Drug companies are inventing diseases to sell more of their products, it has been claimed. Scientists have accused major pharmaceutical firms of "medicalising" problems like high cholesterol or the symptoms of the menopause in a bid to increase profits.
Experts from around the world will meet in Australia today to discuss what they have labelled "disease-mongering".
The group, which includes experts from Britain, will gather in Newcastle, New South Wales, where researchers have been examining the issue. David Henry and Ray Moynihan, of Newcastle University, claim the industry is exaggerating conditions and turning them into something more serious.
Female sexual dysfunction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and "restless legs" syndrome have all been promoted by the pharmaceutical industry in the hope of selling more drugs, they say.
High cholesterol and osteoporosis-are being described as diseases in their own right, the researchers claim, turning healthy people into patients. In turn, this wastes precious resources and can cause medically-induced harm.
Even shyness is routinely presented as a "social anxiety disorder" resulting in the person being prescribed anti-depressants.
In the case of male sexual disfunction, the researchers say, Viagra is promoted as not only a genuine treatment for erectile dysfunction but also a lifestyle improver. The two men make their claims in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal.
They accuse drug companies of funding disease-awareness campaigns through the media that are more about selling drugs than helping or educating the public.
"Like the marketing strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in turn a global response," they say.
Mr Moynihan and Mr Henry say that, in their view, disease mongering is the selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness and grows markets for those who sell and deliver treatments.
"It is exemplified most explicitly by many pharmaceutical industryfunded disease-awareness campaigns, more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or to inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health," they add. Conference organisers say they will try to draw a line between "market-driven exercises and legitimate disease-awareness programmes". 'Miracle solutions'
Drugs companies hit back last night. GlaxoSmithKline said: "We pride ourselves in providing miracle solutions to the health care needs of people every day.
"We utterly refute any suggestion that we would in any way hype or overplay the very real needs of patients that are treated all over the world.
"One of the exciting things about medical science is that we are finding new solutions to ailments or problems people have, and this is something good we can offer." Pfizer, which makes Viagra, said: "We would refute accusations that the pharmaceutical industry is medicalising society. Treatments that can make serious and potentially life-threatening conditions better should surely be welcomed.
"Pfizer would only promote prescription medicines to health care professionals, and only in line with what licensing bodies have outlined, for them to use their clinical judgment."
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
These Go Hand-In-Hand
The news that his boyfriend, Jason Johnson, was expelled from University of the Cumberlands was still sinking in when Zac Dreyer sat at a computer to spread the news.
"He is being asked to leave the university because he is gay," Dreyer wrote Thursday on the Web site MySpace.com, the same site school officials used to confront Johnson. "Help get the story out there so that all the gays and lesbians at the university will no longer have to live in secrecy, in fear of having their dreams crushed in front of them."
Within a few hours, friends and students at the small Baptist college in Williamsburg were commenting in blogs about Johnson's expulsion. The buzz grew over the weekend, and by yesterday the issue drew reaction from legislators in Frankfort and on gay advocacy organizations' Web sites nationwide.
Johnson, a sophomore majoring in theater arts, was expelled from the university Thursday because he declared online that he is gay. In a statement released last week, the university's president, Jim Taylor said students are held to a "higher standard" and that "students know the rules before they come to this institution."
Doesn't this part of the sentence ("a sophomore majoring in theater arts") basically imply the end ("he declared online that he is gay"). I mean, how many straight theater arts majors did you ever know?
"He is being asked to leave the university because he is gay," Dreyer wrote Thursday on the Web site MySpace.com, the same site school officials used to confront Johnson. "Help get the story out there so that all the gays and lesbians at the university will no longer have to live in secrecy, in fear of having their dreams crushed in front of them."
Within a few hours, friends and students at the small Baptist college in Williamsburg were commenting in blogs about Johnson's expulsion. The buzz grew over the weekend, and by yesterday the issue drew reaction from legislators in Frankfort and on gay advocacy organizations' Web sites nationwide.
Johnson, a sophomore majoring in theater arts, was expelled from the university Thursday because he declared online that he is gay. In a statement released last week, the university's president, Jim Taylor said students are held to a "higher standard" and that "students know the rules before they come to this institution."
Doesn't this part of the sentence ("a sophomore majoring in theater arts") basically imply the end ("he declared online that he is gay"). I mean, how many straight theater arts majors did you ever know?
Quote of the Day
"It is hard to see how the GOP is not like the Titanic, except it is aiming for the iceberg." -- Conservative blogger Hugh Hewitt
Monday, April 10, 2006
Interesting Comments on Race Here and Abroad
The actor who plays the Iraqi dude on Lost says America less racist than his native England:
They're still a couple, and he's never had second thoughts about leaving his native England behind, Andrews said.
"It was bloody awful, to be honest," he said. His Indian ancestry, he said, left him largely disenfranchised in a country that remains dominated by "small-minded" attitudes toward race and social class.
America "has its problems. But there's a sense of possibility here. ... In England, the class system is about a thousand years old and it's not going to change any time soon. You don't feel that here.
"Here, it's an economic class system ... But it doesn't feel that you're going to be trapped in it forever, like you do in England. You feel like you can break out of it," said Andrews, who trades his English accent for a Middle Eastern one in "Lost."
I thought the Euros were the enlightened ones.
They're still a couple, and he's never had second thoughts about leaving his native England behind, Andrews said.
"It was bloody awful, to be honest," he said. His Indian ancestry, he said, left him largely disenfranchised in a country that remains dominated by "small-minded" attitudes toward race and social class.
America "has its problems. But there's a sense of possibility here. ... In England, the class system is about a thousand years old and it's not going to change any time soon. You don't feel that here.
"Here, it's an economic class system ... But it doesn't feel that you're going to be trapped in it forever, like you do in England. You feel like you can break out of it," said Andrews, who trades his English accent for a Middle Eastern one in "Lost."
I thought the Euros were the enlightened ones.
I See Nothing Wrong With This
I call it dodgeball justice.
LIBERTY, Missouri (AP) -- A youth minister was charged with assault for allegedly knocking down a 16-year-old boy and kicking him in the groin after taking a head shot from the teen in a dodgeball game.
David M. Boudreaux, 27, was charged Wednesday with one count of third-degree assault. According to court documents, the incident happened in February at Crescent Lake Christian Academy.
Authorities said the teen missed Boudreaux with one throw but then knocked the youth minister's glasses off with the next.
The boy apologized, authorities said, but Boudreaux pushed him backward, and when the teen got up again Boudreaux kicked him in the groin and left.
The teen suffered whiplash and post-concussion syndrome and had blood in his urine after being kicked, according to court records.
LIBERTY, Missouri (AP) -- A youth minister was charged with assault for allegedly knocking down a 16-year-old boy and kicking him in the groin after taking a head shot from the teen in a dodgeball game.
David M. Boudreaux, 27, was charged Wednesday with one count of third-degree assault. According to court documents, the incident happened in February at Crescent Lake Christian Academy.
Authorities said the teen missed Boudreaux with one throw but then knocked the youth minister's glasses off with the next.
The boy apologized, authorities said, but Boudreaux pushed him backward, and when the teen got up again Boudreaux kicked him in the groin and left.
The teen suffered whiplash and post-concussion syndrome and had blood in his urine after being kicked, according to court records.
Garry Wills Is A Fool
Garry Wills, a month ago in the NYRB:
When [Martin Luther] King issued a call for religious leaders to join him in Selma for a renewed march on March 9, the outpouring of hundreds of clergy from many faiths clogged the airways. He had built up such a network of ecumenical religious trust that bishops and elders who had told their fellow believers not to take part in political activity declared this an exception. Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who first said he could not get there without violating Shabbat, consulted his teachings and found that one can work on Shabbat to save lives. On the march itself, Heschel said he "felt like my feet were praying." Seminaries and convents allowed eager young priests and nuns to join in. The theologian Robert McAfee Brown, then teaching at Stanford, flew in from California. Though Branch does not indulge in such contemporary references, I thought instantly of the difference between this outpouring of religious support for the beaten marchers and the eruption of right-wing religiosity that sent President Bush hurrying to Washington to block a court order on Terri Schiavo's condition. There was a time, not so long ago, when religion was a force for liberation in America.
Garry Wills, in Sunday's Times:
There is no such thing as a "Christian politics." If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: "My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here" (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program.
So which is it, Garry?
When [Martin Luther] King issued a call for religious leaders to join him in Selma for a renewed march on March 9, the outpouring of hundreds of clergy from many faiths clogged the airways. He had built up such a network of ecumenical religious trust that bishops and elders who had told their fellow believers not to take part in political activity declared this an exception. Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who first said he could not get there without violating Shabbat, consulted his teachings and found that one can work on Shabbat to save lives. On the march itself, Heschel said he "felt like my feet were praying." Seminaries and convents allowed eager young priests and nuns to join in. The theologian Robert McAfee Brown, then teaching at Stanford, flew in from California. Though Branch does not indulge in such contemporary references, I thought instantly of the difference between this outpouring of religious support for the beaten marchers and the eruption of right-wing religiosity that sent President Bush hurrying to Washington to block a court order on Terri Schiavo's condition. There was a time, not so long ago, when religion was a force for liberation in America.
Garry Wills, in Sunday's Times:
There is no such thing as a "Christian politics." If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: "My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here" (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program.
So which is it, Garry?
Why Are American Blacks Quiet On Darfur?
Interesting. I'd say it's because Al Sharpton, Jesse, and the Congressional Black Caucus don't have a fair-skinned evildoer to wag their finger at.
How Quickly I Forget
Every time I start getting down on Bush, something like this comes along to remind me why I supported him. From the New Republic:
JOHN KERRY AND JESUS:
Continuing his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, John F. Kerry addressed (by telephone) a conference convened by that racist hustler and prevaricator Al Sharpton who won, if I'm not mistaken, exactly one delegate at the party convention in 2004. According to The New York Times yesterday, in what appeared to be rather inchoate remarks, Kerry used Iraq as a trope but offered a ten-point plan for the nation from soup to nuts ... well, from getting Osama bin Laden to legislating lobby reform. The Times alluded to Kerry's well-known verbosity. So it wasn't surprising that he also went off and said, "Not in one phrase uttered and reported by the Lord Jesus Christ, can you find anything that suggests that there is a virtue in cutting children from Medicare." I'd actually go Kerry one further: I doubt that Jesus ever mentioned Medicare at all. Still, it's probably significant that some presidential aspirants--Kerry, for one--want to demonstrate that there are among them some real live Democrats for God. Or, as the Times said about him, he is "A Roman Catholic, who has struggled at times to talk about his own faith ... Mr. Kerry also told the group that he believed 'deeply in my faith'." Now, there are many Catholics including high ecclesiastics who doubt this. But who am I to have a point of view on what is essentially an intramural fight? In any case, as it turns out, Kerry is not only a Roman Catholic but also an ecumenicist. Once again I rely on the Times: Kerry asserted that "the Koran, the Torah, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles had influenced a social conscience that he exercised in politics." My God, what bullshit politicians feel obliged to utter! Or maybe the bullshit is already second nature, or even first. But since Kerry raised it, let me ask: What hadith of the Prophet influenced him the most, and why? And here I have a personal interest: Which of the injunctions of Leviticus and who among the Prophets have the most meaning for him? Ordinarily, of course, I wouldn't ask such personal questions of a politician. In the spirit of Jesus, Kerry will certainly forgive me for doing so.
--Martin Peretz
JOHN KERRY AND JESUS:
Continuing his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, John F. Kerry addressed (by telephone) a conference convened by that racist hustler and prevaricator Al Sharpton who won, if I'm not mistaken, exactly one delegate at the party convention in 2004. According to The New York Times yesterday, in what appeared to be rather inchoate remarks, Kerry used Iraq as a trope but offered a ten-point plan for the nation from soup to nuts ... well, from getting Osama bin Laden to legislating lobby reform. The Times alluded to Kerry's well-known verbosity. So it wasn't surprising that he also went off and said, "Not in one phrase uttered and reported by the Lord Jesus Christ, can you find anything that suggests that there is a virtue in cutting children from Medicare." I'd actually go Kerry one further: I doubt that Jesus ever mentioned Medicare at all. Still, it's probably significant that some presidential aspirants--Kerry, for one--want to demonstrate that there are among them some real live Democrats for God. Or, as the Times said about him, he is "A Roman Catholic, who has struggled at times to talk about his own faith ... Mr. Kerry also told the group that he believed 'deeply in my faith'." Now, there are many Catholics including high ecclesiastics who doubt this. But who am I to have a point of view on what is essentially an intramural fight? In any case, as it turns out, Kerry is not only a Roman Catholic but also an ecumenicist. Once again I rely on the Times: Kerry asserted that "the Koran, the Torah, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles had influenced a social conscience that he exercised in politics." My God, what bullshit politicians feel obliged to utter! Or maybe the bullshit is already second nature, or even first. But since Kerry raised it, let me ask: What hadith of the Prophet influenced him the most, and why? And here I have a personal interest: Which of the injunctions of Leviticus and who among the Prophets have the most meaning for him? Ordinarily, of course, I wouldn't ask such personal questions of a politician. In the spirit of Jesus, Kerry will certainly forgive me for doing so.
--Martin Peretz
Pretty Good Money If You Can Get It
"24" star Kiefer Sutherland has inked a multifaceted deal with 20th Century Fox Television.
The rich pact, which is set to begin in June, calls for the actor to continue on the hit Fox drama for three more years and includes a two-year development deal for Sutherland's soon-to-be-launched production banner.
Details on the deal were sketchy Friday, but sources pegged the acting portion alone at more than $40 million for the three seasons, which could make Sutherland the highest paid actor in drama series.
When athletes get this kind of obscene money, people scream and holler and say they're overpaid. Will there be any reaction to this? I doubt it.
The rich pact, which is set to begin in June, calls for the actor to continue on the hit Fox drama for three more years and includes a two-year development deal for Sutherland's soon-to-be-launched production banner.
Details on the deal were sketchy Friday, but sources pegged the acting portion alone at more than $40 million for the three seasons, which could make Sutherland the highest paid actor in drama series.
When athletes get this kind of obscene money, people scream and holler and say they're overpaid. Will there be any reaction to this? I doubt it.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
The Gospel of Judas
I originally thought this story was so silly (didn't we put this to bed a few thousand years ago) and those reporting on it so uninformed (secular Leftists reporting on matters of faith is, while very entertaining, mind-numbing) that it would just fade away. But apparently not. So here's the scoop:
Suppose that sometime around the year 3,800 A.D., someone wrote a newspaper that began: "According to a recently-discovered document, which appears to have been written sometime before 1926, Benedict Arnold did not attempt to betray George Washington and the American cause, as is commonly believed. Rather, Benedict Arnold was acting at the request of George Washington, because Washington wanted Arnold to help him create a dictatorship of the proletariat and the abolition of private property."
A reader who knew her ancient history would recognize that the newly-discovered "Arnold document" was almost certainly not a historically accurate account of the relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. The reader would know that the terms "dictatorship of the proletariat" and "abolition of private property" come from a political philosophy, Marxism, which was created long after Washington and Arnold were dead. The reader would also know that the most reliable records from the 18th century provided no support for the theory that Washington or Arnold favored a dictatorship of the proletariat or the abolition of private property.
This Friday's coverage of the so-called "Gospel of Judas" in much of the U.S. media was appallingly stupid. The Judas gospel is interesting in its own right, but the notion that it disproves, or casts into doubt, the traditional orthodox understanding of the betrayal of Jesus is preposterous.
In the March 2 issue of USA Today, ancient Egyptian documents expert James Robinson correctly predicted that the owners of the Judas Gospel manuscript would attempt to release it to coincide with the publicity build-up for "The DaVinci Code" movie, but explained that the "gospel" was part of a genre of pseudo-gospels from the second century onward, in which the authors simply made up the stories. In contrast, virtually all serious scholarship about the canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) believes that they were written much closer to the events they describe--sometime in the first century a.d.
The influential Christian bishop Ireneus, in his treatise Against Heresies, written in 180 a.d., denounced the Gospel of Judas as the product of a gnostic sect called the Cainites. (Book 1, ch. 31, para. 1.)
The "Gospel of Judas" asserts that Jesus asked Judas to betray Jesus so that Jesus's spirit could be liberated from its earthly body. ("You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.") This statement is a classic expression of gnosticism, and for that reason is antithetical to Christianity.
Unfortunately, the amazingly mendacious DaVinci Code presents a picture of gnosticism that is wildly false — so it is helpful to set the record straight about what gnostics really believed.
The roots of the Gospel of Judas and of gnosticism go back to Marcion (approx. 100-160 a.d.). After he was excommunicated for heresy, he founded his own sect, the Marcionites. The Marcionites never grew as numerous as orthodox Christians, but for several centuries they were important rivals to the orthodox.
The Marcionites believed that the physical world was created by the angry god of the Old Testament, and that Jesus had been sent by a different god, who had nothing to do with the created world. Marcionites strove to avoid all contact with the created world. They were celibate, and ultra-ascetic. They did not even allow the use of wine at communion, insisting only on bread. Consistent with this highly ascetic view, they rejected war in any form. The Marcionites also denied the authority of the Old Testament, and most of the Gospels. Their only scriptures were portions of Luke, and ten epistles from Paul. (The idea of expunging the Old Testament from the Christian Bible was reintroduced by Adolf von Harnack, a very influential late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century liberal Protestant theologian. The Nazis enthusiastically adopted Harnack’s proposal.)
The great nineteenth-century Catholic theologian John Henry Cardinal Newman explained that gnostics such as the Marcionites believed in "the intrinsic malignity of matter." The rejection of the Old Testament was necessary because the Old Testament is replete with stories about the wonders of the created world. In the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, God looked at his newly-created natural world, "and God saw that it was good." Then, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them....And so God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." The Song of Songs rejoices in a newly-married couple’s sensuous love. Ecclesiastes celebrates the natural cycle of life.
The New Testament agreed that the God who was the father of Jesus was the same God who had made the material world. In Acts, the Apostles prayed "Lord, thou are God, which has made heaven, and earth, and the sea..." Newman also pointed out that "All the Gnostic sects seem to have condemned marriage for one or another reason." This is the opposite of the mainstream Christian view which, while recognizing that celibacy can be a special calling for some people, celebrates "holy matrimony." The Marcionites acknowledged that Jesus had been born of a woman, but claimed that the fetal Jesus never touched Mary’s body or received any nourishment from her womb. The Marcionite and other forms of Gnostic pacifism have a reasonable internal logic. If the entire world and every human body is repulsively unclean (if one looks on the whole creation the same way that the Old Testament regarded a leprous corpse), then it makes sense never to lift a finger to defend a human being who is being attacked. Why try to preserve the evil human body from destruction? And how sinful it would seem, in the Gnostic view, to involve oneself in the material world so greatly that one would actually use a physical weapon. The earliest Christians seem to have foreseen that something like gnosticism would attempt to substitute itself for Christianity. In the First Epistle to Timothy, Paul specifically warned about the false teaching that would arise from "doctrines of devils." The evil doctrines that would arise in "latter times" would be "Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving."
Timothy’s instructions also drew an important parallel between the carnal eating of meat and the carnality of marriage. Both are gifts which God created for humanity.
Gnosticism’s hatred of the created world sets it in direct opposition to Jewish and Christian doctrine from the first chapter of Genesis all the way through the New Testament.The Gospel of Judas adds no historical information to the biography of Jesus, but it does provide additional information about the gnostic heresy which thrived in the mid-second century, and which has attracted many adherents today as well.
Suppose that sometime around the year 3,800 A.D., someone wrote a newspaper that began: "According to a recently-discovered document, which appears to have been written sometime before 1926, Benedict Arnold did not attempt to betray George Washington and the American cause, as is commonly believed. Rather, Benedict Arnold was acting at the request of George Washington, because Washington wanted Arnold to help him create a dictatorship of the proletariat and the abolition of private property."
A reader who knew her ancient history would recognize that the newly-discovered "Arnold document" was almost certainly not a historically accurate account of the relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. The reader would know that the terms "dictatorship of the proletariat" and "abolition of private property" come from a political philosophy, Marxism, which was created long after Washington and Arnold were dead. The reader would also know that the most reliable records from the 18th century provided no support for the theory that Washington or Arnold favored a dictatorship of the proletariat or the abolition of private property.
This Friday's coverage of the so-called "Gospel of Judas" in much of the U.S. media was appallingly stupid. The Judas gospel is interesting in its own right, but the notion that it disproves, or casts into doubt, the traditional orthodox understanding of the betrayal of Jesus is preposterous.
In the March 2 issue of USA Today, ancient Egyptian documents expert James Robinson correctly predicted that the owners of the Judas Gospel manuscript would attempt to release it to coincide with the publicity build-up for "The DaVinci Code" movie, but explained that the "gospel" was part of a genre of pseudo-gospels from the second century onward, in which the authors simply made up the stories. In contrast, virtually all serious scholarship about the canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) believes that they were written much closer to the events they describe--sometime in the first century a.d.
The influential Christian bishop Ireneus, in his treatise Against Heresies, written in 180 a.d., denounced the Gospel of Judas as the product of a gnostic sect called the Cainites. (Book 1, ch. 31, para. 1.)
The "Gospel of Judas" asserts that Jesus asked Judas to betray Jesus so that Jesus's spirit could be liberated from its earthly body. ("You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.") This statement is a classic expression of gnosticism, and for that reason is antithetical to Christianity.
Unfortunately, the amazingly mendacious DaVinci Code presents a picture of gnosticism that is wildly false — so it is helpful to set the record straight about what gnostics really believed.
The roots of the Gospel of Judas and of gnosticism go back to Marcion (approx. 100-160 a.d.). After he was excommunicated for heresy, he founded his own sect, the Marcionites. The Marcionites never grew as numerous as orthodox Christians, but for several centuries they were important rivals to the orthodox.
The Marcionites believed that the physical world was created by the angry god of the Old Testament, and that Jesus had been sent by a different god, who had nothing to do with the created world. Marcionites strove to avoid all contact with the created world. They were celibate, and ultra-ascetic. They did not even allow the use of wine at communion, insisting only on bread. Consistent with this highly ascetic view, they rejected war in any form. The Marcionites also denied the authority of the Old Testament, and most of the Gospels. Their only scriptures were portions of Luke, and ten epistles from Paul. (The idea of expunging the Old Testament from the Christian Bible was reintroduced by Adolf von Harnack, a very influential late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century liberal Protestant theologian. The Nazis enthusiastically adopted Harnack’s proposal.)
The great nineteenth-century Catholic theologian John Henry Cardinal Newman explained that gnostics such as the Marcionites believed in "the intrinsic malignity of matter." The rejection of the Old Testament was necessary because the Old Testament is replete with stories about the wonders of the created world. In the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, God looked at his newly-created natural world, "and God saw that it was good." Then, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them....And so God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." The Song of Songs rejoices in a newly-married couple’s sensuous love. Ecclesiastes celebrates the natural cycle of life.
The New Testament agreed that the God who was the father of Jesus was the same God who had made the material world. In Acts, the Apostles prayed "Lord, thou are God, which has made heaven, and earth, and the sea..." Newman also pointed out that "All the Gnostic sects seem to have condemned marriage for one or another reason." This is the opposite of the mainstream Christian view which, while recognizing that celibacy can be a special calling for some people, celebrates "holy matrimony." The Marcionites acknowledged that Jesus had been born of a woman, but claimed that the fetal Jesus never touched Mary’s body or received any nourishment from her womb. The Marcionite and other forms of Gnostic pacifism have a reasonable internal logic. If the entire world and every human body is repulsively unclean (if one looks on the whole creation the same way that the Old Testament regarded a leprous corpse), then it makes sense never to lift a finger to defend a human being who is being attacked. Why try to preserve the evil human body from destruction? And how sinful it would seem, in the Gnostic view, to involve oneself in the material world so greatly that one would actually use a physical weapon. The earliest Christians seem to have foreseen that something like gnosticism would attempt to substitute itself for Christianity. In the First Epistle to Timothy, Paul specifically warned about the false teaching that would arise from "doctrines of devils." The evil doctrines that would arise in "latter times" would be "Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving."
Timothy’s instructions also drew an important parallel between the carnal eating of meat and the carnality of marriage. Both are gifts which God created for humanity.
Gnosticism’s hatred of the created world sets it in direct opposition to Jewish and Christian doctrine from the first chapter of Genesis all the way through the New Testament.The Gospel of Judas adds no historical information to the biography of Jesus, but it does provide additional information about the gnostic heresy which thrived in the mid-second century, and which has attracted many adherents today as well.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Golf and Conservatism
Sports Illustrated: An SI poll found that almost 90 percent of Tour players saidinvading Iraq was a good idea, and zero had seen Brokeback Mountain.Is there something beyond socioeconomics going on? Something aboutgolf that suits a conservative temperament?
Jim Nantz (Masters broadcaster): I don't think golf gives you a political bent.
SI: Is it about control? Focus? Discipline?
JN: Golf is an individual sport. You have to be disciplined. Not thatI'm saying liberals are undisciplined. I'll give you my politicalleanings when I run for office in a couple of years. But do Isubstitute the word discipline for conservative? Maybe. Guys in golfaren't hanging out in bars late at night, by and large, or trying tofind the great nightclub at this week's Tour stop. If you do, youwon't succeed. So it's a regimented group. You need discipline to getto the Tour in the first place. You need discipline to hit balls, totrain. Nobody's going to cover for you out there -- it's just you.
Jim Nantz (Masters broadcaster): I don't think golf gives you a political bent.
SI: Is it about control? Focus? Discipline?
JN: Golf is an individual sport. You have to be disciplined. Not thatI'm saying liberals are undisciplined. I'll give you my politicalleanings when I run for office in a couple of years. But do Isubstitute the word discipline for conservative? Maybe. Guys in golfaren't hanging out in bars late at night, by and large, or trying tofind the great nightclub at this week's Tour stop. If you do, youwon't succeed. So it's a regimented group. You need discipline to getto the Tour in the first place. You need discipline to hit balls, totrain. Nobody's going to cover for you out there -- it's just you.
Friday, April 07, 2006
The Billy Graham Way
How is it that Billy Graham has steered clear of even the slightest taint of scandal over his long ministry life? The Modesto Manifesto:
Evangelist Billy Graham knew many leaders who succumbed to temptation on the preaching circuit. That's why in 1948, Graham met with his evangelistic team in Modesto, California, and discussed how to protect themselves against smearing the gospel of Christ. They brainstormed the particular temptations faced by traveling evangelists and identified wealth, prestige, slander, and sex...The so-called Modesto Manifesto protected the men against their ignoble impulses and helped rehabilitate the image of gospel preachers.
Among the points they agreed on was that the Graham team would avoid even any appearance of financial abuse, exercise extreme care to avoid even the appearance of any sexual impropriety, to cooperate with any local churches that were willing to participate in united evangelism effort, and to be honest and reliable in their publicity and reporting of results.
Here are the rules:
1. Never exaggerate attendance figures at their meetings.
2. Accept only fixed salaries from their organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, rather than a percentage of the offerings.
3. Agreed not to criticize fellow members of the clergy.
4. Never meet, travel, or eat alone with any woman but their wives.
It's worked pretty well.
Evangelist Billy Graham knew many leaders who succumbed to temptation on the preaching circuit. That's why in 1948, Graham met with his evangelistic team in Modesto, California, and discussed how to protect themselves against smearing the gospel of Christ. They brainstormed the particular temptations faced by traveling evangelists and identified wealth, prestige, slander, and sex...The so-called Modesto Manifesto protected the men against their ignoble impulses and helped rehabilitate the image of gospel preachers.
Among the points they agreed on was that the Graham team would avoid even any appearance of financial abuse, exercise extreme care to avoid even the appearance of any sexual impropriety, to cooperate with any local churches that were willing to participate in united evangelism effort, and to be honest and reliable in their publicity and reporting of results.
Here are the rules:
1. Never exaggerate attendance figures at their meetings.
2. Accept only fixed salaries from their organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, rather than a percentage of the offerings.
3. Agreed not to criticize fellow members of the clergy.
4. Never meet, travel, or eat alone with any woman but their wives.
It's worked pretty well.
Classic NY Times Correction
In February, the New York Times published an article stating that Hispanics were used as "cannon fodder" in the military. Here's a link to the article, and here's exact quote:
"Critics also say that Latinos often wind up as cannon fodder on the casualty-prone front lines. African-Americans saw the same thing happen during the 1970's and 1980's, an accusation that still reverberates. Hispanics make up only 4.7 percent of the military's officer corps."
In a correction today (2 months later than the original article, I might add), the Times said as follows:
"An article on Feb. 9 about the military's recruitment of Hispanics referred incompletely to the belief of some critics that Hispanics in the Iraq war and blacks in the Vietnam War accounted for a disproportionate number of casualties. Statistics do not support the belief. Hispanics, who are about 14 percent of the population, accounted for about 11 percent of the military deaths in Iraq through Dec. 3, 2005. About 12.5 percent of the military dead in Vietnam were African-Americans, who made up about 13. 5 percent of the general population during the war years. The error was pointed out in an e-mail in February; the correction was delayed for research after a lapse at The Times."
In other words, we're either stupid, politically deranged, or both. I vote both.
"Critics also say that Latinos often wind up as cannon fodder on the casualty-prone front lines. African-Americans saw the same thing happen during the 1970's and 1980's, an accusation that still reverberates. Hispanics make up only 4.7 percent of the military's officer corps."
In a correction today (2 months later than the original article, I might add), the Times said as follows:
"An article on Feb. 9 about the military's recruitment of Hispanics referred incompletely to the belief of some critics that Hispanics in the Iraq war and blacks in the Vietnam War accounted for a disproportionate number of casualties. Statistics do not support the belief. Hispanics, who are about 14 percent of the population, accounted for about 11 percent of the military deaths in Iraq through Dec. 3, 2005. About 12.5 percent of the military dead in Vietnam were African-Americans, who made up about 13. 5 percent of the general population during the war years. The error was pointed out in an e-mail in February; the correction was delayed for research after a lapse at The Times."
In other words, we're either stupid, politically deranged, or both. I vote both.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
I've Been Preaching This For Years
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- Little Madison Sukenik crawls around her Fort Lauderdale home, grabbing everything in sight, putting much of it in her mouth. A piece of French toast that has fallen on the floor, a ball that her dog, Nugget, just chewed on, a shoe -- all get chomped on.
So are her parents freaked out? Running for the antibacterial mouthwash?
No -- Michelle and Mark Sukenik are more than happy to let 14-month-old Madison crawl around the house, restaurants, even her doctor's office, and put her fingers and other objects into her mouth. In fact, Mark is a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist and he says exposure to germs will build up her immunity.
Now some immunology experts are beginning to agree that germs that many parents bleach and disinfect out of existence might help children.
So are her parents freaked out? Running for the antibacterial mouthwash?
No -- Michelle and Mark Sukenik are more than happy to let 14-month-old Madison crawl around the house, restaurants, even her doctor's office, and put her fingers and other objects into her mouth. In fact, Mark is a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist and he says exposure to germs will build up her immunity.
Now some immunology experts are beginning to agree that germs that many parents bleach and disinfect out of existence might help children.
Well, Duh!
Premature babies experience feelings of pain rather than simply displaying reflex reactions, a study says.
Experts have never been sure how a premature baby responds to pain, the Journal of Neuroscience reported.
But a team from University College London found that they do feel pain after analysing brain scans taken when blood samples were being drawn.
They hope the findings will lead to more formal plans for managing pain in premature babies.
So do you think it hurts a premature baby when a "doctor" sticks a tube through its skull and sucks its brains out? Probably.
Experts have never been sure how a premature baby responds to pain, the Journal of Neuroscience reported.
But a team from University College London found that they do feel pain after analysing brain scans taken when blood samples were being drawn.
They hope the findings will lead to more formal plans for managing pain in premature babies.
So do you think it hurts a premature baby when a "doctor" sticks a tube through its skull and sucks its brains out? Probably.
This Is Hazing?
Come on, get serious. I only wish the Dekes considered this hazing...my life would have been much easier.
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A University of Vermont fraternity has been suspended during an investigation of a party that may have included hazing and underage drinking, a top university administrator said.
Members of the Phi Delta Gamma chapter on campus will be permitted to live in their fraternity house, but no chapter activities can be held while the fraternity remains under the interim suspension, said Tom Gustafson, student and campus life vice president.
The investigation by university police has just begun but preliminary reports alleged that fraternity members required pledges to wear cowboy clothes in a theme inspired by the movie "Brokeback Mountain." Pledges then allegedly were taunted with homophobic comments.
"We just learned about it today, just barely started up the investigation this afternoon," Gustafson said Tuesday. The party may have been held a week to 10 days ago, he said.
"Any time there's even a hint of potential hazing, we want to be very assertive about following up," he said. "We're hoping to get to the bottom of it."
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A University of Vermont fraternity has been suspended during an investigation of a party that may have included hazing and underage drinking, a top university administrator said.
Members of the Phi Delta Gamma chapter on campus will be permitted to live in their fraternity house, but no chapter activities can be held while the fraternity remains under the interim suspension, said Tom Gustafson, student and campus life vice president.
The investigation by university police has just begun but preliminary reports alleged that fraternity members required pledges to wear cowboy clothes in a theme inspired by the movie "Brokeback Mountain." Pledges then allegedly were taunted with homophobic comments.
"We just learned about it today, just barely started up the investigation this afternoon," Gustafson said Tuesday. The party may have been held a week to 10 days ago, he said.
"Any time there's even a hint of potential hazing, we want to be very assertive about following up," he said. "We're hoping to get to the bottom of it."
I Love Educators
We need more teachers like this:
VENTURA, California (AP) -- A teacher who kept a 40 mm shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say.
The 5-inch-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class.
And this:
A charter school teacher in Albany is out of the classroom and in the courtroom.
Police say Mark Holley gave a 10-year-old New Covenant student a wedgie during a summer school program sometime between July and August 2005.
The 41-year-old is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
VENTURA, California (AP) -- A teacher who kept a 40 mm shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say.
The 5-inch-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class.
And this:
A charter school teacher in Albany is out of the classroom and in the courtroom.
Police say Mark Holley gave a 10-year-old New Covenant student a wedgie during a summer school program sometime between July and August 2005.
The 41-year-old is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
The Fear of Confrontation
Arnold Kling on the fear of confrontation.
A snippet: "Unfortunately, large segments of American society no longer have the ability to confront real evil. People lack the confidence and moral clarity to stand up to intimidation. . . . One can view Islamic militants as armed versions of unruly teenagers. We should not feel guilty toward them. We should demand reasonable and decent behavior from them, rather than excuse their tantrums or their crimes."
While I agree with Kling's assessment, I think it's more the "feminization of men" than the "fear of confrontation", although the two are very similar.
A snippet: "Unfortunately, large segments of American society no longer have the ability to confront real evil. People lack the confidence and moral clarity to stand up to intimidation. . . . One can view Islamic militants as armed versions of unruly teenagers. We should not feel guilty toward them. We should demand reasonable and decent behavior from them, rather than excuse their tantrums or their crimes."
While I agree with Kling's assessment, I think it's more the "feminization of men" than the "fear of confrontation", although the two are very similar.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Quote of the Day
"At the box office this weekend, Ice Age 2 clobbered Basic Instinct 2 hauling in $70 million dollars, compared with less than $3 million for the Sharon Stone movie. One film is about a prehistoric creature’s struggle to survive and find love, the other is the animated sequel to the movie Ice Age."
Plenty of Jobs in New Orleans
This might sound naive, but why aren't the impoverished and out-of-work citizens of New Orleans (you know, the ones we are constantly told have no job prospects and no hope) flocking back to fill these jobs.
NEW ORLEANS — As the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina receded in September, roads filled with residents leaving the city, their cars, SUVs and moving vans jammed with what they had salvaged of their lives.
But another mass movement was taking place on the other sides of the highways.Thousands of men from Mexico and Central America were driving into the city. Word had spread throughout the Latino immigrant diaspora in America that the city had plenty of work, construction wages had doubled to $16 an hour and no one was asking for papers.
"It was like a Gold Rush," said Oscar Calanche, a Guatemalan immigrant who lived in New Orleans before the storm and returned as soon as the waters receded. "In one car there'd be three up front and three or four in the back, with suitcases and tools on top. It looked like a river of people from our countries."
Latino workers have gutted, roofed and painted houses and hauled away garbage, debris and downed trees. Undocumented workers have installed trailers to house returning evacuees at New Orleans City Park, their pay coming from FEMA subcontractors.
"It's all illegals doing this work," said Rey Mendez, a FEMA trailer subcontractor from Honduras.
No one knows how many Latino immigrants are here, but John Logan, a Brown University demographer who has studied the city since Katrina, says "there must be 10,000 to 20,000 immigrant workers in the region by now, and the number is going to grow."
As the Senate debates new immigration laws and marchers demonstrate across the country, these immigrants offer another reminder of the country's reliance on undocumented labor from Latin America.
As New Orleans redefines itself after Katrina, the influx of large numbers of Latino immigrants is another jolt for a city that has historically thought of itself as black and white.
NEW ORLEANS — As the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina receded in September, roads filled with residents leaving the city, their cars, SUVs and moving vans jammed with what they had salvaged of their lives.
But another mass movement was taking place on the other sides of the highways.Thousands of men from Mexico and Central America were driving into the city. Word had spread throughout the Latino immigrant diaspora in America that the city had plenty of work, construction wages had doubled to $16 an hour and no one was asking for papers.
"It was like a Gold Rush," said Oscar Calanche, a Guatemalan immigrant who lived in New Orleans before the storm and returned as soon as the waters receded. "In one car there'd be three up front and three or four in the back, with suitcases and tools on top. It looked like a river of people from our countries."
Latino workers have gutted, roofed and painted houses and hauled away garbage, debris and downed trees. Undocumented workers have installed trailers to house returning evacuees at New Orleans City Park, their pay coming from FEMA subcontractors.
"It's all illegals doing this work," said Rey Mendez, a FEMA trailer subcontractor from Honduras.
No one knows how many Latino immigrants are here, but John Logan, a Brown University demographer who has studied the city since Katrina, says "there must be 10,000 to 20,000 immigrant workers in the region by now, and the number is going to grow."
As the Senate debates new immigration laws and marchers demonstrate across the country, these immigrants offer another reminder of the country's reliance on undocumented labor from Latin America.
As New Orleans redefines itself after Katrina, the influx of large numbers of Latino immigrants is another jolt for a city that has historically thought of itself as black and white.
I Guess Math Is Racist
In February, the Justice Department sent a letter to Virginia Beach, concluding that the Beach Police Department has 'engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination' against black and Hispanics applicants.
The only evidence cited were results of a math exam given to all police recruits. It showed a wide gap between the passing rates for white applicants and the passing rates for black and Hispanics.
About 85 percent of white applicants passed the math test from 2002 to mid-2005, compared with 59 percent of blacks and 66 percent of Hispanics.
The only evidence cited were results of a math exam given to all police recruits. It showed a wide gap between the passing rates for white applicants and the passing rates for black and Hispanics.
About 85 percent of white applicants passed the math test from 2002 to mid-2005, compared with 59 percent of blacks and 66 percent of Hispanics.
Deja Vu
April 6, 2004.....Opening Day
"I clunked it," Dunn said. "It's one of those things that shouldn't happen . . . and it's the worst feeling in sports." Alex Gonzalez's drive to left field popped out of Dunn's glove, and two bobbles later - one by Dunn, one by center fielder Ryan Freel - the ball was on the grass and the game had changed.
Dunn was looking right into the sun as the ball flew toward him.
"I'm not going to blame that," he said.
April 4, 2006....Opening Day
"I'm not going to blame the wind," he said. "I misplayed the fly balls. There's nothing I can do about it."
Dunn has never been confused with a Gold Glove outfielder. But he's never had a day like Monday.
In the first inning, a sinking line drive by Jacque Jones popped out of Dunn's glove. The error led to three unearned runs.
The other gaffes came after Dunn's homer tied the game at 5 after five innings
"I clunked it," Dunn said. "It's one of those things that shouldn't happen . . . and it's the worst feeling in sports." Alex Gonzalez's drive to left field popped out of Dunn's glove, and two bobbles later - one by Dunn, one by center fielder Ryan Freel - the ball was on the grass and the game had changed.
Dunn was looking right into the sun as the ball flew toward him.
"I'm not going to blame that," he said.
April 4, 2006....Opening Day
"I'm not going to blame the wind," he said. "I misplayed the fly balls. There's nothing I can do about it."
Dunn has never been confused with a Gold Glove outfielder. But he's never had a day like Monday.
In the first inning, a sinking line drive by Jacque Jones popped out of Dunn's glove. The error led to three unearned runs.
The other gaffes came after Dunn's homer tied the game at 5 after five innings
The Coz Is At It Again
Cosby, whose criticism of some aspects of modern African-American culture has stirred controversy in recent years, told a rally headed by black leaders that the city needed to look at the "wound" it had before Katrina struck.
"It's painful, but we can't cleanse ourselves unless we look at the wound," Cosby told the rally of about 2,000 people in front of the city's convention center.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you had the highest murder rate, unto each other. You were dealing drugs to each other. You were impregnating our 13-, 12-, 11-year-old children," he said."What kind of a village is that?"
Just another bigot. Doesn't he know that Bush was murdering people, that Bush was dealing drugs, that Bush was impregnating our little girls.
"It's painful, but we can't cleanse ourselves unless we look at the wound," Cosby told the rally of about 2,000 people in front of the city's convention center.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you had the highest murder rate, unto each other. You were dealing drugs to each other. You were impregnating our 13-, 12-, 11-year-old children," he said."What kind of a village is that?"
Just another bigot. Doesn't he know that Bush was murdering people, that Bush was dealing drugs, that Bush was impregnating our little girls.
Monday, April 03, 2006
The Worst Album of All Time
As judged by London's Independent:
TOP 10 WORST
Duran Duran
Thank You "DOWNRIGHT INSULTING"
Spice Girls
Any of their solo albums "WRETCHED"
Various Artists
Urban Renewal "WORSE THAN THE ORIGINAL"
Lou Reed
Metal Machine Music "TOSS"
Billy Idol
Cyberpunk "RISIBLE"
Naomi Campbell
Baby Woman "GOBSMACKING HUBRIS"
Kevin Rowland
My Beauty "HIDEOUSLY MAWKISH"
Mick Jagger
Primitive Cool "SOULLESS FUNK-ROCK"
Westlife
Allow Us to Be Frank "AN UNCALLED-FOR MAULING"
Tin Machine
Tin Machine II "A DISASTER"
TOP 10 WORST
Duran Duran
Thank You "DOWNRIGHT INSULTING"
Spice Girls
Any of their solo albums "WRETCHED"
Various Artists
Urban Renewal "WORSE THAN THE ORIGINAL"
Lou Reed
Metal Machine Music "TOSS"
Billy Idol
Cyberpunk "RISIBLE"
Naomi Campbell
Baby Woman "GOBSMACKING HUBRIS"
Kevin Rowland
My Beauty "HIDEOUSLY MAWKISH"
Mick Jagger
Primitive Cool "SOULLESS FUNK-ROCK"
Westlife
Allow Us to Be Frank "AN UNCALLED-FOR MAULING"
Tin Machine
Tin Machine II "A DISASTER"
This Is Pathetic
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.
This Punishment Doesn't Fit The Crime
ABC News suspended the executive producer of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America" yesterday over a pair of leaked e-mails in which he used inflammatory language to slam President Bush and Madeleine Albright.
John Green, whose unpaid suspension will last one month, apologized to the White House in a call to communications director Nicolle Wallace, while two ABC executives called the former secretary of state to apologize.
"No one is sorrier than John for the embarrassment that these albeit private e-mails caused to his colleagues and to the people who were the subjects of those comments," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "John would be the first to say this has been a real lesson to him. John is abjectly sorry for all the comments that have come to light, and that's appropriate."
In one of the e-mails, written during the first presidential debate in 2004 and leaked to the Drudge Report, Green wrote to a colleague on his BlackBerry: "Are you watching this? Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke."
Green, who was not made available for comment yesterday, wrote his colleagues after that leak to say "how much I regret the embarrassment that this story causes ABC. It was an inappropriate thing to say, and I'm deeply sorry."
Wallace said yesterday that she "appreciated the call and the apology."
The second leaked e-mail surfaced Thursday on the New York Post's gossipy Page Six. In that note, Green wrote that Albright should not be booked on the show because "Albright has Jew shame."
Albright, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, acknowledged her Jewish heritage in 1997 after it was discovered by Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs in the course of researching a book.
Wow, an ABC producer dislikes Bush. Noooo, I don't believe it. Big deal. There are many others like him, and also others who probably feel that Albright has "jew shame". The guy shouldn't be punished, just exposed. Transparency...it's all about transparency.
John Green, whose unpaid suspension will last one month, apologized to the White House in a call to communications director Nicolle Wallace, while two ABC executives called the former secretary of state to apologize.
"No one is sorrier than John for the embarrassment that these albeit private e-mails caused to his colleagues and to the people who were the subjects of those comments," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "John would be the first to say this has been a real lesson to him. John is abjectly sorry for all the comments that have come to light, and that's appropriate."
In one of the e-mails, written during the first presidential debate in 2004 and leaked to the Drudge Report, Green wrote to a colleague on his BlackBerry: "Are you watching this? Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke."
Green, who was not made available for comment yesterday, wrote his colleagues after that leak to say "how much I regret the embarrassment that this story causes ABC. It was an inappropriate thing to say, and I'm deeply sorry."
Wallace said yesterday that she "appreciated the call and the apology."
The second leaked e-mail surfaced Thursday on the New York Post's gossipy Page Six. In that note, Green wrote that Albright should not be booked on the show because "Albright has Jew shame."
Albright, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, acknowledged her Jewish heritage in 1997 after it was discovered by Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs in the course of researching a book.
Wow, an ABC producer dislikes Bush. Noooo, I don't believe it. Big deal. There are many others like him, and also others who probably feel that Albright has "jew shame". The guy shouldn't be punished, just exposed. Transparency...it's all about transparency.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Speaking of Nuts
A lawyer for Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the Georgia congresswoman who had an altercation with a Capitol Police officer, says she was "just a victim of being in Congress while black."
McKinney awaited word Friday on whether she would be charged for apparently striking the officer after she entered a House office building this week unrecognized and did not stop when asked.
Yeah, this country elects blacks to NATIONAL office just so we can discriminate against them in the security lines.
McKinney awaited word Friday on whether she would be charged for apparently striking the officer after she entered a House office building this week unrecognized and did not stop when asked.
Yeah, this country elects blacks to NATIONAL office just so we can discriminate against them in the security lines.
Ted Turner is Nuts...But You Already Knew That
Ted Turner: "I am absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere. There’s really no reason for them to cheat [on nukes]....I looked them right in the eyes. And they looked like they meant the truth. I mean, you know, just because somebody’s done something wrong in the past doesn’t mean they can’t do right in the future or the present. That happens all the, all the time."
Wolf Blitzer: "But this is one of the most despotic regimes and Kim Jong-Il is one of the worst men on Earth. Isn’t that a fair assessment?"
Turner: "Well, I didn’t get to meet him, but he didn’t look — in the pictures that I’ve seen of him on CNN, he didn’t look too much different than most other people I’ve met."
Blitzer: "But, look at the way, look at the way he’s, look at the way he’s treating his own people."
Turner: "Well, hey, listen. I saw a lot of people over there. They were thin and they were riding bicycles instead of driving in cars, but–"
Blitzer: "A lot of those people are starving."
Turner: "I didn’t see any, I didn’t see any brutality...."
— Exchange on CNN’s The Situation Room, September 19.
Wolf Blitzer: "But this is one of the most despotic regimes and Kim Jong-Il is one of the worst men on Earth. Isn’t that a fair assessment?"
Turner: "Well, I didn’t get to meet him, but he didn’t look — in the pictures that I’ve seen of him on CNN, he didn’t look too much different than most other people I’ve met."
Blitzer: "But, look at the way, look at the way he’s, look at the way he’s treating his own people."
Turner: "Well, hey, listen. I saw a lot of people over there. They were thin and they were riding bicycles instead of driving in cars, but–"
Blitzer: "A lot of those people are starving."
Turner: "I didn’t see any, I didn’t see any brutality...."
— Exchange on CNN’s The Situation Room, September 19.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
I Didn't Know This
Upon graduation from the Naval Academy, you apparently can choose which branch of the armed services to fulfill your military duty.
When it came time for Jake Dove, a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy, to decide how he would fulfill his required military duty after graduation, there was no question about it: Marine Corps all the way.
"In my eyes it's a perfect community," said Dove, an Annapolis High School graduate. "The idea of being a platoon leader in charge of guys that have done two, three tours in Iraq already, when I haven't been over there - that's an awesome responsibility. I'm eager to take it on." Despite a war that has entered its fourth year with mounting casualties and waning public support, more and more midshipmen at the Annapolis military college are volunteering for the Marines when asked to choose how they will fulfill the five-year commitment required of all academy graduates.
When the assignments were made official last month for the 992 members of the class of 2006, 209 were placed as officers with the Corps - the most in the school's 161-year history. . . . Having a surplus of mids who want to be Marines has been a change from the Vietnam era. In 1968, the Marine Corps failed to meet its quota for the first time in academy history.
When it came time for Jake Dove, a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy, to decide how he would fulfill his required military duty after graduation, there was no question about it: Marine Corps all the way.
"In my eyes it's a perfect community," said Dove, an Annapolis High School graduate. "The idea of being a platoon leader in charge of guys that have done two, three tours in Iraq already, when I haven't been over there - that's an awesome responsibility. I'm eager to take it on." Despite a war that has entered its fourth year with mounting casualties and waning public support, more and more midshipmen at the Annapolis military college are volunteering for the Marines when asked to choose how they will fulfill the five-year commitment required of all academy graduates.
When the assignments were made official last month for the 992 members of the class of 2006, 209 were placed as officers with the Corps - the most in the school's 161-year history. . . . Having a surplus of mids who want to be Marines has been a change from the Vietnam era. In 1968, the Marine Corps failed to meet its quota for the first time in academy history.
Friday, March 24, 2006
More on Coach K's Tournament Woes
Since their last title in 2001, the Dukies have not fared so well as a high seed:
- 2002: #1 seed, loser in round of 16 to lower seed
- 2003: #3 seed, loser in round of 16
- 2004: #1 seed, loser in round of 4 to lower seed
- 2005: #1 seed, loser in round of 16 to lower seed
- 2006: #1 seed, loser in round of 16 to lower seed
How Did LSU Beat Duke?
Defense and physical play.
And here's why: Temple, a 6-5 freshman guard for LSU, put on a defensive clinic that frustrated Redick into one of his worst shooting nights of his career. That proved to be the key component for the fourth-seeded Tigers to upset the top-seeded Blue Devils in the Atlanta Regional, winning a defensive battle 62-54 at the Georgia Dome.
Redick made just 3 of 18 from the field, all three makes coming from outside the 3-point line, and was held to 11 points, 16 below his season average. Temple followed him around from start to finish, playing all 40 minutes, 38 of them on Redick.
Temple did have help from his long, athletic teammates who jumped out on Redick when he did find a crack. Redick came into the game averaging 24.5 in two previous tournament games.
"My coach told me before the year that I wasn't going to be the first, second or third option," Temple said. "But he said I could be a defensive stopper. I definitely relish that. I help my team with defense. I held him to 17 points under his average, so that's like me scoring 17."
Temple scored just three points himself, but that mattered little to his teammates.
"I went to him as soon as we got in (the locker room) and told him we were giving him the game ball," LSU point guard Darrel Mitchell said.
The Tigers used a physical style against Duke, something Temple said some of his friends in the ACC told him would affect the Blue Devils, and especially Redick.
"They told me he doesn't like the physical play," Temple said.
Coach K and Reddick cried and whined all night, but to no avail. It's tough beating good teams when you don't have the refs in your pocket, isn't it coach?
And here's why: Temple, a 6-5 freshman guard for LSU, put on a defensive clinic that frustrated Redick into one of his worst shooting nights of his career. That proved to be the key component for the fourth-seeded Tigers to upset the top-seeded Blue Devils in the Atlanta Regional, winning a defensive battle 62-54 at the Georgia Dome.
Redick made just 3 of 18 from the field, all three makes coming from outside the 3-point line, and was held to 11 points, 16 below his season average. Temple followed him around from start to finish, playing all 40 minutes, 38 of them on Redick.
Temple did have help from his long, athletic teammates who jumped out on Redick when he did find a crack. Redick came into the game averaging 24.5 in two previous tournament games.
"My coach told me before the year that I wasn't going to be the first, second or third option," Temple said. "But he said I could be a defensive stopper. I definitely relish that. I help my team with defense. I held him to 17 points under his average, so that's like me scoring 17."
Temple scored just three points himself, but that mattered little to his teammates.
"I went to him as soon as we got in (the locker room) and told him we were giving him the game ball," LSU point guard Darrel Mitchell said.
The Tigers used a physical style against Duke, something Temple said some of his friends in the ACC told him would affect the Blue Devils, and especially Redick.
"They told me he doesn't like the physical play," Temple said.
Coach K and Reddick cried and whined all night, but to no avail. It's tough beating good teams when you don't have the refs in your pocket, isn't it coach?
The Crux of the Media's Problem
I like the Christian Science Monitor. Here's an excerpt from a story this morning:
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa, it seems, is having an Anita Hill moment.
The country's former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, who aims to become president, is on trial for raping an HIV-positive family friend. And the case is playing out in the headlines before a polarized nation.
Back in 1991, Ms. Hill's allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas put sexual harassment in America's national spotlight. Likewise, the current case against Mr. Zuma is forcing South Africa to confront key elements of a culture of rape so pervasive that, on average, one woman is raped in this country every 26 seconds, according to People Opposing Women Abuse, a women's group here. It's one of the highest rape rates in the world.
Ok, I think this illustrates a couple of the problems with the press these days.
(1) "South Africa, it seems, is having an Anita Hill moment." Then the story goes on to discuss the "culture of rape" in South Africa. Is there really a comparison between a Supreme Court Justice's "alleged" dirty talk to a subordinate, and a South African Presidential candidate's "alleged" RAPE!! of a family friend. There's really no comparison: it's talking dirty versus destroying someone's life, boorish versus criminal behavior.
(2) "One woman is raped in this country every 26 seconds." Now, this may very well be true, but this doesn't pass the small test. A rape every 26 seconds in a country as small as South Africa? This reminds of the farbricated statistics around wife beatings during the Super Bowl: their emotional and grab your attention, but are pure rubbish. This article takes the statistic and runs with it, without so much as a cautionary note. That's poor journalism, but sadly, very common.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa, it seems, is having an Anita Hill moment.
The country's former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, who aims to become president, is on trial for raping an HIV-positive family friend. And the case is playing out in the headlines before a polarized nation.
Back in 1991, Ms. Hill's allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas put sexual harassment in America's national spotlight. Likewise, the current case against Mr. Zuma is forcing South Africa to confront key elements of a culture of rape so pervasive that, on average, one woman is raped in this country every 26 seconds, according to People Opposing Women Abuse, a women's group here. It's one of the highest rape rates in the world.
Ok, I think this illustrates a couple of the problems with the press these days.
(1) "South Africa, it seems, is having an Anita Hill moment." Then the story goes on to discuss the "culture of rape" in South Africa. Is there really a comparison between a Supreme Court Justice's "alleged" dirty talk to a subordinate, and a South African Presidential candidate's "alleged" RAPE!! of a family friend. There's really no comparison: it's talking dirty versus destroying someone's life, boorish versus criminal behavior.
(2) "One woman is raped in this country every 26 seconds." Now, this may very well be true, but this doesn't pass the small test. A rape every 26 seconds in a country as small as South Africa? This reminds of the farbricated statistics around wife beatings during the Super Bowl: their emotional and grab your attention, but are pure rubbish. This article takes the statistic and runs with it, without so much as a cautionary note. That's poor journalism, but sadly, very common.
Quote of the Day
Larry Bird insists he’s not just being feisty, but he had an interesting response to Tommy Heinsohn’s quotes in yesterday’s Herald stating that Paul Pierce could end up being the best offensive player in the history of the Celtics.
"Are you basing it on the regular season or the playoffs?” Bird asked. “I mean, it’s hard to compare guys that have never been to the finals to other players. If you gear yourself to play six months of the year, it’s completely different than gearing yourself to play nine months a year. My whole focus was trying to gear myself to play nine months a year.”
Ouch!
"Are you basing it on the regular season or the playoffs?” Bird asked. “I mean, it’s hard to compare guys that have never been to the finals to other players. If you gear yourself to play six months of the year, it’s completely different than gearing yourself to play nine months a year. My whole focus was trying to gear myself to play nine months a year.”
Ouch!
"Day for Latino Dignity"
ATLANTA -- Members of the Latino community plan to protest against new state legislation aimed at illegal immigrants in Georgia.
Protesters say they will neither spend money nor report to work Friday. An estimated 800,000 Hispanics are expected to take part in Georgia's "Day For Latino Dignity."
Organizers passed out flyers at businesses across the metro area Thursday, pushing other Hispanic workers to take part in the protest. At least 13 supermarkets, dozens of restaurants, and even banks will likely be affected by the work stoppage. Latino community leaders, some from out of state, decided on the idea at a Thursday night meeting.
The day is set aside to protest Senate Bill 529, sponsored by state Senator Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock). Senate Bill 529 would, in part, force state and local government contractors to verify the legal status of their employees.
Some employers have contacted Channel 2 Action News to say if their employees do not show up Friday, they may be out of a job.
This law strikes me as reasonable. What's the problem?
Protesters say they will neither spend money nor report to work Friday. An estimated 800,000 Hispanics are expected to take part in Georgia's "Day For Latino Dignity."
Organizers passed out flyers at businesses across the metro area Thursday, pushing other Hispanic workers to take part in the protest. At least 13 supermarkets, dozens of restaurants, and even banks will likely be affected by the work stoppage. Latino community leaders, some from out of state, decided on the idea at a Thursday night meeting.
The day is set aside to protest Senate Bill 529, sponsored by state Senator Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock). Senate Bill 529 would, in part, force state and local government contractors to verify the legal status of their employees.
Some employers have contacted Channel 2 Action News to say if their employees do not show up Friday, they may be out of a job.
This law strikes me as reasonable. What's the problem?
Words of Wisdom from the Finest Historian Writing Today
Victor Davis Hanson...
HH: Joined now by eminent military historian and classicist, Victor Davis Hanson. Professor Hanson, I got up pretty early this morning, had a 7:00AM meeting. But before I did, I read your Jewish World Week Daily column on your house, and it was melancholy. And I said that's not very VDH. Explain to people your reflection on your six generations of Hansons and your farmhouse, and let's take it after there.
VDH: Well, I live in a house that was built in 1870, and so I have an alternate version of U.S. history, because I grew up with stories from my parents, about my grandparents, about my great-grandparents, about my great-great-grandparents. And it was always the take on the U.S. from this particular house, whether it was the Great Depression or World War I, or the Spanish-American War. And I was just saying that if I could synthesize that take on the world of people who lived in this house, it looks just about the same as it did when it was built, was a tragic view that they accepted that Americans did not have to be perfect to still be good, that when you went to war, you had a bad choice and a worse choice. But we, the generation, and I said the people that live in this house live in a very different therapeutic world. Even though the house looks the same, I think that our ancestors would look, if the house could talk, would say what's wrong with you people? Do you think that you have a birthright to have perfection? Don't you understand that we almost died? We starved to death, we had Typhoid, people got Polio in this house? We were lucky to eat? We built this farm out of nothing, and now you have six hundred channels, and you're less happy than we were. And I think I was trying to use this as a metaphor to a way a lot of Americans look at Iraq, for example.
HH: That's where I was going. Does that crisis of the spirit that you're describing for the next generation, the generation after you and that one, condemn us to defeat?
VDH: I don't know if it condemns us to defeat, but at some point, either somebody who's in the administration, a spokesman's got to say now just wait a minute. We went 7,000 miles over to the ancient caliphate, and right in the heart of the autocratic Middle East. We're trying to make a democracy. We've lost 2,300 people, but that's about two weeks in Okinawa, and this country's been through a lot worse at Shiloh and Antietam, Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, the Yalu River, and we can win this, and we're not getting any oil, the price skyrocketed. We have the biggest, magnanimous foreign aid plant since the Marshall Plan, $87 billion dollars. We don't have anything to apologize for, and we're almost there. We've had three successful elections. We've dismantled a lot of al Qaeda. We have millions of people in Iraq who've pledged their lives to see this democracy work, and we're not going to stumble before the finish line. So stop it, and just get a grip on yourself. But we need to hear that.
HH: Joined now by eminent military historian and classicist, Victor Davis Hanson. Professor Hanson, I got up pretty early this morning, had a 7:00AM meeting. But before I did, I read your Jewish World Week Daily column on your house, and it was melancholy. And I said that's not very VDH. Explain to people your reflection on your six generations of Hansons and your farmhouse, and let's take it after there.
VDH: Well, I live in a house that was built in 1870, and so I have an alternate version of U.S. history, because I grew up with stories from my parents, about my grandparents, about my great-grandparents, about my great-great-grandparents. And it was always the take on the U.S. from this particular house, whether it was the Great Depression or World War I, or the Spanish-American War. And I was just saying that if I could synthesize that take on the world of people who lived in this house, it looks just about the same as it did when it was built, was a tragic view that they accepted that Americans did not have to be perfect to still be good, that when you went to war, you had a bad choice and a worse choice. But we, the generation, and I said the people that live in this house live in a very different therapeutic world. Even though the house looks the same, I think that our ancestors would look, if the house could talk, would say what's wrong with you people? Do you think that you have a birthright to have perfection? Don't you understand that we almost died? We starved to death, we had Typhoid, people got Polio in this house? We were lucky to eat? We built this farm out of nothing, and now you have six hundred channels, and you're less happy than we were. And I think I was trying to use this as a metaphor to a way a lot of Americans look at Iraq, for example.
HH: That's where I was going. Does that crisis of the spirit that you're describing for the next generation, the generation after you and that one, condemn us to defeat?
VDH: I don't know if it condemns us to defeat, but at some point, either somebody who's in the administration, a spokesman's got to say now just wait a minute. We went 7,000 miles over to the ancient caliphate, and right in the heart of the autocratic Middle East. We're trying to make a democracy. We've lost 2,300 people, but that's about two weeks in Okinawa, and this country's been through a lot worse at Shiloh and Antietam, Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, the Yalu River, and we can win this, and we're not getting any oil, the price skyrocketed. We have the biggest, magnanimous foreign aid plant since the Marshall Plan, $87 billion dollars. We don't have anything to apologize for, and we're almost there. We've had three successful elections. We've dismantled a lot of al Qaeda. We have millions of people in Iraq who've pledged their lives to see this democracy work, and we're not going to stumble before the finish line. So stop it, and just get a grip on yourself. But we need to hear that.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
This Is Crazy
So after reading this, I thought "good riddance to this fool":
A radio personality at 550 KTRS was fired on the spot this morning after using the word “coon” on the air in a conversation about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Dave Lenihan was dismissed after what he called an inadvertent slip of the tongue.
Within 20 minutes, station CEO Tim Dorsey apologized on the air to listeners and announced that Lenihan, who had been with the station for less than two weeks, had been let go.“I don’t know what was in Mr. Lenihan’s mind,” Dorsey said in an interview. “I know what I heard. I know it was reprehensible.”
But then I read this:
Lenihan’s comment was made during a discussion about Rice’s credentials to become commissioner of the National Football League, a topic that has been fodder for sports talk radio since the current commissioner announced he would retire later this year.
Lenihan was listing what assets Rice could bring to the league, including her tenure as a top academic officer at Stanford University and the fact that she is African-American.
“She’s just got a patent resume, of somebody that’s got such serious skill,” Linehan said on the air. “She loves football, she’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon, a big coon – oh my God, I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that, OK? I didn’t mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue.” Lenihan later said he meant to use the word "coup."
Reached at home, Lenihan said he was still trying to figure out what happened, and was drafting a letter of apology to Rice.
"I was trying to say 'quite a coup' but it came out 'coon,"' he said. "I caught myself and apologized. It wasn't anything I was meaning to say. I never use that word. I think she's a fantastic woman. I was even talking about if she ran for president, I'd work on her campaign."
Hmmm, certainly sounds like a slip of the tongue to me.
A radio personality at 550 KTRS was fired on the spot this morning after using the word “coon” on the air in a conversation about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Dave Lenihan was dismissed after what he called an inadvertent slip of the tongue.
Within 20 minutes, station CEO Tim Dorsey apologized on the air to listeners and announced that Lenihan, who had been with the station for less than two weeks, had been let go.“I don’t know what was in Mr. Lenihan’s mind,” Dorsey said in an interview. “I know what I heard. I know it was reprehensible.”
But then I read this:
Lenihan’s comment was made during a discussion about Rice’s credentials to become commissioner of the National Football League, a topic that has been fodder for sports talk radio since the current commissioner announced he would retire later this year.
Lenihan was listing what assets Rice could bring to the league, including her tenure as a top academic officer at Stanford University and the fact that she is African-American.
“She’s just got a patent resume, of somebody that’s got such serious skill,” Linehan said on the air. “She loves football, she’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon, a big coon – oh my God, I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that, OK? I didn’t mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue.” Lenihan later said he meant to use the word "coup."
Reached at home, Lenihan said he was still trying to figure out what happened, and was drafting a letter of apology to Rice.
"I was trying to say 'quite a coup' but it came out 'coon,"' he said. "I caught myself and apologized. It wasn't anything I was meaning to say. I never use that word. I think she's a fantastic woman. I was even talking about if she ran for president, I'd work on her campaign."
Hmmm, certainly sounds like a slip of the tongue to me.
Oh, The Irony
U.S.-led Coalition forces rescued peace-activist hostages in Iraq today. As you know, one of their colleagues, Tom Fox, was recently found dead, murdered by their captors.
So in their statement today, Christian Peacemaker Teams, says:
Harmeet, Jim and Norman and Tom were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.
Wow, not even a thank you. But now, read this in the context of the above:
All three men -- members of the aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams -- were well and safe inside the British Embassy compound in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, an embassy official said.
"It's great to be free," Kember said in a statement released by the embassy. "I'm looking forward to getting back to the UK."
You know, Mr. Kember, it is great to be free, isn't it? Tell that to your Iraqi captors...and the Iraqi population you want condemned to tyranny.
So in their statement today, Christian Peacemaker Teams, says:
Harmeet, Jim and Norman and Tom were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.
Wow, not even a thank you. But now, read this in the context of the above:
All three men -- members of the aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams -- were well and safe inside the British Embassy compound in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, an embassy official said.
"It's great to be free," Kember said in a statement released by the embassy. "I'm looking forward to getting back to the UK."
You know, Mr. Kember, it is great to be free, isn't it? Tell that to your Iraqi captors...and the Iraqi population you want condemned to tyranny.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Didn't We Already Know This?
"Frustrated husbands and boyfriends now have some ammunition. According to a recent survey, women spend two years of their lives getting ready to leave the house. Men, meanwhile, spend less than a year. That's a lot of tapping feet and staring at watches." -- NY Post
The "Cheap Grace" of Modern Christianity
As the No. 4 overall pick in the 2000 draft, Fizer entered the NBA with tremendous promise after averaging 22.8 points and 7.7 rebounds as a junior at Iowa State. Unfortunately, the Bulls already had Elton Brand, the No. 1 overall pick in 1999, in the house. He spent four seasons with the Bulls, two of which ended prematurely when he blew out the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Last season, he was with the Milwaukee Bucks. Now he plays for the Austin Toros of the National Basketball Development League. He is averaging 19.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists.
What's it like dropping from being a lottery pick 51/2 years ago to playing in the NBDL?
First, thank God for the NBDL. It's been a very humbling experience and the biggest test of my Christian faith to date. But it's not as bad as I thought. We don't stay in anything like a Motel 6 on the road. It's either a Holiday Inn or a Ramada Inn, and I'm one of the few guys who doesn't have a roommate. Our longest bus trip was a nine-hour ride to a game in Arkansas. But most of the time, we fly connecting flights with Southwest. It's not so bad. They let us board first to choose the best seats.
What's life like when you're not playing ball?
It's quiet and simple. My basketball career, Bible and my four babies are the three B's that are most precious in my life right now. I have a nice two-bedroom apartment in the Rialto apartment complex owned by Jerry Jones, who also owns the Dallas Cowboys. They say his apartments are like living in paradise. And they're close to right about that. I spend a lot of time reading my Bible in my private time, and I see my kids whenever I can. I'm dating the mother of my first child again, but we're not living together like before. We want to do it right this time, according to our faith.
Nice work, Marcus.
What's it like dropping from being a lottery pick 51/2 years ago to playing in the NBDL?
First, thank God for the NBDL. It's been a very humbling experience and the biggest test of my Christian faith to date. But it's not as bad as I thought. We don't stay in anything like a Motel 6 on the road. It's either a Holiday Inn or a Ramada Inn, and I'm one of the few guys who doesn't have a roommate. Our longest bus trip was a nine-hour ride to a game in Arkansas. But most of the time, we fly connecting flights with Southwest. It's not so bad. They let us board first to choose the best seats.
What's life like when you're not playing ball?
It's quiet and simple. My basketball career, Bible and my four babies are the three B's that are most precious in my life right now. I have a nice two-bedroom apartment in the Rialto apartment complex owned by Jerry Jones, who also owns the Dallas Cowboys. They say his apartments are like living in paradise. And they're close to right about that. I spend a lot of time reading my Bible in my private time, and I see my kids whenever I can. I'm dating the mother of my first child again, but we're not living together like before. We want to do it right this time, according to our faith.
Nice work, Marcus.
The Religion of Peace...and Tolerance
An Afghan man who converted to Christianity is on trial for his life. The only way he can escape the death penalty is if he is found insane. The presiding judge says of the defendant:
"We will ask him if he has changed his mind about being a Christian. If he has, we will forgive him, because Islam is a religion of tolerance."
"We will ask him if he has changed his mind about being a Christian. If he has, we will forgive him, because Islam is a religion of tolerance."
The Problem With Credit Card Companies
From Allan Carlson:
It is common knowledge, for example, that credit card companies intentionally urge financially troubled families to borrow still more money, because they can charge these households exorbitant interest rates. As one Citibank executive has candidly observed, "They are the ones who provide most of our profit."
They are, for the most part, jackals.
It is common knowledge, for example, that credit card companies intentionally urge financially troubled families to borrow still more money, because they can charge these households exorbitant interest rates. As one Citibank executive has candidly observed, "They are the ones who provide most of our profit."
They are, for the most part, jackals.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Classic Nitwittery
Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.
At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.
The study from the Journal of Research Into Personality isn't going to make the UC Berkeley professor who published it any friends on the right. Similar conclusions a few years ago from another academic saw him excoriated on right-wing blogs, and even led to a Congressional investigation into his research funding.
But the new results are worth a look. In the 1960s Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids' personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. There's no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings — the investigators were not looking at political orientation back then. Even if they had been, it's unlikely that 3- and 4-year-olds would have had much idea about their political leanings.
A few decades later, Block followed up with more surveys, looking again at personality, and this time at politics, too. The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.
I absolutely love the definition of "conservative": "rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity." In other words, they think men are men (and should act like men) and women are women (and should act like women). Whooops! I just fell back into my gender biases again.
At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.
The study from the Journal of Research Into Personality isn't going to make the UC Berkeley professor who published it any friends on the right. Similar conclusions a few years ago from another academic saw him excoriated on right-wing blogs, and even led to a Congressional investigation into his research funding.
But the new results are worth a look. In the 1960s Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids' personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. There's no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings — the investigators were not looking at political orientation back then. Even if they had been, it's unlikely that 3- and 4-year-olds would have had much idea about their political leanings.
A few decades later, Block followed up with more surveys, looking again at personality, and this time at politics, too. The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.
I absolutely love the definition of "conservative": "rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity." In other words, they think men are men (and should act like men) and women are women (and should act like women). Whooops! I just fell back into my gender biases again.
Rondo Is Gone
Word on the street is that Rondo's gone. LA Times article shows why:
16. Rajon Rondo, 6-1, 171, Soph., Kentucky. Flashy ballhandler, great nose for ball. In top 10 early when he looked as if he'd learned to shoot, but after first five games, made only 22% of three-pointers. With team's struggles, scouts trying to figure out whether it was him or teammates.
#16 pick in the NBA draft ain't bad.
16. Rajon Rondo, 6-1, 171, Soph., Kentucky. Flashy ballhandler, great nose for ball. In top 10 early when he looked as if he'd learned to shoot, but after first five games, made only 22% of three-pointers. With team's struggles, scouts trying to figure out whether it was him or teammates.
#16 pick in the NBA draft ain't bad.
I've Been Put To Shame
The Chaucer blog. Dr. Mark Rasmussen, my Centre College Chaucer teacher, would love this.
Why I Lie
Paul Griffiths wrote, "Adults who don't lie are more than original: They're almost nonexistent." Why do we so often not tell the truth?
Many times we lie because we are unwilling to face the consequences of the truth. Most lies are pitiful efforts to protect our pride. We lie because we fear being shamed or embarrassed. Our fragile reputations and even more fragile egos must be protected at all costs. And so, pitifully and too cheaply, we sell out the truth.
Sometimes we lie because we have already done wrong. We have slipped into the darkness rather than remaining in the light, and we do not wish our deeds to be exposed (John 3:19-20). So our lies are cover-ups for our sins and often only delay and worsen the day of their exposure.
At times we lie because we believe it is justified to accomplish our urgent goals. This happens every day in politics and commerce. We have grown accustomed to it. But sometimes it happens in Christian activism and church life as well. We want to win "by any means necessary."
Sometimes we construct ingenious rationalizations for our deceptiveness or draw fine-grained distinctions that don't really hold water. We might manage to avoid articulating a falsehood while still allowing another person to believe something untrue. This is not honesty, and we dare not take false comfort in the distinction.
Or perhaps we deceive by holding back the whole truth. So when your spouse asks, "Did you view pornography this afternoon?" you say, "No, I did not." Your statement is technically true, but you used pornography the night before, and that, as you well know, is what the question was intended to discover.
Christians must put away hair-splitting legalisms, ingenious rationalizations, and dubious casuistry. If we want to follow Jesus, then we must retrain ourselves to put away deceit, guile, duplicity, dissembling, misleading, exaggeration, and, yes, outright lying.
Many times we lie because we are unwilling to face the consequences of the truth. Most lies are pitiful efforts to protect our pride. We lie because we fear being shamed or embarrassed. Our fragile reputations and even more fragile egos must be protected at all costs. And so, pitifully and too cheaply, we sell out the truth.
Sometimes we lie because we have already done wrong. We have slipped into the darkness rather than remaining in the light, and we do not wish our deeds to be exposed (John 3:19-20). So our lies are cover-ups for our sins and often only delay and worsen the day of their exposure.
At times we lie because we believe it is justified to accomplish our urgent goals. This happens every day in politics and commerce. We have grown accustomed to it. But sometimes it happens in Christian activism and church life as well. We want to win "by any means necessary."
Sometimes we construct ingenious rationalizations for our deceptiveness or draw fine-grained distinctions that don't really hold water. We might manage to avoid articulating a falsehood while still allowing another person to believe something untrue. This is not honesty, and we dare not take false comfort in the distinction.
Or perhaps we deceive by holding back the whole truth. So when your spouse asks, "Did you view pornography this afternoon?" you say, "No, I did not." Your statement is technically true, but you used pornography the night before, and that, as you well know, is what the question was intended to discover.
Christians must put away hair-splitting legalisms, ingenious rationalizations, and dubious casuistry. If we want to follow Jesus, then we must retrain ourselves to put away deceit, guile, duplicity, dissembling, misleading, exaggeration, and, yes, outright lying.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Correction of the Day
From, of course, the NY Times:
A front-page article last Saturday profiled Ali Shalal Qaissi, identifying him as the hooded man forced to stand on a box, attached to wires, in a photograph from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal of 2003 and 2004. He was shown holding such a photograph. As an article on Page A1 today makes clear, Mr. Qaissi was not that man.
The Times did not adequately research Mr. Qaissi's insistence that he was the man in the photograph. Mr. Qaissi's account had already been broadcast and printed by other outlets, including PBS and Vanity Fair, without challenge. Lawyers for former prisoners at Abu Ghraib vouched for him. Human rights workers seemed to support his account. The Pentagon, asked for verification, declined to confirm or deny it.
Despite the previous reports, The Times should have been more persistent in seeking comment from the military. A more thorough examination of previous articles in The Times and other newspapers would have shown that in 2004 military investigators named another man as the one on the box, raising suspicions about Mr. Qaissi's claim.
The Times also overstated the conviction with which representatives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International expressed their view of whether Mr. Qaissi was the man in the photograph. While they said he could well be that man, they did not say they believed he was.
This is great: (1) They use the old "PBS and Vanity Fair reported it" defense. Well, PBS and Vanity Fair report a lot of false and misleading crap. (2) Of course, the military should have told them (it's really not the Times' responsibility). (3) Even Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International aren't as ideologically driven wing-nuts as the Times.
A front-page article last Saturday profiled Ali Shalal Qaissi, identifying him as the hooded man forced to stand on a box, attached to wires, in a photograph from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal of 2003 and 2004. He was shown holding such a photograph. As an article on Page A1 today makes clear, Mr. Qaissi was not that man.
The Times did not adequately research Mr. Qaissi's insistence that he was the man in the photograph. Mr. Qaissi's account had already been broadcast and printed by other outlets, including PBS and Vanity Fair, without challenge. Lawyers for former prisoners at Abu Ghraib vouched for him. Human rights workers seemed to support his account. The Pentagon, asked for verification, declined to confirm or deny it.
Despite the previous reports, The Times should have been more persistent in seeking comment from the military. A more thorough examination of previous articles in The Times and other newspapers would have shown that in 2004 military investigators named another man as the one on the box, raising suspicions about Mr. Qaissi's claim.
The Times also overstated the conviction with which representatives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International expressed their view of whether Mr. Qaissi was the man in the photograph. While they said he could well be that man, they did not say they believed he was.
This is great: (1) They use the old "PBS and Vanity Fair reported it" defense. Well, PBS and Vanity Fair report a lot of false and misleading crap. (2) Of course, the military should have told them (it's really not the Times' responsibility). (3) Even Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International aren't as ideologically driven wing-nuts as the Times.
Friday, March 17, 2006
The Police Don't Make Enough Money
Before cops threw the book at him, Jakub Fik threw something unusual at them -- his penis.
Fik, 33, cut off his own penis during a Northwest Side rampage Wednesday morning. When confronted by police, Fik hurled several knives and his severed organ at the officers, police said. Officers stunned him with a Taser and took him into custody.
Fik, 33, cut off his own penis during a Northwest Side rampage Wednesday morning. When confronted by police, Fik hurled several knives and his severed organ at the officers, police said. Officers stunned him with a Taser and took him into custody.
More Land Grab Nonsense
LONG BEACH, Calif. (BP)--City leaders in Long Beach, Calif., have classified the Filipino Baptist Fellowship’s building as a blighted area and are forcing the congregation out in order to make way for condominiums.
The path for the case was laid when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last summer in Kelo v. New London, Connecticut that a city’s use of eminent domain to transfer property from one private party to another may qualify as a “public use” protected by the Constitution.
The path for the case was laid when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last summer in Kelo v. New London, Connecticut that a city’s use of eminent domain to transfer property from one private party to another may qualify as a “public use” protected by the Constitution.
Altogether Now: "The NY Times Is Full of...
...sh*t."
"President Bush sketched an expansive vision last night of what he expects to accomplish by a war in Iraq. Instead of focusing on eliminating weapons of mass destruction, or reducing the threat of terror to the United States, Mr. Bush talked about establishing a 'free and peaceful Iraq' that would serve as a 'dramatic and inspiring example' to the entire Arab and Muslim world, provide a stabilizing influence in the Middle East and even help end the Arab-Israeli conflict."--editorial, New York Times, Feb. 27, 2003
"One prominent neoconservative, Francis Fukuyama, asserts in a new book that the administration embraced democracy as a cornerstone of its policy only after the failure to find unconventional weapons in Iraq. The issue was seized upon to justify the war in retrospect, and then expanded for other countries, he says."--New York Times, March 17, 2006
"President Bush sketched an expansive vision last night of what he expects to accomplish by a war in Iraq. Instead of focusing on eliminating weapons of mass destruction, or reducing the threat of terror to the United States, Mr. Bush talked about establishing a 'free and peaceful Iraq' that would serve as a 'dramatic and inspiring example' to the entire Arab and Muslim world, provide a stabilizing influence in the Middle East and even help end the Arab-Israeli conflict."--editorial, New York Times, Feb. 27, 2003
"One prominent neoconservative, Francis Fukuyama, asserts in a new book that the administration embraced democracy as a cornerstone of its policy only after the failure to find unconventional weapons in Iraq. The issue was seized upon to justify the war in retrospect, and then expanded for other countries, he says."--New York Times, March 17, 2006
Why?
A high school student Tuesday recited 8,784 digits of Pi — the non-repeating and non-terminating decimal — likely placing him among the top Pi-reciters in the world.
Gaurav Rajav, 15, had hoped to recite 10,790 digits and set a new record in the United States and North America. But he remembered enough to potentially place third in national and North American Pi recitation and 12th in the world.
His ranking should be verified by the Pi World Ranking List within two months.
"I'm kind of disappointed, but I guess I did OK," said Gaurav, a junior at Salem High School.
But his mathematical feat won the praise of others, including the math and computer science teacher who got Gaurav interested in it.
"I'm still stunned," said Linda Gooding, one of three contest judges. She then joked, "That's a couple more than I can do."
Gaurav began memorizing Pi while a student in Gooding's class. Gooding holds the competition every year, and said she expected students to learn about 40 digits. Gaurav recited nearly 2,990 the first time.
Gaurav's parents promised him an Xbox 360 video game console if he had reached his goal. His father, Jogesh Rajav, jokingly offered to get him "an Xbox, but no game."
But Gaurav ultimately turned town his mother Seema's offer to buy him the game system anyway because of their deal.
He will try for the record again in May.
Gaurav Rajav, 15, had hoped to recite 10,790 digits and set a new record in the United States and North America. But he remembered enough to potentially place third in national and North American Pi recitation and 12th in the world.
His ranking should be verified by the Pi World Ranking List within two months.
"I'm kind of disappointed, but I guess I did OK," said Gaurav, a junior at Salem High School.
But his mathematical feat won the praise of others, including the math and computer science teacher who got Gaurav interested in it.
"I'm still stunned," said Linda Gooding, one of three contest judges. She then joked, "That's a couple more than I can do."
Gaurav began memorizing Pi while a student in Gooding's class. Gooding holds the competition every year, and said she expected students to learn about 40 digits. Gaurav recited nearly 2,990 the first time.
Gaurav's parents promised him an Xbox 360 video game console if he had reached his goal. His father, Jogesh Rajav, jokingly offered to get him "an Xbox, but no game."
But Gaurav ultimately turned town his mother Seema's offer to buy him the game system anyway because of their deal.
He will try for the record again in May.
I Could Have Told You This
For a fleeting moment, the very fabric of the universe became a kind of hyperspeed spandex - stretching outward at perhaps 100 times the speed of light.
That concept, which describes the first trillionth of a second of the universe's beginnings, has gained wide acceptance among cosmologists. Now, scientists say they have discovered the first comprehensive, subtle signals from that cosmic growth spurt.
It began with one word from the Word: "Light!". And the creative expansion hasn't stopped yet.
That concept, which describes the first trillionth of a second of the universe's beginnings, has gained wide acceptance among cosmologists. Now, scientists say they have discovered the first comprehensive, subtle signals from that cosmic growth spurt.
It began with one word from the Word: "Light!". And the creative expansion hasn't stopped yet.
The Liberal Baby Bust
This is so good, I've posted it in its entirety:
What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are many differences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs.
This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a much broader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications for the future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in a progressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are people in a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives are so much less likely to have children.
It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more conservative future — one in which patriarchy and other traditional values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.
Today, fertility correlates strongly with a wide range of political, cultural and religious attitudes. In the USA, for example, 47% of people who attend church weekly say their ideal family size is three or more children. By contrast, 27% of those who seldom attend church want that many kids.
In Utah, where more than two-thirds of residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 92 children are born each year for every 1,000 women, the highest fertility rate in the nation. By contrast Vermont — the first to embrace gay unions — has the nation's lowest rate, producing 51 children per 1,000 women.
Similarly, in Europe today, the people least likely to have children are those most likely to hold progressive views of the world. For instance, do you distrust the army and other institutions and are you prone to demonstrate against them? Then, according to polling data assembled by demographers Ron Lesthaeghe and Johan Surkyn, you are less likely to be married and have kids or ever to get married and have kids. Do you find soft drugs, homosexuality and euthanasia acceptable? Do you seldom, if ever, attend church? Europeans who answer affirmatively to such questions are far more likely to live alone or be in childless, cohabiting unions than are those who answer negatively.
This correlation between secularism, individualism and low fertility portends a vast change in modern societies. In the USA, for example, nearly 20% of women born in the late 1950s are reaching the end of their reproductive lives without having children. The greatly expanded childless segment of contemporary society, whose members are drawn disproportionately from the feminist and countercultural movements of the 1960s and '70s, will leave no genetic legacy. Nor will their emotional or psychological influence on the next generation compare with that of people who did raise children.
Single-child factor
Meanwhile, single-child families are prone to extinction. A single child replaces one of his or her parents, but not both. Consequently, a segment of society in which single-child families are the norm will decline in population by at least 50% per generation and quite quickly disappear. In the USA, the 17.4% of baby boomer women who had one child account for a mere 9.2% of kids produced by their generation. But among children of the baby boom, nearly a quarter descend from the mere 10% of baby boomer women who had four or more kids.
This dynamic helps explain the gradual drift of American culture toward religious fundamentalism and social conservatism. Among states that voted for President Bush in 2004, the average fertility rate is more than 11% higher than the rate of states for Sen. John Kerry.
It might also help to explain the popular resistance among rank-and-file Europeans to such crown jewels of secular liberalism as the European Union. It turns out that Europeans who are most likely to identify themselves as "world citizens" are also less likely to have children.
Rewriting history?
Why couldn't tomorrow's Americans and Europeans, even if they are disproportionately raised in patriarchal, religiously minded households, turn out to be another generation of '68? The key difference is that during the post-World War II era, nearly all segments of society married and had children. Some had more than others, but there was much more conformity in family size between the religious and the secular. Meanwhile, thanks mostly to improvements in social conditions, there is no longer much difference in survival rates for children born into large families and those who have few if any siblings.
Tomorrow's children, therefore, unlike members of the postwar baby boom generation, will be for the most part descendants of a comparatively narrow and culturally conservative segment of society. To be sure, some members of the rising generation may reject their parents' values, as often happens. But when they look for fellow secularists with whom to make common cause, they will find that most of their would-be fellow travelers were quite literally never born.
Many will celebrate these developments. Others will view them as the death of the Enlightenment. Either way, they will find themselves living through another great cycle of history.
Phillip Longman is a fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It. This essay is adapted from his cover story in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine.
What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are many differences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs.
This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a much broader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications for the future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in a progressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are people in a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives are so much less likely to have children.
It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more conservative future — one in which patriarchy and other traditional values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.
Today, fertility correlates strongly with a wide range of political, cultural and religious attitudes. In the USA, for example, 47% of people who attend church weekly say their ideal family size is three or more children. By contrast, 27% of those who seldom attend church want that many kids.
In Utah, where more than two-thirds of residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 92 children are born each year for every 1,000 women, the highest fertility rate in the nation. By contrast Vermont — the first to embrace gay unions — has the nation's lowest rate, producing 51 children per 1,000 women.
Similarly, in Europe today, the people least likely to have children are those most likely to hold progressive views of the world. For instance, do you distrust the army and other institutions and are you prone to demonstrate against them? Then, according to polling data assembled by demographers Ron Lesthaeghe and Johan Surkyn, you are less likely to be married and have kids or ever to get married and have kids. Do you find soft drugs, homosexuality and euthanasia acceptable? Do you seldom, if ever, attend church? Europeans who answer affirmatively to such questions are far more likely to live alone or be in childless, cohabiting unions than are those who answer negatively.
This correlation between secularism, individualism and low fertility portends a vast change in modern societies. In the USA, for example, nearly 20% of women born in the late 1950s are reaching the end of their reproductive lives without having children. The greatly expanded childless segment of contemporary society, whose members are drawn disproportionately from the feminist and countercultural movements of the 1960s and '70s, will leave no genetic legacy. Nor will their emotional or psychological influence on the next generation compare with that of people who did raise children.
Single-child factor
Meanwhile, single-child families are prone to extinction. A single child replaces one of his or her parents, but not both. Consequently, a segment of society in which single-child families are the norm will decline in population by at least 50% per generation and quite quickly disappear. In the USA, the 17.4% of baby boomer women who had one child account for a mere 9.2% of kids produced by their generation. But among children of the baby boom, nearly a quarter descend from the mere 10% of baby boomer women who had four or more kids.
This dynamic helps explain the gradual drift of American culture toward religious fundamentalism and social conservatism. Among states that voted for President Bush in 2004, the average fertility rate is more than 11% higher than the rate of states for Sen. John Kerry.
It might also help to explain the popular resistance among rank-and-file Europeans to such crown jewels of secular liberalism as the European Union. It turns out that Europeans who are most likely to identify themselves as "world citizens" are also less likely to have children.
Rewriting history?
Why couldn't tomorrow's Americans and Europeans, even if they are disproportionately raised in patriarchal, religiously minded households, turn out to be another generation of '68? The key difference is that during the post-World War II era, nearly all segments of society married and had children. Some had more than others, but there was much more conformity in family size between the religious and the secular. Meanwhile, thanks mostly to improvements in social conditions, there is no longer much difference in survival rates for children born into large families and those who have few if any siblings.
Tomorrow's children, therefore, unlike members of the postwar baby boom generation, will be for the most part descendants of a comparatively narrow and culturally conservative segment of society. To be sure, some members of the rising generation may reject their parents' values, as often happens. But when they look for fellow secularists with whom to make common cause, they will find that most of their would-be fellow travelers were quite literally never born.
Many will celebrate these developments. Others will view them as the death of the Enlightenment. Either way, they will find themselves living through another great cycle of history.
Phillip Longman is a fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It. This essay is adapted from his cover story in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
This is Downright Weird
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The camera focuses on two gay men kissing in a park. Later, a topless woman emerges from the sea and walks onto a crowded beach. For would-be immigrants to the Netherlands, this film is a test of their readiness to participate in the liberal Dutch culture.
If they can't stomach it, no need to apply.
Despite whether they find the film offensive, applicants must buy a copy and watch it if they hope to pass the Netherlands' new entrance examination.
The test - the first of its kind in the world - became compulsory Wednesday, and was made available at 138 Dutch embassies.
Taking the exam costs $420. The price for a preparation package that includes the film, a CD ROM and a picture album of famous Dutch people is $75.
"As of today, immigrants wishing to settle in the Netherlands for, in particular, the purposes of marrying or forming a relationship will be required to take the civic integration examination abroad," the Immigration Ministry said in a statement.
The test is part of a broader crackdown on immigration that has been gathering momentum in the Netherlands since 2001.
I've got a better idea. Don't let any self-proclaimed Islamists into the country.
If they can't stomach it, no need to apply.
Despite whether they find the film offensive, applicants must buy a copy and watch it if they hope to pass the Netherlands' new entrance examination.
The test - the first of its kind in the world - became compulsory Wednesday, and was made available at 138 Dutch embassies.
Taking the exam costs $420. The price for a preparation package that includes the film, a CD ROM and a picture album of famous Dutch people is $75.
"As of today, immigrants wishing to settle in the Netherlands for, in particular, the purposes of marrying or forming a relationship will be required to take the civic integration examination abroad," the Immigration Ministry said in a statement.
The test is part of a broader crackdown on immigration that has been gathering momentum in the Netherlands since 2001.
I've got a better idea. Don't let any self-proclaimed Islamists into the country.
Quote of the Day II
"He absolutely is not guilty and did not strike that woman. The last thing this man would want to do is hurt his hands." -- Yanni's lawyer, Orlando Gonzalez, denying that the musician hit his girlfriend
News from Tolerant Hollywood
Sources from inside Paramount and South Park Studios report that parent company Viacom pulled last night's scheduled repeat of the high-rated "Trapped in the Closet" episode after the humorless Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise threatened to cancel all publicity for Mission Impossible:3 if Comedy Central aired the episode that satirizes Scientology and mocks his sexuality again.
Not only is this the first time that the South Park creators have been officially censored in their ten hit seasons with Comedy Central, Viacom officials also reportedly ordered Matt Stone and Trey Parker not to discuss the reason why their episode was cancelled.
The South Park boys are said to be angry, but will probably get revenge with the manner in which they deal with Scientologist Isaac Hayes' departure from the show.
Not only is this the first time that the South Park creators have been officially censored in their ten hit seasons with Comedy Central, Viacom officials also reportedly ordered Matt Stone and Trey Parker not to discuss the reason why their episode was cancelled.
The South Park boys are said to be angry, but will probably get revenge with the manner in which they deal with Scientologist Isaac Hayes' departure from the show.
Quote of the Day
"Students from low-income backgrounds are underrepresented at our nation's most selective institutions." -- Richard Shaw, Stanford's dean of undergraduate admission and financial aid
Uh, do you think so? That's surprising.
Uh, do you think so? That's surprising.
Roman Catholic Church, Listen Up!
A 20-year-old Boone County, Ky., church youth group volunteer was arrested Tuesday on sexual abuse charges after investigators said he fondled a 14-year-old girl at the Burlington church a year and a half ago.
Anthony R. Cummings is charged with two counts of third-degree sexual abuse.
Leaders at the First Church of Christ in Burlington reported the allegations to the Boone County Sheriff's Department immediately after the girl's parents contacted church officials, said sheriff's department spokesman Deputy Tom Scheben. Investigators found evidence Cummings fondled the girl while he volunteered in student ministries on the church campus.
"The parents of the girl found e-mails that the two of them had sent back and forth and contacted the church," Scheben said.
Scheben said investigators found evidence that Cummings also attempted to fondle a 16-year-old girl. But he was charged only in the alleged contact with the younger teen, since under Kentucky law she was too young to legally consent to such actions.
Upon being informed of the allegations, First Church of Christ leadership dismissed Cummings as a volunteer, according to a statement released by Executive Pastor Tommy Baker. "The First Church of Christ believes that children are created by God as a precious gift," he said.
"Unfortunately, we currently live in a world that does not appreciate the value of God's precious children. Therefore, children must depend upon adults for safety and security."
Cummings was released from the Boone County Detention Center on a $5,000 bond. He is to be arraigned April 3. If convicted, he faces up to six months in jail and a $250 fine on each count.
Anthony R. Cummings is charged with two counts of third-degree sexual abuse.
Leaders at the First Church of Christ in Burlington reported the allegations to the Boone County Sheriff's Department immediately after the girl's parents contacted church officials, said sheriff's department spokesman Deputy Tom Scheben. Investigators found evidence Cummings fondled the girl while he volunteered in student ministries on the church campus.
"The parents of the girl found e-mails that the two of them had sent back and forth and contacted the church," Scheben said.
Scheben said investigators found evidence that Cummings also attempted to fondle a 16-year-old girl. But he was charged only in the alleged contact with the younger teen, since under Kentucky law she was too young to legally consent to such actions.
Upon being informed of the allegations, First Church of Christ leadership dismissed Cummings as a volunteer, according to a statement released by Executive Pastor Tommy Baker. "The First Church of Christ believes that children are created by God as a precious gift," he said.
"Unfortunately, we currently live in a world that does not appreciate the value of God's precious children. Therefore, children must depend upon adults for safety and security."
Cummings was released from the Boone County Detention Center on a $5,000 bond. He is to be arraigned April 3. If convicted, he faces up to six months in jail and a $250 fine on each count.
Good Economic News Continues
Despite the grim picture the mainstream media continue to paint about just about everything - the insurgent-ridden reconstruction effort in Iraq, the looming Iran threat, the failed Dubai ports deal, the twin deficits, the president's sagging poll numbers, the Jack Abrahamoff scandal, and on and on - there's one thing they just can't taint: This U.S. economy is very healthy.
It's always amazing to listen to conventional demand-side economic pundits and mainstream reporters who try as hard as they can to minimize the excellent performance of the American economy ever since lower marginal tax-rate incentives were put into place almost two-and-a-half years ago. The latest chant is that a warm winter has artificially stimulated consumer spending, and that a day of reckoning marked by a housing-price crash and an overwhelming debt burden is headed our way. This is utter nonsense.
Apart from the inherent resiliency of our free-market capitalist economy, the fact remains that tax-induced capital cost reduction and resulting higher investment returns have boosted investment, healed business woes, and created employment growth near 2 million new jobs a year (and nearly 5 million since the middle of 2003 when the Bush tax cuts were implemented).Unemployment sits at a low 4.8 percent today. Wages are perking up, with average hourly earnings rising 3.5 percent over the past year and 4.8 percent at an annual rate over the past three months - their best performances since 2001. Importantly, falling gas prices at the pump are boosting real incomes enough that consumer spending is rolling ahead despite a slowdown in the housing sector and somewhat higher mortgage rates.
Of course, you can't please the worrywarts. Yesterday they complained that wages weren't rising; today they're bellyaching that wage growth is too fast and that the Fed is going to have to tighten monetary policy much more in order to ward off cost-push inflation. This is more bogus Phillips-curve argument. But growth does not cause inflation.
It's always amazing to listen to conventional demand-side economic pundits and mainstream reporters who try as hard as they can to minimize the excellent performance of the American economy ever since lower marginal tax-rate incentives were put into place almost two-and-a-half years ago. The latest chant is that a warm winter has artificially stimulated consumer spending, and that a day of reckoning marked by a housing-price crash and an overwhelming debt burden is headed our way. This is utter nonsense.
Apart from the inherent resiliency of our free-market capitalist economy, the fact remains that tax-induced capital cost reduction and resulting higher investment returns have boosted investment, healed business woes, and created employment growth near 2 million new jobs a year (and nearly 5 million since the middle of 2003 when the Bush tax cuts were implemented).Unemployment sits at a low 4.8 percent today. Wages are perking up, with average hourly earnings rising 3.5 percent over the past year and 4.8 percent at an annual rate over the past three months - their best performances since 2001. Importantly, falling gas prices at the pump are boosting real incomes enough that consumer spending is rolling ahead despite a slowdown in the housing sector and somewhat higher mortgage rates.
Of course, you can't please the worrywarts. Yesterday they complained that wages weren't rising; today they're bellyaching that wage growth is too fast and that the Fed is going to have to tighten monetary policy much more in order to ward off cost-push inflation. This is more bogus Phillips-curve argument. But growth does not cause inflation.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
What the Sweet 16 is All About
From Mike Fields of the Lexington Herald Leader:
One of the most enjoyable parts of the tournament's opening day is watching the teams involved in the noon game arrive at Rupp Arena. The players, still in their street clothes, walk onto the court and invariably gaze into the upper reaches of the empty arena, and their jaws drop in awe that they get to play hoops here.
One of the most enjoyable parts of the tournament's opening day is watching the teams involved in the noon game arrive at Rupp Arena. The players, still in their street clothes, walk onto the court and invariably gaze into the upper reaches of the empty arena, and their jaws drop in awe that they get to play hoops here.
Now This is Thinking Outside of the Box
U.S. military plans to make insect cyborgs
WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- Facing problems in its efforts to train insects or build robots that can mimic their flying abilities, the U.S. military now wants to develop "insect cyborgs" that can go where its soldiers cannot.
The Pentagon is seeking applications from researchers to help them develop technology that can be implanted into living insects to control their movement and transmit video or other sensory data back to their handlers.
In an announcement posted on government Web sites last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, says it is seeking "innovative proposals to develop technology to create insect cyborgs," by implanting tiny devices into insect bodies while the animals are in their pupal stage.
As an insect metamorphoses from a larva to an adult, the solicitation notice says, its "body goes through a renewal process that can heal wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects, including tiny (mechanical) structures that might be present."
The goal is to create technology that can achieve "the delivery of an insect within five meters of a specific target located at hundred meters away, using electronic remote control, and/or global positioning system." Once at the target, "the insect must remain stationary either indefinitely or until otherwise instructed ... (and) must also be able to transmit data from (Department of Defense) relevant sensors ... includ(ing) gas sensors, microphones, video, etc."
WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- Facing problems in its efforts to train insects or build robots that can mimic their flying abilities, the U.S. military now wants to develop "insect cyborgs" that can go where its soldiers cannot.
The Pentagon is seeking applications from researchers to help them develop technology that can be implanted into living insects to control their movement and transmit video or other sensory data back to their handlers.
In an announcement posted on government Web sites last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, says it is seeking "innovative proposals to develop technology to create insect cyborgs," by implanting tiny devices into insect bodies while the animals are in their pupal stage.
As an insect metamorphoses from a larva to an adult, the solicitation notice says, its "body goes through a renewal process that can heal wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects, including tiny (mechanical) structures that might be present."
The goal is to create technology that can achieve "the delivery of an insect within five meters of a specific target located at hundred meters away, using electronic remote control, and/or global positioning system." Once at the target, "the insect must remain stationary either indefinitely or until otherwise instructed ... (and) must also be able to transmit data from (Department of Defense) relevant sensors ... includ(ing) gas sensors, microphones, video, etc."
I Don't Like to Say I Told You So, But...
DOWNTOWN - The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which posted a $5.5 million deficit in its first 18 months, will need an estimated $2 million to $3 million a year in public funding to continue operating, CEO John Pepper said Tuesday.
Pepper's comments are the first time the center has raised the possibility of regular tax-funded support. When the Freedom Center opened in August 2004, officials said admission, memberships, donations and grants could cover its day-to-day costs, but income has not met expectations, Pepper said.
Museum officials say they have no intention of closing the center, since they have sufficient cash flow to continue operating indefinitely, as well as credit from a group of banks.
The center will not seek a voter-approved levy such as those that support Cincinnati Museum Center and Cincinnati Zoo. The center instead will ask city, state and federal governments to provide the money through some other funding source, Pepper said in an interview.
"We need to show that what we offer is vital to this community," Pepper said, citing, for example, school curricula now offered to teachers.
He also pointed to the center's potential as a place to solve racial conflicts and look for solutions to youth violence.
$2 to $3 million a year is a lot of money to provide school curricula and "potentially" talk about racial conflict.
Pepper's comments are the first time the center has raised the possibility of regular tax-funded support. When the Freedom Center opened in August 2004, officials said admission, memberships, donations and grants could cover its day-to-day costs, but income has not met expectations, Pepper said.
Museum officials say they have no intention of closing the center, since they have sufficient cash flow to continue operating indefinitely, as well as credit from a group of banks.
The center will not seek a voter-approved levy such as those that support Cincinnati Museum Center and Cincinnati Zoo. The center instead will ask city, state and federal governments to provide the money through some other funding source, Pepper said in an interview.
"We need to show that what we offer is vital to this community," Pepper said, citing, for example, school curricula now offered to teachers.
He also pointed to the center's potential as a place to solve racial conflicts and look for solutions to youth violence.
$2 to $3 million a year is a lot of money to provide school curricula and "potentially" talk about racial conflict.
Who Needs the Devil with "Christians" Like This
From an interview with feminist biblical scholar Phyllis Trible:
BAR: Are you a Christian?
PT: Yes.
BAR: What does that mean?
PT: It means taking the major symbols of the Christian faith and using them, appropriating them.
BAR: What differentiates the Bible, say, from Shakespeare?
PT: I ask myself that question, and if I had a clear answer, I'd give it to you.
Hmmm, would Trible like to reconsider that first answer?
BAR: Are you a Christian?
PT: Yes.
BAR: What does that mean?
PT: It means taking the major symbols of the Christian faith and using them, appropriating them.
BAR: What differentiates the Bible, say, from Shakespeare?
PT: I ask myself that question, and if I had a clear answer, I'd give it to you.
Hmmm, would Trible like to reconsider that first answer?
Lovely
More good work from the fools in Congress:
China is stepping up military training in Latin America because of a law that limits U.S. military support to nations in the region, the general in charge of the U.S. Southern Command told Congress yesterday.
Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, who oversees U.S. military activities in the region, said a lack of engagement on the part of the United States has benefited China.
"If we are not there and we can't provide this opportunity, someone else will," Gen. Craddock told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"Other nations are moving in. The People's Republic of China has made many offers, and now we are seeing those who formerly would come to the United States going to China."
The growing Chinese role comes amid numerous high-level visits by its leaders and other activities aimed at building military and economic ties to leftist governments and other states in a strategic region long-considered within the U.S. sphere of influence.
China is stepping up military training in Latin America because of a law that limits U.S. military support to nations in the region, the general in charge of the U.S. Southern Command told Congress yesterday.
Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, who oversees U.S. military activities in the region, said a lack of engagement on the part of the United States has benefited China.
"If we are not there and we can't provide this opportunity, someone else will," Gen. Craddock told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"Other nations are moving in. The People's Republic of China has made many offers, and now we are seeing those who formerly would come to the United States going to China."
The growing Chinese role comes amid numerous high-level visits by its leaders and other activities aimed at building military and economic ties to leftist governments and other states in a strategic region long-considered within the U.S. sphere of influence.
"Now It’s Time for Blacks to Make a Similar Transformation, to Grow Up, and Take Responsibility for Their Own Future"
If you want to understand race in America, you must listen to Shelby Steele.
Here's a snippet:
TAE: That’s kind of ironic, because for years blacks had learned not to take what white people said at face value. So why suddenly believe them?
STEELE: I’ll give you my bottom line: We’ve done worse in freedom than we did in segregation. It’s abominable that we made more advances between 1945 and 1965 than we have since, but it’s the truth. According to studies by Stanford’s Thomas Sowell and Harvard’s Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom, we made up more ground with whites in the 1950s than in other decades. This is something I’m writing about in my next book.
Something people overlook is the shock of becoming free. When an oppressor finally takes his foot off your neck—whether it’s the European powers withdrawing from their colonies, or whites in America passing civil rights legislation and starting a Great Society—the group that has created an entire culture to cope with oppression is suddenly disoriented. Becoming free can give a profound shock. We don’t have the values in place for dealing with it. We don’t have the ideas. We have the mechanisms for wearing masks, for manipulating an oppressor, for surviving under harsh circumstances; we’ve become geniuses at that. But we don’t know what to do with freedom.
So when we come to freedom, we experience it as a humiliation, as an embarrassment, as a shame. Now, for the first time, we see how far behind we actually are. We see how long it’ll take to catch up with the people we suddenly have to compete with. And in some cases, we lock up in terror.
Freedom has just terrorized black Americans. We are scared to death of it. And rather than admit that, we say we’re still living in a racist society, or that the government isn’t doing its job. We make excuse after excuse after excuse. But the bottom line is that we have failed to stand up to the challenges of freedom. And that’s terrifying because it shows us just how much work lies ahead of us.
And this:
TAE: What are some ways we can encourage racial harmony in the United States?
STEELE: I’m old enough to remember segregation. Where I grew up, whites had no shame about being racist. They used to come up to me and explain that racism and segregation were God’s will. And they were perfectly comfortable with it.
Today, there’s no white person that could do that. Among whites, things have changed. No one wants white supremacists around. Sure, there are some, but America’s transformation is just amazing. It’s just amazing.
Now it’s time for blacks to make a similar transformation, to grow up, and take responsibility for their own future. If they don’t do it, they’re not going to have prospects that amount to very much. If they do do it, they’ll be able to succeed. We’ve come to a place in our history where the real onus for change is on black Americans.
Here's a snippet:
TAE: That’s kind of ironic, because for years blacks had learned not to take what white people said at face value. So why suddenly believe them?
STEELE: I’ll give you my bottom line: We’ve done worse in freedom than we did in segregation. It’s abominable that we made more advances between 1945 and 1965 than we have since, but it’s the truth. According to studies by Stanford’s Thomas Sowell and Harvard’s Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom, we made up more ground with whites in the 1950s than in other decades. This is something I’m writing about in my next book.
Something people overlook is the shock of becoming free. When an oppressor finally takes his foot off your neck—whether it’s the European powers withdrawing from their colonies, or whites in America passing civil rights legislation and starting a Great Society—the group that has created an entire culture to cope with oppression is suddenly disoriented. Becoming free can give a profound shock. We don’t have the values in place for dealing with it. We don’t have the ideas. We have the mechanisms for wearing masks, for manipulating an oppressor, for surviving under harsh circumstances; we’ve become geniuses at that. But we don’t know what to do with freedom.
So when we come to freedom, we experience it as a humiliation, as an embarrassment, as a shame. Now, for the first time, we see how far behind we actually are. We see how long it’ll take to catch up with the people we suddenly have to compete with. And in some cases, we lock up in terror.
Freedom has just terrorized black Americans. We are scared to death of it. And rather than admit that, we say we’re still living in a racist society, or that the government isn’t doing its job. We make excuse after excuse after excuse. But the bottom line is that we have failed to stand up to the challenges of freedom. And that’s terrifying because it shows us just how much work lies ahead of us.
And this:
TAE: What are some ways we can encourage racial harmony in the United States?
STEELE: I’m old enough to remember segregation. Where I grew up, whites had no shame about being racist. They used to come up to me and explain that racism and segregation were God’s will. And they were perfectly comfortable with it.
Today, there’s no white person that could do that. Among whites, things have changed. No one wants white supremacists around. Sure, there are some, but America’s transformation is just amazing. It’s just amazing.
Now it’s time for blacks to make a similar transformation, to grow up, and take responsibility for their own future. If they don’t do it, they’re not going to have prospects that amount to very much. If they do do it, they’ll be able to succeed. We’ve come to a place in our history where the real onus for change is on black Americans.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
A Legislature of Fools
TITLE VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act forbids employment discrimination on the basis of gender. It doesn't make an exception for churches. However, courts have interpreted Title VII to exempt churches. This is not surprising. Catholics, Mormons, and certain Orthodox Christians do not ordain women as priests. Orthodox Jews do not ordain women as rabbis. Traditional schools of Islam do not allow women to act as imams. The Constitution would not permit the government to change these church rules even if it wanted to.
Title VII has allowed women to pursue career ambitions and support their families, just as men do. Many Catholics, Jews, and Muslims think that this equal opportunity should extend to ministry. But society is also committed to religious freedom, and that means that sometimes the government has to respect limits even on worthwhile programs.
There is a lesson here that has been ignored in the recent contretemps over gay adoptions by Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities managed 41 cases last year, and more than 700 since 1987. Most involved children with special needs.
Charities that provide adoption services are governed by two state agencies. All of them need a license from the Department of Early Education and Care. The Department's regulations forbid licensees to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Charities that handle adoptions of older and special needs children also contract with the Department of Social Services (they receive money for providing this service). DSS regulations forbid contractors to refuse service on the basis of sexual orientation. These two regulations caused a problem for Catholic Charities, because the Church believes that homosexual relationships are sinful and that it is wrong to place a child in such a family. The agencies refused to grant an exemption. The governor, though sympathetic to Catholic Charities' plight, said the problem should be corrected through legislation. Leaders in the Legislature said they were unwilling to pass such a law. Faced with a legal requirement that it serve gay and straight families alike, Catholic Charities reluctantly decided to stop doing adoptions.
It seems surprising that the state would want to put the Catholic Church out of the adoption business. Corporal works of mercy are no less important to the life of the Church than its sacramental ministry. Forbidding the Church to perform them is a serious blow to its religious liberty. Why would the government do that?
One reason is that the Church refused to go along with the effort, enshrined in these regulations and blessed in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, to give gay families the same legal rights as straight families.
But Catholic Charities did not obstruct that effort; it only declined to assist it. Is our commitment to equality so strong that we are willing to put Catholic Charities out of business because it won't promote an agenda that it views as morally wrong?
Apparently, yes. But then again, what's more important, the welfare of special needs children, or whether Bruce and Dave can say they are married?
Title VII has allowed women to pursue career ambitions and support their families, just as men do. Many Catholics, Jews, and Muslims think that this equal opportunity should extend to ministry. But society is also committed to religious freedom, and that means that sometimes the government has to respect limits even on worthwhile programs.
There is a lesson here that has been ignored in the recent contretemps over gay adoptions by Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities managed 41 cases last year, and more than 700 since 1987. Most involved children with special needs.
Charities that provide adoption services are governed by two state agencies. All of them need a license from the Department of Early Education and Care. The Department's regulations forbid licensees to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Charities that handle adoptions of older and special needs children also contract with the Department of Social Services (they receive money for providing this service). DSS regulations forbid contractors to refuse service on the basis of sexual orientation. These two regulations caused a problem for Catholic Charities, because the Church believes that homosexual relationships are sinful and that it is wrong to place a child in such a family. The agencies refused to grant an exemption. The governor, though sympathetic to Catholic Charities' plight, said the problem should be corrected through legislation. Leaders in the Legislature said they were unwilling to pass such a law. Faced with a legal requirement that it serve gay and straight families alike, Catholic Charities reluctantly decided to stop doing adoptions.
It seems surprising that the state would want to put the Catholic Church out of the adoption business. Corporal works of mercy are no less important to the life of the Church than its sacramental ministry. Forbidding the Church to perform them is a serious blow to its religious liberty. Why would the government do that?
One reason is that the Church refused to go along with the effort, enshrined in these regulations and blessed in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, to give gay families the same legal rights as straight families.
But Catholic Charities did not obstruct that effort; it only declined to assist it. Is our commitment to equality so strong that we are willing to put Catholic Charities out of business because it won't promote an agenda that it views as morally wrong?
Apparently, yes. But then again, what's more important, the welfare of special needs children, or whether Bruce and Dave can say they are married?
Quote of the Day
"The real threat for Connecticut may be No. 4 Illinois, but the Illini appear good enough to hold their seed and get to the round of 16, but not quite good enough to beat this year's elite teams -- as in Connecticut. In fact, the Huskies' most dangerous game could come in the second round against a flawed, but still dangerous Kentucky team. (That's if Kentucky gets by UAB, a team it lost to two years ago when the Wildcats were a No. 1 seed.)" -- John Feinstein, WaPo
Interesting Idea
Once upon a time, to fly was to be pampered at 35,000 feet.
Flight attendants sprang into action to offer passengers hot meals, snacks, beverages, magazines, pillows and blankets, all for the price of a ticket.
But most of that service is history now -- or at least the days of getting it for free are gone -- as struggling airlines look to cut costs and keep ticket prices low by eliminating amenities or making passengers pay for them.
Northwest Airlines is expected to announce today that it will begin charging customers more for seats with added legroom, including coveted emergency exit row and some aisle seats. The price: an extra $15 for each leg of the flight. Northwest calls them "Coach Choice" seats.
Flight attendants sprang into action to offer passengers hot meals, snacks, beverages, magazines, pillows and blankets, all for the price of a ticket.
But most of that service is history now -- or at least the days of getting it for free are gone -- as struggling airlines look to cut costs and keep ticket prices low by eliminating amenities or making passengers pay for them.
Northwest Airlines is expected to announce today that it will begin charging customers more for seats with added legroom, including coveted emergency exit row and some aisle seats. The price: an extra $15 for each leg of the flight. Northwest calls them "Coach Choice" seats.
Whahhhh!!!
It's ok when you're ripping Jesus or Mohammed, but not Tom Cruise.
NEW YORK (March 13) - Isaac Hayes has quit "South Park," where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.
Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed.
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.
"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."
"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem - and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians."
Last November, "South Park" targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called "Trapped in the Closet." In the episode, Stan, one of the show's four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out.
Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."
NEW YORK (March 13) - Isaac Hayes has quit "South Park," where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.
Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed.
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.
"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."
"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem - and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians."
Last November, "South Park" targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called "Trapped in the Closet." In the episode, Stan, one of the show's four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out.
Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."
How Ironic
From today's Washington Times:
TEHRAN -- Iran's clerical and business establishments, deeply concerned by what they see as reckless spending and needlessly aggressive foreign policies, are increasingly turning against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The same could be said about President Bush.
TEHRAN -- Iran's clerical and business establishments, deeply concerned by what they see as reckless spending and needlessly aggressive foreign policies, are increasingly turning against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The same could be said about President Bush.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Quote of the Day
"The work of Muhammad is based on being honored, and the work of Christ is based on being insulted." -- John Piper, on Muslim outrage over the caricatures of Muhammad
This Is Just Sad
Andrew H. Card Jr. wakes at 4:20 in the morning, shows up at the White House an hour or so later, convenes his senior staff at 7:30 and then proceeds to a blur of other meetings that do not let up until long after the sun sets. He gets home at 9 or 10 at night and sometimes fields phone calls until 11 p.m. Then he gets up and does it all over again.
Of all the reasons that President Bush is in trouble these days, not to be overlooked are inadequate REM cycles. Like chief of staff Card, many of the president's top aides have been by his side nonstop for more than five years, not including the first campaign, recount and transition. This is a White House, according to insiders, that is physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks.
...White House officials are never genuinely away from the job. Tied to their BlackBerrys and cellular telephones, they are often called to duty even during rare vacations. Weekends are often just another workday. Hadley, for one, schedules a full day of meetings every Saturday. Card comes to the White House on days off to go bicycle riding with Bush.
While other professions demand 14-hour days and six- or seven-day weeks, few involve as much consequence, much less the intense scrutiny of the Internet age. A former Bush aide said, "You don't really realize until you're gone" just how exhausting it really is.
Of all the reasons that President Bush is in trouble these days, not to be overlooked are inadequate REM cycles. Like chief of staff Card, many of the president's top aides have been by his side nonstop for more than five years, not including the first campaign, recount and transition. This is a White House, according to insiders, that is physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks.
...White House officials are never genuinely away from the job. Tied to their BlackBerrys and cellular telephones, they are often called to duty even during rare vacations. Weekends are often just another workday. Hadley, for one, schedules a full day of meetings every Saturday. Card comes to the White House on days off to go bicycle riding with Bush.
While other professions demand 14-hour days and six- or seven-day weeks, few involve as much consequence, much less the intense scrutiny of the Internet age. A former Bush aide said, "You don't really realize until you're gone" just how exhausting it really is.
The Costs of Torts
This sounds like a lot:
For 20 years, Tillinghast, an insurance-industry consulting firm, has been putting an often-criticized dollar value on what it calls the cost of the nation's tort system. And it says those costs will rise sharply in the next few years.
The latest study puts the cost in 2004 at $260 billion, almost equal to the annual sales of Wal-Mart -- nearly $900 for every man, woman and small child in the nation. It projects that cost will rise to nearly $315 billion by 2007, outpacing the expansion of the overall economy.
For 20 years, Tillinghast, an insurance-industry consulting firm, has been putting an often-criticized dollar value on what it calls the cost of the nation's tort system. And it says those costs will rise sharply in the next few years.
The latest study puts the cost in 2004 at $260 billion, almost equal to the annual sales of Wal-Mart -- nearly $900 for every man, woman and small child in the nation. It projects that cost will rise to nearly $315 billion by 2007, outpacing the expansion of the overall economy.
Has the Press Been Rove-A-Doped Again?
THE WASHINGTON POST's famous Watergate editor Ben Bradlee claims that it was former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage who was the individual who leaked the identity of CIA official Valerie Plame.
In the latest issue of VANITY FAIR: "Woodward was in a tricky position. People close to him believe that he had learned about Plame from his friend Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's former deputy, who has been known to be critical of the administration and who has a blunt way of speaking.
'That Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption,' former WASHINGTON POST editor Ben Bradlee said. 'I had heard about an e-mail that was sent that had a lot of unprintable language in it.'
In the latest issue of VANITY FAIR: "Woodward was in a tricky position. People close to him believe that he had learned about Plame from his friend Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's former deputy, who has been known to be critical of the administration and who has a blunt way of speaking.
'That Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption,' former WASHINGTON POST editor Ben Bradlee said. 'I had heard about an e-mail that was sent that had a lot of unprintable language in it.'
Saddam Calculated Wrong
The NYT piece today summarizing new findings about Saddam's side of the pre-war has many fascinating nuggets, not the least of which is the following:
"The Iraqi dictator was so secretive and kept information so compartmentalized that his top military leaders were stunned when he told them three months before the war that he had no weapons of mass destruction, and they were demoralized because they had counted on hidden stocks of poison gas or germ weapons for the nation's defense."
How could they have been stunned? Had they not been reading Paul Krugman? The evidence that George W. Bush was spinning WMDs was "obvious long ago to any commentator who was willing to look at the facts." It just wasn't obvious to the top military leaders in Iraq three months before the invasion. Some of them, even after they had been told by Saddam that the cupboard was bare, found Colin Powell's presentation convincing.
What we're seeing is classic screw-up. A dictator boasts of WMDs that he doesn't have, primarily to keep his domestic opposition scared and to keep up the ambiguity internationally to deter any attack. But that ambiguity is what made the attack inevitable. For Saddam it was rational enough. If he admitted to WMDs, allowed total U.N. access to his country and scientists to leave, then his spell of domestic terror would have disintegrated, and he feared an uprising. But if he played the shell game one more time, maybe he could buy off the West yet again, after twelve years of success. That's what he calculated. And he calculated wrong.
"The Iraqi dictator was so secretive and kept information so compartmentalized that his top military leaders were stunned when he told them three months before the war that he had no weapons of mass destruction, and they were demoralized because they had counted on hidden stocks of poison gas or germ weapons for the nation's defense."
How could they have been stunned? Had they not been reading Paul Krugman? The evidence that George W. Bush was spinning WMDs was "obvious long ago to any commentator who was willing to look at the facts." It just wasn't obvious to the top military leaders in Iraq three months before the invasion. Some of them, even after they had been told by Saddam that the cupboard was bare, found Colin Powell's presentation convincing.
What we're seeing is classic screw-up. A dictator boasts of WMDs that he doesn't have, primarily to keep his domestic opposition scared and to keep up the ambiguity internationally to deter any attack. But that ambiguity is what made the attack inevitable. For Saddam it was rational enough. If he admitted to WMDs, allowed total U.N. access to his country and scientists to leave, then his spell of domestic terror would have disintegrated, and he feared an uprising. But if he played the shell game one more time, maybe he could buy off the West yet again, after twelve years of success. That's what he calculated. And he calculated wrong.
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