emotional attachment to a form of human life that is very early, it’s true, but still life, and still human. People bond with photos of three-day-old, eight-cell embryos. They ardently wish for them to grow into children. The experience can be transforming: “I was like, ‘I created these things, I feel a sense of responsibility for them,’” is how one ivf patient put it. Describing herself as staunchly pro-choice, this patient found that she could not rest until she located a person—actually, two people—willing to bring her excess embryos to term. The presence of embryos for whom (for which?) they feel a certain undefined moral responsibility presents tens of thousands of Americans with a dilemma for which nothing—nothing—has prepared them.
...For virtually all patients, [one doctor] found, the disposition decision was torturous, the end result unpredictable. “Nothing feels right,” he reported patients telling him. “They literally don’t know what the right, the good, the moral thing is.” In the fluid process of making a decision—any decision—some try to talk themselves into a clinical detachment. “Little lives, that’s how I thought about them,” said one woman. “But you have to switch gears and think, ‘They’re not lives, they’re cells. They’re science.’ That’s kind of what I had to switch to.” Others were not able to make that switch, thinking of their embryos as almost sentient. “My husband talked about donating them to research, but there is some concern that this would not be a peaceful way to go,” said one woman. Another said, “You start saying to yourself, ‘Every one of these is potentially a life.’”
The Feast of the First Martyrs
Today, many Christians celebrate the feast of the first martyrs of the Church of Rome. To learn more about the early Roman church, martyrdom and the Eucharist, read Mike Aquilina's article The Martyr's Cup. Good stuff.
Wait a Minute...All of Those Commercials Tell Me New Toys Will Make Me Happy
Your next raise might buy you a more lavish vacation, a better car, or a few extra bedrooms, but it's not likely to buy you much happiness.
Measuring the quality of people's daily lives via surveys, the results of a study published in the June 30 issue of journal Science reveals that income plays a rather insignificant role in day-to-day happiness.
Although most people imagine that if they had more money they could do more fun things and perhaps be happier, the reality seems to be that those with higher incomes tend to be tenser, and spend less time on simple leisurely activities.
Measuring the quality of people's daily lives via surveys, the results of a study published in the June 30 issue of journal Science reveals that income plays a rather insignificant role in day-to-day happiness.
Although most people imagine that if they had more money they could do more fun things and perhaps be happier, the reality seems to be that those with higher incomes tend to be tenser, and spend less time on simple leisurely activities.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
An Important Distinction Lost On The Modern Church
From Touchstone Magazine:
The marketed church confuses Sunday worship and catechism with evangelism and outreach. What is the difference? Mere Christian Sunday worship has always been for the Christian community (the baptized) to offer thanks to God, to sing his praise, and to feed on the Word. Evangelism has been done by conversation in the marketplace, preaching in the public square, but even more, simply by the witness of increasingly holy lives.
In the Orthodox tradition in some parts of the world, even the catechumens preparing to be baptized are still dismissed before the Nicene Creed is said. As it was in the early Church, they are not permitted to be in the church during the Eucharist. This may be seen as extreme today (and is, even within the Orthodox tradition), but it makes clear who is the “audience” of Sunday morning services: God, not the gathered. The baptized faithful come to offer their thanks to him, to be transformed by him, not to be convinced that he is Lord.
The marketed church confuses Sunday worship and catechism with evangelism and outreach. What is the difference? Mere Christian Sunday worship has always been for the Christian community (the baptized) to offer thanks to God, to sing his praise, and to feed on the Word. Evangelism has been done by conversation in the marketplace, preaching in the public square, but even more, simply by the witness of increasingly holy lives.
In the Orthodox tradition in some parts of the world, even the catechumens preparing to be baptized are still dismissed before the Nicene Creed is said. As it was in the early Church, they are not permitted to be in the church during the Eucharist. This may be seen as extreme today (and is, even within the Orthodox tradition), but it makes clear who is the “audience” of Sunday morning services: God, not the gathered. The baptized faithful come to offer their thanks to him, to be transformed by him, not to be convinced that he is Lord.
Quote of the Day
"Nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of faith: the politician who shows up at a black church around election time and claps--off rhythm--to the gospel choir." -- Senator Barack Obama
Will we hear calls for sensitivity training (he could join fellow Chicagoan Ozzie Guillen)? Probably not.
Will we hear calls for sensitivity training (he could join fellow Chicagoan Ozzie Guillen)? Probably not.
This Would Wake Me Up
Israeli warplanes buzzed the summer residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad early Wednesday, military officials said, in a message aimed at pressuring the Syrian leader to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier.
The officials said on condition of anonymity that the fighter jets flew over Assad's palace in a low-altitude overnight raid near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved, and Assad was home at the time.
The officials said on condition of anonymity that the fighter jets flew over Assad's palace in a low-altitude overnight raid near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved, and Assad was home at the time.
Encouraging News from Iraq
Iraq oil production at highest level since invasion
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Iraq is producing an average of 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, its highest level since the war began in 2003, an oil ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
Assem Jihad said 1.6 million barrels are being exported daily from the southern port of Basra, while 300,000 are being pumped from the northern city of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
The other 600,000 barrels produced daily are for domestic use, he said.
Iraq, a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, sits atop the world's third-highest proven reserves. Its estimated 115 billion barrels are exceeded in OPEC only by Saudi Arabia and Iran.
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Iraq is producing an average of 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, its highest level since the war began in 2003, an oil ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
Assem Jihad said 1.6 million barrels are being exported daily from the southern port of Basra, while 300,000 are being pumped from the northern city of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
The other 600,000 barrels produced daily are for domestic use, he said.
Iraq, a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, sits atop the world's third-highest proven reserves. Its estimated 115 billion barrels are exceeded in OPEC only by Saudi Arabia and Iran.
That's A Lot Of Beer
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (AP) -- In a desperate effort to fight the ravages of alcoholism on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, leaders of the Oglala Sioux tribe are threatening to set up roadblocks Wednesday and stop members from bringing in beer bought at four outlying stores.
Alcohol has long been banned on the 16,500-member reservation, where drinking has been a scourge for generations. But four stores in Whiteclay, Nebraska, a dusty village a few hundred feet outside the reservation, sell an estimated 4 million cans of beer every year, mostly to Indians.
Tribal members said that from now on, they will confiscate beer bought in Whiteclay.
I'm not sure how big this tribe is, but 4 million cans of beer a year translates into 10,959 cans a day, or 457 cases. That's 457 cases of beer, 365 days a year. Wow!
Alcohol has long been banned on the 16,500-member reservation, where drinking has been a scourge for generations. But four stores in Whiteclay, Nebraska, a dusty village a few hundred feet outside the reservation, sell an estimated 4 million cans of beer every year, mostly to Indians.
Tribal members said that from now on, they will confiscate beer bought in Whiteclay.
I'm not sure how big this tribe is, but 4 million cans of beer a year translates into 10,959 cans a day, or 457 cases. That's 457 cases of beer, 365 days a year. Wow!
P-Man at the Florence Freedom Game
Check out this photo gallery with lots of images of the P-Man. His team is in the yellow shirts.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
The News, Media & You
Why is Dan Rather not considered one of the wisest men in America?
Perhaps I should substitute “intelligent” or “knowledgeable” for “wisest”, though I suspect the reaction would be the same. The question appears random, even absurd. But consider: Last week Rather announced he was leaving CBS News, ending a 56 year career as a reporter and broadcaster. His career spanned from the assassination of JFK to the Iraq conflict. He covered eight U.S. presidents and hundreds of global leaders. He witnessed hundreds of conflicts, from Cold War battles abroad to Civil Rights struggles a home. A conservative estimate would be that he spent roughly 75,000 hours reporting, researching, or reading about current events.
So if that level of intimacy with the news does not make Rather notably more wise, intelligent, or knowledgeable, then what exactly is the benefit? And what do we expect to gain by spending an hour or two a day keeping up with the latest headlines? Tell people that you rarely read blogs, listen to talk radio, or watch reality TV and they will make no general assumptions about your lack of intellect. Tell people you never watch TV news (“I prefer reruns of Seinfeld.”), rarely listen to radio news broadcasts (“I’m usually listening to an audiobooks instead…”), and only read newspapers on Sundays (“…mainly for the comics and book reviews…”) and the reaction will be quite different. They will automatically peg you as a person who is ill-informed, out-of-touch, and possibly even anti-intellectual. The same people who would dismiss the notion that Dan Rather is an cosmopolitan intellect, will automatically assume that their forms of entertainment make them wiser, smarter, or at least “better informed” than you.
Why do so many people buy into the ridiculous notion that a daily diet of “current events’ is anything other than a mindless (though perhaps harmless) form of amusement? Even ardent news-hounds will admit that the bulk of daily “news” is nothing more than trivia or gossip. How much of what happens every day truly is all that important? How many of us have ever even stopped to ask why we have daily news?
As University of Florida history professor C. John Sommerville notes in his excellent book, How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Information Age:
"The product of the news business is change, not wisdom. Wisdom has to do with seeing things in their largest context, whereas news is structured in a way that destroys the larger context. You have to do certain things to information if you want to sell it on a daily basis. You have to make each day’s report seem important. And you do that by reducing the importance of its context."
This focus on change has had a crippling effect on conservatism. Once we believed our mission as conservatives was to "stand athwart history yelling 'Stop.'" Change was something to be undertaken slowly and with reflection. After all, the important institutions – family, religion, government – shouldn’t change on a whim. But now even conservatives are becoming more like liberals. We don’t just ask what government has done for us lately; we ask what it has done for us today. We don’t just ask for change when it is needed, we ask for it daily.
The late media critic Neil Postman once wrote that the media has given us the conjunction, “Now…this”, which “does not connect anything to anything but does the opposite: separates everything from everything.”
'“Now…this” is commonly used on radio and television newscasts to indicate that what one has just heard or seen has no relevance to what one is about to hear or see, or possibly to anything one is ever likely to hear or see. The phrase is a means of acknowledging the fact that the world as mapped by the speeded-up electronic media has no order or meaning and is not to be taken seriously. There is no murder so brutal, no earthquake so devastating, no political blunder so costly - for that matter, no ball score so tantalizing or weather report so threatening - that it cannot be erased from our minds by a newscaster saying, "Now ... this."'
As a Christian, I’m expected to reject this “Now…this” mindset in favor of an eternal perspective, viewing events not just in their historical but in their eschatological context. But I can’t do that if my attention is focused on the churning detritus of the 24 hour news cycle. Besides, events that are truly important are rarely those captured on the front page of a daily paper.
As Malcolm Muggeridge, himself a journalist, admitted, “I’ve often thought…that if I’d been a journalist in the Holy Land at the time of our Lord’s ministry, I should have spent my time looking into what was happening in Herod’s court. I’d be wanting to sign Salome for her exclusive memoirs, and finding out what Pilate was up to, and…I would have missed completely the most important event there ever was.”
Indeed, imagine if Dan Rather had been a reporter during that era: “…three revolutionaries were crucified on Golgatha today. Included among the executions was a man called Jesus, who some Jews considered to be the messiah. Those hopes were dashed, however, around three P.M. when Roman soldiers declared Jesus dead. And now…this….”
Perhaps I should substitute “intelligent” or “knowledgeable” for “wisest”, though I suspect the reaction would be the same. The question appears random, even absurd. But consider: Last week Rather announced he was leaving CBS News, ending a 56 year career as a reporter and broadcaster. His career spanned from the assassination of JFK to the Iraq conflict. He covered eight U.S. presidents and hundreds of global leaders. He witnessed hundreds of conflicts, from Cold War battles abroad to Civil Rights struggles a home. A conservative estimate would be that he spent roughly 75,000 hours reporting, researching, or reading about current events.
So if that level of intimacy with the news does not make Rather notably more wise, intelligent, or knowledgeable, then what exactly is the benefit? And what do we expect to gain by spending an hour or two a day keeping up with the latest headlines? Tell people that you rarely read blogs, listen to talk radio, or watch reality TV and they will make no general assumptions about your lack of intellect. Tell people you never watch TV news (“I prefer reruns of Seinfeld.”), rarely listen to radio news broadcasts (“I’m usually listening to an audiobooks instead…”), and only read newspapers on Sundays (“…mainly for the comics and book reviews…”) and the reaction will be quite different. They will automatically peg you as a person who is ill-informed, out-of-touch, and possibly even anti-intellectual. The same people who would dismiss the notion that Dan Rather is an cosmopolitan intellect, will automatically assume that their forms of entertainment make them wiser, smarter, or at least “better informed” than you.
Why do so many people buy into the ridiculous notion that a daily diet of “current events’ is anything other than a mindless (though perhaps harmless) form of amusement? Even ardent news-hounds will admit that the bulk of daily “news” is nothing more than trivia or gossip. How much of what happens every day truly is all that important? How many of us have ever even stopped to ask why we have daily news?
As University of Florida history professor C. John Sommerville notes in his excellent book, How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Information Age:
"The product of the news business is change, not wisdom. Wisdom has to do with seeing things in their largest context, whereas news is structured in a way that destroys the larger context. You have to do certain things to information if you want to sell it on a daily basis. You have to make each day’s report seem important. And you do that by reducing the importance of its context."
This focus on change has had a crippling effect on conservatism. Once we believed our mission as conservatives was to "stand athwart history yelling 'Stop.'" Change was something to be undertaken slowly and with reflection. After all, the important institutions – family, religion, government – shouldn’t change on a whim. But now even conservatives are becoming more like liberals. We don’t just ask what government has done for us lately; we ask what it has done for us today. We don’t just ask for change when it is needed, we ask for it daily.
The late media critic Neil Postman once wrote that the media has given us the conjunction, “Now…this”, which “does not connect anything to anything but does the opposite: separates everything from everything.”
'“Now…this” is commonly used on radio and television newscasts to indicate that what one has just heard or seen has no relevance to what one is about to hear or see, or possibly to anything one is ever likely to hear or see. The phrase is a means of acknowledging the fact that the world as mapped by the speeded-up electronic media has no order or meaning and is not to be taken seriously. There is no murder so brutal, no earthquake so devastating, no political blunder so costly - for that matter, no ball score so tantalizing or weather report so threatening - that it cannot be erased from our minds by a newscaster saying, "Now ... this."'
As a Christian, I’m expected to reject this “Now…this” mindset in favor of an eternal perspective, viewing events not just in their historical but in their eschatological context. But I can’t do that if my attention is focused on the churning detritus of the 24 hour news cycle. Besides, events that are truly important are rarely those captured on the front page of a daily paper.
As Malcolm Muggeridge, himself a journalist, admitted, “I’ve often thought…that if I’d been a journalist in the Holy Land at the time of our Lord’s ministry, I should have spent my time looking into what was happening in Herod’s court. I’d be wanting to sign Salome for her exclusive memoirs, and finding out what Pilate was up to, and…I would have missed completely the most important event there ever was.”
Indeed, imagine if Dan Rather had been a reporter during that era: “…three revolutionaries were crucified on Golgatha today. Included among the executions was a man called Jesus, who some Jews considered to be the messiah. Those hopes were dashed, however, around three P.M. when Roman soldiers declared Jesus dead. And now…this….”
The Greatest Correction Ever
From the UK's Sun online version:
On 13 February we published an article headed "Who bum it?" reporting that two Premiership footballers and a music industry figure had a "gay romp" in which a mobile phone was used as a "gay sex toy". On 16 February we published a picture of Mr Cole and his fiancee headed 'Ashley's got a good taste in rings'. Some readers have understood that Mr Cole was one of the two Premiership players involved in the gay sex and that Choice FM DJ, Masterstepz, was the music industry figure.We are happy to make clear that Mr Cole and Masterstepz were not involved in any such activities. We apologise to them for any distress caused and we are paying them each a sum by way of damages. The Sun wishes Ashley all the best for next Saturday's World Cup quarter-final.
On 13 February we published an article headed "Who bum it?" reporting that two Premiership footballers and a music industry figure had a "gay romp" in which a mobile phone was used as a "gay sex toy". On 16 February we published a picture of Mr Cole and his fiancee headed 'Ashley's got a good taste in rings'. Some readers have understood that Mr Cole was one of the two Premiership players involved in the gay sex and that Choice FM DJ, Masterstepz, was the music industry figure.We are happy to make clear that Mr Cole and Masterstepz were not involved in any such activities. We apologise to them for any distress caused and we are paying them each a sum by way of damages. The Sun wishes Ashley all the best for next Saturday's World Cup quarter-final.
Soccer, Match Fixing, and "Falling" Out of a Second Story Window
TURIN, Italy (AP) -- Juventus said its former player Gianluca Pessotto fell from a building at the club's headquarters on Tuesday and has been hospitalized in a serious condition.
"Gianluca suffered multiple fractures, but his life is not in danger," Juventus spokesman Marco Girotto told the ANSA news agency.
Molinette hospital spokesman Pierpaolo Berra described Pessotto's condition as "grave" and said he was undergoing X-rays and other medical tests.
Berra said there would be another update at 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT).
The 35-year-old Pessotto was appointed Juventus' team manager after the club's entire board resigned in May due to the massive match-fixing scandal rocking Italy.
It was unclear where Pessotto fell from. Early reports said he had fallen out of a second-floor window, but later reports indicated he had fallen from the building's roof while holding rosary beads.
Juventus said it was unable to give details and was looking into all possibilities.
"Gianluca suffered multiple fractures, but his life is not in danger," Juventus spokesman Marco Girotto told the ANSA news agency.
Molinette hospital spokesman Pierpaolo Berra described Pessotto's condition as "grave" and said he was undergoing X-rays and other medical tests.
Berra said there would be another update at 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT).
The 35-year-old Pessotto was appointed Juventus' team manager after the club's entire board resigned in May due to the massive match-fixing scandal rocking Italy.
It was unclear where Pessotto fell from. Early reports said he had fallen out of a second-floor window, but later reports indicated he had fallen from the building's roof while holding rosary beads.
Juventus said it was unable to give details and was looking into all possibilities.
New Discovery, Same Old Themes
Egyptology Blog alerts us to the recent discovery of a cache of seventh- or eighth-century Coptic manuscripts in Egypt. Since these texts didn’t rehabilitate traitors — or portray the Messiah as an itinerant organ grinder who was married to the Venus de Milo — they were ignored by the media. Instead of novelties, these books just repeated, like most ancient Christian manuscripts, the same old (sigh) orthodoxy.
Those of you who are interested in such things may read on.
A team of Polish researchers found the leather-bound papyrus books in the trash heap of an ancient monastery in the village of Gourna near Luxor. The manuscripts contain the oldest known complete Coptic translation of the biblical Book of Isaiah. Other texts in the collection are the “Code of Pseudo-Basili,” a collection of rules governing Church discipline; a life of St. Pistentios the bishop; and the apocryphal “Passion of St. Peter.”
The archeological team has posted a news release in English.
Those of you who are interested in such things may read on.
A team of Polish researchers found the leather-bound papyrus books in the trash heap of an ancient monastery in the village of Gourna near Luxor. The manuscripts contain the oldest known complete Coptic translation of the biblical Book of Isaiah. Other texts in the collection are the “Code of Pseudo-Basili,” a collection of rules governing Church discipline; a life of St. Pistentios the bishop; and the apocryphal “Passion of St. Peter.”
The archeological team has posted a news release in English.
This Is Not Good
I finally found a lawsuit where the victim was actually under-compensated:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --A former handyman has won more than $400,000 in a lawsuit over a penile implant that has given him a 10-year erection.
Charles "Chick" Lennon, 68, received the steel and plastic implant in 1996, about two years before the impotence drug Viagra went on the market. The Dura-II is designed to allow impotent men to position the penis upward for sex, then lower it.
But Lennon can't position his penis downward. He can no longer hug people, ride a bike, swim or wear bathing trunks because of the pain and embarrassment, and wears a fanny pack across his front to hide his condition. He has become a recluse and is uncomfortable being around his grandchildren, his lawyer said.
In 2004, a jury awarded him $750,000. A judge called that excessive and reduced it to $400,000. On Friday, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed that award in a ruling that turned on a procedural matter.
"I don't know any man who for any amount of money would want to trade and take my client's life," said Jules D'Alessandro, Lennon's attorney. "He's not a whole person."
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --A former handyman has won more than $400,000 in a lawsuit over a penile implant that has given him a 10-year erection.
Charles "Chick" Lennon, 68, received the steel and plastic implant in 1996, about two years before the impotence drug Viagra went on the market. The Dura-II is designed to allow impotent men to position the penis upward for sex, then lower it.
But Lennon can't position his penis downward. He can no longer hug people, ride a bike, swim or wear bathing trunks because of the pain and embarrassment, and wears a fanny pack across his front to hide his condition. He has become a recluse and is uncomfortable being around his grandchildren, his lawyer said.
In 2004, a jury awarded him $750,000. A judge called that excessive and reduced it to $400,000. On Friday, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed that award in a ruling that turned on a procedural matter.
"I don't know any man who for any amount of money would want to trade and take my client's life," said Jules D'Alessandro, Lennon's attorney. "He's not a whole person."
Quote of the Day
"I have no problem with Jesus or God. I have a problem with people sitting there and saying that Jesus and God will find the way. I have a problem with Christian men who won't go down and confront the drug dealers." -- Bill Cosby, speaking during a nationwide tour about challenges facing black communities
"He Was Deemed Too Intoxicated to be Questioned"
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose was arrested in Stockholm early Tuesday after allegedly biting a security guard in the leg outside his hotel, police said.
Rose -- who performed in the Swedish capital on Monday evening -- was being held on suspicion of attacking and threatening the guard, as well as causing damage to the Berns Hotel where the alleged scuffle took place, police spokeswoman Towe Hagg said.
Hagg told The Associated Press that Rose was intoxicated during the confrontation, which broke out around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), and would face questioning after he sobers up.
"He was deemed too intoxicated to be questioned right away," she said.
Rose -- who performed in the Swedish capital on Monday evening -- was being held on suspicion of attacking and threatening the guard, as well as causing damage to the Berns Hotel where the alleged scuffle took place, police spokeswoman Towe Hagg said.
Hagg told The Associated Press that Rose was intoxicated during the confrontation, which broke out around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), and would face questioning after he sobers up.
"He was deemed too intoxicated to be questioned right away," she said.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Quote of the Day
More Buffett:
"Neither [late wife] Susie nor I ever thought we should pass huge amounts of money along to our children," said Warren Buffett, who said he plans to give away his remaining stock holdings after his death but that he has "quite a bit of cash" he still plans to leave to those close to him. "Our children are great," he told Fortune. "But I would argue that when your kids have all the advantages anyway, in terms of how they grow up and the opportunities they have for education, including what they learn at home - I would say it's neither right nor rational to be flooding them with money."
"Neither [late wife] Susie nor I ever thought we should pass huge amounts of money along to our children," said Warren Buffett, who said he plans to give away his remaining stock holdings after his death but that he has "quite a bit of cash" he still plans to leave to those close to him. "Our children are great," he told Fortune. "But I would argue that when your kids have all the advantages anyway, in terms of how they grow up and the opportunities they have for education, including what they learn at home - I would say it's neither right nor rational to be flooding them with money."
World Cup Continues to Take a Beating
This time from The Weekly Standard:
Mostly soccer is just guys in shorts running around aimlessly, a metaphor for the meaninglessness of life. Whole blocks of game time transpire during which absolutely nothing happens. Fortunately, this permits fans to slip out for a bratwurst and a beer without missing anything important. It's little wonder fans at times resort to brawling amongst themselves in the grandstands, as there is so little transpiring on the field of play to occupy their wandering attention. Watching men in shorts scampering around has its limitations. It's like gazing too long at a painting by de Kooning or Jackson Pollock. The more you look, the less there is to see.
DESPITE HEROIC EFFORTS of soccer moms, suburban liberals, and World Cup hype, soccer will never catch on as a big time sport in America. No game in which actually scoring goals is of such little importance could possibly occupy the attention of average Americans. Our country has yet to succumb to the nihilism, existentialism, and anomie that have overtaken Europe. A game about nothing, in which scoring is purely incidental, holds scant interest for Americans who still believe the world makes sense, that life has a larger meaning and structure, that being is not an end in itself, being qua being.
Another reason why soccer will never enthrall Americans is that the game is contrary to nature. What is it that is unique to the physical makeup of human beings that sets us apart from the animal world? Two things: Our large brains and our grasping hands with opposable thumbs. Our big brain is why we're called homo sapiens, thinking man. And our ability to use our hands to grasp and manipulate objects is why one of our early ancestors was designated homo habilis, handy man. Human beings are thinking toolmakers. We're able to imagine the arrowhead in the stone and use our hands to carve it out of the rock. These two uniquely human traits have allowed us to become the dominant species on the planet.
Mostly soccer is just guys in shorts running around aimlessly, a metaphor for the meaninglessness of life. Whole blocks of game time transpire during which absolutely nothing happens. Fortunately, this permits fans to slip out for a bratwurst and a beer without missing anything important. It's little wonder fans at times resort to brawling amongst themselves in the grandstands, as there is so little transpiring on the field of play to occupy their wandering attention. Watching men in shorts scampering around has its limitations. It's like gazing too long at a painting by de Kooning or Jackson Pollock. The more you look, the less there is to see.
DESPITE HEROIC EFFORTS of soccer moms, suburban liberals, and World Cup hype, soccer will never catch on as a big time sport in America. No game in which actually scoring goals is of such little importance could possibly occupy the attention of average Americans. Our country has yet to succumb to the nihilism, existentialism, and anomie that have overtaken Europe. A game about nothing, in which scoring is purely incidental, holds scant interest for Americans who still believe the world makes sense, that life has a larger meaning and structure, that being is not an end in itself, being qua being.
Another reason why soccer will never enthrall Americans is that the game is contrary to nature. What is it that is unique to the physical makeup of human beings that sets us apart from the animal world? Two things: Our large brains and our grasping hands with opposable thumbs. Our big brain is why we're called homo sapiens, thinking man. And our ability to use our hands to grasp and manipulate objects is why one of our early ancestors was designated homo habilis, handy man. Human beings are thinking toolmakers. We're able to imagine the arrowhead in the stone and use our hands to carve it out of the rock. These two uniquely human traits have allowed us to become the dominant species on the planet.
WOW!
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is donating a total of $37 billion -- most of his personal fortune -- to a foundation started by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and to several family foundations, making it the largest-ever individual charitable gift in the United States.
Buffett, 75, is the chief executive of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway. He is worth an estimated $44 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the second-richest man behind Gates, who is worth about $50 billion.
The $37 billion comprises about 85 percent of Buffett's fortune.
In a letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett, 75, said he will set aside 10 million shares of Berkshire class B common stock for the foundation.
Based on the stock's per-share price of $3071.01 as of Friday, the total amount for the Gates foundation comes to about $30 billion.
The amount is the largest commitment to a philanthropic cause ever made by one person in the United States, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
"Even if you look at what (John D.) Rockefeller and (Andrew) Carnegie gave historically -- even if you do it in today's numbers, it doesn't come close to that," she said.
Buffett, 75, is the chief executive of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway. He is worth an estimated $44 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the second-richest man behind Gates, who is worth about $50 billion.
The $37 billion comprises about 85 percent of Buffett's fortune.
In a letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett, 75, said he will set aside 10 million shares of Berkshire class B common stock for the foundation.
Based on the stock's per-share price of $3071.01 as of Friday, the total amount for the Gates foundation comes to about $30 billion.
The amount is the largest commitment to a philanthropic cause ever made by one person in the United States, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
"Even if you look at what (John D.) Rockefeller and (Andrew) Carnegie gave historically -- even if you do it in today's numbers, it doesn't come close to that," she said.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Stating the Obvious
Francis Collins, head of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, and one of the leaders who helped "crack" the human genome code, says there is a rational basis for belief in a creator. He sees it in the complexity of DNA.
“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe."
“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe."
Friday, June 23, 2006
This Is Disgraceful
According to a new "American Weddings" study conducted by The Fairchild Bridal Group, the average couple walks down the aisle dragging a $26,327 price tag. To put things in perspective, the U.S. wedding industry generated $125 billion in 2005, about the same amount as Ireland's GDP.
With all of the need around us, is this the best we can do?
With all of the need around us, is this the best we can do?
And There's More
COLUMBUS, OHIO (6/21/06)-While addressing a morning Eucharist at the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori declared, "Our mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation. And you and I are His children."
What the *^%&?
What the *^%&?
Nice
From an interview with the next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA:
Interviewer: So what happens after I die?
SCHORI: What happens after you die?.. uhh– I would ask you that question.. but what’s important about your life; what is it that has made you a unique individual.. what is the passion that has kept you getting up every morning and engaging the world..uh.. there are hints within that about what it is that continues after you die.
Interviewer: So what happens after I die?
SCHORI: What happens after you die?.. uhh– I would ask you that question.. but what’s important about your life; what is it that has made you a unique individual.. what is the passion that has kept you getting up every morning and engaging the world..uh.. there are hints within that about what it is that continues after you die.
Why Soccer Will Never Be Accepted In America?
But there is one obstacle to soccer acceptance that seems insurmountable: the flop-'n'-bawl.
Turn on a World Cup game, and within 15 minutes you'll see a grown man fall to the ground, clutch his leg and writhe in agony after being tapped on the shoulder by an opposing player. Soccer players do this routinely in an attempt to get the referees to call foul. If the ref doesn't immediately bite, the player gets up and moves along.
Making a show of your physical vulnerability runs counter to every impulse in American sports. And pretending to be hurt simply compounds the outrage. Basketball has floppers, but the players who do it--like Bill Laimbeer, whose flopping skills helped the Detroit Pistons win two NBA championships--are widely vilified and, in any case, they're pretending to be fouled; they never pretend to be injured. When baseball players are hit by a pitch, the code of conduct dictates that they can walk it off, if they must, but by no means may they rub the point of impact. And pretending you're hurt? There's not even a rule against that--every red-blooded American baseball cheater knows nobody would ever do that.
Turn on a World Cup game, and within 15 minutes you'll see a grown man fall to the ground, clutch his leg and writhe in agony after being tapped on the shoulder by an opposing player. Soccer players do this routinely in an attempt to get the referees to call foul. If the ref doesn't immediately bite, the player gets up and moves along.
Making a show of your physical vulnerability runs counter to every impulse in American sports. And pretending to be hurt simply compounds the outrage. Basketball has floppers, but the players who do it--like Bill Laimbeer, whose flopping skills helped the Detroit Pistons win two NBA championships--are widely vilified and, in any case, they're pretending to be fouled; they never pretend to be injured. When baseball players are hit by a pitch, the code of conduct dictates that they can walk it off, if they must, but by no means may they rub the point of impact. And pretending you're hurt? There's not even a rule against that--every red-blooded American baseball cheater knows nobody would ever do that.
Quote of the Day
The press can both simulate public opinion and miseducate it. Thus we may see terrorists heroized, or secret matters, pertaining to one's nation's defense, publicly revealed, or we may witness shameless intrusion on the privacy of well-known people under the slogan: 'everyone is entitled to know everything.' But this is a false slogan, characteristic of a false era: people also have the right not to know, and it is a much more valuable one. The right not to have their divine souls stuffed with gossip, nonsense, vain talk. A person who works and leads a meaningful life does not need this excessive burdening flow of information.
Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. In-depth analysis of a problem is anathema to the press. It stops at sensational formulas. Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, from a speech at Harvard in 1978
Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. In-depth analysis of a problem is anathema to the press. It stops at sensational formulas. Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, from a speech at Harvard in 1978
Divided Loyalties
Homer Bailey Update
Reds minor league prodigy Homer Baily made his AA debut last night:
6 innings
5 hits
0 runs
0 walks
7 k's
Fastball hitting 95-96
Curveball 76
6 innings
5 hits
0 runs
0 walks
7 k's
Fastball hitting 95-96
Curveball 76
Yet Another Pathetic Newsroom
The story from the LA Times is about pitcher ace pitcher Luke Hochevar of the University of Tennessee and his professional agent Scott Boras. Here is the original passage in the story:
Being selected No. 1 overall affirmed that his decision to shun the Dodgers had been the right move, Hochevar said.
“Scott had a plan in this, and his master plan definitely worked,” Hochevar said. “It was tough through it — you go through it and you fight it — but when it all comes down to it, Scott has a plan for you, and he definitely worked a miracle in my case.”
Now, to most normal people the "Scott had a plan" and "Scott has a plan" talk probably sounds a bit weird. Well, that's because it's not what he said.
An article in Sports on June 7 quoted pitcher Luke Hochevar, drafted by the Kansas City Royals, as referring to “Scott” — Scott Boras, his agent — when in fact he used the word “God.” Here is the correct quote: “God had a plan in this, and his master plan definitely worked. It was tough through it — you go through it and you fight it — but when it all comes down to it, God has a plan for you, and he definitely worked a miracle in my case.”
Huh? I don't think the reporter could have mistaken the sound of the word "Scott" for "God"...that's a stretch. Could it be the reporter had NEVER heard someone speak about God in this way? Bingo. It's time for the newsroom types to get out of the office and expand their cocooned, small lives.
Being selected No. 1 overall affirmed that his decision to shun the Dodgers had been the right move, Hochevar said.
“Scott had a plan in this, and his master plan definitely worked,” Hochevar said. “It was tough through it — you go through it and you fight it — but when it all comes down to it, Scott has a plan for you, and he definitely worked a miracle in my case.”
Now, to most normal people the "Scott had a plan" and "Scott has a plan" talk probably sounds a bit weird. Well, that's because it's not what he said.
An article in Sports on June 7 quoted pitcher Luke Hochevar, drafted by the Kansas City Royals, as referring to “Scott” — Scott Boras, his agent — when in fact he used the word “God.” Here is the correct quote: “God had a plan in this, and his master plan definitely worked. It was tough through it — you go through it and you fight it — but when it all comes down to it, God has a plan for you, and he definitely worked a miracle in my case.”
Huh? I don't think the reporter could have mistaken the sound of the word "Scott" for "God"...that's a stretch. Could it be the reporter had NEVER heard someone speak about God in this way? Bingo. It's time for the newsroom types to get out of the office and expand their cocooned, small lives.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
NBA Trivia
There are two NBA teams with no foreign-born players on their roster. One is the world champion Miami Heat. Can you name the other? It will surprise you.
World Cup Update: Ghana 2, USA 1
No offense to Ghana, but if we can't beat freakin' Ghana (or anybody else for that matter), it's time to hang up the cleats.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
The Best Interview in Sports
On Tuesday to reporters, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen referred to Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Around the Horn contributor Jay Mariotti as a derogatory name for a homosexual.
Angry with a recent column by Mariotti critical of Guillen's handling of recently demoted relief pitcher Sean Tracey and upset with Mariotti with columns of the past, Guillen said to reporters when referring to Mariotti before Tuesday's game with the Cardinals, "What a piece of [expletive] he is, [expletive] fag."
"I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country."
Ozzie Guillen
Mariotti was covering the NBA Finals Tuesday night and was not present to hear what Guillen said.
Columnist Greg Couch of the Sun-Times wrote a column Wednesday in response, calling for commissioner Bud Selig to suspend Guillen for his use of a "hurtful homophobic" term.
Before writing the column, Couch asked Guillen for an explanation. Guillen defended his use of the term "fag" by saying this about homosexuals and the use of the word in question: "I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country.''
Guillen said that in his native Venezuela, that word is not a reference to a person's sexuality, but to his courage. He said he was saying that Mariotti is "not man enough to meet me and talk about [things before writing].''
Guillen also told Couch that he has gay friends, attends WNBA games, went to a Madonna concert and plans to go to the Gay Games in Chicago.
"I called that of this man [Mariotti],'' he told Couch. "I'm not trying to hurt anybody [else]."
Scott Reifert, the White Sox's vice president of communications, offered to apologize on behalf of the organization when approached by Couch.
"To anybody who was insulted or hurt by that comment ... as an organization, we'll certainly apologize," Reifert told Couch.
I guess the next time I'm accused of being homophobic, I'll tell of my experiences at WNBA games and Madonna concerts.
Angry with a recent column by Mariotti critical of Guillen's handling of recently demoted relief pitcher Sean Tracey and upset with Mariotti with columns of the past, Guillen said to reporters when referring to Mariotti before Tuesday's game with the Cardinals, "What a piece of [expletive] he is, [expletive] fag."
"I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country."
Ozzie Guillen
Mariotti was covering the NBA Finals Tuesday night and was not present to hear what Guillen said.
Columnist Greg Couch of the Sun-Times wrote a column Wednesday in response, calling for commissioner Bud Selig to suspend Guillen for his use of a "hurtful homophobic" term.
Before writing the column, Couch asked Guillen for an explanation. Guillen defended his use of the term "fag" by saying this about homosexuals and the use of the word in question: "I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country.''
Guillen said that in his native Venezuela, that word is not a reference to a person's sexuality, but to his courage. He said he was saying that Mariotti is "not man enough to meet me and talk about [things before writing].''
Guillen also told Couch that he has gay friends, attends WNBA games, went to a Madonna concert and plans to go to the Gay Games in Chicago.
"I called that of this man [Mariotti],'' he told Couch. "I'm not trying to hurt anybody [else]."
Scott Reifert, the White Sox's vice president of communications, offered to apologize on behalf of the organization when approached by Couch.
"To anybody who was insulted or hurt by that comment ... as an organization, we'll certainly apologize," Reifert told Couch.
I guess the next time I'm accused of being homophobic, I'll tell of my experiences at WNBA games and Madonna concerts.
I'm Going to Sell My "Air Rights"
A crunch on open space in many rejuvenated cities has developers courting churches with multimillion-dollar offers to buy the air above them.
"In an urban area, air rights are just as much an asset as a piece of property," said the Rev. John Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The church is working on a deal that could bring in $25 million.
From New York to Seattle, downtown congregations are striking deals worth tens of millions of dollars. Those willing to sell are often mainline Protestant churches saddled with aging buildings, growing deficits, and shrinking memberships.
A church that doesn't reach the maximum height allowed by zoning laws can sell the unused space to a developer, who can transfer that space to an adjacent building, and thus add stories to it. Churches can make millions off a "vertical asset" that would otherwise go unused.
On Manhattan's tony Park Avenue, the Byzantine-style Christ Church United Methodist is dwarfed by high-rise apartment buildings on the corner of East 60th Street. Christ Church negotiated a selling price of $430 a square foot-twice the going rate in New York's cutthroat real-estate market-for their 70,000 square feet of unused vertical space. The November deal generated $30 million for the church.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Stephen Bauman, said the money will fund ministry programs, including a public school in the South Bronx that has been "adopted" by the church.
The members of West-Park Presbyterian Church on New York's Upper West Side were offered $40 million for their crumbling building on Amsterdam Avenue, but decided to sell air rights for about $15 million. The money will fund repairs to the church.
"We wanted something more creative than finding a developer and selling [the building] to the highest bidder" and walking away, said West-Park's pastor, the Rev. Bob Brashear.
"In an urban area, air rights are just as much an asset as a piece of property," said the Rev. John Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The church is working on a deal that could bring in $25 million.
From New York to Seattle, downtown congregations are striking deals worth tens of millions of dollars. Those willing to sell are often mainline Protestant churches saddled with aging buildings, growing deficits, and shrinking memberships.
A church that doesn't reach the maximum height allowed by zoning laws can sell the unused space to a developer, who can transfer that space to an adjacent building, and thus add stories to it. Churches can make millions off a "vertical asset" that would otherwise go unused.
On Manhattan's tony Park Avenue, the Byzantine-style Christ Church United Methodist is dwarfed by high-rise apartment buildings on the corner of East 60th Street. Christ Church negotiated a selling price of $430 a square foot-twice the going rate in New York's cutthroat real-estate market-for their 70,000 square feet of unused vertical space. The November deal generated $30 million for the church.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Stephen Bauman, said the money will fund ministry programs, including a public school in the South Bronx that has been "adopted" by the church.
The members of West-Park Presbyterian Church on New York's Upper West Side were offered $40 million for their crumbling building on Amsterdam Avenue, but decided to sell air rights for about $15 million. The money will fund repairs to the church.
"We wanted something more creative than finding a developer and selling [the building] to the highest bidder" and walking away, said West-Park's pastor, the Rev. Bob Brashear.
Quote of the Day
"Just because you're a Republican doesn't mean you don't care about children." -- Actress Angelina Jolie
Whew, as a Republican father of three, that's good to know.
Whew, as a Republican father of three, that's good to know.
I'm Sick of I-Me-My-Mine Worship
This is good:
I wonder if the more recent emphasis on self in worship is one more way of expressing our autonomy and self-importance.
It runs like this: "God, I am going to worship you. I consider you worthy of my worship. God, this is your lucky day. I, this self-sufficient, independent human being, around whom all of life centers, I am going to give you some of my time. I am going to declare you worthy of my worship."
So how do we go about correcting this misunderstanding? Only by understanding that worship focuses on God and God's mission to rescue the world through Jesus Christ. In words, signs, and gestures we sing, proclaim, and enact God's mission.
Worshipping is about...Well, God. It's not about me. Someone needs to tell my worship leader.
I wonder if the more recent emphasis on self in worship is one more way of expressing our autonomy and self-importance.
It runs like this: "God, I am going to worship you. I consider you worthy of my worship. God, this is your lucky day. I, this self-sufficient, independent human being, around whom all of life centers, I am going to give you some of my time. I am going to declare you worthy of my worship."
So how do we go about correcting this misunderstanding? Only by understanding that worship focuses on God and God's mission to rescue the world through Jesus Christ. In words, signs, and gestures we sing, proclaim, and enact God's mission.
Worshipping is about...Well, God. It's not about me. Someone needs to tell my worship leader.
Monday, June 19, 2006
From "Knights" to "Champs"
Yeah, it's tough to win titles when you're recruiting kids from 62 different counties. But then again, I shouldn't complain, that would be whining. I'll put my head back in the sand.
Lexington Catholic could change its nickname from "Knights" to "Champs," and it'd be hard to argue.
Having already celebrated state titles in football and girls' basketball this school year, Lexington Catholic won the state baseball championship last night.
The Knights beat Beechwood 6-4 in the finals of the Fifth Third State Tournament in front of 2,596 fans at Applebee's Park.
"We knew in the pre-season we had a lot of work to do, but by mid-season we could tell we had the hitting, pitching and defense to win it all," said junior center fielder Ben Revere, the tournament MVP.
"It feels great to have it all come together like this."
Lexington Catholic became the third city team in four years to take home the trophy. Lexington Christian Academy won it last year and Paul Dunbar in 2003.
Lexington Catholic could change its nickname from "Knights" to "Champs," and it'd be hard to argue.
Having already celebrated state titles in football and girls' basketball this school year, Lexington Catholic won the state baseball championship last night.
The Knights beat Beechwood 6-4 in the finals of the Fifth Third State Tournament in front of 2,596 fans at Applebee's Park.
"We knew in the pre-season we had a lot of work to do, but by mid-season we could tell we had the hitting, pitching and defense to win it all," said junior center fielder Ben Revere, the tournament MVP.
"It feels great to have it all come together like this."
Lexington Catholic became the third city team in four years to take home the trophy. Lexington Christian Academy won it last year and Paul Dunbar in 2003.
Picture of the Day
Ghana's John Pantsil who plays professionally for Hapoel Tel Aviv, keeps his pre-World-Cup promise, waving an Israeli flag after his team's second goal against the Czech Republic.
"God Creates Us With Different Gifts"
This is interesting:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly elected leader of the U.S. Episcopal Church Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said on Monday she believed homosexuality was no sin and homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender.
Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, was elected on Sunday as the first woman leader of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church. the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. She will formally take office later this year.
Interviewed on CNN, Jefferts Schori was asked if it was a sin to be homosexual.
"I don't believe so. I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us," she said.
"Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly elected leader of the U.S. Episcopal Church Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said on Monday she believed homosexuality was no sin and homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender.
Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, was elected on Sunday as the first woman leader of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church. the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. She will formally take office later this year.
Interviewed on CNN, Jefferts Schori was asked if it was a sin to be homosexual.
"I don't believe so. I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us," she said.
"Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender."
Friday, June 16, 2006
The Apple Sometimes Falls Faaaaaaar From The Tree
The headline of a recent Middle East Media Research Institute translation reads, "Khomeini Calls for Foreign Military Intervention in Iran." No, not that Khomeini. Ayatollah Hussein Khomeini, the grandson of the Iranian Islamic revolution's founding father, raised eyebrows several years ago by saying he wanted to see the mullahs deposed. Now he is making the case anew, arguing, during a recent interview with the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television news network's website, that "freedom must come to Iran in any possible way, whether through internal or external developments."
His comments have generated a flurry of interest, probably thanks to their shock value. But, for my money, the most noteworthy part of the interview came when Khomeini, who still lives in Iran, explained why he favored American intervention: "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison." Whether or not he intended it this way, Khomeini was offering a succinct, and compelling, defense of idealism in U.S. foreign policy. To be sure, Khomeini is probably wrong to think that an American invasion of Iran is a good idea; it almost certainly is not. (I'll leave aside the question of whether we might have to bomb the country to destroy its nuclear program.) But Khomeini is right to insist that Americans--in thinking through the role we should play in the world--put ourselves in the shoes of those living under tyrannies and ask whether we, if we were living under an oppressive regime, would want a global hegemon to take strong steps to hasten the day of our liberation.
His comments have generated a flurry of interest, probably thanks to their shock value. But, for my money, the most noteworthy part of the interview came when Khomeini, who still lives in Iran, explained why he favored American intervention: "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison." Whether or not he intended it this way, Khomeini was offering a succinct, and compelling, defense of idealism in U.S. foreign policy. To be sure, Khomeini is probably wrong to think that an American invasion of Iran is a good idea; it almost certainly is not. (I'll leave aside the question of whether we might have to bomb the country to destroy its nuclear program.) But Khomeini is right to insist that Americans--in thinking through the role we should play in the world--put ourselves in the shoes of those living under tyrannies and ask whether we, if we were living under an oppressive regime, would want a global hegemon to take strong steps to hasten the day of our liberation.
The Tony Dungy Story
Amazing story.
But this paragraph is very sad:
Perhaps Dungy's only real regret as a father is that he hasn't been there for his children as much as his late parents were for theirs. As well as Tony can remember, Wilbur and Cleomae Dungy, both teachers, attended every event, every game when he was growing up in Jackson, Mich., and were always home on weekends. Tony's career has kept him from doing the same. Still, he's always prioritized his role as a husband and father ahead of his job and encourages -- much the same way mentors Chuck Noll and Dennis Green did with their teams -- his players and staff to do the same.
The bolded line is not really true, though, and Tony - in his more personal moments - would probably acknowledge that. How can your kids and wife be your priority when you're gone for much of the year or holed up in your office studying game film for 15 hours a day. It's an easy trap for all of us to fall into, but we must avoid at all costs.
It always comes down to what's more important: your career success and the money and the ego stroking and the glory OR the daily, monotonous, hard, and wonderfully satisfying routine of the every day father and mother. The latter was good enough for Tony's parents and my parents...and it will have to be good enough for me.
But this paragraph is very sad:
Perhaps Dungy's only real regret as a father is that he hasn't been there for his children as much as his late parents were for theirs. As well as Tony can remember, Wilbur and Cleomae Dungy, both teachers, attended every event, every game when he was growing up in Jackson, Mich., and were always home on weekends. Tony's career has kept him from doing the same. Still, he's always prioritized his role as a husband and father ahead of his job and encourages -- much the same way mentors Chuck Noll and Dennis Green did with their teams -- his players and staff to do the same.
The bolded line is not really true, though, and Tony - in his more personal moments - would probably acknowledge that. How can your kids and wife be your priority when you're gone for much of the year or holed up in your office studying game film for 15 hours a day. It's an easy trap for all of us to fall into, but we must avoid at all costs.
It always comes down to what's more important: your career success and the money and the ego stroking and the glory OR the daily, monotonous, hard, and wonderfully satisfying routine of the every day father and mother. The latter was good enough for Tony's parents and my parents...and it will have to be good enough for me.
Just Shut Up
More ink equals more blood, claim two economists who say that newspaper coverage of terrorist incidents leads directly to more attacks.
It's a macabre example of win-win in what economists call a "common-interest game," say Bruno S. Frey of the University of Zurich and Dominic Rohner of Cambridge University.
"Both the media and terrorists benefit from terrorist incidents," their study contends. Terrorists get free publicity for themselves and their cause. The media, meanwhile, make money "as reports of terror attacks increase newspaper sales and the number of television viewers."
The researchers counted direct references to terrorism between 1998 and 2005 in the New York Times and Neue Zuercher Zeitung, a respected Swiss newspaper. They also collected data on terrorist attacks around the world during that period. Using a statistical procedure called the Granger Causality Test, they attempted to determine whether more coverage directly led to more attacks.
The results, they said, were unequivocal: Coverage caused more attacks, and attacks caused more coverage -- a mutually beneficial spiral of death that they say has increased because of a heightened interest in terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001.
One partial solution: Deny groups publicity by not publicly naming the attackers, Frey said. But won't they become known anyway through informal channels such as the Internet?
Not necessarily, Frey said. "Many experiences show us that in virtually all cases several groups claimed responsibility for a particular terrorist act. I would like the same rule that obtains within a country: Nobody can be called a criminal -- in our case a terrorist -- if this has not been established by a court of law."
It's a macabre example of win-win in what economists call a "common-interest game," say Bruno S. Frey of the University of Zurich and Dominic Rohner of Cambridge University.
"Both the media and terrorists benefit from terrorist incidents," their study contends. Terrorists get free publicity for themselves and their cause. The media, meanwhile, make money "as reports of terror attacks increase newspaper sales and the number of television viewers."
The researchers counted direct references to terrorism between 1998 and 2005 in the New York Times and Neue Zuercher Zeitung, a respected Swiss newspaper. They also collected data on terrorist attacks around the world during that period. Using a statistical procedure called the Granger Causality Test, they attempted to determine whether more coverage directly led to more attacks.
The results, they said, were unequivocal: Coverage caused more attacks, and attacks caused more coverage -- a mutually beneficial spiral of death that they say has increased because of a heightened interest in terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001.
One partial solution: Deny groups publicity by not publicly naming the attackers, Frey said. But won't they become known anyway through informal channels such as the Internet?
Not necessarily, Frey said. "Many experiences show us that in virtually all cases several groups claimed responsibility for a particular terrorist act. I would like the same rule that obtains within a country: Nobody can be called a criminal -- in our case a terrorist -- if this has not been established by a court of law."
Quote of the Day
"Let us resolve to deal with the world as it is but never to accept that we are powerless to make it better than it is - not perfect, but better. America will lead the cause of freedom in our world not because we think ourselves perfect. To the contrary, we cherish democracy and champion its ideals because we know we are not perfect." -- Secretary of State Condi Rice, to the Southern Baptist Association
93-6!
The Senate rejected a call for the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by year's end on Thursday as Congress erupted in impassioned, election-year debate over a conflict that now has claimed the lives of 2,500 American troops.
The vote was 93-6 to shelve the proposal, which would have allowed "only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces" to remain in 2007.
93-6! So what is all of the hubbub about? It appears that the "bring them home" crowd that makes so much noise is just that...all noise.
The vote was 93-6 to shelve the proposal, which would have allowed "only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces" to remain in 2007.
93-6! So what is all of the hubbub about? It appears that the "bring them home" crowd that makes so much noise is just that...all noise.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Nice Schools
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- New York may be a city of incessant cell phone talkers, but students vowed on Wednesday they would hit the "off" button during classes as they battled a ban on cell phones in schools.
Speaking at a city council hearing where lawmakers introduced a bill aimed at overriding a ban on cell phones enforced under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, high school students and their parents spoke out against the unusually stringent anti-cell phone policy.
"I feel mature enough to be able to turn off my cell phone in class," said LaGuardia High School student Jenna Gogan, 16. "This is about students' safety, because, especially in New York City, many parents need to feel reassured they can contact their kids going to and from school."
Dissent over the ban in New York escalated recently when Bloomberg introduced metal scanners and random checks at some of the city's 1,408 public high schools. The new scanners used to protect the city's 1.1 million students had led to the confiscation of more than 3,000 cell phones and 36 weapons, mostly knives and razor blades.
Ok, if your school needs metal scanners and random checks, the problem of teenagers with cell phones should probably be waaaay down on the list of pressing issues.
Speaking at a city council hearing where lawmakers introduced a bill aimed at overriding a ban on cell phones enforced under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, high school students and their parents spoke out against the unusually stringent anti-cell phone policy.
"I feel mature enough to be able to turn off my cell phone in class," said LaGuardia High School student Jenna Gogan, 16. "This is about students' safety, because, especially in New York City, many parents need to feel reassured they can contact their kids going to and from school."
Dissent over the ban in New York escalated recently when Bloomberg introduced metal scanners and random checks at some of the city's 1,408 public high schools. The new scanners used to protect the city's 1.1 million students had led to the confiscation of more than 3,000 cell phones and 36 weapons, mostly knives and razor blades.
Ok, if your school needs metal scanners and random checks, the problem of teenagers with cell phones should probably be waaaay down on the list of pressing issues.
The Defeatist Terrorists
This document, if correctly translated, is amazing. Apparently the terrorists like our chances of winning. Someone needs to tell the Dems.
Dear God, Make It Stop!!!!
So Mel Gibson makes a great film ("The Passion of the Christ") and lots of money. What happens next? You guessed it...a bad knock off. But this time the story won't be put into the hands of Mel Gibson. This time it's Tim LaHaye's baby.
Using the Bible for its source material, “Resurrection” will tell the story of Jesus Christ beginning the day he died on the cross and ending about 40 days later with his ascension into heaven. According to insiders, Sony’s mid-budget Screen Gems division commissioned a script several months ago from Lionel Chetwynd, the veteran screenwriter, producer and director whose credits include the feature “The Hanoi Hilton” and the Emmy-nominated TV movie “Ike: Countdown to D-Day.”
Set to produce is Tim LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling “Left Behind” series of books. A popular minister and frequent TV news pundit, “Resurrection” will mark LaHaye’s first foray into mainstream filmmaking.
This is the best Sony could do?
Using the Bible for its source material, “Resurrection” will tell the story of Jesus Christ beginning the day he died on the cross and ending about 40 days later with his ascension into heaven. According to insiders, Sony’s mid-budget Screen Gems division commissioned a script several months ago from Lionel Chetwynd, the veteran screenwriter, producer and director whose credits include the feature “The Hanoi Hilton” and the Emmy-nominated TV movie “Ike: Countdown to D-Day.”
Set to produce is Tim LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling “Left Behind” series of books. A popular minister and frequent TV news pundit, “Resurrection” will mark LaHaye’s first foray into mainstream filmmaking.
This is the best Sony could do?
Is This the Equivalent of a Juiced Baseball?
In the opening match of soccer's World Cup Friday, German midfielder Torsten Frings scored an amazing goal from 40 yards out. The ball started off straight and then tailed sharply to the right in the last 10 yards or so. It was an unstoppable shot, but with a different ball it might have been a simple save.
A scientist has explained why a new ball being used in this year's World Cup is frustrating goalies.
The new Adidas Teamgeist football, as it is called, has 14 panels instead of the 26 or 32 that traditionally create the hexagonal pattern.
Fewer panels means fewer seams, which will make the ball behave more like a baseball, says Ken Bray, a sports scientist at the University of Bath in the UK.
Complex whirls of air cause a spinning ball to drift toward the side that's spinning away from the ball's direction of movement [learn why]. A ball that's not spinning can bounce around unpredictably. Pitchers rely on this physics when throwing knuckleballs.
A good knuckleball is crazy because the ball rotates lazily in the air and the seams disrupt the air flow around the ball at certain points on the surface, Bray said.
"With a very low spin rate, which occasionally happens in football, the panel pattern can have a big influence on the trajectory of the ball and make it more unpredictable for a goalkeeper," Bray said last week.
Bray suggests one way to watch for the effect on TV.
"Watch the slow motion replays to spot the rare occasions where the ball produces little or no rotation and where goalkeepers will frantically attempt to keep up with the ball’s chaotic flight path," he said.
A scientist has explained why a new ball being used in this year's World Cup is frustrating goalies.
The new Adidas Teamgeist football, as it is called, has 14 panels instead of the 26 or 32 that traditionally create the hexagonal pattern.
Fewer panels means fewer seams, which will make the ball behave more like a baseball, says Ken Bray, a sports scientist at the University of Bath in the UK.
Complex whirls of air cause a spinning ball to drift toward the side that's spinning away from the ball's direction of movement [learn why]. A ball that's not spinning can bounce around unpredictably. Pitchers rely on this physics when throwing knuckleballs.
A good knuckleball is crazy because the ball rotates lazily in the air and the seams disrupt the air flow around the ball at certain points on the surface, Bray said.
"With a very low spin rate, which occasionally happens in football, the panel pattern can have a big influence on the trajectory of the ball and make it more unpredictable for a goalkeeper," Bray said last week.
Bray suggests one way to watch for the effect on TV.
"Watch the slow motion replays to spot the rare occasions where the ball produces little or no rotation and where goalkeepers will frantically attempt to keep up with the ball’s chaotic flight path," he said.
Quote of the Day
"I now know that if you describe things as better as they are, you are considered to be romantic; if you describe things as worse than they are, you are called a realist; and if you describe things exactly as they are, you are called a satirist." -- Quentin Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant
Darth Vader: Rightwing or Leftwing?
Jonah Goldberg says left:
Darth Vader grew up poor and oppressed — a slave even! He was saved by a progressive organization which took him in out of a mixture of pity and affirmative action. He was admitted thanks to a sort of one-drop-rule quota (his only qualification is that he had the right midichlorian mix in his blood). The organization was comprised of nature-worshipping technocrats who believed that there their Gnostic insight into the nature of the universe gave them the unique privilege to fix everything they laid their eyes on. Their new age faith involved a lot of talk about getting in touch with your feelings and distrusting technology (but Darth never appreciated the hypocrisy of his own limousine liberal bionics). Corrupted by power and other selfish motives, young Darth — then going by his slave name Anakin — embraced the Empire which sought to overturn the planet's-rights system of the republic in favor of centralized planning. He then dedicated most of his career to enforcing a classically progressive, top-down socialism of the "one-best way," breaking contracts with mining companies when it suited him. Late in life, when he realized the unintended consequences of central planning, he recanted. So maybe at the very end he was a neocon of sorts. But by then he changed his name back to Anakin.
Darth Vader grew up poor and oppressed — a slave even! He was saved by a progressive organization which took him in out of a mixture of pity and affirmative action. He was admitted thanks to a sort of one-drop-rule quota (his only qualification is that he had the right midichlorian mix in his blood). The organization was comprised of nature-worshipping technocrats who believed that there their Gnostic insight into the nature of the universe gave them the unique privilege to fix everything they laid their eyes on. Their new age faith involved a lot of talk about getting in touch with your feelings and distrusting technology (but Darth never appreciated the hypocrisy of his own limousine liberal bionics). Corrupted by power and other selfish motives, young Darth — then going by his slave name Anakin — embraced the Empire which sought to overturn the planet's-rights system of the republic in favor of centralized planning. He then dedicated most of his career to enforcing a classically progressive, top-down socialism of the "one-best way," breaking contracts with mining companies when it suited him. Late in life, when he realized the unintended consequences of central planning, he recanted. So maybe at the very end he was a neocon of sorts. But by then he changed his name back to Anakin.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
"Business Is Not A Zero Sum Game"
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, and a former Leftie:
"At the time I started my business, the Left had taught me that business and capitalism were based on exploitation: exploitation of consumers, workers, society, and the environment. I believed that "profit" was a necessary evil at best, and certainly not a desirable goal for society as a whole. However, becoming an entrepreneur completely changed my life. Everything I believed about business was proven to be wrong.
The most important thing I learned about business in my first year was that business wasn't based on exploitation or coercion at all. Instead I realized that business is based on voluntary cooperation. No one is forced to trade with a business; customers have competitive alternatives in the market place; employees have competitive alternatives for their labor; investors have different alternatives and places to invest their capital. Investors, labor, management, suppliers — they all need to cooperate to create value for their customers. If they do, then any realized profit can be divided amongst the creators of the value through competitive market dynamics.
In other words, business is not a zero-sum game with a winner and loser. It is a win, win, win, win game — and I really like that. However, I discovered despite my idealism that our customers thought our prices were too high, our employees thought they were underpaid, the vendors would not give us large discounts, the community was forever clamoring for donations, and the government was slapping us with endless fees, licenses, fines, and taxes.
Were we profitable? Not at first. Safer Way managed to lose half of its capital in the first year — $23,000. Despite the loss, we were still accused of exploiting our customers with high prices and our employees with low wages. The investors weren't making a profit and we had no money to donate. Plus, with our losses, we paid no taxes. I had somehow joined the "dark side" — I was now one of the bad guys. According to the perspective of the Left, I had become a greedy and selfish businessman. At this point, I rationally chose to abandon the leftist philosophy of my youth, because it no longer adequately explained how the world really worked."
"At the time I started my business, the Left had taught me that business and capitalism were based on exploitation: exploitation of consumers, workers, society, and the environment. I believed that "profit" was a necessary evil at best, and certainly not a desirable goal for society as a whole. However, becoming an entrepreneur completely changed my life. Everything I believed about business was proven to be wrong.
The most important thing I learned about business in my first year was that business wasn't based on exploitation or coercion at all. Instead I realized that business is based on voluntary cooperation. No one is forced to trade with a business; customers have competitive alternatives in the market place; employees have competitive alternatives for their labor; investors have different alternatives and places to invest their capital. Investors, labor, management, suppliers — they all need to cooperate to create value for their customers. If they do, then any realized profit can be divided amongst the creators of the value through competitive market dynamics.
In other words, business is not a zero-sum game with a winner and loser. It is a win, win, win, win game — and I really like that. However, I discovered despite my idealism that our customers thought our prices were too high, our employees thought they were underpaid, the vendors would not give us large discounts, the community was forever clamoring for donations, and the government was slapping us with endless fees, licenses, fines, and taxes.
Were we profitable? Not at first. Safer Way managed to lose half of its capital in the first year — $23,000. Despite the loss, we were still accused of exploiting our customers with high prices and our employees with low wages. The investors weren't making a profit and we had no money to donate. Plus, with our losses, we paid no taxes. I had somehow joined the "dark side" — I was now one of the bad guys. According to the perspective of the Left, I had become a greedy and selfish businessman. At this point, I rationally chose to abandon the leftist philosophy of my youth, because it no longer adequately explained how the world really worked."
Life Is Not Fair
PHOENIX (AP) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks decided Tuesday they would rather eat the remaining $22 million of Russ Ortiz's contract than keep him on their roster.
Ortiz is believed to be the most expensive player to be cut loose in baseball history.
That would be $22 million to do absolutely nothing.
Ortiz is believed to be the most expensive player to be cut loose in baseball history.
That would be $22 million to do absolutely nothing.
George Foster Is Making Sense
From Ron Jackson, Dayton Daily News:
"I would move him to first base," Foster said. "I was with Ken Sr. recently and I know he's discussed it with Junior, but it's an ego thing with him and he doesn't want to go to left or right. That would save his legs, but he's out to prove something; that he can win another Gold Glove in center."
"But there's lot of wear and tear involved with playing center or shortstop. They're demanding positions along with catcher. Junior's a player and he can play the angles and make the adjustment to either corner outfield or first base. As long as you have Junior at first, for instance, you don't need an offensive player in center. It would prolong Junior's career."
Foster helped to power the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s. He said players were unselfish in that era.
"The beauty of the Big Red Machine was the chemistry," Foster said. "Players made switches for the good of the team or took extra batting practice. You don't see that in today's game as much. Junior and Adam Dunn should take extra BP to learn to break the defensive shift they face."
"I would move him to first base," Foster said. "I was with Ken Sr. recently and I know he's discussed it with Junior, but it's an ego thing with him and he doesn't want to go to left or right. That would save his legs, but he's out to prove something; that he can win another Gold Glove in center."
"But there's lot of wear and tear involved with playing center or shortstop. They're demanding positions along with catcher. Junior's a player and he can play the angles and make the adjustment to either corner outfield or first base. As long as you have Junior at first, for instance, you don't need an offensive player in center. It would prolong Junior's career."
Foster helped to power the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s. He said players were unselfish in that era.
"The beauty of the Big Red Machine was the chemistry," Foster said. "Players made switches for the good of the team or took extra batting practice. You don't see that in today's game as much. Junior and Adam Dunn should take extra BP to learn to break the defensive shift they face."
If Only They Would Control The Spending
Aided by surging tax receipts, President Bush may make good on his pledge to cut the deficit in half in 2006 — three years early.
Tax revenues are running $176 billion, or 12.9%, over last year, the Treasury Department said Monday. The Congressional Budget Office said receipts have risen faster over the first eight months of fiscal '06 than in any other such period over the past 25 years — except for last year's 15.5% jump.
The 2006 deficit through May was $227 billion, down from $273 billion at this time last year. Spending is up $130 billion, or 7.9%.
The CBO forecast in May that the 2006 deficit could fall as low as $300 billion. Michael Englund, chief economist of Action Economics, has long expected a deficit of about $270 billion this year. Now he thinks there's a chance the "remarkable strength in receipts" will push the deficit even lower.
With the economy topping $13 trillion this year, a $270 billion deficit would equal less than 2.1% of GDP, easily beating the president's 2.25% goal. Bush made his vow when the White House had a dour 2004 deficit forecast of 4.5% of GDP, or $521 billion. The actual '04 deficit came in at $412 billion, or 3.5% of GDP, before falling to $318 billion, or 2.6% of GDP, in 2005.
Tax revenues are running $176 billion, or 12.9%, over last year, the Treasury Department said Monday. The Congressional Budget Office said receipts have risen faster over the first eight months of fiscal '06 than in any other such period over the past 25 years — except for last year's 15.5% jump.
The 2006 deficit through May was $227 billion, down from $273 billion at this time last year. Spending is up $130 billion, or 7.9%.
The CBO forecast in May that the 2006 deficit could fall as low as $300 billion. Michael Englund, chief economist of Action Economics, has long expected a deficit of about $270 billion this year. Now he thinks there's a chance the "remarkable strength in receipts" will push the deficit even lower.
With the economy topping $13 trillion this year, a $270 billion deficit would equal less than 2.1% of GDP, easily beating the president's 2.25% goal. Bush made his vow when the White House had a dour 2004 deficit forecast of 4.5% of GDP, or $521 billion. The actual '04 deficit came in at $412 billion, or 3.5% of GDP, before falling to $318 billion, or 2.6% of GDP, in 2005.
Monday, June 12, 2006
I Am Shocked! Shocked!
COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — The son of the late rapper Eazy-E was arrested for investigation of possessing a concealed weapon, authorities said Sunday.
Eric Wright Jr. — who goes by the name Lil' Eazy-E in his own recently launched hip-hop career — is the firstborn son of Eazy-E, a founding member of the pioneering gangster rap group N.W.A. who died of AIDS in 1995.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies pulled over Wright, 22, for a traffic violation near Compton on Saturday night, Lt. Michael Alerich said.
"Mr. Wright was in possession of a firearm and he was arrested," Alerich said. "Two other guys in the car were also arrested, one for possession of a firearm and the other for a probation violation."
Earlier this year, Wright released his first album, Prince of Compton.
Eric Wright Jr. — who goes by the name Lil' Eazy-E in his own recently launched hip-hop career — is the firstborn son of Eazy-E, a founding member of the pioneering gangster rap group N.W.A. who died of AIDS in 1995.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies pulled over Wright, 22, for a traffic violation near Compton on Saturday night, Lt. Michael Alerich said.
"Mr. Wright was in possession of a firearm and he was arrested," Alerich said. "Two other guys in the car were also arrested, one for possession of a firearm and the other for a probation violation."
Earlier this year, Wright released his first album, Prince of Compton.
Old School Youth Ministry
Now, don’t jump to conclusions. I haven’t uncovered any evidence that St. Ambrose led teens on ski trips in the nearby Alps. Nor is there anything to suggest that St. Basil sponsored junior-high dances in Pontus. (There’s not even a hint of a pizza party.) In fact, if you check all the documentary evidence from all the ancient patriarchates of the East and the West, you won’t find a single bulletin announcement for a single parish youth group.
Yet the Fathers had enormous success in youth and young-adult ministry. Many of the early martyrs were teens, as were many of the Christians who took to the desert for the solitary life. There’s ample evidence that a disproportionate number of conversions, too, came from the young and youngish age groups.
How did the Fathers do it?
They made wild promises.
They promised young people great things, like persecution, lower social status, public ridicule, severely limited employment opportunities, frequent fasting, a high risk of jail and torture, and maybe, just maybe, an early, violent death at the hands of their pagan rulers.
What's funny is that this is exactly what military recruiters typically offer: danger, high risk, maybe even death. But it works. Why? Because man is created with an inborn belief in a higher purpose, a higher cause, a calling. The Church has this bass akwards now. They try to motive youth with video games and candy...that's foolish.
Yet the Fathers had enormous success in youth and young-adult ministry. Many of the early martyrs were teens, as were many of the Christians who took to the desert for the solitary life. There’s ample evidence that a disproportionate number of conversions, too, came from the young and youngish age groups.
How did the Fathers do it?
They made wild promises.
They promised young people great things, like persecution, lower social status, public ridicule, severely limited employment opportunities, frequent fasting, a high risk of jail and torture, and maybe, just maybe, an early, violent death at the hands of their pagan rulers.
What's funny is that this is exactly what military recruiters typically offer: danger, high risk, maybe even death. But it works. Why? Because man is created with an inborn belief in a higher purpose, a higher cause, a calling. The Church has this bass akwards now. They try to motive youth with video games and candy...that's foolish.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Natural Tooth Loss By State
#1 West Virginia 42.8%
#2 Kentucky 38.1%
#3 Tennessee 32.2%
#4 Alabama 31.9%
#5 Louisiana 31.3%
At least we're not #1.
#2 Kentucky 38.1%
#3 Tennessee 32.2%
#4 Alabama 31.9%
#5 Louisiana 31.3%
At least we're not #1.
Tom Delay Speaks the Truth
The point is, we disagree. On first principles, Mr. Speaker, we disagree. And so we debate, often loudly, and often in vain, to convince our opponents and the American people of our point of view.
We debate here on the House floor, we debate in committees, we debate on television and on radio and on the Internet and in the newspapers and then every two years, we have a huge debate. And then in November, we see who won. That is not rancor, that is democracy.
You show me a nation without partisanship, and I'll show you a tyranny. For all its faults, it is partisanship, based on core principles, that clarifies our debates, that prevents one party from straying too far from the mainstream, and that constantly refreshes our politics with new ideas and new leaders.
Indeed, whatever role partisanship may have played in my own retirement today or in the unfriendliness heaped upon other leaders in other times, Republican or Democrat, however unjust, all we can say is that partisanship is the worst means of settling fundamental political differences -- except for all the others.
Now, politics demands compromise. And Mr. Speaker, and even the most partisan among us have to understand that, but we must never forget that compromise and bipartisanship are means, not ends, and are properly employed only in the service of higher principles.
...It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle .
For the true statesman, Mr. Speaker, we are not defined by what they compromise, but by what they don't.
We debate here on the House floor, we debate in committees, we debate on television and on radio and on the Internet and in the newspapers and then every two years, we have a huge debate. And then in November, we see who won. That is not rancor, that is democracy.
You show me a nation without partisanship, and I'll show you a tyranny. For all its faults, it is partisanship, based on core principles, that clarifies our debates, that prevents one party from straying too far from the mainstream, and that constantly refreshes our politics with new ideas and new leaders.
Indeed, whatever role partisanship may have played in my own retirement today or in the unfriendliness heaped upon other leaders in other times, Republican or Democrat, however unjust, all we can say is that partisanship is the worst means of settling fundamental political differences -- except for all the others.
Now, politics demands compromise. And Mr. Speaker, and even the most partisan among us have to understand that, but we must never forget that compromise and bipartisanship are means, not ends, and are properly employed only in the service of higher principles.
...It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle .
For the true statesman, Mr. Speaker, we are not defined by what they compromise, but by what they don't.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Great Story from the Rocket's Trip to Lexington
The very sight of Clemens on a Class A mound for the national anthem, flanked by the hokey-charming trappings of minor-league ball -- big-headed mascots and a tiny Little Leaguer -- was the stuff of scrapbooks. But it might not have been the nicest sight of the week for the Legends.
They piled off a bus after a weekend road trip to Hagerstown, Md., at 3 Monday morning and walked into Christmas in June. While they were gone Rocket had remodeled their clubhouse, spending $7,000 on plasma televisions, new couches and other touches. He went shopping Sunday and had a crew get everything installed that night, before the Legends came dragging home.
"Everyone was cranky, yelling at each other after trying to sleep in the coffins on the bus," shortstop Tommy Manzella said. "To have someone so nice to do something like that is amazing.
"We're far from the big leagues, but in his mind we're the same guys as he is: dedicating our lives to baseball. He respects that."
The Legend Clemens likes most, of course, is his 19-year-old son, Koby, who played third base in a priceless family moment. Clemens' two other sons served as bat boys, but it was Koby who supplied a comical pep talk to pops before his final inning of work.
Roger figured Koby was going to give him a scouting report on the next Lake County hitter. Wrong. His oldest boy pointed out that dad had four strikeouts to that point and needed to bear down and deliver a classic minor-league freebie.
"He told me, 'One more punchout and everyone in the stadium gets wiper fluid,' " Roger said. " … He's a funny guy, isn't he?"
The funny guy apparently knows which buttons to push. Clemens punched out not one but two Captains to close his night's work.
"Shoulda told you that in the first inning," Koby chirped to his dad coming off the field.
They piled off a bus after a weekend road trip to Hagerstown, Md., at 3 Monday morning and walked into Christmas in June. While they were gone Rocket had remodeled their clubhouse, spending $7,000 on plasma televisions, new couches and other touches. He went shopping Sunday and had a crew get everything installed that night, before the Legends came dragging home.
"Everyone was cranky, yelling at each other after trying to sleep in the coffins on the bus," shortstop Tommy Manzella said. "To have someone so nice to do something like that is amazing.
"We're far from the big leagues, but in his mind we're the same guys as he is: dedicating our lives to baseball. He respects that."
The Legend Clemens likes most, of course, is his 19-year-old son, Koby, who played third base in a priceless family moment. Clemens' two other sons served as bat boys, but it was Koby who supplied a comical pep talk to pops before his final inning of work.
Roger figured Koby was going to give him a scouting report on the next Lake County hitter. Wrong. His oldest boy pointed out that dad had four strikeouts to that point and needed to bear down and deliver a classic minor-league freebie.
"He told me, 'One more punchout and everyone in the stadium gets wiper fluid,' " Roger said. " … He's a funny guy, isn't he?"
The funny guy apparently knows which buttons to push. Clemens punched out not one but two Captains to close his night's work.
"Shoulda told you that in the first inning," Koby chirped to his dad coming off the field.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Quote of the Day
"I think that it is perfectly fitting for us to use the United States Constitution, a document that is dedicated to the preservation of our inalienable rights, to tell a certain specific group of people what they cannot do, rather than tell the government what it cannot do. We don't need tax reform. We don't need an end to earmark pork spending in Congress. We don't need smaller government and school choice. We don't need real reform that would put medical care back into the competitive marketplace. We need none of those things. All is fine! What we need is a Constitutional Amendment that will keep two people who love each other, but who we don't consider to be normal - not by our standards anyway - to marry. I know I'll sleep better tonight." -- Neal Boortz
I'm sort of with Neal on this one. Concentrate on other matters. The traditional family unit is dead and a Constitutional amendment won't save it.
I'm sort of with Neal on this one. Concentrate on other matters. The traditional family unit is dead and a Constitutional amendment won't save it.
The Greatest Name In Sports?
Tennessee reserve quarterback Jim Bob Cooter, a fan favorite and one of the brightest players on the team, has been suspended indefinitely after his arrest early Saturday morning on a drunken driving charge near campus. Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said Cooter, a fifth-year senior, would miss the Sept. 2 opener against California. -- The Tennessean
Where Does The Line Form?
This is atrocious behavior, but would you let yourself be verbally humiliated for $61 million? I would. You could call me everything but a child of God.
Two Lebanese-American FedEx Ground drivers were awarded $61 million in punitive and compensatory damages after an Alameda County Superior Court jury found the company and a manager liable for ethnic discrimination and harassment, according to the Dolan Law Firm, which represented the plaintiffs.
On May 24, the drivers, Edgar Rizkallah and Kamil Issa, were awarded $11 million in emotional distress compensatory damages after their lawyer demonstrated during trial that the two men had been victims of ongoing harassment.
Their manager, Stacey Shoun, had allegedly taunted them with racial epithets, calling the two men "camel jockeys,'' "terrorists,'' "sand niggers'' and other ethnic slurs.
The $50 million award came Friday in the second phase of the trial and was based on a finding that FedEx Ground and Shoun acted with oppression and malice in the treatment of the two plaintiffs, according to attorney Christopher Dolan of the Dolan Law Firm.
The jury held Shoun personally liable for $1 million in emotional distress damages and $5,600 in punitive damages.
According to Dolan, evidence presented in the trial showed that the plaintiffs had reported the harassment to the company and that FedEx Ground failed to prevent or correct the problem. The company had also failed to provide managers with anti-discrimination training before and after complaints were filed.
Two Lebanese-American FedEx Ground drivers were awarded $61 million in punitive and compensatory damages after an Alameda County Superior Court jury found the company and a manager liable for ethnic discrimination and harassment, according to the Dolan Law Firm, which represented the plaintiffs.
On May 24, the drivers, Edgar Rizkallah and Kamil Issa, were awarded $11 million in emotional distress compensatory damages after their lawyer demonstrated during trial that the two men had been victims of ongoing harassment.
Their manager, Stacey Shoun, had allegedly taunted them with racial epithets, calling the two men "camel jockeys,'' "terrorists,'' "sand niggers'' and other ethnic slurs.
The $50 million award came Friday in the second phase of the trial and was based on a finding that FedEx Ground and Shoun acted with oppression and malice in the treatment of the two plaintiffs, according to attorney Christopher Dolan of the Dolan Law Firm.
The jury held Shoun personally liable for $1 million in emotional distress damages and $5,600 in punitive damages.
According to Dolan, evidence presented in the trial showed that the plaintiffs had reported the harassment to the company and that FedEx Ground failed to prevent or correct the problem. The company had also failed to provide managers with anti-discrimination training before and after complaints were filed.
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