Dark Bilious Vapors

Late to the party again, alas.....

The blogosphere is apparently atwitter over a study showing that the benefits of having a majority of declared religious believers are highly exaggerated, at best. The conclusion of the study, in academese:

The United States’ deep social problems are all the more disturbing because the nation enjoys exceptional per capita wealth among the major western nations (Barro and McCleary; Kasman; PEW; UN Development Programme, 2000, 2004). Spending on health care is much higher as a portion of the GDP and per capita, by a factor of a third to two or more, than in any other developing democracy (UN Development Programme, 2000, 2004). The U.S. is therefore the least efficient western nation in terms of converting wealth into cultural and physical health. Understanding the reasons for this failure is urgent, and doing so requires considering the degree to which cause versus effect is responsible for the observed correlations between social conditions and religiosity versus secularism. It is therefore hoped that this initial look at a subject of pressing importance will inspire more extensive research on the subject. Pressing questions include the reasons, whether theistic or non-theistic, that the exceptionally wealthy U.S. is so inefficient that it is experiencing a much higher degree of societal distress than are less religious, less wealthy prosperous democracies. Conversely, how do the latter achieve superior societal health while having little in the way of the religious values or institutions? There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms (Aral and Holmes; Beeghley, Doyle, 2002). It is the responsibility of the research community to address controversial issues and provide the information that the citizens of democracies need to chart their future courses.

The Short Form:

Japan and a number of European democracies have low rates of declared "religiousness" and a high degree of "secularization", and they also score highly on quantifiable indicators of societal health.

The United States has a much higher rate of declared "religiousness" and much lower rate of "secularization", and scores poorly on quantifiable indicators of societal health.

In addition, within the U.S. a similar pattern emerges: those regions within the U.S. which score higher in declared "religiousness" and lower in "secularization" score more poorly on quantifiable indicators of societal health than those regions within the U.S. where there are lower rates of declared "religiousness" and higher rates of "secularization".

Conclusion: There's no correlation between how religious a society is, and how healthy that society is.

There's quite a bit of discussion out there about the study, and unfortunately I don't have the time and space to deal with it now, but I did like an Australian philosopher's pointer to some observations of David Hume:

How happens it then...if vulgar superstition be so salutary to society, that all history abounds so much with accounts of its pernicious consequences on public affairs?

Factions, civil wars, persecutions, subversions of government, oppression, slavery; these are the dismal consequences which always attend its prevalency over the minds of men.

If the religious spirit be ever mentioned in any historical narration, we are sure to meet afterwards with a detail of the miseries which attend it. And no period of time can be happier or more prosperous, than those in which it is never regarded or heard of.

--Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, XII, 220

Len on 09.28.05 @ 08:09 PM CST [link] [ | ]

And the answer is: 'Not long at all.'

The question: "How long will it take before the announcement of Tom DeLay's indictment inspires some poetry by Mad Kane?" (Apologies to Jeopardy!.)

In Mad's case, she uses DeLay's indictment as inspiration for a haiku, as well as reason to revisit a song parody from a while back.

Unusually for Mad, there's no audio feed for this one. However, in compensation, Mad's DeLay indictment haiku has inspired Roxanne of Rox Populi to announce the First Annual Rox Pop "Tom Delay Haiku Slam". Some interesting haikus in the comments; it almost makes me sad that I've never "gotten" haiku, certainly not well enough to actually compose any.

Len on 09.28.05 @ 07:38 PM CST [link] [ | ]

A new variation on an old scam...

The owners of the Florida Marlins, and their co-conspirators, have come up with a new angle for getting to stick their hands in the public pockets in their quest not to have to build a new stadium with their own money. From the Business of Baseball Report in The Hardball Times:

Marlins Stadium Supporters Take New Angle

Weston, Fla. mayor Eric Hersch is coming to bat for the Florida Marlins in their quest for public financing for a new stadium. His proposal has nothing to do with baseball, and everything to do with the recent hurricanes that have wreaked havoc on the gulf coast.

Hersch’s big idea is to help fund the Marlins’ new stadium, but to also make sure the ballpark has a dual purpose. By building a category 5 hurricane-proof stadium, the facility would be able to double as a shelter in the event of a major hurricane hitting the area. The stadium would be stocked with emergency supplies and generators, and the storm refuge aspects of the stadium would be just as much of a priority as the baseball aspects. While the state legislature hasn’t taken up the matter, the plan makes more sense than falling back on the myth that a new stadium would provide some kind of imaginary economic benefit to the area.

In fairness, an interesting concept, and if it's implemented as described here, it'd actually provide some benefit to the local area. But I'm cynical by nature, especially where the privileged are looking to get the public to fund their playtoys; I'll wager that, when push comes to shove (and it will), the storm shelter aspects of the stadium will take second place to the baseball aspects. I'll believe it when I see it, and not before.

Len on 09.28.05 @ 12:55 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Off to a good start:

New addition to the blogroll: Main and Central. This is a group blog founded by Jo Fish at Democratic Veteran, and which focuses on the perspective of "veterans of the Democratic persuasion", as Jo put it, and matters of concern to veterans. By "veterans", Jo includes everyone from folks who left active duty a long time ago to vets just back from Afghanistan or the Mess in Mesopotamia. The gang looks to be an interesting collection of viewpoints:

We've got quite a distinguished group of bloggers (we'll they're all bloggers now, right?), including Terry from Nitpicker, recently returned from a National Guard tour in Afghanistan; Lurch, a long-time and frequent commenter at DemVet and other places, who is a former Army Warrant and was in SE Asia as a LRRP; Jeff Huber of Pen and Sword, a retired Naval Officer and former Commanding Officer of a fleet E-2C squadron, and other veterans who have agreed to contribute. There are also a couple of active duty types who are currently in Iraq who have expressed an interest in contributing, but are weighing the consequences (yes, there are some) of contributing before they take the plunge. I hope they join us, but we'll see. The 1600 Crew are nothing if not vindictive, and these guys need to look out for themselves, after all a couple of them were serious career guys before their second Baghdad vacation.

Best of luck to y'all; I'll be keeping my eyes on you.

Len on 09.28.05 @ 12:46 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

So let's see.

House Majority Leader Indicted for Criminal Conspiracy.

Senate Majority Leader the target of an increasingly serious probe of potential insider trading.

Rumors of October Rove indictment in the Plame case.

Is this a problem yet?
--Josh Marshall

Len on 09.28.05 @ 12:20 PM CST [link] [ | ]

A data point...

In support of those Texas "Aggie" jokes:

I'd have never guessed that there were two ways to board up a window in anticipation of a storm....

Credit: Pete Vonder Haar

Len on 09.28.05 @ 12:10 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yum...Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale...

"For a beer fancier, there's only one place to be starting today and running through Saturday The Great American Beer Festival in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

Upwards of 30-thousand people are expected to buy tickets designated drivers get a greatly reduced rate. Once inside, beer lovers will have the chance to get a one-ounce taste of some 16-hundred different beers on tap, the most in the world.

Every region of the country will be represented, and 350 brewers will be arranged geographically on the convention floor. They will be vying for gold, silver and bronze medals in 67 different judging categories.

Beer consumption by the average American has remained remarkably consistent over the years at about 22 gallons annually.

Courtesy of US News Wire.

Reminds me of the Beers from around the world and nation and the Flying DogTire Bite Golden Ale I had in Memphis at "The Flying Saucer."

Yummy!!!!

:-)

Karen on 09.28.05 @ 11:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Hot damn!!!!

On Air America Radio, Al Franken's just announced that Tom DeLay was indicted in Texas.

I may have to rethink my atheism (especially if he's convicted).

UPDATE: DeLay indicted in campaign finance probe

The interesting thing about this is, as Molly Ivins has pointed out on a number of occasions:

DeLay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick may have achieved the near-impossible by breaking Texas campaign finance laws. Since Texas essentially has no campaign finance laws, this is no mean feat.
--Molly Ivins

Len on 09.28.05 @ 11:36 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Those Good Citizens....

I have an excerpt from a Driftglass post and some added commentary.

Click on the “more” button” to read further below the fold.

;-)

Karen on 09.28.05 @ 08:16 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's 2008 presidential campaign has gotten off to a rocky start, what with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a U.S. attorney investigating whether Frist ordered the sale of his shares in HCA, the hospital company his family founded, because he knew the stock was about to plummet.

Frist welcomes the investigation, and he's probably correct that he will be cleared of wrongdoing. Sure, his blind (or perhaps seeing-eye) trust sold shares in the company ahead of a disappointing earnings report in July. But a shrewd investor (or broker) didn't need a personal tip from a company official to dump HCA in May and June. You could just look at sales by HCA executives—widely available to the public through SEC filings and on free services like Yahoo! finance—to see how company insiders were trying to get out before a crash.

The real story about Frist and HCA is just how little he has done to help his family company. As Senate leader, he has done nothing to address the health-insurance problems that have caused HCA's stock to plummet. Republican policies have been troublesome for many health-care businesses, but they have been particularly devastating to HCA.
--Daniel Gross

Len on 09.28.05 @ 07:54 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Holiday to the Big Apple...

I’m off on a weekend Holiday to NY City. So, Len and Brock will certainly continue to “entertain” ya'all if I find myself unable to have WiFi access or the time to post.

But I have few long articles to get posted, like this one about the NOLA shipping canal and the Flooding from Hurricane Katrina.

Click on the “more” button to read further- and Enjoy.

:-)

Karen on 09.28.05 @ 07:47 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Hmmmmmm.... have we tried everything else?

Bush Orders Flags Lowered To Double-Half-Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Bush issued a proclamation indefinitely lowering the nation’s flags to the double-half-staff position today, in hopes of reversing the string of ridiculously bad luck currently plaguing the United States.

“Flying the flag at full-staff has proven to be very unlucky,” said Bush. “Every time we do that, something terrible happens, and we just end up having to lower it again. It is our hope that flying the flag double-half-staff will bring just as much good luck as full-staff brought bad.”

The nation’s flags had never been lowered to double-half-staff before today.

More of this BS....

[Hmmmmm. Is that "double half-staff" (which sounds like "full staff" to me; after all, 0.5 x 2 = 1) or "quarter-staff" (0.5/2 = 0.25)? --LRC]

Len on 09.27.05 @ 06:21 PM CST [link] [ | ]

The Army in Crisis

David C. Unger (The NY Times - Military affairs expert) has written an excellent piece on the Crisis in the Army:

The biggest casualty of the Iraq War could be America's all volunteer army.

Click on the "more" button to read this long article.

Karen on 09.27.05 @ 03:29 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Let's See the GOP Majority Quibble Over This One...

...and whether they will shoot this down like the "independent investigation" into the Katrina debacle.

"Congressman Henry A. Waxman and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi introduced the Anti-Cronyism and Public Safety Act, which would prohibit the President from appointing unqualified individuals to critical public safety positions in the government.

"President Bush has handed out some of the country's most difficult and important jobs - leadership positions in public safety and emergency response - to politically well-connected individuals with no experience or qualifications," Rep. Waxman said. "This common sense legislation will end this practice and ensure that public safety is back in the hands of those who are trained and experienced in protecting the public."

The bill would require any presidential appointee for a public safety position to have proven, relevant credentials for that position. In addition, the legislation bars from appointment to an agency any individual who has been a lobbyist for an industry subject to the agency's authority during the preceding two years.

"As Hurricane Katrina tragically demonstrated, serious consequences result when unqualified cronies are appointed to federal public safety positions," Pelosi said. "The Bush Administration's culture of cronyism comes at the expense of public safety. It is unconscionable and must stop immediately - it is literally a matter of life and death. This legislation is critically needed, and I thank Mr. Waxman for his strong leadership in protecting the American people."

Subject to the bill are specific senior-level emergency preparedness offices at the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as any position with the primary function of responding to a direct threat to life or property or hazard to health. "

Courtesy of US News Wire.

And I hope it has a provision to get RID of those *Brownie's* FOR GOOD...none of this *rehire them* garbage going on now.

Karen on 09.27.05 @ 12:53 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Hmmmmmm.... Can U.S. troops be far behind?

Brits drawing up plans to bail out of Iraq; Defence Secretary confident the process will begin by next summer.

Len on 09.27.05 @ 12:07 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yuks o'the Day:

Bush is keeping track of Hurricane Rita as it hits his home state of Texas. That's Bush's worst nightmare: an electric chair with no power.
--Jay Leno

Hurricane Rita is supposed to make landfall in Texas, which is good for Barbara Bush because she can insult survivors closer to home.
--Bill Maher

Yesterday President Bush made his fifth visit to the area that received the most damage from Hurricane Katrina. In other words, the White House.
--Conan O'Brien

The president believes the government should be limited not in size, Jon, but in effectiveness. In terms of effectiveness, this is the most limited government we've ever had.
--Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry

Now here's some sad information coming out of Washington. According to reports, President Bush may be drinking again. And I thought, "Well, why not? He's got everybody else drinking."
--David Letterman

Hat tip: dKos's Bill in Portland Maine who compiled these for today's "Cheers and Jeers".

Len on 09.27.05 @ 11:50 AM CST [link] [ | ]

From the "Too True to be Funny" Department:

Via our pals at The Onion: Bill Introduced As Joke Signed Into Law

WASHINGTON, DC—A bill introduced by Sen. George Allen (R-VA) as "just a goof" several weeks ago was signed into law by President Bush Tuesday.

"I was just trying to crack up Frist and some of the other guys," Allen said. "Everyone's been on edge lately, what with the Katrina situation, and I thought we could use a good laugh."

Added Allen: "Looks like the joke's on me. And, I suppose, the American citizens."

S. 1718, also known as the Preservation Of Public Lands Of America Act, authorized a shift of $138 billion from the federal Medicare fund to a massive landscaping effort that, over the next five years, will transform Yellowstone National Park into a luxury private golf estate.

"I thought it was pretty damn funny when I read over the draft of the thing," said Allen, who said he struggled to keep a straight face when he introduced the law. "Especially the part about how it would create over 10,000 caddy and drink-girl jobs. But I guess it went over people's heads."

Len on 09.27.05 @ 08:51 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Visual Confirmation of the Truth of the Matter...

Think Progress has a good post on the under-reported totals for the Peace March in Washington, D.C.; thought to be closer to 300,000 figure than the 100,000 originally reported.

Protest Turnout: A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Lies

"Popular right-wing blogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs wrote a post on Saturday called “What If They Gave a Protest and Nobody Came?” It was picked up by various bloggers including Michelle Malkin, who called it “fair and balanced” coverage of the protest.

In the post, Johnson published the photo below as evidence of the “media’s tendency to exaggerate,” arguing that “it looks like the turnout was much less than 100,000 people.” Johnson noted later in the day that “Al-Reuters” had also used the 100,000 number, despite the fact that the picture below “refutes” that claim…”

And HERE is the picture:

MarchWide2 (27k image)

To judge the size of a demonstration down 15th Street, it’s probably best to use a photo that actually includes 15th Street, like the shot below. (You’ll notice the throngs of marchers filling up the street for several blocks.)

Karen on 09.27.05 @ 08:15 AM CST [link] [ | ]

From the "Further Comment Would Be Superfluous" Department:

Len on 09.27.05 @ 07:36 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

If it were to rain a lot, there is concern from the Army Corps of Engineers that the levees might break. And so, therefore, we're cautious about encouraging people to return at this moment of history.
--George W. Bush

Len on 09.27.05 @ 07:19 AM CST [link] [ | ]

I-Pass - EZ pass

I-PASS can now be used in 11 other states to the east (Jon Davis -Daily Herald):

"Road trips between the suburbs and the East Coast should now be easier for the area’s nearly two million I-PASS-equipped drivers.

With a midnight click of a mouse, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority computers began sharing I-PASS account information with their E-ZPass counterparts, allowing drivers to use their transponders on the other’s toll road systems starting today.

Car and motorcycle owners can immediately use their existing I-PASS transponders. But drivers of trucks, buses, recreational vehicles or cars with towing rigs will have to trade their transponders for new ones compatible with the E-ZPass system.

The toll authority joined the E-ZPass consortium — which comprises Delaware, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia — in April 2004.

But it’s taken 17 months to integrate the two systems’ computer hardware, software and electronics so each system can read the other’s radio signals and charge accounts on 21 separate toll road, bridge or tunnel agencies.

Toll officials did have some words of warning: I-PASS users should make sure their accounts are full before driving east, as E-ZPass tolls generally are more expensive. And I-PASS users who want to know if they qualify for E-ZPass discounts must contact each toll agency separately..."

Now, if only a gallon of gas wasn't so expensive...

Karen on 09.27.05 @ 05:51 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Google Bombs

Being a techno-dweeb, I found this a bit amusing from the Chicago Tribune `Google bombs' put searchers on wrong path, by Steve Johnson:

“Latest on the list of things that engage the computerati but barely interfere with the lives of regular folk -- except to add another new term we vaguely feel we ought to remember -- is the practice known as "Google bombing."

In a resurfacing of an old political jab, anyone typing the word "failure" into the Google Internet search engine gets, as first result, the official White House biography of President George Bush. Ditto for typing the term "miserable failure." Not tested on this computer, because of office rules about profanity rather than because of how much the editorial page loves our president, is what happens if you stick an expletive, undeleted, in between "miserable" and "failure."

These results show up because people who followed their parents' advice to study computer science instead of English literature have analyzed Google and other search engines and figured out that they can be manipulated.
….
How does a Google bomb work? Here's the company's own, reasonably lucid explanation: "Google's search results are generated by computer programs that rank Web pages in large part by examining the number and relative popularity of the sites that link to them. . . . In this case, a number of Web masters use the phrases failure and miserable failure to describe and link to President Bush's Web site, thus pushing it to the top of searches for those phrases."

For this reason, and the fact that other search engines are also affected, some have argued that "link bombing" is the better term.
…
Reading between the lines of this recent posting, the company's bluster fails to disguise that it seems worried about Google bombing. It's something that can be done by a relatively small group of bloggers, for instance, and it can push legitimate search results below where they ought to be.

What the company doesn't say is that failure-equals-Bush is a clunker of a joke. The search result would be funny if you stumbled on it accidentally, by, say, following a blind link sent to you by one of those guys who is always sending around "wacky" e-mails. You got the picture he passed on of the Presidents George Bush fishing in New Orleans, right? First truly amusing thing he sent in a year.

But very few people -- perhaps an inherent defeatist looking for the actual online journal called Failure, or a newspaper writer researching a high-concept feature story -- are likely to type "f-a-i-l-u-r-e" into Google without having been tipped to the result first. And punchline-then-joke just doesn't work.

Funnier is that the second "failure" search result you get, in an apparent act of tit for tat, is the Web site of Bush-bashing filmmaker Michael Moore. Right-wingers can fool Google too.

But most interesting is following the third link, to a legitimate result of the "failure" search. On the site of Failure magazine, we learn that the editors are, in fact, thinking about Katrina.

"We have a front-runner for Failure of the Year (FOTY): The federal government's response to the situation on the Gulf Coast," says the Editor's Column. "The Bush Administration `won' our annual FOTY award two years ago, and it seems destined to become the first two-time winner in Failure's six-year history."

Clearly, this is not a publication run by talentless hack."

Karen on 09.27.05 @ 05:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Can I.D. meet the test for "Science" in a Court of Law?

Intelligent design faces first big court test Parents sue after alternate to evolution added to science curriculum:

“A federal judge in Pennsylvania will hear arguments Monday in a lawsuit that both sides say could set the fundamental ground rules for how American students are taught the origins of life for years to come...”

Some of these major I.D. proponent's theories have been analyzed at skepdic.com. And there is this new article from the WaPo: This New Analyses Bolster Central Tenets of Evolution Theory: Pa. Trial Will Ask Whether 'Alternatives' Can Pass as Science

[Hat tip to Pharyngula]

Click on the "more" to read the article in full.

Karen on 09.27.05 @ 05:36 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Here's what "accountability" means in the bAdministration

Brownie is back.

CBS News' Bob Schieffer just announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has rehired ex-FEMA chief Michael Brown-- as a consultant to evaluate the agency's response to the disaster!

...

CBS says they've confirmed Brown had been rehired. Brown resigned after taking heat when a Time Magazine article revealed that he had padded his resume with bogus jobs.

Must be nice to live in a world where you can fuck up your job so badly, and then just get rehired....

Len on 09.26.05 @ 08:03 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yuk o'the Day:

Q. How long does it take George Bush to read a book?

A. Nobody knows - it's never been done

Len on 09.26.05 @ 07:54 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Very, very sad news, indeed....

Don Adams, dead at age 82

Requiescat In Pace, Maxwell Smart

Len on 09.26.05 @ 05:09 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Type "D" Personality...

Newsweek is reporting on the dangers of being worried, irritable and socially inhibited.

The article has a simple test may help predict the negative health effects based on this research:

“Years ago, when the psychologist Johan Denollet was first working with cardiac patients at a university hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, he noticed a paradox. Some heart-attack survivors remained cheerful and optimistic despite extensive cardiac damage. They joined eagerly in rehabilitation programs and adhered to them. Others grew discouraged. They resisted rehab, even after milder heart attacks, and spent most of their energy complaining. Denollet, now a professor of medical psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, suspected there was something fundamentally different about these two groups of patients. So he set out to find a way of measuring it. The tool he developed—a simple, 14-question personality test known as the DS14—is now opening a new frontier in cardiology.

Years ago, when the psychologist Johan Denollet was first working with cardiac patients at a university hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, he noticed a paradox. Some heart-attack survivors remained cheerful and optimistic despite extensive cardiac damage. They joined eagerly in rehabilitation programs and adhered to them. Others grew discouraged. They resisted rehab, even after milder heart attacks, and spent most of their energy complaining. Denollet, now a professor of medical psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, suspected there was something fundamentally different about these two groups of patients. So he set out to find a way of measuring it. The tool he developed—a simple, 14-question personality test known as the DS14—is now opening a new frontier in cardiology.
…
Type A's—the weekend-working perfectionist strivers—were deemed likely candidates for heart disease. Relaxed, noncompetitive Type B's were supposed to be models of health. And Type C's—outwardly pleasant people who avoid conflict by suppressing their feelings—were said to be cancer-prone. The ABC model fell apart in the 1980s, when large studies found no reliable connection between the Type A personality and heart disease

The DS14 is looking more and more like a parlor game worth playing. But don't panic if you score at the high end of the scale. Type D personality itself is not a mental illness. It is a collection of normal human traits. And as Denollet is quick to point out, "there are many Type D individuals who are living healthy lives and functioning quite well." A good marriage can be an antidote to social inhibition, especially if your partner's ease with people compensates for your own discomfort. And even the most distress-prone person can learn through psychotherapy to cope with stress and beat back anxious thoughts. Many Type D people have trouble seeking help—by definition, they're ill at ease and afraid to open up—but physicians and family members can help them over those hurdles. And the test itself can help Type D people own up to their fears and frustrations, since it doesn't require any embarrassing social interaction.

Even if you never fully conquer your distress, you can take practical steps to make it less toxic to your health. Exercise and a wholesome diet will reduce almost anyone's risk of a heart attack. And lifestyle changes that protect your heart can improve your emotional state as well. In a 2001 study, Denollet found that comprehensive cardiac-rehab programs boosted people's moods as well as their survival rates, making their lives both richer and longer. "Warding off emotional distress," he concluded, "may be one mechanism to explain the beneficial effect of rehabilitation on prognosis."

It's still too early to know if the Type D will have more staying power than the A, B or C. Researchers have to test the concept across many cultures. And no one has shown conclusively that easing your distress—whether through meditation, talk therapy or antidepressants—can help prevent heart attacks. For now, feeling better will have to be an end in itself. So take the test, and don't fear the result. You can use it to your advantage.”

Take this 7-question test by clicking on this link to find out: Are You a Type D?

Double Dare Ya. LOL

:-)

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 04:54 PM CST [link] [ | ]

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto...."

How could I resist posting Bill Maher’s New Rules, after seeing his show this weekend...

“Time for New Rules, everybody.

New Rule: The next major destructive storm must be called Hurricane George. You've earned it, buddy! Congratulations. You are officially a Category 5 president.

New Rule: If your razor has five blades, it's not a razor, it's a weed-whacker. With the new Gillette Fusion razor, the first blade lifts the stubble; the second severs the hair follicle; the third slices your skin; the fourth scrapes bone marrow; and the fifth was used by O.J. Simpson to kill his wife, and he wants it back.

New Rule: No more nudity on billboards. You know, I'm all for sex in advertising, but not where horny men drive. I don't want to launch into a big lecture about safety, but the other day, the guy in front of me slammed on his brakes to gawk, and the woman who was blowing me almost hit her head on the steering wheel!

New Rule: If you give a nine-year-old a hunting rifle, expect to have a hole in your head next to the one you already have. That's right. Fathers are signing up their kids to win free hunting trips. Great time to find out she's pissed about not getting that doll. I'm sorry, but the first time your daughter should see a shotgun is at her wedding when she's 14.

And finally, New Rule: Just because we have an obligation to rebuild New Orleans doesn't mean we have to put it back in the same place. For $200 billion, we could put the French Quarter on the moon. Why don't we put it someplace it can stay out of harm and do some good? After all, New Orleans is the Big Easy, and a lot of America is uptight. Which is why I say we put New Orleans in Kansas.

What do you say, Kansas? Put down your hoes and come meet some. Welcome New Orleans to the land that fun forgot. An infusion of color and gayness in the dry Kansas plain. Why, it'll be as if they shot "The Wizard of Oz" on location. You're going to love it! New Orleans is one of the great towns. It's my kind of town, an outpost of free living and sophistication in a sea of - well, now, sea.

You can't tell me that the giant swath of red America that Kansas sits in the middle of wouldn't benefit from thousands of insane Creoles who understand that hangovers only happen to people foolish enough to stop drinking. I read this week that the strippers have gone back to work in New Orleans. They don't even have clothes, and already they're taking them off. Kansas could use some of that spirit.

It could use some jazz, some blues...some blacks. The people of New Orleans are the most tolerant of all Americans. I mean, for Christ's sake, they put up with Anne Rice! And as an extra bonus, they're French, and that'll really piss off Bush. When the French land right in the middle of Bob Dole's Viagra farm.

So, don't think of it as a million-and-a-half black people moving in next door. Think of it as the "March of the Penguins." Only, you know, with a million-and-a-half black people.

Yes, I see a shining city on a plain. New Orleans, Kansas. Where people are learning. They're learning that a gay pride parade isn't something to fear; it's something to laugh at. So what do you say, Kansas? They need a home. You need to get the stick out of your ass. It's a win-win! Come on, Kansas, show some curiosity, show some compassion.

But most of all, show us your tits!!”

--Bill Maher (HBO).

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 02:48 PM CST [link] [ | ]

What next? Bake sales?

Bush has apparently been passing the hat to help pay for his Mess In Mesopotamia:

An extraordinary appeal to Americans from the Bush administration for money to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq has raised only $600 (£337), The Observer has learnt. Yet since the appeal was launched earlier this month, donations to rebuild New Orleans have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars.

The public's reluctance to contribute much more than the cost of two iPods to the administration's attempt to offer citizens 'a further stake in building a free and prosperous Iraq' has been seized on by critics as evidence of growing ambivalence over that country.

...

It is understood to be the first time that a US government has made an appeal to taxpayers for foreign aid money. Contributors have no way of knowing who will receive their donations or even where they may go, after officials said details had be kept secret for security reasons.

Millions for Katrina aid, but hundreds for Iraq?

Makes sense to me.

But is it just me, or does anyone else remember when Bush and his handlers were telling us that the war would pay for itself, with all those "liberated" Iraq oil revenues?

Len on 09.26.05 @ 12:36 PM CST [link] [ | ]

"Congratulations" to the San Diego Padres, for making baseball history....

According to Billy-Ball email newsletter, the Padres are are the first team to lead an MLB division with a losing record in September.

Sandy Alderson, San Diego's CEO and minority owner, points out, "To me, it will be one more of those esoteric statistics, one more of those historic footnotes that make baseball so great, because it is unpredictable. This is something that happens once every 30 years," Alderson said. "It's an unusual situation. Would it be better if we were one of the other four teams in the division at the end of the year? I don't think so. I'd rather be a footnote to history than not in history at all."

In a later entry, Mr. Ball continues:

DID YOU KNOW?
How good are the 2005 Cardinals? When St. Louis snapped its three-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory yesterday in Milwaukee, they ended their longest losing streak of the season. In the Cardinals' 114-year history (1892-2005), they have never played an entire season without a losing streak of at least four games.

I just hope he didn't jinx the Cards by mentioning that. If they lose four in a row this week (five more left to go; two against Houston Tuesday and Wednesday, and then a weekend series against Cincinnati, so that's not likely), I'll come after him.

:-)

Len on 09.26.05 @ 12:02 PM CST [link] [ | ]

What's in a Word (Choice) ??

George and Mrs. Malaprop:

"It is difficult to listen to George Bush speak and not think of Mrs. Malaprop, a very memorable character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals, who had the habit of substituting contextually inappropriate words that often bear a certain (usually phonetic) similarity to an appropriate one. Another word that springs immediately to consciousness when thinking of characters in novels and George Bush is "falstaffian," which originated from the name, Sir John Falstaff, who was a character in Henry IV, Parts I and II, and The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare. This character is famous for saying, "Discretion is the better part of valor" (because it saves ones life).

President Bush definitely took heed of Falstaff's advice when he joined the National Guard during the Vietnam War. Let's focus, however, on possible accounts of President Bush's propensity to use contextually inappropriate words. I can think of four. Bush is a Nitwit; Bush is an Ignoramus; Bush is a Sociopath; and Bush may have some sort of speech disorder, perhaps a mild case of anomia.

George Bush has come up with some fairly amazing malapropisms, some of which are presented at the web site, Fun-With-Words, which provides examples from others as well.

(1) "I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well."

(2) "Natural gas is hemispheric... because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."

(3) "The law I sign today directs new funds... to the task of collecting vital intelligence... on weapons of mass production."

(4) "Oftentimes, we live in a processed world, you know, people focus on the process and not results."
The question arises as to why George Bush makes so many such mistakes. One hypothesis is that he is a nitwit who is controlled by right wing zealots who do their best to protect him from himself by keeping him as far away from microphones as possible.

One might argue that this is hard to square with his Yale bachelor's degree and his MBA from Harvard. These are prestigious schools. The fact is, however, that a school like Yale has historically been a lot harder to get into than to get out of. But, if Yale is hard to get into, how did George Bush get in? It is clear that he got into Yale as a legacy admittee. According to the New Yorker magazine (I am quoting from a secondary source) Bush's verbal and math SAT scores were 180 points below the median for Yale, which suggests he may not have gotten in on his merits. But, of course, Ivy League schools are notorious for accepting legacy applicants because this encourages rich alums to give money to grease the admission wheels. Bush admitted he was a legacy entrant when he once replied to a question, saying, "I thought you were referring to my legacy," Bush said. "In my case, I had to knock on a lot of doors to follow the old man."

Once in, Bush had it made for Ivy league schools are also notoriously easy to get out of. In the 90's, the graduation rate at Yale was in the mid-90's. Maybe they have gotten lax, but I doubt it. So, it is reasonable to assume that President Bush not only eased into Yale, but he eased out as well. He was certainly not a very good student, saying himself in a Yale commencement ceremony, "To the C students I say, you, too, can be president of the United States."

It is alleged that George Bush was also a legacy admittee to the Harvard Business School as well, my source being the the article referred to that itself makes reference to the New Yorker. Certainly, someone who was not just a C student at Yale but also was in the 21st percentile of his class and who had never worked in business would not normally be admitted to the Harvard Business School. I have no data on how hard it is to graduate from the HBS.

So, the Nitwit Thesis has some legs as an account of Bush's propensity to misspeak. However, getting bad grades and getting into major private universities (dare I mention the National Guard as well?) because of who is father is, is not proof that President Bush is stupid -- that Karl Rove, as is believed by some, is Bush's Brain. Many perfectly intelligent people have skated through academia with bad grades but performed excellently in the post-graduate world.

There is a closely related thesis that might explain Bush's malapropisms and this is that he is simply ignorant -- this his education at Yale and Harvard fell on deaf ears. There is a good reason Ms. Condaleza Rice joined him as he tried to prepare to be President: he knew little or nothing about the world. And one characteristic of an ignorant person is that he or she will butcher the language in the process of trying to express himself or herself on matters of some complexity. I am myself reduced to false starts, monosyllables, and speaking with my hands when trying to communicate with carpenters, for instance. In my book on The Language of Politics (now going for the alarming price of $230 -- don't buy it at that price!!!) I discussed some problems President Reagan had with the language when speaking extemporaneously. In his case, I suspected he routinely did not understand the policies of his administration. Since I don't actually know what Bush did or didn't know at any given time, I won't pursue this Bush is an Ignoramus hypothesis attractive though it may be to some.

There is one particularly scary theory of the origin of Bush's malapropisms, and this is that Bush is a sociopath who is verbally facile when speaking of violence and punishment but falls apart when he comes to domestic policies. This Sociopath Thesis is due to Mark Crispin Miller in his book, The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder. One can find a discussion of Miller's thesis in a Toronto Star story by Murray Whyte. This is an amazing thesis but Miller is not alone in holding it. Now, I can believe that most Right Wing zealots are sociopaths to a degree. How else can one explain their utter lack of empathy with those who exist in poverty and suffer from the psychologically damaging and economically limiting effects of racial and ethnic and other forms of prejudice? But the claim that Bush is a sociopath wants some proving. Since Miller's thesis is predicated on a contrast in fluency when talking about violence and when talking about such things as domestic policy, all it would take to knock down the argument is some examples of Bush waxing malapropistically when discussing war, violence, punishment, and the like. In fact, example (3) above would seem to be a case. But the principle underlying Miller's thesis is totally nutty, namely that if a person P is reduced to malaprops and other forms of gibberish when discussing topics of Type T1 but is fluent when discussing topics of Type T2, then there will be a psychological disorder that accounts for the fluency in discussing topics of Type T2.

I have long observed a person who was employed by a radio station in a city I once lived in whose verbal skills were even worse than Bush's. When he talked about sports, especially his favorite sports, he was typically reasonably fluent. But when the show drifted to topics within the sociology of sports verbal errors came flying out of his mouth at an alarming rate. Over time, he improved. He now has a national gig where his focus is exclusively on football and he does reasonably well. There are momentary problems but he is a competent and popular analyst. Now, is this person stupid? I am inclined to think that he isn't because he has a sophisticated understanding of the complexities of American football -- and believe me when I say that that knowledge is not easily acquired. He has a college degree as well but, as we all know, that means nothing but that the person is persistent. Suppose, then, that we move on to a hypothesis along the lines of Miller's Sociopath Thesis for Bush for this sports analyst. The problem is that there is no psychological disorder that can be associated with great verbal facility when talking football, but a lot of verbal blundering when talking about such things as the sociology of sports.

This presents a bit of a problem with Miller's thesis since what is good for the goose (a psychological account of Bush's differential verbal skills) is good for the gander (a psychological account of our sport's personality's differential verbal skills).

There is another possibility that would cover both Bush and the sports analyst and this is that they suffer from some sort of verbal disorder that leads them to be exhibit a certain amount of anomia especially in contexts in which their knowledge is limited to some degree or the person is under stress (i. e., speaking to thousands or even millions of people). I have absolutely no evidence for this but it is the hypothesis that scares me the least. I would much rather believe that Bush has mild anomia than that he is stupid, ignorant, or a sociopath.

I am not an expert on this but if any can direct me to an expert's discussion of this possibility I would appreciate it."

The Language Guy.

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 11:33 AM CST [link] [ | ]

This week Mad Kane finds her muse....

in Judge John Roberts, with a couple poems about why it was (is) important actively to oppose Roberts's nomination, and about Roberts's failure to recuse himself from the Hamdan decision (interviewing with the bAdministration for an important judicial post while a decision to which the bAdministration was a party was pending before him, a fairly clear violation of judicial ethics).

Audio available, of course.

Len on 09.26.05 @ 10:07 AM CST [link] [ | ]

I’m Swiss…

Is the title of the latest Bill Maher one-man show he is performing live at various venues.

We had the opportunity to have some great seats (3rd center) to see him this past Saturday, September 24th, at the Hemmen’s Center in Elgin, Il.

Here’s the program background information on Bill:

It was a Hilariously Funnie show and had some of his new material about the current political stuff over the bAdmin and the Hurricane Disaster.

A couple memorable jokes were his “White-lingo translations” of Black Rap songs. A Howl.

Then was a new airline company he’d like to see created called “Fly At Your Own Risk Airlines.” Where one could have your toenail clippers, your pocket knives, your guns, razor blades and box cutters. You get passed right on through the metal detectors, NO hassles. On the back of your ticket, the FAYOR airline “Waiver Policy” for liability consists of two words – SHIT HAPPENS. Bill reckons we’d be just about as safe under this set of rules than the ones currently in place…and get to our destinations faster and more efficiently. *teehee*

All in all, it was an entertaining evening for political humor. Thanks Bill Maher – Keep ‘em Coming!!!

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 09:25 AM CST [link] [ | ]

This says something significant....

Of course, crowd estimation is a bit of an "art" (read: wild-assed guessing), but a disparity of numbers of this magnitude isn't easy to fudge:

100,000 anti-war protesters.

"Hundreds" of pro-war "counter demonstrators" (the story notes, "far fewer than organizers had expected." Well, if the organizers and their ilk would get their minds back in the real world, instead of the fantasy world they occupy where they seem to think we're "winning" in Iraq, maybe they'd have come up with a more accurate estimate).

Thanks to Bryan for the pointers.

Len on 09.26.05 @ 09:21 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A Birthday Legend...

“One of the nation's folk legends was a real person John Chapman, far better known as Johnny Appleseed thought to have been born on -September 26th -in 1774 in Massachusetts.

For almost 50 years, he roamed the wilderness, devotedly planting apple trees and even whole orchards in a five- state region from Pennsylvania to Indiana. He slept outdoors, walked barefoot and carried no weapons. His clothes were made from sacks, and his hat was a tin pot, which he used for cooking.

For his gentleness and courage, he was respected by both American Indians and settlers. Some of his trees are still bearing fruit. For well over two centuries, Americans have loved apples.

We each eat 16 pounds of apples a year an amount topped only by bananas.

US News Wire.

Yummy apples.

:-)

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 08:12 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Banned Book Week...

“The world of ideas has always been a contentious one but from its beginning, the U.S. has been a leader in protecting freedom of expression and access to the widest possible range of ideas.

This concept is being reinforced by both Banned Books Week and Library Card Sign- up Month.

Very few books are actually banned, but many are the subject of moves to restrict public access to them. Among the most challenged authors recently are Toni Morrison, Robert Cormier and Maurice Sendak.

There are more than 32-thousand libraries across the nation, about half of them open to the public. Most of the remainder specialize, such as law and medicine or belong to colleges and universities.

US News Wire.

Maurice Sendak??? Oh yeah, let’s ban one of my favorite author’s subversive books for children-- like “Where the Wild Things Are”, or maybe his poems like “Chicken Soup With Rice.”

Phuleeease!!!

:-(

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 08:05 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Why schools may want to curb grade inflation....

Well, it worked for Yale, didn't it? :-) From Ironic Times:

Princeton Cuts Number of A's Given to Students Down to 41%
Hopes lower grades will produce a future president.

And from their sports "pages":

Barry Bonds Poised to Pass Babe Ruth
Only record Ruth still holds is Total Hot Dogs Consumed, 60 (for a nine-inning game).

Len on 09.26.05 @ 07:40 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

One of the first things that strikes you about baseball, especially compared to other sports, is the sheer volume of it. Last year alone there were 2,464 games, 188,519 plate appearances, and well over half a million pitches thrown. Most of these situations were probably pretty boring, very much like one another. The thrill, however, is when the unexpected slips through the cracks.
--Brian Gunn

Len on 09.26.05 @ 07:05 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Lethal Consequences of Washington's Power Structure...

“For the politically curious seeking entertainment, I'd like to propose two new trivia games: "Find the Brownie" and "Two Degrees of Jack Abramoff."

The objective in Find the Brownie is to find an obscure but important government job held by someone whose only apparent qualifications for that job are political loyalty and personal connections. …

…Two Degrees of Jack Abramoff is inspired by the remarkable centrality of Mr. Abramoff, who was indicted last month on charges of fraud, in Washington's power structure.

The goal isn't to find important political players who were chummy with Mr. Abramoff - that's too easy. Instead, you have to find people linked by employment. One degree of Jack Abramoff is someone who actually worked for the lobbyist. Two degrees is a powerful Washington figure who hired someone who formerly worked for Mr. Abramoff, or who had one of his own former employees go to work for Mr. Abramoff.
….
O.K., enough joking. The point of my games - which are actually research programs for enterprising journalists - is that all the scandals now surfacing are linked. Something is rotten in the state of the U.S. government. And the lesson of Hurricane Katrina is that a culture of cronyism and corruption can have lethal consequences.”

-- Paul Krugman

And these *consequences* are no longer mere "conjecture" as the price of Bad Governance, but paid dearly by the Citizens of NOLA in their Blood and their Lives from their children, sisters, husbands, cousins, aunts, and loved ones. The Criminal Imcompetence of this bAdmin can not and should not be IGNORED.

To read the full piece, click on the "more" button.

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 06:26 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

About Those Expectations...

"Throughout his campaigns in 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush talked about "the soft bigotry of low expectations": the mind-set that tolerates poor school performance and dead-end careers for minority students on the presumption that they are incapable of doing better. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said recently that this phrase attracted her to Mr. Bush more than anything else.

It was, indeed, a brilliant encapsulation of so much of what is wrong with American education. But while Mr. Bush has been worrying about low expectations in schools, he's been ratcheting the bar downward himself on almost everything else.

The president's recent schedule of nonstop disaster-scene photo-ops is reminiscent of the principal of a failing school who believes he's doing a great job because he makes it a point to drop in on every class play and teacher retirement party. And if there ever was an exhibit of the misguided conviction that for some people very little is good enough, it's the current administration spin that the proposed Iraqi constitution is fine because the founding fathers didn't give women equal rights either.
…
Since his failure to notice the Katrina disaster, Mr. Bush has stopped bragging that he doesn't read or watch the news. If he's paying attention now, he should get a message from the outrage over Katrina and shrinking support for his policies in Iraq: The American public has much higher expectations than he does for the president and his government."

NY Times Op-Ed: Hard Bigotry of No Expectations

Karen on 09.26.05 @ 05:43 AM CST [link] [ | ]

As if the alligators in the streets of N'awlins weren't bad enough....

We may be seeing more fatalities resulting from animals being set loose by Hurricane Katrina:

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Well, I suppose it could be worse. They could be "sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads".

Len on 09.25.05 @ 01:05 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

My strongest impression, however, happened before the game. Great American Ball Park is a nice, though now overly common, place to see a ball game. I think from the upper decks you can get a good view of the river and John Roebling's practice run for the Brooklyn Bridge. But as I walked to the stadium, I was struck by the ugly vacant lot immediately next to GABP. In fact it was so bad that I have an idea for a new website called uglyvacantlots.com. The lot is concrete infested with two-foot high weeds and the usual trash of paper cups, empty two liter bottles and plastic bags. There were some big puddles left over from Tuesday's rain and some huge concrete barriers just lying around for no reason.

Of course what makes the lot especially sad is that piece of land was once occupied by Riverfront Stadium, home to the Big Red Machine. For various reasons I hated that stadium, but it had the kind of history that's difficult to replace. Couldn't they at least treat it better than that?
--Rob@The Birdwatch [www.thebirdwatch.com]

Len on 09.25.05 @ 09:50 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Did Bill Frist's Blind Trust regain its eyesight?

Or, more likely, was it never really blind to begin with? From the AP: Frist Knew About Blind Trust Investments

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was updated several times about his investments in blind trusts during 2002, the last time two weeks before he publicly denied any knowledge of what was in the accounts, documents show.

The updates included stock transactions involving HCA Inc., the hospital operating company founded by Frist's family.

...

Frist sold his HCA stock from several blind trusts this summer, at a time when insiders in the company also were selling off shares worth $112 million from January through June. Frist aides say he sold his stock to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

Frist, asked in a television interview in January 2003 whether he should sell his HCA stock, responded: "Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock"

Frist, referring to his trust and those of his family, also said in the interview, "I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea."

Yeah, riiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhtttttttt.....

Len on 09.24.05 @ 01:56 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yuk o'the Day:

From a commenter at Democratic Veteran:

Donald Rumsfeld is giving President Bush his daily briefing, and concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident"

"Oh No", the President exclaims. "That's terrible".

His staff sit there, stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President slumps, head in hands. Finally the President looks up and asks...

"How many is a brazillion?"

Len on 09.24.05 @ 01:36 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Is "endangering America" an impeachable offense?

Probably not, alas.

As our problems with Islamic jihadism and terrorism get worse, Larry Johnson reminds us who bears a large part (not all, granted) of the blame:

George Bush got it partially right yesterday (Thursday, September 22) when he said that mistakes made by three of his predecessors, including the Reagan administration, had emboldened terrorists and helped set the stage for the Sept. 11 attacks. Unfortunately he ignored the role his own actions have played in making terrorism worse and pushing the Middle East to the brink of a new war. Instead, the President blindly insisted that he is taking America on the right path in Iraq to confront the threat of terrorism. On that point he is wrong; dead wrong.

Why is he wrong? The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is doing the exact opposite of what Bush says U.S. policy was supposed to achieve:

• Instead of reducing terrorism, Islamic terrorism is spreading dramatically.

• Instead of winning new supporters for democracy, the war in Iraq is spurring the recruitment and training radical jihadists.

• Instead of creating a “City on the Hill” that other nations in the Middle East will emulate, Iraq is fissuring and setting the stage for a regional ethnic and religious civil war.

...

Before George Bush tries to pick the splinter out of the eyes of his father, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan, he may want to spend some time removing the huge beam lodged in his iris.

Len on 09.24.05 @ 12:52 PM CST [link] [ | ]

They are all @#%$@&%

The Autoegocrat has a well done diatribe about just WHY these kinds of people (what ever their political stripe) aren’t just bad -- But EVIL.

“…But for the representative of a city with the highest bankruptcy rate in the nation to vote "yea" on that bill is downright criminal.

In addition to having the number one personal bankrupcy rate, Memphis is also home to the single most shameful statistic in the nation. There is only one statistic that could be worse than the murder rate, and in this regard Memphis leads the nation in shame.

Memphis has the highest infant mortality rate in America.

Let me repeat that.

More babies die in Memphis than anywhere else in the country.

Do you think that the two statistics are unrelated? Think again.

The CDC finds that "for infants born to women living in poverty in the United States in 1988, overall excess mortality risk was approximately 60% compared with infants born to women living above the poverty level."

Kinda dovetails into this video piece: “You’re an Asshole”.

[Hat tip to skippy the bush kangaroo.]

These are the "value of life" folks who extole the fetal virtues of zygotes to the HILT and yet ALLOW the poverty and deaths of thousands -- I'm not sorry to say; They are EVIL -- down to the their very Black, Hypocritical Heart of Hearts. EVIL through and through.

Karen on 09.24.05 @ 11:47 AM CST [link] [ | ]

"Deficits Don't Matter" Binge Soon to be OVER

“...As most economists will tell you, one way or another, a "real" (that is, supply-side) shock like Katrina is going to lower living standards, and that consequence cannot be easily or safely suppressed with fiscal or monetary policy. The Fed appears to understand this. But the Bush administration apparently intends to cover the costs of Katrina by borrowing more, rather than by raising taxes or cutting other spending to a correspondingly large degree. In other words, it continues to believe that deficit spending is a free lunch that imposes no costs on the economy -- and that the government, maintaining other programs and keeping taxes low throughout, can simply spend its way out of trouble.

This sounds too good to be true, and it is. Yes, deficit spending is often a good way to stabilize a turbulent economy, or to spread the cost of large investments over time -- but those valuable services do not come free. And remember that Katrina has further tightened an already restricted supply of energy; in those circumstances, the stabilizing role of fiscal policy is severely compromised anyway.

…This has been going on for years, officials point out. Why should it ever stop?

It is a fair question. Actually, it will stop, it must stop: Present fiscal trends are literally incapable of continuing indefinitely. The question is whether the pattern will break gently and over an extended period, or violently and suddenly. Will it be a Category 1 economic adjustment, or a Category 5? Confronting a risk of this sort, as with hurricanes, it makes sense to follow the old advice to hope for the best and plan for the worst
.
But why, you might ask, must there be any such adjustment? Why can't the trends just roll on perpetually? Mainly because of the implications for the country's external finances. This week, the Institute for International Economics published a detailed new study by William R. Cline, The United States as a Debtor Nation. It is the most thorough and up-to-date look at the issue. Cline's analysis is alarming enough, even though Katrina came too late to be taken fully into account. It is to be hoped that somebody with influence in Washington is paying attention.”

Clive Crook (National Journal).

Karen on 09.24.05 @ 09:38 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

I'm just happy there's never been a collision between [Mark] Grudzielanek and Doug Mientkiewicz. The fallout would look like alphabet soup.
--Will Carroll ["Under the Knife", Baseball Prospectus]

Len on 09.24.05 @ 08:45 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Stormy Weather...

This is a GEM of a quote from Maureen Dowd (NY Times) today:

" On Wednesday, Stormy tried to make one of his strained linkages, this time with Katrina and terror. The terrorists, he said, were "the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it," while he is the kind of person who looks at Katrina and tries to energize himself to deal with natural disasters by thinking, What if this had been done by terrorists?

On Thursday, he tried to move past the image he had projected of a lost boy wandering alone in the storm, and stood at the Pentagon flanked by his war council, talking about how he was moving to "develop a secure, safe democracy in Iraq." Unfortunately, the Saudi foreign minister was in town dropping a bomblet by saying that Iraq was going down the tubes, a judgment other Sunni Arab leaders had been conveying privately."

Click on the "more" button to read this piece in full.

:-)

Karen on 09.24.05 @ 08:43 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Speaking of those Public Rest Rooms

Ooops: ~~Len~~ Brock forgot to mention that the MAIN Point of the bathroom study is that Men are dirtier than women.

;-)

"So scientists confirmed by spying in public restrooms, watching as one-quarter of men left without washing their hands.

Wednesday's results mark the American Society of Microbiology's latest look at how many people take what is considered the single easiest step to staying healthy: spending 20 seconds rubbing with soap under the faucet.

It also explains why these infection experts tend to use paper towels to open bathroom doors. There is no telling what germs the person before you left on the knob..."

But today the NY Times reports A Long Wait for Public Toilets to be built for Public use in NY.

Click on the "more" button to read further.

Karen on 09.24.05 @ 08:35 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Braves fans are disgusting slobs

Last month, the research company Harris interactive monitored public restrooms across the nation, surreptitiously taking counts of how many people washed their hands after using the restroom. I found this entirely unsurprising:

The worst hygiene was at Atlanta's Turner Field baseball stadium, where 37 percent of men left the bathroom without washing, and 16 percent of the women did.

Other findings from the study:

New York's Penn Station had the biggest gender disparity, where 64 percent of men washed their hands compared with 92 percent of women. Grand Central Station was almost as bad.
The best hygiene was at San Francisco's Ferry Terminal Farmers Market and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and Shedd Aquarium, where only about 12 percent of people left without washing.

Brock on 09.23.05 @ 07:16 PM CST [link] [ | ]

My sentiments, exactly....

Josh Schulz perfectly expresses some thoughts I've had in less perfect form: Those Stupid Little Magnets. The inspiration for Josh's post comes from Fred Clark at Slactivist, who has a modest proposal for encouraging at least some of us to show some real support for "The War President"'s mess in Mesopotamia:

The War Bonds poster above comes from the fascinating, and inspiring, collection of WWII posters at Northwestern University. Go over and browse through this collection. It's a portrait of a different time and a different world. Every American was, at some level -- and usually a level involving sacrifice -- engaged in the war effort. People on the homefront invested whatever they could spare in war bonds. They lived with rationing and recycled everything.

That's not the case now. If you're not enlisted in America's military, you're not involved in the war in Iraq. You have neither the obligation, nor the opportunity to contribute to or sacrifice for the war effort. And your president insists that this is the way it should be.

The American public does not today have the character to support a new war bonds effort. (We don't have the savings, either, since most of us are in debt up to our eyeballs. Our national savings rate is negative -- and likely headed down once the housing bubble bursts. But bracket that for now.)

So here's a modest proposal for a remedial first step: Have the USO start selling "official" versions of those @#&$ "Support the Troops" magnets. Full-sized ones would cost, say, $500. Smaller ones would cost $100. Whenever you spotted someone with one of the unofficial magnets, you'd be justified -- even obliged -- to mock them as a freeloading, fair-weather patriot until finally they were shamed into putting their money where their tailpipe is.

The USO's budget, of course, has little to do with the actual cost of the war. But at least this would ensure that "the troops" would benefit from the intangible, ineffectual "support" which now seems so widespread, smug and shallow. And by reconnecting patriotism with the idea of making a contribution it might help to reshape our national character so that we might, once again, be capable of something like a war bonds effort.

Len on 09.23.05 @ 07:04 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Do We Deserve the Answers?

Dan Froomkin (WaPo):

“White House Briefing reader J. Harley McIlrath of Grinnell, Iowa, e-mailed me yesterday some insightful questions about just one sentence of Bush's speech.

In fact, his questions about that one sentence alone were more penetrating and important than any of the coverage I read of Bush's whole speech this morning.

The sentence from Bush: "The only way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve and abandon the mission."

McIlrath wrote:

"1. Who are 'the terrorists?' He's talking about Iraq. Are 'the insurgents' also 'the terrorists?' Has Bush ever defined just who 'the terrorists' are?

"2. What would constitute a 'win' for the terrorists? What do they want? Do we know? Has Bush ever asked himself what 'the terrorists' want and whether or not it's reasonable? Tactics aside, what do they want? Don't tell me 'they hate freedom.'

"3. What constitutes 'losing our nerve?' Is it losing one's nerve to pull resources back from an ineffectual approach and apply them to an approach that is more promising? How many times in WWII did we pull resources off one front to reinforce another?

"4. What is 'the mission.' Can we abandon a 'mission' that has never been defined? To quote George Harrison: If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.

"Imagine if the press corps took this one short sentence and forced Bush to define his terms."

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 04:52 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Time to Impeach "the Messenger"

And for those "Remorse Buyers" to do their part by voting OUT this GOP majority in the next election. Then can there be a Full Investigation into this bAdministration and that long deferred "Accountability Moment" Paid in Full via an Impeachment of this entire grossly incompetent crew.

It's our very lives and safety as a Nation which is ON THE LINE.

What to do about the Bush problem by Robert Parry [Hat tip to The Smirking Chimp]:

“The stark question now before the country is: Should it sit still for the next three-plus years of George W. Bush’s presidency or demand accountability, including possibly the removal of him and his political team from office?

Though it’s true that impeachment of both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney would be an extreme step, this constitutional option must be judged against the alternative of a continued national leadership that is facing worsening crises while known for a trademark refusal to admit mistakes or to make meaningful adjustments to its policies.

Over and over, Bush has made clear that he has no intention to reverse himself on any of his core decisions, which include the Iraq War, tax cuts weighted toward the upper incomes, tolerance of record budget deficits and rejection of the chief international agreement on global warming, the Kyoto Treaty. (Bush even questions the overwhelming scientific consensus on global warming.)

So, the hard choice is whether the country would be better off starting this political battle now with an eye toward a change in control of Congress in 2006 or simply waiting for the next presidential election in 2008.
….

Future historians will face the task of explaining how and why the world's supreme nation of the late 20th Century - at the height of its power and affluence - put itself into this fix. Why were the reins of national power turned over to a man who possessed so few qualifications for the job? [For my perspective on how it happened, see Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq.]

But the more immediate question for Americans now is what to do next. Should the nation drift for three-plus years while Bush and his allies continue their strategy of consolidating political power (in large part by installing likeminded individuals in the federal judiciary)? Or should the country begin, as best it can, demanding accountability?

For the second option to be viable, however, a number of changes would be necessary.

1. Bush's critics must finally take seriously the need to build a media infrastructure that can explain to a broad cross-section of the American people why they should strip the Republicans of control of Congress in 2006. While progressive talk radio and liberal Internet bloggers have advanced this process, more resources would be needed if the nation's current media imbalance, heavily tilted to the Right, is to be corrected.

2. The Democrats must lay out a national vision for Election 2006 that is based on the principle of public accountability, not just a potpourri of issues aimed at finessing their way to incremental gains. The Democrats would need to make clear that they want a decisive congressional majority so they can investigate the Bush administration - and act on whatever wrongdoing is discovered.

3. The part of the American electorate that is outraged by Bush's actions over the past five years must get engaged in the political process and show both consistency and toughness. If the nation's future is indeed at stake, then the intensity of the political participation must match the importance of the goals.

Even with these steps, the task of holding the Bush administration accountable would be daunting. The conventional wisdom may well be right, that the idea of impeaching Bush and Cheney is simply unrealistic.

After all, the Right possesses a huge media infrastructure built over the past three decades and now rivaling the mainstream (or corporate) media in political influence. Despite some recent cracks, the Republicans have long demonstrated a lock-step discipline, especially when the party's institutional power is threatened. Much of Bush's base also remains intensely loyal, with some viewing him as a messenger from God.”

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 01:52 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Living at Dennis Hastert Corner...

How could I resist this GEM of a funnie by Corey Anderson:

"Speaker of the House takes to carrying kittens around in an effort to boost Republican poll numbers.

"In the face of sagging poll numbers, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has begun traveling everywhere with a box of newborn kittens. Hastert hopes their little cries and crazy antics will distract reporters from confronting him on issues regarding the deficit, Tom Delay, no-bid Halliburton contracts, Valerie Plame, Iraq, the Social Security overhaul, and the slow response to Hurricane Katrina.

This is the speaker's second box of kittens.

He lent the first box to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and they were never heard from again."

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 01:30 PM CST [link] [ | ]

If you thought the WotW Rain of Red Gore was Awful...

Check out this literal "Raining of Red Ink":

Max B. Sawicky, over at Max Speaks; You listen!, has posted this piece on EPI: Red ink rising.

"A new Congressional Budget Office analysis offers a clearer picture of the federal budget challenges ahead. Under its plausible assumptions, current Bush administration policies will likely produce high and persistent deficits, a scenario that is quite different from both the baseline projections reported by the Congressional Budget Office and the administration's own budget projections. The baseline figures are prepared according to procedures set by law.

The problem is that in recent years legislation has been deliberately written to defeat the purpose of the projections by stipulating decreases in spending and increases in taxes that are unlikely to occur. Bush budget projections fall prey to the same problem. In addition, the Bush numbers do not include certain of the administration's commitments, such as the costs of switching part of Social Security to private accounts. Hence these budget estimates understate the cost of implementing the president's policy goals. The new estimate, prepared by the CBO at the request of ranking minority member of the House Budget Committee John M. Spratt Jr. (D-NC), shows a far clearer picture that includes the costs omitted from the other two projections.

Spratt requested estimates under the following assumptions:

a) the Bush tax cuts are made permanent (as the administration has committed to do);
b) the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is not allowed to continue to increase automatically because its standard deduction is not indexed to inflation (no politician has proposed a way to fix the AMT);
c) the president's plan for privatizing Social Security is enacted;
d) the president's spending proposals are enacted and extended through FY2015; and
e) spending in Iraq and Afghanistan decreases gradually.

The Spratt numbers do not include any spending related to Hurricane Katrina, so for that reason, they understate likely deficits to some extent.
...
Under the more realistic Spratt scenario, the ratio of debt to GDP rises to 46.5% by 2015, from the current level of 37.7%. If foreign investors and governments balk at continuing to lend as much in the future as at present, the economy will face major challenges for which Bush policies leave the nation completely unprepared.

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 01:18 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Bill Nye and Other Meteorologists...

I haven’t said much about the issue of the warmth of the Gulf Waters and the Temperature eddies of heat as responsible for the increased wind velocity and dangers that build a hurricane from a Category 1,2 or 3 into a 4 or a 5. And WHY those waters are warmer than historical norms...

But last night was an interesting graphic depiction of this effect on CNN Larry King Live show about Hurricane Rita Threatens Texas/Louisiana Coast.

I can’t get the graphic image, but if I find a video of this show, I will add it to this partial transcript of that information.

Click on the “more” button to read these excerpts from that discussion. [Emphasis is mine to highlight that specific portion of the transcript.]

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 12:20 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation aisle....

Both HCA and Senator Bill Frist's office have confirmed that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York are investigating Frist's recent "lucky" sale of his holdings in HCA (a hospital operating company founded by Frist's father, and in which Frist family members still own a stake and participate in management, for those of you who haven't been following):

In a statement released Friday, the company said federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York issued a subpoena for documents HCA believes are related to the sale of its stock by the senator.

Frist's office confirmed the Securities and Exchange Commission is also looking into the sale.

"Not surprisingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission contacted Senator Frist's office after the story appeared in the press about the sale of his Hospital Corporation of America stock," Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson said in an e-mail. "The majority leader will provide the SEC any information that it needs with respect to this matter."

Surely, Frist wouldn't be guilty of illegal insider trading, eh? Unfortunately, the basic facts certainly seem a bit suspicious.

HCA, the nation's largest for-profit hospital company, was founded by Frist's father. His brother was formerly its CEO and chairman and remains on the board of directors.

Frist asked a trustee to sell all his HCA stock in June, near a 52-week stock price peak of $58.40 and at the same time HCA insiders were selling off shares. Reports to the SEC showed insiders sold about 2.3 million shares, worth about $112 million, from January through June, said Mark LoPresti of Thomson Financial.

The sale came about two weeks before the company issued a disappointing earnings forecast that drove its stock price down almost 16% by mid-July. They still have not recovered, closing Thursday at $45.90.

Len on 09.23.05 @ 11:56 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Credit where credit is due, I suppose....

At least Junior finally got around to signing on as cosponsor of H.R. 3763, the bill to overturn the Gulf Coast Wage Cut.

So I'm only back to my original list of reasons not to vote for him. I'll muddle through the decision somehow.

Len on 09.23.05 @ 11:46 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

"I got a letter from the Republican Party the other day. I wrote back, 'Go fuck yourself.'" She then added, "George Bush is a fan of mine -- he came to see me in the Seventies. His coke dealer brought him."
--Bette Midler, at the recent "From The Big Apple to The Big Easy" hurricane relief concert

Len on 09.23.05 @ 11:43 AM CST [link] [ | ]

I agree completely....

From Bryan at Why Now?:

Why We Should Tax The Rich Until They Qualify For Food Stamps

We absolutely can't instill common sense in these people, so we have to confiscate their money for their own good and the good of society.

South of Pensacola there is a barrier island named Perdido Key. The island keeps getting sliced and diced by storms, and not just major hurricanes. Unlike other barrier islands where you lease land and there is an authority to limit what you can do, Perdido Key is owned by private individuals and the most the government can do is strictly enforce building codes and then send in the front loaders to scrape up the debris that started as houses from the public right-of-way.

As CBS reports nothing stops development. Every time someone's house is deposited in a landfill, developers rush in to build another high-rise luxury building.

With penthouses selling for $1 million+, it is obvious that some people have too much money and need to be separated from it for their own good. Escambia County can't make enough in taxes to pay the costs associated with having to provide services to the island. With more and more people living on it, evacuating it is a major problem.

Len on 09.23.05 @ 11:38 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thank what powers that be that someone....

will stand up to Bill "Loofa Man" O'Reilly on his own show. Kudos to Phil Donahue (a favorite here in Memphis. owing to his relationship to Marlo Thomas and, of course, Memphis's favorite charity, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital (which Marlo's father, Danny Thomas, founded)).

DONAHUE: You are part of a loud group of people who wanna prove they're tough ...

O'REILLY (shifts angrily in his chair, under his breath): Aw fer ...

DONAHUE: ... and send other people's kids to war to make the case.

O'REILLY (very loud): You have no clue ...

DONAHUE: This ..

O'REILLY: ... about how to fight a war on terror or how to defend your country. You are clueless! So is Miss Sheehan and for Miss Sheehan to say that the insurgents have a right to kill Americans and you're shakin' her hand! You oughta just walk away.

DONHUE (quieter): How many more young men and women are you gonna send to have their arms and legs blown off ...

O'REILY: Hey, this is a war on terror!

DONAHUE: ... so that you can be tough (points his finger at O'Reilly) and point at people in a kind of cowardly way..

O'REILLY (disgusted, under his breath): Oh, yeah.

DONHUE: Take people like Jeremy Glick who comes on to - in memory of his parents ...

O'REILLY: Oh bull.

DONAHUE: ... and you go off on him.

O'REILLY: Jeremy Glick accu ...

DONAHUE: ... like a big bully.

And my favorite Donahue jab at Loofa Man:

DONAHUE: Loud doesn't mean right!

I want that one on a bumper sticker.

Len on 09.23.05 @ 11:32 AM CST [link] [ | ]

About Those NOLA Levee Design Specs...

CNN is reporting breaking news (9:30 am CST) that there is already a levee breach in the 9th ward in NOLA. They say the structure of the levees are still intact but there is rain that is overtopping the walls and about 2 ft of water in the ward.

CNN reports "This is the first test of these levees" which were strengthened since Hurricane Katrina - and they are failing again in the first rainfall to hit the area.

Reminds me about this aricle I hadn’t yet posted from the NY Times: Design Shortcomings Seen in New Orleans Flood Walls.

Click on the "more" button to read further.

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 09:35 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

About that Lap-dance...

Today's GEM is from Gerard Baker (Times of London):

Vote Republican for free lap dancing:

“Suddenly the party known for fiscal prudence is throwing money about with abandon.

“… I can’t think of a more compassionate conservatism than one that pays for a Budweiser and a lap dance with somebody else’s money.

One of the more puzzling myths about the US in the wake of the Katrina disaster is the notion that heartless, penny-pinching Republicans have bled the Government so dry that the very idea of public spending, even on disasters, has become impossible. In fact, the Fema sponsor-a-stripper exercise was entirely of a piece with an outburst of fiscal incontinence proudly presided over by government-hating Republicans in the last decade.

When President Bush promised last week that the US would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild the Gulf Coast it was the latest step in the remarkable conversion of the Republican Party from the party of fiscal prudence into the progenitors of the next New Deal and Great Society combined. The rhetoric, it is true, has been all about the virtues of small government. But since 2000 the Republican controlled Congress and White House have been on a spending binge that would make any self-respecting banana republic blush.

...I can even think of a slogan to promote them: Mortgaging America to the hilt? $300 billion. US dependency on China? $600 billion. A beer and a lap dance at Baby Dolls? Priceless.”

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 09:14 AM CST [link] [ | ]

From The Tasteless Capitalism Department:

via our pals at The Smoking Gun:

SEPTEMBER 20--With dead bodies still floating in the streets of New Orleans, a pair of Louisiana lawyers are seeking to cash in on the killer hurricane by slapping the name Katrina on alcoholic beverages. In a new filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Andrew Vicknair and Harold Ehrenberg provided federal officials with a logo--reproduced above--bearing the word Katrina, the phrase "Get Blown Away," and a small satellite image of the deadly storm. The trademark application was filed on September 4, just six days after the hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1000 residents and leaving thousands homeless. The filing by Vicknair, 31, and the 47-year-old Ehrenberg--both of whom are graduates of New Orleans-based Loyola University's law school--does not detail what kind of booze products will bear the Katrina name. But it's a safe bet that these wannabe profiteers are plotting some variation on The Hurricane, the Bourbon Street staple.

Granting that this is an individual investment "opportunity" that isn't strictly speaking related to their legal practice, it's things like this which give the profession a bad name. (Though interestingly enough, one of the lawyers in question (Eherenberg) is also a chiropractor. There's some sort of significance in that, I think, but I'll be damned if I can tease that out right now.)

Len on 09.23.05 @ 09:08 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Blinding Them with Science....

Challenged by Creationists, Museums Answer Back by Cornelia Dean:

[How to confront] creationists eager to challenge the museum exhibitions on evolution.

…[And] on ways to deal with visitors who reject settled precepts of science on religious grounds.

Similar efforts are under way or planned around the country as science museums and other institutions struggle to contend with challenges to the theory of evolution that they say are growing common and sometimes aggressive.

Click on the "more" button to read further excerpts or the link above for the full story.

Karen on 09.23.05 @ 08:14 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Then again, how much competition is there?

I got a chuckle at the title of this DVD review in Slate: The Best Thai Transvestite Kickboxing Film Ever (The movie itself, however, actually looks interesting; I may have to see if it's available for rental around here.)

Len on 09.23.05 @ 08:14 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Even though "Chief Justice Roberts" is a foregone conclusion....

Dahlia Lithwick nails why the specter of "Chief Justice Roberts" bothers me:

All this talk of Roberts' heart and soul and conscience are the only way to get at the real problem—that John Roberts is more in love with legal processes than justice. This is surely worrisome to the Democrats on the committee. But George Bush long ago proved the fundamental silliness of purporting to be able to look into another man's heart. In a process in which past cases and future cases are not open to discussion; in which hypothetical and concrete fact patterns are not open to discussion; in which the political and the personal are off the table; and in which any intellectual or theoretical framework cannot be offered, we are all just left to viscerally guess at whether the nominee is a good guy. The vote today goes 13 to 5 that he is.

Based on the testimony of everyone who actually knows him, I'll hazard a guess that Roberts really is a good guy. But I'd still rather have him as my baby's godfather than as chief justice. It's just a feeling I have ...

Meanwhile, she notes yet another incident which illustrates why we call them "Rethugnicans":

Lest you think I'm being too easy on Senate Republicans, I hasten to add that Lindsey Graham's (and today, John Cornyn's) disgraceful use of these hearings to attack Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a champion of legalized prostitution, polygamy, and pederasty is beyond vile. Especially as it comes cloaked in calls for the Democrats to abandon partisanship in the confirmation process. Schumer is quite right to point out this morning that conservatives, not liberals, have made attacks on judges the cornerstone of their political project. Now even as they call for bipartisanship, they can't seem to resist attacking a judge with distorted versions of her 30 year old writings. Nice.

I'm a bit disappointed; I'd gotten a more favorable impression of Graham before this.

Len on 09.23.05 @ 08:01 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

This is why I love this game.

There were seven one-run games last Saturday, September 17, including one in which Chacon beat Chacin. In the game, the Yankees became the first team in history to play five different players with at least 300 career home runs.

Plus there was one extra-inning game, in which the Nationals' invincible Chad Cordero gave up a two-out ninth-inning game-tying grand slam to San Diego's Khalil Greene, and the Padres eventually won 8-5. A congressional investigation was quickly conducted.

To top it off, the Phillies scored 10 runs in the ninth inning after being shut out for the first eight to beat the Marlins 10-2.

The night before, Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and the score tied in the bottom of the tenth for a "walk-off HBP" against Oakland. And last Wednesday, Gabe Kapler ruptured his Achilles tendon running the bases on Tony Graffinino's home run and had to be removed for a pinch runner in the middle of the play. For the pinch runner, Alejandro Machado, it was his first time on base in a major league game.

Sometimes this column just writes itself. Is there any other game that is even remotely as fascinating?
--Dave Studeman

Len on 09.23.05 @ 06:56 AM CST [link] [ | ]

All good scams must come to an end....

and in this case, I can blame the IRS. I should probably contemplate becoming a whiny, tax hating Libertarian because of it.

Let me explain more fully. Over at today's Business of Baseball Report at The Hardball Times, Brian Borawski tells us of this development in major league income taxation:

IRS Crackdown Dampens Ticket Giveaways

In the past, baseball players were given an almost unlimited amount of tickets to give away to friends and family. Now if they give away complimentary tickets provided by the team, they take a tax hit because the Internal Revenue Service determined that these freebies should be considered as compensation to the player and summarily taxed. The end result is that teams have seen a steep decline in the number of tickets that have been requested by players.

In addition, when players do request tickets, more are actually being used. Tickets that were reserved but not picked up were tracked, and this number is down substantially.

The process of ticket requests has also been streamlined. In the past, the traveling secretary would hand out a sign-up sheet to determine the number of tickets the team would need to deliver to the ticket office. Now every clubhouse has a network in which players request tickets on their laptops, allowing teams to track every transaction in order to keep the IRS satisfied that they’re complying with the rules.

I mourn, because this means the end of what was, perhaps, the greatest scam I've ever personally witnessed. It's something of a long story, so if you're interested, you'll have to look below the fold....

Len on 09.22.05 @ 09:07 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Blunderbuss baseblogging....

Real Life™ has been taking precedence, and I've not been able to spend as much time paying attention to baseball (at least in this space) as I've wanted (but then again, the Cards have won the NL Central Title, so nothing important will be going on while we coast into the postseason, right?). To remedy that (a bit), I'm going to just hit some recent highlights:

We achieve our 15 minutes of fame!!!! I'm a subscriber to Baseball Library's daily "Baseball Today" email newsletter. It's a great way to get both pointers to baseball news stories and a rundown of what happened "Today in Baseball History". It's also where I learned about Baseball Library Text Linker which I blogged about on Tuesday morning.

Imagine my surprise when I received my copy of "Baseball Today" on Wednesday morning, and saw that the folks at Baseball Library had found my little capsule review of their text linker application, and quoted it in their internal "ad" for the Text Linker (along with a direct link to my post).

No, I don't work for them, I'm just a satisfied customer.
Baseball Prospectus's Postseason Odds Page has the Astros with a little over a 73.5% chance of winning the NL Wild Card. As I've mentioned here, I'd prefer that so that the Cards could play the NL West Champions (right now, the most likely candidate is the San Diego Padres, who are barely afloat at 76-75) in the NL Divisional Series. However, in a possible case of "watch what you wish for, because you just might get it", it's been brought to my attention that the Padres are one of the few teams (the Cubs are another) who have a winning season record this year against the Cards, notwithstanding their seeming inability to beat anyone else consistently.

Then again Bob Uecker was a career .200 hitter, just at the ~~Uecker~~Mendoza line, but for some reason known but to God he could consistently get hits off of Sandy Koufax (a feat few other major leaguers could manage). Baseball history is full of interesting little flukes like that.
BRIAN GUNN SIGHTING!!!!! For those of you late to the party, Brian Gunn was, for two years or so, proprietor of Redbird Nation, which was (IMHO) the preminent St. Louis Cardinals blog in the world, if not the preminent baseball blog in all of Blogtopia. Back in November of last year Brian hung up his cleats and stopped regular blogging, though he maintains Redbird Nation as a static archive of his writing there. Every once in a while you can find an article by Brian (usually at The Hardball Times). While surfing around for other information, I stumbled across this brief masterpiece by Brian: My Little Blue Book:
When I was nine years old, my parents gave me a little book with a blue cover for Christmas. It was small enough to fit into a stocking--5 by 4 inches, with the kind of cheap-grade paper that made its 174 pages seem more like 50. Written by Louis Phillips in 1979, it had the terse, uninspiring title BASEBALL.

You wouldn't think much of the book if you saw it today. It's littered with dry lists (the 3,000-hit club, top ten lifetime homers, etc.), strange-but-true anecdotes (like Harvey Haddix's lost masterpiece), a glossary of baseball terms (a can of corn is "a high, lazy fly ball that can be easily caught"), and mini-bios and illustrations for some of the game's most honored luminaries. The quality of the drawings is variable at best - you'd swear Carl Yastzremski was actually Richie Cunningham, and that someone inserted a sketch of Dionne Warwick in place of Rod Carew.

But to me the book was a godsend.

...

But to me the game has always been about these serendipitously random moments--like when two balls were in play at Wrigley Field in 1959, or when a guy in the upper deck of Yankee Stadium caught foul balls on back-to-back pitches, or when a Randy Johnson fastball just so happened to cross the path of an unfortunate flying dove. The game is full of such impossibilities. My brother Patrick was there when Randy Velarde turned an unassisted triple play, while a friend saw the Twins turn two triple plays in one game at Fenway Park. Sometimes it seems like everything has happened in baseball--but nearly every week, if not every day, the game comes up with something that you've never seen before.

Back in 1979, I read this passage in Louis Phillips' BASEBALL:
Although many players have managed to hit 2 home runs in a single inning, not one player has ever hit 2 grand-slam homers in a single inning in major-league play.
I'm not sure why that factoid made an impact on me, but I used to chew on it when I was a kid. I dreamed that sometime, somewhere, someone could pull off that feat.

Flash forward twenty years later. I'm sitting in the stands in Dodger Stadium on a night in late April, and Fernando Tatis goes yard with the bases juiced--not once, but twice in the third inning. The second one was a low liner that just barely cleared the fence in left center. The Dodger fans around me glumly buried their heads in their hands, but I stood up, stunned. As Tatis rounded the bases, the first thing I thought of was my little blue book. It was almost dead to me--I hadn't thought of it in years. But on that night the memory of those pages came back to me, as alive as ever. It was enough to give me a lump in my throat.
It was a sad, sad day when Brian hung up his cleats; thank what powers that be he graces us with these gems from time to time.
It can't be a bad week when I find two baseball related 'net toys within a three day period. Today I stumbled across Cool Standings. The front page is a basic standings table similar to BP's Postseason Odds Page; in addition to standings it makes projections about the expected number of wins and losses for each team and the odds that each team has of making the postseason. But on top of that, you can get neat little toys like the Cool Standings "dashboard" (one for each team). The dashboard represents, graphically, how the playoff odds of each team have ebbed and flowed over the season. For example, the dashboard linked here, the one for the Cardinals (of course!), shows that since about June the Cards have been a damn near mortal lock for the NL Central Title, with a slight chance of winning the wild card (add 'em up for a practical certainty that the Cards would be in the postseason).

Len on 09.22.05 @ 08:41 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Stupid Budget Tricks....

From Josh Marshall:

I was looking over the list of budget cuts proposed by House Republicans to save the president's tax cuts. And the big thing that sticks out is just how much comes out of Medicare. But a bit down further into the document which they put out there's a $1.8 billion annual cut in funding for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). That's great thinking, seeing as though we don't need to worry about Avian Flu from South Asia or other contagious diseases any more.

Hmmmmm. The same logic that governed the decisions to cut funding for the NOLA levees: basically, the House GOP caucus is betting that they'll be safely out of office before there's a flu pandemic.

I'd feel better if I didn't see for myself what an unlucky gambler Bush has been. But then again, maybe they're just counting on lightning not striking twice.

Len on 09.22.05 @ 07:49 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Those Under-Water and...

...Under-Utilized School Buses in NOLA:

Think progress has posted The Truth About the Buses:

"On the day of the storm, or perhaps the day after, FEMA turned down the state’s suggestion to use school buses because they are not air conditioned, Blanco said Friday in an interview. [Baton Rouge Advocate, 9/18/05]"

And the smarter than the FEMA's cotterie of "Brownie's You're Doing a Heck 'of a Job" Incompetents - Are using a different Strategy in TX:
"Government officials eager to show they had learned their lessons from the sluggish response to Katrina sent in hundreds of buses to evacuate the poor. An Army general in Texas was told to be ready to assume control of a military task force in Rita’s wake. [AP, 9/22/05]

But there is a problem...the traffic is so backed up, by 14 hours or more, people are in danger of running out of gas and have no where, stuck in the lines of evacuating vehicles, to use "facilities" for either a restroom break or to refill their emptying tanks.

Some evacuation. :-(

Karen on 09.22.05 @ 03:58 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Oh, How The Sun-Do-Shine...

Well, since this is F**ked up Engrish Week – I couldn’t resist my own entry.

I recently allowed the daughters to “colorize” their rooms, and Don, the painter, stopped by wearing this GEM of a Cute T-Shirt.

Don

So, We took a closer Look …

raysunshine2 (85k image)

Hahahahahaha

Karen on 09.22.05 @ 03:22 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's Gem...

The conservative blades are whizzing at a pace faster than Edward Scissorhands™ can manicure (pun intended) the Shrubbery.

“George W. Bush is a big spender.

He has never vetoed a spending bill.

When Congress serves up a big slab of fat, crackling pork, Mr. Bush responds with one big question: Got any barbecue sauce?

The great Bush spending spree is about an arguably shrewd but ultimately unhelpful reading of history, domestic politics, Iraq and, I believe, vanity.”

-- Peggy Noonan

Karen on 09.22.05 @ 02:58 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Blog Heading o'the Day:

Frist Blind Trust Miraculously Regains Eyesight

From Newsrack, today.

Len on 09.22.05 @ 02:39 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Another view of "Collapse"...

I realize that while I posted a finale piece on the book Collapse, by Jared Diamond, I neglected to write out *exactly* what is Top-Down and Bottom-Up management and when, according to the point of Collapse, these societal strategies are successful.

Bottom-up governance is basically performed by citizen actions or groups and/or perhaps a small organization, like a Home-Owner’s association, that has collective duties and performs functions for the benefit of the local community. It is only successful under certain conditions.

Those conditions are, per Jared Diamond, if the Bottom-up homeland is small and all of it’s inhabitants are familiar with its topography, and therefore know how they affected by developments throughout the entire area, and share a sense of identity and common interests with other inhabitants. Thus they know how they will benefit from sound environmental measures that they and their neighbors adopt…this makes for successful bottom up management. (Even some large islands are TOO large for this kind of management to be successful.)

The Top-down governance consists of hierarchical structures of governing - from city, county, state, and national. It is both necessary and works for large societies with centralized political organizations and areas much too large for any individuals to be familiar with the whole archipelago… or even for a single large island. It has to work through governance by someone who attends to long term interests and taking into an account an overview of the entire country beyond the capacity of the individual citizens. These factors includes not only environmental factors and exploitation of the land and resources; but also the economy to fit the environment and whether it is sustainable.

Top down and bottom up can co-exist … as in the US. But it’s defined at neighborhood and citizen groups as Bottom-up and Top-down being the city, county, state, and national. So a true “bottom up” would even not include these kinds of structures or hierarchies in the Top-down system. Our entire National governance, via the Constitution is a Top-down system, and must have competent Top-down governance to function.

It’s all good and well for some to argue this “limited government” - Destroy the Feds, leave it to the States - philosophy, but a very dangerous and bad idea to destroy the serious Top-down responsibilities. Even in our own Constitutional origins, the framing of the system was set up for a Top-down hierarchy by the founders. But my point being that it’s not only ideologically impossible to revert to a mere bottom up system as the predominate governance, or even a State-by-State predominant system to make their own decisions about any number of a majority of National concerns and issues which affect the entire Nation as a whole… but suicidal to to do so. This is not the 11 century with no knowledge of the interconnectedness of the planet and ecosystems.

Even taking the US as an individual country, a philosophy of destroying the Federal system via incompetency and cronyism run by people who maintain they are anti-government is destined to be the ruination of the nation as a whole. To elect feckless, utter incompetent, doltish ideologues who’s main Claim to Fame is NOT To BELIEVE in Government to over see and control the Top-down governance of something as important and crucial as the Federal Governmental System is asking for societal suicide.

Bad choice and bad for the country since we are currently running on an unsustainable system which requires the Top-down overall management to deal effectively and proactively with this situation. Bottom-up governance is not and can’t ever cut it to address these problems.

And it's a mistake to assume that societies, any society, is strong enough or healthy enough or secure enough to recover from endless bad decisions, piled one on top of the next after the next, ad infinitum.

Here is a piece that also ask the question posed by Jared Diamond: Time, tumult and the science of survival; Is American civilization smart enough to recover? By Gary M. Feinman and Christopher T. Fisher.

Click on the "more" button to read further.

Karen on 09.22.05 @ 02:17 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Traitor Bob Turns Tattletale Again...

Regardless of whether its been about 300 years since Good Ole Traitor Bob was actually in Kindergarten, he must want a Geriatric Senility Pass on those “everything I needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten” Golden Rules about Tattletales.

First, Nobody LIKES tattletales…not the kids tattled on, nor the friends watching this knowing they could be next, and not even the teachers, who can’t abide the snotty-nosed punks who feel compelled to rat on every minor infraction of their chums - as if their future Job Aspiration is that of Chief Enforcer for the Thought Police.

Second, reprehensible as this trait is in young children…it’s really Disgusting in ADULTS.

Third, given the vindictive, vengeful nature of the Child-In-Chief, Dick-Yourself and Blooming Shit-Head and their bastard cronies running this government, and their No-Holds Barred – Rip Their Faces Off - Take No Prisoners – Get Even - strategy for any dissent, in or out of the ranks…Who WOULD want to tell them anything they didn’t want to hear???

But Good Ole Traitor Bob has now done his Pandering Duty and Tattled on his Friends (?) In High Places.

Wonder what this Seven Pieces of Silver will Buy Him NOW?

Click on the “more” button to read further.

Karen on 09.22.05 @ 09:53 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Trudeau nails it yet again....

Len on 09.22.05 @ 07:31 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

The United States has lost its manufacturing edge to China. But we still have a massive competitive advantage in sales and marketing, no matter what the cost differential between the two countries. The United States, after all, is where modern advertising, marketing, and brands were invented. And that is precisely why smart Chinese companies are interested in buying U.S. companies. Lenovo didn't want IBM's personal-computer business for its manufacturing processes. The Chinese computer market wanted the unit for its American management, its strength in finance, marketing, and sales.

Today, companies from wealthier countries outsource production to China to compete effectively in a global market. But we may increasingly find that Chinese companies have to outsource sales, public relations, and advertising back to us.
--Daniel Gross

Len on 09.22.05 @ 06:22 AM CST [link] [ | ]

In re Firefox: facts or FUD?

I subscribe to a number of techie mailing lists. One of the headlines in this afternoon's list (linked to one of ZDNet's blogs) immediately caught my eye: Is the Firefox honeymoon over?

Now that Firefox has become the first viable contender to Microsoft Internet Explorer in years, its popularity has brought with it some unwanted attention. Last week's premature disclosure of a zero-day Firefox exploit came a few weeks after a zero-day exploit for Internet Explorer appeared on the Internet. Firefox not only has more vulnerabilities per month than Internet Explorer, but it is now surpassing Internet Explorer for the number of exploits available for public download in recent months.

This paragraph is followed by a number of graphs purporting to show how Firefox is being attacked more and more every month.

My first reaction when I see one of those pieces is to ask myself how much Micro$oft paid that particular shill to write that. Once I got past that, I started mentally to compose my defense of Firefox (more as an exercise), when I began reading some of the comments to that post, and I realized that (of course), someone else had said it better than I could, and pointed me to some data I didn't know (or, if I knew it, didn't know where to back it up).

Before one runs screaming in horror to Internet Exploder as one's default web browser, let's examine two webpages from Secunia, the software security firm.

First, Vulnerability Report--Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x:

Vendor: Microsoft
Product Link: View here
Product Affected By: 85 Secunia Advisories

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x with all vendor patches installed and all vendor workarounds applied, is currently affected by one or more Secunia advisories rated Highly critical

This is based on the most severe Secunia advisory, which is marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database. Go to Unpatched/Patched list below for details.

Currently, 19 out of 85 Secunia advisories, is marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database.

Now, let's look at Vulnerability Report--Mozilla Firefox 1.x

Vendor: Mozilla Organization
Product Link: View here
Product Affected By: 23 Secunia Advisories

Mozilla Firefox 1.x with all vendor patches installed and all vendor workarounds applied, is currently affected by one or more Secunia advisories rated Less critical

This is based on the most severe Secunia advisory, which is marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database. Go to Unpatched/Patched list below for details.

Currently, 3 out of 23 Secunia advisories, is marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database.

So... Let me see here.

Internet Explorer: 85 known vulnerabilities. 19 of them are still unpatched. And the worst of those unpatched vulnerabilities is considered "highly critical" by Secunia.

Firefox: 23 known vulnerabilities. 3 of them are still unpatched. And the worst of those unpatched vulnerabilities is considered "less critical" by Secunia.

Well, I don't know about you, but I know which of those two browsers I think is more secure. HINT: it's most certainly not the one you'd associate with Bill Gates.

Below the fold, a few pertinent comments from a ZDNet commenter:

Len on 09.21.05 @ 09:45 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

The best part, though, was that I had an unobstructed view of the student entrance. The Vandy frat dudes have apparently embraced the following uniform: shirt and tie, suit coat, tennis shoes, and shorts. I shit you not. A suit with shorts. All the girls were wearing tropical, strapless dresses. Accordingly, the frat dudes and sorority chicks all looked uniformly alike. It was like March of Penguins, but instead of a baby hidden in a pouch, there was a little flask of Jim Beam a back pocket.
--Mr. Roboto, on attending a Vanderbilt University football game

Len on 09.21.05 @ 08:55 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yet More Reasons To Not Vote For Junior....

autoegocrat has the scoop. Though I'm taking the liberty of stealing the line of one of his sources:

From his actions, he's showing he's not qualified to remain in Congress; much less ascend to higher office. And you can quote me on this one.

Amen to that!

Len on 09.21.05 @ 08:43 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Kudos to The Pesky Fly....

on his redesign of The Flypaper Theory. Though I suppose the kudos should go to Rachel; Pesky says that the redesign was a "surprise gift" from her.

At the top o'the page (at least, when I just visited now) is a reference to an interesting (and scary, if true) story, via one of Pesky's regular commentors, that the noted bastion of journalism The National Enquirer is reporting that President Bush is hitting the bottle again. Of course, the mindless Bush bashers will immediately be screaming, "Consider the source!!!", which in the case of this source is a pretty compelling argument. However, Pesky does point us to Steve Gilliard on that subject:

Let me say this before people start in: the National Enquirer has beaten more libel suits than most major newspapers. Their stuff is vetted by libel lawyers before it hits the stands. In fact, their accuracy is no worse than their MSM peers. Up until the 1970's, they ran alien stories, but then switched to celebrity coverage.

Why do I trust the NE? They pay their sources. So someone close to the WH got a big fat check for this, over $10K. And if they deny this or lie, the NE has a file on them. When dealing with gossip, this is quite effective. Now they may wind up paying the wrong people, but this is what they were told. Come on, if you ran the NE, would you risk a libel suit with your reputation?

Frankly, disregarding the Enquirer entirely, I would not be at all surprised if Bush has fallen off the wagon.

To the best of my knowledge, Bush never was in a 12 step program, or any other program to treat drug or alcohol dependency (he just accepted Jebus as his savior one day, then never needed a drink again, or so he liked to tell the story, IIRC). As someone who has had a couple close family members who wrestled with the demons of drug and alcohol dependency, the fact that Bush has never been through a recovery program scares the living shit out of me. It's bad enough for someone to break dependency on booze or drugs when s/he's working a program, it's a very rare individual that can do so without the support of some kind of program. (Granted, I'm an atheist and therefore I don't think Jebus was god, if he ever existed at all, so giving one's heart to Jebus is most certainly not working a program, and is probably pretty damn worthless, recovery-wise; I'm not allowed to believe in miracles).

Len on 09.21.05 @ 08:33 PM CST [link] [ | ]

What the Child-in-Chief Really READS...

From the Ironic Times: Top Magazines to Read In the Oval Office Waiting Room:

1. Incompetence Today
2. Callous Disregard Monthly
3. Unscientific American
4. Modern Interrogation
5. Greed, Stupidity & Discrimination Review
6. Conquest Magazine
7. Religious Intolerance Digest
8. Mountaintop Removal Quarterly
9. Avarice Weekly
10. Contemporary Conspicuous Consumption

Karen on 09.21.05 @ 02:18 PM CST [link] [ | ]

National Centenarians Day

“As people's ages creep up toward 65, many tend to become a little vague about their exact age. After about 85, though, they become proud of their longevity.

Not too many years ago, someone who had lived to be 100 was a true rarity, honored by a contact from the White House and a feature in the local paper. Now, generations of good nutrition and medical care are paying off, and the picture has changed.

On this National Centenarians Day, it is estimated there are some 58-thousand women and 12-thousand men across the country who have reached the age of 100, and projections show these numbers increasing by about 60 percent in another five years, and more than doubling in 10 years.”

Courtesy of US News Wire.

Anecdotally, this does remind me of my Grandma, who almost made it to 100 yrs old. But as a younger woman, she had - of course - lied about her age to seem younger.

But as she approached retirement, she realized, with horror, that if she didn't start advancing her *lies* to catch to her true age...she'd have to work all those extra years to "qualify" for her retirement.

Under this duress, she was forced to "confess" to her supervisor and *correct* the dates on her employment records. Oh, the age of the Pre-feminism movement. ;-)

Karen on 09.21.05 @ 12:40 PM CST [link] [ | ]

The Cost-Benefits of it All...

I recently heard on ABC News that the Port of New Orleans - alone - was an industry worth $99 Billion dollars to the Nation annually, and through which 25% of our imports and 17% of our exports passed.

And this butt-covering guy for the ACE, Lt. Col Strock, says the Cost-Benefits behind the AEC and the levees in NOLA was considered!!! Bah!!

If It Keeps on Raining, Levee's Going to Break: The loss of New Orleans wasn't just a tragedy. It was a plan. by Jonathon Rauch (Senior writer -National Journal):

“The evacuation plans were inadequate and then bungled. The rescue was slow, confused, often nonexistent. Yet the most striking fact of the New Orleans catastrophe has received less notice than it deserves: The plan for New Orleans in case of a hit from a very powerful hurricane was to lose the city.

In other words, if a severe hurricane struck, the city's flooding and abandonment was not what would happen if the plan failed. It was the plan.
…
Weighing low-probability, high-cost events is, as it happens, something economists and engineers know a bit about. W. Kip Viscusi, an economist at Harvard Law School and the editor of the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, points out that the Corps of Engineers was among the first to develop and apply what has become a common cost-benefit template.
…
Strock told reporters that decisions about the levees were based on "whether it's worth the cost to the benefit, and then striking the right level of protection." Unless one uses very optimistic assessments of hurricane odds and economic costs, and also places a low value on human costs, New Orleans did not strike the right level of protection. Even in foresight, Naomi's characterization of New Orleans's vulnerability as "tantamount to negligence" appears justified. A far larger flood-prevention program should have been under way.

"This was not a close call," Viscusi says. "It's a no-brainer that you do this...”

Click on the link to read Rauch piece in full.

Karen on 09.21.05 @ 12:33 PM CST [link] [ | ]

NASA Trivia Quiz Answers...

Well, Surprise, Surprise -- Jim was *Partly Correct* and *Partly Incorrect* on his answers ("I'll make my answers easy to grade. All false.")

Hahahahahahaha.

It came from outer space: Chances are, there are things you use every day that originated from NASA: by William Weir (Chicago Tribune newspapers - The Hartford Courant) gave me the quiz idea from his piece:

"From safer sports to easier housework, there seems no end to how the technology of space-bound journeys has translated into earthly benefits.

So much space technology has spun off into everyday conveniences that NASA has its own magazine, Spinoff, devoted to the subject…”

So, click on the "more" button to see the True or False answers.

:-)

Karen on 09.21.05 @ 12:24 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

This says something about the economics profession....

though I'm not sure what, right now: Opportunity Cost

I was stunned to read Robert Frank's NYTimes column about a recent study testing economist's knowledge of economics. Paul J. Ferraro and Laura O. Taylor of Georgia State University asked some 200 economists, many with PhDs from top-economics programs, at the 2005 annual meetings of the American Economic Association, a simple question:
You won a free ticket to see an Eric Clapton concert (which has no resale value). Bob Dylan is performing on the same night and is your next-best alternative activity. Tickets to see Dylan cost $40. On any given day, you would be willing to pay up to $50 to see Dylan. Assume there are no other costs of seeing either performer. Based on this information, what is the opportunity cost of seeing Eric Clapton? (a) $0, (b) $10, (c) $40, or (d) $50.
I have a hard time believing that this is possible but 78 percent of the economists gave the wrong answer! This is not a hard question. There is no trick. Opportunity cost is central to economics, the people asked were among the best economists in the world, a large majority of them have taught intro econ and yet the correct answer was the least popular.

This is a professional embarrassment.

In case you're curious, answer is below the fold (or at the linked post).

Len on 09.21.05 @ 12:19 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Sad News: Another victim of Hurricane Katrina

Oktoberfest Seizes Chance to Replace Mardi Gras

MUNICH, GERMANIA: The southern German city of Munich seized upon its chance to replace New Orleans as the foremost destination for drunken debauchery by opening its 172nd Oktoberfest beer festival on Friday, a full two-weeks before October starts.

The festival will run 32 days this year instead of the regular 16, extended to capitalize on the natural disaster that befell the festival’s chief rival only 3 weeks ago. The town Burge-meisters have also made several last-minute improvements in hopes of claiming top prize for ‘Best Debauchery Festival’ at the International Drunken Debauchery Commission's (IDDC) annual awards ceremony next year. These improvements included ratifying the legal exchange rate of Bratwursts for Titty-Flashes.

Munich’s lederhosen-clad mayor Christian Ude initiated this quest for debauchery dominance by madly tapping the first massive keg with a wooden hammer and crying out, “O’ zapft is, zwine-hounts!” or, “It’s on now, bitches!”

...

For more of this BS...

Len on 09.21.05 @ 12:15 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yet Another Reason Not To Vote For Junior....

Like I really need one?

Anyway, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo points out that Junior is not one of the 171 co-sponsors (all Democrats, of course) of H.R. 3763, the bill to overturn President Bush's Gulf Coast Wage Cut.

Figures.

Len on 09.21.05 @ 12:12 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Not surprisingly, the post-Katrina autopsy is focusing fresh attention on the Cheney administration's bold "disinventing government" initiative -- although in this case I probably should call it the Rove administration's initiative, since it's been more Karl's pet project than the veep's.

If Cheney had his way, there wouldn't be any government left to disinvent -- just a service desk for the pipeline companies to call when they need to get the power back on. And Halliburton could easily handle that.

Rove, on the other hand, recognizes that government agencies has their uses, especially now that "to the victor go the spoils," has been firmly reestablished as the operative principle of the federal personnel management system. Let dweebs like Al Gore worry about making government work, the Rovians understand that the important thing is to make it work for them.
--Billmon

Len on 09.21.05 @ 12:05 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's Gem...

The Pesky Fly has this GEM: Funny,funny wingnuts

“I just got an e-mail from a reader gloating because, "as the liberal Daily Kos points out," (love it when the righties cite lefty blogs) LA's Governor Blanco has taken a huge hit in the polls. My e-mailer thinks this justifies all the post-Katrina malarkey that Blanco somehow fell down on the job.

Okay nutters, use you wee little brains for a second. Northeastern, and northwestern Louisianians aren't just conservative--they're DAVID DUKE conservative. Let's not forget that this is the state that nearly put an unapologetic racist into the governor's mansion. A giant chunk of Blanco's voting block is homeless, phoneless, and scattered across America. So the fact that Blanco is suddenly polling poorly only means one thing: New Orleans is gone, and so are her people.

I mean really--- who did they poll?”

But funnie thing bout Wing-nuts - They LIKE defying

logic
budget deficits,
accountability moments,
legalisms,
the laws of gravity and science,
common decency,
environmental realism,
touted Christian values,

and obviously -POLLs.

:-)

Update: Here's a good one from Lance Mannion on: How to be morally superior to a Liberal. Give it a read through. It is a GEM too.

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 06:01 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Pigs on the Wing...

Another good pictoral piece on NOLA I found at Driftglass.

"Reader pjcblogger (aka Fletch) put this together, and it’s mighty good.

A slideshow/movie entitled “Bush on the Wing” – with music by Pink Floyd, pictures by current events, and creativity and talent by Fletch."

This is a media file with song from Pink Floyd, "Pigs on the Wing".

Give it a Look.

Good Job Guys, and very Touching too. :-)

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 04:39 PM CST [link] [ | ]

About those Wormy, Diseased Apple Guys, Again...

Engrish is running a “Vulgar Four Letter Words” Week:

But has a suitable warning screen:

WARNING:

If you are easily upset by vulgar four letter words,
then I suggest you do not visit Engrish.com this week.

Parental discretion is advised.
(Don't worry, there is no porn.)

This Engrish GEM speaks volumes to me as a perfect statement ABOUT them Rotten to the Core, Wormy, Diseased Apple Guys I ranted and raved about a while back.

LOL

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 04:10 PM CST [link] [ | ]

From the New BlogToys Department:

Baseball Library has just come up with a most interesting (and potentially excellent tool) for basebloggers: the BaseballLibrary.com text linker.

Basically, the concept is simple. You enter your text into the box, and then this application searches the Baseball Library website for the ballplayers, teams and dates that you reference, and then generates HTML code for hyperlinks to the Baseball Library pages about those players, teams and dates.. For example, if I enter (and this makes no sense, whatsoever, I know) this into the box:

"Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Mark McGwire, and Bob Uecker of the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals on July 9, 1957"

the linker application comes up with this:

"Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Mark McGwire, and Bob Uecker of the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals on July 9, 1957".

Your output is "configurable"; you can tell the application to link any or all of dates, player names and teams (for teams you have to specify a year as well as a team name; merely "St. Louis", "Cardinals, and even "St. Louis Cardinals" weren't recognized by the application), and you can also specify if you want your links to open in a new window (I elected to use that for the example above).

Tres cool.

Len on 09.20.05 @ 11:40 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Hope for the Democratic Party?

I'm not optimistic. But Billmon is a genius (with Photoshop, and in his writing), I'll give him credit for that:

Thanks to autoegocrat for the pointer.

Len on 09.20.05 @ 11:02 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Truly The End of an Era

Chicago Tribune News Alerts has sent me the following news update:

Chicago Marshall Field’s to be renamed “Macy’s”:

All Marshall Field's stores will convert to the Macy's nameplate in fall 2006. This includes 62 locations in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Indiana, Ohio and South Dakota that will continue to be operated by the Minneapolis-based division that will become known as Macy's North.

:-(

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 10:53 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A NASA Trivia Quiz

This quiz is partially lifted from an article I read a few weeks ago... but I forgot to post about it.

In light of this piece; NASA's revitalized plans for manned moon missions could revive LI's space industry:

“…NASA formally unveiled plans for America's next era in space.
...
While NASA had talked of its plans for the crew exploration vehicle in the past, the space agency for the first time yesterday disclosed some details of what the vehicle would look like and what kind of missions it will perform. NASA said it will spend $104 billion in the next 13 years on human and robotic space exploration, including construction of the exploration vehicle.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin said the vehicle would be three times as big as the Apollo capsule that took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and '70s and the new craft could be used as many as 10 times.

"Think of it as Apollo on steroids," Griffin said in a broadcast on NASA Television….

NASA said the exploration vehicle will be able to take as many as four astronauts to the moon and as many as six people on Mars missions. It also will be able to deliver food and other supplies to the International Space Station.

Space agency officials promised that the exploration vehicle would be safer and more reliable than the space shuttle. Two shuttle orbiters exploded - one in 1986 and the other in 2003. The seven astronauts aboard each orbiter were killed…”

I thought I'd put this out there as a NASA Trivia Quiz.

So, Take a look at this list and answer these as True or False:

Nasa is responsible for the following technological inventions:

1) Air Filtration Systems.

2) Tang.

3) Velcro.

4) Skiing Boots.

5) Black and Decker Cordless tools.

6) Gravity Pens.

7) Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.

8) Helmet pads for football, baseball and bicycling.

9) Invisible braces for teeth.

10) Converting Urine into Water.

11) Zen perfume.

12) Graphite guitars.

13) PC and Computer Joy sticks.

14) SIMs games.

15) Teflon.

16) Smoke Detectors.

17) Fogless Ski Goggles.

18) Silver laced bedding, blankets and clothing.

19) Foam Insulation for Housing.

20) Radiant Heated Flooring.

Post your answers in the comment section and see how you do on this quiz.

;-D

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 10:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

An Ill Wind: FEMA set up a Web page for survivors of Hurricane Katrina to apply for federal assistance, but the site works only with IE6 for Windows. Apparently one catastrophe deserves another. Meanwhile, The Register reports that Googlers searching the word "failure" land first at a biography of President George W. Bush. No. 2 on the Google charts is liberal filmmaker Michael Moore's site, proving even a bot-driven search engine doesn't play political favorites.
--Robert X. Cringely® (i.e., not The Real Bob™)

Nice to know that the miserable failure Googlebomb is still working.

Len on 09.20.05 @ 09:02 AM CST [link] [ | ]

'The Laugh Judgment'

The always enjoyable (even for an atheist) Ship of Fools, "the magazine of Christian unrest", recently polled its membership to determine what they consider the 10 funniest and the 10 most offensive religious jokes. I don't have time to look over the lists (especially the most offensive ones, which I'm looking forward to reading with delicious anticipation), but I'm pleased to see that the ones the Ship of Fools readers voted as funniest and second funniest are two of my favorite religious jokes of all time.

The funniest is a schick I've seen attributed to Emo Philips (though I think that the version I know best is a bit longer than this; it's an easy one to drag out for a bit):

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Are you religious?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"

He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

The second funniest is another favorite of mine which, resonates with Catholics and ex-Catholics (note, I've changed a couple words to make it match the version I've learned, which is a marginally funnier punchline, IMHO):

Jesus came upon a small crowd who had surrounded a young woman they believed to be an adulteress. They were preparing to stone her to death.

To calm the situation, Jesus said: "Whoever is without sin among you, let them cast the first stone."

Suddenly, an old lady at the back of the crowd picked up a huge rock and lobbed it at the young woman, scoring a direct hit on her head. The unfortunate young lady collapsed dead on the spot.

Jesus looked over towards the old lady and said: "You know, Mom, sometimes you really piss me off."

Go check out the rest of the winners.

Len on 09.20.05 @ 08:13 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Axis of Evil's Failing Messages...

Another regions where our own “Axis of Evil” (Child-in-Chief, Dick-Yourself and Blooming Shit-Head) Disnesque Photo-Op messages of “Spreading Freedom” are also falling on deaf ears and eyes:

Meehan's message on extremism by Scot Lehigh (Boston Globe):

“Representative Martin Meehan recently returned from a 10-day fact-finding trip to the Middle East -- and the message he brings back is sobering.

Meehan, who met with political and government leaders from Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, and Israel as well as US officials there, says his take-away impression is that the United States needs to do much more to stop the spread of radical Islam.

''We are not rising to meet the long-term challenges we face in the region," Meehan says. ''We need an approach that uses every tool we have. The military is part of it, but it also has to be political, diplomatic, economic, and educational."

This is hardly the first venture into foreign policy for Meehan, the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee on terrorism, unconventional threats, and capabilities.
…
''We talk a good talk about freedom, but we really aren't doing what's necessary to make it work," he says. ''We have the rhetoric, but not the resources."

The United States, which has so far spent $200 billion in Iraq, each year devotes only $500 million to diplomacy and only $25 million to outreach programs in the Middle East, the congressman says. In his proposal, Meehan underscores the finding of an April report by the Government Accountability Office that the US government ''does not yet have a public diplomacy communications strategy."

''Our enemies seek to exploit ideas that have unfortunately gained in resonance: suspicion of the West, fear of modernity, hatred of the United States, and persistent anti-Semitism," he writes.
…

''In the war on terror, we can't afford another failure by doing too little in the struggle against violent extremism," he concludes. ''This is a critical moment in history, and it demands a comprehensive strategy to deal with the threat of radical Islam."

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 07:52 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Groaner o'the Day:

If you mate your bulldog to a shih tzu bitch, are the resulting puppies bullshihtz?

Len on 09.20.05 @ 07:27 AM CST [link] [ | ]

The Blog Media

From Peter Daou (Daou Report) : "Rightwing bloggers will do everything in their power to prevent another Katrina triangle, where the confluence of blogs, media, and Democratic leadership exposes the real Bush and shatters the conventional wisdom about his ability to lead."

"...After a year of my life spent at the intersection of pre-blog and post-blog political thinking, and with Bush getting the second term he craved, one question has preoccupied me since last November: What is the scope of netroots power? Put differently: How influential are bloggers?

It’s a difficult question to answer. First, there’s no consensus on metrics. Second, blogs serve many purposes, some of which are more social than political. Third, the use of the Internet in political campaigns cuts across so many areas that it’s easy to confuse netroots influence in the communications and messaging realm with other Internet-based political applications such as organizing and fundraising. Fourth, ‘influence’ is a hazy term.

It might be easier to approach the question by setting a more specific, and admittedly somewhat arbitrary, definition of political influence: the capacity to alter or create conventional wisdom. And a working definition of “conventional wisdom” is a widely held belief on which most people act. Finally, by “people” I mean all Americans, regardless of ideology or political participation.

The Triangle

Looking at the political landscape, one proposition seems unambiguous: blog power on both the right and left is a function of the relationship of the netroots to the media and the political establishment. Forming a triangle of blogs, media, and the political establishment is an essential step in creating the kind of sea change we’ve seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Simply put, without the participation of the media and the political establishment, the netroots alone cannot generate the critical mass necessary to alter or create conventional wisdom.
…
Bloggers can exert disproportionate pressure on the media and on politicians. Reporters, pundits, and politicians read blogs, and, more importantly, they care what bloggers say about them because they know other reporters, pundits, and politicians are reading the same blogs. It’s a virtuous circle for the netroots and a source of political power. The netroots can also bring the force of sheer numbers to bear on a non-compliant politician, reporter, or media outlet. Nobody wants a flood of complaints from thousands of angry activists. And further, bloggers can raise money, fact-check, and help break stories and/or keep them in circulation long enough for the media and political establishment to pick them up.

Blog Strategies, Left and Right

Working within the triangle construct (netroots + media + party establishment = CW), bloggers and netroots activists on the left and right have very different strategic imperatives.

With a well-developed echo chamber and superior top-down discipline, the right has a much easier time forming the triangle. Fox News, talk radio, Drudge, a well-trained and highly visible punditocracy, and a lily-livered press corps takes care of the media side of the triangle. Iron-clad party loyalty – with rare exceptions – and a willingness of Republican officials to jump on the Limbaugh-Hannity bandwagon du jour takes care of the party establishment side of the triangle. The rightwing netroots, therefore, is already working within the triangle on most issues. Their primary strategic aim is to prevent the left from forming its own triangle, as occurred with Katrina. It’s a defensive posture, with the goal being the preservation of the status quo. Which explains why the right is profoundly hostile to dissent and why the pretense to libertarianism is common: “independent thinkers” don’t like to be seen as defending the powers that be.

The triangle construct also explains rightwing bloggers’ relentless attacks on the “MSM” and on anyone who contends that the media is conservative. In a nation dominated by shrill rightwing voices, with all branches of government in the hands of Republicans, and an ineffectual press corps, the “liberal media” myth is so absurd that it requires no rebuttal. But the right desperately needs to keep the media from doing what they did in the aftermath of Katrina: tell the unvarnished truth. They need to block the left from building the kind of triangle that Katrina generated, where outspoken left-leaning bloggers are joined by leading Democrats and reporters who have no choice but to describe the catastrophic results of Bush’s dismal leadership. The result in Katrina’s case is a major political crisis and a dramatic shift in public perceptions, a body blow to the long-standing conventional wisdom of Bush as a "resolute leader" and a protector.

Whereas rightwing bloggers can rely on their leadership and the rightwing noise machine to build the triangle, left-leaning bloggers face the challenge of a mass media consumed by the shop-worn narrative of Bush the popular, plain-spoken leader, and a Democratic Party incapacitated (for the most part) by the focus-grouped fear of turning off "swing voters" by attacking Bush. For the progressive netroots, the past half-decade has been a Sisyphean loop of scandal after scandal melting away as the media and party establishment remain disengaged.

It would seem reasonable to conclude, then, that the best strategy for the progressive netroots is to go after the media and Democratic Party leaders and spend less time and energy attacking the Bush administration. If the netroots alone can’t change the political landscape without the participation of the media and Democratic establishment, then there’s no point wasting precious online space blasting away at Republicans while the other sides of the triangle stand idly by. Indeed, blog powerhouses like Kos and Josh Marshall have taken an aggressive stance toward Democratic politicians they see as selling out core Democratic Party principles. Kos’s willingness to attack the DLC is mocked on the right, but it is precisely the right’s fear that Kos will “close the triangle” that causes them to protest so loudly. Similarly, when Atrios, Digby, Oliver Willis, and so many other progressive bloggers attack the media, they are leveraging whatever power they have to compel the media to assume a role as the third side of their triangle.

Bloggers & the Bush Legacy

Setting aside 2006 congressional prospects and the remote hope for progressives that Bush will be impeached, the grand political battle of the next three years is over Bush’s legacy.

For rightwing bloggers who have fiercely defended one of the most controversial and polarizing presidents in our history, their fortunes will rise or fall with his approval ratings. The blind allegiance to Bush and the furious assault on his detractors will be vindicated if he leaves office with popular support.

Rightwing bloggers will thus do everything in their power to prevent another Katrina triangle, where the confluence of blogs, media, and Democratic leadership exposes the real Bush and shatters the conventional wisdom about his ability to lead. And they will struggle mightily to boost his poll numbers, whether it means ignoring the reality of the Iraq fiasco or the terrifying implications of the bungled federal response to Katrina.

For progressive bloggers who see a president presiding over the collapse of America's credibility, the urgent work ahead is to cement the post-Katrina impression of Bush as a failed president. Whether or not they succeed depends to a large extent on their ability to compel the media and Democratic establishment to stand with them and speak the truth.

* I also sought the advice of other bloggers, male and female, who chose not to be named in this piece.

Hat Tip to The River City Mud Bugle

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 06:14 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

It has been amusing to watch the radical right/anti-evolution/family-values crowd laud the subjects of March of the Penguins for their commitment to their mates and as evidence of intelligent design. If anything, the film seemed to me to reinforce what we know of natural selection. Darwin would have thrilled to it. These strange, complex, grueling rituals of penguin mating and procreation in the Antarctic have obviously evolved to keep this flock alive in "the harshest place on Earth."

In one (upsetting) scene, the adult penguins do nothing as a group of young'uns is attacked by a predator. One succumbs. Family values? The only way you can account for this chilling indifference is the heartlessness of evolution: You give them one—the one that can't get away—and the hawks leave the rest alone for the time being. Monogamy? The narration makes the point that they are serially monogamous: They change partners after each breeding cycle. Some penguins, we have recently learned, are queer—and this with no exposure to our debased Hollywood-liberal culture.

These people really are deluded, aren't they? They'll twist anything to suit their ends and then count on an audience that doesn't think critically—an audience that I should think is far easier to manipulate than penguins...
--David Edelstein

Len on 09.20.05 @ 05:59 AM CST [link] [ | ]

The Media FIX is IN...

'They shoot news anchors, don't they?': Media moguls, not looters, killed Katrina's truth tellers: by Nikki Finke (LA Weekly):

“At first, only CNN appeared not to have thoroughly read the proverbial memo. It was the only network, on air and on its Web site, to compare and contrast the wildly contradictory statements by federal, state and local officials, sometimes within hours, but often within minutes of each other. It was CNN that posted the first full transcript of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's profanity- and passion-filled September 2 interview on local radio. It was also CNN that first exposed the gruesome nature of the conditions at the Superdome, at the convention center and in the hospital corridors. Its broadcasters were the first to keep a heart-wrenching online blog during Katrina. Even as late as September 6, political correspondent Ed Henry was the first to counter the claims by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay that local officials and not the feds were to blame, by reporting that congressional Republicans, in a secret confab, were giving the Bush administration a big fat F.

Then the fix was in.

On September 8, CNN anchorette Kyra Phillips was chewing into House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for "continuing to criticize the administration, and criticize the director of FEMA... I think it's unfair that FEMA is just singled out. There are so many people responsible for what has happened in the state of Louisiana."

Instead of smiling through clenched teeth, the San Francisco Democrat bit back: "I'm sorry that you think it's unfair. But I don't . . . If you want to make a case for the White House, you should go on their payroll."

By September 12, even the White House admitted that FEMA had been its own disaster area by pushing out its Arabian-horseman-turned-jackass head, Michael Brown. (Bush finally admitted on Tuesday that the buck was going to stop with him whether he liked it or not. "To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," he said.) That same day, CNN's parent company, Time Warner, announced the hiring of DeLay's chief of staff as a top Washington lobbyist. This news, and its timing, prompted Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy to tell the L.A. Weekly: "Time Warner aligning itself with the right-wing DeLay machine should send shudders [down] CNN and HBO. Clearly, TW wants DeLay insurance so it won't have to face cable-ownership safeguards, a la carte rules and broadband non-discrimination policies."

For the first 120 hours after Hurricane Katrina, TV journalists were let off their leashes by their mogul owners, the result of a rare conjoining of flawless timing (summer's biggest vacation week) and foulest tragedy (America's worst natural disaster). All of a sudden, broadcasters narrated disturbing images of the poor, the minority, the aged, the sick and the dead, and discussed complex issues like poverty, race, class, infirmity and ecology that never make it on the air in this swift-boat/anti-gay-marriage/Michael Jackson media-sideshow era. So began a perfect storm of controversy.

Contrary to the scripture so often quoted in these areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, the TV newscasters knew the truth, but the truth did not set them free. Because once the crisis point had passed, most TV journalists went back to business-as-usual, their choke chains yanked by no-longer-inattentive parent-company bosses who, fearful of fallout from fingering Dubya for the FEMA fuckups, decided yet again to sacrifice community need for corporate greed. Too quickly, Katrina's wake was spun into a web of deceit by the Bush administration, then disseminated by the Big Media boys' club. (Karl Rove spent the post-hurricane weekend conjuring up ways to shift blame.)

If big media look like they're propping up W's presidency, they are. Because doing so is good for corporate coffers -- in the form of government contracts, billion-dollar tax breaks, regulatory relaxations and security favors. At least that wily old codger Sumner Redstone, head of Viacom, parent company of CBS, has admitted what everyone already knows is true: that, while he personally may be a Democrat, "It happens that I vote for Viacom. Viacom is my life, and I do believe that a Republican administration is better for media companies than a Democratic one."

When it comes to NBC's parent company, GE's No. 1 and No. 2, Jeffrey Immelt and Bob Wright, are avowed Republicans, as are Time Warner's Dick Parsons (CNN) and News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch (Fox News Channel). (Forget that Murdoch's No. 2, Peter Chernin, and Redstone's co-No. 2, Les Moonves, are avowed Democrats -- it's meaningless because Murdoch and Redstone are the owners.)

Once upon a time, large corporations and their executives typically avoided any public discussion of their politics because partisan positions alienated customers and employees. But all of that changed after GE bought NBC in 1986. For seemingly eons, Immelt's predecessor, the legendary Jack Welch, was a rabid right-winger who boasted openly about helping turn former liberals Chris Matthews and Tim Russert into neocons. (And Los Angeles Representative Henry Waxman is still waiting for GE to turn over those in-house tapes that would prove once and for all whether Welch, in 2000, ordered his network and cable stations to reverse course and call the election for Bush instead of Gore.)

As for Immelt, he publicly wishes his MSNBC could be a clone of FNC. Not surprising, since he let his network and cable news cheerlead the run-up to the Iraqi war without ever bothering to tell viewers GE had billions in contracts pending. More than half of Iraq's power grid is GE technology. It was also under Immelt that GE installed a former adviser to W and Condi, who also served as press secretary to former first lady Barbara "Let 'em eat cake" Bush, as NBC Universal's executive vice president of communications.

And let's not forget that in October 2004, the Republican-controlled House and Senate and White House okayed a $137 billion corporate-tax bill -- dubbed "No Lobbyist Left Behind" -- that gave a huge $8 billion tax break to GE, which had bankrolled a record $17 million lobbying effort for it. (Meanwhile, in that same bill, House Republicans at the last minute stripped the movie studios of about $1 billion worth of tax credits because of Hollywood's near-constant support of the Democratic Party and its candidates.)

Disney, parent company of ABC, has turned most of its extensive radio network and owned-and-operated stations into a 24/7 orgy of right-wing talk. (Sean Hannity is their poster boy.) Disney's chief lobbyist, Preston Padden, is not only one of Washington, D.C.'s most infamous Republican lobbyists, but he used to work for Rupert Murdoch. Bush even pleaded just days after 9/11 for Americans to "go down to Disney World in Florida." Meanwhile, Disney World has benefited from special security measures, including extra protection and a federally declared "no-flyover zone." And let's not forget that Michael Eisner pulled the distribution plug on Fahrenheit 9/11.

As for Rupert Murdoch, his News Corp. continues to defy a July 2001 FCC order requiring it to divest itself of a TV station in exchange for the agency's approval to buy 10 TV stations from Chris-Craft Industries Inc. for $5.4 billion. What, Rupert worry? This W cheerleader can rest assured that the FCC will amend its prohibition on owning broadcast outlets and newspapers in the same market.

And lest anyone think there's no connection between Murdoch's business and editorial, several news organizations have noticed a detente between the New York Post and Senator Hillary Clinton because Rupert needs congressional Democrats on News Corp.'s side to oppose a change in the Nielsen ratings that could harm its TV stations.

Given all of the above, it comes as no surprise that, as early as that first Saturday, certainly by Sunday, inevitably by Monday, and no later than Tuesday, the post-Katrina images and issues were heavily weighted once again toward the power brokers and the predictable. The angry black guys were gone, and the lying white guys were back, hogging all the TV airtime. So many congressional Republicans were lined up on air to denounce the "blame-Bush game" -- all the while decrying the Louisiana Democrats-in-charge -- that it could have been conga night at the Chevy Chase Country Club.

And the attitudes of some TV personalities did a dramatic 180.

At MSNBC, right-winger Joe Scarborough had looked genuinely disgusted for a few days by the death and destruction that went unrelieved around him in Biloxi, even daring to demand answers from Bush on down. But Scarborough was back to his left-baiting self in short order. Inside FNC's studio, conservative crank Sean Hannity had been rendered somewhat speechless by the tragedy. Soon, he was back in full voice, barking at Shep Smith (who was still staking out that I-10 bridge and sympathizing with its thousands of refugees) to keep "perspective." The Mississippi-bred Smith boomed back in his baritone, "This is perspective!"

FNC's Bill O'Reilly, who spent last month verbally abusing the grieving mother of a dead Iraqi war soldier, then whiled away the early days of Katrina's aftermath giving lip to New Orleans' looters and shooters, eventually blamed the hurricane's poorest victims for creating their situations and for even expecting any government help at all.

On NBC, Meet the Press host Tim Russert cut off Jefferson Parish's Andre Broussard during one of TV's most moving and memorable outpourings of emotion. Instead, to fill up airtime, Russert let Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour praise Bush's response ad nauseam without reading back Barbour's sharp criticism of the feds days earlier.

On MSNBC, Hardball's hard-brained Chris Matthews chided viewers and guests alike not to talk about who's to blame -- unless it was Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco or Mayor Nagin. Interesting how Barbour's state was also dehydrated and starving, but nobody on TV news blamed him, since he just happens to be a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

And Don Imus skewered Dubya's "disgusting performance" at the start of his MSNBC TV show (simulcast on the Viacom/CBS-owned Infinity radio network) and then turned over just 24 hours later, directing blame at Mayor Nagin.

Meanwhile, the TV news situation is about to get worse. Incoming Disney CEO Bob Iger has tried repeatedly to dismantle Nightline for a mindless celeb talk show. And CBS chairman Les Moonves wants to reinvent TV news to be more like entertainment shows -- as if it's not that way already -- hosted by even prettier people.

Of course, no one could have anticipated that, to their immense credit, TV's prettiest-boy anchors (CNN's Anderson Cooper and FNC's Shep Smith and NBC's Brian Williams) would be boldly and tearfully relating horror whenever and wherever they found it, no matter if the fault lay with Mother Nature or President Dubya. But the real test of pathos vs. profit is still before us: whether the TV newscasters will spend the fresh reservoir of trust earned with the public to not only rattle Bush's cage but also battle their own bosses. If not, it won't be long before TV truth telling will be muzzled permanently.”

Courtesy of The Smirking Chimp.

Karen on 09.20.05 @ 05:35 AM CST [link] [ | ]

But, in more important matters....

Preeminent Nashville nightlife blogger Mr. Roboto from Thursday Night Fever updates us on the latest developments in the modeling career of University of Tennessee alumna and former Lady Vols basketball star Brittany Jackson. Including plenty o'eye candy (Ms. Jackson recently did a photo spread for FHM). I'm not posting the eye candy here; I would never, ever think of trying to steal readers away from Mr. Roboto.

No word yet on the expected uproar from Knoxville. We'll try to keep on top of the story.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 08:52 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Don't surprise me none.

Louisiana contractors not allowed to work:

I'm listening to WWL-AM in New Orleans. They have thus far received several calls from local contractors who say that FEMA is not allowing them to help with the recovery effort, that only out-of-state contractors are on the ground. One guy reports that the only way he can get hired as a subcontractor is to give a kickback to the contractor hired by FEMA.

In other words, as predicted, the recovery effort appears to be being conducted to benefit Bush campaign contributors, rather than the people of the area. But then, why should we be surprised? Everything about the Bush Administration has been calculated to enrich Bush cronies at the expense of the American people...

Len on 09.19.05 @ 08:31 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Why Karen rubs my nose in the fact....

that I don't have a subscription to HBO: Real Time With Bill Maher: New Rules for 9/16/2005

It's time for this week's New Rules.

New Rule: Michael Brown must un-resign so he can be publicly fired. We are not letting you off that easy, Brownie. You can't just slink off midway through your service. This is FEMA, not the Texas Air National Guard.

...

And finally, New Rule: For Christ's sake, no more devil movies. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" opened huge last week, and it surprised a lot of people, mostly because Owen Wilson wasn't in it. But exorcism, or as the Catholics call it, "elective surgery," is a popular theme nowadays because it reinforces the comforting notion that evil resides outside of us.

Well, I'm sorry, but it doesn't. And whenever I hear someone blame a bombing in Baghdad or a levee breaking in New Orleans on the forces of evil, it makes me so mad I just want to grab my pitchfork and stick it right through my cloven hoof!

Now, Americans have always loved devil movies: "The Exorcist," "The Omen," "Rosemary's Baby," "The Devil's Advocate." The list goes on forever because Americans love the devil. Why? Because he's simple and he provides a simple answer. He did it.

But evil is not a demon with a tail and horns. That's a Jew. And evil - evil isn't some spectral goblin with red eyes and the voice of Anthony Hopkins. That's Anthony Hopkins.

Is George Bush purely evil? Of course not. And that's what's so evil about him. He doesn't twirl a mustache and smirk and cackle. Well, he doesn't twirl a mustache. He's like the Peanuts character Pigpen. Wherever he goes, he stirs up such a humongous mess it can only be cleaned up by Halliburton. But he is not pure evil.

Because evil is a chain. Did any one person doom New Orleans? No, it's a chain. People vote for a corrupt leader; a corrupt leader puts unqualified cronies in high places, and when those cronies fuck up, evil gets done. The devil didn't fly up from hell and knock a hole in that levee. The levee just didn't get built because the money for it went to rich people's tax cuts and pork projects and corporate welfare.

Evil isn't "Salem's Lot." It's Trent Lott. This week, an ailing American bald eagle was found to be dying from mercury poisoning. Republicans immediately tried to blame it on the eagle's lifestyle choices. But it's worth noting that also this week, the White House threatened to veto limits on mercury pollution. Now, pure evil would be if George Bush sat around the White House saying, "Let's poison eagles!" And even I don't believe George Bush would do that.

Cheney would do that. And even he is not pure evil. Dick Cheney doesn't hate poor children and caribou. They're just in the way.

Bottom line: some people think Satan is real and some people think global warming is real. If you think stopping gays from doing it is more important than the ice caps melting, the boogeyman is you...

Video files (Windows Media and QuickTime formats) at Crooks and Liars.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 08:18 PM CST [link] [ | ]

In all our understandable astonishment about the destruction in New Orleans...

let's not forget the destruction in Mississippi:

The important point here is what is meant by destroyed, since the media might mislead you by talking about homes being "destroyed" in New Orleans as well. Most homes (though of course not all) in New Orleans are "destroyed" because, although they are still intact, they have received extensive water damage and are now soaked with all sorts of toxic and dangerous substances and are therefore uninhabitable.

But the houses in Mississippi are "destroyed" because they don't exist anymore. I had the bizarre experience of driving around my own hometown, where I'd lived and worked for the first 23 years of my life, and getting lost. In some parts of Gulfport there are only massive piles of debris and bare concrete foundations, where neighborhoods and business districts used to be. I have not yet heard of a New Orleans native having a similar experience.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 08:00 PM CST [link] [ | ]

An Intelligent Design "parable"....

From the SKEPTIC mailing list, a member from Australia forwards this parable giving us an appropriate analogy to the "logic" used by ID proponents:

A major Israeli paper carried an article attacking ID. It was along the same lines as many such articles, but it included an amusing analogy for the posterior logic employed by promoters of ID (which I’ll translate culturally rather than literally):

Joe has been working at a bank as a teller for 17 years. Two years ago, he purchased a half acre waterfront property in Sydney. The ATO was obviously suspicious, and they sent an investigator to talk to Joe. The investigator’s question was simple: how did you get the money?

Joe had an immediate answer: at midnight on Ash Wednesday, Jesus came to me in a dream and said to me: Joe, my son, rise now and take a shovel; At midnight on Easter Sunday, go to the Sydney Cathedral; Circle it 7 times, then take 13 steps South and 666 steps West. At the spot where you then stand, dig to a depth of 7 feet, and you will find an old crate. Open it, and say three times “in the name of the father, and the son, and of the holy spirit”; and with that, he disappeared. I did as he said, and as I stood there with the open box, it suddenly filled with $2 million in crisp $100 notes.

“And what proof do you have of this tale?” asked the investigator, to which Joe answered: “Is the waterfront property not proof enough?”

Len on 09.19.05 @ 07:55 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Drivers wanted.

Steve at The Sneeze ("Half zine. Half blog. Half not good with fractions.") may be on his way to becoming a Volkswagen partisan. In particular, a fan of the Passat:

...I keep seeing a commerical for the new VW Passat. In it, two guys are playing football on the street and one of them goes long, dives to catch the ball and lands hard on the hood of a Passat. He then rolls off to the ground, unhurt.

The announcer goes on to talk about Passat's new "Front-End Pedestrian Saftey System" which apparently makes it safer if you hit somebody. This is the best news ever. It seems to me this is a license to mow people down at will.

The Passat people are geniuses.

The next time someone is taking too long to cross the street, I can playfully knock their asses across the road for them. Life just keeps getting better. First boobies, then Tivo, now this. Yay!

As a long time VW partisan, I heartily welcome another one to the fold.

:-)

Len on 09.19.05 @ 07:50 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Mad Kane has another one up...

A limerick, again (Mad's muse seems to be favoring limericks lately): Rebuilder in Chief. As always, getcher audio version here.

In her post, Mad links to a New York Daily News article which indirectly quotes Bush as saying that the Gulf Coast rebuilding will be funded by a combination of deficit spending (no surprise there) and cuts in federal spending (hum? WTF would he start now?). What I find interesting is the seeming breakdown in the GOP's much vaunted "message discipline", since Bush's seeming assertion that federal spending cuts are possible certainly contradicts the recent assertions of his fellow Texan and partner-in-crime Tom DeLay that Federal spending has been cut to the bone:

"My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). "But nobody has been able to come up with any yet."

It'll be interesting to see if the Rovian hammer comes down on "The Hammer" for breaking ranks with the Bush Fantasy Brigade.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 07:43 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Interesting baseball trivia....

From Baseball Library:

66 YEARS AGO TODAY (September 19, 1939):
Ted Williams hits a HR off Thornton Lee, one of 31 HRs he will hit in his rookie season. Williams will homer off Thornton's son, Ron Lee, 21 years later.

I think it's good to keep something like that in the family.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 05:51 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Another Re-SMUG-lican OOOPs Moment....

Via another Crooks and Liars post is this GEM from The Raw Story:

Immigration memo intended for Rove arrives on Democrat's fax:

And Lamar Smith [21st Congressional District of Texas and identified as a member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims as well as the Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity.] writes, among other things:

“…"Immigration needs to be considered in the context of: (1). Media Bias, (2). Animosity toward the president and (3) the feelings of the Republican base," Smith's memo states.
...
Smith goes on to suggest that "Liberals can easily and accurately be painted as opposing enforcement." His office did not return a call seeking comment.”

Karen on 09.19.05 @ 05:12 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Jon Stewart is Such FUN...

Crooks and Liars had this one from the Emmy's with a video of the Jon Stewart presentation clip.

Too Funnie. So give it a viewing.

:-D

Karen on 09.19.05 @ 04:58 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Now, a partial solution to the Gulf Coast redevelopment problem

Bush Sells Louisiana Back to the French

BATON ROUGE, LA. – The White House announced today that President Bush has successfully sold the state of Louisiana back to the French at more than double its original selling price of $11,250,000.

“This is a bold step forward for America,” said Bush. “And America will be stronger and better as a result. I stand here today in unity with French Prime Minister Jack Shiraq, who was so kind to accept my offer of Louisiana in exchange for 25 million dollars cash.”

The state, ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild.

“Jack understands full well that this one’s a ‘fixer upper,’” said Bush. “He and the French people are quite prepared to pump out all that water, and make Louisiana a decent place to live again. And they’ve got a lot of work to do. But Jack’s assured me, if it’s not right, they’re going to fix it.”

The move has been met with incredulity from the already beleaguered residents of Louisiana.

“Shuba-pie!” said New Orleans resident Willis Babineaux. “Frafer-perly yom kom drabby sham!”

However, President Bush’s decision has been widely lauded by Republicans.

“This is an unexpected but brilliant move by the President,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. “Instead of spending billions and billions, and billions of dollars rebuilding the state of Louisiana, we’ve just made 25 million dollars in pure profit.”

“This is indeed a smart move,” commented Fox News analyst Brit Hume. “Not only have we stopped the flooding in our own budget, we’ve made money on the deal. Plus, when the god-awful French are done fixing it up, we can easily invade and take it back again.”

The money gained from 'The Louisiana Refund' is expected to be immediately pumped back into the rebuilding of Iraq.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 02:47 PM CST [link] [ | ]

This says MVP to me....

Received this morning from the Billy-Ball mailing list:

SI PLAYERS POLL
[Based on a survey of 450 MLB players]
Which opposing hitter do you most fear with the game on the line?

Barry B*nds, Giants .....35%
Albert Pujols, Cardinals .....64%
Manny Ramirez, Red Sox .....8%
Todd Helton, Rockies .....5%
Vladimir Guerrero, Angels .....5%
Gary Sheffield, Yankees .....5%
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners .....4%
Derek Jeter, Yankees .....2%
David Ortiz, Red Sox .....2%
Carlos Beltran, Mets .....1%
Magglio Ordonez, Tigers .....1% [emphasis supplied, of course --LRC]

I note, for the record, the absence of the names of Derrek Lee and Andruw Jones in this list.

This had better be the Year Of Prince Albert.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 10:17 AM CST [link] [ | ]

The latest news in movie piracy prevention...

The Self Destructing DVD Player:

Many industry analysts have wondered which way Sony would go in the copyright protection debate. Sony manufactures both hardware, which is harmed by piracy controls, and entertainment, which is helped by piracy controls. A recent release of a self-destructive DVD player shows that the entertainment division is winning that internal argument.

"Copy protection has been foiled too easily by pirates, and we need to do something more effective," said Sony Entertainment vice-president Harold Wang. "Self-destructive DVDs have been tried, but rejected by consumers. We feel that consumers will embrace the self-destructive DVD players, because it gives them that Mission Impossible I've-got-the-latest-gadget feeling. We even have the player say 'This DVD player will self-destruct in 10 seconds.'"

Wang addressed the safety concerns of destroying a DVD player: "Sure there are safety issues, but most homes are equipped with smoke detectors these days, and are chock full of pirated material which would be destroyed in the blaze. OK, their house might burn down, but isn't that a small price to pay to combat piracy?"

...

Hollywood applauds the move. Chairman of the MPAA Jack Valenti said, "Not having a DVD player makes it absolutely impossible to view pirated content, which makes copying a DVD entirely useless. Granted, it also makes watching the damn thing impossible, but we don't care if you can't see the content, just as long as you buy brand new, legitimate copies from your local or online store."

Len on 09.19.05 @ 08:06 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's GEMs...

Another Couple of GEMs today come from The New Hampsire Union Leader:

"...Dismissing critics who said the federal government should cut spending to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief, instead of borrowing the money, DeLay said, "My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet."
...
That has to be the lie of the year. The only thing Congressional Republicans have pared down is the party's reputation.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is running around the country telling Americans that the Republicans cannot be trusted with their money. And Republicans are playing right into his hands by continuing to recklessly spend the public's money.

"It is right to borrow to pay for it," Delay said of Katrina relief. No, it isn't. It is dead wrong. And so is lying to the American people about how their government is being run.

If only we had a Republican revolution to replace these reckless spenders with financially responsible politicians. Oh, wait. We did.

And this following one from Fareed Zakaria, click on the "more" button to read further.

Karen on 09.19.05 @ 07:36 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

High Points of Popular Cultural History....

Back in 1969, a composer named Gershon Kingsley took 30 seconds out of his busy day, and composed a little tune he titled "Popcorn". He recorded it on an album of electronic music callend Music to Moog By (so called because the instrumentals on that album were recorded on the then brand-new Moog Synthesizer).

In 1972, Stan Free, one of Kingsley's associates in a Moog ensemble dubbed "The First Moog Quartet", got some inspiration from the fact that, when the First Moog Quartet went on tour in the late '60s, their rendition of "Popcorn" seemed to be a real crowd pleaser (once they noticed that, they tended to use it as an encore piece). So Free recorded a cover of "Popcorn" under the alias "Hot Butter", and that was the version that shot to the top of the charts back in the early '70s.

What I find interesting, over thirty years later, is that not only is there a web site devoted to "Popcorn", the song (no, that's not the really interesting part; after all, there are at least two websites devoted to every possible niche interest that has occurred to the mind of man), but that to judge from the site's "versions" page, there is an almost unbelieveable number of cover versions of this song (including, in 2005, covers by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (I'm startled to learn that they're still around, though the page notes that it's an earlier version that's been re-released on a 2005 compilation album) and Ben Folds).

Not bad for what is basically a trivial piece of fluff (however, an enjoyable, trivial piece of fluff).

Len on 09.19.05 @ 07:30 AM CST [link] [ | ]

More bAdmin Lap Dogs...

...Biting Bushies in their Bush…

SUPPLY SIDE: The GOP's New New Deal : The bill for Katrina may fall due next November; by Stephen Moore (Economics writer for The Wall Street Journal):

“There's an old adage that no one in Washington can tell the difference between $1 million and $1 billion.…

…To put that $200 billion in perspective, we could give every one of the 500,000 families displaced by Katrina a check for $400,000, and they could each build a beach front home virtually anywhere in America.
…

Congressman Todd Aiken of Missouri complains that Congress was forced to vote on the $62 billion first installment of funds "even though we knew a lot of the money may go to waste." Mr. Aiken and several dozen other House conservatives proposed an amendment to the $62 billion hurricane relief bill that would offset at least some of the emergency spending by cutting other government programs a meager 2.5 cents out of every dollar that federal agencies spend.

Was the amendment defeated? No. The Republican leadership would not even allow it to come to a vote, on the grounds that there was no waste which could be easily identified and cut.

It's only been 10 days since reconstruction funds were voted out of Congress, but there are already stories of misspending. For example, the Louis Vuitton store reported selling two monographed luxury handbags for $800 each, both paid for by women with FEMA's $2,000 emergency disaster relief debit cards.
…
Politicians from seemingly every congressional district appear to be elbowing their way to the orgy table for a slice of this $200-billion pie. At last count, 12 governors declared their states emergency disaster areas, and thus eligible for federal aid. Iowa, Michigan and Utah, for example, states nowhere near the Hurricane, are lining up for disaster relief funds.

Conspicuously missing from the post-Katrina spending debate is a question for some brave soul in Congress to ask, What is the appropriate and constitutional role here for the federal government? Before the New Deal taught us that the federal government is the solution to every malady, most congresses and presidents would have concluded that the federal government's role was minimal. One of our greatest presidents, Democrat Grover Cleveland, vetoed an appropriation for drought victims because there was no constitutional authority to spend for such purposes. Today he would be ridiculed by Ted Kennedy as "incompassionate."

We all want to see New Orleans rebuilt, but it does not follow that this requires more than $100 billion in federal aid. Chicago was burned to the ground in 1871; San Francisco was leveled by an earthquake in 1906; and in 1900 Galveston, Texas, was razed by a hurricane even more ferocious than Katrina. In each instance, these proud cities were rebuilt rapidly and to even greater glory--with hardly any federal money.

Alas, in the world of compassionate conservatism, the quaint notion of limited federal power has fallen to the wayside in favor of an ethic that has Uncle Sam as first, second and third responder to crisis. FEMA, despite its woeful performance, will grow in size and stature. So will the welfare state. Welcome to the new New Dealism of the GOP.

Both political parties are now willing and eager to spend tax dollars as if they were passing out goody-bags to grabby four-year-olds at a birthday party. The Democrats are already forging their 2006 and 2008 message: We will spend just as many trillions of dollars as Republicans, but we will spend them better than they do. After witnessing the first few Republican misappropriations for Hurricane Katrina, the Democrats may very well be right.”

Karen on 09.19.05 @ 07:12 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Too true to be funny:

From today's Ironic Times:

New Pledge of Allegiance Proposed
Changes reflect changing times.

I pledge allegiance to the Chinese-made flag and to the Republicans for which it stands, one nation under a Christian God, hopelessly divided, with limited liberty and delayed justice for all.

Len on 09.19.05 @ 06:50 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Couldn't have said it...

...better myself:

'Whatever It Costs' by Sebastian Mallaby (WaPo):

“It's hard to say what's worse: The incompetence of the administration's initial hurricane response or the cowardice of its follow-up. Faced with a small hit to his ratings, the president who once boasted of ignoring polls is rushing to spend billions of other people's dollars on saving his political skin. His philosophy is, "It's going to cost whatever it costs." That phrase should be the title of some future history of the Bush era.

The worst part is, President Bush doesn't even think his splurge will be effective. If he really believed that government could overcome racial inequality by targeting subsidies at minority businesses, he should have rolled out a national program long ago. But he doesn't believe anything of the kind. His promises of racial healing are entirely cynical.

What Bush really believes is that government is ineffective. Or at least that's what he says he believes…
…

Katrina also exposed the corruption in the way government dispenses money. The levees around New Orleans were inadequate not because the nation spends too little on water infrastructure; far from it. They were inadequate because water funds are allocated by cronyism rather than by cost-benefit analysis. On any honest crunching of the numbers, fortifying New Orleans looked like an excellent investment. But undeserving projects hogged all the money because they had more powerful sponsors in Congress. Bush hasn't breathed a word about this scandal.

Or take the perverse state of federal flood insurance. Because the program is subsidized, the feds are effectively paying people to build vulnerable houses on the beach; then they bail out flood victims whether or not they've actually signed up and paid their premiums. You might think that Katrina has driven home this lesson once and for all. Bush shows no sign of having grasped it.

Most seriously of all, Katrina exposed the government's incapacity to prepare for emergencies. The failure of response to a predicted flood in New Orleans is only the tip of the iceberg. Name just about any potential disaster, from a bioterrorism attack to avian flu, from an interruption in the flow of Saudi oil to a crash in the dollar. Are the feds prepared? Of course not. They are not even preparing for problems that are 100 percent assured, such as the coming baby bust.

After the terrorist attacks of 2001, Bush rose to the challenge -- perhaps rather too vigorously. After Katrina, he's lost his political nerve and all sense of the big picture. The hurricane has exposed our government as complacent, corrupt and unprepared; it has also created a brief and fleeting chance to launch bold reforms. Yet Bush seems content to accept business as usual. He will sit back and wait for disasters, then write large checks. Hey, it's going to cost whatever it costs. Is this supposed to be leadership?”

and Following the remarks on Sunday's Face the Nation by Senator Obama [from here in IL :-) ]:

Obama: This I think is where the problem comes in. You can't fight a war in Iraq that's costing upwards of 200 billion dollars and rebuild Katrina-rebuild N.O. and respond to the aftermath of Katrina-and try to deal with all the other domestic needs that we have, and- then cut taxes for the wealthiest 1% of Americana. I mean there was talk right-immediately after the hurricane that the republicans in the senate were still going to push forward with the repeal the estate tax which is mind boggling I think. We need some adult supervision of the budget process..

[Hat tip and video available on Crooks and Liars.]

What we Need is Adult Supervision of this Child-in-Chief we have as President!!!

Karen on 09.19.05 @ 06:48 AM CST [link] [ | ]

I think I want to get me one of these....

Len on 09.19.05 @ 06:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Justifications Of The Corpse Profiteers...

Consider this from the NY Times about What the Corpse Profiteers are Really Looking For…

Taking Full Responsibility

President Bush didn't say the other night how he would pay for his promise to rebuild the Gulf Coast states.

Allow us to explain: Every penny of aid approved by Congress so far and all subsequent aid - perhaps as much as $200 billion - will be borrowed, with most of it likely to come from Asian central banks and other foreign investors. That means additional interest of about $10 billion a year indefinitely.

The bill will hit current and future taxpayers in the form of higher taxes or cuts in government programs, or both.

Don't get us wrong. In the main, it makes sense to borrow for huge, vital and unexpected projects (World War II comes to mind). Such borrowing spreads the immense costs over generations, all of which presumably benefit from the extraordinary spending.

The problem is that the United States was deep in hock before Katrina - and for many of the wrong reasons. Unless Congress changes the pre-Katrina priorities laid down by Mr. Bush, necessary borrowing for Katrina will occur on top of unjustified borrowing. The resulting deficits could create deep economic distress, including higher interest rates, slower economic growth, future tax increases and constraints on the government's ability to be responsive, both to crises and to everyday needs, like health care. Growing deficits also pose a security threat because increasing foreign indebtedness risks eroding the nation's position in the world.

Cutting taxes for the rich is the most glaring of the wrongheaded reasons to pile debt upon debt. Since 2001, Congress has passed tax and spending legislation totaling $1.7 trillion. Of that total, tax cuts for people who make more than $200,000 a year, the top 3 percent of the income ladder, have accounted for nearly 20 percent - or about $330 billion.

High-end tax cuts were not a wise policy during the shallow recession of Mr. Bush's first term and they're certainly not called for now. Unpaid-for tax cuts only cause more government borrowing. That takes money from government programs and taxpayers of tomorrow and gives it to the rich of today.

So far, the signs are not good for how Congress will respond to Mr. Bush's promise to spend "unprecedented" amounts for Katrina. Last week, Republican leaders pledged to push ahead with more deficit-inducing tax cuts for the wealthy - costing up to $70 billion over five years. Their most cherished is an extension for two years of temporary low rates for dividends and capital gains, scheduled to expire in 2008. About half of those cuts would flow to people making more than $1 million a year.

At the same time, key lawmakers are already balking at borrowing for Katrina. "We must not let Katrina break the bank for our children and grandchildren," said Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, in a typical comment.

They have it exactly backward. The tax-cutting agenda is breaking the bank for our descendants, while impairing our ability to borrow responsibly today. Every dollar that is saved by letting the tax cuts expire as scheduled is one less dollar the nation will need to borrow for Katrina.

A day after his speech from New Orleans, Mr. Bush ruled out tax increases to help pay for Katrina.

That's unrealistic. And in any event, letting temporary tax cuts expire on schedule is not a tax increase.

It's the law of the land, which Congress wants to change. Now that Mr. Bush has ruled out new tax increases, he should also tell Congress to rule out new tax cuts for the rich. Taking responsibility for the response to Katrina means taking fiscal responsibility as well.

Karen on 09.19.05 @ 06:05 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

You know why I'm even writing this article? There's a guy on the NL ballot who may be the most ridiculous candidate for any award in human history that didn't involve NARAS. Brian Fuentes is apparently having a "comeback," which is interesting because you probably can't find 20 people who knew he was even having a career.
--Joe Sheehan [Baseball Prospectus, on MLB's "Pfizer Comeback Player of the Year" award]

Len on 09.19.05 @ 05:48 AM CST [link] [ | ]

There are Walls and...

...Walls.

The NY Times has its New Subscription Wall in place today for its Editorials an Special Pieces.

But, as I still enjoy their commentary and information, I will continue to present those tid-bits I find interesting to me here on DBV.

For today it's a "You're a Good man Charlie Brown" retelling from Bob Herbert.

Click on the "more" button to read further.

Karen on 09.19.05 @ 05:37 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

The Corpse Profiteers

I honestly thought the link Len had sent me to Lean-Left's post: After Two Weeks, They Resort to Cannibalism; (without a citation) was a piece that must have been put there as a JOKE. This couldn't be Seriously TRUE...

But here it is at Times On-Line; the same story that The Corpse Profiteers (Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, Law professor Harold Apolinsky, co-author of Sessions' legislation repealing the federal estate tax), are hard at work:

Looking for a Corpse to Make a Case: Senators look for a wealthy casualty of Katrina as evidence against the estate tax:

"Federal troops aren't the only ones looking for bodies on the Gulf Coast. On Sept. 9, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions called his old law professor Harold Apolinsky, co-author of Sessions' legislation repealing the federal estate tax, which was encountering sudden resistance on the Hill. Sessions had an idea to revitalize their cause, which he left on Apolinsky's voice mail: "[Arizona Sen.] Jon Kyl and I were talking about the estate tax. If we knew anybody that owned a business that lost life in the storm, that would be something we could push back with."

If legislative ambulance chasing looks like a desperate measure, for the backers of repealing the estate tax, these are desperate times. Just three weeks ago, their long-sought goal of repeal seemed within reach, but Katrina dashed their hopes when Republican leaders put off an expected vote. After hearing from Sessions, Apolinsky, an estate tax lawyer who says his firm includes three multi-billionaires among its clients, mobilized the American Family Business Institute, a Washington-based group devoted to estate tax repeal. They reached out to members along the Gulf Coast to hunt for the dead.

It's been hard. Only a tiny percentage of people are affected by the estate tax—in 2001 only 534 Alabamans were subject to it. And for Hill backers of repeal, that's only part of the problem. Last year, the tax brought in $24.8 billion to the federal government. With Katrina's cost soaring, estate tax opponents need to find a way to make up the potential lost income. For now, getting repeal back on the agenda may depend on Apolinsky and his team of estate-sniffing sleuths, who are searching Internet obituaries among other places. Has he found any victims of both the hurricane and the estate tax? "Not yet," Apolinsky says. "But I'm still looking."

Karen on 09.18.05 @ 03:59 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Interesting experiment....

I don't give a shit about football, or any sport other than baseball, for that matter (to me, the sports year begins with the reporting of pitchers and catchers to spring training in February, and ends with the last out of the World Series), but this experiment looks interesting:

Adding a twist to my bet with Kevin (yet to be accepted by him), FDR is picking games to compete against the two of us. If FDR has a higher winning percentage than both of us at the end of the season, our bet is null and void.

I should mention that FDR is a dime, the only coin I had.

I shall toss the coin, with heads picking the home team, and tails picking the road team. Since a coin cannot be biased for or against anyone, not even on results that have already happened, I’m tossing for weeks 1 and 2 to get full numbers. I’m skipping the Raiders/Patriots game from week 1 just so we have all predicted the same number.

Right now, I'd bet on FDR being more accurate than tgirsch or Kevin....

:-) (in case either Tom or Kevin read us....)

Len on 09.18.05 @ 01:25 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Back in high school, my buddies tried to put the make on anything that moved. I told them, 'Why limit yourselves?'
--Emo Philips

I know that Karen's deciding to stick with "Child-in-Chief" as her primary nickname for Bush. But for those of you who don't want to limit yourselves, Jo Fish at Democratic Veteran gives us every derogatory nickname he's ever thought of for The Crawford Cretin.

Enjoy!

Len on 09.18.05 @ 01:03 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Woolly Bears

Found a Woolly Bear (Pyrrharctia isabella) [or it's most Yellowish cousin] wandering on my deck. Tho' a true Woolly Bear is more orange and has black ends... this one is equally wooly and about two inches long.

This Government webpage say they are found across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Supposed to cocoon and Metomorphosis into a Tiger Moth. (See pictures on the site.)

But most interesting is the Folk Legends about how Woolly Bears forecast for the severity of the upcoming winter.

Click on the "more" button to read this information.

:-)

Karen on 09.18.05 @ 01:00 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Eyewitness reports: Socialized Medicine--it ain't bad in Canada at all

Over at The Leiter Reports, a couple of guest bloggers have been filling in for Brian Leiter. Both are U.S. academics who have taken positions in Canada. Friday one of them, Jessica Wilson, shared her experience with their first encounter with socialized medicine, Canadian style:

Our prescriptions were running out, so it was time to see a doctor. Would we have to wait for weeks, spend hours in the waiting room, be officiously treated by a harassed doctor with her hands full from treating the hypochondriac hordes clamouring for freely dispensed health care?

Uh, no. We called a couple of days ago and got new patient appointments right away at a walk-in clinic in our neighborhood. We walked in to a nice building right on Danforth...

...

Up the stairs to check in, where there was a pharmacy and a dentist's office, among other services. No waiting. A nice person and 5 minutes later, we were upstairs in the doctor's waiting area. Approximately 1 minute later, our pleasant, calm doctor (a young man recently moved here from Montreal) invited us to come, separately or together, into the office. We went in together, and each conversed at length with the doctor about our respective maladies (what fun!) and the alternatives for treating them, made a decision on these scores, and got an initial check-up. The doctor was thoughtful, informed, and in no hurry whatsoever to get rid of us. We then took our prescriptions to the pharmacy downstairs, waited about 10 minutes, paid a reasonable amount (we'll get reimbursed when our official insurance comes through... though it's worth noting that the standard base-line insurance doesn't automatically come with prescription coverage. No doubt prescriptions are covered for those below a certain income threshold), and were on our merry way.

By way of comparison with health care in the States, Benj waited a month to get a new patient's appointment after moving to Ithaca, and to get my first prescription in Ann Arbor I had to sit in the waiting room at the University of Michigan clinic for almost an hour. In fact, I can't remember ever not having to wait for some extended period of time to see a doctor in the states. And once in the exam room, the person I had most contact with wasn't the doctor, but rather a nurse or nurse practitioner, who asked most of the questions and performed the general check-up, with the doctor showing up for a 5 or 10 minute diagnostic denouement. And our health insurance was supposed to be elite! Free market health insurance -- don't believe the hype.

UPDATE: Reader RA sends along the following story:
A friend of mine [in Santa Monica] sought a medical appointment for some unusual skin growths on her face and back through Kaiser Permamente. She was told it would take four months to get an appointment. She didn't want to wait so she saw a dermatologist outside her HMO and discovered she had skin cancer. $5,000 (out-of-her-pocket) later, she's fine, but obviously not happy with her medical coverage.

I can see that in a few years, I'll be wishing I was a Canadian (actually, I'm already there), because my health care there would be much better than what I'll be able to afford here.

UPDATE: Over at the River City Mud Bugle, autoegocrat shows us why it looks like even the Iraqis will have better health care than we do.

Len on 09.18.05 @ 12:39 PM CST [link] [ | ]

I'm a satisfied customer of theirs....

So I'll take the opportunity to plug the latest offering from Cutiegear:

While you're at it, though, make sure you pick up an Abby's Dad "Decline Insanity" coffee mug. Both Karen and I have one; I consider it one of my most treasured possessions (and I have a large collection of coffee mugs, so from me that's high praise, indeed), and Karen likes it because it's big and holds lotsa mornin' joe.

Len on 09.18.05 @ 12:08 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Bush? Compassionate? Don't make me laugh....

I think this says it all:

The credit: to an anonymous Talking Points Memo Reader.

Len on 09.18.05 @ 11:56 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A new definition of "chutzpah"?

You know the classic one of course: "A man murdering his parents and then throwing himself on the mercy of the court on the grounds he's an orphan." Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall gives us another example, courtesy of notorious corrupt congresscritter Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California:

Wow! Old habits sure die hard for our man Duke Cunningham.

You remember how Duke got MZM, Inc. owner Mitchell Wade to pay (roughly) double the price for his old house. Then he took Wade's bribe and mixed it together with a few sweetheart loans from Thomas Kontogiannis to buy the new mansion in Rancho Santa Fe.

After Duke's career imploded this summer, the feds sued to take ownership of the new mansion since it was bought with the proceeds of Duke's bribes from various contractors. Presumably, that and the rest of Duke's so-so publicity over recent months has put something of a damper on his efforts to unload the mansion.

In any case, apparently the best offer Duke's gotten for the place is $2.5 million, $50,000 less than he bought it for 20 months ago. But Duke says it's real value is at least $3.3 million (a questionable level of appreciation in a decelerating real estate market).

Now, back in the old days when Duke was living large and he got into a jam like this, the standard procedure was to find a corrupt defense contractor to chip in a few hundred thousand dollars. But since that probably won't work out any more, Duke says the US Treasury should pay him $800,000 to make up for the money he should be getting for the house.

That's right. Duke says the feds should make him whole because he can't pocket the full Duke-appraised 'market' value.

Why is this guy stil in Congress?

The Federal Government should pay Duke $800,000 for his house? I think the Feds should give it to him in trade, as it were. Like in a multi-year occupancy of one of those palatial Federal prison cells that I'm sure ol' "Duke-stir" voted to fund during his term as a congresscritter.

Len on 09.18.05 @ 11:51 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Federal Fuckups in Louisiana: Part Way-Too-Many-Too Count

I hope Bryan forgives me for stealing one of his best posts; I hope he knows he's more than welcome to steal anyting of mine he finds here (not that I ever produce anything worth stealing, but that's a different issue):

As hurricane Katrina moved up the Gulf taking aim at New Orleans, Captain Nora Tyson and the crew of the USS Bataan were right behind it.

By coincidence this vessel, based in Norfolk, Virginia, was operating in the Gulf. Jo Fish might know of another class of US vessel that was better, but I can't imagine anything more suited to aiding coastal cities.

The Bataan is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship. She was designed to support landing Marines on a shore. She has a flight deck for her helicopters and VTOL aircraft, she has amphibious landing craft, she has a 600-bed hospital, and she can generate 100,000 gallons of drinking water a day. Everything that was needed was there: food, water, medical care, transportation, communications, mobile generators, everything was on that ship and it arrived within range as Katrina hit New Orleans.

Northern Command, the area command for US operations, was ready to go. They put people on alert to leap into action. All they needed was the word from the President.

The helicopters from the Bataan rushed in with Coast Guard helicopters on search and rescue [SAR] missions, but no one was transferred to the hospital and none of her supplies was used in New Orleans.

At some point, someone in FEMA made the decision that the way to deal with New Orleans was to evacuate the city, so there was no need for supplies in the city. Not being clear on geography, that "no aid" decision was apparently applied to all of the parishes around New Orleans.

The Bataan was later shifted East and helped support operations on the Mississippi coast, but she could have held the patients from all of the hospitals and nursing homes in the area. She could have supplied water to the people of New Orleans and a lot of food. She could have saved a lot more people if she had been allowed to do what she was capable of doing.

I hope that the Navy and DoD are generous with awards for the vessel and her crew. They did their duty and would have done a lot more if they had been allowed.

And I hope he forgives me for stealing part of another one of his posts:

I'm sick of it! I keep hearing supposedly intelligent people saying that the Shrubbery deserves credit for accepting "responsibility" for the failed response. He hasn't even apologized.

IT IS HIS JOB! HE GETS PAID TO DEAL WITH THESE PROBLEMS! HE APPOINTED THE PEOPLE WHO WERE UNABLE TO DO THEIR JOB!

He is wasting money flying around the country staging photo ops while he should be in Washington getting things done. If he spent some time in the office, he might find out what was going on, and that goes for his entire administration. If his people can light Jackson Square in a few hours for a photo op, why didn't they have lights in the SuperDome for days? Are those generators and the fuel to run them only available for photo ops?

He failed to call in the military. The military wasn't used because of George W. Bush, not the laws.

I'm fully in agreement with Molly Ivins:

...I am so sick of this man and everything he represents -- all the sleazy, smug, self-righteous graft and corruption and "Christian" moralizing and cynicism and tax cuts for all his smug, rich buddies.

And I'm equally sick of the vacuuous, blind, unthinking, apparently brain-dead morons who defend this pitiful excuse for a human being.

I don't know which is worse, Bush's crimes against humanity (specifically, the the war of aggression he instituted against Iraq) or his criminal negligence in the wake of Hurricane Katrina which directly led to the deaths of hundreds of Americans who did not need to die.

Christian president my ass.

Len on 09.18.05 @ 11:27 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Postseason Musings, or: Why I'm Glad I'm Not Tony LaRussa.....

Over at The Cardinals Birdhouse, Brian Walton has an interesting analysis of the problems facing TLR in managing his postseason rotation. Go read the whole thing for the nuances (in particular, the analysis of the likely rotations in the event of Houston getting the wild card slot vice any other team getting it, and why they pan out that way), but here's the problem in a nutshell:

In conclusion

Which of these NLDS scenarios do you favor?

1) Facing a team with a weaker regular-season record, the NL West winner, knowing that if there is a Game 5, it could have to be trusted either to Mulder on short rest or a potentially-rusty Morris or Marquis.

-or-

2) Facing a hot Wild Card team (and we all know how successful Wild Cards have been in winning the World Series in recent years), knowing that if a Game 5 is required, a rested Chris Carpenter will be ready to go at home, but potentially paying for it later with him unavailable until later in the NLCS.

It’s not as if we actually have a choice, but we can have a preference, can’t we?

Len on 09.18.05 @ 10:27 AM CST [link] [ | ]

This Week in Engrish...

I almost forgot my “This Week in Engrish” post but here was one on a tattoo Parlor website ad; which was more interesting for the *other information* it conveyed than the Engrish Funnie.

It lists a working website URL for a tattoo parlor: Boobies.

So, go check out the actual pages of designs of the Oriental Artwork at Boobies and this second page of designs.

[And the *full body* of the naked Guy recalls me to The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.]

:-)

Karen on 09.18.05 @ 09:56 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Fatal Doctrines...

Here is and Excellent piece from Lord Robert Skidelsky (Professor of Political Economy at Warwick University) called A fatal flaw at the heart of Bush and Blair's democratic crusade.

Click on the “more” button to read this in full.

Karen on 09.18.05 @ 09:12 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Looks like we've fucked the Iraqis over, and probably ourselves as well....

UPDATE: The direct link down there is working now.

Over at Back to Iraq, Christopher Allbritton posts an article from "That pink-o, liberal workers’ rag DefenseNews (no link that I can find, unfortunately), also known as a trade publication for defense contractors" which makes a compelling case that the Iraqi Civil War has already started (the direct link to Allbritton's post appears to be broken; go to the main page (first link in this post) and scroll to the September 18, 2005 post titled "Civil War is Here"):

Civil War Is Here
“Even if U.S. and Iraqi officials do not want to admit it, the facts on the ground are overwhelming and they do indicate that Iraq has plunged into a civil war, and things are getting worse by the day,” said Qassem Jaafar, a Doha, Qatar-based Middle East security analyst.

Jaafar listed the symptoms of a civil war as:
A weak central government with incompetent security apparatus.
Spread of sectarian and ethnic killings.
Existence of armed sectarian and ethnic militias.
High threat perception among the sectarian and ethnic groups of the country.
Insistence of each group on its demands.
Foreign interference and support to feuding groups.
Jaafar said all these symptoms are present in Iraq now.

A Washington analyst said Sunnis had not been persuaded to participate in the political process, and the constitution as drawn up would not help that. “Rather than an ‘inclusive’ document, it [the constitution] is more a recipe for separation based on Shiite and Kurdish privilege,” said Anthony Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Attiyah said a failure to accommodate Sunni concerns could embolden Sunni extremists.

“If the constitution is not amended to meet Sunni demands and goes as-is to the referendum, then moderate Sunni figures would lose ground to the radical forces and an all-out civil war will spread to each corner of the country,” Attiyah said.

Jaafar agreed. “The U.S. is facing a serious dilemma in Iraq, where its Shiite and Kurdish allies have gone out on their own pushing for their own agendas that do not seem to meet with Washington’s vision of a future Iraq,” he said.

“The Shiites, for example, have been pushing for an Iranian-style Islamic republic, which would not suit U.S. interests,” while “the Kurdish secessionist drive is growing stronger every day, which is getting Turkey and other neighboring states more worried.”

No Win for Washington
Jaafar said that puts Washington on the hot seat.

“The U.S. is stuck in an almost no-win situation. It can neither just withdraw from Iraq without completing the mission and establishing peace and order in the country, and at the same time it does not seem capable of maintaining Iraq’s unity and achieving its promise of establishing a free and democratic Iraq that would be a good model for neighboring countries,” Jaafar said.

So now George W. "the war president" Bush has pretty well fucked up Iraq.

To think the idiots who support Bush trust him not to fuck up the United States, too. Despite all the evidence to the contrary. I wonder what planet they're living on, because it sure isn't Planet Earth.

Len on 09.18.05 @ 09:02 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Rotten to the Core…

…Is Intelligent Design.

In science, fact, not faith, measures ideas' validity by Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne [Richard Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University. Jerry Coyne is a professor in the department of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago] from the Chicago Tribune:

“… So what's wrong, then, with teaching "both sides" of the alleged controversy between evolution and creationism or intelligent design?

The answer is simple.

This is not a scientific controversy at all.

…

But creationism, currently repackaged as intelligent design, is not an argument of the same character. It is not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one. It might be worth discussing in a class on the history of ideas, in a philosophy class on popular logical fallacies or in a comparative religion class on origin myths from around the world.

But it no more belongs in a biology class than alchemy does in a chemistry class, phlogiston in a physics class, astrology in a psychology class or the stork theory in a sex education class. In a class on 20th Century European history, nobody would want to grant denial of the Holocaust the status of one half of a "let's teach both sides of the controversy" treatment.

In all of these cases, the demand for equal time for "both theories" is ludicrous. And this is how professional biologists feel about the apparently reasonable demand that they should give intelligent design the status of a scientific theory.

But there's a reason why we, like the vast majority of professional biologists, are so sure that intelligent design is not a real scientific theory, worthy of "both sides" treatment.

Where are the facts?

If intelligent design really were a scientific theory, positive evidence for it, gathered through research, would fill peer-reviewed scientific journals. This doesn't happen. It isn't that editors refuse to publish intelligent design research. There simply isn't any intelligent design research to publish.

Its advocates bypass normal scientific channels by appealing directly to the non-scientific public and their elected government officials. Their argument is always the same. Never do they offer positive evidence in favor of intelligent design. All we ever get is a list of alleged deficiencies in evolution--"gaps" in the fossil record or unsupported assertions of "irreducibly complex" organs that allegedly could not have evolved.

In all cases there is a hidden default assumption that if Theory A has some difficulty in explaining Phenomenon X, we must automatically prefer Theory B without even asking whether Theory B-- creationism/intelligent design in this case--is any better at explaining Phenomenon X.

Defying reason

Note how this imbalance gives the lie to the apparent reasonableness of "let's teach both sides." One side is required to produce evidence every step of the way. The other side is never required to produce one iota of evidence, but it is deemed to have won automatically the moment the first side encounters a difficulty--the sort of difficulty that all sciences encounter every day and which researchers work to solve with relish.

…

Evolution welcomes scrutiny

Evolution, like all good theories, makes itself vulnerable to disproof. Needless to say, it has always come through with flying colors.

…

But the important point is that the default logic of the creationists remains thoroughly rotten.

And it's no solution to raise the theological defense that God (or the intelligent designer) is immune to the normal demands of scientific explanation.

You cannot have it both ways. Either intelligent design belongs in the science classroom, in which case it must submit to the discipline required of a scientific hypothesis, or it does not, and we must send it back to the church, where it belongs.

Not `just a theory'

There is no scientific evidence in favor of intelligent design. In contrast, the positive evidence for evolution is truly enormous, made up of hundreds of thousands of mutually corroborating observations from geology, paleontology, comparative anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, behavior, biogeography, embryology, atomic physics and molecular genetics.

Opposition to evolution is laughable to all who are acquainted with even a fraction of the published data. Although often characterized as "just a theory," evolution is just as much a fact as plate tectonics or the heliocentric solar system.

Why, finally, does it matter whether these issues are discussed in science classes?

Perhaps biologists shouldn't get so hot under the collar. It would, after all, take only about 10 minutes to exhaust the case for intelligent design. The problem is that the seductive "let's teach the controversy" language conveys the false and highly pernicious idea that there really are two sides.

Thus, without needing to make a single good point in any argument, creationism would have won the right for a form of supernaturalism to be considered an authentic part of science. And that would be the end of genuine science education in America.

Karen on 09.18.05 @ 08:38 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Great days in American History (um, maybe):

A very dubious source tells me that today is the 122^nd anniversary of the birth of an "Elmer Maytag", inventor of the washing machine.

Unfortunately for this source, every other source I can find on the web gives the name of the inventor of the washing mashine as "F.L." or "Fred L. Maytag", and the only source I can find with anything close to a birthdate for Fred gives it as being 1857, not 1883 as my ever more dubious source says. I'll be taking this matter up with him directly.

Whatever date it is, no doubt Fred's birthday is a high holy day in the thriving metropolis of Newton, Iowa, which is the home of the Maytag Corporation (as well as being the hometown of our pal, Gooseneck).

And no making any jokes. I've actually visited Newton; it's a nice town.

Len on 09.18.05 @ 08:11 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

One of the creepier vanities of most political leaders is the private yearning to be tested on a historical scale. Bill Clinton used to confide that, no matter what else he did as President, without a major war to fight he could never join the ranks of Lincoln and F.D.R. During the Presidential debates in 2000, George W. Bush informed his opponent, Al Gore, that natural catastrophes are “a time to test your mettle.” Bush had seen his father falter after a hurricane in South Florida. But now he has done far worse. Over five days last week, from the onset of the hurricane on the Gulf Coast on Monday morning to his belated visit to the region on Friday, Bush’s mettle was tested—and he failed in almost every respect.

Obviously, a hurricane is beyond human blame, and the political miscalculations that have come to light—the negligent planning, the delayed rescue and aid efforts, the thoroughly confused and uninspired political leadership—cannot all be laid at the feet of President Bush. But you could sense, watching him being interviewed by Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America”—defensive, confused, overwhelmed—that he knew that he had delivered a series of feeble, vague, almost flippant speeches in the early days of the crisis, and that the only way to prevent further political damage was to inoculate himself with the inevitable call for non-partisanship: “I hope people don’t play politics during this period of time.”

And yet, to a frightening degree, Bush’s faults of leadership and character were brought into high relief by the crisis. Suntanned and relaxed after a vacation so long that it would have shamed a French playboy, Bush reacted with fogged delinquency, as if he had been so lulled by his summer sojourn that he was not quite ready to acknowledge reality, let alone attempt to master it. His first view of the floods came, pitifully, theatrically, from the window of a low-flying Air Force One, and all the President could muster was, according to his press secretary, “It’s devastating. It’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground.” The moment demanded clarity of mind and rigorous governance, and yet he could not summon them. The performance skills Bush eventually mustered after September 11th—in his bullhorn speech at Ground Zero, in his first speech to Congress—eluded him. The whole conceit of his Presidency, that he was an instinctive chief executive backed by “grownups” like Dick Cheney and tactical wizards like Karl Rove, now seemed as water-logged as Biloxi and New Orleans. The mismanagement of the Katrina floods echoed the White House mismanagement—the cavalier posture, the wretched decisions, the self-delusions—in postwar Iraq.
--David Remnick

Len on 09.18.05 @ 08:04 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Gratuitous post...

Because I want to be the one to post the 2000^th post since the last time I had to reset Greymatter.

Go Cards!

Len on 09.17.05 @ 06:58 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Unicorn chaser

For those of you as disturbed as I was by the alligator picture below, here's a picture of a unicorn.

Unicorn and foal

Whew, I feel so much better now.

Brock on 09.17.05 @ 06:01 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals: 2005 National League Central Division Champions

We send the Magic Number to 0 with a win in Wrigley Field.

Now, on the to NLDS.

UPDATE: Of course, it wasn't (according to the date/time stamp) even three minutes after the last out was recorded before I got an email from the official Cardinals team mailing list, informing us of the good news--and encouraging us to visit the Cardinals' website and stock up on our official St. Louis Cardinals 2005 Central Division Championship gear.

Capitalism. Gotta love it.

[Note: The immediately preceding sentence was a test of your mental software's ability correctly to parse the "sarcasm" markup tags.]

Len on 09.17.05 @ 03:24 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Sad news....

We've just heard that John McMullen has died at the age of 87.

While he's accomplished more in his life than this, I'll always remember him for sumarizing his term as a limited partner in the New York Yankees ownership group:

There is nothing quite so limited as being a limited partner of George Steinbrenner's.

Len on 09.17.05 @ 02:22 PM CST [link] [ | ]

If You are wondering about the NOLA Body Count...

...And why it *Might* not ever be terribly accurate - despite the Best Efforts at recovery:

Just consider this.

Karen on 09.17.05 @ 11:34 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Magic Number Watch:

Still holding at 1.

Nonetheless, Lee Sinins, in his daily stat-head "Around the Majors" newsletter, has put the Cardinals down as having won the NL Central (no doubt, since it's now impossible, given the mathematics of the standings and the tiebreaker rules, for the Cardinals to lose the NL Central title).

In related news, tickets for the 2005 National League Divisional Series and 2005 National League Championship Series are going on sale in St. Louis at 9 AM Monday morning. If last year's experience is any indication, you'd better getcher ass to St. Louis today and camp out (indeed, you may be too late already); while I've heard that tickets may be available by phone and over the 'net, last year IIRC the volume of traffic made attemtpts to buy by phone or 'net a pretty hopeless exercise.

Len on 09.17.05 @ 10:20 AM CST [link] [ | ]

As an Antidote...

...to the Party of Performance GOP sloganeers:

How about:

Democrats Delivering Competence v the Party of the Profligate Plutocrats

Or we could try: Pathetic, Procrastinating, Prevaricators, Pernicious, Pandering, Piece-meal, Pig-Headed, Peevish - as adjectives for those GOP-ers.

This could be a good Democratic Slogan for 2006.

;-)

Karen on 09.17.05 @ 10:18 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

How many wake-up calls do we need? I ve seen the obscene sums. Show me the progress. Please, show me the error of my ways. Although I'll readily cop to being AWOL in the 70s, I didn't miss too many classes in the 50s and 60s; and looking back down the road, with JFK and Neil Armstrong in the rearview, I was taught that I'd be buzzing around Paris and Bangkok in a flying car that ran on grass and little more than a liter of water by now.

So of course I'm PO'ed. I despise 97 percent of what I see and hear. Life is pointless without a flying car, and every complacent jerk who thinks it's so Jim Dandy can easily shove his or her freakin Ipod nano where the sun doesn't charge a dollar for a song. Which reminds me of another sure thing from the olden days: They had me believing any ditty ever recorded--from ABBA to Zappa--might cost maybe a nickel or a dime at most if I wanted to play it forever inside my flying car. And that was before eight tracks, dadgummit!
--William A. Smith, "Where's My Flying Car?"

Len on 09.17.05 @ 10:03 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's GEM...

“The president, as he fondly recalled the other day, used to get well lit in New Orleans. Not any more.
…
In a ruined city - still largely without power, stinking with piles of garbage and still 40 percent submerged; where people are foraging in the miasma and muck for food, corpses and the sentimental detritus of their lives; and where unbearably sad stories continue to spill out about hordes of evacuees who lost their homes and patients who died in hospitals without either electricity or rescuers - isn't it rather tasteless, not to mention a waste of energy, to haul in White House generators just to give the president a burnished skin tone and a prettified background?

The slick White House TV production team was trying to salvage W.'s "High Noon" snap with some snazzy Hollywood-style lighting - the same Reaganesque stagecraft they had provided when W. made a prime-time television address from Ellis Island on the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On that occasion, Scott Sforza, a former ABC producer, and Bob DeServi, a former NBC cameraman and a lighting expert, rented three barges of giant Musco lights, the kind used for "Monday Night Football" and Rolling Stones concerts, floated them across New York Harbor and illuminated the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop for Mr. Bush.

Before the presidential address, Mr. DeServi was surveying his handiwork in Jackson Square, crowing to reporters about his cathedral: "Oh, it's heated up. It's going to print loud."
…
The president is still looking for a tiny spot of unreality in New Orleans - and in Iraq, where a violent rampage has spiked the three-day death tally to over 200.

The Oedipal loop-de-loop of W. and Poppy grows ever loopier.

With Karl Rove's help, Junior designed his presidency as a reverse of his father's. W. would succeed by studying Dad's failures and doing the opposite. But in a bizarre twist of filial fate, the son has stumbled so badly in areas where he tried to one-up Dad that he has ended up giving Dad a leg up in the history books.

As Mark Twain said: "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

Of course, it's taken Junior only five years to learn how smart his old man was….”

--Maureen Dowd

Disney on Parade (NY Times).

Karen on 09.17.05 @ 08:07 AM CST [link] [ | ]

FEMA on the Fly...

FEMA, Slow to the Rescue, Now Stumbles in Aid Effort (NY Times):

”Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Katrina cut its devastating path, FEMA - the same federal agency that botched the rescue mission - is faltering in its effort to aid hundreds of thousands of storm victims, local officials, evacuees and top federal relief officials say. The federal aid hot line mentioned by President Bush in his address to the nation on Thursday cannot handle the flood of calls, leaving thousands of people unable to get through for help, day after day.
…
Visits to several towns in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as interviews with dozens of local and federal officials, provide a portrait of a fragmented and dysfunctional system.

The top two federal relief officials in charge of the effort both acknowledged in interviews late this week that they too have listened to the frustrated voices of local officials and citizens alike, and find their complaints valid.

"It is not happening fast enough, effective enough and it is not impacting the people at the bottom as quickly as it should," said Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, standing along the waterfront in New Orleans on Friday. "I have heard frustrations."

Admiral Allen, who was put in charge of the federal government's emergency operations along the Gulf Coast a week ago Friday, said entrenched bureaucracies hampered attempts to accelerate his top priorities: aid to residents, providing housing and clearing the vast swaths of wreckage from homes and trees damaged by the storm.

Working from Baton Rouge, William Lokey, FEMA's coordinating officer for the three-state region, echoed Admiral Allen's criticisms. "It is not going as fast as I would like, and yes, I do not have the resources I would like," he said on Thursday. "I am going as fast as I can to get them."

The problems clearly stem largely from the sheer enormousness of the disaster. But the lack of investment in emergency preparedness, poor coordination across a sprawling federal bureaucracy and a massive failure of local communication systems - all of which hurt the initial rescue efforts - are now also impeding the recovery.

FEMA, Mr. Lokey said, is an agency with limited federal money that must quickly expand its operational capacity only after a major disaster strikes. It has not won a large chunk of the new federal homeland security dollars, that have been dedicated to terrorism.

"If the billions of dollars that have been spent on chemical, nuclear and biological response, if some of that had come over here, we would have done better," he said. "But after 9/11, the public priority was terrorism."

The Katrina troubles underscore serious questions about the federal government's ability to handle similar disasters in the future…”

[Emphasis mine]

This is what happens when you dismantle an effective governmental agency like FEMA (under Clinton) by both funding cuts (those “starve the FED government folks”) and by political cronyism appointing Incompetents to run it - and Then actually NEED it to function.

It’s almost hard to fault the clean-up crew under Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen who have to recreate an entire agency on the fly in the middle of a National Disaster. But we KNOW where the buck stops for this in the first place. Bleh!!!

Karen on 09.17.05 @ 07:53 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Answers to B.B. King Birthday Trivia.

I'll reprint the questions here, in case you want to challenge yourself without scrolling down to the original post (which is several posts below this one):

What was B.B.'s birth name?
When did B.B. first arrive in Memphis, and what brought him here?
True or False: B.B. began his career in Memphis as a radio personality.
What do the initials "B.B." stand for, and how did he come by that name?
True or False: Sam Phillips produced some of B.B.'s earliest records at Sun Studios.
True or False (2 parter):
Part 1: In 1982, B.B. released an album of country songs.
Part 2: Hell yes; it was one of his biggest hits.
How did B.B.'s guitar come to receive the name, "Lucille"?

For the answers, click "more"....

Len on 09.16.05 @ 09:44 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Subtextual messaging...

At the risk of over doing my usual amount of posts for any given day [*wink*], I just had to link to these GEMs by Douglas A. Cooper (Dysblog):

What We Really Heard George Say, If We Listened Closely:
The full subtext of President Bush's address Thursday, as leaked by an unnamed source at The White House.

And this little pre-speech pep talk about responsibility for the Child-in-Chief from Blooming-Shit-Head himself, as told by The FLY-On-The-Wall. [Not you Pesky...LOL]

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 04:44 PM CST [link] [ | ]

This is for LEN....

... and how could I Resist a little Memphonian Jab here ...

So - Go Look / See for yourself!!!

Right HERE.

LOL

*wink*

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 02:49 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Happy Birthday, B.B. King!!!!

How could I have missed this?

Today is 80^th birthday of blues legend B.B. King.

In honor or which, a mini-B.B. trivia quiz:

What was B.B.'s birth name?
When did B.B. first arrive in Memphis, and what brought him here?
True or False: B.B. began his career in Memphis as a radio personality.
What do the initials "B.B." stand for, and how did he come by that name?
True or False: Sam Phillips produced some of B.B.'s earliest records at Sun Studios.
True or False (2 parter):
Part 1: In 1982, B.B. released an album of country songs.
Part 2: Hell yes; it was one of his biggest hits.
How did B.B.'s guitar come to receive the name, "Lucille"?

Of course, I can't stop any of y'all from Googling the answers, but I'll be more impressed if you can roll them off from memory....

Len on 09.16.05 @ 02:39 PM CST [link] [ | ]

There is Some Responsibility To Go Around...

But this is outlandish as the FEDs continue efforts to avoid their responsibility...

Given the debates we’ve had going right here about the responsibilities and duties of the Army Corps of Engineers versus the State and Locals; Here comes a new angle:

E-mail suggests government seeking to blame groups: (By Jerry Mitchell):

“Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups, documents show.

The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys' offices: "Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation."

Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said Thursday she couldn't comment "because it's an internal e-mail."

Shown a copy of the e-mail, David Bookbinder, senior attorney for Sierra Club, remarked, "Why are they (Bush administration officials) trying to smear us like this?"

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups had nothing to do with the flooding that resulted from Hurricane Katrina that killed hundreds, he said. "It's unfortunate that the Bush administration is trying to shift the blame to environmental groups. It doesn't surprise me at all."

Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry but wouldn't comment further.

Whoever is behind the e-mail may have spotted the Sept. 8 issue of National Review Online that chastised the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for suing to halt the corps' 1996 plan to raise and fortify 303 miles of Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National Review article concluded: "Whether this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain."

The problem with that conclusion?

The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake Pontchartrain levees on the other side of the city.

When Katrina struck, the hurricane pushed tons of water from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city to the north. Corps officials say the water from the lake cleared the levees by 3 feet. It was those floodwaters, they say, that caused the levees to degrade until they ruptured, causing 80 percent of New Orleans to flood.

Bookbinder said the purpose of the litigation by the Sierra Club and others in 1996 was where the corps got the dirt for the project. "We had no objections to levees," he said. "We said, 'Just don't dig film materials out of the wetlands. Get the dirt from somewhere else.' "

If you listen to what some conservatives say about environmentalists, he said, "We're responsible for most of the world's ills."

In 1977, the corps wanted to build a 25-mile-long barrier and gate system to protect New Orleans on the east side. Both environmental groups and fishermen opposed the project, saying it would choke off water into Lake Pontchartrain.

After litigation, corps officials abandoned the idea, deciding instead to build higher levees. "They came up with a cheaper alternative," Bookbinder said. "We didn't object to raising the levees."

John Hall, a spokesman for the corps in New Orleans, said the barrier the corps was proposing in the 1970s would only stand up to a weak Category 3 hurricane, not a Category 4 hurricane like Katrina. "How much that would have prevented anything, I'm not sure," he said.

Since 1999, corps officials have studied the concept of building huge floodgates to prevent flooding in New Orleans from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.

Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2001 listed a hurricane striking New Orleans as one of the top three catastrophic events the nation could face (the others being a terrorist attack on New York City and an earthquake in San Francisco), funding for corps projects aimed at curbing flooding in southeast Louisiana lagged.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has said the White House cut $400 million from corps' requests for flood control money in the area….”

[Hat tip to CapitalBuzz.]

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 02:28 PM CST [link] [ | ]

How Could I Resist...

And afore ya go saying this is a Photoshopped image -- it's on the front page of my Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald and Kane County Chronicle [just without the inset enlargements, text and arrows.] LOL

Holy Moly... the Disarmingly "Casual Look" for Ole Child-in-Chief.

This is like the Nanny-State in reverse...where WE, the public, are supposed to be the Nannies for this Village-Idiot, this Simpleton President.

:-D

Courtesy of Cookie Jill on Skippy The Bush Kangaroo.

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 12:03 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Another of Today's Gem...

“…I'm saying I don't want to hear it from this guy.

As a friend of mine commented last night over a drink, I don't hate this president and never have. I'm just sick of him. Sick of the naked politicization of everything (Karl Rove over-seeing reconstruction?); sick of the utter refusal to acknowledge that there is a limit to what the federal government can borrow from this and the next generation; sick of the hijacking of the conservative tradition for a vast increase in the power and size of government, with only a feined attempt at making it more effective; sick of the glib arrogance and excuses for failure that dot the landscape from Biloxi to Basra….

…Maybe the fact that I once truly did buy into this makes me more jaundiced today. I really wanted the man to succeed; believed he could; and, given the stakes, I felt it was almost irresponsible not to support him in the war and defend him from his worst and least principled critics…

...But please don't ask me to be enthusiastic about this. Buying popularity by spending billions was not why I originally became a conservative. Increasing the welfare state, burdening the future generations with mountainous debt, confusing politics with faith, failing to impose basic law and order as a primary reponsibility for government: these things I thought were characteristics of the left.

They now define the Bush administration.

I became a conservative because I saw in my native country what a terrible, incompetent, soul-destroying thing big government socialism is. It breaks my heart to see much of it now being implemented in America - by Republicans.”

-- Andrew Sullivan (Daily Dish)

Yeah – and just imagine how those of us that DO HATE this Child-in-Chief feel. Robbed of even having a Grown-up as our President. Someone who can really understand and take Responsibility. Someone that can show they KNOW what Accountability IS. This CIC is a failure in ALL respects and knows nothing but LOYALTY to himself and his incompetent cronies. Disgusting.

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 11:16 AM CST [link] [ | ]

The Anti-F.D.R.

Not the New Deal By Paul Krugman (NY Times):

“…This commitment to honest government wasn't a sign of Roosevelt's personal virtue; it reflected a political imperative. F.D.R.'s mission in office was to show that government activism works. To maintain that mission's credibility, he needed to keep his administration's record clean.

But George W. Bush isn't F.D.R. Indeed, in crucial respects he's the anti-F.D.R.

President Bush subscribes to a political philosophy that opposes government activism - that's why he has tried to downsize and privatize programs wherever he can. (He still hopes to privatize Social Security, F.D.R.'s biggest legacy.) So even his policy failures don't bother his strongest supporters: many conservatives view the inept response to Katrina as a vindication of their lack of faith in government, rather than as a reason to reconsider their faith in Mr. Bush.

And to date the Bush administration, which has no stake in showing that good government is possible, has been averse to investigating itself. On the contrary, it has consistently stonewalled corruption investigations and punished its own investigators if they try to do their jobs…”

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 10:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

G.B.Trudeau nails it again...

Further comment would be superfluous.

Len on 09.16.05 @ 09:19 AM CST [link] [ | ]

And let's see the Christian traditionalist homophobes spin this one....

Children of gay parents "normal":

A Brookings Institution report says kids of gay parents "show no differences in cognitive abilities, behavior, general emotional development … self-esteem, depression, or anxiety. In the few cases where differences in emotional development are found, they tend to favor children raised in lesbian families." [emphasis supplied --LRC]

It's better for your emotional development to have two mommies? Priceless....

Len on 09.16.05 @ 09:12 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Magic Number Watch:

1

The Cardinals won their game against the Cubs 6-1. We piled on three runs against Mark Prior in the first inning, and then exploded for another three in the eighth inning against Rich Hill and Todd Wellemeyer. Derek Lee went yard in the Chicago half of the ninth (okay, we'll throw the Chicagoans a bone for being such wonderful hosts ;-) ), and then Chicago managed to load the bases with the assistance of the rain--Yadier Molina muffed a pop foul (giving the Cubs an extra out, as it were) and then the next batter reached first when David Eckstein's legs shot out from under him fielding a hot grounder to short on the rain-slicked Wrigley infield mud. That's when home plate ump Jim Wolf called for the tarp, and after a 58 minute rain delay they called the game on account of rain. I'm sure that the Wrigleyville fans weren't pleased with that decision, because, of course, the stage was set (bottom of the ninth, two out, bases loaded) for the kind of dramatic last ditch rally that makes baseball such an exciting sport to watch.

With that win, the Cards are guaranteed the NL Central Division Championship; MLB.com's Cardinals beat writer Matthew Leach explains:

The Cardinals guaranteed on Thursday night that they will once again be the champions of the National League Central Division. Their magic number, however, remains at one, and according to their manager, "one is not zero."

It may be the first time in baseball history that a division championship was more difficult to understand than to achieve.

This much is entirely clear: The Cardinals beat the Cubs, 6-1, at Wrigley Field on Thursday evening. The game was delayed 58 minutes due to rain in the ninth before eventually being called off. The Cards won behind a tremendous outing from Jeff Suppan and a pair of three-run innings, and with two RBIs each from John Rodriguez and Larry Walker.

The math beyond that, though, is a little fuzzy.

The win was the Cardinals' 94th of the year. Second-place Houston has 68 losses, so the possibility still exists that the Cards and Astros could finish the year with the same record. However, thanks to the Phillies' loss to Atlanta earlier in the evening, all of the other teams in Wild Card contention have at least 69 losses.

So if the Cardinals and Astros finished tied, both teams would be in the playoffs. A tiebreaker -- head-to-head record between the clubs -- would be used to determine which team is the division champ and which is the Wild Card. Because St. Louis is already guaranteed to win the season series against Houston, the Cardinals would be crowned division champions via the tiebreaker. That is to say, in the absolute worst possible scenario for the Cards, they would still be division champions.

However, Tony LaRussa is a purist:

But manager Tony La Russa wants none of it. And the Cardinals did not uncork the champagne following Thursday's win.

"As a team, we're traditional to think that we're not going to get into Wild Card formulas," said La Russa. "The magic number has got to be zero to celebrate. And it's one, right? Trust me, it's one. But because of our record against Houston and all that, technically... But we went through this last year. When it gets to zero, that's when we celebrate."

Len on 09.16.05 @ 07:42 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A Gem...

This one was is a GEM by Bruce Reed (writing for Slate) about ole Child-in-Chief's speechifying: Last Words:

No matter what Bush says, all Americans hear is "disaster."

Very pointed and perceptive... and I love the tie in to "The Far Side" cartoon.

Worth a read through.

:-)

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 07:17 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

I’m aware that I’ve been sort of nuts about politics this last year. I have always been on the liberal side of things, since Civil Rights days here in the South, but I don’t recall being so rabid as this year. At first I thought it was retirement - more time to think. But that doesn’t feel right. I spent a little time thinking about it while I was gone because, frankly, I myself don’t like people who are as polarized as I’ve been this last year. I don’t like being this way.

Last night, on some news program, someone was talking about the poor governmental response to the hurricane - claiming that it was because Bush doesn’t care about black people. I disagreed with that automatically, but as I thought about it more, my real thought became clearer to me. I don’t think that Bush doesn’t care about black people specifically - I don’t think he cares about anybody, period. Somehow, that thought gave me some peace.

I don’t like his politics, or the politics of the Neoconservatives he lets run our government. I don’t like his tactics, or at least the tactics of his strategist, Mr. Rove. I don’t like his association with the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, whom I consider to be dangerous charlatans. But that’s not where my fire comes from. I just don’t think he personally cares about the job. He might like being president like a rock star likes being on the top of the charts, or a t.v. personality likes having a hit show, but I don’t think he even thinks about the real task very much.
--Abby's Dad

Len on 09.16.05 @ 07:05 AM CST [link] [ | ]

No...I had not Forgotten...

Rove: Remember That Story?:by Matthew Wheeland (Associate Editor at AlterNet):

“Over at DailyKos, Congressman John Conyers, who has long been one of the most outspoked voices calling for accountability in the Bush Administration, has new developments in the Rove-Plame scandal.

Starting tomorrow and stretching through next week, 4 House Committees are expected to vote on resolutions addressing the Valerie Plame leak. Specifically, these resolutions demand information from the Bush Administration on the outing of Valerie Plame in apparent retaliation for Ambassador Wilson's truth telling concerning weapons of mass destruction. The Bush Administration refuses to police itself in the midst of criminal and ethical misconduct and it is time for Congress to exercise its duty to oversee the Executive Branch.

Conyers also lists times and websites where you can watch and listen to these discussions, and explains why this is a crucial step:

We have no illusions that the Republicans in Congress are suddenly going to reverse course and start demanding accountability on this, or any other matter, that involves Bush Administration misconduct that is damaging to the nation. However, starting tommorrow, they will have to go on record and explain their votes defending criminal activity on the part of high ranking officials. That is the beginning of congressional accountability.”

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 07:04 AM CST [link] [ | ]

What happens when you even “try” to verify where that Homeland Security money got spent…

Reason to be insecure over how your security dollars are being spent by Jim Slusher (Editor Daily Herald):

”Trust but verify.

The centuries-old Russian maxim was fitting enough for President Reagan to quote during arms negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s. For American citizens and taxpayers wondering about their safety 20 years later, the federal, state and local governments have, in many cases, condensed the phrase significantly. To them as it relates to Homeland Security spending, the operative phrase is simply: “Trust.”

This lesson is one of the alarming findings of our series this week on Homeland Security spending in the suburbs and state. Yes, there’s room to question whether T-shirts and lunches are justified security expenses. But there is even greater cause for concern in the fact that some governments won’t supply the least information about their Homeland Security spending, and many others drag their feet so long in responding to questions that it can require months of persistence to get simple answers that even Illinois’ lenient freedom of information laws require to be given in at most a couple of weeks.

The city of Chicago, that bastion of honesty and integrity in the stewardship of public money, has received nearly $66 million in Homeland Security money over the past two years and won’t detail how it spent a dime of it. Disclosure of even general expenses, the city says, would jeopardize the effectiveness of the programs on which the money is being spent. The bottom line to the city’s position? “Trust us. We’ll do what’s best for you.”

Have you stopped laughing yet?

If not, perhaps you should look south to the Gulf Coast for an example of how well government unchecked prepares for disasters — terrorist or otherwise. Beyond response problems everyone acknowledges regarding Hurricane Katrina, the Scripps Howard News Service this week cited a federal audit as recent as last November questioning millions of dollars in Louisiana expenses on disaster preparedness — including $15 million distributed to contractors with almost no accounting for where the money went.

Nor must you leave the suburbs for a sobering look at the disdain, if not contempt, in which some officeholders hold those seeking to know how they spend the public’s money. Consider the words of Paul Maplethorpe, fire chief of the Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District. “I don’t have to … and I really don’t want to,” Maplethorpe told our reporters after they persisted in trying to get him to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request he had ignored for months. Then, he hung up the phone.

Not all governments were so uncooperative. A few replied promptly to our requests for information on security spending, and some diligently pored over complex budgets and funding records to sort out their security expenses.

But among the many lessons of our research — including the federal government’s pork-prone method of allocating hundreds of millions of dollars and such dubious expenses as the state’s $19 million Emergency Operations Center in Springfield or the duplicative $200,000-a-year hotline for reporting possible animal poisoning — the most frightening is not what you can find out when you investigate the handling of Homeland Security money; it’s what you can’t.

This lesson in open government is conveniently timed for Illinois students. A new federal law requires public schools to teach the U.S. Constitution on Friday — the closest weekday to “Constitution Day” on Sept. 17. As part of our Newspaper In Education effort, the Daily Herald has been contributing to that effort with a monthlong series of mini-reports and activities in our Neighbor section that teachers can use to build and reinforce understanding of the Constitution. Check out what they are learning by jumping on the Web site nie.dailyherald.com.

Perhaps you’ll agree many of our public officials should be sent back to school for a little constitutional review.”

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 06:59 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Think He'll be Voted Valedictorian??

Paris Hilton hacker gets 11 months in jail: Massachusetts teenager will serve his time in a juvenile facility:

”A Massachusetts teenager who reportedly hacked into Paris Hilton’s cell phone account has been sentenced to 11 months in a juvenile facility.

Celebrity phone numbers stored in Hilton’s cell phone were posted online when her account was hacked earlier this year. A Washington Post report on Wednesday identified Hilton as a victim of the 17-year-old Massachusetts boy.
….
The teenager was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Boston. He pleaded guilty before Judge Rya W. Zobel to nine counts of juvenile delinquency, prosecutors said.
….
Teenager also made fake bomb threat:

While in custody and during two years of supervised release, the teenager is prohibited from possessing or using any computer, cell phone or other equipment capable of accessing the Internet.

Prosecutors said the teenager’s first crime was committed in March 2004, when he e-mailed a bomb threat to a Florida school. The school was closed for two days while officials investigated and ruled the threat a hoax.

In January, the teenager hacked into T-Mobile’s computer system and looked up account information of its customers, including Hilton....”

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 06:54 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Beer Bottle Lust???

"Bottled lust:

Certain Australian males are physically attracted to a particular type of beer bottle. An experiment in Western Australia has demonstrated that beer bottles known Down Under as "stubbies" get reused in an unanticipated way. Stubbies are squat little bottles, 370ml in capacity.

A study published in 1983 begins with the statement: Male julodimorpha bakewelli (white) were observed attempting to copulate with beer bottles."

Courtesy of Improbable Blog.

Karen on 09.16.05 @ 06:46 AM CST [link] [ | ]

It's True... Those Yapping Lap Dogs...

....are the ones that can BITE.

If ya thought us Liberal Lefties were just some poor deluded whiners, Day Dreaming in Technicolor, about the propensity for Child-in-Chief’s entire bAdmin to dissemble and tell the American People outright lies to avoid taking responsibility for mistakes…

Give a read through this one (via BuzzFlash) and listen to this clip on Media Matters from the Chris Matthews Show of David Brooks (NY Times) discussing what he *Knows* of the White House Policy being to not EVER, ever admit any mistakes, nor take responsibility what so ever- No matter how small the mistake.

Now -- Someone, Please Tell ME why anyone should ever believe ANYTHING from these folks. (Or WHY you still DO??)

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 04:48 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Hey wingnuts, Y'know Bush's 'potty break' picture some of y'all claim is fake?

Reuters says it's legit:

The photo, which appeared on Reuters' official photo site, was quickly published all over the Web, though dismissed by some as a likely photoshop special. Others suggested that surely someone must have hacked the Reuters site. But a Reuters spokesman on Thursday told E&P the photo was legit.

"The photographer and editors on this story were looking for other angles in their coverage of this event, something that went beyond the stock pictures of talking heads that these kind of forums usually offer," explained Reuters' Stephen Naru. "This picture certainly does that."

The photo by Denver-based Rick Wilking, taken over a man's shoulder, shows an official -- identified in the caption as President Bush -- scribbling in pencil on a small white piece of paper that already contains the words: "I think I MAY NEED A BATHroom break?" It is unclear if Bush is in the process of responding to that message or wrote it himself.

Look, guys, the Rather gambit's getting old. Not every picture or document that makes Bush look like the pathetic dipshit he is has been faked, ok. So get over it.

[In fairness to the Naked Emperor, I'll note that the differences in writing style between "I think I MAY NEED..." and "Is that possible?" certainly raises a legitimate question of whether Bush is responding to someone else's request. I do find it amusing that immediately, however, the wingnuts jump to the assumption that the picture shows Bush in the worst possible light.

It's sad when even the man's mindless worshippers realize that his reputation is in the toilet and swirling clockwise...]

Len on 09.15.05 @ 02:08 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Criminals are stupid; that's why they get caught.
--Jon Waltz, Professor of Law, Northwestern University, August, 1979

Woman complains to cops after hitman she hired fails to get the job done

A woman who hired a hitman to murder the wife of her lover, and then complained to police when he didn't do the job, has been arrested along with the hitman, police said.

The murderous intentions of Eriko Kawaguchi, a Tokyo Fire Fighting Department employee, came to light after she complained to police because the hitman didn't carry out the job, although she paid him about 15 million yen.

Len on 09.15.05 @ 01:57 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day, Modern Cassandra edition:

We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government with people like himself. And what you get when you put people in charge of government who don't believe in government and who are not interested in running it well is ... what happened after Hurricane Katrina.

Many a time in the past six years I have bit my tongue so I wouldn't annoy people with the always obnoxious observation, "I told you so." But, dammit it all to hell, I did tell you, and I've been telling you since 1994, and I am so sick of this man and everything he represents -- all the sleazy, smug, self-righteous graft and corruption and "Christian" moralizing and cynicism and tax cuts for all his smug, rich buddies.

Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention.
--Molly Ivins

Len on 09.15.05 @ 01:29 PM CST [link] [ | ]

The Gettysburg Address, revised edition

Change that reference to "government of the credit card companies, by the credit card companies, for the credit card companies." "hero", blogging at Corked Bats, points out an interesting bankruptcy fact:

Molly Ivins' column this week that contains the following observation: "hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina [will be] further harmed by the new Bankruptcy Act, scheduled to take effect Oct. 17. This law was notoriously written of, by and for the consumer credit industry, and is particularly onerous for the poor."
Molly's column

Yet, this morning two more major airlines filed for bankruptcy - bringing the total to 4 of the 6 largest airlines now protect by law from their creditors. Watch as they use this license to screw organized labor and raid pension funds. Bankrupt Flyers

Hmmmm. Maybe businesses deserve more protection under the law than individuals?! I dunno, let's ask John Roberts!

Len on 09.15.05 @ 01:26 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Bush: When in trouble, SPEND!!!!

But, of course, push for those tax cuts, too.

From Josh Marshall. I agree wholeheartedly with the first three words of this one:

This worries me. Note the added emphasis. The clip comes from a piece in tomorrow's Post about yet another huge funding bill the president will roll out tomorrow for Katrina aid, which the Post says will cost more next year than the entire cost of the Iraq war thus far ...
Bush and Republican congressional leaders, by contrast, are calculating that the U.S. economy can safely absorb a sharp spike in spending and budget deficits, and that the only way to regain public confidence after the stumbling early response to the disaster is to spend whatever it takes to rebuild the region and help Katrina's victims get back on their feet.
Regain public confidence in who? Is the nation undergoing a crisis of confidence in itself?

Put that passage together with this one in Mike Allen's piece in the Time and I think you see where we're going ...
By late last week, Administration aides were describing a three-part comeback plan. The first: Spend freely, and worry about the tab and the consequences later. "Nothing can salve the wounds like money," said an official who helped develop the strategy.
What's driving this budgetary push is not a natural disaster but a political crisis, the president's political crisis. The White House is trying to undo self-inflicted political damage on the national dime.

You don't have to be a conservative or a budget-hawk to be deeply worried about what's happening here. It's not even a matter of the dollar value in itself, though this country has already been pushed to the budgetary edge and just doesn't have an infinite number of hundreds of billions of dollars it can spend.

But as Josh points out, it's not bad enough that the bAdministration intends to spend all that money, but given the reasons why they're gearing up to spend like that, we can clearly see what's coming (hint: look at how the Iraq war has been bungled):

Maybe you want to spend $200 billion on rebuilding the Delta region too. Fine. Something like that will probably be necessary. But don't fool yourself into thinking that what's coming is just a matter of a different chef making the same meal. This will be Iraq all over again, with the same fetid mix of graft, zeal and hubris. Cronyism like you wouldn't believe. Money blown on ideological fantasies and half-baked test-cases.

You could come up with a hundred reasons why that's true. But at root intentions drive all. You'll never separate this operation or its results from the fact that the people in charge see it as a political operation. The use of this money for political purposes, for what amounts to a political campaign, tells you everything you need to know about what's coming.

Bush seems to be spending like a drunken college freshman with a credit card for which Mommy and Daddy are co-signers:

Len on 09.15.05 @ 12:48 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Go take a LOOK....

...at which Senators (Republicans – to a person) who Refused to vote "YES" on “S.Amdt. 1660 to H.R. 2862 (Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 )” :

"To establish a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future."

This is for an Independent Commission Folks.

That’s Right!! They voted “NO” for an Independent and Bipartisan Commission to investigate this.

And people ask the question, “Why do you think they are not just doing their Humanly Best, but EVIL?”

Well -- This about as evil, vile, nasty and partisan-ugly (almost) as these Guys get.

If any of these ass-wipes is from your State. Write or call them to Demand they vote to select a fair impartial and Independent and Bipartisan Commission to investigate this issue.

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 11:30 AM CST [link] [ | ]

And The Tale...

...is Told:

The Emperor’s New Clothes (Remix version 2005).

[And be sure to read a few of the comments. LOL]

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 11:08 AM CST [link] [ | ]

7 Wonders...

For those of you who might be *Interested.* (wink)

Here are the results from the Chicago Tribune’s 7 Wonders of Chicago contest and voting tally at this link.

:-D

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 09:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Who Pays for What…

A Q&A from Garrison Keillor’s web page A Prairie Home Companion:

"Hi Garrison,
I have listened to and enjoyed Prairie Home Companion for several years. One quick question that one of my co-workers asked is: The tax payers support public radio with their monetary contributions throughout the year. Why then can you make political statements that definitely lean heavily in favor of the Democrats? I am not bothered by this mainly because I too am a Democrat. My co-worker on the other hand is a Republican. Give me your response!

Marilyn Lake
Minneapolis

Marilyn, public radio is not supported by taxpayers, as a rule, but by corporate underwriting, the contributions of listeners, and by foundation support. NPR is not government-owned; it is a private, not-for-profit corporation funded primarily by program fees paid by public radio stations and a tiny sliver (about 2%) comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which administers money allocated by Congress for public broadcasting. Some public radio stations get up to 15 percent of their budgets from the CPB, a few stations in rural areas may get more, big-city stations get less. PHC doesn't get any taxpayer money directly. Our income comes from underwriting, program fees, ticket sales, product sales, and so forth, and we've been in the black for most of our history. As for political satire on PHC, it's pretty much an established rule in American life that when you are in power, you are the object of satire. This has been true since the Golden Age of Athens. We don't do much political anything on PHC because I am depressed about the state of the country so I'd rather talk about the weather, my daughter, fishing, Lutheran pastors, tomatoes, anything but politics. Your co-worker is barking up the wrong tree.

-- Garrison Keillor

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 08:14 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

Overturning the Gospels: Katrina has reminded us that Christian morality should be about responding to the wretched and loving the unlovable—not about other people’s sex lives, By Melinda Henneberger.

Sept. 14, 2005 - There was a great piece in Harper's last month, "The Christian Paradox: How a Faithful Nation Gets Jesus Wrong'' by Bill McKibben, about how three out of four Americans believe the Bible teaches this: "God helps those who help themselves.'' The Gospel according to Mark? Luke? Actually, it was Ben Franklin who came up with these words to live by.

"The thing is,'' McKibben writes, "not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's counterbiblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor. On this essential matter, most Americans—most American Christians—are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly up.''

Now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we have seen—and been unable to look away from— the direct result of this self-deception.

And if such tell-me-I'm-dreaming scenes as rats feeding on corpses in the streets—American streets—isn't enough to make us rethink the public-policy implications of turning the Gospel on its head in this way, then truly, God help us.

We as a nation—a proudly, increasingly loudly Christian nation—have somehow convinced ourselves that the selfish choice is usually the moral one, too. (What a deal!) You know how this works: It's wrong to help poor people because "handouts'' reward dependency and thus hurt more than they help. So, do the right thing—that is, walk right on by—and by all means hang on to your hard-earned cash.

Thus do we deny the working poor a living wage, resent welfare recipients expected to live on a few hundred dollars a month, object to the whopping .16 percent of our GNP that goes to foreign aid—and still manage to feel virtuous about all of the above.

Which is how "Christian'' morality got to be all about other people's sex lives—and incredibly easy lifting compared to what Jesus actually asks of us. Defending traditional marriage? A breeze. Living in one? Less so. Telling gay people what they can't do? Piece o' cake. But responding to the wretched? Loving the unlovable? Forgiving the ever-so-occasionally annoying people you actually know? Hard work, as our president would say, and rather more of a stretch.

A lot of us are angry at our public officials just now, and rightly so. But we are complicit, too; top to bottom, we picked this government, which has certainly met our low expectations.

Len on 09.15.05 @ 08:14 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Magic Number Watch:

Holding at 2.

That means that the Cardinals head to Chicago for a 4 game series with the Cubs. Even though the Cubs have had a quite successful record against the Cardinals, the probability of at least one Cards win combined with at least one Houston loss makes it quite possible that the Cardinals will clinch the NL Central Division Pennant in Wrigley Field.

I suppose I can live with that. :-)

Meanwhile, both congratulations and sympathy to Houston hurler Roger Clemens. Even though his mother had passed away earlier in the day, Clemens took the mound in his scheduled start and threw 6 1/3 strong innings to get the 10-2 win over the Florida Marlins. The Houston win puts the Marlins and Phillies in a tie for first in the NL Wild Card standings, and puts the Astros only a half game behind in that chase.

Len on 09.15.05 @ 06:19 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

You know that's, that's why our enemy is so frightening, they have no humor. This is a group of people who wander the desert for thousands and thousands of years, and never ran into a knock-knock joke.

You see, if these people had any humor at all, none of this would have happened because no one could have stood in front of them and said that if they killed themselves in the name of Allah, that they would immediately go to heaven and be met by 72 virgins.

No one could have said that because everybody would have known that that's a punchline to a joke.
--Lewis Black

Len on 09.15.05 @ 06:06 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Another "Gold Star" Mom and The "Truth"

" On Sept. 19, Gold Star Mother Karen Meredith will re-join the Bring Them Home Now Tour that is crossing the country along three routes from Crawford, Texas to Washington, D.C. Last weekend on Sept. 9, Meredith, of Mountain View, Calif., was informed by the U.S. Army that it had known for more than a year that her son 1st Lt. Kenneth Ballard was not killed in action as had been reported. The Army disclosed on Saturday that Ballard, 26, actually died of wounds from the accidental discharge of a M240 machine gun on his tank after his platoon had returned from battling insurgents in Najaf. An Army spokesman, Col. Joseph Curtin, said in an interview that separate investigations concluded only days after Ballard's death that it was an accident.

After a meeting with Army representatives, Meredith was heartened by the Army's approach "When I first heard the news I was stunned and appalled that the army took 15 months to tell me the truth about my son's death. After meeting with Army officials I am pleased to say that I feel that I have the ear of the Army. All members of the military that met with me were professional, sympathetic and empathetic," she said. "This, however, is just the beginning. This dialog needs to continue on many levels, starting with the President. There are thousands of families searching for the truth in this war based on lies. I hope the Bush administration and Congress can extend the good will the Army has showed me, by being accountable to the thousands of other families like mine whose lives have been ripped apart by this unjustifiable war."

Courtesy of US News Wire.

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 05:35 AM CST [link] [ | ]

About those responsibilities...

... and speechifying.

"... The wording of the president's statement on Tuesday was important, and at least a bit worrisome. Mr. Bush accepted responsibility "to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right," which may suggest that he thinks the jury is still out on what the federal government's role should have been. Obviously, it will take time to completely analyze all of the federal system failures, and no one imagines that the city and state were perfectly prepared for the disaster. But we certainly hope that the president was not taking responsibility for a government that he doesn't really think was responsible.

Localities have plenty of duties that are uniquely their own, and if a building catches on fire or a sewer pipe breaks, no one blames the president if the response isn't adequate. But no one community, or even any one state, can protect against hurricanes or vast flooding, any more than a city or state can protect itself against international terrorism.

It would be wonderful if the president would take the opportunity tonight to endorse an independent inquiry into the Katrina disaster, similar to the 9/11 commission's work. It would also be heartening if Mr. Bush announced that from now on, the federal government, which pays the bill for flood control projects, would make sure that the most important priorities were taken care of first - even if it required the kind of commission used to arbitrate Pentagon base closings to make sure that Congressional pork didn't trump necessity. It would be amazing if Mr. Bush really showed his sense of responsibility for this disaster by apologizing for stuffing the Federal Emergency Management Agency with inexperienced political appointees..."

-- NY Times Op Ed: Hopeful Words: On Taking Responsibility.

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 05:30 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Sometimes...

...and I've said this before, Babbling Brooks gets it JUST RIGHT as this excerpt from his piece, Ready? Cue, The Sun... shows:

"... Specter: Very well put, Senator Leahy! And welcome Judge Roberts back before our committee.

John Roberts Jr.: Aw, shucks. This has been a humbling experience, Mr. Chairman. To think that a boy from an exclusive prep school and Harvard Law could grow up and be nominated for the Supreme Court - it shows how in America it's possible to rise from privilege to power! That's the hallmark of our great nation.

So while, of course, I can't talk about specific cases, or any emotions, weather patterns or sandwich meats that may come before the Supreme Court at any time between now and my death in 2048, I do want to reiterate that I feel humbled by this experience. I feel humbled that my wife is dozing off behind me. I feel humbled by this committee's inability to lay a glove on me. And I feel modest. You see this suit? I skinny-dip in this suit. That's how modest I feel.

Tom Coburn: Well put, Judge Roberts. Yet when I think of the polarization that still divides this great nation ... waaaahhhh ... waaaahhhh. (Senator Coburn breaks down weeping.)

Jeff Sessions: This may be a good moment to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that in this country unelected judges don't write the laws. We have unelected lobbyists to do that. Under our system, judges merely interpret the law and decide presidential elections.

Specter Senator Sessions:, let me interrupt you right there. We're not here to argue among ourselves and ignore the nominee. We're here to deliver 30-minute speeches disguised as questions and ignore the nominee. So let me turn to Senator Bid - -

Coburn: And when I think of the flaws in the reconciliation process! And the gerrymandering! Oh, the suffering! Oh, the humanity! Waaaahhhh ... waaaahhhh. (Senator Coburn collapses and is taken back to his office on a stretcher.)..."

But, as Len has so often observed this 'ole chestnut - "Even a blind pig finds and acorn every once in a while."

It is still a GEM of Funnie. :-)

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 05:19 AM CST [link] [ | ]

More Roiling debates...

We’ve been having *those* debates about whether Bush is to blame for funding cuts to the NOLA levees via the Army Corps of Engineers. Fact Check has done a good run down of this issue:

"Our fact-checking confirms that Bush indeed cut funding for projects specifically designed to strengthen levees. Indeed, local officials had been complaining about that for years.

It is not so clear whether the money Bush cut from levee projects would have made any difference, however, and we're not in a position to judge that. The Army Corps of Engineers – which is under the President's command and has its own reputation to defend – insists that Katrina was just too strong, and that even if the levee project had been completed it was only designed to withstand a category 3 hurricane.
…

We suspect this subject will get much more attention in Congress and elsewhere in the coming months. Without blaming or absolving Bush, here are the key facts we've been able to establish so far..."

Read further for the detailed analysis and citations.

I sent Fact Check a query to see if they will answer a bit further on the ACE and their responsibilities and duties.

The ongoing debate is to how much say and/or control a State has in the say of the AEC’s projects (and budgeting and responsibility for work done) and whether these influence the AEC’s priorities, OR if the AEC tell the States what must be done per their engineering designs and specification, and the AEC that controls its own budget and responsibilities. Thus to further answer WHO is more responsible for the condition and design (and failure) of the NOLA levees.

I check later and see if they answer that one.

:-)

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 05:07 AM CST [link] [ | ]

About Those Warranties...

Ryan Bryce had a good tale of his PC dealings and Why Not to purchase an extended warranty.

:-)

Karen on 09.15.05 @ 04:53 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Theories abound…

...And questions remain as to where was ole “Dick-Yourself” the past few weeks…

Nora Ephron has a theory:

Where was the Vice President?
…
You’ll be happy to hear that I have a theory. Is it possible that the President and the Vice President have fallen out?

…

The relationship between Cheney and Bush has always reminded me of a moment I witnessed in the movie business many years ago. I had written a script for an actress, and she had decided she wanted to direct it. This was a terrible idea, because she was famous for dithering, but there was no question that the studio would make the movie if she directed it. “Don’t worry about it,” the producer of the movie said to me when I asked if she was remotely capable of directing a movie. “We can walk her through it.”

It’s always been clear to me that five years ago, when all those Republican guys got together and realized that George Bush could be elected president – and that he wasn’t remotely capable – they came to an understanding: they would walk him through it. I’m sure it seemed like a swell idea, especially because it meant that they’d be in a perfect position to convince him to do all sorts of exciting things they had always wanted to do.

Cheney was the point man…

But if you look at the chart in Sunday's New York Times, which tells you who was where when Katrina struck, Cheney doesn’t even get a listing. It’s Bush, Chertoff, Brown. Bush I and Bill Clinton were summoned to help. But Cheney didn’t even turn up back in Washington until last week, when he was sent off for a day of spouting platitudes while touring the flood zone.

Like the curious incident of the dog that didn’t bark in the famous Sherlock Holmes story, Cheney’s the missing person in this event, and one has to wonder why. If he were a woman, I would guess he’d been busy recovering from a face-lift, but he’s not. So I can only suppose that something has gone wrong. Could the President be irritated that Cheney helped con him into Iraq? Oh, all right, probably not. Could Cheney – and not just his aides -- possibly be involved in the Valerie Plame episode? Is Cheney not speaking to Karl Rove? Does the airplane/bicycle incident figure into this in any way? And how is it possible that the President is off on vacation and the Vice President is too? Not that it matters that much if the President is on vacation; on some level, the President is always on vacation. But where was Cheney?

Karen on 09.14.05 @ 02:06 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Well, What Else...

...Would you expect???

My computer geek score is greater than 27% of all people in the world! How do you compare? Click here to find out!

Overall, you scored as follows:

72% scored higher (more computer geeky),
1% scored the same, and
27% scored lower (less geeky).
Compared to those in the same age group as you:

82% scored higher (more computer geeky),
0% scored the same, and
18% scored lower (less geeky).
What does this mean? Your computer geekiness is:

You are a wannabe computer user, but, alas, that is not possible with you.

Couldn't resist taking this via Len's post...and just to round out the whole profile:

I am 47% loser. What about you? Click here to find out!

Overall, you scored as follows:

47% are cooler, and
53% are more of a loser than you.
What does this mean?

You're cooler than half the people! Great work!

So there ya have it: I'm a A Kooler Than Average Computer Geek Wannabe.

[Or maybe that's a "Kooler Than The Median Techno-Dweeb" *sigh*]

:-D

Karen on 09.14.05 @ 01:53 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Why I will never vote for Harold Ford, Jr. for any office....

not even dogcatcher.

Seems to me that this is a no-brainer.... It's already been pointed out that many victims of Hurricane Katrina will be adversely affected in their ability to be relieved of their debts through bankruptcy protection, thanks to the draconian bankruptcy "reform" laws passed by the GOP with the help of fellow travellers like Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., my [puking noises here] "representative" in Congress.

Now, CG at Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This informs us:

Go to www.conyersblog.us... for the list of Congressmen that co-sponsored John Conyers Katrina Bankruptcy Relief Bill to protect the victims of Katrina. Congressman Ford, Jr. is not on the list of 31 co sponsors.

CG lists some other ways in which, measured by reasonable standards, Ford falls short in his support of what the Democratic party stands for.

Fuck Harold. As I've said before, at this point he's not representing me any better than the (undoubtedly victorious) GOP candidate will. So WTF should I vote for him?

Give me a real choice, dammit! Not a choice between a Republican who doesn't hide the fact he's a Republican, and a Republican who lies to me by telling me he's a Democrat.

Len on 09.14.05 @ 01:12 PM CST [link] [ | ]

About fscking time!

Via EJ at Cherry Blossom Special: reports say that the state of Tennessee is about to shut down "Love in Action", the Tennessee based homosexual re-education camp, for lack of state licensure.

What the fsck took them so long?

Len on 09.14.05 @ 12:53 PM CST [link] [ | ]

The problem with regularly reading The Onion....

is that lately it's become more and more difficult to distinguish satire from reality. But our pals at The Onion still have their edge:

Bush Nominates First-Trimester Fetus To Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, DC—In a press conference Monday, President Bush named a 72-day-old gestating fetus as his nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat that opened following the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

"Already, this experienced and capable embryo has demonstrated during his or her in utero existence a deep commitment to the core principles of the Constitution," Bush said. "It is with great pride that I nominate this unborn American patriot to the highest court in the land."

If confirmed by Congress, the bean-sized vertebrate would be the nation's first prenatal Supreme Court justice.

And this one deserves a mention, too: Halliburton Gets Contract To Pry Gold Fillings From New Orleans Corpses' Teeth

Len on 09.14.05 @ 12:32 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Over at MadKane's place....

We have the promised "Part 2" of "The NY Blogger Interviews" (including an interview with Steve Gilliard of The News Blog, the "Blogger (other than the lovely and multitalented MadKane, of course) I'd Most Like To Meet In Person"), and two new John Roberts Limericks (and, of course, the statutorily required audio version).

Len on 09.14.05 @ 12:19 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Magic Number Watch:

2

[The Cardinals won 5-4, on a walk-off RBI single by David Eckstein, while Houston dropped their game with the Marlins, 4-2.

Now I'm really torn. Remember, I've voiced here my desire that Houston win the NL wild card, which would guarantee the Cardinals a fairly stress-free NL Divisional Series against the winner of the NL ~~Worst~~West. However, if the Cardinals win their game this afternoon, and Houston loses theirs tonight, the Cardinals would clinch the National League Central Division Title at home, which would be a most appropriate way to close out (almost) the final season at Busch Stadium II. (The Cards leave for Chicago and a two week road trip after this afternoon's game, so if the Cards don't clinch at home today they most likely clinch on the road somewhere. Come to think of it though, if they don't clinch at home today, it would be most sweet if they'd clinch at Wrigley Field this weekend... heheheheheh.)

The problem with the Cards clinching today in St. Louis is that means that Houston drops three straight games to the Florida Marlins, who they led in the wild card race going into the Marlins series. Now, after two losses to the Fish, the Disastros are now third in the wild card standings, a game and a half behind Florida and a half-game behind Philadelphia. Even worse, after this losing streak the Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds Rankings now says that it's a better than even chance (roughly a 56% chance) that the NL wild card team will be one of either Florida or Philadelphia (if Houston loses their game tonight, obviously, the odds of Houston winning the wild card become even longer). This means that we'd probably play the wild card team in the NLDS, which wouldn't be the easy romp that a series against the NL ~~Worst~~West champion would be.

*sigh* Why does life have to be so complicated?]

Len on 09.14.05 @ 07:12 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

I still have a valid teaching license. But if parents see me with a kid, they'll want to call 911.
--Ron "The Hedgehog" Jeremy, noted porn actor [on the fact that, prior to his adult film career, he was a secondary school special-education teacher]

Len on 09.14.05 @ 06:49 AM CST [link] [ | ]

And Speaking of Homeland Security…

...We were…weren’t WE??? There was this story from our own Daily Herald How hand of politics moves anti-terrorism dollars by John Patterson.

Given that the Child-in-Chief has *finally* admitted he *might* have some questions about our ability to respond to a future disaster at all levels of government - it might be interesting to have a recap of how this money already been allocated by our Congress - for our protection.

Unfortunately, the Daily Herald does not have the charts and inset-boxes of additional information available on-line. But the numbers are Stunning - as to *stunningly outrageous* in having no relationship to actual Terrorist THREATs or NEED for spending per person, per state. Bleh!!

Click on the “more” button to read this piece in full.

Karen on 09.14.05 @ 06:44 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

A Few Good Questions...

…from Yellow Dog:

”…I have forwarded some follow-up questions to the Ipsos organization. I'm hoping they will use these questions for the next presidential approval poll and ask them of the respondents who still approve of the job Bush is doing as president:

1. Who dresses you in the morning?
2. Do you use common utensils when you eat?
3. Which of these items is different from the others? a) Cup b) Plate c) Bowl or d) Porcupine
4. Do you take your medication before answering polls?
5. If a car is going 60 miles per hour, how far will it go in one hour?
6. How many words are in your vocabulary? Please be exact.
7. Do you steer your car with the big wheel in front of the driver's seat or with one of the pedals on the floor?
8. Which goes “woof,” a doggie or a kitty?
9. In what state is the Kentucky Derby held?
10. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being President Bush and one being a rock, just how stupid are you?

It is my belief that these questions will provide some granularity on the intellect of people still responding positively to questions on George W. Bush's job performance.”

Karen on 09.14.05 @ 06:26 AM CST [link] [ | ]

No surprises here.

Hat tip (sorta) to Phil Harwell and his Blog Type Thing, who linked to another quiz at the same site.

UPDATE: And because I said I would (post this if I got the score that I did get):

Len on 09.13.05 @ 08:54 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Nicknames

Everyone KNOWs by now that the Ole Prez is a Fan of nicknames. Why he’ll create ‘em on the spur of the moment for almost everything and everyone he ever meets, whether they Like-it-or-not…

We’ve had a few for him and his bAdmin henchmen used here on DBV over time, but I’ve got to change these given the past events.

Instead of *Fearless Leader*, *Gee Whiz* or *Dumbya*, which I think are way toooo…dull...and not quite reflective of the substance we are working with; I’m going to go with “Child–in-Chief” from now on.

Captures the essence more closely of his immaturity in leadership.

For ole Darth (as he fancies himself) is forever coupled with the catch phrase “Go F—ck Yourself”, that he cultivated a few years back. So, as a combination, I’ll hence forth refer to him as “Dick-Yourself.”

Kinda works for me. LOL

Karen on 09.13.05 @ 04:35 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Better Belated Than Never???

Well, Well, Well puts it , Ummm...Very Well...

Via Talking Points Memo is this about about the Conyers requested:

"report from the Congressional Research Service (one of the few parts of the government that can legitimately be called non-partisan) and asked them to review the record to see whether Gov. Blanco of Louisiana took the necessary steps in a timely fashion to secure federal assistance in the face of hurricane Katrina.

So, that must be WHY the Child-in-Chief [CIC] coughs up a belated admission and issues an “To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

Ah, so it's "To the extent...", CIC fairly gags on a real acceptance of responsibility.

UPDATE: also via Talking Points Memo is this GEM about John Kerry's response to the CIC admission:
"John Kerry has a good line today on the president's responsibility moment: "The President has done the obvious, only after it was clear he couldn’t get away with the inexcusable."

Karen on 09.13.05 @ 04:25 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Us and Them (revisted)...

...A Picture Meme Grow:

Driftglass has posted a pointer to a reworking of the photomontage he created (now scrolled off his page and unavailable):

“…You may or may not know that I put together a photomontage of current events set to Pick Floyd’s “Us and Them” which apparently really touched a nerve.

And you may or may not know that reader Joe Max set it to the actual music and made it dance.

But what I didn’t know until today was that reader Taps7734 also turned his hand to the task of making the pictures move and sing, and created a fine and tonally different movie of his own…”

But you can see it at Live Journal from Taps 7734

OR-- Here with a large wmv media file or here with a small wmv media file

It incredible and really movingly. A wonderful piece of work -- Job well done -- Both in the original post and this follow up set to music.

Keep ‘em coming Guys…we love it!!! Awesome and Kool.

:-)

Karen on 09.13.05 @ 03:43 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Maher's New Rule gets it exactly right....

From the September 9, 2005 Real Time with Bill Maher:

And finally, New Rule: America must recall the president. That's what this country needs. A good, old-fashioned, California-style recall election! Complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars. And just like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so unpopular, he must defend his jog against...Russell Crowe. Because at this point, I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. In fact, let's have only phone throwers. Naomi Campbell can be the vice-president!

Now, I kid, but seriously, Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. There's no more money to spend. You used up all of that. You can't start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people.

Yeah, listen to your mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out, and no one is speaking to you: mission accomplished! Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or spaceman?!

Now, I know what you're saying. You're saying that there's so many other things that you, as president, could involve yourself in...Please don't. I know, I know, there's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela, and eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote. But, sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man.

Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two Trade Centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans...Maybe you're just not lucky!

I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side. So, yes, God does speak to you, and what he's saying is, "Take a hint."

Len on 09.13.05 @ 12:56 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Welfare Government...

Oh, and speaking of Poverty and the Welfare state [We were, weren’t WE??...] Here a couple from a few more Myopic Morons who just have to defend the GOP party line come Hell or High Water (apparently Both will suffice.)

The main disconnect appears to be how each side is using the “Welfare Government” argument -- and coming to the opposite conclusion. In a nut shell it’s this:

The “Right-wingers” argument is that the “welfare government” spawned such an overweening “moral decay” which resulted in the actions of few of the the trapped people in NOLA and the looting, violence, depravity. That the Welfare aid over the year has only enabled this decay. That this is the real HARM, according to this theory. Not the physical failure of the levees... but the Welfare Culture. That the government dollars to aid the poor has created “an oppressed mentality of culture” that left them passive an unprepared to help themselves or others, “trapped” in NOLA.

The “Left-wingers” view is that welfare government is responsible for the NOLA trap by the increase in poverty over the past bAdmin years, increasing the poverty rate overall. and in NOLA this meant decreasing their mobility, availability to get Media Notice of the mandatory evacution via Television, internet , Phone, etc., which resulted in leaving them (the majority of the poor who were unable to evacuate) more vulnerable to this situation.

The argument flows (from the Right-wingers) that $$ invested in the Welfare Culture that Should have been spent on the NOLA levee instead, that is the reason that leveee failed. Not, as the Left-wingers contend that it’s the larger issues, such as $$$$$ “invested” in Iraq and that war, or in tax cuts primarily skewed for the weathly, or the boondoggles of Pork laden bills like the recent Energy Bill that regularly passes muster at the highest levels of Government.

So click on the “more” button to read these pieces…and ya’ll know why I could find a few more “Go F—K Yourselves” to pass out this week-- to Lee P. Rodgers, Robert Tracinski, Mark Steyn, and Thomas Sowell.

[Plus – Please take NOTE of Mr. Rodgers “Economist” Credentials to opine on this Economic Topic:
"Lee P. Rodgers is medical director at TerraHealth Inc. in San Antonio. He earned his M.D. at Tulane University in New Orleans and served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 31 years."]

These are each long pieces, but as you wander through them (no hurries) you'll begin to see the narrative take place.

Karen on 09.13.05 @ 12:18 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Great Days in St. Louis Baseball History:

From Baseball Library:

1951

>> The Cards play a rare doubleheader—the first in the 20th century—with two different teams, defeating the Giants 6–4 in the first game in the afternoon when they score six runs against Sal Maglie in the 2nd inning. In the nitecap, against the Braves, the Cards manage just one hit—by pitcher Al Brazle—in losing to Warren Spahn, 2–0. The Cards total attendance is 8,865—4,160 for the Giants and 4,705 for the Braves.

Len on 09.13.05 @ 12:09 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Congratulations to Barry "Not a Carbon Based Lifeform" Bonds....

who returned to the playing field last night. For a minute there, it looked like he hit homer #704, but umpring has gotten a bit better in the last (almost) 9 years, so the fan's deflecting the ball out of the park was correctly ruled fan interference this time.

UPDATE: The Billy-Ball email newsletter has a number of new nicknames for Bonds:

The BALCO Behemoth
The Steroidal Superstar
The Pharmaceutical Pariah
The Juiced Giant (gotta love the double entendre there)
The McCovey Covian Colossal
The Glandular Gargantuan
The Lying Leviathan
The Prodigious Prevaricator
The Testosteronial Titanic
The Giant Jeet
The HGH Homer King
The Anabolic Anomaly

Do you get the feeling that Bill Chuck ("Billy-Ball, his ownself") doesn't exactly, um, like Mr. Bonds?

Len on 09.13.05 @ 12:02 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yuk o'the Day:

Dr. Science's Question of the Day:

Q. Dear Dr. Science,
What was Uncle Ben's rice before it was converted?
--from Marlene of Zionsville, IN

A. Uncle Ben was one of the first Unitarians, a dogma-free religion that pretty much lets you believe whatever you want, and will defend your right to believe it. Before he adopted this remarkably even-handed approach to matters of faith, Uncle Ben was an elder in the Church of the Practically Insane, a mind-control cult that ran a string of Nudist camps in Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri. The rice connection came from a bet he once made with an agnostic. Uncle Ben claimed he was such a good preacher that he could even convert rice. His attempts to convert a bowl of white basmati rice caused the personal epiphany that led Uncle Ben to abandon his current belief system and embrace the relative tolerance of Unitarianism.

Len on 09.13.05 @ 11:39 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Partisan Myopia?!?

The Babbling Mr. Brooks, defying his Lap-Doggerie pedigree and biting the bAdmin in its' nether regions a few days ago, has suggested taking the NOLA disaster as an “opportunity” to reduce poverty in the US –

“…The Clinton administration built on Gautreaux by creating the Moving to Opportunity program, dispersing poor families to middle-class neighborhoods in five other metropolitan areas. This time the results weren't as striking, but were still generally positive. The relocated parents weren't more likely to have jobs or increase their earnings (being close to job opportunities is not enough - you need the skills and habits to get the jobs and do the work), but their children did better, especially the girls…”

But what ole Babbles neglects to mention (and what none of the right wing pundits are admitting) is that Poverty has GROWN under the Child-in-Chief and their GOP Congressional controlled policies.

[or see this report here on Poverty Threshold v Poverty Guideline.]

So, as Fascinating a Revelation and Startling as this may come as a Surprise to most Supply-side Economists and Social Conservatives: Poverty in the US…Do Tell…

But to forget that it's proximal cause is not divorced from, the actual GOP agenda is absurd.

And for all this GOP “pat-on-the-back” talk about “NO Child Left Behind” as some achievement in educational goals to be met… this is the program brought to you (and underfunded) by the same Mental-Midget that said:

“Both sides ought to be properly taught . . . so people can understand what the debate is about…Part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. . . . You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes."

But I.D. is NOT about teaching about some “debate” in a philosophy class that is being pushed forward. It's about changing the very rules for the definition of SCIENCE for teaching scientic inquiry in a science classroom. And I.D. not even a “curriculum” to Teach!!!

The real problem is with the right-wing punditry of *education* proponents acting as if a good education is this country is separate from the funding that varies State to State, local to local, as to the quality of it. Or the poverty of the families who send their children to local schools. To forget these things go hand in hand, and to not want to discuss these GOP policies from a Republican controlled Congress of the past 10 years, and Republican Presidential Agenda for the past 5 years - to avoid being seen as critical of the old “base” and policies you’ve supported all along - is the quintessential Myopia of all time.

All I can say is: GET at New pair of glasses, David Brooks!!! The ones ya have don’t work any more!!!

Karen on 09.13.05 @ 08:38 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Further comment would be superfluous

Len on 09.13.05 @ 08:19 AM CST [link] [ | ]

And from the WhiteHouse.org site...

we receive word of this: COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM IN ACTION: FIRST MOMMY BARBARA BUSH RELEASES "HOUSTON FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED" TOUR GUIDE

BARBARA BUSH: Attention Great Unwashed Refugees of New Orleans! You know, this truly is the perfect time of year for you downtroddens to spend a few months vacationing in Houston while your homes are bulldozed into the Gulf. After all, it is so hot and miserable here that most normal folks will be indoors, so your unsightly loitering will barely be noticed! Honestly, I'm not sure which so-and-so invited you people, but now that you are here – which is sort of scary – I guess I might as well grit my dentures and wish you a "Happy Temporary Welcome to Texas!" Trust me: you'll love it so much here, you won't want to leave when we force you out!

Anyway, until then, here are some accommodations I suspect you'll probably like:

1. Overpasses: Featuring some of the most epically congested traffic in the nation, Houston has among the best overpasses you can unroll your sleeping bag or park your shopping cart under. With Tommy "Teflon" DeLay's constituents driving Beemers and Jags, you won't find any federally funded mass transit here. Most overpasses sport at least 20 lanes, so leaks are kept to a minimum, meaning standing puddles and hallucinating Catholics are as well. You'll wake up with fewer mosquito bites than you would riding the St. Charles trolley to the mansions you used to clean. Rats are a different matter, but I've heard that if you keep the fatback at least six feet from your bedding, you should be OK. And Houston rats don't have that pesky cholera.

Go follow the link to see the rest of Bar's guide...

Len on 09.13.05 @ 07:58 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Now, don't envy President Bush's vacations--Join him!

From our pals at Landover Baptist Church (Where The Worthwhile Worship. "Unsaved are not welcome (as Jesus commanded)"™), we get word of this opportunity: Win a Vacation With President Bush!

A Special Offer From the US Department of Faith

Seven Luxury Slots Available! Enter Now to Win!

This exclusive offer is reserved for Republican friends of Jesus Christ and His anointed, duly appointed ruler of the civilized world, (pictured below) President George W. Bush:

Did you know that in order to demonstrate His indefatigable readiness and leadership, our infallible Christian President limits Himself to a mere dozen vacations each year, some of them lasting fewer than five weeks?! It’s true! And with a such a grueling calendar, it’s truly a miracle that our Godly President can maintain His legendary between-naps stamina!

Of course, Presidential outings are luxurious, highly exclusive affairs with very short guest lists. Sometimes, even the President’s closest Saudi Arabian friends cannot join him – let alone common sub-royal rabble such ourselves.

But not anymore – because for the first time ever, the US Department of Faith has been tasked with conducting a nationwide sweepstakes to find seven lucky winners to enjoy the President's company on future taxpayer-financed, month-long escapes from the fetid liberal cesspool that is Washington DC – and it could be YOU! So don’t delay – enter TODAY!

Len on 09.13.05 @ 07:35 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Magic Number Watch:

4

[The Cardinals won in the bottom of the 9^th last night with a gripping, pinch-hit RBI single by John Rodriguez against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Our sympathies to Mark Mulder, who gutted out a 9 hit outing while allowing only 2 earned runs (and gaining a no-decision for his trouble), and congratulations to Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen who notches his first win of the season *snicker*. Meanwhile, the Houston Astros drop a game to the Florida Marlins, so the number goes down by 2.

Now I'm really torn. If the Cardinals win their next two games (against the Pirates), and the Astros lose their next two (against the Marlins), the Cardinals would clinch the National League Pennant at home, which would be a nice little gift for the loyal fans in the last season of Busch Stadium II. However, the Astros' loss to the Marlins (who were just behind them in the wild card race before the first pitch in their game last night) puts them a half-game behind the Marlins in the wild card standings, and I'm worried that two more losses to the Marlins would take the momentum out of the Astros' wild card bid (right now, Baseball Prospectus's postseason odds rankings have the 'stros as the 50-50 favorite for the NL wild card slot). The Astros making the wild card would mean that the Cardinals would face the NL West Champion (probably the San Diego Padres, who are currently barely afloat atop that division at 71-71) in the National League Divisional Series, which would make for a likely stress-free NLDS for the Cards.]

Len on 09.13.05 @ 07:14 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

A few exits up, I catch up with a company from the 82nd Airborne Division. Lt. Col. Troy Stephenson tells me they spotted an abandoned van a few days ago with "KILL THE WHITE BITCHES" painted on the side. "You can kind of gather there was some ethnic tension," he says. Stephenson says his men have had much more success in fishing people out of these poor, black neighborhoods than the New Orleans police. Stephenson says the local police often take fire from holdouts when they send rescue crews in, but his men haven't been shot at once. Maybe that's because the relationship between the NOPD and the black community is so fraught. But maybe it's just because the Army guys have gigantic automatic weapons.
--Josh Levin, "Dispatches from New Orleans"

Len on 09.13.05 @ 06:49 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Meanwhile, over at River City Mud Company....

autoegocrat, the proprietor of the RCMCo., has most excellent post on "the blame game":

Okay, let me get this straight, folks. This is not the time to point fingers, but it's all the fault of the governor and the mayor? We aren't going to play the blame game, except where it concerns the only two Democrats involved?

Come on, conservatives. Surely you can see through this.

How many times have you heard the phrase "state and local government" in the last week? How many times have you heard the phrase "blame game?" Have you ever heard two phrases repeated more often by more people in your life? Can anyone remember a hurricane in their lives that caused these phrases to appear so frequently on television?

Of course not. This is an obvious attempt at a snowjob.

...

Conservatives, let's please be honest here. This is literally a matter of life and death. It's not as if you've never seen a hurricane before. If the blame doesn't go to the top, then why is Joe Scarborough, formerly a Republican congressman from Florida, being asked by other Republicans to back off criticism of the president?

The President of the United States broke the record for the longest number of presidential vacation days while the largest natural disaster in history wiped out whole American cities in three states. It took him three days after the storm made landfall to come back to work. That is not the state and local government's fault.

When an entire American city was drowning, the Vice President went fishing. When thousands of Americans were made homeless, the Vice President was busy closing on a $2.9 million mansion in Chesapeke Bay. You can't blame that on a mayor or a governor.

Len on 09.12.05 @ 12:56 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Did Fark sponsor a Hurricane Katrina photoshopping contest...

and nobody bothered to tell me?

While catching up on my blogreading, I saw this over at The Flypaper Theory:

Of course, that's one for the books, along with the infamous George "Guitarzan" Bush picture:

Len on 09.12.05 @ 12:49 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Well, we haven't tried this in Memphis yet....

Last Saturday night in New York City it appears that they had a big blogger get together just like the periodic Blogger Bashes here in Memphis. One difference--they seem to have theirs at people's houses (if I'm remembering the last couple rundowns I've read), whereas here in Memphis we tend to convene at bars or restaurants. Anyway, Elayne Riggs has a photo spread of the dignified insurrection at her site, while MadKane, ever on the cutting edge, has a mess o'audio clips of various bloggers in attendance (and that's just Part The First; she'll be posting the second batch tomorrow).

Len on 09.12.05 @ 12:00 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Yuk o'the Day:

Received via email:

Q: What is George W. Bush's position on Roe v. Wade?

A: He really doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans.

Len on 09.12.05 @ 11:48 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Hmmmm....

As a fan, you want the members of your favorite team to be friendly and get along well with each other. But now and then you run into something that raises your eyebrows:

Judging from the uniform numbers (and the face shots on the roster pages at the Official St. Louis Cardinals website), this looks like Jason Marquis (#21) and Jim Edmonds (#15). I'm open to correction if anyone has a stronger argument that it's another pair of Cardinals. Also, I don't know if this is from this season or last season, though it's clear it can't be any earlier than last season (since the Cards acquired Marquis as part of the J.D. Drew trade before the 2004 season).

Len on 09.12.05 @ 08:11 AM CST [link] [ | ]

And BTW...

I thought Bill Maher on Friday’s Real Time (HBO) was just making a flying-by-seat-of-his-pants wisecrack about Celebs getting their ‘Catch-Phrases’ thrown back at them from the public in reference to the NOLA incident involving Darth’s visit and the “GO F--K YOUR SELF” shouted from the audience.

But here is part of the actual incident as related in a news story about the "shoutee," Dr. Ben Marble:

"I am no fan of Mr. Cheney because of several reasons," Marble wrote. "For those who don't know, Mr. Cheney is infamous for telling Senator [Pat] Leahy 'go fu** yourself' on the Senate floor. Also, I am not happy about the fact that thousands have died due to the slow action of FEMA, not to even mention the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time, i.e. Iraq."
…
As he stood about 10 feet away from Cheney and his friend and some camera operators from CNN and other media filmed the scene, Marble suddenly yelled, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney! Go fuck yourself, you asshole!"

Hey, at least Marble was polite. After all, he referred to Cheney as “Mr. Cheney.”

"I had no intention of harming anyone but merely wanted to echo Mr. Cheney's infamous words back at him," Marble wrote. "At that moment, I noticed the Secret Service guys with a panic-stricken look on their faces, like they were about to tackle me, so I calmly walked away back to my former house."

[Emphasis mine]

So - Maher was right on target in his quip. Oh, and BTW Darth; GO F--K YOUR SELF!!!

Click on the link to read more background of that story about Dr. Marble and how he was treated by the Secret Service.

Courtesy of Jackson Thoreau (OPED NEWS): Physician who told Cheney to go F*ck Himself Lost his Home in Katrina, Detained, Cuffed by Cheney's M-16-carrying Goons.

Karen on 09.12.05 @ 08:06 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Don't know whether to laugh or cry....

This "headline" from Ironic Times sounds too true to be completely humorous:

Baghdad Falls to Insurgents, Saddam Freed, Returned to Power
Water, electricity turned back on, women's rights restored, streets safe again.

This, however, isn't funny, it's just a simple statement of fact:

NFL Season Begins
Public's interest in hurricane relief, Supreme Court, Iraq ends.

This one, however, is over-the-top enough to be funny:

Barbara Bush Makes Another Comment About Hurricane
Wonders if warm winter coat couldn't be made from abandoned puppies.

Len on 09.12.05 @ 07:23 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Up and Coming Flicks...

Well in addition to Wallace and Gromit [and additional detail which can be seen Here] due out this fall, is some background on the making of the next Tim Burton Flick: "Corpse Bride” at this link.

Plus a preview of the next three villains for the Spider Man 3™ Movie over This website.

Can’t Wait to see a few of these Movies in the Theater.

:-D

Karen on 09.12.05 @ 06:57 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Hmmmmm.... and would this work to increase recruitment in the U.S.?

Of course, the thing is that the Navy, according to my best sources, isn't exactly hurting for recruits right now (it's the Army and Marines that have the most trouble, for reasons that a moment's contemplation makes apparent).

But this purports to be an actual recruiting ad for the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (Flash required).

Of course, some sources say that The Village People's "In the Navy" was supposed to be a recruiting song for the U.S. Navy, until someone in the Navy Personnel Command/Bureau of Naval Personnel got a bit spooked by the seeming homoerotic undertones..... Which makes an interesting morning's contemplation (for those of us not looking to leap into work this Monday morning. Which would be more effective a recruitment tool? This Japanese song and dance number, or "In the Navy"?

Len on 09.12.05 @ 06:55 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Significant days in American literary history:

Today is the 125^th anniversary of the birth of Henry Louis Mencken, "the Sage of Baltimore". A few of Mencken's bon mots:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

If experience teaches us anything at all, it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.

The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable.

Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.

It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.

Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Len on 09.12.05 @ 06:42 AM CST [link] [ | ]

From the YIKES Files…

”…Aaron Balick expected to find a tiny mouse stirring around behind the TV in his apartment.

"Thinking it was a mouse, I went to investigate the sound," Balick said Wednesday. "The sound was coming from under some papers which I lifted, expecting to see the mouse scamper away.

"Instead, when I lifted the papers, I saw this prehistoric-looking animal skitter away behind a stack of books."

Instead, he found a venomous giant centipede that somehow made its way from South America to Britain.

He trapped the 9-inch-long creature between a stack of books and put it in a plastic container.
….
The centipede has front claws that are adapted to deliver venom when it stings, which can lead to a blistering rash, nausea and fever. The sting is rarely life-threatening, though.

Courtesy of Canadian Press via Improbable Blog.

Karen on 09.12.05 @ 06:40 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Magic Number Watch:

6

[The Mets beat the Cardinals yesterday, 7-2, but the number still falls because the Astros fell short in their match against the Milwaukee Brewers, losing 4-2.]

Len on 09.12.05 @ 05:24 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Hurricane Katrina has delivered a painful but important warning. In ways similar to the 9/11 attacks four years ago, it demonstrates that U.S. power, however great, is not to be confused with invulnerability. In addition, U.S. power, however great, is still limited. And U.S. power, however great, cannot be taken for granted. In the end, American power is a reflection of the strength of the American economy and the cohesion of American society. Any country must balance what it allocates for guns and what for butter; the United States is no exception. Although we are wealthy enough to fund both, we are not wealthy enough to fund both to the extent we are now doing and to keep taxes as low as they are. Something will have to give.
--Richard N. Haass

Len on 09.12.05 @ 05:18 AM CST [link] [ | ]

H. A. Rey, prophet of our times

Thirty-two years ago, H. A. Rey had a vision:

Here's further evidence of Rey's precognition.

(þ Thomas Nephew.)

Brock on 09.11.05 @ 04:40 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Compare and Contrast...

… The *almost president* we COULD have had: Former Vice President Al Gore's heroic efforts:

Gore airlifts victims from New Orleans:

"…On September 1, three days after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, Simon learned that Dr. David Kline, a neurosurgeon who operated on Gore's son, Albert, after a life-threatening auto accident in 1989, was trying to get in touch with Gore. Kline was stranded with patients at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

"The situation was dire and becoming worse by the minute -- food and water running out, no power, 4 feet of water surrounding the hospital and ... corpses outside," Simon wrote.

Gore responded immediately, telephoning Kline and agreeing to underwrite the $50,000 each for the two flights, although Larry Flax, founder of California Pizza Kitchens, later pledged to pay for one of them.
"None of the airlines involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews," Simon wrote of the American Airlines flights. "One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them."

He also recruited two doctors, Spickard and Gore's cousin, retired Col. Dar LaFon, a specialist in internal medicine who once ran the military hospital in Baghdad.

Most critically, Gore worked to cut through government red tape, personally calling Gov. Phil Bredesen to get Tennessee's support and U.S. Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta to secure landing rights in New Orleans.

About 140 people, many of them sick, landed in Knoxville on September 3. The second flight, with 130 evacuees, landed the next day in Chattanooga.

And this commentary on the Child-in-Chief we do have.

Click on the “more” button to read an excerpt from another Driftglass commentary. Driftglass is just so evocative of the despair and unmitigated anger so many of us feel at the failure of our hopes, prayer, wishes, dreams - that our country wouldn’t be left with this Child-in-Chief sham of a Feckless Leader. And it’s this ability to channel into word-images that which is reflective of our internal anguish and shuddering loss of hope - if we could but give these feelings the freedom to speak as they would about the pigeons of this false leader's incompetence, cronyism, blunders, irresponsibility, indecisiveness, callouness, ineffectiveness, arrogance, indifference, smugness and fallibility that finally came home to roost in NOLA.

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 03:51 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Is Ole Suga' Mouth...

...Drinkin again???

Or just the victim of permanent alcoholism induced brain-damage? Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides:

”…White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him.

“I’m not meeting again with that goddamned bitch,” Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. “She can go to hell as far as I’m concerned!”

Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them “motherfucking traitors.” He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore “bullshit protectors” over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to “tell those VFW assholes that I’ll never speak to them again is they can’t keep their members under control.”

White House insiders say Bush is growing increasingly bitter over mounting opposition to his war in Iraq. Polls show a vast majority of Americans now believe the war was a mistake and most doubt the President’s honesty.

“Who gives a flying fuck what the polls say,” he screamed at a recent strategy meeting. “I’m the President and I’ll do whatever I goddamned please. They don’t know shit.”
…
Bush’s behavior, according to prominent Washington psychiatrist, Dr. Justin Frank, author of “Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President,” is all too typical of an alcohol-abusing bully who is ruled by fear.

To see that fear emerges, Dr. Frank says, all one has to do is confront the President. “To actually directly confront him in a clear way, to bring him out, so you would really see the bully, and you would also see the fear,” he says.

Dr. Frank, in his book, speculates that Bush, an alcoholic who brags that he gave up booze without help from groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, may be drinking again….”

Courtesy of Cookie Jill (Skippy the Bush Kangagroo).

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 01:38 PM CST [link] [ | ]

This goes on the "must get" list....

Over on ANTENNA: The International Kraftwerk Mailing List, a random post directed my attention to this:

Re-Covers, by Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha.

Kuvezin, a native of Tuva (one of the members of the Russian federation, and reputed to be "the center of Asia"), is a practicioner of the Tuvan art of "throat singing" (kargyraa), a technique which allows a singer to sing four to six separate pitches simultaneously. It has to be heard to be believed, and Yat-Kha website has a number of .mp3 files that give you a taste of the technique and its results.

Kuvezin spent a good portion of his career being persecuted by the Soviet government for following his muse (which combined Western rock and Tuvan folk music, melded by Kuvezin's mastery of kargyraa), and Re-Covers is basically a "back to my roots" recording of some of the Western music (not just rock; a cover of Hank Williams's "Ramblin' Man" is one of the featured tracks) that inspired Kuvezin. Of course, as a Kraftwerk fan his cover of "Man Machine" is number one on my "gotta hear" list, but the whole album looks pretty damn good. My order's in....

Len on 09.11.05 @ 10:23 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Halo 3

Pre-Ordering of Halo 3 has started:

"...EBgames is now offering Halo 3 for preorder with a date of June 30, 2006. Third installment of the massively popular FPS, Halo 3 would land on the Xbox 360 shortly after the scheduled launch of Sony's next-generation console, the PlayStation 3. The ship date and retail price have not been confirmed and therefore are subject to change. If the retail price is decreased you will receive the lower price."
-- EB Games

Courtesy of Digg.com.

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 10:20 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Magic Number Watch:

7

Len on 09.11.05 @ 10:11 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A Linux Revolution???

"HP says (in south africa) that Linux is now one of their standard product offerings. HP's own internal e-mail infrastructure, including web mail (SquirrelMail), instant messaging (Jabber), domain name (bind), NTP are run on Linux. Shulz said the decision to use Linux for these services has paid off, realising savings in the region of around 33%"
-- HP to ship Ubuntu PCs, serious about Linux

Courtesy of Digg.com

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 10:09 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Once, I caught a 30 lb. sea bass. I was dying to mount it! But there were people around....
--Emo Philips

Len on 09.11.05 @ 10:03 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Advance Wars...

faf over at fafblog forgot to include this Nifty Site for how to build your own Tanks, Armored Personal Carriers and Recon Vehicles.

So, just to ADD to your files under The Do-It-Yourself Emergency Management Guide!

How to create your own Tanks, Armored Personal Carriers and Recon Vehicles from Advance Wars Bunker. [Your toys will Thank You!!!]

[Courtesy of Digg.com]:

LOL :-D

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 09:59 AM CST [link] [ | ]

The Sheer Incompetence of It All...

An America I Never Expected To See by Clive Crook (National Journal) is another well written piece:

”…I still find this epic of incompetence -- sustained, systemic, outrageous incompetence -- genuinely hard to believe. If you had told me that the flooding of the city would be followed by day after day of chaos, with officials at every level incapable of any effective action; if you had told me that an uncounted number of dead bodies would be floating in the street days after the levees were breached, while huge crowds of abandoned victims, filmed from helicopters, clamored for food and water, with not a police officer or a soldier or an emergency worker of any kind to be seen; if you had said that as the country watched all of this go on, and on, and on, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency should appear on television to tell open-mouthed news anchors how pleased he was that everything was going so well -- if you had described all of this to me ahead of time, I would have said you were crazy. In Italy (forgive my British prejudices), maybe such a thing could be imagined. In Bangladesh, well, sadly yes -- until foreigners, preferably led by Americans, arrived to help. But in the United States? For heaven's sake, it simply could not happen.
...
The answer seems to be: sheer incompetence, before and after the storm, at every level of government -- local, state, and federal. I cannot accept that the blame lies solely with the Bush administration. The loss of life was so great mainly because of the failure to evacuate the city before the storm. Blame for that -- for the indecision, and for the lack of policing and preparation (including public transport for those who needed it to get out) -- lies mainly with local and state authorities. As soon as the scale of the catastrophe was apparent, though, and it became clear that the local authorities were utterly incapable, blame shifts to the federal government. It should have taken charge sooner, deploying resources already positioned to go.
...
Let's not trouble over whether society exists. My concern, as a new resident of Washington, is whether a system for recovering from civil disasters exists. What purports to be such a system, newly built at vast expense, has just been tested -- and not as severely as it will be in future, since this calamity had at least been foreseen and thought about. We have the results, and one wonders whether no system at all could have been any worse. Welcome to America.

and Time has a good run through of events.

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 09:39 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A Disaster Within A Disaster

Give read to this piece by Evan Thomas (Newsweek) How Bush Blew It:

“…A NEWSWEEK reconstruction of the government's response to the storm shows how Bush's leadership style and the bureaucratic culture combined to produce a disaster within a disaster...”

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 08:46 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A Theory of Public Accountability

Here is a past comment from our current group of wing-nut debators here at DBV.

“…Lastly, we do have accountability moments in government. They're called elections, and Bush won relection just 10 months ago.”

This a *pat* Bush Supporter response and a cute-sie defense uttered in support of the current administration.

My following points extend beyond merely a single commentator’s simplistic phrase here, and not overly wishing to Pick on this one individual more than necessary (tho’ “Live by the Pen - die by the Pen” does come to mind since this IS his own comment – and he’s welcome to disown it here at DBV any time.)

But how defensible is this kind of Theory of Public Governance and Accountability?

Ours is a government of “Public Accountability.” That is the nature and purpose of having certain office holders ELECTED. And not having particular positions chosen by a quorum of a small group of unaccountable and feckless individuals (unless, parenthetically, one wishes to view the Supreme Court as a group of feckless and unaccountable individuals – who just happen to be a group to have overridden the election processes during 2000 in the State of Florida to create George Bush the Presidential Winner [actual election results notwithstanding.]) But that scenario isn't how our system is designed to function.

Yet, this “Hold-Harmless” group of Bush Supporters and (by those I mean the continued 25% in recent polls - at CBS News, Ramussen, Zogby [Here and Here and Here]– Who say there is NO responsibility to be put on the President for anything – ANYTHING.) Or those who say, “We had our moment of accountability, and it was his election in Nov. of 2004”; are endemic of a viewpoint that refuses to work within the system of good governance…and in fact, BREAKS the very fabric of the Public Accountability system.

That this President has never been known for being the Brightest Bulb in the BOX- but was chosen on the CEO-theory of the ability to select qualified and competent subordinates to do the REAL work. As the Top of Heap Official at the Highest office of our Government is a man with barely the required Presidential Job skills; and with a penchant for misplaced loyalties and cronyism in his appointments, a further pernicious fault of refusing to hold (On His Watch) even the most derelict subordinates accountable for anything – Defies Belief.

But that there are citizen who NOW, Today, won’t countenance this and their refusal to hold anyone from their Political Party accountable for anything. From the feckless appointments of people at FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. People unqualified in any way shape or form for the duties of the job selected, who then appoint yet more feckless cronies to positions of power and placement in the government…and I’m going to borrow this saying from another blogger [Elayne Riggs] from her blog-post headliner: “What Can't Brown Do For You?”

So, when this is Exposed for what it IS - a reckless disregard the required Experience to run FEMA, and is also directly responsible for the poor planning and management of this disaster coordination and response effort. And actual, additional and unnecessary Harms and Death which results to Our Citizens. Yet these folks say (via polls or otherwise) would say there is NO Accountability which falls at the feet of this Administration or the President?!?. Or, as our commentator put it – “we do have accountability moments in government. They're called elections” - as if that moment has Forever passed by.

And WHAT else would it possible take for these people to FIND such a MOMENT - IF not THIS?!? If this negligence and heinous cronyism of ill-conceived political appointments to positions critical to National Security and Safety doesn't Count - What ever WOULD???

Even to suggest that Government accountability is in fact merely a MOMENT or that it relies ONLY upon the future electibility of those individuals is a Horribly Distorted Notion of our entire Government. It’s A System Broken when one of it’s underlying functions as a Public System of Accountability is ignored in this way repeatedly. And especially when it results in, even haphazardly, the deaths of our own Citizens. As if, regardless of his position as “the buck stops here” Leader of our Country - GW is NOT going to be held responsible for any of this by these folks…is a National Shame and Dereliction of Good Citizenship.

And at the risk of sounding too offensive, but this must be said - SHAME on THOSE who denigrate and destroy our entire Public Accountability in this fashion for their own partisan purposes. SHAME ON YOU!!

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 08:29 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Four years later…

...Is the sad truth that these self-professed “Who’s your Daddy for Keeping Ya Safe” Folks at the Top of our Government are really Unable to “Think the Unthinkable” and prepare for the next disaster in any meaningful fashion.

Four Year Later from the WaPo:

“…Put simply, this is a nation that is very good at fighting yesterday's battles, very good at distributing funds based on politics rather than risk and extraordinarily bad at fighting tomorrow's unexpected challenge.

…[N]either DHS nor anyone else has focused hard enough on the major disasters for which the United States is still least prepared, namely a nuclear disaster or a biological attack, both of which would strain the nation's public health facilities way beyond capacity. It is still the case that far too little has been done to secure the nuclear and bioterrorism weapons of the former Soviet Union; that radiation testing is still not deployed with any precision at American ports; and that evacuation plans are, as became obvious this month, not geared to the immobile, not widely understood by either officials or by the public, and probably not feasible in many cases anyway.

Dealing with the biological threat, either from terrorists or a natural pandemic, will, in addition, require far larger federal government investment in biological science than this administration has yet been willing to make, as well as a far broader partnership with the pharmaceutical industry than anyone has yet been willing to contemplate. Work on finding vaccines and cures for existing diseases has just begun; ways for distributing vaccines in case of emergency have been contemplated in only a few places and instances; and the long-term investment in the technology that will be needed to anticipate and prevent new or engineered viruses has not yet been made.

Big disaster scenarios are, it is true, gloomy to contemplate. It is much easier for emergency planners and politicians to think about containable crises. It is also much easier for federal officials to respond automatically to local and congressional demands, rather than draw up their own risk-based and possibly unpopular plans. But if there is any point to having a department of homeland security, surely it is to think the unthinkable. And we see only slim evidence, so far, that DHS is engaged in that undertaking.”

Karen on 09.11.05 @ 06:24 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Hardly seems funny to me...

but this is from a website about alleged political humor: 25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath. Link to source after each quote there.

The actual quotes are below the fold (without source links)....

Len on 09.10.05 @ 09:07 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

You had to figure it was coming....

From Josh Marshall, we learn that:

Ten U.S. Army recruiters are offering volunteer help for Katrina evacuees at Houston's Astrodome. But the recruiters, struggling to keep enlistment up during Iraq war, are also available with options for the jobless. "Our intent is to approach the evacuees at the right time for them,'' says Army spokesman Douglas Smith.

General J.C. Christian, Patriot, is on top of the situation:

Len on 09.10.05 @ 08:55 PM CST [link] [ | ]

I a Know Few Folks Who'd Like One Of These...

Ah, what to buy the Ulta-Techno-Wizard-Geek for Xmas or a Birthday present.

Courtesy of Cake Eater Chronicles.

:-)

Karen on 09.10.05 @ 06:07 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Re-Writing Those Rules for Science...

TPMCafe was hosting Rep Rush Holt (Research scientist and a member of the House Education Committee), who wrote this piece on teaching I.D.:

“I was appalled when President Bush signaled his support for the teaching of "intelligent design" alongside evolution in public K-12 science classes. Though I respect and consistently protect the rights of persons of faith and the curricula of religious schools, public school science classes are not the place to teach concepts that cannot be backed up by evidence and tested experimentally.

Science, by definition, is a method of learning about the physical universe by asking questions in a way that they can be answered empirically and verifiably. If a question cannot be framed so that the answer is testable by looking at physical evidence and by allowing other people to repeat and replicate one's test, then it is not science. The term science also refers to the organized body of knowledge that results from scientific study. Intelligent design offers no way to investigate design scientifically. Intelligent design explains complicated phenomena of the natural world by involving a designer. This way of thinking says things behave the way they do because God makes them behave that way. This treads not into science but into the realm of faith. A prominent physicist, W. Pauli, used to say about such a theory "It is not even wrong". There is no testable hypothesis or prediction for Intelligent Design.
…
Colloquially, a theory is an idea. Scientifically, a theory is an accepted synthesis of a large body of knowledge, consisting of well-tested hypotheses, laws, and scientific facts, which concurrently describe and connect natural phenomena. There are actually very few theories in science, including atomic theory, the theory of gravity, the theory of evolution, and the theory of the standard model of particle physics. Without the ability to test the hypotheses of Intelligent Design, it cannot be considered a theory in the scientific sense…”

But that IS the Point. These I.D. and Creationism Folks want to rewrite the definition of “SCIENCE” altogether and the rules for such inquiry, testing, falsifiability, etc..

And the insanity is that apparently some percentage of the US population thinks these criteria are *acceptable* for scientific study or fails to understand the gravity of the issue at hand in suggesting that this be taught in public schools in the science classroom. (Not a philosophy class where it *might* be an appropriate discussion.)

And as Rep. Holt points out:

"So who cares? What difference does it make if schools spend time on unscientific ideas? This raises the role of science education in the United States. A scientifically literate nation would not permit Intelligent Design to be presented and treated as a scientific theory. Science education is necessary for all students, especially for those who are not going to become professional scientists. We must not lose the important American characteristic - hard, practical thinking…

And click on the “more” button” for yet some additional Vitriolic Double Standards.

Karen on 09.10.05 @ 01:23 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

Dark Bilious Vapors

Yuk o'the Day:

Thought for the Day:

No surprises

Most interesting geek idea I've seen today....

Must be a propitious alignment of the planets, or something....

Gem o'the Day:

Are you frustrated....

Hmmmmmm... talk about incongruity...

There's an advantage to being an unattractive person....

Paging Captain Cousteau....

Thought for the Day:

'I can resist anything except temptation.'--Oscar Wilde

Cause for optimism?

Late to the party again, alas.....

And the answer is: 'Not long at all.'

A new variation on an old scam...

Off to a good start:

Gem o'the Day:

A data point...

Yum...Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale...

Hot damn!!!!

Those Good Citizens....

Thought for the Day:

Holiday to the Big Apple...

Hmmmmmm.... have we tried everything else?

The Army in Crisis

Let's See the GOP Majority Quibble Over This One...

Hmmmmmm.... Can U.S. troops be far behind?

Yuks o'the Day:

From the "Too True to be Funny" Department:

Visual Confirmation of the Truth of the Matter...

From the "Further Comment Would Be Superfluous" Department:

Thought for the Day:

I-Pass - EZ pass

Google Bombs

Can I.D. meet the test for "Science" in a Court of Law?

Here's what "accountability" means in the bAdministration

Yuk o'the Day:

Very, very sad news, indeed....

Type "D" Personality...

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto...."

What next? Bake sales?

"Congratulations" to the San Diego Padres, for making baseball history....

What's in a Word (Choice) ??

This week Mad Kane finds her muse....

I’m Swiss…

This says something significant....

A Birthday Legend...

Banned Book Week...

Why schools may want to curb grade inflation....

Thought for the Day:

Lethal Consequences of Washington's Power Structure...

About Those Expectations...

As if the alligators in the streets of N'awlins weren't bad enough....

Thought for the Day:

Did Bill Frist's Blind Trust regain its eyesight?

Yuk o'the Day:

Is "endangering America" an impeachable offense?

They are all @#%$@&%

"Deficits Don't Matter" Binge Soon to be OVER

Thought for the Day:

Stormy Weather...

Speaking of those Public Rest Rooms

Braves fans are disgusting slobs

My sentiments, exactly....

Do We Deserve the Answers?

Time to Impeach "the Messenger"

Living at Dennis Hastert Corner...

If you thought the WotW Rain of Red Gore was Awful...

Bill Nye and Other Meteorologists...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation aisle....

Credit where credit is due, I suppose....

Gem o'the Day:

I agree completely....

Thank what powers that be that someone....

About Those NOLA Levee Design Specs...

About that Lap-dance...

From The Tasteless Capitalism Department:

Blinding Them with Science....

'I can resist anything except temptation.'
--Oscar Wilde

Traitor Bob Turns Tattletale Again...

The Blog Media

Another Re-SMUG-lican OOOPs Moment....

Back in high school, my buddies tried to put the make on anything that moved. I told them, 'Why limit yourselves?'
--Emo Philips