I missed this one. Clearly, the best of the night.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Saturday, February 05, 2005
More Classic Condi
Would Powell have ever said this:
"There cannot be an absence of moral content in American foreign policy," she says. "Europeans giggle at this, but we are not European, we are American, and we have different principles."
I don't think so.
"There cannot be an absence of moral content in American foreign policy," she says. "Europeans giggle at this, but we are not European, we are American, and we have different principles."
I don't think so.
Inevitable
The rats are starting to point fingers:
LONDON (Reuters) - Former U.N. head Boutros Boutros-Ghali refused to take all the blame for Iraq's scandal-tainted oil-for-food program on Saturday, pointing the finger at his successor Kofi Annan.
LONDON (Reuters) - Former U.N. head Boutros Boutros-Ghali refused to take all the blame for Iraq's scandal-tainted oil-for-food program on Saturday, pointing the finger at his successor Kofi Annan.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Quotes of the Day
One from FDR, the other from Harry Reid.
Senate Democrats gathered at the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial (search) today to invoke the image of FDR in calling on President Bush to remove private accounts from his Social Security (search) proposal. But it turns out that FDR himself planned to include private investment accounts in the Social Security program when he proposed it.
In a written statement to Congress in 1935, Roosevelt said that any Social Security plans should include, "Voluntary contributory annuities, by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age," adding that government funding, "ought to ultimately be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."
Last night, Senate minority leader Harry Reid (search) likened the president’s proposal to allow Americans to divert a portion of payroll taxes into personal security investment accounts to "gambling." But in 1999, the Nevada Democrat proposed something very similar on our own "FOX News Sunday" saying, "Most of us have no problem with taking a small amount of the Social Security proceeds and putting it into the private sector."
Senate Democrats gathered at the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial (search) today to invoke the image of FDR in calling on President Bush to remove private accounts from his Social Security (search) proposal. But it turns out that FDR himself planned to include private investment accounts in the Social Security program when he proposed it.
In a written statement to Congress in 1935, Roosevelt said that any Social Security plans should include, "Voluntary contributory annuities, by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age," adding that government funding, "ought to ultimately be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."
Last night, Senate minority leader Harry Reid (search) likened the president’s proposal to allow Americans to divert a portion of payroll taxes into personal security investment accounts to "gambling." But in 1999, the Nevada Democrat proposed something very similar on our own "FOX News Sunday" saying, "Most of us have no problem with taking a small amount of the Social Security proceeds and putting it into the private sector."
Fry These Bastards
This is both heartbreaking and infuriating. The Roman Catholic Church should be ashamed...and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk should go to jail. This bastard has no business remaining in his current position.
What's amazing is that the church continues to stonewall to this day.
What's amazing is that the church continues to stonewall to this day.
No Reform, Comrad
The Communist Party USA is against Social Security Reform. According to them, there is no crisis.
A Big Difference
Here's what Colin Powell would have said when asked about a possible attack on Iran over it's nuclear program: "It is not on the agenda."
Here's what Condi said yesterday: It is "not on the agenda at this point."
Very big difference.
Here's what Condi said yesterday: It is "not on the agenda at this point."
Very big difference.
Lawsuit Sanity
Here's hoping this becomes a trend:
RIVERVIEW -- In an era in which billions of dollars are awarded in class-action settlements nationwide each year, some Downriver residents have said "no." At least 30 have rejected up to $550 per family member, which is their share of a $1.2 million settlement prompted when about 2,500 residents evacuated their homes during a July 2001 chemical leak.
To be eligible, all they had to do was sign a form that said they been home in the affected areas of Grosse Ile, Wyandotte, Riverview or Trenton at the time of the leak. While some acknowledged that they weren't home, several others said they didn't support the lawsuit or deserve the money.
"I look at it this way: Nothing happened to me, and when I left home the birds and squirrels with their little tiny lungs were fine and when I got back, they were still fine," said Thelma Diemer, a Trenton retiree who lives on Social Security and dividends from Ford Motor Co. stock.
"I didn't feel I was being honest accepting the money and you have to think about the hereafter, especially when you're 86."...
RIVERVIEW -- In an era in which billions of dollars are awarded in class-action settlements nationwide each year, some Downriver residents have said "no." At least 30 have rejected up to $550 per family member, which is their share of a $1.2 million settlement prompted when about 2,500 residents evacuated their homes during a July 2001 chemical leak.
To be eligible, all they had to do was sign a form that said they been home in the affected areas of Grosse Ile, Wyandotte, Riverview or Trenton at the time of the leak. While some acknowledged that they weren't home, several others said they didn't support the lawsuit or deserve the money.
"I look at it this way: Nothing happened to me, and when I left home the birds and squirrels with their little tiny lungs were fine and when I got back, they were still fine," said Thelma Diemer, a Trenton retiree who lives on Social Security and dividends from Ford Motor Co. stock.
"I didn't feel I was being honest accepting the money and you have to think about the hereafter, especially when you're 86."...
Social Security Fraud
The problem with the Social Security debate is that those reporting on it either don't understand the problem (most), or are in the tank for the Dems (even more).
Here's the problem explained so even Democrats (and reporters) can understand it:
Social Security’s Fictitious Trust Fund
by Brian Riedl and David John
President Bush wants Congress to make Social Security reform a top priority. This is because the program is in real trouble -- worse trouble than most politicians and a surprising number of reporters are willing to admit.
Although Social Security will fall into deficit into 2018, some assert that the program’s trust fund will make up the shortfall, and therefore delay any tax increases or benefit cuts, until 2042. That is simply wrong. There is a trust fund, but it has no money in it -- and it never did. No money has ever been saved for future retirees.
This means that the common myth that Congress and the president are raiding the trust fund is wrong also. As inventive as politicians are, even they can’t steal money that was never there in the first place.
Since 1940, the Social Security benefits received by retirees have been funded by the payroll taxes that workers pay. As long as there are enough workers to pay all the benefits owed to current retirees, the system is fine. Unfortunately, that’s about to change.
Today, there are just 3.3 taxpayers for each retiree. This is a sharp drop from 1950, when there were 16 taxpayers per retiree. In order to work properly, Social Security needs about three taxpayers per retiree. But with millions of baby boomers about to retire, and a much smaller number of new workers, by 2018 the program will have fewer than three workers per retiree and begin spending more each year than it takes in. That number will keep dropping until, around 2030, there will be two workers per retiree. At that point, a married couple will have to support themselves, their children -- and their very own retiree.
Supposedly, that’s where the “trust fund” comes in. Although it has existed since the 1930s, it got a new purpose back in 1983, when the Greenspan Commission came up with an idea to pay for baby boomers’ future retirements by raising the Social Security tax well above the amount currently needed to fund the program, and putting the extra money in the trust fund. Between 2018, when the program begins running a deficit, and 2042, the trust fund is expected to provide $5.7 trillion, about $100,000 per family, to pay benefits.
One problem: the federal government wasn’t allowed to actually save this money. Since 1939, federal law has required Social Security to “invest” its extra money in Treasury bonds. In other words, the government lends the money to itself. Those funds are then mixed in with all other tax revenue and spent on programs such as education, foreign aid and defense.
So in 2018, when the Social Security program tries to redeem these bonds, the Treasury (having already spent that money over the previous 35 years) won’t be able to repay Social Security from any pre-existing store of cash. Taxpayers will be forced to pay extra taxes in order to fund Social Security’s 40 million retiring baby boomers.
It’s like a family that borrows money from its retirement fund each year to pay for vacations and expensive dinners. When they finally retire, their retirement fund consists of nothing more than paper IOUs.
Some observers erroneously blame the budget deficits for the empty trust fund. Whether it is President Bush’s tax cuts or John Kerry’s health-care plan, critics regularly assert that any policy increasing the budget deficit would mean “more money taken from the Social Security trust fund.”
That claim is also wrong. The Social Security surplus is spent each year regardless of whether the budget is in surplus or deficit. When the federal budget is in deficit, the Social Security surplus funds current government programs. When the budget is in surplus, the Social Security surplus pays down the national debt. Either way, nothing is saved for future retirees.
The demographics are already set. All of the taxpayers who will exist in 2018 have already been born. One way or the other, Social Security will need extra money starting that year.
Given that, this country faces a choice. It can either condemn future generations to ever-higher taxes or sharply lower Social Security benefits, or it can change the system by allowing younger workers to place part of their taxes in safe, controlled investments. That will cost money also, but the money in those accounts would be really saved -- and grow into pools of money that could pay some of the owner’s Social Security benefits.
However, before we can make that choice, we have to stop being distracted by thoughts of trust funds -- especially ones that really have no money in them.
Here's the problem explained so even Democrats (and reporters) can understand it:
Social Security’s Fictitious Trust Fund
by Brian Riedl and David John
President Bush wants Congress to make Social Security reform a top priority. This is because the program is in real trouble -- worse trouble than most politicians and a surprising number of reporters are willing to admit.
Although Social Security will fall into deficit into 2018, some assert that the program’s trust fund will make up the shortfall, and therefore delay any tax increases or benefit cuts, until 2042. That is simply wrong. There is a trust fund, but it has no money in it -- and it never did. No money has ever been saved for future retirees.
This means that the common myth that Congress and the president are raiding the trust fund is wrong also. As inventive as politicians are, even they can’t steal money that was never there in the first place.
Since 1940, the Social Security benefits received by retirees have been funded by the payroll taxes that workers pay. As long as there are enough workers to pay all the benefits owed to current retirees, the system is fine. Unfortunately, that’s about to change.
Today, there are just 3.3 taxpayers for each retiree. This is a sharp drop from 1950, when there were 16 taxpayers per retiree. In order to work properly, Social Security needs about three taxpayers per retiree. But with millions of baby boomers about to retire, and a much smaller number of new workers, by 2018 the program will have fewer than three workers per retiree and begin spending more each year than it takes in. That number will keep dropping until, around 2030, there will be two workers per retiree. At that point, a married couple will have to support themselves, their children -- and their very own retiree.
Supposedly, that’s where the “trust fund” comes in. Although it has existed since the 1930s, it got a new purpose back in 1983, when the Greenspan Commission came up with an idea to pay for baby boomers’ future retirements by raising the Social Security tax well above the amount currently needed to fund the program, and putting the extra money in the trust fund. Between 2018, when the program begins running a deficit, and 2042, the trust fund is expected to provide $5.7 trillion, about $100,000 per family, to pay benefits.
One problem: the federal government wasn’t allowed to actually save this money. Since 1939, federal law has required Social Security to “invest” its extra money in Treasury bonds. In other words, the government lends the money to itself. Those funds are then mixed in with all other tax revenue and spent on programs such as education, foreign aid and defense.
So in 2018, when the Social Security program tries to redeem these bonds, the Treasury (having already spent that money over the previous 35 years) won’t be able to repay Social Security from any pre-existing store of cash. Taxpayers will be forced to pay extra taxes in order to fund Social Security’s 40 million retiring baby boomers.
It’s like a family that borrows money from its retirement fund each year to pay for vacations and expensive dinners. When they finally retire, their retirement fund consists of nothing more than paper IOUs.
Some observers erroneously blame the budget deficits for the empty trust fund. Whether it is President Bush’s tax cuts or John Kerry’s health-care plan, critics regularly assert that any policy increasing the budget deficit would mean “more money taken from the Social Security trust fund.”
That claim is also wrong. The Social Security surplus is spent each year regardless of whether the budget is in surplus or deficit. When the federal budget is in deficit, the Social Security surplus funds current government programs. When the budget is in surplus, the Social Security surplus pays down the national debt. Either way, nothing is saved for future retirees.
The demographics are already set. All of the taxpayers who will exist in 2018 have already been born. One way or the other, Social Security will need extra money starting that year.
Given that, this country faces a choice. It can either condemn future generations to ever-higher taxes or sharply lower Social Security benefits, or it can change the system by allowing younger workers to place part of their taxes in safe, controlled investments. That will cost money also, but the money in those accounts would be really saved -- and grow into pools of money that could pay some of the owner’s Social Security benefits.
However, before we can make that choice, we have to stop being distracted by thoughts of trust funds -- especially ones that really have no money in them.
Confederacy of Dunces Update
What do you get for speaking your mind? A shakedown. Just ask Larry Summers.
In response to the outcry that followed Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers's remarks on women in the sciences, the university announced yesterday the creation of two task forces to develop concrete ways to better recruit women and support the careers of female scholars at Harvard, especially in science and engineering.
Harvard also announced plans to create a senior position in the central administration to focus on the recruitment and advancement of women on the faculty.
In response to the outcry that followed Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers's remarks on women in the sciences, the university announced yesterday the creation of two task forces to develop concrete ways to better recruit women and support the careers of female scholars at Harvard, especially in science and engineering.
Harvard also announced plans to create a senior position in the central administration to focus on the recruitment and advancement of women on the faculty.
Up Your Nose With A Rubber Hose
First Yuschenko...
...now Zhvania.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead Georgia's revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, died early Thursday in a friend's apartment from what officials claimed was an accidental gas leak from a heater.
Georgia's interior minister said there was no reason to suspect foul play, but a lawmaker reportedly pointed the finger at ``outside forces.'' His remarks were aimed at Russia, which has ties with Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and prompted a terse response from Moscow.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead Georgia's revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, died early Thursday in a friend's apartment from what officials claimed was an accidental gas leak from a heater.
Georgia's interior minister said there was no reason to suspect foul play, but a lawmaker reportedly pointed the finger at ``outside forces.'' His remarks were aimed at Russia, which has ties with Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and prompted a terse response from Moscow.
NY Times vs. LA Times
Which is worse? It's hard to tell. But I think the LA Times pulled ahead with this beauty:
How many times do we have to go through this, folks?
Our venerable L.A. Times editorializes this morning:
"If the Iraqi people’s freedom was once seen as merely a bonus from an unavoidable war, that freedom has moved to center stage as the war’s primary justification. That’s because contrary to what Bush said in a previous State of the Union speech, we now know the threat posed by Hussein was not imminent."
Sigh. Once more, with feeling:
President Bush did not say in any State of the Union address that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was “imminent.” In fact, he said the exact opposite:
"Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option."
So where did the editorialist get the idea that Bush had said in a State of the Union speech that Iraq posed an “imminent threat"? Perhaps from reading his own fact-challenged paper. The day after Bush’s 2003 State of the Union speech, Times reporter Maura Reynolds penned a story titled – you guessed it – Bush Calls Iraq Imminent Threat:
"A somber and steely President Bush, speaking to a skeptical world Tuesday in his State of the Union address, provided a forceful and detailed denunciation of Iraq, promising new evidence that Saddam Hussein’s regime poses an imminent danger to the world and demanding the United Nations convene in just one week to consider the threat."
I guess it’s a little late to seek a correction of that 2003 story. But I have written the L.A. Times Readers’ Representative seeking a retraction of the statement in this morning’s editorial.
How many times do we have to go through this, folks?
Our venerable L.A. Times editorializes this morning:
"If the Iraqi people’s freedom was once seen as merely a bonus from an unavoidable war, that freedom has moved to center stage as the war’s primary justification. That’s because contrary to what Bush said in a previous State of the Union speech, we now know the threat posed by Hussein was not imminent."
Sigh. Once more, with feeling:
President Bush did not say in any State of the Union address that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was “imminent.” In fact, he said the exact opposite:
"Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option."
So where did the editorialist get the idea that Bush had said in a State of the Union speech that Iraq posed an “imminent threat"? Perhaps from reading his own fact-challenged paper. The day after Bush’s 2003 State of the Union speech, Times reporter Maura Reynolds penned a story titled – you guessed it – Bush Calls Iraq Imminent Threat:
"A somber and steely President Bush, speaking to a skeptical world Tuesday in his State of the Union address, provided a forceful and detailed denunciation of Iraq, promising new evidence that Saddam Hussein’s regime poses an imminent danger to the world and demanding the United Nations convene in just one week to consider the threat."
I guess it’s a little late to seek a correction of that 2003 story. But I have written the L.A. Times Readers’ Representative seeking a retraction of the statement in this morning’s editorial.
Fighting Back
This isn't the first time this has happened (although it's rarely reported). The Iraqi populace is fighting back.
Iraqi Citizens Kill 5 Terrorists
From Radio Sawa (Arabic link): Citizens of Al Mudhiryiah (a small town in the "death triangle") were subjected to an attack by several militants today who were trying to punish the residents of this small town for voting in the election last Sunday.
The citizens responded and managed to stop the attack, kill 5 of the attackers, wounded 8 and burned their cars.3 citizens were injured during the fire exchange. The Shiekh of the tribe to whom the 3 wounded citizens belong demanded more efforts from the government to stop who he described as "Salafis".
Iraqi Citizens Kill 5 Terrorists
From Radio Sawa (Arabic link): Citizens of Al Mudhiryiah (a small town in the "death triangle") were subjected to an attack by several militants today who were trying to punish the residents of this small town for voting in the election last Sunday.
The citizens responded and managed to stop the attack, kill 5 of the attackers, wounded 8 and burned their cars.3 citizens were injured during the fire exchange. The Shiekh of the tribe to whom the 3 wounded citizens belong demanded more efforts from the government to stop who he described as "Salafis".
"It's A Hell Of A Hoot"
This morning the media's reporting about a Marine Corps general who said he "likes killing people." Well, as usual, they took the quote out of its context. Here it is:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Marine Corps general who said it was "fun to shoot some people" should have chosen his words more carefully but will not be disciplined, military officials said on Thursday.
Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and is slated to be portrayed by star actor Harrison Ford in an upcoming Hollywood movie, made the comments at a conference on Tuesday in San Diego, California.
"Actually it's quite fun to fight 'em, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling," Mattis said.
"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said during a panel discussion. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."
All of the weak-kneed cowards in the media are appalled by this. Sounds fine to me.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Marine Corps general who said it was "fun to shoot some people" should have chosen his words more carefully but will not be disciplined, military officials said on Thursday.
Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and is slated to be portrayed by star actor Harrison Ford in an upcoming Hollywood movie, made the comments at a conference on Tuesday in San Diego, California.
"Actually it's quite fun to fight 'em, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling," Mattis said.
"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said during a panel discussion. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."
All of the weak-kneed cowards in the media are appalled by this. Sounds fine to me.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Aaaaahhhhh, Mom, You're Embarrassing Me
Nothing can quench a mother's love:
A mother was arrested at a Ferndale school for allegedly delivering a syringe full of heroin to her son.
Sheila Black, 41, of Metamora, was arrested in the parking lot of Ferndale High School on Pinecrest Street Tuesday during the school's lunch hour, according to a report in The Daily Tribune. Police said they set up surveillance of Black after they received a tip that she was planning to give the heroin to her son.
"She took one of the packs of heroin and cooked it up in a spoon and drew the liquid into a syringe so he could take it into a bathroom at school and shoot it up," said Ferndale police Detective George Hartley in the paper's report.
The teen, whose age was not available, lives with his father in Ferndale, the paper reported. Black has been remarried and there is a court order from Lapeer County barring her from having contact with her son, according to police.
Officers were able to arrest Black in front of the school before she was able to give the drugs to her son because she was in violation of the court order, the paper reported.
Hartley said officers searched Black's Ford pickup truck and found a cosmetic bag with 10 packs of heroin and a loaded syringe.
A mother was arrested at a Ferndale school for allegedly delivering a syringe full of heroin to her son.
Sheila Black, 41, of Metamora, was arrested in the parking lot of Ferndale High School on Pinecrest Street Tuesday during the school's lunch hour, according to a report in The Daily Tribune. Police said they set up surveillance of Black after they received a tip that she was planning to give the heroin to her son.
"She took one of the packs of heroin and cooked it up in a spoon and drew the liquid into a syringe so he could take it into a bathroom at school and shoot it up," said Ferndale police Detective George Hartley in the paper's report.
The teen, whose age was not available, lives with his father in Ferndale, the paper reported. Black has been remarried and there is a court order from Lapeer County barring her from having contact with her son, according to police.
Officers were able to arrest Black in front of the school before she was able to give the drugs to her son because she was in violation of the court order, the paper reported.
Hartley said officers searched Black's Ford pickup truck and found a cosmetic bag with 10 packs of heroin and a loaded syringe.
Obesity is Bad...But Can Be Good
Even Reuters can find the silver lining in this story.
LONDON (Reuters) - Life expectancy in the United States is set to drop within the next 50 years due to obesity, one of the world's top experts on the subject said on Wednesday.
"My colleagues and I believe that within the next 50 years, life expectancy at birth will decline, and it will decline as a result of the obesity epidemic that will creep through all ages like a human tsunami," Professor Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois said in London.
However, Olshansky declined to say by how it would drop. It is currently 80 years for females and 74.5 for males. He said his full research would be published within 6 weeks.
"There has been a dramatic increase in obesity among the younger generation and it is a storm that is approaching," he told an audience at the CASS Business School.
More than 30 percent of Americans are classified as obese, translating to around 59 million people. Being obese triples the risk of heart disease and produces a tenfold increase in the likelihood of developing diabetes.
U.S. life expectancy has increased dramatically since 1900, when the average age of death for men and women combined was 47 and most projections see life expectancy continuing to rise.
But Olshansky said the negative impact on life expectancy would likely hit when obese Americans reached middle age, which could further burden the country's state benefit system by reducing the number of people who are able to work.
Over time, however, it could reduce the pension burden if people died before reaching retirement.
LONDON (Reuters) - Life expectancy in the United States is set to drop within the next 50 years due to obesity, one of the world's top experts on the subject said on Wednesday.
"My colleagues and I believe that within the next 50 years, life expectancy at birth will decline, and it will decline as a result of the obesity epidemic that will creep through all ages like a human tsunami," Professor Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois said in London.
However, Olshansky declined to say by how it would drop. It is currently 80 years for females and 74.5 for males. He said his full research would be published within 6 weeks.
"There has been a dramatic increase in obesity among the younger generation and it is a storm that is approaching," he told an audience at the CASS Business School.
More than 30 percent of Americans are classified as obese, translating to around 59 million people. Being obese triples the risk of heart disease and produces a tenfold increase in the likelihood of developing diabetes.
U.S. life expectancy has increased dramatically since 1900, when the average age of death for men and women combined was 47 and most projections see life expectancy continuing to rise.
But Olshansky said the negative impact on life expectancy would likely hit when obese Americans reached middle age, which could further burden the country's state benefit system by reducing the number of people who are able to work.
Over time, however, it could reduce the pension burden if people died before reaching retirement.
Double Secret Probation...Forever
Dean Wormer is dead.
Toronto — He was the smarmy Dean Wormer in the sophomoric cult movie Animal House.
He was a bad guy who got tossed out a window to his death by the even badder Lee Marvin in Point Blank.
But Canadians may best remember actor John Vernon as a crusading coroner in the groundbreaking 1960s CBC crime series Wojeck.
Mr. Vernon, 72, died peacefully at his Los Angeles home on Tuesday, his family said.
...His other notable film roles included The Outlaw Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Airplane II, Topaz, Brannigan, Charley Varrick, Nobody Waved Goodbye and Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here. He also starred in a 1990 CBC movie that reprised his Wojeck character.
Born in Zehner, Sask., and stage trained, the 6-foot-2 Mr. Vernon, whose birth name was Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz, attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and in London joined several repertory companies. His Broadway debut came in Royal Hunt of the Sun. From there, he moved to Hollywood for a prolific career playing mostly heartless villains.
Toronto — He was the smarmy Dean Wormer in the sophomoric cult movie Animal House.
He was a bad guy who got tossed out a window to his death by the even badder Lee Marvin in Point Blank.
But Canadians may best remember actor John Vernon as a crusading coroner in the groundbreaking 1960s CBC crime series Wojeck.
Mr. Vernon, 72, died peacefully at his Los Angeles home on Tuesday, his family said.
...His other notable film roles included The Outlaw Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Airplane II, Topaz, Brannigan, Charley Varrick, Nobody Waved Goodbye and Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here. He also starred in a 1990 CBC movie that reprised his Wojeck character.
Born in Zehner, Sask., and stage trained, the 6-foot-2 Mr. Vernon, whose birth name was Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz, attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and in London joined several repertory companies. His Broadway debut came in Royal Hunt of the Sun. From there, he moved to Hollywood for a prolific career playing mostly heartless villains.
How Did They Vote?
Interesting breakdown of the vote in 2004:
Upshot: A one-time Democratic mainstay, Catholics gave Bush an overall edge of 53 percent to Kerry's 47 percent.
Overall, the mainline Protestant vote split evenly, the poll found, with a Bush decline of 10 percent from 2000 and the best showing for a Democrat since the 1960s; results before then are unclear.
Divisions between religious liberals and conservatives were even more stark than they were four years ago.
"The American religious landscape was strongly polarized in the 2004 presidential vote and more so than in 2000," concluded the team of four political scientists, led by Akron's John C. Green.
The scholars said Bush's religious constituency included Christian traditionalists in all categories, Mormons, Hispanic Protestants and religious centrists among Catholics and mainline Protestants.
Kerry's support came from black Protestants and secular Americans, followed by "modernists" among Catholics and mainline Protestants. Jews and Latino Catholics remained loyally Democratic.
Upshot: A one-time Democratic mainstay, Catholics gave Bush an overall edge of 53 percent to Kerry's 47 percent.
Overall, the mainline Protestant vote split evenly, the poll found, with a Bush decline of 10 percent from 2000 and the best showing for a Democrat since the 1960s; results before then are unclear.
Divisions between religious liberals and conservatives were even more stark than they were four years ago.
"The American religious landscape was strongly polarized in the 2004 presidential vote and more so than in 2000," concluded the team of four political scientists, led by Akron's John C. Green.
The scholars said Bush's religious constituency included Christian traditionalists in all categories, Mormons, Hispanic Protestants and religious centrists among Catholics and mainline Protestants.
Kerry's support came from black Protestants and secular Americans, followed by "modernists" among Catholics and mainline Protestants. Jews and Latino Catholics remained loyally Democratic.
Quote of the Day
"We cannot risk our retirement benefit in the stock market. Women want a guaranteed benefit, not a guaranteed gamble. . . . We know with every pull of the slot machine arm, we are more likely to get three lemons instead of three gold bars." -- Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., denouncing privatizing Social Security.
Guess who invests her own retirement cash in the stock market? Here are some hints: She's four feet tall, she's a Democrat, she's from Maryland, and - apparently - she's a gambler.
Guess who invests her own retirement cash in the stock market? Here are some hints: She's four feet tall, she's a Democrat, she's from Maryland, and - apparently - she's a gambler.
Yikes!
Nice recruiting day for the Wildcats.
Rivals.com ranks UK 67th in the nation and 11th in the SEC.
67th? Come on, Rich.
Rivals.com ranks UK 67th in the nation and 11th in the SEC.
67th? Come on, Rich.
Don't Cry for Dan
Tom Shales writes in today's WashPost: "This was probably the last State of the Union speech Rather will anchor. He did not look happy about it. Nor should anybody be happy about it."
Uh, I'm very happy about it. In fact, all of America - dare I say, the world - should be happy about it.
Uh, I'm very happy about it. In fact, all of America - dare I say, the world - should be happy about it.
Hopefully, This Will Stop
An investigation by the Ukrainian secret police has found that Iran and China bought long-range missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads from Ukraine, one of the country's politicians said on Wednesday.
Grigory Omelchenko, an ally of the country's new leadership and a former head of the anti-mafia committee in the Ukrainian parliament, claimed on Wednesday that Ukraine's SBU secret police had found that 12 Kh-55s were illegally exported in 1999-2001. He said six of the air-to-ground cruise missiles were sold to Iran, and six to China.
This is why we need free, democratic governments. This is why we need Yuschenko.
Grigory Omelchenko, an ally of the country's new leadership and a former head of the anti-mafia committee in the Ukrainian parliament, claimed on Wednesday that Ukraine's SBU secret police had found that 12 Kh-55s were illegally exported in 1999-2001. He said six of the air-to-ground cruise missiles were sold to Iran, and six to China.
This is why we need free, democratic governments. This is why we need Yuschenko.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Another Classic Correction...
...from the NY Times:
An editorial on Monday about the new jumbo Airbus misstated the weight of the airplane. Its takeoff weight, fully loaded with passengers, freight and fuel, is hundreds of thousands of pounds heavier than the Boeing 747, depending on the configurations, not 30,000 tons heavier. It's an aircraft, not an aircraft carrier.
30,000 tons heavier? That's 60,000,000 pounds! Now, I don't expect every word in the NY Times to be accurate (Lord knows it's not), but stating that one plane is 60 million pounds heavier than another is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off. Is anybody editing this stuff?
An editorial on Monday about the new jumbo Airbus misstated the weight of the airplane. Its takeoff weight, fully loaded with passengers, freight and fuel, is hundreds of thousands of pounds heavier than the Boeing 747, depending on the configurations, not 30,000 tons heavier. It's an aircraft, not an aircraft carrier.
30,000 tons heavier? That's 60,000,000 pounds! Now, I don't expect every word in the NY Times to be accurate (Lord knows it's not), but stating that one plane is 60 million pounds heavier than another is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off. Is anybody editing this stuff?
High Praise from an Unlikely Source
"Abandoning diplomatic circumspection, the top U.N. electoral expert on Tuesday praised the vote in Iraq as one of the most moving she had ever seen," the Associated Press reports.
Carina Perelli, who has helped advise on dozens of elections from East Timor to the Palestinian territories, called the Jan. 30 election a "dignified, peaceful demonstration" of Iraqis' will.
"I have participated in many elections in my life and I usually say that the day you lose your ability to be moved by people going to vote, you should change your career," said Perelli, who had insisted for months that U.N. advisers would leave pronouncements on the election to Iraq's electoral commission. "This was probably one of the most moving elections I have ever seen."
Carina Perelli, who has helped advise on dozens of elections from East Timor to the Palestinian territories, called the Jan. 30 election a "dignified, peaceful demonstration" of Iraqis' will.
"I have participated in many elections in my life and I usually say that the day you lose your ability to be moved by people going to vote, you should change your career," said Perelli, who had insisted for months that U.N. advisers would leave pronouncements on the election to Iraq's electoral commission. "This was probably one of the most moving elections I have ever seen."
Serious Illnesses Not Good for the Pocketbook
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by soaring medical bills and most people sent into debt by illness are middle-class workers with health insurance, researchers said Wednesday.
The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, estimated that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans every year, if both debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children, are counted.
"Our study is frightening. Unless you're Bill Gates you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," said Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who led the study. "Most of the medically bankrupt were average Americans who happened to get sick. Health insurance offered little protection."
Here's the problem with this sort of reporting. I don't doubt the findings of this study. But the quote I highlighted is preposterous. Look, millions of people get serious illnesses and don't go bankrupt. The problem is those who have catastrophic illnesses (especially rare conditions). For these people, it's a choice between life (or decent living) and bankruptcy. That's a no brainer. You do what you have to do.
But isn't almost everyone a catastrophic illness away from bankruptcy? I'd say yes. The reason it's a problem now is because medical technology gives us the ability to survive catastrophic illnesses. I mean, 30 years ago a brain tumor meant death...and no bankruptcy. Today, you can be treated for a brain tumor and make a full recovery, but it costs.
The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, estimated that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans every year, if both debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children, are counted.
"Our study is frightening. Unless you're Bill Gates you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," said Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who led the study. "Most of the medically bankrupt were average Americans who happened to get sick. Health insurance offered little protection."
Here's the problem with this sort of reporting. I don't doubt the findings of this study. But the quote I highlighted is preposterous. Look, millions of people get serious illnesses and don't go bankrupt. The problem is those who have catastrophic illnesses (especially rare conditions). For these people, it's a choice between life (or decent living) and bankruptcy. That's a no brainer. You do what you have to do.
But isn't almost everyone a catastrophic illness away from bankruptcy? I'd say yes. The reason it's a problem now is because medical technology gives us the ability to survive catastrophic illnesses. I mean, 30 years ago a brain tumor meant death...and no bankruptcy. Today, you can be treated for a brain tumor and make a full recovery, but it costs.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
THE Defining Song of the 80's
Bill Simmons answers one of life's enduring questions:
Q: What do you think is THE defining song of the 80's? Not the most popular, but the song that if you were putting a disc of one song in a time capsule for 100 years and they were to open it, what song would scream "This is why the 80s rules." I say it's Blue Monday by New Order, but I'm open to suggestions -- Lance Hughes, Lubbock, TX
SG: That's a great "Driving on a road trip and needing something to argue about for 50 miles" question. In my opinion, a quintessential 80's song should accomplish five things:
A. It should make you think that, except for the rare exceptions -- like the Killers or Franz Ferdinand -- they don't make music like this anymore.
B. It should be happy and moody at the same time, the last song you would ever hear before driving your car off a bridge. No Crockett. No Tubbs. No dice.
C. It should have a definite beat -- you could dance to it, clean your car to it, drive 110 MPH to it, etc -- and it should definitely sound like something that could have been used in Miami Vice (in an opening montage or a "driving around Miami and checking out hot chicks" scene, not a car chase or a "Tubbs hangs out in a strip joint and pretends he's Jamaican" scene).
D. It should make you question your own sexuality for about 0.87 seconds before you say, "Ah, screw it, it's a good song."
E. It should be dated, cheesy and a little overdramatic ... but not so much that the song isn't still enjoyable even now.
Anyway, these would be my six choices (with apologies to "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which wasn't quite morose enough since it was about an orgasm):
1. "The Promise," by When In Rome
2. "Suedehead," by Morrissey
3. "Uncertain Smile," by The The
4. "A Forest," by The Cure
5. "The Killing Moon," by Echo and the Bunnymen
6. "Age of Consent," by New Order
So there you go. And yes, I spent about 90 minutes coming up with that list. And you wonder what I do all day.
Q: What do you think is THE defining song of the 80's? Not the most popular, but the song that if you were putting a disc of one song in a time capsule for 100 years and they were to open it, what song would scream "This is why the 80s rules." I say it's Blue Monday by New Order, but I'm open to suggestions -- Lance Hughes, Lubbock, TX
SG: That's a great "Driving on a road trip and needing something to argue about for 50 miles" question. In my opinion, a quintessential 80's song should accomplish five things:
A. It should make you think that, except for the rare exceptions -- like the Killers or Franz Ferdinand -- they don't make music like this anymore.
B. It should be happy and moody at the same time, the last song you would ever hear before driving your car off a bridge. No Crockett. No Tubbs. No dice.
C. It should have a definite beat -- you could dance to it, clean your car to it, drive 110 MPH to it, etc -- and it should definitely sound like something that could have been used in Miami Vice (in an opening montage or a "driving around Miami and checking out hot chicks" scene, not a car chase or a "Tubbs hangs out in a strip joint and pretends he's Jamaican" scene).
D. It should make you question your own sexuality for about 0.87 seconds before you say, "Ah, screw it, it's a good song."
E. It should be dated, cheesy and a little overdramatic ... but not so much that the song isn't still enjoyable even now.
Anyway, these would be my six choices (with apologies to "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which wasn't quite morose enough since it was about an orgasm):
1. "The Promise," by When In Rome
2. "Suedehead," by Morrissey
3. "Uncertain Smile," by The The
4. "A Forest," by The Cure
5. "The Killing Moon," by Echo and the Bunnymen
6. "Age of Consent," by New Order
So there you go. And yes, I spent about 90 minutes coming up with that list. And you wonder what I do all day.
What Has Happened to Al Queda?
9/11 was big. But recently they've been reduced to campaigning against elections...and now this.
Note to Al Queda: Taking GI Joe action figures hostage doesn't strike fear in the heart of America.
Note to Al Queda: Taking GI Joe action figures hostage doesn't strike fear in the heart of America.
The Daily Implosion
Jon Stewart, late in the Daily Show last night to Newsweek pundit Fareed Zakaria: "I’ve watched this thing unfold from the start and here’s the great fear that I have: What if Bush, the president, ours, has been right about this all along? I feel like my world view will not sustain itself and I may, and again I don’t know if I can physically do this, implode.
Here's what I don't understand: Why wouldn't Jon Stewart be happy if Bush were right?
It reminds of when I was in high school. I knew kids that were no good and were going to grow into no-good adults. For many, I would have bet my life on it. However, if they turned things around and became decent, upstanding citizens, I wouldn't have been disappointed that I was wrong. I would have been thankful that I was wrong.
I just don't get it.
Here's what I don't understand: Why wouldn't Jon Stewart be happy if Bush were right?
It reminds of when I was in high school. I knew kids that were no good and were going to grow into no-good adults. For many, I would have bet my life on it. However, if they turned things around and became decent, upstanding citizens, I wouldn't have been disappointed that I was wrong. I would have been thankful that I was wrong.
I just don't get it.
Overblown
I'm surprised we haven't read more of this:
But many in the newly triumphant Shi'ite community were in no mood yesterday for magnanimity.
"We carried our father three hours to get him to the polls," said Muthana Jaffar al-Tamimi, 30, a grocery store clerk and art school graduate in Baghdad's middle-class Shi'ite neighborhood of Karada. The Sunni Arabs "could have made the process successful themselves," he said. "They could have gotten involved, but they didn't. We decided our destiny. They decided theirs." He added, "It's their problem."
Did anyone care if the Nazis participated in post-war German government? Did anyone care if the Afrikaneers participated in post-apartheid South African government? That would be no and no. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the plight of the Sunnis. They'll participate in enough numbers to keep the Shiites honest...but no more.
But many in the newly triumphant Shi'ite community were in no mood yesterday for magnanimity.
"We carried our father three hours to get him to the polls," said Muthana Jaffar al-Tamimi, 30, a grocery store clerk and art school graduate in Baghdad's middle-class Shi'ite neighborhood of Karada. The Sunni Arabs "could have made the process successful themselves," he said. "They could have gotten involved, but they didn't. We decided our destiny. They decided theirs." He added, "It's their problem."
Did anyone care if the Nazis participated in post-war German government? Did anyone care if the Afrikaneers participated in post-apartheid South African government? That would be no and no. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the plight of the Sunnis. They'll participate in enough numbers to keep the Shiites honest...but no more.
"Never Again!"
That was the theme of the Auschwitz remembrances just a few days ago. Well, on second thought, maybe just one more time.
February 1, 2005: Apparently the Sudanese government is once again using its An-24 transports as bomber aircraft in the Darfur region. The An-24 is a two engine Russian aircraft, developed in the 1960s to replace pre-World War II American DC-3s. An-24s can carry up to 50 passengers, or five tons of cargo. Sudan have some of the An-26 versions of the An-24, which has a rear ramp, which bombs are rolled out of. The African Union and various relief agencies report that Sudanese planes bombed the village of Rahad Kabolong in North Darfur state. The attack took place on January 26 and left more than 100 people dead. Some 9000 people fled the village and the surrounding area after the air attack. A monitoring team reported that most of the dead were women and children. As of January 31, the government continued to deny that the air raid took place. The United Nations called the attack a major ceasefire violation-- which of course it was. The UN, however, still refuses to call the Sudanese war in Darfur a genocide.
February 1, 2005: Apparently the Sudanese government is once again using its An-24 transports as bomber aircraft in the Darfur region. The An-24 is a two engine Russian aircraft, developed in the 1960s to replace pre-World War II American DC-3s. An-24s can carry up to 50 passengers, or five tons of cargo. Sudan have some of the An-26 versions of the An-24, which has a rear ramp, which bombs are rolled out of. The African Union and various relief agencies report that Sudanese planes bombed the village of Rahad Kabolong in North Darfur state. The attack took place on January 26 and left more than 100 people dead. Some 9000 people fled the village and the surrounding area after the air attack. A monitoring team reported that most of the dead were women and children. As of January 31, the government continued to deny that the air raid took place. The United Nations called the attack a major ceasefire violation-- which of course it was. The UN, however, still refuses to call the Sudanese war in Darfur a genocide.
More Great News from Afghanistan
The MSM doesn't even attempt to cover Afghanistan any more. Even they couldn't spend this into a negative story.
February 1, 2005: In the last week, at least 13 arms and munitions caches have been found throughout the country. The largest of them contained more than 10,000 mortar rounds, 500 122 mm artillery rockets, as well as fuses. In the last four months, 236 weapons caches have been found, and destroyed, throughout the country. More importantly, 99 of those were found because local Afghans reported the location to coalition forces. . . .
In 2003, ten percent of the caches found were because of tips from Afghans. This increased to 31 percent in 2004, and was 42 percent in the past four months. Afghans know that these munitions will be used against them, if any of the local warlords get into a major quarrel. The usual drill is to fire mortars, rockets and artillery at the other warlords villages and towns. More Afghans feel secure enough with the new police force and army to trust them with this information.
February 1, 2005: In the last week, at least 13 arms and munitions caches have been found throughout the country. The largest of them contained more than 10,000 mortar rounds, 500 122 mm artillery rockets, as well as fuses. In the last four months, 236 weapons caches have been found, and destroyed, throughout the country. More importantly, 99 of those were found because local Afghans reported the location to coalition forces. . . .
In 2003, ten percent of the caches found were because of tips from Afghans. This increased to 31 percent in 2004, and was 42 percent in the past four months. Afghans know that these munitions will be used against them, if any of the local warlords get into a major quarrel. The usual drill is to fire mortars, rockets and artillery at the other warlords villages and towns. More Afghans feel secure enough with the new police force and army to trust them with this information.
A New Day for the CIA
My man Porter Goss is getting it done. Case in point:
"Eastern Ukraine is heavily ethnic Russian. The main industry is coal. The miners are rough, tough, and hate Yushchenko for wanting to take Ukraine away from Russia and toward the West," writes Wheeler. "It was arranged for more than a thousand of them to be taken from Donetsk, the capital of the coal-mining region, by bus and train to Kiev, where, armed with clubs and blunt tools, they would physically beat up the Orange Revolutionaries. Such mass violence was not only to disperse the demonstrators but serve as an excuse for the government to declare martial law, suspending the Ukrainian Parliament (the Rada) and elections indefinitely."
Now comes the secret weapon: vodka.
"When the miners got on their buses and trains, they found to their joy case after case of vodka – just for them. When they arrived in Kiev, trucks awaited them filled with more cases of vodka – all free provided by 'friends' of the Donetsk coal miners. Completely soused, they never made it to Independence Square. Too hammered blind to cause any violence at all, they had a merry time, passed out and were shipped back to Donetsk." . . .
Wheeler's column goes on to explain who provided the liquor: teams of Porter Goss' CIA working with their counterparts in British MI6 intelligence.
"Eastern Ukraine is heavily ethnic Russian. The main industry is coal. The miners are rough, tough, and hate Yushchenko for wanting to take Ukraine away from Russia and toward the West," writes Wheeler. "It was arranged for more than a thousand of them to be taken from Donetsk, the capital of the coal-mining region, by bus and train to Kiev, where, armed with clubs and blunt tools, they would physically beat up the Orange Revolutionaries. Such mass violence was not only to disperse the demonstrators but serve as an excuse for the government to declare martial law, suspending the Ukrainian Parliament (the Rada) and elections indefinitely."
Now comes the secret weapon: vodka.
"When the miners got on their buses and trains, they found to their joy case after case of vodka – just for them. When they arrived in Kiev, trucks awaited them filled with more cases of vodka – all free provided by 'friends' of the Donetsk coal miners. Completely soused, they never made it to Independence Square. Too hammered blind to cause any violence at all, they had a merry time, passed out and were shipped back to Donetsk." . . .
Wheeler's column goes on to explain who provided the liquor: teams of Porter Goss' CIA working with their counterparts in British MI6 intelligence.
This Should Help
Congress has given the Pentagon important new authority to fight terrorism by authorizing Special Operations forces for the first time to spend money to pay informers and recruit foreign paramilitary soldiers.
The new authority, which would also let Special Operations forces purchase equipment or other items from the foreigners, is spelled out in a single paragraph of an 800-page defense authorization bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in October.
The new authority, which would also let Special Operations forces purchase equipment or other items from the foreigners, is spelled out in a single paragraph of an 800-page defense authorization bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in October.
News Flash: Adolescents are Risky
This makes sense. No wonder your car insurance rates decrease at age 25.
By most physical measures, teenagers should be the world's best drivers. Their muscles are supple, their reflexes quick, their senses at a lifetime peak. Yet car crashes kill more of them than any other cause -- a problem, some researchers believe, that is rooted in the adolescent brain.
A National Institutes of Health study suggests that the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior is not fully formed until age 25, a finding with implications for a host of policies, including the nation's driving laws.
"We'd thought the highest levels of physical and brain maturity were reached by age 18, maybe earlier -- so this threw us," said Jay Giedd, a pediatric psychiatrist leading the study, which released its first results in April. That makes adolescence "a dangerous time, when it should be the best."
By most physical measures, teenagers should be the world's best drivers. Their muscles are supple, their reflexes quick, their senses at a lifetime peak. Yet car crashes kill more of them than any other cause -- a problem, some researchers believe, that is rooted in the adolescent brain.
A National Institutes of Health study suggests that the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior is not fully formed until age 25, a finding with implications for a host of policies, including the nation's driving laws.
"We'd thought the highest levels of physical and brain maturity were reached by age 18, maybe earlier -- so this threw us," said Jay Giedd, a pediatric psychiatrist leading the study, which released its first results in April. That makes adolescence "a dangerous time, when it should be the best."
Thank You, Mr. Redford
In case you missed the "art" that is showing at the Sundance Film Festival, here's a review:
In Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale," one of the best films in a very mixed-bag dramatic competition this year, a divorced father considers an affair with a student, his older son dithers about whether to bed a "nice" girl or the same, wilder student his father's with, and the 11-ish son reacts to his parents' split by masturbating in the library stacks and marking his territory by smearing the result around school.
In Rebecca Miller's "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," a 16-year-old girl raised alone on an island by her father begins rebelling by abruptly asking a visiting virginal boy to deflower her; when he begs off, she lets that boy's punkish younger brother do the deed, thanking him afterward and then hanging the reddened sheet out to dry for dad's edification.
In Miranda July's deceptively lightweight "Me and You and Everyone We Know," a first-grade-level boy who can barely read manages to type out some simultaneously innocent and outrageous Internet proposals about the possibilities of excrement exchange, while his high school-age brother is the recipient of oral favors from two mid-teen girls who want to know if he can tell the difference between their techniques.
In Melissa Painter's "Steal Me," a 15-year-old boy becomes the Don Juan of a small Montana town, while in Arie Posin's "The Chumscrubber," a high schooler comes on strong to the mother of his girlfriend.
In Mike Binder's "The Upside of Anger," a high school girl flaunts her affair with a much older man in her distraught mother's face.
In Marcos Siega's "Pretty Persuasion," three Beverly Hills high school girls deviously engineer a sexual harassment suit against a teacher by using their sexual wiles.
In Rian Johnson's "Brick," all the high school characters talk and behave like characters out of a Dashiell Hammett novel, with sex entering into the equation just as it would for adults.
On the foreign front, Ziad Doueiri's French picture "Lila Says" centers on a mid-teen girl using sexual power as a significantly older woman might, while Park Chul-soo's new South Korean film "Green Chair" is about the boundary-pushing affair between a 32-year-old woman and a 19-year-old male student, who, under Korean law, is still a minor.
Perhaps most startling is David Slade's "Hard Candy," in which an alarmingly aware 14-year-old girl takes revenge on a man who may or may not have preyed upon underage girls by tying him up and cutting him where it counts. The sexual sophistication of her character, not to mention her wherewithal and cleverness, is way beyond her years.
In Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale," one of the best films in a very mixed-bag dramatic competition this year, a divorced father considers an affair with a student, his older son dithers about whether to bed a "nice" girl or the same, wilder student his father's with, and the 11-ish son reacts to his parents' split by masturbating in the library stacks and marking his territory by smearing the result around school.
In Rebecca Miller's "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," a 16-year-old girl raised alone on an island by her father begins rebelling by abruptly asking a visiting virginal boy to deflower her; when he begs off, she lets that boy's punkish younger brother do the deed, thanking him afterward and then hanging the reddened sheet out to dry for dad's edification.
In Miranda July's deceptively lightweight "Me and You and Everyone We Know," a first-grade-level boy who can barely read manages to type out some simultaneously innocent and outrageous Internet proposals about the possibilities of excrement exchange, while his high school-age brother is the recipient of oral favors from two mid-teen girls who want to know if he can tell the difference between their techniques.
In Melissa Painter's "Steal Me," a 15-year-old boy becomes the Don Juan of a small Montana town, while in Arie Posin's "The Chumscrubber," a high schooler comes on strong to the mother of his girlfriend.
In Mike Binder's "The Upside of Anger," a high school girl flaunts her affair with a much older man in her distraught mother's face.
In Marcos Siega's "Pretty Persuasion," three Beverly Hills high school girls deviously engineer a sexual harassment suit against a teacher by using their sexual wiles.
In Rian Johnson's "Brick," all the high school characters talk and behave like characters out of a Dashiell Hammett novel, with sex entering into the equation just as it would for adults.
On the foreign front, Ziad Doueiri's French picture "Lila Says" centers on a mid-teen girl using sexual power as a significantly older woman might, while Park Chul-soo's new South Korean film "Green Chair" is about the boundary-pushing affair between a 32-year-old woman and a 19-year-old male student, who, under Korean law, is still a minor.
Perhaps most startling is David Slade's "Hard Candy," in which an alarmingly aware 14-year-old girl takes revenge on a man who may or may not have preyed upon underage girls by tying him up and cutting him where it counts. The sexual sophistication of her character, not to mention her wherewithal and cleverness, is way beyond her years.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Every Cycle Has A Mission In Iraq
From a U.S. soldier:
Every cycle has a mission in Iraq. The units we relieved, the first cycle, were called upon to defeat the major war elements of the Iraqi army, and oust Saddam. The ones that relieve us, the third cycle, will build up the strength of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). Our job as the second cycle was to see that Iraq took over its own affairs, and kept the peace intact while they were doing so. Soldiers of this cycle were in Samara and Falluja to do just that. We have built schools and poured money into the infrastructure of this country, trying to get them to ready to stand on their own. To me, that has always been the visible aspects of our mission. That is the stuff that never seems to make CNN. . . .
For all the talk of this being a war for oil, I've seen hundreds of thousands of dollars of oil burn in industrial accidents without being ordered to lift a finger to help. For all the talk of being a tool of the imperialist powers trying to take advantage of a little country, I've spent hours in the hot sun training the local forces to replace me, and endless hours waiting for our command to come out of local meetings where they hear the local problems and try to assist them. And now, our last mission is complete, the elections went through and Iraq has taken another step toward its own freedom. We can pass this country to the next unit knowing we have done the job. This has been my Iraq and, someday, I want to look back and be proud.
Every cycle has a mission in Iraq. The units we relieved, the first cycle, were called upon to defeat the major war elements of the Iraqi army, and oust Saddam. The ones that relieve us, the third cycle, will build up the strength of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). Our job as the second cycle was to see that Iraq took over its own affairs, and kept the peace intact while they were doing so. Soldiers of this cycle were in Samara and Falluja to do just that. We have built schools and poured money into the infrastructure of this country, trying to get them to ready to stand on their own. To me, that has always been the visible aspects of our mission. That is the stuff that never seems to make CNN. . . .
For all the talk of this being a war for oil, I've seen hundreds of thousands of dollars of oil burn in industrial accidents without being ordered to lift a finger to help. For all the talk of being a tool of the imperialist powers trying to take advantage of a little country, I've spent hours in the hot sun training the local forces to replace me, and endless hours waiting for our command to come out of local meetings where they hear the local problems and try to assist them. And now, our last mission is complete, the elections went through and Iraq has taken another step toward its own freedom. We can pass this country to the next unit knowing we have done the job. This has been my Iraq and, someday, I want to look back and be proud.
Ariel May Be Getting An Itchy Trigger Finger
American envoy John Bolton, the State Department's top international security official, repeated U.S. allegations Monday about an Iranian nuclear weapons program and said Israel might attack Iran's nuclear sites because the Jewish state has "a history" of such actions.
"The vice president said we're very concerned that this might happen," Bolton said, referring to a recent statement by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. "Israel destroyed the Osirak reactor in Iraq. They have a history of this," Bolton said.
Earlier this month Cheney said it was possible Israel might attack Iran if it became convinced Tehran posed a nuclear threat.
"The vice president said we're very concerned that this might happen," Bolton said, referring to a recent statement by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. "Israel destroyed the Osirak reactor in Iraq. They have a history of this," Bolton said.
Earlier this month Cheney said it was possible Israel might attack Iran if it became convinced Tehran posed a nuclear threat.
Pulling Out in '05?
I'm not sure if I buy this or not; but the Jan. 30 vote was clearly a huge milestone.
WASHINGTON – Britain and the United States have agreed on a withdrawal plan that would see the first troops leaving Iraq as early as 2005, according to British press reports and diplomatic sources.
The sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisers to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisers would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security, Middle East Newsline reported.
"The agreement is that the first troops would leave in late 2005," a source said. "The number of troops and withdrawal timetable would depend on operational considerations."
The agreement was reached during talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on Jan. 24. The London-based Guardian daily reported Hoon agreed to recommendations by a retired U.S. general, Gary Luck, on the use of Western advisers to help accelerate Iraqi military and police training.
Earlier, the Pentagon said it planned to maintain about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq until 2007. But the diplomatic sources said Hoon and Rumsfeld agreed that coalition troop levels would be reduced in late 2005.
The sources said the first milestone to the effectiveness of Iraqi troops was the national elections on Jan. 30.
WASHINGTON – Britain and the United States have agreed on a withdrawal plan that would see the first troops leaving Iraq as early as 2005, according to British press reports and diplomatic sources.
The sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisers to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisers would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security, Middle East Newsline reported.
"The agreement is that the first troops would leave in late 2005," a source said. "The number of troops and withdrawal timetable would depend on operational considerations."
The agreement was reached during talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on Jan. 24. The London-based Guardian daily reported Hoon agreed to recommendations by a retired U.S. general, Gary Luck, on the use of Western advisers to help accelerate Iraqi military and police training.
Earlier, the Pentagon said it planned to maintain about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq until 2007. But the diplomatic sources said Hoon and Rumsfeld agreed that coalition troop levels would be reduced in late 2005.
The sources said the first milestone to the effectiveness of Iraqi troops was the national elections on Jan. 30.
John Kerry is an Island
Poor John Kerry, even his "friends" in the global community stabbed him in the back:
French President Jacques Chirac described them as a "great success for the international community", while a spokesman for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the high turnout showed Iraqis wanted to take their future into their own hands.
Mr Annan, meanwhile, said the Iraqis had shown courage.
"The Iraqis who turned out today are courageous, they know that they are voting for the future of their country," he said.
"We must encourage them and support them to take control of their destiny."
French President Jacques Chirac described them as a "great success for the international community", while a spokesman for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the high turnout showed Iraqis wanted to take their future into their own hands.
Mr Annan, meanwhile, said the Iraqis had shown courage.
"The Iraqis who turned out today are courageous, they know that they are voting for the future of their country," he said.
"We must encourage them and support them to take control of their destiny."
We've Got the Big Mo (and I Don't Mean Elton John)
Is North Korea next?
FAR across the frozen river two figures hurried from the North Korean shore, slip-sliding on the ice as they made a break for the Chinese riverbank to escape a regime that, by many accounts, is now entering its death throes.
It was a desperate risk to run in the stark glare of the winter sunshine. We had just seen a patrol of Chinese soldiers in fur-lined uniforms tramping along the snowy bank, their automatic rifles slung ready for action.
Police cars swept up and down the road every 10 or 15 minutes, on the look-out for refugees. A small group of Chinese travellers in our minibus, some of whom turned out to have good reasons to be discreet, pretended not to notice.
The two made it to shelter and we ploughed on towards a border post that offered us a rare opportunity to cross into the northeastern corner of the last Stalinist state, posing as would-be investors in an experimental free trade zone.
We had already witnessed one sign that North Korea’s totalitarian system is dissolving, even as its leaders boast of owning nuclear weapons to deter their enemies.
“It’s just like the Berlin Wall,” Pastor Douglas Shin, a Christian activist, said by telephone from Seoul. “The slow-motion exodus is the beginning of the end.”
In interviews for this article over many months, western policymakers, Chinese experts, North Korean exiles and human rights activists built up a picture of a tightly knit clan leadership in Pyongyang that is on the verge of collapse.
Some of those interviewed believe the “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong-il, has already lost his personal authority to a clique of generals and party cadres. Without any public announcement, governments from Tokyo to Washington are preparing for a change of regime.
FAR across the frozen river two figures hurried from the North Korean shore, slip-sliding on the ice as they made a break for the Chinese riverbank to escape a regime that, by many accounts, is now entering its death throes.
It was a desperate risk to run in the stark glare of the winter sunshine. We had just seen a patrol of Chinese soldiers in fur-lined uniforms tramping along the snowy bank, their automatic rifles slung ready for action.
Police cars swept up and down the road every 10 or 15 minutes, on the look-out for refugees. A small group of Chinese travellers in our minibus, some of whom turned out to have good reasons to be discreet, pretended not to notice.
The two made it to shelter and we ploughed on towards a border post that offered us a rare opportunity to cross into the northeastern corner of the last Stalinist state, posing as would-be investors in an experimental free trade zone.
We had already witnessed one sign that North Korea’s totalitarian system is dissolving, even as its leaders boast of owning nuclear weapons to deter their enemies.
“It’s just like the Berlin Wall,” Pastor Douglas Shin, a Christian activist, said by telephone from Seoul. “The slow-motion exodus is the beginning of the end.”
In interviews for this article over many months, western policymakers, Chinese experts, North Korean exiles and human rights activists built up a picture of a tightly knit clan leadership in Pyongyang that is on the verge of collapse.
Some of those interviewed believe the “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong-il, has already lost his personal authority to a clique of generals and party cadres. Without any public announcement, governments from Tokyo to Washington are preparing for a change of regime.
You Said It
A series of posts from Andrew Sullivan that sums up yesterday:
TO SUM UP: Two years ago, the West liberated Iraq. But yesterday, the Iraqis liberated themselves.- 1:45:37 AM
A HUGE SUCCESS: The latest indicators suggest a turnout of something like 60 percent. We'll have to wait for precise numbers and ethnic/regional breakdowns. But if I stick to my pre-election criteria for success, this election blows it away: "45 percent turnout for Kurds and Shia, 25 percent turnout for the Sunnis, under 200 murdered." Even my more optimistic predictions of a while back do not look so out of bounds. But the numbers don't account for the psychological impact. There is no disguising that this is a huge victory for the Iraqi people - and, despite everything, for Bush and Blair. Yes, we shouldn't get carried away. We don't know yet who was elected, or what they'll do, or how they'll be more successful at controlling the insurgency. There are many questions ahead. And I don't mean to minimize them. But I'm struck by some of the paradoxes of all this. We're too close to events to see them clearly. But the timing of this strikes me as fortuitous. Why? Because by the time of the elections, the insurgents had been able to show themselves as a real threat to the democratic experiment and to reveal their true colors - enemies of democracy, Jihadist fanatics and Baathist thugs. The election was in part a referendum on these forces. And they lost - big time. Their entire credibility as somehow representing a genuine nationalist resistance has been scotched. If the election had happened earlier - say a year sooner - it might not have registered the same impact, because the insurgency would not have been so strong or so defined. Failure and success are not always binary in history, or mutually exclusive. Sometimes early success - like the liberating war - can aggravate the problems of an occupation. And sometimes failure - like losing control of security across whole swathes of the country - can lead to unexpected success. These are my provisional thoughts (sorry, Mickey). And they may be infused with a certain euphoria (sorry, again). But providence does seem to be at work in these events. Miracles do happen. One just did.
THE IMAGES: The pictures are extraordinary. Don't miss the slideshows in the Washington Post and NYT this morning. The images of women especially moved me - because of what this election represents for the future of women's dignity and equality in the Middle East. Then the general merriment all round. Even from this distance, it appears that Iraqis were celebrating their common citizenship, a moment when their civic and national space just got larger. Look at these photos and re-read the president's Inaugural. This is real. Freedom is advancing. Out of chaos and fear. Maybe it took staring into the abyss to bring Iraq back from a form of hell.
TO SUM UP: Two years ago, the West liberated Iraq. But yesterday, the Iraqis liberated themselves.- 1:45:37 AM
A HUGE SUCCESS: The latest indicators suggest a turnout of something like 60 percent. We'll have to wait for precise numbers and ethnic/regional breakdowns. But if I stick to my pre-election criteria for success, this election blows it away: "45 percent turnout for Kurds and Shia, 25 percent turnout for the Sunnis, under 200 murdered." Even my more optimistic predictions of a while back do not look so out of bounds. But the numbers don't account for the psychological impact. There is no disguising that this is a huge victory for the Iraqi people - and, despite everything, for Bush and Blair. Yes, we shouldn't get carried away. We don't know yet who was elected, or what they'll do, or how they'll be more successful at controlling the insurgency. There are many questions ahead. And I don't mean to minimize them. But I'm struck by some of the paradoxes of all this. We're too close to events to see them clearly. But the timing of this strikes me as fortuitous. Why? Because by the time of the elections, the insurgents had been able to show themselves as a real threat to the democratic experiment and to reveal their true colors - enemies of democracy, Jihadist fanatics and Baathist thugs. The election was in part a referendum on these forces. And they lost - big time. Their entire credibility as somehow representing a genuine nationalist resistance has been scotched. If the election had happened earlier - say a year sooner - it might not have registered the same impact, because the insurgency would not have been so strong or so defined. Failure and success are not always binary in history, or mutually exclusive. Sometimes early success - like the liberating war - can aggravate the problems of an occupation. And sometimes failure - like losing control of security across whole swathes of the country - can lead to unexpected success. These are my provisional thoughts (sorry, Mickey). And they may be infused with a certain euphoria (sorry, again). But providence does seem to be at work in these events. Miracles do happen. One just did.
THE IMAGES: The pictures are extraordinary. Don't miss the slideshows in the Washington Post and NYT this morning. The images of women especially moved me - because of what this election represents for the future of women's dignity and equality in the Middle East. Then the general merriment all round. Even from this distance, it appears that Iraqis were celebrating their common citizenship, a moment when their civic and national space just got larger. Look at these photos and re-read the president's Inaugural. This is real. Freedom is advancing. Out of chaos and fear. Maybe it took staring into the abyss to bring Iraq back from a form of hell.
This is a Great Idea
January 30, 2005 -- BAGHDAD — The man replacing the mayor of Baghdad — who was assassinated for his pro-American loyalties — says he is not worried about his ties to Washington.
In fact, he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city.
"We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."
Fadel's predecessor, Ali al-Haidari, was gunned down Jan. 4 when militants opened fire on his armor-covered BMW as it traveled with a three-car convoy.
Fadel said he received numerous threats on his life as the council chairman, and expects to get many more in his new post.
"My life is cheap," Fadel said. "Everything is cheap for my country."
In fact, he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city.
"We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."
Fadel's predecessor, Ali al-Haidari, was gunned down Jan. 4 when militants opened fire on his armor-covered BMW as it traveled with a three-car convoy.
Fadel said he received numerous threats on his life as the council chairman, and expects to get many more in his new post.
"My life is cheap," Fadel said. "Everything is cheap for my country."
Sunday, January 30, 2005
My Thoughts, Exactly
More from Michael Novak:
My wife Karen and I stayed up until four am this morning watching in excitement as the polls opened in Iraq, and the early two hours went peacefully, and resolve gathered, and the voters streamed in. It was a beautiful example of bravery. There were many tears of joy. There were marvelous expressions such as: I would be willing to die, rather than say that I had not voted. It was an incredibly moving panorama, as FOX took viewers round the country.
Some thoughts: As of January 30, 2005, the government of Iraq will now have more legitimacy from the grand consent of the governed than any other regime in the region. Iraq the model, indeed.
The Arab press of the region, it is reported, are in some awe at what they have seen, and are calling it the beginning of a new future.
Third, Mr Z and his foreign terrorists and local henchmen have been demonstrated to be a lunatic fringe of the small minority that did not vote. They can no longer claim to be an "insurgency," and certainly not to speak for the Iraqi people. They are a lunatic, murderous fringe, worthy of the contempt of free women and free men. They are a disgrace to Islam and to all humanistic values.
Fourth, democracy really is the new name for peace. It is manifestly a new word for joy, celebration, pride, and bravery. The home of the brave does become the home of the free, and it is very satisfying for the American soul to be standing at the side of the brave, in the act by which they become free.
Fifth, the tactic of three concentric rings of protection around each polling place---the Iraqi police at the core, the Iraqi National Guard in the middle ring, and the Coalition forces in the outer, third ring--turned out to be brilliant. The performance of those in the inner rings was professional, confident, courteous. They seemed to feel all the more confident for having the Coalition at their backs, ready to spring to their aid. Their own inner strength seemed to be doubled by that outer support. Their fortitude multiplied many-fold the range and capacities of the Americans. A well-conceived plan, gentlemen of the military and Iraqi leaders alike! Well done.
There is a special joy the act of freedom brings, especially when it is performed under the fear of death, in visible bravery. It seems an act of the sort the Creator made us to perform, at the top of our powers! It is a thing of beauty.
My wife Karen and I stayed up until four am this morning watching in excitement as the polls opened in Iraq, and the early two hours went peacefully, and resolve gathered, and the voters streamed in. It was a beautiful example of bravery. There were many tears of joy. There were marvelous expressions such as: I would be willing to die, rather than say that I had not voted. It was an incredibly moving panorama, as FOX took viewers round the country.
Some thoughts: As of January 30, 2005, the government of Iraq will now have more legitimacy from the grand consent of the governed than any other regime in the region. Iraq the model, indeed.
The Arab press of the region, it is reported, are in some awe at what they have seen, and are calling it the beginning of a new future.
Third, Mr Z and his foreign terrorists and local henchmen have been demonstrated to be a lunatic fringe of the small minority that did not vote. They can no longer claim to be an "insurgency," and certainly not to speak for the Iraqi people. They are a lunatic, murderous fringe, worthy of the contempt of free women and free men. They are a disgrace to Islam and to all humanistic values.
Fourth, democracy really is the new name for peace. It is manifestly a new word for joy, celebration, pride, and bravery. The home of the brave does become the home of the free, and it is very satisfying for the American soul to be standing at the side of the brave, in the act by which they become free.
Fifth, the tactic of three concentric rings of protection around each polling place---the Iraqi police at the core, the Iraqi National Guard in the middle ring, and the Coalition forces in the outer, third ring--turned out to be brilliant. The performance of those in the inner rings was professional, confident, courteous. They seemed to feel all the more confident for having the Coalition at their backs, ready to spring to their aid. Their own inner strength seemed to be doubled by that outer support. Their fortitude multiplied many-fold the range and capacities of the Americans. A well-conceived plan, gentlemen of the military and Iraqi leaders alike! Well done.
There is a special joy the act of freedom brings, especially when it is performed under the fear of death, in visible bravery. It seems an act of the sort the Creator made us to perform, at the top of our powers! It is a thing of beauty.
Quote of the Day
“I don't get why any Democrat would want to dump on this election." - Democratic strategist Bob Beckel on Fox criticizing John Kerry for his Iraqi-election comments.
I do, because the Democrats are now the party of the vision-less, the moral-less, the compassion-less, and the gut-less.
I do, because the Democrats are now the party of the vision-less, the moral-less, the compassion-less, and the gut-less.
Walking 10 Miles, Barefoot
From a soldier stationed in Camp Taji, Iraq:
Wanted to pass along a story from Baghdad this morning. At 0900, ~100 people started walking the 15km to a polling site in the city (their's was closed). The crowd grew to 300, then 500 and eventually more than 1,000. Some made the walk barefoot. As the reports came in our commander said: "Anyone willing to walk 10 miles to cast a ballot deserves to be protected." Then he ordered security for them.
Those are our boys over there.
Wanted to pass along a story from Baghdad this morning. At 0900, ~100 people started walking the 15km to a polling site in the city (their's was closed). The crowd grew to 300, then 500 and eventually more than 1,000. Some made the walk barefoot. As the reports came in our commander said: "Anyone willing to walk 10 miles to cast a ballot deserves to be protected." Then he ordered security for them.
Those are our boys over there.
Unbelievable
Adil al-Lami, senior official at the Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq, on al Iraqiyah TV, reports preliminary turnout numbers (my breakdown):
North
Al-Sulaymaniyah 70%
At Ta'mim 60%
Dahuk 82%
Center
Salah al-Din 60%
Baghdad Al-Rusafah 65%
Baghdad Al-Karkh 95%
Diyala 50%
Babil 66%
Wasit 75%
Karbala 90%
South
Al-Qadisiyah 50%
An Najaf 80%
Dhi-Qar 80%
Al-Muthanna 80%
Basra 66%
Maysan 92%
North
Al-Sulaymaniyah 70%
At Ta'mim 60%
Dahuk 82%
Center
Salah al-Din 60%
Baghdad Al-Rusafah 65%
Baghdad Al-Karkh 95%
Diyala 50%
Babil 66%
Wasit 75%
Karbala 90%
South
Al-Qadisiyah 50%
An Najaf 80%
Dhi-Qar 80%
Al-Muthanna 80%
Basra 66%
Maysan 92%
Ouch!
Cliff May nails John Kerry:
John Kerry was on Meet the Press this morning and demonstrated, with great force and eloquence, the wisdom of the American electorate and why he is exquisitely unsuited for higher office.
John Kerry was on Meet the Press this morning and demonstrated, with great force and eloquence, the wisdom of the American electorate and why he is exquisitely unsuited for higher office.
All the News That's Unfit to Print
I was interrupt my coverage of the wonderful election news with this priceless correction from the NY Times:
From the NYTimes: "An article on Jan. 16 about the way presidents fare in their second terms misstated the reason Bill Clinton was impeached. He was accused of perjury and obstruction of justice, not of having an affair with an intern."
Morons.
From the NYTimes: "An article on Jan. 16 about the way presidents fare in their second terms misstated the reason Bill Clinton was impeached. He was accused of perjury and obstruction of justice, not of having an affair with an intern."
Morons.
Iraqi Voting Disrupts News of Bombings
ScrappleFace isn't funny anymore. Why? Because attempts to satire to media are impossible.
Iraqi Voting Disrupts News Reports of Bombings
(2005-01-30) -- News reports of terrorist bombings in Iraq were marred Sunday by shocking graphic images of Iraqi "insurgents" voting by the millions in their first free democratic election.
Despite reporters' hopes that a well-orchestrated barrage of mortar attacks and suicide bombings would put down the so-called 'freedom insurgency', hastily-formed battalions of rebels swarmed polling places to cast their ballots -- shattering the status quo and striking fear into the hearts of the leaders of the existing terror regime.
Hopes for a return to the stability of tyranny waned as rank upon rank of Iraqi men and women filed out of precinct stations, each armed with the distinctive mark of the new freedom guerrillas -- an ink-stained index finger, which one former Ba'athist called "the evidence of their betrayal of 50 years of Iraqi tradition."
Journalists struggled to put a positive spin on the day's events, but the video images of tyranny's traitors choosing a future of freedom overwhelmed the official story of bloodshed and mayhem.
Iraqi Voting Disrupts News Reports of Bombings
(2005-01-30) -- News reports of terrorist bombings in Iraq were marred Sunday by shocking graphic images of Iraqi "insurgents" voting by the millions in their first free democratic election.
Despite reporters' hopes that a well-orchestrated barrage of mortar attacks and suicide bombings would put down the so-called 'freedom insurgency', hastily-formed battalions of rebels swarmed polling places to cast their ballots -- shattering the status quo and striking fear into the hearts of the leaders of the existing terror regime.
Hopes for a return to the stability of tyranny waned as rank upon rank of Iraqi men and women filed out of precinct stations, each armed with the distinctive mark of the new freedom guerrillas -- an ink-stained index finger, which one former Ba'athist called "the evidence of their betrayal of 50 years of Iraqi tradition."
Journalists struggled to put a positive spin on the day's events, but the video images of tyranny's traitors choosing a future of freedom overwhelmed the official story of bloodshed and mayhem.
Holy S$%t!
These numbers are very preliminary, but nevertheless, amazing:
The Independent Election Commission of Iraq clarified an earlier estimate of a 72 percent turnout in Sunday's election, saying that the "figures are only very rough, word-of-mouth estimates gathered informally from the field."
The Independent Election Commission of Iraq clarified an earlier estimate of a 72 percent turnout in Sunday's election, saying that the "figures are only very rough, word-of-mouth estimates gathered informally from the field."
The Repercussions
From PowerLine:
"Somehow, I had missed the fact that Iraqi expatriates are voting in Syria. Thus, Iraqis living in Syria can participate in a democratic process, but Syrians can't. A bit odd, that, but it's another example of the impact this election could have in the Arab world."
"Somehow, I had missed the fact that Iraqi expatriates are voting in Syria. Thus, Iraqis living in Syria can participate in a democratic process, but Syrians can't. A bit odd, that, but it's another example of the impact this election could have in the Arab world."
Wow!
I couldn't make it through the morning news shows without crying. What a day! I knew things were going well when I turned on the TV and saw a dour-faced Brian Williams and Campbell Brown on NBC. It was then that I knew the people had won, and the enemies of liberty (including the major media) had lost. Much more work's ahead - and much more sacrifice - but the flood gates are open.
I remember where I was when the Berlin Wall came down...and I'll remember where I was when the men and women of Iraq risked their lives, went to the polls, and bravely displayed their purple-dyed fingers to the world.
Iraq the Model has a very moving update. Thank God the Confederacy of Dunces didn't have their way. Thank God John Kerry and Michael Moore have effectively been castrated. Thank God. Thank God.
I remember where I was when the Berlin Wall came down...and I'll remember where I was when the men and women of Iraq risked their lives, went to the polls, and bravely displayed their purple-dyed fingers to the world.
Iraq the Model has a very moving update. Thank God the Confederacy of Dunces didn't have their way. Thank God John Kerry and Michael Moore have effectively been castrated. Thank God. Thank God.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Here We Go
The voting has started:
SOUTHGATE, Mich. -- Joyful tears and frequent applause marked the start of U.S. voting Friday in Iraq's first independent elections in more than 50 years.
Security was tight at the abandoned store-turned-polling place in this Detroit suburb, with guards checking IDs at the parking lot entrance and using metal detectors at the doors. Inside, an oversized, homemade Iraqi flag hung from the ceiling. One poll worker could be seen weeping.
"We feel happy now. This is like America, this voting," said Zoha Yess, 64. "We want fair, good government."
SOUTHGATE, Mich. -- Joyful tears and frequent applause marked the start of U.S. voting Friday in Iraq's first independent elections in more than 50 years.
Security was tight at the abandoned store-turned-polling place in this Detroit suburb, with guards checking IDs at the parking lot entrance and using metal detectors at the doors. Inside, an oversized, homemade Iraqi flag hung from the ceiling. One poll worker could be seen weeping.
"We feel happy now. This is like America, this voting," said Zoha Yess, 64. "We want fair, good government."
Bengals News
First, some draft news:
Lewis has said the Bengals must improve their run defense and develop a more consistent pass rush. His statements make defensive linemen and outside linebackers an area of interest.Some defensive linemen making good impressions in Mobile are California's Lorenzo Alexander, Southern Cal's Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson, LSU's Marcus Spears and Wisconsin's Antaaj Hawthorne. - Mark Curnutte, Enquirer
I like the Cody kid from USC. Now, some TJ news:
From Pete Priso CBSSPORTSLINE.COM: Word out of Cincinnati is that wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh is asking for a contract with a signing bonus of $8 million. While Houshmandzadeh came on late and became a key factor down the stretch for the Bengals, it's doubtful the team will give him that kind of money, which would mean he would become an unrestricted free agent. The one knock on Houzmandzadeh is that he doesn't run that well, and that never helps drive up the price on the free-agent market.
I [Lance McAlister, local sports talk host] am told the following this afternoon by those close to negotiations between the Bengals and TJ: "The report from CBS and Pete Prisco is a complete and utter fabrication! It is safe to say the money being discussed is millions of dollar off what Pete is reporting."
Lewis has said the Bengals must improve their run defense and develop a more consistent pass rush. His statements make defensive linemen and outside linebackers an area of interest.Some defensive linemen making good impressions in Mobile are California's Lorenzo Alexander, Southern Cal's Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson, LSU's Marcus Spears and Wisconsin's Antaaj Hawthorne. - Mark Curnutte, Enquirer
I like the Cody kid from USC. Now, some TJ news:
From Pete Priso CBSSPORTSLINE.COM: Word out of Cincinnati is that wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh is asking for a contract with a signing bonus of $8 million. While Houshmandzadeh came on late and became a key factor down the stretch for the Bengals, it's doubtful the team will give him that kind of money, which would mean he would become an unrestricted free agent. The one knock on Houzmandzadeh is that he doesn't run that well, and that never helps drive up the price on the free-agent market.
I [Lance McAlister, local sports talk host] am told the following this afternoon by those close to negotiations between the Bengals and TJ: "The report from CBS and Pete Prisco is a complete and utter fabrication! It is safe to say the money being discussed is millions of dollar off what Pete is reporting."
Join the Rat Line
My boy John Harper (former VMI cadet) must be very proud:
Virginia Military Institute officials are investigating a 2004 barracks Halloween observance during which cadets dressed as Nazi soldiers, drag queens and a starving African.
Officials at the Lexington college were alerted to the behavior when someone referred them to an Internet message board on which four photographs of the costumed men are posted.
"We've been made aware of the possible involvement of a small number of VMI cadets in various insensitive and inappropriate photographic poses appearing on a Web site unaffiliated with VMI," spokesman Stewart MacInnis said. "VMI does not condone such behavior and this matter is being investigated accordingly. While recognizing cadets have rights as private citizens to express themselves, we are disappointed in their behavior and judgment."
Virginia Military Institute officials are investigating a 2004 barracks Halloween observance during which cadets dressed as Nazi soldiers, drag queens and a starving African.
Officials at the Lexington college were alerted to the behavior when someone referred them to an Internet message board on which four photographs of the costumed men are posted.
"We've been made aware of the possible involvement of a small number of VMI cadets in various insensitive and inappropriate photographic poses appearing on a Web site unaffiliated with VMI," spokesman Stewart MacInnis said. "VMI does not condone such behavior and this matter is being investigated accordingly. While recognizing cadets have rights as private citizens to express themselves, we are disappointed in their behavior and judgment."
Friday, January 28, 2005
Good News
In Iraq:
(CNN) -- As Iraqi expatriates in countries around the globe began voting Friday morning in the first democratic elections in almost 50 years, an Iraqi official said two "important leading members" of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist group had been arrested.
The arrests were announced by Kasim Daoud, the country's minister of state for national security. Daoud said one of those arrested was in charge of the al-Zarqawi group's Baghdad operations.
And Israel:
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday night he believes the Palestinians have created conditions for a "historic breakthrough" in relations between the bitter rivals.
(CNN) -- As Iraqi expatriates in countries around the globe began voting Friday morning in the first democratic elections in almost 50 years, an Iraqi official said two "important leading members" of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist group had been arrested.
The arrests were announced by Kasim Daoud, the country's minister of state for national security. Daoud said one of those arrested was in charge of the al-Zarqawi group's Baghdad operations.
And Israel:
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday night he believes the Palestinians have created conditions for a "historic breakthrough" in relations between the bitter rivals.
E Tu, Labor Party
This must be a plot by John Ashcroft...except that this time it's the liberal Labor Party.
LONDON — The government Wednesday unveiled a sweeping set of proposals restricting the activities of anyone in Britain deemed to pose a strong terrorist threat.
Detailed in Parliament by Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the measures may include putting electronic tags on suspects, curfews, house arrests and bans on the use of telephones or the Internet. Under the proposals, it would not be necessary to charge the suspects or prove they had committed a crime. Clarke said the controls could be applied by the Home Office to British citizens as well as foreigners in the country.
Human rights advocates were swift to voice objections. Some suggested that the proposed powers threatened Britain's centuries-old tradition of habeas corpus, which allows detainees to file court action claiming that they are being held in violation of law.
LONDON — The government Wednesday unveiled a sweeping set of proposals restricting the activities of anyone in Britain deemed to pose a strong terrorist threat.
Detailed in Parliament by Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the measures may include putting electronic tags on suspects, curfews, house arrests and bans on the use of telephones or the Internet. Under the proposals, it would not be necessary to charge the suspects or prove they had committed a crime. Clarke said the controls could be applied by the Home Office to British citizens as well as foreigners in the country.
Human rights advocates were swift to voice objections. Some suggested that the proposed powers threatened Britain's centuries-old tradition of habeas corpus, which allows detainees to file court action claiming that they are being held in violation of law.
Watch and Pray
A very sobering post from Andrew Sullivan this morning:
IRAQ'S LIBERALS: "In Iraq, the very centerpiece of the U.S. campaign to export democracy, 'democratic movements and institutions' are dying, the result of illiberalism, U.S. neglect, and, above all, sheer physical insecurity. As it grinds into its third year, the war for a liberal Iraq is destroying the dream of a liberal Iraq." That's Lawrence Kaplan's grim verdict from Baghdad. No doubt he will now be derided as a squishy left-liberal defeatist - but, in fact, Lawrence was one of the most stalwart supporters of the war against Saddam, co-authored a passionate pro-war book with Bill Kristol, and is a card-carrying neoconservative. (He's also a friend). But he's not blind; and he's not dishonest. The failure is in part a failure to get the U.S. bureaucracy to support liberal institutions and groups; but it is also simply a failure of order and security. Democracy was always going to be hard in Iraq. But democracy amod chaos and violence is close to impossible. And we never sent enough troops or conducted a smart enough post-victory occupation plan to maintain order and defeat a fledgling insurgency while we still could. So we are now left to ask ordinary Iraqis to risk their lives in order to leave their homes and vote. Here's the most heart-breaking passage - an interview with the liberal deputy defense minister, Mashal Sarraf, who cannot even leave his own house, because of the chaos:
"We have to admit the terrorists have won," he says. "People cannot engage in civil society; the war has stopped progress; liberalism is over for now." Asked what, if anything, can be done to revive the liberal project, Sarraf replies, "We need an emergency government that does nothing but security. When there is stability, then liberalism will begin to emerge, but only when there is stability."
I know Paul Wolfowitz has read Hobbes. Did he forget it? CPA adviser Larry Diamond hasn't: "You can't have a democratic state unless you have a state, and the fundamental, irreducible condition of a state is that it has a monopoly on the means of violence." As John Burns has written - again no sympathizer for Saddam or cynic - that simply isn't the case in Iraq. Our predicament is that you cannot have democracy without order and you cannot have a new order without democracy. Do I want the elections to succeed? Of course I do. Only those blinded by partisanship or cynicism wouldn't. Maybe a democratic miracle can occur. But at this point it would be exactly that: a miracle. So pray, will you?
IRAQ'S LIBERALS: "In Iraq, the very centerpiece of the U.S. campaign to export democracy, 'democratic movements and institutions' are dying, the result of illiberalism, U.S. neglect, and, above all, sheer physical insecurity. As it grinds into its third year, the war for a liberal Iraq is destroying the dream of a liberal Iraq." That's Lawrence Kaplan's grim verdict from Baghdad. No doubt he will now be derided as a squishy left-liberal defeatist - but, in fact, Lawrence was one of the most stalwart supporters of the war against Saddam, co-authored a passionate pro-war book with Bill Kristol, and is a card-carrying neoconservative. (He's also a friend). But he's not blind; and he's not dishonest. The failure is in part a failure to get the U.S. bureaucracy to support liberal institutions and groups; but it is also simply a failure of order and security. Democracy was always going to be hard in Iraq. But democracy amod chaos and violence is close to impossible. And we never sent enough troops or conducted a smart enough post-victory occupation plan to maintain order and defeat a fledgling insurgency while we still could. So we are now left to ask ordinary Iraqis to risk their lives in order to leave their homes and vote. Here's the most heart-breaking passage - an interview with the liberal deputy defense minister, Mashal Sarraf, who cannot even leave his own house, because of the chaos:
"We have to admit the terrorists have won," he says. "People cannot engage in civil society; the war has stopped progress; liberalism is over for now." Asked what, if anything, can be done to revive the liberal project, Sarraf replies, "We need an emergency government that does nothing but security. When there is stability, then liberalism will begin to emerge, but only when there is stability."
I know Paul Wolfowitz has read Hobbes. Did he forget it? CPA adviser Larry Diamond hasn't: "You can't have a democratic state unless you have a state, and the fundamental, irreducible condition of a state is that it has a monopoly on the means of violence." As John Burns has written - again no sympathizer for Saddam or cynic - that simply isn't the case in Iraq. Our predicament is that you cannot have democracy without order and you cannot have a new order without democracy. Do I want the elections to succeed? Of course I do. Only those blinded by partisanship or cynicism wouldn't. Maybe a democratic miracle can occur. But at this point it would be exactly that: a miracle. So pray, will you?
SpongeBob "Morrissey" SquarePants
SINGAPORE, Jan 28 - SpongeBob SquarePants, the wacky cartoon character who sparked a gay alert warning by U.S. Christian conservative groups, is neither gay nor straight.
He is asexual, says his creator.
He is asexual, says his creator.
This is Crazy, Loony, Nuts, Wacko, Etc.
The Vermont Human Rights Commission added its voice Thursday to criticism of Vermont Teddy Bear's "Crazy for You" bear.
The commission's executive director asked the company in a letter to stop manufacturing and selling the bear, which others have called offensive.
The controversial $69.95 teddy bear is dressed in a straitjacket and comes with commitment papers. It's part of Vermont Teddy Bear's line of Valentine's Day products. Company officials say the bear is a light-hearted attempt to help men who are crazy in love with their partners to express their feelings.
Advocates, lawmakers and others say the bear is insensitive toward people struggling with mental illness and have demanded the company remove the bear from the market. Vermont Teddy Bear has vowed to keep selling the bear through Valentine's Day.
Robert Appel, Vermont Human Rights Commission executive director, sent a letter Thursday to Vermont Teddy Bear President Elisabeth Robert criticizing the bear. "Perhaps most disturbing to me is the apparent lack of understanding by your company of the real hurt and emotional turmoil your continued marketing of this stereotypical and stigmatizing product causes for those who have suffered from psychiatric conditions, along with their loved ones," Appel wrote.
"We join the chorus imploring your company to immediately cease production and marketing of this offensive product, and to exercise better judgement and social responsibility in future product choices," he added.
The Human Rights Commission enforces anti-discrimination laws, mediates disputes, educates the public on discrimination issues and promotes human rights policy.
The commission's executive director asked the company in a letter to stop manufacturing and selling the bear, which others have called offensive.
The controversial $69.95 teddy bear is dressed in a straitjacket and comes with commitment papers. It's part of Vermont Teddy Bear's line of Valentine's Day products. Company officials say the bear is a light-hearted attempt to help men who are crazy in love with their partners to express their feelings.
Advocates, lawmakers and others say the bear is insensitive toward people struggling with mental illness and have demanded the company remove the bear from the market. Vermont Teddy Bear has vowed to keep selling the bear through Valentine's Day.
Robert Appel, Vermont Human Rights Commission executive director, sent a letter Thursday to Vermont Teddy Bear President Elisabeth Robert criticizing the bear. "Perhaps most disturbing to me is the apparent lack of understanding by your company of the real hurt and emotional turmoil your continued marketing of this stereotypical and stigmatizing product causes for those who have suffered from psychiatric conditions, along with their loved ones," Appel wrote.
"We join the chorus imploring your company to immediately cease production and marketing of this offensive product, and to exercise better judgement and social responsibility in future product choices," he added.
The Human Rights Commission enforces anti-discrimination laws, mediates disputes, educates the public on discrimination issues and promotes human rights policy.
Isn't This Unfair...
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Nip, tuck and ... tax? Lawmakers trying to plump up the bottom line are considering a "vanity tax" on cosmetic surgery and Botox injections in Washington, Illinois and other states.
...to John Kerry.
...to John Kerry.
I Thought Communist Only Existed in the American Democratic Party
Tim Blair has Iraqi election news from down under:
The Iraq elections have begun:
The first votes in the world in the Iraq elections were cast in Australia this morning.
Polling centres in Sydney and Victoria opened at 7am (AEDT) for nearly 12,000 Iraqi expatriates who have registered to vote.
The Australian head of the Iraq Out-of-Country Voting Program, Bernie Hogan, said a crowd of people was waiting outside the Fairfield centre when he arrived.
"We had a line-up of probably 60 or 70 people at the front door at seven o’clock,” he said.Beautiful.
UPDATE: Meanwhile across the road, a small group of protesters from the World Communist Party assembled to demonstrate against the elections. These clowns apparently haven’t heard that the Iraqi Communist Party is fielding candidates in these elections. Whatever happened to “solidarity”, comrades?
The Iraq elections have begun:
The first votes in the world in the Iraq elections were cast in Australia this morning.
Polling centres in Sydney and Victoria opened at 7am (AEDT) for nearly 12,000 Iraqi expatriates who have registered to vote.
The Australian head of the Iraq Out-of-Country Voting Program, Bernie Hogan, said a crowd of people was waiting outside the Fairfield centre when he arrived.
"We had a line-up of probably 60 or 70 people at the front door at seven o’clock,” he said.Beautiful.
UPDATE: Meanwhile across the road, a small group of protesters from the World Communist Party assembled to demonstrate against the elections. These clowns apparently haven’t heard that the Iraqi Communist Party is fielding candidates in these elections. Whatever happened to “solidarity”, comrades?
Thursday, January 27, 2005
More From the UN
Where do they find these people:
"The United Nations official charged with election assistance yesterday threw a barb at American troops in Iraq,accusing them of conducting an 'overenthusiastic' campaign to promote this weekend's Iraqi election," reports the New York Sun:
The chief of the U.N. Electoral Assistance Division, Carina Perelli, was asked in a press conference about reports that American troops helped Iraqi officials distribute information on the electoral process to Iraqi citizens, and encouraged them to participate in Sunday's vote.
Ms. Perelli said that U.N. officials spent time "asking, begging military commanders precisely not to do that," but the time has not been well-spent. The Americans were "overenthusiastic in trying to help out with these elections," she said. "We have basically been saying they should try to minimize their participation because this is an Iraqi process."
Perelli later said she "misspoke," but she also offered this less-than-stirring rallying cry: "Iraqis, she said,will have to 'decide by themselves whether they consider that this election is important enough, is valid enough, is legitimate enough in order to risk their lives to go and vote.' "
"The United Nations official charged with election assistance yesterday threw a barb at American troops in Iraq,accusing them of conducting an 'overenthusiastic' campaign to promote this weekend's Iraqi election," reports the New York Sun:
The chief of the U.N. Electoral Assistance Division, Carina Perelli, was asked in a press conference about reports that American troops helped Iraqi officials distribute information on the electoral process to Iraqi citizens, and encouraged them to participate in Sunday's vote.
Ms. Perelli said that U.N. officials spent time "asking, begging military commanders precisely not to do that," but the time has not been well-spent. The Americans were "overenthusiastic in trying to help out with these elections," she said. "We have basically been saying they should try to minimize their participation because this is an Iraqi process."
Perelli later said she "misspoke," but she also offered this less-than-stirring rallying cry: "Iraqis, she said,will have to 'decide by themselves whether they consider that this election is important enough, is valid enough, is legitimate enough in order to risk their lives to go and vote.' "
Quote of the Day
"It's not a code word when I put [in] a reference to T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' … it's a literary reference. Just because some people don't get it doesn't mean it's a plot or a secret." -- Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, denying that the President used religious "code words" to win evangelicals in the 2004 election.
Quote of the Day II
"As for those in the World Trade Center, well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break." -- University of Colorado professor, Ward Churchill. He also described the victims of 9/11 as "little Eichmanns."
UPDATE: I just found this dude's photo. Kind of what I expected.
BTW: What is a Department of Ethnic Studies? Do you get paid for this?
UPDATE: I just found this dude's photo. Kind of what I expected.
BTW: What is a Department of Ethnic Studies? Do you get paid for this?
Yes! Civil Service Reform
Man, Bush is crazy with his bold initiatives (transforming the Middle East, SS reform, etc.), but I like it. From today's WaPo:
The Bush administration unveiled a new personnel system for the Department of Homeland Security yesterday that will dramatically change the way workers are paid, promoted, deployed and disciplined -- and soon the White House will ask Congress to grant all federal agencies similar authority to rewrite civil service rules governing their employees.
The new system will replace the half-century-old General Schedule, with its familiar 15 pay grades and raises based on time in a job, and install a system that more directly bases pay on occupation and annual performance evaluations, officials said. The new system has taken two years to develop and will require at least four more to implement, they said.
"We're not rushing into it," DHS Secretary Tom Ridge said.
Under the new plan, employees will be grouped into eight to 12 clusters based on occupation. Salary ranges will be based, in part, on geographic location and annual market surveys by a new compensation committee of what similar employees earn in the private sector and other government entities. Within each occupational cluster, workers will be assigned to one of four salary ranges, or "pay bands," based on their skill level and experience.
The Bush administration unveiled a new personnel system for the Department of Homeland Security yesterday that will dramatically change the way workers are paid, promoted, deployed and disciplined -- and soon the White House will ask Congress to grant all federal agencies similar authority to rewrite civil service rules governing their employees.
The new system will replace the half-century-old General Schedule, with its familiar 15 pay grades and raises based on time in a job, and install a system that more directly bases pay on occupation and annual performance evaluations, officials said. The new system has taken two years to develop and will require at least four more to implement, they said.
"We're not rushing into it," DHS Secretary Tom Ridge said.
Under the new plan, employees will be grouped into eight to 12 clusters based on occupation. Salary ranges will be based, in part, on geographic location and annual market surveys by a new compensation committee of what similar employees earn in the private sector and other government entities. Within each occupational cluster, workers will be assigned to one of four salary ranges, or "pay bands," based on their skill level and experience.
One Busy Legislator
MEMPHIS, Tenn. It's a child support case that involves three women and six children -- but only one man, a Tennessee state senator who heads a committee on child welfare.The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that state senator John Ford testified last November that he lives in separate homes with two women whose children he fathered, paying nearly all the bills.
One home is where his ex-wife lives with their three children, another is where his longtime girlfriend lives with their two children.
Ford testified in Juvenile Court because a third woman is suing to increase the child-support level for their ten-year-old daughter. But the lawmaker is arguing that a law he authored keeps child support lower when a father is financially responsible for other children.
Ford may have another child to support soon -- his ex-wife tells the newspaper that she's six months pregnant and that Ford is the father.
One home is where his ex-wife lives with their three children, another is where his longtime girlfriend lives with their two children.
Ford testified in Juvenile Court because a third woman is suing to increase the child-support level for their ten-year-old daughter. But the lawmaker is arguing that a law he authored keeps child support lower when a father is financially responsible for other children.
Ford may have another child to support soon -- his ex-wife tells the newspaper that she's six months pregnant and that Ford is the father.
Common Sense from South Africa
We need more of this:
Cardinal Wilfred Napier said there was simply no evidence that promoting condoms had worked, citing the fact that as a contraceptive, they come with a failure rate which implies they probably do not always stop HIV transmission.
"Can you show me one example where condoms have stopped the spread of AIDS?," he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "If you look at South Africa, millions have been spent promoting condoms and we have one of the highest rates in the world. By promoting condoms we are promoting immoral behaviour."
This is tragically obvious, but we'll continue to kill ourselves.
Cardinal Wilfred Napier said there was simply no evidence that promoting condoms had worked, citing the fact that as a contraceptive, they come with a failure rate which implies they probably do not always stop HIV transmission.
"Can you show me one example where condoms have stopped the spread of AIDS?," he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "If you look at South Africa, millions have been spent promoting condoms and we have one of the highest rates in the world. By promoting condoms we are promoting immoral behaviour."
This is tragically obvious, but we'll continue to kill ourselves.
Ouch!
George Will unloads on MIT's Nancy Hopkins, who declared her breath grew shallow over the sexism of Harvard prez Larry Summers:
"Is this the fruit of feminism? A woman at the peak of the academic pyramid becomes theatrically flurried by an unwelcome idea and, like a Victorian maiden exposed to male coarseness, suffers the vapors and collapses on the drawing room carpet in a heap of crinolines until revived by smelling salts and the offending brute's contrition?"
"Is this the fruit of feminism? A woman at the peak of the academic pyramid becomes theatrically flurried by an unwelcome idea and, like a Victorian maiden exposed to male coarseness, suffers the vapors and collapses on the drawing room carpet in a heap of crinolines until revived by smelling salts and the offending brute's contrition?"
Uh Oh!
This is not encouraging (and John Burns is a very good, and sober, reporter):
"Starkly put, Baghdad is not under control, either by the Iraqi interim government or the American military." - John F. Burns, New York Times, today.
"Starkly put, Baghdad is not under control, either by the Iraqi interim government or the American military." - John F. Burns, New York Times, today.
The Austrian Parallel
From USA Today:
Consider Austria right after World War II, when it was occupied by American, British, French and Russian forces. Within six months, free elections were held. A year later, in 1946, Russia and the West were at each other's throats. Murder, rape and theft were commonplace, and the lack of food, fuel and housing endemic. The freely elected officials of the Austrian government met in secret, wondering whether their nation could survive.
Today, it's hard to imagine that Austria ever saw such fearful days. Yet, elections didn't save Vienna from the barbarians. Sound strategy did. American efforts in postwar Europe practiced what military planners called the "disease and unrest formula." They outlined three tasks to keep a defeated nation from chaos: (1) avoiding a humanitarian crisis; (2) setting up a legitimate government; (3) establishing domestic security forces.
Security took the longest, but by 1948, the government could stand by itself.
The three tasks are a suitable standard by which to measure any occupation. In Iraq, the first has been accomplished. There is no humanitarian disaster. Iraqis, in fact, are far better off than many Europeans were, even years after World War II. The Iraqi economy is already growing at a faster rate than the Austrian economy after the war.
Legitimacy is also at hand. The international community has recognized the new regime. Elections will likely be sufficient to constitute a representative government.
Iraq, however, will become a stable and prosperous nation only if the third task, establishing domestic security forces, is achieved. The clear-headed, realistic strategy that we're pursuing will help, as long as we're willing to avoid the temptation to exit too early.
Consider Austria right after World War II, when it was occupied by American, British, French and Russian forces. Within six months, free elections were held. A year later, in 1946, Russia and the West were at each other's throats. Murder, rape and theft were commonplace, and the lack of food, fuel and housing endemic. The freely elected officials of the Austrian government met in secret, wondering whether their nation could survive.
Today, it's hard to imagine that Austria ever saw such fearful days. Yet, elections didn't save Vienna from the barbarians. Sound strategy did. American efforts in postwar Europe practiced what military planners called the "disease and unrest formula." They outlined three tasks to keep a defeated nation from chaos: (1) avoiding a humanitarian crisis; (2) setting up a legitimate government; (3) establishing domestic security forces.
Security took the longest, but by 1948, the government could stand by itself.
The three tasks are a suitable standard by which to measure any occupation. In Iraq, the first has been accomplished. There is no humanitarian disaster. Iraqis, in fact, are far better off than many Europeans were, even years after World War II. The Iraqi economy is already growing at a faster rate than the Austrian economy after the war.
Legitimacy is also at hand. The international community has recognized the new regime. Elections will likely be sufficient to constitute a representative government.
Iraq, however, will become a stable and prosperous nation only if the third task, establishing domestic security forces, is achieved. The clear-headed, realistic strategy that we're pursuing will help, as long as we're willing to avoid the temptation to exit too early.
The Problem of Underpopulation
Yes, it's true.
Summary: Most people think overpopulation is one of the worst dangers facing the globe. In fact, the opposite is true. As countries get richer, their populations age and their birthrates plummet. And this is not just a problem of rich countries: the developing world is also getting older fast. Falling birthrates might seem beneficial, but the economic and social price is too steep to pay. The right policies could help turn the tide, but only if enacted before it's too late.
Summary: Most people think overpopulation is one of the worst dangers facing the globe. In fact, the opposite is true. As countries get richer, their populations age and their birthrates plummet. And this is not just a problem of rich countries: the developing world is also getting older fast. Falling birthrates might seem beneficial, but the economic and social price is too steep to pay. The right policies could help turn the tide, but only if enacted before it's too late.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Has Bush Heralded the Return of Natural Law?
Joseph Bottum thinks so.
This is a claim about the universal, which the old foreign-policy realists rejected. This is a claim about the moral, which the libertarians despised. And this is a claim about the eternal, which the Social Darwinists renounced. But these older strains of conservatism have lost the battle to set the nation's rhetoric. They are welcome to come along for the ride, but George W. Bush announced, there in the bright cold of a Washington January, that the nation would be moving to the beat of a different political philosophy.
This is a claim about the universal, which the old foreign-policy realists rejected. This is a claim about the moral, which the libertarians despised. And this is a claim about the eternal, which the Social Darwinists renounced. But these older strains of conservatism have lost the battle to set the nation's rhetoric. They are welcome to come along for the ride, but George W. Bush announced, there in the bright cold of a Washington January, that the nation would be moving to the beat of a different political philosophy.
Oscar Preview
Barbara Nicolosi pretty much sums up my feelings (although I did like Sideways):
So, this year, the top Oscar nominations have gone to
...a movie that makes a hero out of a man who murders his adopted daughter.
...a movie that makes a hero out of an abortionist.
...a movie that makes a hero out of a discredited researcher who was obsessed with sex and encouraged many others to experiment with various perversions.
...a movie that lionizes a billionaire narcissist who died insane from syphilis.
...a movie that suggests it is funny when an engaged man sets off for a week of debauchery before his marriage with his drunkard best friend.
...a movie that glamorizes four alley cats dressed as beautiful people who fornicate and commit adultery with each other, and indulge in various sexual perversions until the movie ends.
...a movie that makes a hero out of a paraplegic in despair who wants to kill himself.
What makes this year's noms even darker is the fact that there was this one big cinematic elephant out there that, as we all predicted, was passed over for all the top awards. This movie was:
...the biggest independent movie in cinema history.
...the third biggest box-office movie of the year.
...a movie that moved millions of people to tears, had the entire world talking, and even led several murderers to turn themselves in!
...the most courageous directoral achievement since Citizen Kane.
...which just happened to be the story of the redemption of the world by the Son of God.
Too bad. Call it the revenge of the blue states.
So, this year, the top Oscar nominations have gone to
...a movie that makes a hero out of a man who murders his adopted daughter.
...a movie that makes a hero out of an abortionist.
...a movie that makes a hero out of a discredited researcher who was obsessed with sex and encouraged many others to experiment with various perversions.
...a movie that lionizes a billionaire narcissist who died insane from syphilis.
...a movie that suggests it is funny when an engaged man sets off for a week of debauchery before his marriage with his drunkard best friend.
...a movie that glamorizes four alley cats dressed as beautiful people who fornicate and commit adultery with each other, and indulge in various sexual perversions until the movie ends.
...a movie that makes a hero out of a paraplegic in despair who wants to kill himself.
What makes this year's noms even darker is the fact that there was this one big cinematic elephant out there that, as we all predicted, was passed over for all the top awards. This movie was:
...the biggest independent movie in cinema history.
...the third biggest box-office movie of the year.
...a movie that moved millions of people to tears, had the entire world talking, and even led several murderers to turn themselves in!
...the most courageous directoral achievement since Citizen Kane.
...which just happened to be the story of the redemption of the world by the Son of God.
Too bad. Call it the revenge of the blue states.
They're Laying It On Thick
More bias from the WaPo:
Some of the Democrats who opposed Rice were centrists from states in which President Bush won or ran strongly in November, including Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
Carl Levin a centrist? Tom Harkin a centrist? Compared to whom...Trotsky.
BTW...Only 15 Democrats voted against Rice today. Their reasons: she lied about WMD, she lied about the war, and she continues to lie today. Now, if true, those are very good reasons to refuse her nomination.
So what about the other Democrats who supported her? They must not think she lied and is lying or they would have voted no. Do we hear from them? No. On the news last night, I saw Barbara Boxer, Kennedy, Dayton, et al. Why not show Diane Feinstein's passionate defense of Rice? Oh, that would be problematic now wouldn't it.
Some of the Democrats who opposed Rice were centrists from states in which President Bush won or ran strongly in November, including Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
Carl Levin a centrist? Tom Harkin a centrist? Compared to whom...Trotsky.
BTW...Only 15 Democrats voted against Rice today. Their reasons: she lied about WMD, she lied about the war, and she continues to lie today. Now, if true, those are very good reasons to refuse her nomination.
So what about the other Democrats who supported her? They must not think she lied and is lying or they would have voted no. Do we hear from them? No. On the news last night, I saw Barbara Boxer, Kennedy, Dayton, et al. Why not show Diane Feinstein's passionate defense of Rice? Oh, that would be problematic now wouldn't it.
"There Is Electricity In The Air"
Man, this is going to be something to behold.
To Iraqis, the elections are no longer theoretical. With voting less than a week away, there is electricity in the air. Pundits and politicians can discuss whether the elections should go forward, but for most Iraqis, such debates are moot. Democracy may be a process, but it is one in which Iraqis are ready to take the first step.
To Iraqis, the elections are no longer theoretical. With voting less than a week away, there is electricity in the air. Pundits and politicians can discuss whether the elections should go forward, but for most Iraqis, such debates are moot. Democracy may be a process, but it is one in which Iraqis are ready to take the first step.
Tsunami Update
The death toll has hit 280,000 and is still climbing:
"In Indonesia's worst-hit Aceh province, more than 1,000 bodies a day are still being recovered."
"In Indonesia's worst-hit Aceh province, more than 1,000 bodies a day are still being recovered."
More Duke Bias
The conventional wisdom is that Duke is overachieving with it's recent losses to graduation and early entry into the NBA draft. Hogwash! Chew on this for a minute (from Yoni Cohen):
Duke's roster includes 5 McDonald's All-Americans. Had he not been accused of rape his senior year, Shelden Williams would also have been honored as a McDonald's All-American. That gives the Blue Devils 6 All-Americans, one less than the rest of the ACC combined.
So Duke is doing just fine with more talent than anyone else.
Duke's roster includes 5 McDonald's All-Americans. Had he not been accused of rape his senior year, Shelden Williams would also have been honored as a McDonald's All-American. That gives the Blue Devils 6 All-Americans, one less than the rest of the ACC combined.
So Duke is doing just fine with more talent than anyone else.
No Man Is An Island
Now this is what I call a minority:
A 45-year-old man is believed to have become the last Jew in Afghanistan after the death of the caretaker of the only functioning synagogue in Kabul.
It has emerged that the caretaker, Ishaq Levin, aged about 80, died of natural causes about a week ago.
His Jewish neighbour, Zebulon Simentov, lived with Mr Levin in the synagogue.
Correspondents say that around 5,000 Afghan Jews left the country after the creation of Israel in 1948, with others leaving after the 1979 Soviet invasion.
The death of the man believed to be his only co-religionist does not seem to be a source of grievance for Mr Simentov.
A 45-year-old man is believed to have become the last Jew in Afghanistan after the death of the caretaker of the only functioning synagogue in Kabul.
It has emerged that the caretaker, Ishaq Levin, aged about 80, died of natural causes about a week ago.
His Jewish neighbour, Zebulon Simentov, lived with Mr Levin in the synagogue.
Correspondents say that around 5,000 Afghan Jews left the country after the creation of Israel in 1948, with others leaving after the 1979 Soviet invasion.
The death of the man believed to be his only co-religionist does not seem to be a source of grievance for Mr Simentov.
Another Bad Choice
This time by Villanova University:
LOWER MERION - An ethical rift brewing in the Villanova University community could surface today, when Mine Ener, an acclaimed former history professor, mentor and murderer is memorialized in the university's library.
No protests are expected, university officials said, but tension has grown between those who applaud Ener's extraordinary work and those who have reservations about celebrating the works of a suicide victim who killed her 6-month-old daughter who had Down syndrome."
Mine Ener was a very energetic, inspiring teacher," said Villanova senior Jeanne Hoffman. "But she killed her baby."
Villanova is a Catholic university, and the Catholic Church honors the sanctity of life. While Ener did do a lot of good research, I don't think it's right to make a dedication."
According to police reports, Ener apparently suffocated herself in a Minnesota jail cell August 2003 after being charged with second-degree murder. Earlier that month, the professor of Middle Eastern History admitted slicing her daughter Raya's throat twice with a kitchen knife. Investigators said Ener battled with postpartum depression, and told police she wanted to relieve her child's suffering from Down syndrome.
LOWER MERION - An ethical rift brewing in the Villanova University community could surface today, when Mine Ener, an acclaimed former history professor, mentor and murderer is memorialized in the university's library.
No protests are expected, university officials said, but tension has grown between those who applaud Ener's extraordinary work and those who have reservations about celebrating the works of a suicide victim who killed her 6-month-old daughter who had Down syndrome."
Mine Ener was a very energetic, inspiring teacher," said Villanova senior Jeanne Hoffman. "But she killed her baby."
Villanova is a Catholic university, and the Catholic Church honors the sanctity of life. While Ener did do a lot of good research, I don't think it's right to make a dedication."
According to police reports, Ener apparently suffocated herself in a Minnesota jail cell August 2003 after being charged with second-degree murder. Earlier that month, the professor of Middle Eastern History admitted slicing her daughter Raya's throat twice with a kitchen knife. Investigators said Ener battled with postpartum depression, and told police she wanted to relieve her child's suffering from Down syndrome.
I Just Love the Hip-Hop Generation
This is one of the great legal battles of our day. Just check out the headline to the story:
Court Rules in Rappers' Battle Over Phrase 'Back That Ass Up'
Court Rules in Rappers' Battle Over Phrase 'Back That Ass Up'
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